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Martin McDonagh's 'Seven Psychopaths,' Rob Zombie's 'Lords of Salem' & 'Dredd 3D' Head TIFF Midnight Madness Line-Up

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • July 31, 2012 11:21 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Festivals
Variety being the spice of life, every film festival needs the opportunity for a bit of a change of pace. After a few days of subtitles and gruelling kitchen sink drama, even the most stoic cinephile starts to get in the mood for watching a few heads get ripped from their bodies, and that's why things like TIFF's Midnight Madness strand exists. Highlighting genre fare, often with lashing of blood and gore, the strand has seen films premiere that have gone onto international success -- last year alone brought films like "The Raid," "Kill List" and "God Bless America" to TIFF audiences.
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More: TIFF, Dredd, Seven Psychopaths, Sightseers, Lords Of Salem

Cannes Review: Ben Wheatley's 'Sightseers' - Or, "Natural Born Campers" - Is A Black-Comedy Holiday Hoot

  • By James Rocchi
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  • May 23, 2012 7:43 PM
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  • 2 Comments
Reviews
After "Down Terrace" and "Kill List," midnight-movie manqués and buffs in the know were wondering what director Ben Wheatley would do next; the answer is, apparently, make you laugh until you sound like a hole in the side of an airplane. "Sightseers," starring and written by Steve Oram and Alice Lowe, starts as Chris (Oram) and Tina (Lowe) embark on a camping tour of Britain, various caves and pencil museums and heritage sights -- a nice, relaxing trip for a couple in their third month of going out. Things go off the rails early, though at a streetcar museum where Chris is incensed by a litterbug … and, later, distractedly backs over the man and kills him.
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More: Sightseers, Ben Wheatley, Steve Oram, Alice Lowe

Pablo Larrain's 'No' Picked Up For U.S. By Sony Pictures Classics, IFC Nabs Ben Wheatley's 'Sightseers'

  • By Joe Cunningham
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  • May 23, 2012 11:41 AM
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  • 0 Comments
News
When movies aren’t being watched at the Cannes Film Festival, they’re being purchased, and we’ve got news of a couple that have been picked up for North American distribution.
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More: Gael García Bernal, Ben Wheatley, Pablo Larrain, Edgar Wright, Sightseers, Alice Lowe, Steve Oram

Film4 Backs Ben Wheatley's Cops & Monsters Flick 'Freakshift,' Director Also Planning English Civil War Drama

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • May 23, 2012 10:00 AM
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  • 1 Comment
News
It's a good day to be Ben Wheatley. The director, who's become one of the most talked-about new directors around thanks to "Down Terrace" and "Kill List," is making his Cannes debut today with his dark, Edgar Wright-exec-produced comedy "Sightseers" -- a press screening is underway as we speak, and we'll have our verdict for you later this evening. And just as that film is released into the wild, Wheatley seems to have landed financing for his most ambitious project yet, and is planning yet another film to follow that.
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More: Ben Wheatley, Freakshift, Sightseers

Watch: Tense & Funny First Clip From 'Kill List' Director Ben Wheatley's 'Sightseers'

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • May 13, 2012 4:14 PM
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  • 2 Comments
News
After pushing audiences to the brink last year with "Kill List," director Ben Wheatley has returned with something he promises is "lighter" -- though, of course, that could mean anything. And while we're still yet to see what will unfold in "Sightseers" -- the details of which have been kept closely guarded -- this first lengthy clip hints that it will be another dread-filled outing, though not without some laughs to leaven the mood.
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More: Sightseers, Ben Wheatley

The Playlist's 15 Most Anticipated Films Of The Cannes Film Festival

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • May 9, 2012 1:13 PM
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  • 15 Comments
Features
A week from today, the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival will be getting underway on the south coast of France, opening with Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom," and as ever, it's possibly the biggest date in the cinephile calendar, with a host of hotly-anticipated films set to premiere over the ten days that follow. A jury headed up by Nanni Moretti, and also including Andrea Arnold, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne, Diane Kruger and Jean-Paul Gaultier will have to decide which of over twenty films to award the Palme d'Or to, but while the competition will be typically fierce in competition, there's plenty of gems to find in the Directors' Fortnight, Un Certain Regard and Critics' Week sidebars too.
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More: Cannes Film Festival, Features, Cosmopolis, On The Road, Killing Them Softly, Rust And Bone, The Paperboy, Sightseers, Post Tenebras Lux, Moonrise Kingdom, Like Someone In Love, Laurence Anyways, Pablo Larrain, Lawless, Amour, Mud, The We And The I

Michel Gondry's 'The We And The I', Ben Wheatley's 'Sightseers' & More Headed To Cannes Directors' Fortnight

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • April 24, 2012 7:16 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Festivals
Yes, there's even more. With the lineup at the Cannes Film Festival already boasting a plethora of top-tier talent and highly anticipated films, the sidebar Directors' Fortnight is not to be outdone, and today they have unveiled their unusually name-brand-heavy lineup.
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More: Cannes Directors' Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival, The We And The I, Sightseers, Room 237, Quentin Dupieux, Raoul Ruiz

Ben Wheatley's 'Sightseers' Will Reportedly Premiere At The Cannes Director's Fortnight

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • April 20, 2012 8:37 AM
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  • 0 Comments
News
Yesterday brought a bounty of good news to anyone headed to the Cannes Film Festival next month. An impressive slate of films were unveiled in what is shaping up to be a helluva strong lineup and it looks like there will be some enticing titles unspooling off the Croisette as well.
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More: Sightseers, Cannes Directors' Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival

First Look At 'Kill List' Director Ben Wheatley's 'Sightseers'

  • By Benjamin Wright
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  • January 25, 2012 10:22 AM
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  • 1 Comment
News
While Ben Wheatley’s grim and disturbing “Kill List” isn't exactly an awards season kind of movie (though it did earn some nods from the British Independent Film Awards) this low-key British thriller has propelled the director onto many cinephile lists of rising directors to watch. One of those cinephiles, in fact, and a director in his own right, is “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” maestro Edgar Wright who’s executive-producing Wheatley’s next directorial effort “Sightseers,” which we first heard about during the summer. At the beginning of January, Wheatley told us he had a cut ready to show Wright at his Big Talk production house, and now we have a first official look of the film for ourselves.
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More: Sightseers, Ben Wheatley

'Kill List' Director Ben Wheatley Reveals Plot Details For 'Freak Shift,' Has Director's Cut Of 'Sightseers' Ready To Show Edgar Wright

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • January 5, 2012 3:57 PM
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  • 4 Comments
News
EXCLUSIVE: One genre movie that electrified almost all of us at The Playlist last year was "Kill List," from writer/director Ben Wheatley. A kind of domestic drama/hitman thriller/suburban comedy/horror movie, it wowed us when we first got a gander of it at South by Southwest, and then tickled even more of us at the Empire Big Screen festival in its native U.K. Well, it's finally about to be released in the United States, and while we'll have more from our interview with Wheatley before "Kill List" hits theaters, we first wanted to offer some updates on various projects the filmmaker has in the works, including the Edgar Wright-produced "Sightseers," his Nick Frost vehicle "I, Macrobane," and the very cool-sounding monsters versus cops movie called "Freak Shift."
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More: Kill List, Ben Wheatley, Freakshift, I, Macrobane, Sightseers

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