Thompson on Hollywood

LFF#: Kristin Scott Thomas Times Two

Kristin Scott Thomas had a double whammy at the London Film Fest, starring as John Lennon's Aunt Mimi in Nowhere Boy and as a sexy adulterer in the French hit Partir (Leaving).

By Anne Thompson
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October 29, 2009 4:59 AM
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Woody Allen's Opening Sequence for Manhattan

Check out the classic black-and-white opening sequence of one of my fave movies of all time, Woody Allen's Manhattan, accompanied by George Gershwin. It's tough to beat Woody in his prime. I actually worked in the publicity bullpen at United Artists (729 Seventh Avenue) when this came out in 1979 (my first job out of NYU). It's hard to remember what a big deal auteur Allen was then, with four Oscar wins for 1977's Annie Hall (best picture, screenplay, director and actress) followed by a steady stream of almost annual director/writer nominations, for a career total of 21. His peak decades were between Annie Hall in 1978 and Deconstructing Harry in 1998, imho, his last great movie. It was his last Oscar nomination, too, until 2005's Match Point.

By Anne Thompson
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October 29, 2009 4:19 AM
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Halloween Watch: The Skeleton Dance

For your Halloween season pleasure, 1929's The Skeleton Dance. Thank you, Walt Disney.

By Anne Thompson
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October 29, 2009 1:14 AM
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Trailer Watch: Damon Stars in Invictus and Green Zone

It is more likely that Matt Damon will score an Oscar nom for Clint Eastwood's Invictus, which slices into Nelson Mandela's 1995 pursuit of the rugby World Cup to unify South Africa, than Steven Soderbergh's offbeat The Informant! which has already faded from the scene. Damon plays the captain of the South African rugby team, Francois Pienaar, and Morgan Freeman inhabits Mandela. Invictus opens December 11.

By Anne Thompson
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October 28, 2009 5:28 AM
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Twilight Saga: New Moon Clip: Lautner Turns into Wolf

It's hard to resist the lure of a new Twilight Saga: New Moon clip. The marketing folks at Summit are trying to turn Taylor Lautner into the next Rob Pattinson. He's the new romantic interest for depressed Bella (Kristen Stewart) while her vampire lover has fled the scene (to save her life, natch). Well, while Lautner worked out like crazy to give himself some physical heft for his role as a werewolf, and has developed a following--he's no Pattinson. The sequel opens November 19.

By Anne Thompson
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October 20, 2009 5:32 AM
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Interviews with Hitchcock, Cassavetes; Trailers for Japanese Sideways, Cardboard Animation

In this collection of strange videos:

By Anne Thompson
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October 19, 2009 8:04 AM
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Film of Anne Frank

In case you missed it, here's the only known footage of Anne Frank, looking out the window at a young married couple. It's Amsterdam, July, 1941. In July 1942, as the Nazis occupied The Netherlands, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, when she wrote her widely published diary, Frank was transported first to Auschwitz and then the Bergen-Belson concentration camp, where she died of typhus in early March 1945.

By Anne Thompson
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October 19, 2009 7:39 AM
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The Messenger: Oscar Contender?

Rookie director Oren Moverman's The Messenger faces the same obstacle in the fall awards season as the Michelle Monaghan star vehicle Trucker. It's one of many marginal outsider films that has to get seen before it has a chance. The movie is a stark portrait of two soldiers (Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster) who have to deliver news to families that their loved ones have died in Iraq. Not only do they have to handle their assignment delicately, but they must also absorb the shock, pain and grief of the bereaved.

By Anne Thompson
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October 17, 2009 8:10 AM
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Trailer Watch: Will Amelia Biopic Play?

I'll be showing Mira Nair's Amelia at Sneak Previews this week. I've seen the biopic of the vanished aviatrix Amelia Earhart, which stars Oscar magnet Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, and look forward to grilling the screenwriters, Ron Bass (Rain Man) and Anna Hamilton Phelan (Gorillas in the Mist). The question at hand: how do you tackle a movie biography these days, when authenticity is at such a premium?

By Anne Thompson
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October 17, 2009 6:33 AM
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Chaos Reigns: Antichrist vs. Fantastic Mr. Fox

What's with all the foxes in movies these days? My Variety colleague Peter Debruge couldn't resist mashing-up the The Fantastic Mr. Fox trailer with the "chaos reigns" clip from Lars von Trier's Antichrist, below.