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The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

Exclusive: Trailer For Sexy Sundance Drama 'Il Futuro' Starring Rutger Hauer

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 14, 2013 11:01 AM
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2 Comments

News

There are few actors on the big screen who command the kind of presence Rutger Hauer brings to the various roles he plays. While he's mostly known to North American audiences for his roles in genre films such as "Blade Runner," "Sin City," "Hobo With A Shotgun" and more, Hauer is also a gifted dramatic actor, and he heads to the Sundance Film Festival this week with a tantalizing drama that should shed some new light on his talent.

By Gabe Toro
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February 29, 2012 12:00 PM
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0 Comments

Reviews

Cinema has endured through the years not because it's a good time, or because it's a concise, closed method of storytelling. The format endures because of its innate flexibility, utilizing sound and visuals with the natural storytelling techniques of writers and directors that allows for interpretations and re-interpretations of the very same ideas that shape our other art forms. Not to say it is hierarchically "better" or worse than literature, prose, poetry or illustrated artwork, but it is no less durable. This partly serves as the reason why filmmakers and audiences remain drawn to the dramatized lives of artists, such as Ingrid Jonker, the poet at the heart of "Black Butterflies," as the subject matter allows the medium to penetrate both creator and creation.

By Gabe Toro
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September 24, 2011 12:10 PM
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5 Comments

Unlike a film, a book, or a television song, a painting has infinite life. The artist weaves his narrative with a brush, his work not a mimicry but an impression of a time that comes and goes. It’s this eternal life that enlivens “The Mill and the Cross,” a biography not of a person, but of “The Way to Calvary,” a 16th century creation detailing a crucifixion in the midst of a busy field of Flanders. The painting itself is dense with detail and incidence, and a movie capturing the context of what occurs inside would go on forever.

By Cory Everett
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April 2, 2011 5:25 AM
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15 Comments

Usually when a studio announces it's digging through its archives to prequelize/sequelize/reboot its valuable properties, fans cry foul. But with certain studios taking a little more care these days with the creative teams behind those spinoffs, it's getting harder to tell the difference between a simple cash grab and genuine artistic endeavour. With Ridley Scott taking the helm of the prequel to his own classic "Alien" and lining up a pretty stellar cast, we're as hopeful as anyone that he can pull it off. And since the recent announcement that the rights had been secured for Scott's other sci-fi masterpiece "Blade Runner," fans of the cult film have wondered who might end up taking the reins. Just a few weeks ago the company who secured the rights, Alcon Entertainment, said they hadn't met with Scott yet, but the idea of him returning to the series would be "wonderful."

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 5, 2011 7:48 AM
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7 Comments

Rutger Hauer Also Says He's Not Likely To Reprise His RoleAll we know so far about "The Dark Knight Rises" is that Christian Bale will play Bruce Wayne, Tom Hardy will take on the villain role of Bane and Anne Hathaway will purr as Catwoman. But that hasn't stopped speculation from running wild and one of the longest rumors knocking around the film is that Talia al Ghul is one of the major female roles still to be cast. If true, we speculated it would likely mean she would team with Bane to seek revenge on Batman for killing her father, Ra's Al Ghul, from "Batman Begins." Badass Digest recently spilled that according to their sources, Talia will head up The League Of Shadows and Catwoman will fight alongside Batman. And while we'll have to wait to see if that's accurate, Liam Neeson has confirmed that he's not been asked to return for the sequel.