Indiewire Browse the indiewire network

The Playlist

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

Interviews

Actors

Directors

Archives

The Playlist

Empire Big Screen '11 Review: Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Drive' Reminds Us Why We Love The Movies

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • August 16, 2011 4:02 AM
  • |
  • 7 Comments
Good god, it's been a bad year at the cinema. It's not so much that there've been a lot of awful films, although of course there have. It's more that there have been a lot of deeply average ones, and very little greatness to share around. Even the better end of the scale, it's not quite scratched the right itch for us: as good as, say, "Beginners" or "Win Win" or "Midnight in Paris" are, they don't quite get the synapses firing in the way that truly great cinema does. It's the kind of thing that the crime flick has always done well -- there's a reason that the Cahiers du Cinema crowd worshiped early American genre pictures, for example, but there's been little to be excited about even in that department. So it's lucky that Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive" has come along: it's a shot of pure cinema straight to the eyeball, and one that's stopped us from losing the faith just as we were about to start looking for gigs at What Yacht Magazine.
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Composers, Foreign Directors, Drive, Ryan Gosling, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Cliff Martinez, Nicolas Winding Refn

Empire Big Screen '11: Nicolas Winding Refn Says 'Wonder Woman' A Go If He Does 'Logan's Run' Right

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • August 16, 2011 1:37 AM
  • |
  • 3 Comments
Plus Nine More Things We Learned From The 'Drive' DirectorMore and more of The Playlist team are catching up with Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive," and every one of us that has seen it has loved it: it's easily one of the best movies of the year. The film was the secret screening at Empire Big Screen in London on Saturday night (we'll have a full review later), and Refn came up for a Q&A afterwards, moderated by the magazine's Damon Wise, which revealed a few insights into his top-notch crime drama, as well as an update on the status on what Refn hopes will be his biggest film to date. Below, ten highlights from the Q&A. Warning: some mild spoilers for "Drive" may be ahead.
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Composers, Foreign Directors, Super Hero Films, Drive, Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, Carey Mulligan, Cliff Martinez, Wonder Woman, Nicolas Winding Refn

Joe Cornish, Justin Lin & Nicolas Winding Refn Join John Moore On Shortlist For 'Die Hard 5'

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
  • |
  • August 1, 2011 6:53 AM
  • |
  • 16 Comments
Over the weekend, word cropped up that Noam Murro, previously attached to direct the forever gestating "Die Hard 5" had left the project to focus on "300: Battle Of Artemisia" with John Moore (“Behind Enemy Lines,” “Max Payne”) as a contender to take his place. Well, he's going to be facing some stiff competition.
Read More »
More: Films, Foreign Directors, Joe Cornish, Justin Lin, Die Hard 5, Nicolas Winding Refn

Comic-Con '11: Nicolas Winding Refn Says Getting His Cast Together For 'Drive' Was "Like Sex"

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
  • |
  • July 21, 2011 11:02 AM
  • |
  • 4 Comments
Panels and press conferences are pretty straightforward: get together the cast and crew, show some footage and answer some questions. But the folks at FilmDistrict had a bit of a light bulb "Eureka!" moment, deciding to pair up their films "Drive" and "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" in one panel and let two very chatty folks in Nicolas Winding Refn and Guillermo Del Toro share the stage and the result was one of the most entertaining panels of this still young Comic-Con, providing enough quips and quotes to fill a phone book. So here are some of the highlights.
Read More »
More: Films, Actresses, Foreign Directors, Guillermo del Toro, Modern Horror, Drive, Carey Mulligan, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, Nicolas Winding Refn

FilmDistrict Stay In The Nicolas Winding Refn/Ryan Gosling Business, Acquire 'Only God Forgives'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • June 30, 2011 1:43 AM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
You may not immediately recognize the name Graham King, but he's quietly established himself as one of the most successful producers out there, executive-producing the likes of "Traffic" and "Ali" as the head of financiers Initial Entertainment Group, before making his full-blown producing debut on "The Aviator." He re-teamed with Scorsese to win an Oscar for "The Departed," and has also produced films like "Blood Diamond," "The Town" and "Rango," the latter two through his new company, GK Films.
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Film Studios, Foreign Directors, Only God Forgives, Ryan Gosling, FilmDistrict, Nicolas Winding Refn

Nicolas Winding Refn Wants To Cast Christina Hendricks As His 'Wonder Woman'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • June 20, 2011 1:20 AM
  • |
  • 11 Comments
Plus News From Director On The Red Carpet About 'Only God Forgives' and 'Logan's Run'Warner Bros. has been hoping that the void left by the imminent end of the "Harry Potter" franchise would be filled by the stable of DC Comics characters they own: "The Dark Knight" is already a billion-dollar hit, and any number of similar characters are in various stages of development, including a new take on Superman, "Man Of Steel." But things didn't get off to a good start this weekend, with the filmmaking-by-committee of "Green Lantern" severely underperforming, and looking unlikely to make its money back theatrically.
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Film Studios, Foreign Directors, Super Hero Films, Genre Films, Drive, Only God Forgives, Ryan Gosling, Christina Hendricks, Wonder Woman, Logan's Run, Warner Bros, Nicolas Winding Refn, D.C. Entertainment

'Drive' Duo Ryan Gosling & Nicolas Winding Refn To Re-Team For Romantic Comedy

  • By Matthew Newlin
  • |
  • June 19, 2011 11:47 AM
  • |
  • 3 Comments
Director And Star Trying To Push Albert Brooks To WriteThough his Cannes Best Director winning film "Drive" doesn't hit theaters until the fall, director Nicolas Winding Refn is already lining up a future project with his star Ryan Gosling. In addition to their remake of "Logan's Run," the two have announced plans to make yet another film together, this time a romantic comedy. Refn has already announced the plot of his next film, "Only God Forgives," but recently told the L.A. Times that he and Gosling are hoping to work again on a comedy project in the near future. As if that news wasn't earth-shattering enough for you, Refn and Gosling are trying to persuade "Drive" co-star Albert Brooks to write the screenplay.
Read More »
More: Actors, Foreign Directors, Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, Nicolas Winding Refn

Beef Watch: Nicolas Winding Refn 'Repulsed' By Lars Von Trier! Von Trier Says 'Fuck Him'! Porno!

  • By Gabe Toro
  • |
  • May 20, 2011 3:52 AM
  • |
  • 6 Comments
Another day, another right turn to the ridiculously stupid fall-out from Lars Von Trier's "nazi" statements. Good old humorless reporters at Cannes loved raking noted provocateur Lars Von Trier over the coals for his joking "pro-Nazi" stance before the organization dubbed him persona non grata. The next step, of course, is the reaction from other filmmakers. This should be fun.
Read More »
More: Films, Actresses, Foreign Films, Foreign Directors, Paul Thomas Anderson, Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst, Nymphomaniac, Nicolas Winding Refn, Lars von Trier

Jessica Chastain Talks Malick & 'Wettest County,' Martin Campbell Won't Return For 'Green Lantern'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
  • |
  • May 19, 2011 12:53 PM
  • |
  • 0 Comments
Nicolas Winding Refn Producing Icelandic Gangster Thriller 'Black's Game,' Summit Pick Up Dwayne Johnson Vehicle 'Snitch,' & More News From The Cannes BacklogMore news seems to break during Cannes than at any other time during the year, as you might have noticed. And, while we've done our darndest to cover everything, a few things have slipped through the cracks. But because we're completists, and because our loved ones abandoned us a long time ago, we're going to try and run everything down quickly below, and in our post from earlier this afternoon. So, with no further ado:
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Foreign Directors, Terrence Malick, Martin Campbell, Super Hero Films, The Tree Of Life, Ryan Reynolds, Zoe Saldana, Jessica Chastain, Green Lantern, Nicolas Winding Refn

Cannes Review: Nicolas Winding Refn's Low-Slung '80s Crime Drama 'Drive' Has A Dark Majesty

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
  • |
  • May 19, 2011 12:22 PM
  • |
  • 14 Comments
Why is "Drive" -- a seemingly trivial affair about a stuntman and part-time getaway driver, played by Ryan Gosling, pulled into deep and bloody waters on the neon-and-streetlight lit streets of L.A. -- even at Cannes, let alone in competition? It's not merely because of the bloody-but-brilliant background of director Nicolas Winding Refn, whose films (the "Pusher" trilogy, "Bronson," "Valhalla Rising") have demonstrated both an eye for composition and a taste for the jugular. It's not merely because of the film's cinematic roots, with the production seemingly crafted as a clear tribute to '80s-era Michael Mann and other synthesizer-and-faux-leather action-crime stories. Rather, you can make a case that "Drive" is here because action cinema and genre cinema are too important -- and too exciting, enthralling and, yes, artful when well made -- to be merely dismissed as suitable only for hacks to make and dolts to watch. French enthusiasm for American crime cinema from the '40s and '50s gave us the vocabulary and value set to truly appreciate film noir -- and anyone who can truly appreciate film noir will appreciate "Drive."
Read More »
More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Review, Foreign Directors, Drive, Ryan Gosling, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Nicolas Winding Refn

Follow Us

Email Updates

What's Poppin'

Recent Comments

Blog Roll

Around The Network

the network

indiewire

categories