LONDON CRITICS’ CIRCLE LOVES AMOUR

Amour, Michael Haneke’s bleak look at the deaths of an elderly loving couple, was the winner of the London Critics’ Circle award for film of the year Sunday night. The film, which won the Palme D’Or at Cannes in May and is nominated for five Oscars, also won the best actress award for Emmanuelle Riva […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: THE MASTER

The Master opens tonight in just three theaters in New York and two in Los Angeles. Presumably they’re among the few in the country — perhaps the only ones — that remain capable of projecting 70mm film. While some critics praise director Paul Thomas Anderson’s commitment to the medium of film, others suggest that the […]

REPORT: WEINSTEIN CO. EXPECTING TROUBLE FROM SCIENTOLOGISTS

The Weinstein Co., expecting to face protests from members of Scientology over its Paul Thomas Anderson film The Master, has increased security at tonight’s (Thursday) premiere of the movie in New York, MovieLine.com reported today. The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reported earlier this week that Scientologists have been inundating the distributor with “strange […]

SOUTH KOREAN FILM PIETA WINS AT VENICE

The South Korean drama Pieta has won the Golden Lion Award, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. But for director Kim Ki-duk, it was a bittersweet victory. The festival was abuzz over reports that the jury had awarded the prize to Kim’s film by default — only because it could not give it […]

DIRECTOR TO RAISE RIVER PHOENIX FILM FROM ASHES

In an interview that would appear to raise as many questions as it answers, Dutch director George Sluizer has told the Hollywood Reporter that he plans to complete his 1993 drama Dark Blood, which River Phoenix was working on when he died outside a West Hollywood nightclub in 1993 of an apparent drug overdose at […]

JOAQUIN PHOENIX RETURNS TO SCENE OF CRIME — LATE SHOW

Joaquin Phoenix returned to Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday night, this time clean-shaven and wearing a suit, and immediately went about trying to set the record straight. Yes, his previous appearance as a bearded, disoriented rap wannabe was all a hoax, part of his “performance art” for his movie with Casey Affleck, He’s Still […]

I’M STILL HERE — BUT MOVIE WON’T BE

Despite massive promotion — most of it free, thanks to the Internet — Casey Affleck’s I’m Still Here, about Joaquin Phoenix’s supposed transition from movie star to rap wannabe, has turned out to be a flop. In its second week, the film, released by Magnolia films as a documentary, earned $113,333 in 120 theaters, or […]

CASEY AFFLECK OWNS UP: I’M STILL HERE WAS A HOAX

Surprising hardly anyone, Casey Affleck (Ben’s brother) has admitted that his I’m Still Here documentary about the alleged career tailspin of Joaquin Phoenix was a hoax. However, in an interview with the New York Times, Affleck said, “The idea of quote, hoax, unquote, never entered my mind.” While, as the newspaper observed, most mockumentaries “wear […]

BOX OFFICE LIKELY TO SEE TICKET SALES PLUNGE THIS WEEKEND

Only one film is opening wide this weekend, and it’s a horror flick based on a videogame at that. And it hasn’t been shown to critics. Box-office analysts have observed that the weekend after Labor Day frequently produces the year’s fewest ticket sales, so without any serious competition, Resident Evil: Afterlife is likely to have […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: I’M STILL HERE

Critics are suggesting that, judging from Casey Affleck’s documentary about him, Joaquin Phoenix may still be here but he’s not all there. In his review of I’m Still Here, Joe Neumaier writes in the New York Daily News: “The whole thing is such a tedious, foul-mouthed mess that it isn’t even worth discussing as a […]

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