One of the finest films ever made about organized crime, “The Long Good Friday” (1980) sees the world of a London gangster abruptly destabilized by bomb attacks and murders of his associates. He and his henchmen attempt to uncover the attackers’ identities, all whilst trying not to worry their visitors in town for the weekend, who are members of the American mafia looking to invest in redevelopment in the area. This British mob classic may seem an odd film to evoke up top in a review of a French-language, Corsica-set debut feature. But one of the main strengths of director Julien Colonna’s “The Kingdom” is how it successfully pulls off a loosely similar, paranoia-driven fall-of-an-empire story within the context of a condensed time period.
The time frame in question is not quite as tight as “The Long Good Friday’s” 24-ish hours of mayhem, but instead a few weeks of...
The time frame in question is not quite as tight as “The Long Good Friday’s” 24-ish hours of mayhem, but instead a few weeks of...
- 5/20/2024
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- Indiewire
As the format continues to slowly gain traction – here’s our regularly-updated list of upcoming 4K UK disc releases.
Sitting alongside our list of upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases (that you can find here), we’re also keeping a calendar for those who support the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format. As we learn of new UK releases, we’ll add them to this list.
We have started adding shopping links too. We’d be obliged if you clicked on them, as it really helps us in our quest to make the Film Stories project of magazines, website and podcast profitable. We’re a 100% independent publisher, and we quite like drinking coffee. It’d be lovely to afford some more.
Without further ado, here are the titles we know about…
Out now
29th April: China O’Brien I & II
29th April: Titanic
29th April: Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths...
Sitting alongside our list of upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases (that you can find here), we’re also keeping a calendar for those who support the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format. As we learn of new UK releases, we’ll add them to this list.
We have started adding shopping links too. We’d be obliged if you clicked on them, as it really helps us in our quest to make the Film Stories project of magazines, website and podcast profitable. We’re a 100% independent publisher, and we quite like drinking coffee. It’d be lovely to afford some more.
Without further ado, here are the titles we know about…
Out now
29th April: China O’Brien I & II
29th April: Titanic
29th April: Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths...
- 5/20/2024
- by Simon Brew
- Film Stories
Clockwise from left: The Godfather Part II, Bonnie And Clyde, Goodfellas, The Departed (all images courtesy Warner Bros.)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Gangster movies are loaded with inherently alluring qualities: the vicarious thrill of watching an antihero buck the establishment and take what they want with impunity; the glamorous trappings...
Gangster movies are loaded with inherently alluring qualities: the vicarious thrill of watching an antihero buck the establishment and take what they want with impunity; the glamorous trappings...
- 12/6/2023
- by Scott Huver
- avclub.com
Gangsters, mobsters, thugs, and mugs. Organized crime holds the upper tier of the international cinematic commission. “Crime pays,” Edward G. Robinson, who played Rico Bandello in the seminal gangster film Little Caesar (1931), is famous for saying. “But only in the movies.” When a good mob movie is on the table, it is an offer no filmmaker can refuse. There is more intrigue, suspense, violence, mayhem, and madness to be found in the criminal element than any other genre.
“Gone are the days of the gangsters,” audiences heard for years, usually in movies about mobsters. They always rise up, even if they are splattered across the ornate fountains of their gangland mansions in the last frame, like Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Brian DePalma’s Scarface (1983), or rolling down the steps of a church, dead from a hail of bullets. That’s how James Cagney’s Eddie Bartlett went out in The Roaring Twenties (1939). Now,...
“Gone are the days of the gangsters,” audiences heard for years, usually in movies about mobsters. They always rise up, even if they are splattered across the ornate fountains of their gangland mansions in the last frame, like Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Brian DePalma’s Scarface (1983), or rolling down the steps of a church, dead from a hail of bullets. That’s how James Cagney’s Eddie Bartlett went out in The Roaring Twenties (1939). Now,...
- 9/16/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
John McVicar died on 6 September 2022 of a heart attack, aged 82. He was a seasoned ex-convict who turned his hand from armed robbery to a career in journalism, writing about crime and justice for the Guardian, the New Statesman and Spiked. However, this biopic is not about McVicar, the autodidact. Instead, it is a crime film about McVicar’s 1968 prison break that’s told with an austere, turn-of-the-’80s aesthetic comparable to Scum, The Black Panther and The Long Good Friday.
Roger Daltrey’s presence may raise questions about McVicar’s seriousness, but this isn’t a lazy rock star vehicle — Daltrey assumes the role with a sinewy attitude that doesn’t want for credibility. Credible too are McVicar’s fellow inmates and the staff who corral them at Hmp Durham, where life is stark but not without goodwill. There is a fair amount of camaraderie, in fact, with conflict rarely going beyond coarse words.
Roger Daltrey’s presence may raise questions about McVicar’s seriousness, but this isn’t a lazy rock star vehicle — Daltrey assumes the role with a sinewy attitude that doesn’t want for credibility. Credible too are McVicar’s fellow inmates and the staff who corral them at Hmp Durham, where life is stark but not without goodwill. There is a fair amount of camaraderie, in fact, with conflict rarely going beyond coarse words.
- 9/8/2023
- by Jack Hawkins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
With the festival kicking off tomorrow, Telluride Film Festival has now unveiled its lineup, featuring new films from Jeff Nichols (the first image from which can be seen above), Emerald Fennell, Annie Baker, Andrew Haigh, Yorgos Lanthimos, Justine Triet, Wim Wenders, Kitty Green, Ethan Hawke, and many more.
“Fifty years is a long time to do anything. And while we might be a little biased, we feel the work that Tff does is pretty important,” comments Telluride Film Festival director Julie Huntsinger. “We take the charge of preserving the theatrical experience and promoting film seriously, but with necessary winks here and there. We’re ecstatic to share a program we feel reflects so much of the past fifty years, naturally and organically, films old and new, which stand as a testament to our beloved co-founders Tom Luddy and Bill Pence who are no longer with us.”
• All Of US Strangers...
“Fifty years is a long time to do anything. And while we might be a little biased, we feel the work that Tff does is pretty important,” comments Telluride Film Festival director Julie Huntsinger. “We take the charge of preserving the theatrical experience and promoting film seriously, but with necessary winks here and there. We’re ecstatic to share a program we feel reflects so much of the past fifty years, naturally and organically, films old and new, which stand as a testament to our beloved co-founders Tom Luddy and Bill Pence who are no longer with us.”
• All Of US Strangers...
- 8/30/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
2023 Festival dedicated to founders Tom Luddy, Bill Pence, Stella Pence, James Card.
Telluride Film Festival has announced its 2023 50th anniversary line-up with Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall, and Steve McQueen’s Occupied City on the roster.
The selection, which will play in the Colorado Rockies locale from August 31 to September 4, includes Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes sensation The Zone Of Interest, Pablo Larrain’s El Conde, Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, George C. Wolfe’s Rustin, Nyad from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin,...
Telluride Film Festival has announced its 2023 50th anniversary line-up with Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall, and Steve McQueen’s Occupied City on the roster.
The selection, which will play in the Colorado Rockies locale from August 31 to September 4, includes Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes sensation The Zone Of Interest, Pablo Larrain’s El Conde, Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, George C. Wolfe’s Rustin, Nyad from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin,...
- 8/30/2023
- ScreenDaily
Cliff Twemlow is an obscure figure even by British B-movie standards, a handsome, no-nonsense former Manchester nightclub doorman who attempted to create a Hollywood of the north in the early ’80s and ’90s. Born in 1937, a fact he tried to cloud for many years, he was something of a renaissance man: He acted in soaps, he composed lucrative library music, he wrote a novel about a killer pike, and, after a wounding experience with a botched adaptation of his autobiographical novel Tuxedo Warrior, he decided to become a filmmaker himself.
His first production, G.B.H. (1982), was shot on video — the grainy, ugly, analog kind — and it rode on the coattails of the recent hit The Long Good Friday. Twemlow starred as a handsome, no-nonsense Manchester nightclub doorman, hired to protect a local nightclub from a protection racket after returning from a stretch in prison.
His first production, G.B.H. (1982), was shot on video — the grainy, ugly, analog kind — and it rode on the coattails of the recent hit The Long Good Friday. Twemlow starred as a handsome, no-nonsense Manchester nightclub doorman, hired to protect a local nightclub from a protection racket after returning from a stretch in prison.
- 8/28/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
I’ve loved gangster movies since I was four years old and saw Humphrey Bogart and Sylvia Sidney in Dead End (1937) on TV, and Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) at the movies (My dad pinched a lobby card for me). Every Friday night, a local NYC station ran old crime flicks on a slot called “Tough Guys.” Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft were the faces over the title. Today that might be Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, and James Gandolfini.
The gangster and crime genre produced some of the most influential films in cinema history. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931), William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), get a lot of credit for breaking ground in topics beyond criminality, shattering sexual taboos as well as the boundaries of acceptable visual violence. High Sierra (1941) and White Heat...
The gangster and crime genre produced some of the most influential films in cinema history. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931), William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), get a lot of credit for breaking ground in topics beyond criminality, shattering sexual taboos as well as the boundaries of acceptable visual violence. High Sierra (1941) and White Heat...
- 5/6/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Shepka Productions and Flickering Myth have announced that veteran British actors Paul Barber and Annabelle Lanyon have joined the cast of the upcoming gothic horror feature The Baby in the Basket.
Paul Barber is best known for portraying Denzil in the iconic sitcom Only Fools and Horses and Horse in the classic British film The Full Monty – a role he reprises this June for Disney+’s The Full Monty sequel series. Among his other extensive film and TV credits are The Long Good Friday, The Brothers McGregor, Chancer, The 51st State, One Night in Istanbul and Renegades.
Annabelle Lanyon starred alongside Tom Cruise in the role of Oona in Ridley Scott’s 1985 cult classic fantasy Legend and also featured in the British horror Dream Demon and ITV series Quatermass. Recent credits include the horror films Werewolves of the Third Reich and Bite.
The Baby in the Basket also stars Amber Doig-Thorne,...
Paul Barber is best known for portraying Denzil in the iconic sitcom Only Fools and Horses and Horse in the classic British film The Full Monty – a role he reprises this June for Disney+’s The Full Monty sequel series. Among his other extensive film and TV credits are The Long Good Friday, The Brothers McGregor, Chancer, The 51st State, One Night in Istanbul and Renegades.
Annabelle Lanyon starred alongside Tom Cruise in the role of Oona in Ridley Scott’s 1985 cult classic fantasy Legend and also featured in the British horror Dream Demon and ITV series Quatermass. Recent credits include the horror films Werewolves of the Third Reich and Bite.
The Baby in the Basket also stars Amber Doig-Thorne,...
- 5/3/2023
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
If you're a 90s kid like me, you probably know Bob Hoskins from playing Smee in "Hook" and private eye Eddie Valiant in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." I even remember him showing up in a standout "Frasier" episode where he played Dr. Crane's abrasive, cigar-addicted gym teacher, Coach Fuller. But if you look beyond his best-known roles, the man was one of the most versatile actors to ever do it. In fact, he started his film career not in charming, family-friendly projects, but by playing a ruthless London gangster.
"The Long Good Friday" is a 1980 crime thriller starring Hoskins as Harold Shand — a crime boss looking to go legit. Over the course of the film, Shand becomes increasingly violent and Hoskins portrays the gangster's struggles with his aggressive impulses with unsettling ease. But as we all now know, the actor was more than capable of playing much more diverse roles,...
"The Long Good Friday" is a 1980 crime thriller starring Hoskins as Harold Shand — a crime boss looking to go legit. Over the course of the film, Shand becomes increasingly violent and Hoskins portrays the gangster's struggles with his aggressive impulses with unsettling ease. But as we all now know, the actor was more than capable of playing much more diverse roles,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
Are you a Pierce Brosnan fan looking for a list of his best movies? Look no further! We’ve scoured the internet to compile data from trusted sources like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes audience scores to determine which movies have truly stood the test of time. In this article, we’ve put together the ultimate Pierce Brosnan movies list, ranked based on box office gross and audience ratings.
Pierce Brendan Brosnan — Also known as James Bond 007, has been captivating audiences for decades with his charming looks, suave demeanor, and incredible acting skills. The Irish-born actor has played some of the most iconic roles in Hollywood history, from the British spy James Bond to the suave art thief in “The Thomas Crown Affair.”
So, what makes a Pierce Brosnan movie great? Is it the action-packed scenes, the witty one-liners, or the heart-melting moments of vulnerability? We’ll be using a combination...
Pierce Brendan Brosnan — Also known as James Bond 007, has been captivating audiences for decades with his charming looks, suave demeanor, and incredible acting skills. The Irish-born actor has played some of the most iconic roles in Hollywood history, from the British spy James Bond to the suave art thief in “The Thomas Crown Affair.”
So, what makes a Pierce Brosnan movie great? Is it the action-packed scenes, the witty one-liners, or the heart-melting moments of vulnerability? We’ll be using a combination...
- 2/17/2023
- by Dee Gambit
- buddytv.com
For a director who has a seemingly boundless, whimsical imagination, you almost never hear stories about wonderful times making films directed by Terry Gilliam. He has a reputation as a hard-headed perfectionist and someone not particularly interested in compromising. His films consistently go over schedule and over budget, and getting a finished film on the screen rarely doesn't happen without frequent fights and arguments.
One would think that because Gilliam rose to prominence within a group setting as a member of Monty Python, he would be able to foster a collaborative environment — but he was the soloist within that group, creating the odd, absurd animated sequences for "Flying Circus." He had the leeway to do whatever he wanted and could create his own worlds without limits. When you are directing a multi-million dollar movie with hundreds of people working with you, that just isn't going to be a healthy way to operate,...
One would think that because Gilliam rose to prominence within a group setting as a member of Monty Python, he would be able to foster a collaborative environment — but he was the soloist within that group, creating the odd, absurd animated sequences for "Flying Circus." He had the leeway to do whatever he wanted and could create his own worlds without limits. When you are directing a multi-million dollar movie with hundreds of people working with you, that just isn't going to be a healthy way to operate,...
- 10/23/2022
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Casting movie stars can be a tricky proposition, especially if you're making a big-budget film with unproven talent. In 1987, that's exactly what Kevin Costner was. He'd appeared in three box-office bombs in 1985, and, prior to this, had been cut out of Lawrence Kasdan's Baby Boomer smash "The Big Chill." But after missing out on the more established Don Johnson (who was red hot at the time thanks to "Miami Vice"), Costner wound up being Brian De Palma's Eliot Ness in the hit-hungry director's big-screen rendition of "The Untouchables." And while De Palma had a bit of movie star insurance in Sean Connery as the veteran beat cop Malone, David Mamet's masterful screenplay screamed for a larger-than-life Al Capone.
De Palma only had eyes for Robert De Niro, and he had a history with the actor, having worked with him in the counterculture comedies "Greetings" and "Hi, Mom!
De Palma only had eyes for Robert De Niro, and he had a history with the actor, having worked with him in the counterculture comedies "Greetings" and "Hi, Mom!
- 8/31/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Before he became a world-class director of such projects as the Elton John biopic "Rocketman," Dexter Fletcher was a noted child actor in such high-profile films as "Bugsy Malone" and "The Long Good Friday." One of his most notable roles was as the young assistant to Freddie Jones' amoral Mr. Bytes in David Lynch's lauded 1980 biopic "The Elephant Man." Lynch was so taken by Fletcher's talents that he flew to England in 1982 to meet with the then-16-year-old about possibly playing the lead role of Paul Atreides in the big budget adaptation of Frank Herbert's "Dune."
As we all know, that part eventually went to 24-year-old movie neophyte...
The post Dexter Fletcher Talks Auditioning For David Lynch's Dune [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.
As we all know, that part eventually went to 24-year-old movie neophyte...
The post Dexter Fletcher Talks Auditioning For David Lynch's Dune [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.
- 4/29/2022
- by Max Evry
- Slash Film
Don’t let the near three-hour running time scare you off, because Warner Bros’ The Batman is gripping and primitive. Director, producer and co-scribe Matt Reeves joins us on Hero Nation today to talk about his direction for a Dark Knight detective story, laced with horror, like we’ve near seen before in the history of the franchise.
You can listen to our conversation below:
Before any Batman sequel happens, Reeves says there’s an HBO Max series centering on Colin Farrell’s Penguin which “connects from where we’re leaving the story here.”
Reeves originally conceived a HBO Max Batman spinoff series about a corrupt cop, something like a Prince of the City; a blue who’s battling for his soul. The cop is then reawakened by a rising Gotham City vigilante in a story set in the events before Reeves’ Dark Knight movie. However, the filmmaker was encouraged...
You can listen to our conversation below:
Before any Batman sequel happens, Reeves says there’s an HBO Max series centering on Colin Farrell’s Penguin which “connects from where we’re leaving the story here.”
Reeves originally conceived a HBO Max Batman spinoff series about a corrupt cop, something like a Prince of the City; a blue who’s battling for his soul. The cop is then reawakened by a rising Gotham City vigilante in a story set in the events before Reeves’ Dark Knight movie. However, the filmmaker was encouraged...
- 3/3/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro and Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Director Mike Hodges’ Get Carter is the quintessential hard-boiled British crime film. Remarkably influential, it paved the way for like-minded fare such as The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. Michael Caine plays Jack Carter, a ruthless London mobster who travels back to his Newcastle hometown to investigate the death of his brother… and woe betide anyone who stands in the way of this cooly efficient killer. The film underperformed at the box office due to poor promotion but is now recognized as one of the finest thrillers of the decade. MGM was fond of blaxploitation remakes, and George Armitage’s 1972 Hit Man borrows a lot from Get Carter, but it wasn’t until 2000 that an actual remake arrived, starring Sylvester Stallone, to dismal effect.
The post Get Carter appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Get Carter appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 12/17/2021
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Denis O’Brien, best known for producing the comedy Monty Python’s Life of Brian with former Beatle George Harrison, died December 3 in a Swindon, UK hospital. He was 80 and passed away from intra-abdominal sepsis, his daughter said.
O’Brien and Harrison’s Handmade Films had a hit right out of the box with the 1979 comedy Life of Brian, a semi-blasphemous story of a young Jewish-Roman man who is born on the same day and next door to Jesus, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah. It was banned in several locations or slapped with an X for its outrageous stunts, including a closing sing-along on the cross.
With Monty Python regulars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Mochael Palin in the cast, the producers thought the film would at best lose money and be a tax write-off. Instead, it was a smash, leading them to explore other films.
O’Brien and Harrison’s Handmade Films had a hit right out of the box with the 1979 comedy Life of Brian, a semi-blasphemous story of a young Jewish-Roman man who is born on the same day and next door to Jesus, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah. It was banned in several locations or slapped with an X for its outrageous stunts, including a closing sing-along on the cross.
With Monty Python regulars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Mochael Palin in the cast, the producers thought the film would at best lose money and be a tax write-off. Instead, it was a smash, leading them to explore other films.
- 12/9/2021
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Helen Mirren will receive this year’s SAG Life Achievement Award and will be presented with the prize during the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony on February 27.
The award is given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession”.
Oscar, BAFTA and Emmy winning actress Mirren becomes the most decorated SAG Life Achievement recipient with a total of 13 SAG nominations and five SAG Actor wins to her name.
Mirren is currently filming Golda, in the title role of Israel’s first female prime minister Golda Meir, which revealed a first look yesterday. She is also set to host Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, a four-part competition series premiering on November 28.
Taking her first major film role back in 1969 in Age Of Consent, Mirren broke through in The Long Good Friday in 1980. She received her first Oscar nomination in 1995 for The Madness Of King George...
The award is given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession”.
Oscar, BAFTA and Emmy winning actress Mirren becomes the most decorated SAG Life Achievement recipient with a total of 13 SAG nominations and five SAG Actor wins to her name.
Mirren is currently filming Golda, in the title role of Israel’s first female prime minister Golda Meir, which revealed a first look yesterday. She is also set to host Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, a four-part competition series premiering on November 28.
Taking her first major film role back in 1969 in Age Of Consent, Mirren broke through in The Long Good Friday in 1980. She received her first Oscar nomination in 1995 for The Madness Of King George...
- 11/18/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Icon will next be seen in The Duke.
Helen Mirren has been named as the 57th recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award and will collect the honour at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards in Santa Monica on February 27, 2022.
The award is presented annually to an actor who embodies the “finest ideals of the acting profession”. Mirren is the most decorated SAG Life Achievement recipient with a total of 13 SAG Awards nominations and five SAG Awards Actor wins for The Queen, Elisabeth I, Phil Spector, and two for Gosford Park.
The acclaimed British actor won the Oscar for The Queen...
Helen Mirren has been named as the 57th recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award and will collect the honour at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards in Santa Monica on February 27, 2022.
The award is presented annually to an actor who embodies the “finest ideals of the acting profession”. Mirren is the most decorated SAG Life Achievement recipient with a total of 13 SAG Awards nominations and five SAG Awards Actor wins for The Queen, Elisabeth I, Phil Spector, and two for Gosford Park.
The acclaimed British actor won the Oscar for The Queen...
- 11/18/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Bucking the trends for ’80s crime films, Neil Jordan’s tale of a low-rung hood attached to a ‘complicated’ call girl becomes a love story about meaningful relationships. Sort of the ‘anti- Travis Bickle,’ Bob Hoskins’ low-class mug discovers emotions and an ability to commit that could even be called Chivalric. Michael Caine chills as an all-too real villain, the boss that doesn’t think Hoskins worthy of a straight answer. Topping it off, cinematographer Roger Pratt makes this possibly the best-looking British crime film in color.
Mona Lisa
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 107
1986 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 104 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 14, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Caine, Clarke Peters, Sammi Davis, Kate Hardie, Zoe Nathenson.
Cinematography: Roger Pratt
Production Designer: Jamie Leonard
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
Film Editor: Lesley Walker
Original Music: Michael Kamen
Written by Neil Jordan, David Leland
Produced by Patrick Cassavetti,...
Mona Lisa
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 107
1986 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 104 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 14, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Caine, Clarke Peters, Sammi Davis, Kate Hardie, Zoe Nathenson.
Cinematography: Roger Pratt
Production Designer: Jamie Leonard
Costume Designer: Louise Frogley
Film Editor: Lesley Walker
Original Music: Michael Kamen
Written by Neil Jordan, David Leland
Produced by Patrick Cassavetti,...
- 9/18/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Here’s Kev with a video review of Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins which is released in UK cinemas on September 3rd, courtesy of Signature Entertainment
When a down-on-his-luck Tony Tucker lands a job as a nightclub doorman after saving the owner’s grandson, he will do whatever it takes to rise to the top of the game. Teaming up with Essex heavyweight Bernard O’Mahoney at the height of the 1980s rave scene, Tucker could do no wrong. A voracious appetite for money, drugs, and a glamorous lifestyle soon develops, fueling his growingly audacious ventures and seeing him join forces with Pat Tate and Craig Rolfe to capitalise on the drug-boom. Packed with fights, revenges, and explosions, the ultimate origin story brings Rise of the Footsoldier full circle, and tackles many of the franchise’s previously unanswered questions.
Directed by Nick Nevern, Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins stars Vinnie Jones,...
When a down-on-his-luck Tony Tucker lands a job as a nightclub doorman after saving the owner’s grandson, he will do whatever it takes to rise to the top of the game. Teaming up with Essex heavyweight Bernard O’Mahoney at the height of the 1980s rave scene, Tucker could do no wrong. A voracious appetite for money, drugs, and a glamorous lifestyle soon develops, fueling his growingly audacious ventures and seeing him join forces with Pat Tate and Craig Rolfe to capitalise on the drug-boom. Packed with fights, revenges, and explosions, the ultimate origin story brings Rise of the Footsoldier full circle, and tackles many of the franchise’s previously unanswered questions.
Directed by Nick Nevern, Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins stars Vinnie Jones,...
- 8/20/2021
- by Kevin Haldon
- Nerdly
Prophetic, frenetic and shockingly brutal, the film became a British classic. For its 40th anniversary, Mirren and other cast members relive their roles in the menacing gangland masterpiece
It has been 40 years since the release of The Long Good Friday, a gangster film still revered as one of the best British movies of all time. Shot in London in the late 1970s and starring the late Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, it told the story of an underworld boss trying desperately to stop the Ira from dismantling his empire.
The backdrop for the film was the London Docklands, then mostly undeveloped. With corrupt city planners in his pocket, Hoskins’ character – the pugnacious, barrel-chested Harold Shand – attempts to woo the New York mafia into a partnership to transform the area, selling the idea to them with a speech during a trip up the Thames on his yacht. “Our country is not an island any more,...
It has been 40 years since the release of The Long Good Friday, a gangster film still revered as one of the best British movies of all time. Shot in London in the late 1970s and starring the late Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, it told the story of an underworld boss trying desperately to stop the Ira from dismantling his empire.
The backdrop for the film was the London Docklands, then mostly undeveloped. With corrupt city planners in his pocket, Hoskins’ character – the pugnacious, barrel-chested Harold Shand – attempts to woo the New York mafia into a partnership to transform the area, selling the idea to them with a speech during a trip up the Thames on his yacht. “Our country is not an island any more,...
- 4/1/2021
- by Nick Hopkins
- The Guardian - Film News
The writer/director of Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest takes hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante on an exploration of his favorite cinematic endings.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
The Nest (2020)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Cowboys (1972)
The Parallax View (1974)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Limbo (1999)
Nashville (1975)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
3 Women (1977)
Chinatown (1974)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Third Man (1949)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Our Idiot Brother (2011)
Shoot The Moon (1982)
Parasite (2019)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Ice Storm (1997)
Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
The Brood (1979)
The Graduate (1967)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
The Candidate (1972)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Birds (1963)
The Firm (1989)
Scum (1979)
The Firm (2009)
The Vanishing (1988)
The Vanishing (1993)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Repulsion (1965)
Pirates (1986)
What? (1972)
Blowup (1966)
Blow Out (1981)
The Long Good Friday (1980)
Other Notable Items
Jude Law
Carrie Coon
Quentin Tarantino
John Wayne
The Pure Cinema Podcast
The Film Forum
Warren Beatty
Tfh Guru Howard...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
The Nest (2020)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Cowboys (1972)
The Parallax View (1974)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Limbo (1999)
Nashville (1975)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
3 Women (1977)
Chinatown (1974)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Third Man (1949)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Our Idiot Brother (2011)
Shoot The Moon (1982)
Parasite (2019)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Ice Storm (1997)
Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
The Brood (1979)
The Graduate (1967)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
The Candidate (1972)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Birds (1963)
The Firm (1989)
Scum (1979)
The Firm (2009)
The Vanishing (1988)
The Vanishing (1993)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Repulsion (1965)
Pirates (1986)
What? (1972)
Blowup (1966)
Blow Out (1981)
The Long Good Friday (1980)
Other Notable Items
Jude Law
Carrie Coon
Quentin Tarantino
John Wayne
The Pure Cinema Podcast
The Film Forum
Warren Beatty
Tfh Guru Howard...
- 11/10/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
A television series based on Guy Ritchie’s 2019 “The Gentlemen” action-comedy film is in the works. Deadline reported that Ritchie will direct, write, and executive produce the upcoming series from Miramax TV. Ivan Atkinson and Marv Davies, who produced the 2019 film, are on board to executive produce.
Plot details weren’t provided by the publication but the original film centered on marijuana kingpin Mickey Pearson (played by Matthew McConaughey) and his efforts to divest himself from his criminal business, resulting in a variety of plotting and blackmail attempts from his would-be successors.
Casting details for the series are also under wraps. The 2019 “The Gentlemen” film starred McConaughey alongside Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, and Hugh Grant, among others.
“Miramax Television is thrilled to break new creative ground in our partnership with Guy Ritchie on ‘The Gentlemen,’” Marc Helwig, Miramax’s head of worldwide television, said in a statement.
Plot details weren’t provided by the publication but the original film centered on marijuana kingpin Mickey Pearson (played by Matthew McConaughey) and his efforts to divest himself from his criminal business, resulting in a variety of plotting and blackmail attempts from his would-be successors.
Casting details for the series are also under wraps. The 2019 “The Gentlemen” film starred McConaughey alongside Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, and Hugh Grant, among others.
“Miramax Television is thrilled to break new creative ground in our partnership with Guy Ritchie on ‘The Gentlemen,’” Marc Helwig, Miramax’s head of worldwide television, said in a statement.
- 10/2/2020
- by Tyler Hersko
- Indiewire
Vinnie Jones takes his crazy gang stateside – and bar a fun turn from Malcolm McDowell the result is not a pretty sight
Although technically an “eastern” rather than a western – it unfolds in the lush hills and shady honkytonks of West Virginia – this macho, contemporary-set crime thriller feels like something that got cooked up after a bender guzzling a Sam Peckinpah box set. Maybe chased with a few British gangster pics like Get Carter and The Long Good Friday. Indeed, it plays like several plots, genres and mood boards all mashed together, which makes the end result interesting but not entirely successful.
Although technically an “eastern” rather than a western – it unfolds in the lush hills and shady honkytonks of West Virginia – this macho, contemporary-set crime thriller feels like something that got cooked up after a bender guzzling a Sam Peckinpah box set. Maybe chased with a few British gangster pics like Get Carter and The Long Good Friday. Indeed, it plays like several plots, genres and mood boards all mashed together, which makes the end result interesting but not entirely successful.
- 7/23/2020
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
What does the irreverent comedy Monty Python’s Life of Brian have in common with the deadly serious Bob Hoskins thriller The Long Good Friday? Both movies were produced by HandMade Films, the production company of former Beatles superstar George Harrison. A new documentary called An Accidental Studio details the company’s early days, how it took chances […]
The post ‘An Accidental Studio’ Giveaway: Find Out How Former Beatle George Harrison’s Production Company Left Its Mark on Film History appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘An Accidental Studio’ Giveaway: Find Out How Former Beatle George Harrison’s Production Company Left Its Mark on Film History appeared first on /Film.
- 7/15/2020
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Debut feature from the production company is crime drama ‘The Big Ugly’.
UK actor Vinnie Jones has launched 4G Vision, a new $100m production company with Us writer-director Scott Wiper.
The two are working with co-producer Michael Downey and Michigan-based entrepreneur Gregg Gibson Williams, who provides the four G’s in 4G Vision and the financing.
The company’s first project is Wiper’s crime drama The Big Ugly starring Jones, which is set for theatrical and VOD release in the UK and Us through Vertical Entertainment on July 24 and July 31 respectively.
They are also developing a $25m female-led action...
UK actor Vinnie Jones has launched 4G Vision, a new $100m production company with Us writer-director Scott Wiper.
The two are working with co-producer Michael Downey and Michigan-based entrepreneur Gregg Gibson Williams, who provides the four G’s in 4G Vision and the financing.
The company’s first project is Wiper’s crime drama The Big Ugly starring Jones, which is set for theatrical and VOD release in the UK and Us through Vertical Entertainment on July 24 and July 31 respectively.
They are also developing a $25m female-led action...
- 7/13/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
I’d never heard of this gem of a British production; now it goes on my list of highly recommended titles. A dock area on the Thames is ‘the pool,’ and the sailors that disembark from the cargo ships are susceptible to the temptations of black market trade. A single eventful weekend traces the fates of a half-dozen young people, the women that like the sailors, and the sailor that gets mixed up in a deadly serious crime. Director Basil Dearden’s excellent cast is mostly unfamiliar to us Yanks, but we get really tied up in their problems. This picture should be much better known. It’s the first English movie to depict an interracial romance, and it does so without sensationalism or special pleading. The best new extra is an interview with actor Earl Cameron, who at 103 years of age has his act (and his memories) totally together.
- 5/16/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
For those of us who grew up on a diet of The Bill, Eastenders and The Sweeney, taking modern British crime dramas seriously can be quite a challenge.
The same actors (Craig Fairbrass), delivering the same cliched lines in the same cockney accents (“You what? Getaaattt!”) , driving through Peckham in one shot, yet appearing in Islington in the next – if you know London, London dramas aren’t escapism, they’re unconvincing. And more often than not, they don’t quite deliver the hard knocks they promise.
Thankfully, Gangs of London, while not terribly original, has a bite that matches its bark. It’s a crime thriller that delivers a high quality production combined with a convincing cast and, crucially, a script that avoids the obvious while still somehow delivering the familiar.
The opening is certainly attention-catching. Sean Wallace (Joe Cole) is an emotional, young, suave gangster who we find hanging...
The same actors (Craig Fairbrass), delivering the same cliched lines in the same cockney accents (“You what? Getaaattt!”) , driving through Peckham in one shot, yet appearing in Islington in the next – if you know London, London dramas aren’t escapism, they’re unconvincing. And more often than not, they don’t quite deliver the hard knocks they promise.
Thankfully, Gangs of London, while not terribly original, has a bite that matches its bark. It’s a crime thriller that delivers a high quality production combined with a convincing cast and, crucially, a script that avoids the obvious while still somehow delivering the familiar.
The opening is certainly attention-catching. Sean Wallace (Joe Cole) is an emotional, young, suave gangster who we find hanging...
- 4/26/2020
- by Richard Phippen
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
In his latest podcast/interview, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks to actor Craig Fairbrass about his latest film Villain and his Top 5 Great British Crime Films, including:
Get Carter(1971) The Long Good Friday (1980) Harry Brown (2009) London Heist (2017) Villain (2020)
A dark, brutal, gritty and violent tale of drugs, murder, loyalty and corruption, starring Craig Fairbrass, Izuka Hoyle (Mary Queen of Scots) and Nicholas Aaron, the story follows Eddie Franks, a former criminals release from prison and his attempts to help his family by reconnecting with his daughter and clearing his brother’s debt. Despite his efforts, he is drawn back into a criminal way of life, with devastating consequences.
Get Carter(1971) The Long Good Friday (1980) Harry Brown (2009) London Heist (2017) Villain (2020)
A dark, brutal, gritty and violent tale of drugs, murder, loyalty and corruption, starring Craig Fairbrass, Izuka Hoyle (Mary Queen of Scots) and Nicholas Aaron, the story follows Eddie Franks, a former criminals release from prison and his attempts to help his family by reconnecting with his daughter and clearing his brother’s debt. Despite his efforts, he is drawn back into a criminal way of life, with devastating consequences.
- 4/21/2020
- by Stuart Wright
- Nerdly
When was the last time you watched Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels? If you remember Guy Ritchie’s debut hitting American screens back in the spring of 1999, you might recall how familiar it felt — we’d already spent most of the decade watching smooth criminals in clever, chatty caper flicks. But this Cockney variation on postmodern pulp stood out among the many Cinema Tarantino pretenders of the day, threading in nods to mod U.K. classics (The Italian Job, Performance), vintage London gangster flicks (The Long Good Friday) and East End hard-men chic.
- 1/22/2020
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
In support of The Cotton Club Encore: 35th Anniversary Edition has arrived to Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD & Digital), DVD and Digital 4K Ultra HD from Lionsgate,
Here’s a new special features introduction from Francis Ford Coppola:
Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Award®-nominated epic gets its definitive cut when The Cotton Club Encore: 35th Anniversary Edition arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD & Digital), DVD and Digital 4K Ultra HD December 10 from Lionsgate. Boasting an all-star cast, The Cotton Club Encore: 35th Anniversary Edition stars Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere (2003, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Chicago), Tony Award® winner Gregory Hines (1992, Best Actor in a Musical, Jelly’s Last Jam), Academy Award® nominee Diane Lane (2002, Best Actress, Unfaithful), NAACP Image Award® nominee Lonette McKee (1999, Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series, “As the World Turns”), Golden Globe® nominee Bob Hoskins...
Here’s a new special features introduction from Francis Ford Coppola:
Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Award®-nominated epic gets its definitive cut when The Cotton Club Encore: 35th Anniversary Edition arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD & Digital), DVD and Digital 4K Ultra HD December 10 from Lionsgate. Boasting an all-star cast, The Cotton Club Encore: 35th Anniversary Edition stars Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere (2003, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Chicago), Tony Award® winner Gregory Hines (1992, Best Actor in a Musical, Jelly’s Last Jam), Academy Award® nominee Diane Lane (2002, Best Actress, Unfaithful), NAACP Image Award® nominee Lonette McKee (1999, Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series, “As the World Turns”), Golden Globe® nominee Bob Hoskins...
- 12/19/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The first line in “The Gentlemen” is spoken by Matthew McConaughey’s Mickey Pearce, a smartly tailored gangster who strolls into a London pub and orders a pint of beer and a pickled egg. The brewery’s name on the bar tap is “Gritchie,” but even without that gag it would be obvious that this is not just a Guy Ritchie film — it’s the kind of Guy Ritchie film that made him a hot property two decades ago.
To be specific, “The Gentlemen” is cut from the same cloth as “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and its bigger-budgeted follow-up, “Snatch.” Mixing a love of old-school East End low-lifes, 1990s flash, flamboyant dialogue, and plots so complicated that you needed a flow chart to follow them, these two Britpop-era crime capers prompted a rash of dreary copycat films about mockney geezers with guns doing dodgy drug deals.
Ritchie himself moved on,...
To be specific, “The Gentlemen” is cut from the same cloth as “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and its bigger-budgeted follow-up, “Snatch.” Mixing a love of old-school East End low-lifes, 1990s flash, flamboyant dialogue, and plots so complicated that you needed a flow chart to follow them, these two Britpop-era crime capers prompted a rash of dreary copycat films about mockney geezers with guns doing dodgy drug deals.
Ritchie himself moved on,...
- 12/19/2019
- by Nicholas Barber
- The Wrap
After the vast underperformance of 2017’s “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” and the hefty overperformance of May’s “Aladdin,” we rejoin Guy Ritchie trying to ground himself via a return to his roots. “The Gentlemen” is the kind of shaggy-dog yarn that Ritchie spun with diminishing returns before the tantalizing paychecks of franchise cinema were dangled his way: a hard-r venture, populated by Rada graduates pointing weapons and cursing at one another between elaborate double-crosses. The difference is that its director is now in a position to equip his cobblers with the budgetary heft of an American indie (“The Gentlemen” emerges under the apparently deathless Miramax banner) and an altogether starrier ensemble. The problem is that at no point does Ritchie seem to have realized such material is still, on a fundamental level, bollox.
On screen, the story is slapped together by a hack journalist; it feels like it.
On screen, the story is slapped together by a hack journalist; it feels like it.
- 12/19/2019
- by Mike McCahill
- Indiewire
The scriptwriter and playwright, best known for penning the gangster film starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, died in London after a short illness
Obituary – Barry Keeffe
Barrie Keeffe, the scriptwriter and playwright best known for writing the landmark British gangster film The Long Good Friday, has died aged 74. His agent Stephen Durbridge announced the news, saying Keeffe had died in London after a short illness.
Born in 1945, Keeffe grew up in east London, attending East Ham grammar school and then working as a reporter for the local newspaper, the Stratford Express. According to former Guardian columnist Roy Greenslade, Keeffe’s interest in activism and politics led him towards plays and scriptwriting: “He loved the paper and his colleagues, but he was frustrated by the fact it constricted his chance to tell the stories he thought it important to tell.”...
Obituary – Barry Keeffe
Barrie Keeffe, the scriptwriter and playwright best known for writing the landmark British gangster film The Long Good Friday, has died aged 74. His agent Stephen Durbridge announced the news, saying Keeffe had died in London after a short illness.
Born in 1945, Keeffe grew up in east London, attending East Ham grammar school and then working as a reporter for the local newspaper, the Stratford Express. According to former Guardian columnist Roy Greenslade, Keeffe’s interest in activism and politics led him towards plays and scriptwriting: “He loved the paper and his colleagues, but he was frustrated by the fact it constricted his chance to tell the stories he thought it important to tell.”...
- 12/10/2019
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Barrie Keeffe, known for penning the screenplay for Brit gangster classic The Long Good Friday, has died aged 74 in London following a brief illness.
Keeffe’s agent, Stephen Durbridge of The Agency, confirmed the news.
London-born playwright and screenwriter Keeffe started out as an actor and journalist. His first television play, The Substitute, was produced in 1972, and his first theatre play Only A Game in 1973. He was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s writer-in-residence in 1978 and he went on to write a number of film, TV and stage plays in the 1980s.
BAFTA-nominated 1980 crime-drama The Long Good Friday, about an up-and-coming gangster, starred Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in a breakout role. Keefe also adapted his own stage play Sus, about police racism, for the 2010 movie of the same name starring Rafe Spall and Clint Dyer.
Keeffe’s agent, Stephen Durbridge of The Agency, confirmed the news.
London-born playwright and screenwriter Keeffe started out as an actor and journalist. His first television play, The Substitute, was produced in 1972, and his first theatre play Only A Game in 1973. He was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s writer-in-residence in 1978 and he went on to write a number of film, TV and stage plays in the 1980s.
BAFTA-nominated 1980 crime-drama The Long Good Friday, about an up-and-coming gangster, starred Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in a breakout role. Keefe also adapted his own stage play Sus, about police racism, for the 2010 movie of the same name starring Rafe Spall and Clint Dyer.
- 12/10/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Screenwriter Barrie Keeffe, who penned the screenplay for the classic British gangster movie “The Long Good Friday” – which starred Helen Mirren in a breakout role – has died. He was 74.
Keeffe’s agent, Stephen Durbridge of The Agency, confirmed the news and said that his client had died in London following a short illness.
Keeffe started out as an actor and journalist, then became a self-professed political writer. His theater work included plays such as “Frozen Assets” for the Royal Shakespeare Company, about a young man who kills a prison officer, and “Sus,” about institutionalized police racism. The latter was adapted as a movie in 2010 with Clint Dyer and Rafe Spall, and with Robert Heath directing from Keeffe’s screenplay.
Keeffe was best known for having penned the original screenplay for “The Long Good Friday,” which starred Bob Hoskins alongside Mirren. It was a breakthrough film for Mirren, and will be...
Keeffe’s agent, Stephen Durbridge of The Agency, confirmed the news and said that his client had died in London following a short illness.
Keeffe started out as an actor and journalist, then became a self-professed political writer. His theater work included plays such as “Frozen Assets” for the Royal Shakespeare Company, about a young man who kills a prison officer, and “Sus,” about institutionalized police racism. The latter was adapted as a movie in 2010 with Clint Dyer and Rafe Spall, and with Robert Heath directing from Keeffe’s screenplay.
Keeffe was best known for having penned the original screenplay for “The Long Good Friday,” which starred Bob Hoskins alongside Mirren. It was a breakthrough film for Mirren, and will be...
- 12/10/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Films screening as part of homage include ’The Long Good Friday’ and ‘The Queen’.
UK actress Helen Mirren is to receive the honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.
The Oscar-winning actress will also be the subject of an homage featuring several of her films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The Good Liar, The Last Station and The Long Good Friday.
Mirren will receive the award on February 27 at a ceremony that will also include a screening of Stephen Frears’ The Queen, for which she won the Oscar and Golden...
UK actress Helen Mirren is to receive the honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.
The Oscar-winning actress will also be the subject of an homage featuring several of her films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The Good Liar, The Last Station and The Long Good Friday.
Mirren will receive the award on February 27 at a ceremony that will also include a screening of Stephen Frears’ The Queen, for which she won the Oscar and Golden...
- 12/4/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The 70th Berlin International Film Festival will honor Oscar-winner Helen Mirren with an honorary Golden Bear and homage.
The award ceremony on Thursday, February 27, 2020 at the Berlinale Palast will include a screening of Mirren-starrer The Queen.
“Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful portrayals are always impressive. She surprises us time and again with her interpretation of complex characters – whether it’s Chris in Calendar Girls or Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, her portrayals are a paradigm of strong women, and it is our great pleasure to award her the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement,” said Mariette Rissenbeek, Executive Director of the Berlinale.
Among Mirren’s many accolades are the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe for her performance in The Queen, while her stage work has garnered prizes including the Olivier Award, Tony Award and Drama Desk Awards.
After working mainly in theater,...
The award ceremony on Thursday, February 27, 2020 at the Berlinale Palast will include a screening of Mirren-starrer The Queen.
“Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful portrayals are always impressive. She surprises us time and again with her interpretation of complex characters – whether it’s Chris in Calendar Girls or Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, her portrayals are a paradigm of strong women, and it is our great pleasure to award her the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement,” said Mariette Rissenbeek, Executive Director of the Berlinale.
Among Mirren’s many accolades are the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe for her performance in The Queen, while her stage work has garnered prizes including the Olivier Award, Tony Award and Drama Desk Awards.
After working mainly in theater,...
- 12/4/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Helen Mirren is to be honored with a Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at next February’s Berlin Film Festival.
The Oscar-winning star of “The Queen” and new HBO-Sky drama series “Catherine the Great” will also be the subject of an homage featuring several of her best-known films, including “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover,” “The Good Liar,” and “The Last Station.”
“Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful portrayals are always impressive,” said Mariette Rissenbeek, the Berlinale’s new executive director. “She surprises us time and again with her interpretation of complex characters. Whether it’s Chris in ‘Calendar Girls’ or Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Queen,’ her portrayals are a paradigm of strong women, and it is our great pleasure to award her the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement,”
The upcoming Berlinale is the festival’s 70th edition. Mirren will...
The Oscar-winning star of “The Queen” and new HBO-Sky drama series “Catherine the Great” will also be the subject of an homage featuring several of her best-known films, including “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover,” “The Good Liar,” and “The Last Station.”
“Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful portrayals are always impressive,” said Mariette Rissenbeek, the Berlinale’s new executive director. “She surprises us time and again with her interpretation of complex characters. Whether it’s Chris in ‘Calendar Girls’ or Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Queen,’ her portrayals are a paradigm of strong women, and it is our great pleasure to award her the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement,”
The upcoming Berlinale is the festival’s 70th edition. Mirren will...
- 12/4/2019
- by Henry Chu
- Variety Film + TV
British actress Helen Mirren will receive a lifetime achievement honor at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, the festival announced Wednesday.
Mirren, who won the best actress Oscar and Golden Globe in 2007 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' The Queen, will attend Berlin to receive her award Feb. 27, 2020.
In addition, Berlin will screen a retrospective of Mirren's films, including The Queen, The Long Good Friday (1980), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Last Station (2009) and The Good Liar (2019).
"Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful ...
Mirren, who won the best actress Oscar and Golden Globe in 2007 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' The Queen, will attend Berlin to receive her award Feb. 27, 2020.
In addition, Berlin will screen a retrospective of Mirren's films, including The Queen, The Long Good Friday (1980), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Last Station (2009) and The Good Liar (2019).
"Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful ...
- 12/4/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
British actress Helen Mirren will receive a lifetime achievement honor at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, the festival announced Wednesday.
Mirren, who won the best actress Oscar and Golden Globe in 2007 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' The Queen, will attend Berlin to receive her award Feb. 27, 2020.
In addition, Berlin will screen a retrospective of Mirren's films, including The Queen, The Long Good Friday (1980), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Last Station (2009) and The Good Liar (2019).
"Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful ...
Mirren, who won the best actress Oscar and Golden Globe in 2007 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' The Queen, will attend Berlin to receive her award Feb. 27, 2020.
In addition, Berlin will screen a retrospective of Mirren's films, including The Queen, The Long Good Friday (1980), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Last Station (2009) and The Good Liar (2019).
"Helen Mirren is a strong personality whose powerful ...
- 12/4/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Altitude Film Entertainment has landed the rights to a raft of classic movies, including Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits,” after acquiring the library of Handmade Films, the British banner co-founded by former Beatle George Harrison. Altitude, a seasoned seller at the major film markets, will add the Handmade titles to its Mipcom lineup as it heads to Cannes for the biggest TV market of the year for the first time.
The Handmade deal hands Altitude about 100 pictures. Choice titles include Oscar-nominated “Mona Lisa,” Richard E. Grant-starrer “Withnail and I” and British gangster pic “The Long Good Friday.”
Altitude will be based inside the Palais des Festivals at Mipcom. Sales managing director Mike Runagall will lead the charge at the market alongside Mark A. Kirkpatrick, a former distribution VP at ITV Studios who has been brought on as a consultant to aid the TV sales effort.
The Handmade movies will...
The Handmade deal hands Altitude about 100 pictures. Choice titles include Oscar-nominated “Mona Lisa,” Richard E. Grant-starrer “Withnail and I” and British gangster pic “The Long Good Friday.”
Altitude will be based inside the Palais des Festivals at Mipcom. Sales managing director Mike Runagall will lead the charge at the market alongside Mark A. Kirkpatrick, a former distribution VP at ITV Studios who has been brought on as a consultant to aid the TV sales effort.
The Handmade movies will...
- 10/10/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Character actor admired for his role in the London gangster film The Long Good Friday
The actor Bryan Marshall, who has died aged 81, was a solid character actor who brought integrity and realism to the parts he played on screen in Britain throughout the 1960s and 70s. Many will remember him best for his pivotal role as the duplicitous Councillor Harris in the classic film The Long Good Friday (1979), which made a massive impact at the box office with its brutal tale of a London gangland boss, Harold Shand, played by Bob Hoskins, seeing his empire being threatened by rivals from the Ira.
The drama, written by Barrie Keeffe and directed by John Mackenzie, brilliantly captures the dreary London of the 70s as it approaches a new decade of aspiration and docklands regeneration. Shand sees the development opportunities and Harris is on his payroll. For much of the film, Marshall is a silent presence,...
The actor Bryan Marshall, who has died aged 81, was a solid character actor who brought integrity and realism to the parts he played on screen in Britain throughout the 1960s and 70s. Many will remember him best for his pivotal role as the duplicitous Councillor Harris in the classic film The Long Good Friday (1979), which made a massive impact at the box office with its brutal tale of a London gangland boss, Harold Shand, played by Bob Hoskins, seeing his empire being threatened by rivals from the Ira.
The drama, written by Barrie Keeffe and directed by John Mackenzie, brilliantly captures the dreary London of the 70s as it approaches a new decade of aspiration and docklands regeneration. Shand sees the development opportunities and Harris is on his payroll. For much of the film, Marshall is a silent presence,...
- 7/4/2019
- by Anthony Hayward
- The Guardian - Film News
British actor Bryan Marshall, known for his portrayal of Commander Talbot in The Spy Who Loved Me, and for his starring role in Australian daytime soap Neighbours, died Tuesday. He was 81. Marshall’s agent, Eca’s Esta Charkham, confirmed the news on Twitter Wednesday.
“So sad that my dear old chum Bryan Marshall has gone on ahead,” wrote Charkham. “A wonderful actor – he was so good you never noticed how good he was. He was a valued chum.”
Born in Battersea, London, Marshall began his acting career in the 1960s with a breakout role in Alfie alongside Michael Caine. He went on to star in one of his most memorable roles as Councillor Harris in crime film The Long Good Friday. In 1977, he starred alongside Roger Moore in Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. His character Commander Talbot had his submarine captured at the beginning of the film before later being rescued by Bond.
“So sad that my dear old chum Bryan Marshall has gone on ahead,” wrote Charkham. “A wonderful actor – he was so good you never noticed how good he was. He was a valued chum.”
Born in Battersea, London, Marshall began his acting career in the 1960s with a breakout role in Alfie alongside Michael Caine. He went on to star in one of his most memorable roles as Councillor Harris in crime film The Long Good Friday. In 1977, he starred alongside Roger Moore in Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. His character Commander Talbot had his submarine captured at the beginning of the film before later being rescued by Bond.
- 6/26/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Sam Claflin stars in a striking-looking film set in east London, but it’s all sold short by ropey storytelling and dodgy dialogue
Slipped into cinemas on the quiet, without an official press screening, Ron Scalpello’s starry, busy British crime drama proves to be a semi-entertaining mixed bags. It has a measure of ambition, strong dramatic scenes and grabby performances, not least from Timothy Spall as a property magnate looming over east London like some doubly malevolent reincarnation of Bob Hoskins’ Harold Shand from The Long Good Friday. Yet the storytelling connecting its disparate elements starts to feel dashed-off, as if somebody involved couldn’t wait for it to occupy the 10pm slot on London Live that may be its destiny. This approach short-sells both cinematographer Richard Mott’s striking framing of the capital’s moneyed hotspots and the spiky idea at the heart of Nick Moorcroft’s script:...
Slipped into cinemas on the quiet, without an official press screening, Ron Scalpello’s starry, busy British crime drama proves to be a semi-entertaining mixed bags. It has a measure of ambition, strong dramatic scenes and grabby performances, not least from Timothy Spall as a property magnate looming over east London like some doubly malevolent reincarnation of Bob Hoskins’ Harold Shand from The Long Good Friday. Yet the storytelling connecting its disparate elements starts to feel dashed-off, as if somebody involved couldn’t wait for it to occupy the 10pm slot on London Live that may be its destiny. This approach short-sells both cinematographer Richard Mott’s striking framing of the capital’s moneyed hotspots and the spiky idea at the heart of Nick Moorcroft’s script:...
- 5/10/2019
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
Frank Henson [Photo Courtesy of Jon Auty]
Frank Henson, a legendary Hollywood stunt performer, has died at 83. Henson passed away at a hospital in Sussex, England from a short battle with an undisclosed illness, stunt historian Jon Auty told The Hollywood Reporter. His wife, Marion, and son, Mark, were at his bedside.
“He had a simple lesson in life – if someone is good to you, you should be good to them in return,” Auty told The Hollywood Reporter. “I will miss the times we had discussing his life and remembering the good times. Also, when he laughed, the room lit up. That’s a gift.”
Henson was best known for tussling with Mark Hamill during a speeder bike chase in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and fighting Harrison Ford in the action-packed climax of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He also worked on several James Bond films including Casino Royale and You Only Live Once...
Frank Henson, a legendary Hollywood stunt performer, has died at 83. Henson passed away at a hospital in Sussex, England from a short battle with an undisclosed illness, stunt historian Jon Auty told The Hollywood Reporter. His wife, Marion, and son, Mark, were at his bedside.
“He had a simple lesson in life – if someone is good to you, you should be good to them in return,” Auty told The Hollywood Reporter. “I will miss the times we had discussing his life and remembering the good times. Also, when he laughed, the room lit up. That’s a gift.”
Henson was best known for tussling with Mark Hamill during a speeder bike chase in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and fighting Harrison Ford in the action-packed climax of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He also worked on several James Bond films including Casino Royale and You Only Live Once...
- 4/27/2019
- by Matt Bishop
- Age of the Nerd
Tony Sokol Apr 25, 2019
The Son Season 2's Pierce Brosnan tips his ten-gallon hat to fellow Western stars and Texas TV icons in this exclusive interview.
Everyone wants to be remembered, and not just for the bad stuff they’ve done, a character admitted on the first season of The Son. In the Western genre of movies and film, cowboys have committed many memorable misdeeds, sometimes in order to rustle the deeds from rivals. The patriarch of AMC's multi-generational epic Western series The Son committed all these crimes and more to amass his fortune and stature. Born on the same day his state became a republic, “The First Son of Texas,” Eli McCullough came a long way on a hard road. Kidnapped by Comanches when he was a child, he was raised by the tribe in the wild and brought ruthless survival skills to his role as a businessman and pioneer frontiersman.
The Son Season 2's Pierce Brosnan tips his ten-gallon hat to fellow Western stars and Texas TV icons in this exclusive interview.
Everyone wants to be remembered, and not just for the bad stuff they’ve done, a character admitted on the first season of The Son. In the Western genre of movies and film, cowboys have committed many memorable misdeeds, sometimes in order to rustle the deeds from rivals. The patriarch of AMC's multi-generational epic Western series The Son committed all these crimes and more to amass his fortune and stature. Born on the same day his state became a republic, “The First Son of Texas,” Eli McCullough came a long way on a hard road. Kidnapped by Comanches when he was a child, he was raised by the tribe in the wild and brought ruthless survival skills to his role as a businessman and pioneer frontiersman.
- 4/22/2019
- Den of Geek
Mark Harrison Apr 19, 2019
As Monty Python’s heretical hit returns to cinemas for its 40th anniversary, we look back at a quintessential Easter comedy.
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
There aren't a whole lot of Easter movies. It would be odd if there was, really. Sitting somewhere in between kids' films like Hop or the Easter Bunny bits of Rise Of The Guardians, and more violent fare like Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ and the far more emotionally gruelling John Michael McDonagh film Calvary, (or 'The Passion Of The Brendan Gleeson') your best bet is Monty Python's Life Of Brian, which is back in cinemas for its 40th anniversary.
For those who've never seen it, the film stars Graham Chapman as a man called Brian Cohen, who was once a teenager called Brian, and a boy called Brian, and so on. Born on Christmas...
As Monty Python’s heretical hit returns to cinemas for its 40th anniversary, we look back at a quintessential Easter comedy.
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
There aren't a whole lot of Easter movies. It would be odd if there was, really. Sitting somewhere in between kids' films like Hop or the Easter Bunny bits of Rise Of The Guardians, and more violent fare like Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ and the far more emotionally gruelling John Michael McDonagh film Calvary, (or 'The Passion Of The Brendan Gleeson') your best bet is Monty Python's Life Of Brian, which is back in cinemas for its 40th anniversary.
For those who've never seen it, the film stars Graham Chapman as a man called Brian Cohen, who was once a teenager called Brian, and a boy called Brian, and so on. Born on Christmas...
- 4/19/2019
- Den of Geek
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