U2 frontman Bono co-wrote a whodunnit film way back in 2000 called "The Million Dollar Hotel," but 23 years later, he has made his return to the world of movies -- and the result is unexpectedly gorgeous.
This past October, Max released a short film called "Peter and the Wolf," a new adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic classic which Bono not only wrote, but he also created the artwork on which the film was based. Not bad for a rock star. This story has been adapted for the screen numerous times, but it's never looked as striking as it does here. The broad strokes of the narrative are the same as you might remember, and composer/narrator Gavin Friday's musical riff on the familiar motifs may whisk you back to hearing these tunes in your childhood, but the visuals are what stand out the most here.
Shot using practical miniature...
This past October, Max released a short film called "Peter and the Wolf," a new adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's symphonic classic which Bono not only wrote, but he also created the artwork on which the film was based. Not bad for a rock star. This story has been adapted for the screen numerous times, but it's never looked as striking as it does here. The broad strokes of the narrative are the same as you might remember, and composer/narrator Gavin Friday's musical riff on the familiar motifs may whisk you back to hearing these tunes in your childhood, but the visuals are what stand out the most here.
Shot using practical miniature...
- 12/22/2023
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Max’s new animated short, “Peter & the Wolf” (now streaming), turns the beloved folktale and Sergei Prokofiev symphony into a Gothic re-invention about grief and environmental protection. It’s about 12-year-old Peter who lives with his grandfather and explores a vast meadow and forest to find a wolf — with the help of some animals — while fending off hunters.
Based on the 2003 book by Irish musician/composer Gavin Friday (with illustrations by Bono) and accompanying CD with The Friday-Seezer Ensemble, the 30-minute black-and-white short animates the characters in 2D. They contain a rough, hand-of-the-artist aesthetic, bolstered by miniature sets to complete the monochromatic, hybrid look.
It’s produced by Adriana Piasek-Wanski for BMG and Blink Industries and directed by Elliot Dear and Stephen McNally. Coinciding with the short, there’s a new edition of the book along with a new release of the score and a theme song by Friday...
Based on the 2003 book by Irish musician/composer Gavin Friday (with illustrations by Bono) and accompanying CD with The Friday-Seezer Ensemble, the 30-minute black-and-white short animates the characters in 2D. They contain a rough, hand-of-the-artist aesthetic, bolstered by miniature sets to complete the monochromatic, hybrid look.
It’s produced by Adriana Piasek-Wanski for BMG and Blink Industries and directed by Elliot Dear and Stephen McNally. Coinciding with the short, there’s a new edition of the book along with a new release of the score and a theme song by Friday...
- 10/19/2023
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Facing tight budgets and continued uncertainty in the entertainment sector, buyers at this year’s MipJunior are expected to largely stick to tried and true IP, but many still see opportunities for exciting original content.
In addition to presenting the hottest new kids’ shows from around the globe, MipJunior, which runs Oct. 13-15, will examine the latest developments and trends that are redefining the market, such as the state of co-production and financing amid audience fragmentation, consumer use of multi-platform media, the growing role of gaming and the emergence of disruptive technologies like AI.
“Given the current uncertainties in the sector around streamers and broadcasters, we see less appetite for risk and thus more interest in established brands and IP with built-in audiences,” says Bernd Wendeln, COO of Munich-based Your Family Entertainment (Yfe).
A subsidiary of Beverly Hills- based Kartoon Studios, Yfe’s recent hit titles include “Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten,...
In addition to presenting the hottest new kids’ shows from around the globe, MipJunior, which runs Oct. 13-15, will examine the latest developments and trends that are redefining the market, such as the state of co-production and financing amid audience fragmentation, consumer use of multi-platform media, the growing role of gaming and the emergence of disruptive technologies like AI.
“Given the current uncertainties in the sector around streamers and broadcasters, we see less appetite for risk and thus more interest in established brands and IP with built-in audiences,” says Bernd Wendeln, COO of Munich-based Your Family Entertainment (Yfe).
A subsidiary of Beverly Hills- based Kartoon Studios, Yfe’s recent hit titles include “Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Timed perfectly to Friday’s harvest moon that illuminated the dusty Las Vegas skyline, Sphere — Madison Square Garden’s epic $2.3 billion immersive live entertainment venue and the world’s largest spherical structure — opened its doors for the first time. Joining the packed house of 20,000 attendees, a parade of music-loving celebrities made their way to the technological marvel for the main event, the debut of U2:uv Achtung Baby Live At Sphere. A-listers also gawked at the visionary achievement of Jim Dolan, Msg Entertainment and Sphere Entertainment executive chairman and CEO.
Aaron Paul, Andre Agassi, Bryan Cranston, Connie Britton, Dakota Fanning, Darren Aronofsky, Diplo, Elizabeth Banks, Jon Hamm, Josh Duhamel, Jane Seymour, Luke Wilson, Maria Sharapova, Mario Lopez, Oscar De La Hoya, Skylar Astin and Steffi Graf made appearances on the carpet. Inside, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom watched the show alongside Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos. From the stage, Bono name-checked Paul McCartney,...
Aaron Paul, Andre Agassi, Bryan Cranston, Connie Britton, Dakota Fanning, Darren Aronofsky, Diplo, Elizabeth Banks, Jon Hamm, Josh Duhamel, Jane Seymour, Luke Wilson, Maria Sharapova, Mario Lopez, Oscar De La Hoya, Skylar Astin and Steffi Graf made appearances on the carpet. Inside, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom watched the show alongside Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos. From the stage, Bono name-checked Paul McCartney,...
- 9/30/2023
- by Melinda Sheckells
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"If we look closer, what we find in the darkness might surprise us..." Max has unveiled an official trailer for an animated short film streaming this fall called Peter and The Wolf. Yes, another version of this classic story, this time coming from the mind of U2's Bono. Featuring music and narration by Gavin Friday, and artwork based on original illustrations by Bono. After the success of Apple's The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, everyone is trying to make more films like this. The short transforms Sergei Prokofiev's classic symphony into a film that touches on themes of growing up, loss, courage, and our relationship with nature. The project was originally developed back in 2003 by Gavin Friday and Bono in support of Irish Hospice Foundation (Ihf), a national charity supporting those facing dying, death and bereavement. 30 years later they've got a final version ready.
- 9/27/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
New True Detective instalment, The Regime, The Sympathizer adaptation also on the way.
Warner Bros Discovery (Wbd) teased plenty of content on Wednesday’s presentation for its launch of the Max streaming service, among them new shows in development based on the Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones worlds and in-production Batman spin-off series The Penguin.
All these shows and others mentioned in the presentation heavily suggest Wbd will exploit its vast content stable to build franchises as it competes for customers’ dollars against more established rivals like Netflix and Disney+.
Max, which launches in the US on May 23, has ordered an original,...
Warner Bros Discovery (Wbd) teased plenty of content on Wednesday’s presentation for its launch of the Max streaming service, among them new shows in development based on the Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones worlds and in-production Batman spin-off series The Penguin.
All these shows and others mentioned in the presentation heavily suggest Wbd will exploit its vast content stable to build franchises as it competes for customers’ dollars against more established rivals like Netflix and Disney+.
Max, which launches in the US on May 23, has ordered an original,...
- 4/12/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday unveiled a plethora of new programming and some significant changes coming to flagship streaming service HBO Max, which will now be called simply “Max” and debut on May 23.
CEO David Zaslav and other Wbd executives also gave a glimpse of highly anticipated new series, with trailers of “The Batman” spinoff “The Penguin”; “The Regime,” starring Kate Winslet; and a new animated “Gremlins” from Joe Dante, with voice talents including Sandra Oh and Bowen Yang.
The company also unveiled a new pricing plan that includes an ad-supported streaming option — at $9.99/mo. the same price as HBO Max’s ad-supported plan — and a new, more expensive $19.99/mo. plan that includes higher-definition streams.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Wednesday’s big event:
A new “Game of Thrones“ prequel
The series, which is set 100 years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” is called “A Knight...
CEO David Zaslav and other Wbd executives also gave a glimpse of highly anticipated new series, with trailers of “The Batman” spinoff “The Penguin”; “The Regime,” starring Kate Winslet; and a new animated “Gremlins” from Joe Dante, with voice talents including Sandra Oh and Bowen Yang.
The company also unveiled a new pricing plan that includes an ad-supported streaming option — at $9.99/mo. the same price as HBO Max’s ad-supported plan — and a new, more expensive $19.99/mo. plan that includes higher-definition streams.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Wednesday’s big event:
A new “Game of Thrones“ prequel
The series, which is set 100 years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” is called “A Knight...
- 4/12/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Max and Cartoon Network have greenlit an animated rendition of the beloved classic tale Peter & The Wolf featuring music and narration by Gavin Friday, and artwork based on original illustrations by Bono. The special transforms Sergei Prokofiev’s much-loved symphony into an enchanting and contemporary visual masterpiece that touches on themes of growing up, loss, courage, transformation, and our relationship with nature. The animated short film is scheduled to premiere later this year and is part of an ongoing relationship with Irish Hospice Foundation.
The uniquely creative project is led by musician and composer Gavin Friday and saw him narrate the reimagined classic tale with The Friday Seezer Ensemble performing Prokofiev score, newly arranged by Maurice Seezer and Gavin Friday.
The artwork seen throughout the film is based on original illustrations by Gavin Friday’s longtime friend and collaborator, Bono, from his book of the same name.
Featuring a...
The uniquely creative project is led by musician and composer Gavin Friday and saw him narrate the reimagined classic tale with The Friday Seezer Ensemble performing Prokofiev score, newly arranged by Maurice Seezer and Gavin Friday.
The artwork seen throughout the film is based on original illustrations by Gavin Friday’s longtime friend and collaborator, Bono, from his book of the same name.
Featuring a...
- 4/12/2023
- by TV Shows Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid - TV
Max and Cartoon Network have greenlit an animated take on the classic tale Peter & the Wolf, featuring music and narration by Gavin Friday, and artwork based on original illustrations by Bono. The short film, slated to premiere later this year, transforms Sergei Prokofiev’s symphony into a contemporary piece that touches on themes of growing up, loss, courage, transformation, and our relationship with nature. The project was originally developed in 2003 by Gavin Friday and Bono in support of Irish Hospice Foundation, a national charity supporting those facing dying, death and bereavement.
The greenlight follows a recent pullback in kids/family animated original content by HBO Max. The special was announced during the Max presentation Wednesday where executive stressed a focus on families and kids for the combined HBO Max-Discovery+ platform.
Peter & the Wolf is led by musician and composer Friday who is narrating the reimagined classic tale with...
The greenlight follows a recent pullback in kids/family animated original content by HBO Max. The special was announced during the Max presentation Wednesday where executive stressed a focus on families and kids for the combined HBO Max-Discovery+ platform.
Peter & the Wolf is led by musician and composer Friday who is narrating the reimagined classic tale with...
- 4/12/2023
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Warner Bros. Discovery finally revealed the plans (and confirmed the long-rumored name) for its new streaming service, Max, which will combine offerings from HBO Max and Discovery+ into one product, during a splashy press presentation on the Warner Bros. Studio lot Wednesday.
The event kicked off at 10 a.m. at the iconic Burbank location, presided over by Wbd CEO David Zaslav, president and CEO of global streaming and games Jb Perrette, HBO and Max CEO and chairman Casey Bloys (who now also has oversight of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network), and U.S. networks group chairman and chief content officer Kathleen Finch.
“Max is the one to watch,” Zaslav said Wednesday, revealing the name and slogan of the merged streamer at the top of the event.
First announced in August 2022 — just a few months after the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery officially closed — the combined product was originally not...
The event kicked off at 10 a.m. at the iconic Burbank location, presided over by Wbd CEO David Zaslav, president and CEO of global streaming and games Jb Perrette, HBO and Max CEO and chairman Casey Bloys (who now also has oversight of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network), and U.S. networks group chairman and chief content officer Kathleen Finch.
“Max is the one to watch,” Zaslav said Wednesday, revealing the name and slogan of the merged streamer at the top of the event.
First announced in August 2022 — just a few months after the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery officially closed — the combined product was originally not...
- 4/12/2023
- by Jennifer Maas
- Variety Film + TV
Angelique Kidjo, Yo La Tengo, Bill Frisell, and Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart are among the artists featuring on a 50th-anniversary musical tribute to beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971.
Sonic Youth bandmates Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, Andrew Bird, Devendra Banhart, Gavin Friday & Howie B, the Fugs’ Ed Sanders, and more also appear on the album, which boasts musical interpretations of poems from Ginsberg’s 1971 book; some tracks feature the late poet reciting his works accompanied by the new music.
“In...
Sonic Youth bandmates Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, Andrew Bird, Devendra Banhart, Gavin Friday & Howie B, the Fugs’ Ed Sanders, and more also appear on the album, which boasts musical interpretations of poems from Ginsberg’s 1971 book; some tracks feature the late poet reciting his works accompanied by the new music.
“In...
- 1/29/2021
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Sunday marks Bono’s 60th birthday, and to celebrate the U2 singer has unveiled his “60 Songs That Saved My Life” playlist.
“These are some of the songs that saved my life,’ Bono wrote of the playlist. “The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.'”
Bono also penned a “fan letter” of gratitude to each of the artists included on his playlist,...
“These are some of the songs that saved my life,’ Bono wrote of the playlist. “The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.'”
Bono also penned a “fan letter” of gratitude to each of the artists included on his playlist,...
- 5/10/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Nick Cave shared a tender interpretation of T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer,” the first offering from the upcoming tribute compilation, Angelheaded Hipster, which was produced by the late Hal Willner. The record will arrive September 4th via BMG.
For his cover, Cave transformed “Cosmic Dancer” into a poignant piano ballad buoyed by a rich orchestral arrangement. The track arrived with a video of Cave and others recording the song in the studio, paired with a montage of archival footage of T. Rex.
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T.
For his cover, Cave transformed “Cosmic Dancer” into a poignant piano ballad buoyed by a rich orchestral arrangement. The track arrived with a video of Cave and others recording the song in the studio, paired with a montage of archival footage of T. Rex.
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T.
- 4/29/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
“AngelHeaded Hipster,” a long-percolating tribute album to Marc Bolan and T. Rex — featuring U2, Elton John, Nick Cave, Joan Jett, Lucinda Williams and Father John Misty, and which is a companion to a forthcoming documentary film on the legendary rocker — is due on Sept. 4. The first track from the album, Cave’s take on Bolan’s 1971 song “Cosmic Dancer,” can be heard here.
The 26-track album, helmed by veteran producer Hal Willner — who passed away April 7 due to complications from coronavirus — features a tag team between U2 and Elton John on T. Rex’s biggest hit, “Bang a Gong (Get It On),” as well as contributions from Cave, Jett, Williams, Misty, Todd Rundgen, Perry Farrell, Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, Kesha and many others. The full track list appears below.
Both the album and documentary are from BMG, in collaboration with Who/Robert Plant manager Bill Curbishley’s Trinifold company.
The 26-track album, helmed by veteran producer Hal Willner — who passed away April 7 due to complications from coronavirus — features a tag team between U2 and Elton John on T. Rex’s biggest hit, “Bang a Gong (Get It On),” as well as contributions from Cave, Jett, Williams, Misty, Todd Rundgen, Perry Farrell, Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, Kesha and many others. The full track list appears below.
Both the album and documentary are from BMG, in collaboration with Who/Robert Plant manager Bill Curbishley’s Trinifold company.
- 4/29/2020
- by Jem Aswad
- Variety Film + TV
Brendan Fraser and Ashley Judd in The Passion Of Darkly Noon will be available on Blu-ray March 24th From Arrow Video
If You Go Down To The Woods Tonight
Described by critic Mark Kermode as an extraordinary filmmaker and one of the UK s most imaginative talents , visionary British director Philip Ridley followed his sensational debut The Reflecting Skin with another surreal incursion into the dark heart of the ‘American dream’ in The Passion of Darkly Noon.
Darkly Noon (Brendan Fraser) is the sole survivor of a military-style attack on an isolated religious community. Stumbling through a forest in a daze, he is rescued by the free-spirited and enigmatic Callie (Ashley Judd). Darkly finds himself feeling strange new desires for Callie as she nurses him back to health only to watch her jump into the arms of her returning mute lover Clay (Viggo Mortensen). Lost in the woods with only...
If You Go Down To The Woods Tonight
Described by critic Mark Kermode as an extraordinary filmmaker and one of the UK s most imaginative talents , visionary British director Philip Ridley followed his sensational debut The Reflecting Skin with another surreal incursion into the dark heart of the ‘American dream’ in The Passion of Darkly Noon.
Darkly Noon (Brendan Fraser) is the sole survivor of a military-style attack on an isolated religious community. Stumbling through a forest in a daze, he is rescued by the free-spirited and enigmatic Callie (Ashley Judd). Darkly finds himself feeling strange new desires for Callie as she nurses him back to health only to watch her jump into the arms of her returning mute lover Clay (Viggo Mortensen). Lost in the woods with only...
- 3/4/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Bonnaroo lineup dropped this morning and it’s pretty short on classic-rock acts unless Tool and Oysterhead now fall under that banner. But buried on the fifth line of the Friday section is the news that Turkuaz featuring Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew will perform the 1980 Talking Heads masterpiece Remain in Light. The funk band has been working with the Talking Heads guitarist for a number of years, and they’re gigging all over America this year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album.
“It’s been a...
“It’s been a...
- 1/7/2020
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Success in the ’90s gave Robert Altman the opportunity to experiment once again. Several short stories by Raymond Carver interlock in a mosaic of Los Angeles populated by scores of actors in ensemble mode. Clocking in at three hours, Altman’s epic has all the time and space it needs.
Short Cuts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 265
1993 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 187 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 18, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore,
Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis, Margery Bond, Robert DoQui.
Cinematography Walt Lloyd
Production Designer Stephen Altman
Art Direction Jerry Fleming
Film Editors Suzy Elmiger, Geraldine Peroni
Original Music Gavin Friday, Mark Isham
Written by Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt from writings...
Short Cuts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 265
1993 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 187 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 18, 2016 / 39.95
Starring Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore,
Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis, Margery Bond, Robert DoQui.
Cinematography Walt Lloyd
Production Designer Stephen Altman
Art Direction Jerry Fleming
Film Editors Suzy Elmiger, Geraldine Peroni
Original Music Gavin Friday, Mark Isham
Written by Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt from writings...
- 12/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Two new U2 films, a behind-the-scenes documentary and a live concert, will air on HBO this fall. The doc, premiering November 7th, will focus on how the group's current Innocence + Experience tour came together, while the concert film will be shot at the band's Paris gig on November 14th and air the same day. Titles for both films have ye to be revealed.
The documentary will feature interviews with all four members of the group, as well as the people who work backstage and helped conceive the band's current tour.
The documentary will feature interviews with all four members of the group, as well as the people who work backstage and helped conceive the band's current tour.
- 7/30/2015
- Rollingstone.com
Courtney Love has a lot of big plans. She's always had them, really, but right now she has a particularly large number of irons in a variety of fires. For starters, she wants to get back into acting, she tells Vanity Fair. For the last three years I've wanted to act — since Sean Penn took me to this indie movie he did at Cannes. I got this huge fire in my belly. It was about Bono's best friend, Gavin Friday, and Sean was playing Gavin. I'm like the only person in the audience who knows Gavin really well. And I'm like, "Wait, I'm on peyote. This is crazy." But I got this fire in my belly like I hadn't gotten in 12 years. Like, fuck, fuck, fuck. That's rock 'n' roll. I want to do that. But with acting, it's a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. Her memoir, which is set...
- 8/26/2013
- by Margaret Lyons
- Vulture
Son of Rogue's Gallery, a compilation of songs from the seafaring tradition, will feature a grizzled crew including Keith Richards, Michael Stipe, Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan
Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Tom Waits and the Pogues' Shane MacGowan are among the contributors to a new compilation of pirate ballads. The grizzled, A-list crew was assembled by Johnny Depp, who performs on the album, and the people behind the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
First, some more names. Among the hearties who are shivering timbers on Son of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys: Tom Waits with Keith Richards, Michael Stipe with Courtney Love, Nick Cave, Broken Social Scene, Marianne Faithful with the McGarrigle sisters, Sissy Bounce with Akron/Family, Beth Orton, Macy Gray and Sean Lennon.
The two-disc set, due next year, is the sequel to a compilation from 2006. There too, Pirates producer Hal Willner manned the tiller.
Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Tom Waits and the Pogues' Shane MacGowan are among the contributors to a new compilation of pirate ballads. The grizzled, A-list crew was assembled by Johnny Depp, who performs on the album, and the people behind the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
First, some more names. Among the hearties who are shivering timbers on Son of Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys: Tom Waits with Keith Richards, Michael Stipe with Courtney Love, Nick Cave, Broken Social Scene, Marianne Faithful with the McGarrigle sisters, Sissy Bounce with Akron/Family, Beth Orton, Macy Gray and Sean Lennon.
The two-disc set, due next year, is the sequel to a compilation from 2006. There too, Pirates producer Hal Willner manned the tiller.
- 12/7/2012
- by Sean Michaels
- The Guardian - Film News
While we wait for The Weinstein Company to decide when they will release Paolo Sorrentino's oddball roadtrip/Holocaust drama/revenge movie "This Must Be The Place," starring Sean Penn as a burned out, eccentric rocker, the movie is gearing up to hit U.K. cinemas this weekend. And not only that, the soundtrack -- which is already on CD overseas -- is getting a new, sexy, double LP, picture-disc reissue. Not bad, right?
Though the film itself has had an uneven reception to say the least, the soundtrack boasts some pretty incredible names. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and indie folk/country troubadour Will Oldham teamed with Irish singer-songwriter Michael Brunnock, and calling their outfit The Pieces Of Shit, the trio deliver five new songs: "Lay & Love" (a Bonnie "Prince" Billy cover), "Open Up," "Eliza," "If It Falls It Falls" and "The Sword Is Yours." Also featured are two...
Though the film itself has had an uneven reception to say the least, the soundtrack boasts some pretty incredible names. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and indie folk/country troubadour Will Oldham teamed with Irish singer-songwriter Michael Brunnock, and calling their outfit The Pieces Of Shit, the trio deliver five new songs: "Lay & Love" (a Bonnie "Prince" Billy cover), "Open Up," "Eliza," "If It Falls It Falls" and "The Sword Is Yours." Also featured are two...
- 4/5/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the U2 album Achtung Baby, British magazine Q has put together a parallel cover album that so far we thoroughly approve of. Ahk-toong Bay-bi Covered goes out with Q's December issue, on sale today or available for order off Q's site. It features former U2 collaborator Trent Reznor, the band Garbage (who haven't produced anything before this since 2007), Patti Smith, and many more magical names from the vault.
To whet your appetite, we've posted all the tracks leaked so far (full tracklist below). Depeche Mode's "So Cruel" and Jack White's "Love Is Blindness" are our reigning favorites, but we wouldn't kick any of these out of bed, if you know what we're saying. Mainly because they're songs and you can't kick songs out of bed, but also, we're saying, because they're all pretty good.
Listen below, or stream the whole album at Q's site :
Garbage,...
To whet your appetite, we've posted all the tracks leaked so far (full tracklist below). Depeche Mode's "So Cruel" and Jack White's "Love Is Blindness" are our reigning favorites, but we wouldn't kick any of these out of bed, if you know what we're saying. Mainly because they're songs and you can't kick songs out of bed, but also, we're saying, because they're all pretty good.
Listen below, or stream the whole album at Q's site :
Garbage,...
- 10/26/2011
- by Mallika Rao
- Huffington Post
Adele continues to hold firm on top of the Irish album chart, as 21 clocks up another week at number one. The 'Someone Like You' star also retains the number two position with her debut release 19. Mary Byrne remains unmoved from her three spot with Mine & Yours. Jessie J jumps three places to number four with Who You Are, while Bruno Mars enjoys a similar jump to six with Doo Wops & Hooligans. Within the top 20, Britney Spears's Femme Fatale climbs to number 15 in its fifth week in the chart. Two Door Cinema Club's Tourist History sits at number 20, up five from last week. New entries this week come from: Gavin Friday at 21 with Catholic, Emmylou Harris's Hard Bargain at 36. Notable climbers are Pink at number 23 with Greatest Hits... So Far!!!, (more)...
- 5/3/2011
- by By Ryan Love
- Digital Spy
Gavin Friday has reportedly been credited with rescuing U2's first American number one - by identifying its missing component. According to guitarist The Edge, the band were struggling to complete 'With Or Without You' and had considered abandoning the 1987 track before Bono's childhood friend arrived at the studio. "We were making The Joshua Tree album and were having trouble with one of the songs," The Edge told Rte documentary Ladies and Gentlemen, Gavin Friday. "It just wasn't coming together. I'd just received a new guitar, the Infinite Guitar, so I was in the room playing with the guitar, oblivious to the fact that the others were in the other room listening to a (more)...
- 4/4/2010
- by By Sarah Rollo
- Digital Spy
Bono says the recipe for a happy marriage is a little bit of mystery. "After all these years she's still a mystery to me," he says about his wife Ali. The pair, who celebrated Gavin Friday's 50th birthday at Carnegie Hall, have been together for over 30 years. They began dating in 1975 and got married in 1982. The couple appeared inseparable at the gig in Carnegie Hall and their marriage is often cited as a too-rare showbiz success. Ali has often said that their marriage works because they work hard to keep it that way. "Our marriage has worked because we like each other, because we talk to each other, and we are passionate about what we do. We allow each other to pursue our goals," she says. "I wouldn't want to be married to someone who wasn't happy with what they were doing in life, and B (Bono) wouldn't either.
- 10/13/2009
- IrishCentral
Baz Luhrmann's sophomore effort, 1996's Romeo + Juliet, is today perhaps best remembered for spotlighting Leonardo DiCaprio's pre-Titanic charisma. For a movie that took the world's best known love story and transferred it to a new era, its soundtrack remains firmly etched in its own time. The movie very much resembles a music video with its fast-paced editing, and the music choices reflect that style. There are scenes where songs are so prominently featured, it's as if Luhrmann first picked out a soundscape, and then went on to visualize it. An extra pleasure gained from listening to the soundtrack is the surprising presence of some tracks that were only briefly featured in the movie, such as the aggressive, seductive material of Butthole Surfers. The film's score, composed by Nellee Hooper, Craig Armstrong, and Marius De Vries, was completely omitted from the first soundtrack album, though it was later...
- 10/7/2009
- by Sandra
- SoundOnSight
U2 frontman Bono Vox is one of the most recognisable rock 'n' roll stars on the planet. The Irish singer's penchant for political activism and cosy cups of tea with George Bush, Tony Blair and the Pope has helped his band become one of the most successful acts of the last 30 years. The group's 12th studio album No Line On The Horizon is released next week and to celebrate, we've gathered up ten intriguing tidbits about the frontman. Read on if you want to know why he always wears those blooming sunglasses! 1. Bono was born on May 10, 1960 in Glasnevin, Dublin. His real name is Paul David Hewson. 2. Before getting the nickname Bono, friends called him 'Steinvic von Huyseman', 'Huyseman', 'Bon Murray' and 'Bono Vox of O'Connell Street'. Pal Gavin Friday came up with the Bono Vox (more)...
- 2/25/2009
- by By Alex Fletcher
- Digital Spy
When the music documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man made its North American premiere in Austin in 2007, I interviewed its out filmmaker Stephen Kijak (Cinemania). As a full-fledged proselytizing Scott Walker freak, I would have liked the fact that Stephen has the gay to be enough to get our readers to give it a click, but let's get real. The audience for documentary films about obscure ex-pat musical geniuses is neither large nor disproportionately well-represented on our site.
I found a way to get around that little problem when the publicist for the film sent out a note that one of its associate producers was also available for press events in Austin: actor and AfterElton.com hot 100 listee Gale Harold (Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives). I interviewed him; the article did well, so my editor was happy; I got to write about one of my musical obsessions, so I was,...
I found a way to get around that little problem when the publicist for the film sent out a note that one of its associate producers was also available for press events in Austin: actor and AfterElton.com hot 100 listee Gale Harold (Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives). I interviewed him; the article did well, so my editor was happy; I got to write about one of my musical obsessions, so I was,...
- 1/24/2009
- by christiekeith
- The Backlot
by indieWIRE (December 17, 2008) Stephen Kijak's doc "Scott Walker: 30 Century Man" explores one of the most enigmatic figures in rock history. Scott Walker, a superstar in Britain's 1960s pop scene as lead singer of the Walker Brothers who evolved into influential soundmakers of the last few decades. Kijak's doc features interviews with David Bowie, Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, Damon Albarn, Alison Goldfrapp, Sting, Johnny Marr and Gavin Friday, among many others. "Walker" premiered at the London Film Festival on Hallowe'en, 2006, and has since screened at the Berlinale and SXSW. It finally opens in limited release today and New York City's IFC Center.
- 12/17/2008
- by peter
- indieWIRE - People
Like the Eminem starrer "8 Mile", "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", starring rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, takes many elements from the rap star's real life and folds them into the contours of a quasi-fictional film that charts the entertainer's path through poverty and despair to stardom. Both stories are similar in that this path is littered with daunting obstacles, which its true-life hero did overcome. The difference here is that for all its biographical truth, "Get Rich"'s journey into a ghetto of hustlers, gangstas and mindless violence is all too familiar.
Stretching back to blaxploitation in the '70s to recent films by John Singleton, Ernest Dickerson and others, we've moved down these mean streets, watched drive-by shootings and witnessed drug deals and gang feuds ad infinitum. Fortunately for the film's boxoffice, it will draw from two distinct demographics. Director Jim Sheridan has a definite following in major urban markets, colleges and special venues thanks to such films as "In America" and "My Left Foot", while 50 Cent, of course, has a huge following among rap fans and blacks. So boxoffice looks strong.
Sheridan and writer Terence Winter, once a staff writer on "The Sopranos", do have several things going for them to partially offset the been-there, done-that feeling. One is a ruthlessly unsentimental and nonjudgmental approach to a life mired in poverty, where crime seems the only way out. The film offers no emotional pleas or social messages; rather, its makers deliver an unblinking distillation of the urban experience for far too many young black males.
Another positive is 50 Cents himself. There should be no surprise that rappers such as Eminem and 50 Cent prove talented actors. As performers onstage, performers who have renamed themselves, they have long played a character based on but not to be confused with their own personas. They are actors.
50 Cent's range is not as wide as Eminem's, but he creates plenty of empathy for the fatherless boy, here called Marcus, whose drug-dealer mom (Serena Reeder) dies when he is 12. Marcus' grandparents take him in, but the boy heads down the only path he sees open to him when he gets into crime just like his mom.
The film hits all the well-publicized highlights of the life of 50 Cent in his ascension in a gang of drug dealers, their war with Colombian dealers, a flirtation with rap that never takes hold since crime seems so much easier and finally the nine gunshot wounds that miraculously failed to take his life.
In cinematographic terms, Winter's screenplay is always in intense medium close-up, never pulling back for a wider angle of society or even New York. Does his character really have no other options than crime? Does society take any blame? Could his grandparents (Viola Davis and Sullivan Walker) have intervened? The film doesn't even ask. It just barrels ahead with a life heading for tragedy that, again miraculously, takes a detour into creativity. That it leads to musical success is merely gravy. For the portrait here is one of creativity winning the day and saving a life -- or maybe several -- when Marcus' girlfriend (Joy Bryant) gives birth to his son and he accepts responsibility for his family's well-being.
As with all Sheridan movies, this one contains fine acting. The suddenly hot Terrence Howard stands out as Bama, a fellow ex-con and friend who encourages Marcus' move into rap and winds up as his manager. London-born Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje brings an icy chill to his portrait of a gangsta whose friendship can turn lethal in a moment.
Veteran Bill Duke enters "Godfather" territory with his heavy-limbed, dignified portrait of a ruthless drug kingpin. Newcomer Reeder shows exceptional talent and beauty as Marcus' mother.
And, as with many Sheridan movies, the director demonstrates a fascination with how family units function and flourish under adverse conditions. It is especially attentive to the changing attitudes of its lead character, who is marvelously played as a child by Marc John Jefferies until 50 Cent can take over.
The soundtrack is not, fortunately, chockablock with music and rap. Music is used discreetly for dramatic impact, though there is more than enough to guarantee huge album sales. Declan Quinn and designer Mark Geraghty, both of whom worked with Sheridan on "In America", definitely capture the grit and seemingly omnipresent darkness of the South Bronx.
GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN'
Paramount Pictures
An Interscope/Shady/Aftermath/MTV Films production
Credits:
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenwriter: Terence Winter
Producers: Jimmy Iovine, Paul Rosenberg, Chris Lighty, Jim Sheridan
Executive producers: Gene Kirkwood, Stuart Parr, Van Toffler, David Gale, Arthur Lappin, Daniel Lupi
Director of photography: Declan Quinn
Production designer: Mark Geraghty
Music: Quincy Jones, Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
Costumes: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Editors: Conrad Buff, Roger Barton
Cast:
Marcus: Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson
Bama: Terrence Howard
Charlene: Joy Bryant
Levar: Bill Duke
Majestic: Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje
Keryl: Omar Benson Miller
Justice: Tory Kittles
Grandma: Viola Davis
Young Marcus: Marc John Jefferies
Antwan: Ashley Walters
Katrina: Serena Reeder
Running time -- 112 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Stretching back to blaxploitation in the '70s to recent films by John Singleton, Ernest Dickerson and others, we've moved down these mean streets, watched drive-by shootings and witnessed drug deals and gang feuds ad infinitum. Fortunately for the film's boxoffice, it will draw from two distinct demographics. Director Jim Sheridan has a definite following in major urban markets, colleges and special venues thanks to such films as "In America" and "My Left Foot", while 50 Cent, of course, has a huge following among rap fans and blacks. So boxoffice looks strong.
Sheridan and writer Terence Winter, once a staff writer on "The Sopranos", do have several things going for them to partially offset the been-there, done-that feeling. One is a ruthlessly unsentimental and nonjudgmental approach to a life mired in poverty, where crime seems the only way out. The film offers no emotional pleas or social messages; rather, its makers deliver an unblinking distillation of the urban experience for far too many young black males.
Another positive is 50 Cents himself. There should be no surprise that rappers such as Eminem and 50 Cent prove talented actors. As performers onstage, performers who have renamed themselves, they have long played a character based on but not to be confused with their own personas. They are actors.
50 Cent's range is not as wide as Eminem's, but he creates plenty of empathy for the fatherless boy, here called Marcus, whose drug-dealer mom (Serena Reeder) dies when he is 12. Marcus' grandparents take him in, but the boy heads down the only path he sees open to him when he gets into crime just like his mom.
The film hits all the well-publicized highlights of the life of 50 Cent in his ascension in a gang of drug dealers, their war with Colombian dealers, a flirtation with rap that never takes hold since crime seems so much easier and finally the nine gunshot wounds that miraculously failed to take his life.
In cinematographic terms, Winter's screenplay is always in intense medium close-up, never pulling back for a wider angle of society or even New York. Does his character really have no other options than crime? Does society take any blame? Could his grandparents (Viola Davis and Sullivan Walker) have intervened? The film doesn't even ask. It just barrels ahead with a life heading for tragedy that, again miraculously, takes a detour into creativity. That it leads to musical success is merely gravy. For the portrait here is one of creativity winning the day and saving a life -- or maybe several -- when Marcus' girlfriend (Joy Bryant) gives birth to his son and he accepts responsibility for his family's well-being.
As with all Sheridan movies, this one contains fine acting. The suddenly hot Terrence Howard stands out as Bama, a fellow ex-con and friend who encourages Marcus' move into rap and winds up as his manager. London-born Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje brings an icy chill to his portrait of a gangsta whose friendship can turn lethal in a moment.
Veteran Bill Duke enters "Godfather" territory with his heavy-limbed, dignified portrait of a ruthless drug kingpin. Newcomer Reeder shows exceptional talent and beauty as Marcus' mother.
And, as with many Sheridan movies, the director demonstrates a fascination with how family units function and flourish under adverse conditions. It is especially attentive to the changing attitudes of its lead character, who is marvelously played as a child by Marc John Jefferies until 50 Cent can take over.
The soundtrack is not, fortunately, chockablock with music and rap. Music is used discreetly for dramatic impact, though there is more than enough to guarantee huge album sales. Declan Quinn and designer Mark Geraghty, both of whom worked with Sheridan on "In America", definitely capture the grit and seemingly omnipresent darkness of the South Bronx.
GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN'
Paramount Pictures
An Interscope/Shady/Aftermath/MTV Films production
Credits:
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenwriter: Terence Winter
Producers: Jimmy Iovine, Paul Rosenberg, Chris Lighty, Jim Sheridan
Executive producers: Gene Kirkwood, Stuart Parr, Van Toffler, David Gale, Arthur Lappin, Daniel Lupi
Director of photography: Declan Quinn
Production designer: Mark Geraghty
Music: Quincy Jones, Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
Costumes: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Editors: Conrad Buff, Roger Barton
Cast:
Marcus: Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson
Bama: Terrence Howard
Charlene: Joy Bryant
Levar: Bill Duke
Majestic: Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje
Keryl: Omar Benson Miller
Justice: Tory Kittles
Grandma: Viola Davis
Young Marcus: Marc John Jefferies
Antwan: Ashley Walters
Katrina: Serena Reeder
Running time -- 112 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/5/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens Nov. 18
TORONTO -- Director Neil Jordan, whose 1996 film, "The General", was based on a novel by Ireland's Michael McCabe, again collaborates with the author on "Breakfast on Pluto".
A trippy tale surveying the life and times on one Patrick "Kitten" Braden, a blissfully oblivious tranvestite who finds himself getting mixed up with the IRA while searching for his long lost mother, the film has obvious parallels to Jordan's "The Crying Game".
But unlike that 1992 Oscar-winner, there's no big surprise ending here, although it really could have used one.
For while the sunny production values and '70s bubblegum soundtrack carry the film up to a point, there's a more-of-the-same quality to the narrative that simply can't sustain its 36-chapter, 135-minute running time.
Even with the suddenly ubiquitous Cillian Murphy in the title role, this Sony Classics release will hold limited commercial appeal.
Murphy goes from "Red Eye" to rouge lips to take on the role of "Kitten", a delicate-featured lad/lass with a breathy wisp of a voice that makes him sound like an Irish Michael Jackson.
Abandoned as a baby by his mother, a woman said to be the spitting image of Mitzi Gaynor, young Patrick occupies his youth trying on his step-sister's frocks and otherwise scandalizing his tiny Irish village.
When he becomes old enough to hitch a ride, Kitten embarks on a quest to track down his Ma, and along the way he meets up with a parade of colorful characters beginning with Billy Rock (Gavin Friday) the lead singer of a traveling rockabilly band that incorporates glam makeup and Wild West Indian themes, with whom he becomes romantically attached.
It's around this time he also becomes unwittingly involved in IRA activities and it's here that things become problematic.
Although it may have worked in book form, the juxtaposition of Kitten's escapades against a bloodily tumultuous period in Irish history, never convincingly jibe on screen, with the end result feeling like a forced conceit rather than an inspired concept.
Equally problematic is that Kitten's character, drawn by Jordan and McCabe, just isn't sufficiently interesting or likable to be around, despite Murphy's committed performance. It's one that's reminiscent of Gael Garcia Bernal's more provocative turn in Almodovar's "Bad Education".
Some amusing support is provided by a number of previous Jordan collaborators, including Liam Neeson as a priest with a secret link to Kitten's past, Stephen Rea as a lonely, smitten magician and Brendan Gleeson as a costumed kiddie theme park character named Uncle Bulgaria.
And it's hard to fault a soundtrack that manages to accommodate Van Morrison, Bobby Goldsboro, Harry Nilsson and the British band Middle of the Road, whose ridiculously infectious "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" effectively nails the desired loopy tone that the picture strives unsuccessfully to maintain.
BREAKFAST ON PLUTO
Sony Pictures Classics
A Pathe Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics presentation.
Credits:
Director: Neil Jordan
Producers: Alan Moloney, Neil Jordan, Stephen Wooley
Screenwriters: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Based on the original novel by Patrick McCabe
Director of photography: Declan Quinn
Production designer: Tom Conroy
Editor: Tony Lawson
Costume designer: Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh
Cast:
Patrick "Kitten" Braden: Cillian Murphy
Father Bernard: Liam Neeson
Bertie the Magician: Stephen Rea
Charlie: Ruth Negga
Irwin: Laurence Kinlan
Billy Rock: Gavin Friday
Mr. Silky String: Bryan Ferry
Running time -- 135 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
TORONTO -- Director Neil Jordan, whose 1996 film, "The General", was based on a novel by Ireland's Michael McCabe, again collaborates with the author on "Breakfast on Pluto".
A trippy tale surveying the life and times on one Patrick "Kitten" Braden, a blissfully oblivious tranvestite who finds himself getting mixed up with the IRA while searching for his long lost mother, the film has obvious parallels to Jordan's "The Crying Game".
But unlike that 1992 Oscar-winner, there's no big surprise ending here, although it really could have used one.
For while the sunny production values and '70s bubblegum soundtrack carry the film up to a point, there's a more-of-the-same quality to the narrative that simply can't sustain its 36-chapter, 135-minute running time.
Even with the suddenly ubiquitous Cillian Murphy in the title role, this Sony Classics release will hold limited commercial appeal.
Murphy goes from "Red Eye" to rouge lips to take on the role of "Kitten", a delicate-featured lad/lass with a breathy wisp of a voice that makes him sound like an Irish Michael Jackson.
Abandoned as a baby by his mother, a woman said to be the spitting image of Mitzi Gaynor, young Patrick occupies his youth trying on his step-sister's frocks and otherwise scandalizing his tiny Irish village.
When he becomes old enough to hitch a ride, Kitten embarks on a quest to track down his Ma, and along the way he meets up with a parade of colorful characters beginning with Billy Rock (Gavin Friday) the lead singer of a traveling rockabilly band that incorporates glam makeup and Wild West Indian themes, with whom he becomes romantically attached.
It's around this time he also becomes unwittingly involved in IRA activities and it's here that things become problematic.
Although it may have worked in book form, the juxtaposition of Kitten's escapades against a bloodily tumultuous period in Irish history, never convincingly jibe on screen, with the end result feeling like a forced conceit rather than an inspired concept.
Equally problematic is that Kitten's character, drawn by Jordan and McCabe, just isn't sufficiently interesting or likable to be around, despite Murphy's committed performance. It's one that's reminiscent of Gael Garcia Bernal's more provocative turn in Almodovar's "Bad Education".
Some amusing support is provided by a number of previous Jordan collaborators, including Liam Neeson as a priest with a secret link to Kitten's past, Stephen Rea as a lonely, smitten magician and Brendan Gleeson as a costumed kiddie theme park character named Uncle Bulgaria.
And it's hard to fault a soundtrack that manages to accommodate Van Morrison, Bobby Goldsboro, Harry Nilsson and the British band Middle of the Road, whose ridiculously infectious "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" effectively nails the desired loopy tone that the picture strives unsuccessfully to maintain.
BREAKFAST ON PLUTO
Sony Pictures Classics
A Pathe Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics presentation.
Credits:
Director: Neil Jordan
Producers: Alan Moloney, Neil Jordan, Stephen Wooley
Screenwriters: Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe
Based on the original novel by Patrick McCabe
Director of photography: Declan Quinn
Production designer: Tom Conroy
Editor: Tony Lawson
Costume designer: Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh
Cast:
Patrick "Kitten" Braden: Cillian Murphy
Father Bernard: Liam Neeson
Bertie the Magician: Stephen Rea
Charlie: Ruth Negga
Irwin: Laurence Kinlan
Billy Rock: Gavin Friday
Mr. Silky String: Bryan Ferry
Running time -- 135 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 9/12/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The third film in a modern Irish trilogy from Jim Sheridan and Terry George, "The Boxer" joins Sheridan's Oscar-nominated "In the Name of the Father" and George's "Some Mother's Son" as another serious look at troubled Northern Ireland, this time exploring the inner politics of the Irish Republican Army.
Not the stuff of runaway boxoffice but good enough to capture three Golden Globe nominations for best drama, actor and director, the hard-hitting Universal release should connect with its two leads, Daniel Day-Lewis and 1996 Oscar nominee Emily Watson, sparring romantically in dangerous Belfast.
Inspired by the life of Irish boxer Barry McGuigan, Sheridan and co-writer George have assembled the elements of a classic love story amid turmoil. Former IRA member Danny (Day-Lewis) took up boxing in prison and wants to limit his fighting to the ring when released. His old sweetheart Maggie (Watson) married Danny Best's friend, now the one behind bars, but she can't follow her heart.
Maggie has a pro-IRA teenage son (Ciaran Fitzgerald), and her father (Brian Cox) is chief of the local boys, including at least one vicious bloke (Gerard McSorley) who doesn't trust cease-fires and former soldiers like Danny, even when they punish the English legally in sports. In the Barry Fitzgerald/Thomas Mitchell role is Ken Stott as the feisty trainer who dreams of his glory days when he starts working with Danny.
Keeping his gloves on when horrific street battles and bombings are still the reaction of too many to British control of the country, Danny is rebuilding his life. Maggie could be a big part of it, but party rules dictate that wives of prisoners remain faithful, and woe to the daring man who makes a rash move toward one of them.
Danny knows the score, but the two sneak a few meetings. Meanwhile, the uneasy peace is destined to be broken, and the leads are caught up in the viciousness that never seems to end. Throughout, neither Danny nor Maggie is particularly vocal, but the talented actors deftly mix the tragic with the disarmingly playful. Their romance may be muted, but they have strong enough chemistry to keep the film moving, and one comes to dread an unhappy resolution.
What tends to slow down the movie while replaying elements from past works by Sheridan and others are the IRA scenes, where one is expected to sympathize (partially) with hard men in the business of killing innocent people. This time, however, the reason for such harsh measures is hardly introduced. The two sides are small urban armies, with front lines and war meetings in heavily guarded apartment buildings -- a nasty place from which Danny refuses to be driven.
For the terrific boxing scenes, Day-Lewis trained with former featherweight champ McGuigan, and the actor displays a controlled-but-awesome ferocity. The film could have used more such impressive pugilism and less of the usual politically motivated violence, but there's no denying the ending is powerful when brutal justice prevails.
THE BOXER
Universal Pictures
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenwriters: Jim Sheridan, Terry George
Producers: Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Brian Morris
Editor: Gerry Hambling
Costume designer: Joan Bergin
Music: Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
Casting: Nuala Moiselle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Danny: Daniel Day-Lewis
Maggie: Emily Watson
Joe Hamill: Brian Cox
Ike Weir: Ken Stott
Harry: Gerard McSorley
Liam: Ciaran Fitzgerald
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Not the stuff of runaway boxoffice but good enough to capture three Golden Globe nominations for best drama, actor and director, the hard-hitting Universal release should connect with its two leads, Daniel Day-Lewis and 1996 Oscar nominee Emily Watson, sparring romantically in dangerous Belfast.
Inspired by the life of Irish boxer Barry McGuigan, Sheridan and co-writer George have assembled the elements of a classic love story amid turmoil. Former IRA member Danny (Day-Lewis) took up boxing in prison and wants to limit his fighting to the ring when released. His old sweetheart Maggie (Watson) married Danny Best's friend, now the one behind bars, but she can't follow her heart.
Maggie has a pro-IRA teenage son (Ciaran Fitzgerald), and her father (Brian Cox) is chief of the local boys, including at least one vicious bloke (Gerard McSorley) who doesn't trust cease-fires and former soldiers like Danny, even when they punish the English legally in sports. In the Barry Fitzgerald/Thomas Mitchell role is Ken Stott as the feisty trainer who dreams of his glory days when he starts working with Danny.
Keeping his gloves on when horrific street battles and bombings are still the reaction of too many to British control of the country, Danny is rebuilding his life. Maggie could be a big part of it, but party rules dictate that wives of prisoners remain faithful, and woe to the daring man who makes a rash move toward one of them.
Danny knows the score, but the two sneak a few meetings. Meanwhile, the uneasy peace is destined to be broken, and the leads are caught up in the viciousness that never seems to end. Throughout, neither Danny nor Maggie is particularly vocal, but the talented actors deftly mix the tragic with the disarmingly playful. Their romance may be muted, but they have strong enough chemistry to keep the film moving, and one comes to dread an unhappy resolution.
What tends to slow down the movie while replaying elements from past works by Sheridan and others are the IRA scenes, where one is expected to sympathize (partially) with hard men in the business of killing innocent people. This time, however, the reason for such harsh measures is hardly introduced. The two sides are small urban armies, with front lines and war meetings in heavily guarded apartment buildings -- a nasty place from which Danny refuses to be driven.
For the terrific boxing scenes, Day-Lewis trained with former featherweight champ McGuigan, and the actor displays a controlled-but-awesome ferocity. The film could have used more such impressive pugilism and less of the usual politically motivated violence, but there's no denying the ending is powerful when brutal justice prevails.
THE BOXER
Universal Pictures
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenwriters: Jim Sheridan, Terry George
Producers: Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Brian Morris
Editor: Gerry Hambling
Costume designer: Joan Bergin
Music: Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
Casting: Nuala Moiselle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Danny: Daniel Day-Lewis
Maggie: Emily Watson
Joe Hamill: Brian Cox
Ike Weir: Ken Stott
Harry: Gerard McSorley
Liam: Ciaran Fitzgerald
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/22/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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