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Giant Olive Theatre Company Extends Oliver Twist Thru 1/24
11 December 2009 1:14 PM, PST
| BroadwayWorld.com
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Giant Olive Theatre Company in association with Simon James Collier is presenting Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens adapted for the stage by Piers Beckley. This critically acclaimed production of Charles Dickens' classic "Oliver Twist"?today announced a two-week extension to its record-breaking run at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre in north London. Originally scheduled to end its run on January 10, the production will now play additional dates from January 12 - 24.
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Ferrera Pays Tribute To Late Teacher
11 December 2009 8:16 AM, PST
| WENN
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Ugly Betty star America Ferrera fought back tears at the New York Women in Film and Television luncheon on Wednesday as she paid tribute to the late school teacher who inspired her acting dreams.
The actress was one of four honorees at the annual Muse Awards, which celebrates prominent film and TV personalities, and she dedicated her accolade to her fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez.
Ferrera admitted she will always be thankful to the teacher for giving her a chance to shine on the stage during a school production of the classic Oliver Twist tale after being snubbed for a role in a Shakespeare play.
And the 25 year old wishes Rodriguez, who lost her battle with stomach cancer several years ago, could have lived long enough to see her star pupil's rapid rise to fame on the hit TV show.
She said, "I didn't get cast in Shakespeare, but (Rodriguez) cast me later in Oliver... There are a lot of people in my life who are surprised that I am where I am, but Mrs. Rodriguez would not be. I wish more than anything that she truly knew how much I really loved her for the gift that she gave me."
Also honoured at the event were Julianna Margulies, writer/producer Allison Silverman, and the president of America's Lifetime Networks, Andrea Wong.
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Smallville: The Road Ahead
24 November 2009 9:46 PM, PST
| TVovermind.com
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I've been watching Smallville since meteor freak episode one. And now that we're halfway through its ninth season (a feat I'm still amazed at), I'd like to submit this open letter to the producers and writers of the show. Because this little hiatus gives everyone time to evaluate what the show is and where it's going. There are rumblings that this could be the final season. If that's the case, if this is the final season, then could we fix a few things and end on a high note? And who knows, maybe a few of these could secure a tenth season.
1.) Figure out the story. When Smallville first aired, it was advertised to be the story of how Clark Kent grew up to be Superman. We might not ever see the tights, we might not ever see him fly, but we would see him grow from a boy into a Superman.
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- Scott Fogg
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Polanski's Ghost In Limbo
29 September 2009 12:19 AM, PDT
| EmpireOnline
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The future of Roman Polanski's latest, The Ghost, has been thrown into doubt with the director currently under arrest in Switzerland and facing possible extradition to the Us.Although shooting has wrapped on The Ghost, Variety reports that sound mixing and music scoring have yet to be completed on the political thriller, leaving postproduction in limbo while Polanski fights moves to return him to America.The Ghost is Polanski's first feature since 2005's Oliver Twist and sees him tackle Robert Harris' topical thriller about a Blair-like Pm's ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) who stumbles on a secret that threatens his life. Germany was used to double for the book's original Martha's Vineyard setting during filming.Considering the severity of the charges against him, the fate of The Ghost is the least of Polanski's worries at this point, but the week's developments are unlikely to make it easier to sell the
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DVD Review: Pete’s Dragon (High-Flying Edition)
27 August 2009 12:57 PM, PDT
| BuzzFocus.com
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Before Disney got in the habit of cranking out feature length animated musicals like “The Lion King,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” the studio built up a reputation for creating musical films that blended live-action with animation. Many long-time Disney-film watchers will remember movies like “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and, of course, “Mary Poppins.”
“Pete’s Dragon” is one of the movies in that genre that never quite got the acclaim of “Mary Poppins” or “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.” It’s an “Oliver Twist” type story with an animated dragon that doesn’t talk. The plot focuses on Pete, an orphan with a habit for getting into trouble. The movie begins with Pete on the run from his a family of lowlifes who somehow own the “deed” to his life. He ends up in the town of Passamaquoddy, and is befriended by the loving family of Nora and her father Lampie.
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- Alexis James-Whitehead
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Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters (Book Review)
25 August 2009 11:04 AM, PDT
| Fangoria
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Note: This review also appears on our Starlog site.
Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters (Quirk Classics, tpb, 344 pp, $12.95, out September 15)
This Jane Austen lady just May have a promising future as a genre writer. Her earlier volume, Pride And Prejudice And Zombies (co-written by Seth Grahame-Smith), was a Quirk bestseller and quite a fun read with its gaggle of young British women searching for husbands while battling rampaging zombies and (occasionally) ninjas in Regency England.
Actually, I thought that book could have used More zombies. One scene expostulating about local farmers harvesting extra zombies for profit and the inevitable bounty hunters tracking down zombies to earn big bucks might have served as the entire premise of someone else’s book.
However, this volume is a whole other kettle of fish (literally) as it subtracts zombies and ninjas from the Austenian formula, substituting rampaging marine life and (arghhh!
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- no-reply@fangoria.com (David McDonnell)
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A Quick Look at Roman Polanski’s Ghost
14 August 2009 10:03 AM, PDT
| TheMovingPicture.net
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A brief 15 second teaser trailer for The Ghost, the upcoming drama-mystery directed by Oscar winner Roman Polanski, has been released online. The film, Polanski’s first feature since 2005’s Oliver Twist, stars Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Jim Belushi and Timothy Hutton.
Ghost centers on a former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang (Brosnan), who is holed up on an island off the Eastern seaboard of the USA in midwinter, writing his memoirs. When his long-standing aide drowns, a professional ghostwriter (McGregor) is sent out to help him finish the book. The anonymous ghostwriter is quickly drawn into a political and sexual intrigue involving Lang’s wife, Ruth (Williams) and his aide (Cattrall).
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- James Cook
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Polanski’s latest sexually charged thriller. A microteaser for Ghost.
14 August 2009 7:08 AM, PDT
| Twitch
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A new Polanski is always worth celebrating. Whatever you think of the man and his life of ups and downs, there is little argument that he makes good films. At one point Polanski was to direct Robert Harris’ novel on ancient Rome, Pompeii, but the project fell through for one reason or another. So what’s an auteur to do? Move onto another Robert Harris novel, this one far more contemporary. Personally, I prefer Polanski operating in Bitter Moon, Knife in the Water and Death and The Maiden territory (as opposed to The Pianist and Oliver Twist). And Ghost appears (more from the synopsis below than the trailer) to be doing this indeed.
When a successful British ghost-writer agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister, his agent assures him it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start - not least
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- Kurt Halfyard
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The Young Victoria will be released in Us cinemas this November
11 August 2009 1:50 AM, PDT
| The Hollywood News
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The Young Victoria, the film which stars Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria of England, will finally get a Us release date. That date will be November 13, 2009.Apparition, a new distribution label, picked up the rights to distib the film domestically.
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group (Spwag) will handle all domestic ancillary rights. The announcement was made jointly by Apparition, Gk Films (the film's production company) and Spwag.
Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) wrote the script for the film, which is directed by Jean-Marc Vallée.
The Young Victoria is written by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Vanity Fair) and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.). Producers on the film are Graham King, Martin Scorsese, Tim Headington and Sarah Ferguson.
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) delivers a stunning performance as Queen Victoria in the turbulent first years of her reign. Rupert Friend (Pride & Prejudice) portrays Prince Albert, the suitor who wins her heart and
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- Paul
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[TV] The Mighty Boosh: The Complete Season 3
27 July 2009 9:58 AM, PDT
| JustPressPlay.net
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Transforming from cult favorite to international sensation, surrealist comedy troupe The Mighty Boosh offer up a third season, employing the familiar blend of anarchic fantasy and bizarre musical numbers to once more wreak their own singular brand of havoc on the unsuspecting laws of time, space, and good taste. Continuing to follow the adventures and mishaps of hapless duo Howard Moon (Barratt) and Vince Noir, still desperately trying to raise the profile of their shambolic musical act (the titular Mighty Boosh), season three ushers in yet another change of venue.
Still sponging off the swiftly evaporating goodwill of super-cool shaman Naboo the Enigma, and his ape familiar Bollo, Boosh v3.0 takes place predominantly in the newly opened “Nabootique,” a second hand thrift store in Dalston. The banter is still comically banal, the stories still silly, and the costumes and make-up of the loony characters utterly irresistible. Yet there is something oddly muted about season three,
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- Neil Pedley
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[TV] The Mighty Boosh: The Complete Season 3
27 July 2009 9:58 AM, PDT
| JustPressPlay.net
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Transforming from cult favorite to international sensation, surrealist comedy troupe The Mighty Boosh offer up a third season, employing the familiar blend of anarchic fantasy and bizarre musical numbers to once more wreak their own singular brand of havoc on the unsuspecting laws of time, space, and good taste. Continuing to follow the adventures and mishaps of hapless duo Howard Moon (Barratt) and Vince Noir, still desperately trying to raise the profile of their shambolic musical act (the titular Mighty Boosh), season three ushers in yet another change of venue.
Still sponging off the swiftly evaporating goodwill of super-cool shaman Naboo the Enigma, and his ape familiar Bollo, Boosh v3.0 takes place predominantly in the newly opened “Nabootique,” a second hand thrift store in Dalston. The banter is still comically banal, the stories still silly, and the costumes and make-up of the loony characters utterly irresistible. Yet there is something oddly muted about season three,
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- Neil Pedley
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[DVD Review] The Mighty Boosh: The Complete Season 3
27 July 2009 9:58 AM, PDT
| JustPressPlay.net
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Transforming from cult favorite to international sensation, surrealist comedy troupe The Mighty Boosh offer up a third season, employing the familiar blend of anarchic fantasy and bizarre musical numbers to once more wreak their own singular brand of havoc on the unsuspecting laws of time, space, and good taste. Continuing to follow the adventures and mishaps of hapless duo Howard Moon (Barratt) and Vince Noir, still desperately trying to raise the profile of their shambolic musical act (the titular Mighty Boosh), season three ushers in yet another change of venue.
Still sponging off the swiftly evaporating goodwill of super-cool shaman Naboo the Enigma, and his ape familiar Bollo, Boosh v3.0 takes place predominantly in the newly opened “Nabootique,” a second hand thrift store in Dalston. The banter is still comically banal, the stories still silly, and the costumes and make-up of the loony characters utterly irresistible. Yet there is something oddly muted about season three,
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- Neil Pedley
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Up
29 May 2009 1:00 AM, PDT
| The Scorecard Review
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Up
Directed by: Pete Docter
Cast: (Voices) Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: PG
Release Date: May 29, 2009
Plot: Carl Fredricksen (Asner), a widower about to lose his home to developers, comes up with a scheme to escape his problems. He attaches thousands of balloons to his house and flies away for South America. But he doesn’t expect a tagalong in the form of a Wilderness Scout named Russell (Nagai).
Who’s It For? Anyone. Pixar’s created another funny story that should appeal to adults and children. Like Ratatouille, there are moments that are more mature, but nothing inappropriate for kids. Young children might get a little frightened at times, but should be ok.
Expectations: The previews didn’t look terribly exciting, but I’ve really enjoyed every Pixar film since A Bug’s Life so I still wanted to see it.
Scorecard (0-
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- Megan Lehar
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Speech And Debate And The Marriage Bed Among Diversionary Theatre 2009/10 Season
2 May 2009 12:02 AM, PDT
| BroadwayWorld.com
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Diversionary Theatre's 2009-2010 season of two gender-bending musicals and four provocative plays includes two West Coast Premieres, dynamic local actors and directors, and a reading of a new queer opera. The six-show mainstage season includes: the new musical Twist by Gila Sand and Paul Leschen, based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, directed by James Vasquez; Bent, the seminal play by Martin Sherman, in a co-production with ion theatre company; Paul Rudnick's big gay comedy The New Century, directed by Igor Goldin; same-sex marriage gets a comic nod with The Marriage Bed by Nona Shepphard, directed by Rosina Reynolds; laugh out loud with teenage angst in Speech and Debate by Steven Karam, directed by Jason Southerland; and filled with melancholy and lust, the musical play Moscow, by Nick Salamone and Maury R. McIntyre, rounds out the season.
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The Bloody Side of Pride and Prejudice
24 February 2009 11:19 PM, PST
| DreadCentral.com
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It might be a little early for April Fool’s, but that’s not stopping the recent development of two awkward sounding projects involving Jane Austen’s dusty classic, Pride and Prejudice. Apparently two separate creative adaptations are underfoot and put a twist to the old tale; one with flesh hungry zombies disturbing the drama, the other with a Predator presumably ripping various character’s spines from their bodies.
A recent article by Elisabeth Rappe on Cinematical neatly summarizes a comparison and contrast between the two projects. I just don’t know what to make of it. Such an approach is novel and seemingly opens up a plethora of new horror films from literary classics. Oliver Twist would have been a hell of a lot more entertaining if the little goody-two-shoes was a shambling corpse instead of a boring twit of a kid. Imagine Moby Dick, if the white whale was an enormous undead monstrosity,
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- Tristan Sinns
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DVD: Review: Hobson’s Choice
24 February 2009 10:00 PM, PST
| avclub.com
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David Lean is best known for his epic late-period historical dramas exploring the psychological contradictions of outsized figures, like Lawrence Of Arabia, The Bridge On The River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago. But his directorial career began with eminently British literary adaptations filmed on a smaller scale—Noël Coward’s This Happy Breed, Brief Encounter,and Blithe Spirit; Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and Great Expectations; and an adaptation of Harold Brighouse’s perennially popular theatrical comedy Hobson’s Choice. Released in 1954, Hobson’s Choice is the last of Lean’s black-and-white films; the following year, he directed Summertime (also
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DVD Review: Disney Quietly Releases Underrated ‘Oliver and Company’
5 February 2009 10:51 AM, PST
| HollywoodChicago.com
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Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0
Chicago – Maybe it’s because I was still young when it came out, but it seems like “Oliver and Company” has been unjustly forgotten by the Disney machine and family audiences in general. The 20th anniversary edition, newly released on DVD, might bring this lost comedy to a new audience.
Admittedly, “Oliver and Company” is far from one of Disney’s best, but it’s mostly been discarded by history because it came out just before the wave of massive success for the company that started with “The Little Mermaid,” continued with “Beauty & The Beast,” and went on to “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and many more. The mid to late-’80s were kind of a dark period for Disney and “Oliver and Company” was the end of arguably the company’s weakest trio of consecutive releases with “The Black Cauldron” and “The Great Mouse Detective”.
Oliver and Company
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- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
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[DVD Review] Oliver & Company: 20th Anniversary Edition
3 February 2009 9:40 PM, PST
| JustPressPlay.net
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Originally released in 1988, Oliver & Company tells the classic tale of Oliver Twist using cats and dogs; this animated feature showcases how two groups of animals, that were never meant to get along, actually can.
Oliver, a young cat, finds himself alone and uncertain in the big and overwhelming city of New York. He's quickly spotted by Dodger, a street wise mutt, while trying desperately to steal a quick bite of sausage from a street corner vendor. Dodger quickly capitalizes on Oliver's naivete and uses him to help steal a length of hot links to feed his pack of dogs. And so begins their adventure together.
Along the way Oliver is introduced to Dodger's group of friends which is made up of a variety of dogs from a Chihuahua (Tito) with an ego bigger than King Kong to a bulldog (Francis) who has a desire for the finer things in life.
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- Jason Craig
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[DVD Review] Oliver & Company: 20th Anniversary Edition
3 February 2009 9:40 PM, PST
| JustPressPlay.net
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Originally released in 1988, Oliver & Company tells the classic tale of Oliver Twist using cats and dogs; this animated feature showcases how two groups of animals, that were never meant to get along, actually can.
Oliver, a young cat, finds himself alone and uncertain in the big and overwhelming city of New York. He's quickly spotted by Dodger, a street wise mutt, while trying desperately to steal a quick bite of sausage from a street corner vendor. Dodger quickly capitalizes on Oliver's naivete and uses him to help steal a length of hot links to feed his pack of dogs. And so begins their adventure together.
Along the way Oliver is introduced to Dodger's group of friends which is made up of a variety of dogs from a Chihuahua (Tito) with an ego bigger than King Kong to a bulldog (Francis) who has a desire for the finer things in life.
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- Jason Craig
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Review: 'Oliver and Company' 20th Anniversary Edition
1 February 2009 8:03 AM, PST
| Comicmix.com
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Disney’s fortunes with their animated fare had fallen fairly far by the 1980s. The sheer expense of hand animation made the films difficult to mount and then changing audience tastes always seem to stay a step or two ahead of Disney. In the past, Disney films were the tastemakers, introducing pop songs and icons but those days more or less ended in 1968 with the Jungle Book.
The arrival of Oliver and Company in 1988 signaled a step in the right direction. The studio experimented tepidly with computer animation using the technology for backgrounds on The Great Mouse Detective just prior to this film. Now, they used it for more backgrounds and actual character animation, allowing them to focus more on story, song, and characterization.
In keeping with Walt Disney’s habit, the film is based on a public domain tale, Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, but totally reconfigured in contemporary terms.
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- Robert Greenberger
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