Thompson on Hollywood

StudioCanal Launches Restoration Campaign for Cult Horror Classic 'The Wicker Man'

News

StudioCanal has launched a worldwide appeal to retrieve original missing film materials for Robin Hardy's 1973 cult horror classic "The Wicker Man." They want to celebrate the film's 40th anniversary by restoring and release the most complete definitive version possible of the film.

By Anne Thompson
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May 9, 2013 1:13 PM
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TIFF Bell Lightbox to Exhibit Chinese Film Retrospective, from 1935 Rarities to Wong Kar-wai, Edward Yang and Ang Lee

News

TIFF Bell Lightbox, the festival's gallery exhibition building in Toronto, has just announced a new retrospective, A Century of Chinese Film, which will run June 5 to August 11.

By Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio
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May 6, 2013 2:37 PM
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Now and Then: Olivier and the Bard

Reviews

"I can smile, and murder while I smile," confides that notorious noble, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Laurence Olivier), "and frame my face to all occasions." For Olivier, pronouncing "frame" like "feign," it's an auspicious beginning. In Shakespeare's words, he finds his performer's credo.

By Matt Brennan
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April 26, 2013 3:03 PM
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Now and Then: Cary Grant, The Man from Dream City, Revisited (CLIPS)

Features

My own fever dream of Cary Grant takes place between cities, sitting down for a Gibson with Eva Marie Saint on a moving train somewhere in Middle America. Headed "North by Northwest," he's at his sexiest then, temples just flecked with gray, tanned and almost ageless. He's not just the recipient of her advances: he's asking for it.

By Matt Brennan
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April 10, 2013 2:03 PM
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Trailers from Hell: Brian Trenchard-Smith on Akira Kurosawa's Mythic, Primal and Highly Influential Classic 'Seven Samurai'

Video

Akira Kurosawa Week continues at Trailers from Hell with director Brian Trenchard-Smith introducing "The Seven Samurai," Kurosawa's mythic and primal epic of feudal Japan that became a virtual template for latter-day action films.

By Trailers From Hell
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April 10, 2013 12:01 PM
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Trailers from Hell: Brian Trenchard-Smith on Akira Kurosawa Masterpiece 'Rashomon'

Video

Akira Kurosawa Week is rolling right along at Trailers from Hell, with director Brian Trenchard-Smith introducing Kurosawa's 1950 masterpiece "Rashomon."

By Trailers From Hell
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April 9, 2013 11:00 AM
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15th Annual Noir City Los Angeles: A Tip Sheet

Reviews

If you're of my particular nourish bent, you already plan to attend every program of the 15th annual Noir City festival of film noir, held at the appropriately vintage Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, home of the American Cinematheque, on Hollywood Boulevard, the appropriately noir boulevard of broken dreams.

By Meredith Brody
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April 7, 2013 8:36 PM
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Netflix Beware: Warner Archive Launches Instant Streaming Service -- Vintage, Obscure and B-Movies Galore

News

Film nerds rejoice! Innovative classic service Warner Archive, the Warner Bros. studio's top-notch repertory wing dedicated to restoring archival gems--via consumer demand-- and making little-seen titles available on DVD, has some exciting news: Warner Archive Instant. Like Netflix, the new service will let you stream films for a monthly fee (in this case, $10) but instead the flicks available are vintage, B-movie, obscure -- all the lost-and-refound greatness you've come to expect from Warner Archive.

By Anne Thompson and Beth Hanna
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April 3, 2013 1:45 PM
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Why 'Casablanca' Sequels Never Work

Features

Sequels are big business. “Spiderman 24” and “Star Trek 48” will probably grace the box office sometime in the 22nd century since Hollywood is expert at squeezing every dollar from film and digital stones. Luckily, some movies resist every attempt to find a future for their main characters. “Casablanca” is one of them.

By Aljean Harmetz
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April 3, 2013 12:52 PM
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Peter Bogdanovich's Ernst Lubitsch Files UPDATE: Part 1 and Newly Added Part 2 [CLIPS]

Features

The great Polish-German director Ernst Lubitsch was not an absolute favorite of mine while I was keeping my card file of every movie I saw, 1952-1970, so my ratings and comments would be a great deal higher and more effusive today, because over the years he has evolved into one of my all-time top picture artists. (Watch a selection of Lubitsch clips below.)