Hollywood has saved its best for last this year. A rich selection of high quality films opens in theaters this Thanksgiving, making postprandial multiplex-hopping this weekend’s can’t miss cultural event. Here are recommendations for movies you must see, once you’ve loosened the belt a notch or two.
In The Artist, French director Michel Hazanavicius dazzled Cannes’s perpetually critical audiences with a story about a silent-movie star who falls in a love with a rising starlet just as his career is eclipsed by the talkies. Remarkably, The Artist is itself a silent film in striking black and white shot on the back lots of old Hollywood studios. However, don’t let that scare you off. Hazanavicius captures all the beauty of silent cinema in this absolute charmer while constructing a movie that feels fun, breezy and modern. It might even leave you yearning to check out some old Chaplin classics after you leave the theater.
Hollywood has saved its best for last this year. A rich selection of high quality films opens in theaters this Thanksgiving, making postprandial multiplex-hopping this weekend’s can’t miss cultural event. Here are recommendations for movies you must see, once you’ve loosened the belt a notch or two.
It’s been seven years since Sideways, Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning romp through Santa Ynez’s wine country, and the director returns at the top of his game with The Descendants. George Clooney stars as an aristocratic Hawaiian paterfamilias struggling to connect with two teenage daughters while dealing with the revelation of his coma-bound wife’s infidelity. Touching but not maudlin, playful but not precious, The Descendants is a finely observed gem of beautifully honest storytelling. Clooney’s remarkable performance infuses Payne’s signature mix of wit and drama with a poignant humanity that makes this perhaps his most moving film to date.
Hollywood has saved its best for last this year. A rich selection of high quality films opens in theaters this Thanksgiving, making postprandial multiplex-hopping this weekend’s can’t miss cultural event. Here are recommendations for movies you must see, once you’ve loosened the belt a notch or two.
Muppets just make everything better. When a nefarious Texas oilman aims to tear down the bankrupt Muppet studios in search of oil, Kermit gathers the gang together for one final telethon to save their legacy. However, does the Muppets’ sincere humor still fly in our cynical world? Simply put, yes. Writer and star Jason Segel brings his genuine adoration for Jim Henson’s legendary creations to a family friendly film that introduces the joys of being green to a whole new generation. That’s not to say there aren’t laughs for the non–Happy Meal set. We’ll just say this: Chris Cooper’s gangster-rap tap dance number.
Hollywood has saved its best for last this year. A rich selection of high quality films opens in theaters this Thanksgiving, making postprandial multiplex-hopping this weekend’s can’t miss cultural event. Here are recommendations for movies you must see, once you’ve loosened the belt a notch or two.
You might be wary of all the subpar 3-D movies out there, but when Martin Scorsese decides to experiment with anything cinematic, you’re guaranteed to get a one-of-a-kind spectacle. Who else would think to combine 3-D, a lush costume period piece, the birth of cinema, Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen? The enthusiastic buzz in the blogosphere and on the festival circuit seems to indicate that Scorsese has crafted the first truly must-see 3-D movie since Avatar. This one just might be worth the surcharge and funny glasses.
Hollywood has saved its best for last this year. A rich selection of high quality films opens in theaters this Thanksgiving, making postprandial multiplex-hopping this weekend’s can’t miss cultural event. Here are recommendations for movies you must see, once you’ve loosened the belt a notch or two.
Should a turkey coma leave you couch-ridden, you can recreate the feel of our recommendations through the miracle of Netflix instant streaming. Interested in The Artist? Check out Chaplin’s classic The Gold Rush, to which Hazanavicius pays loving homage. For Alexander Payne fans, there’s About Schmidt, which nabbed Jack Nicholson a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Netflix also has Jim Henson’s remarkable HBO series The Storyteller, in which whimsically designed Muppets reenact beguiling European folktales. And if you need a Scorsese period piece fix, order The Age of Innocence, his adaptation of Edith Wharton’s classic novel featuring a dashing, young Daniel Day-Lewis. If all else fails, dial up Christmas Vacation on AppleTV.
With the 50th anniversary of the classic film L’Avventura, by Michelangelo
Antonioni, I’m reminded of the Italian director’s aesthetic vision. Besides
his innovative cinematography, there’s such a nuanced way to how he portrays
women, highlighted by their wardrobes. The polka-dot skirt suit, checked pencil
skirt and tailored trench that the stunning Monica Vitti wears in L’Avventura are both modern and classic. You almost forget it’s 1960. Antonioni approached
filmmaking like a painter, using clothes to define the characters in their landscape.
When I watch Lucia Bosé in Cronaca di un Amore, I find a contemporary
relevance to her style: simplicity in dress meets gobs of jewelry. All these
years later, his vision remains the gold standard of elegance.
When the 28th annual Sundance Film Festival opens this weekend in Park City, Utah, some of its most anticipated films will chronicle corporate greed, economic plight and, of course, Occupy Wall Street. From Finding North, Tom Colicchio’s documentary about hunger in America, to Queen of Versailles, Lauren Greenfield’s movie about a Florida real estate developer’s failed quest to build a 90,000 square-foot, personal state-side Versailles, to Nicholas Jarecki’s feature film Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere as a troubled hedge fund manager, the official film schedule will stand in stark relief against its unofficial scene: the parties.
According to Christopher Ryan, the talent manager in charge of the Sundance party list, this year’s Sundance will see nearly 100 more events this year than last year. With dozens of new corporate sponsors descending on Park City to create the biggest event spaces in the festival’s history, and venues like STK and Tao opening pop-up spots to rival the real thing, one can only hope the films’ frightening forecast isn’t. We interviewed Chris Ryan to hear his top picks for opening weekend.
How do you come up with the list and who gets it?
First I go through all the films and see who the talent is, then I go to their publicists and find out what events they’re doing for the talent, and then build out a list of that. I send it to select actors, directors, publicists and press and they get great marketing out of it.
How is the 2012 party schedule different than last year’s?
It’s much bigger than last year. Last year there were 270 listings and this year it’s already at 350 and I still haven’t included two lounges on that list. Maybe the economy is recovering, or brands are looking to spend money. It’s not hard to spend $50,000 on an event and get enough filmmakers and media there to make it worth it.
Where did those extra 100 events come from? Who’s new on the scene?
A lot of sponsors who dropped out in recent years have returned, like GenArt came back with the Bertolli Meal Soup Chalet. Sundance’s official sponsors are hosting new events. And the Fender Music Lodge moved to a bigger center. Axe Hair Media Center and Groom Room is all new. And Issey Miyake Sport is new and sponsoring The Supper Club. There are new vendors in the Village at the Lift, like the Miami Board of Tourism. There are also new corporate-sponsored houses on promontory point, like the Sundance Collective, who are all hosting private events and dinners.
Where will all the celebrities be during the day? Where do you go to people watch?
Good hangout spots during the day will be the Fender Music Lodge, where live music will play all day long and there will be Chopin Vodka and Monster Energy drinks, and the Miami Oasis at the Village, where there will Patron drinks. The Element Electronics Apres Ski House and the Axe Media Center will also be full of celebrities.
Which evening events have the hottest tickets so far?
The exclusive cast dinner parties are all really good, like the Supper Suite at the Montage on Friday night. The HBO party on Sunday night at the LIVEstyle Film Lounge will be a hard one to get into. The 7 for All Mankind party at the Bertolli Meal Soup Chalet is always really good too. Then after-hours at the new STK space, Hyde and Goodnight Gansevoort will be the toughest places to go. Then, the TAO space is really cool because they use the lift parking lot and redecorate it to look like Tao Vegas. Most of the celebrities will be around the Village at the Lift or the Supper Clubs that Issey Myake Sport is hosting. Then Bing has some pretty good acts performing in their space on Main Street. They just added a third floor so it will be one of the bigger venues.
New York does summer movies in a style all its own. So, too, does the W New York Downtown, which continues its New York in Film summer screening series this month with 1969’s Midnight Cowboy, presented by esteemed director Spike Lee. (New York in Film is a collaboration between the W and the film series Grand Classics.) Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi and fashion writer and editor Derek Blasberg led the first film of the season, Sweet Charity, in June. Held in the private residential lounge at the hotel, which offers stunning outlooks of lower Manhattan, two screenings of Midnight Cowboy will illustrate the film’s indomitable New York spirit: Lee hosts an invite-only private viewing on July 26, and a public showing ($30) on July 31 features a cocktail reception (7:30 p.m.) before showtime (8 p.m.). Treats—what’s a movie without them?—will include a cocktail bar, ’60s-themed candy and spiced popcorn. 123 Washington St.; 646-281-2540; whotelsnewyork.com/summerclassics.
Still from SAMSARA. Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Shot on 70mm film over the span of five years throughout 25 countries, Samsara—which opens August 24 in New York and Seattle—is a transfixing journey pegged to a theme of birth, death and rebirth. The conceit is familiar, but the parade of breathtaking images, made all the more powerful by the film’s complete lack of narration, is an immersive, sensory treat.
Samsara, which means “the ever turning wheel of life” in Sanskrit, is presented as a “guided meditation,” according to director Ron Fricke and producer Mark Magidson. (The two are also behind 1992’s Baraka, a similar globe-spanning spectacle.) Original music ushers the scenes along, but the visual experience is as rich as they come. “You don’t want to leave stones unturned,” says Fricke, who traveled with Magidson and their crew to more than 100 locations. “You don’t want to have regrets.”
That diligence paid off. Sweeping vistas of Bagan, Myanmar, and other natural wonders contrast with buzzing, overdeveloped urban landscapes and factories churning out everything from poultry products to sex dolls. The hallowed halls of a cathedral bleed into the equally reverential spaces of undulating rock formations. Children are baptized at Divino Salvador Church in São Paulo, Brazil; teeming crowds of worshippers at Mecca swirl and churn like flocks of birds.
Samsara is a thought-provoking trip and a lot to take in (broader messages on the state of our society and the world as a whole aren’t lost amid the images). But, ultimately, it will make you want to see it all first-hand—experiences that the filmmakers couldn’t forget if they tried. “We’ve learned a lot doing this,” says Fricke. “It’s made us fearless.” Opens August 24 in New York and Seattle; barakasamsara.com.
Greek painter Konstantin Kakanias has resurrected Mrs. Tependris, his beloved fashion-loving cartoon character, for a seven-minute animated film done in conjunction with the Los Angeles–based fashion label Co. In Tependris Rising—which follows several books by Kakanias, including Mrs. Tependris: The Contemporary Years—our protagonist awakes after being cryogenically frozen and heads into the desert, with dog and assistant in tow, in search of a fashion show. After a chance encounter with an unusually civilized giant spider, Mrs. Tependris lands herself smack in the middle of the Co. fall fashion show, walking the runway in a floor-length black dress and fur jacket. With Kakanias voicing Mrs. Tependris and front-row cameos by the likes of Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld and Kanye West, our stylish heroine makes a fashion comeback—though not before a slip on the catwalk has her literally swimming in eveningwear. Whimsical and winning, this could be Kakanias’s best interpretation of Mrs. Tependris yet. Co-collections.com.
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