Thomas Vinterberg returns with "The Commune"

This review originally ran in September 2016 from the Toronto International Film Festival. With the film finally in theaters in select cities starting today (and available to rent on Amazon), we didn't want you to miss it...

Thomas Vinterberg first came to fame with the Dogme 95 masterpiece The Celebration (1998) which was an international success reaping Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Foreign Film. Oscar famously snubbed it during their long stretch of controversial years in the 90s and 00s where they regularly ignored major critical darlings eventually prompting reforms to the selection process in the late Aughts. Vinterberg was eventually nominated with another international success The Hunt (2012) and after his English language sleeper success Far From the Madding Crowd (2015) it's safe to say he's on quite a roll currently. 

For years people had suggested to Vinterberg that he make a film about commune life since he had grown up in one as a child in the 70s...

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Three Games for the News: Denzel and the Mias

by Murtada

News is coming at us so fast from the 70th Cannes, currently unspooling, that we can hardly keep up. Let’s then take a moment then to ruminate on a film that might screen at the 72nd edition in May of 2019...

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Hugh Jackman's P.T. Barnum Kicks Off The Party in "Greatest Showman" Images

by Daniel Crooke 

Between stints of slicing and dicing the big screen – let alone the ADR booth – as Wolverine, Hugh Jackman’s carved out a comfortable career for himself over the years as a jack-of-all-trades song-and-dance man. In fact, his greatest feats of awards success have all revolved around his fleet feet and tenacious tenor: a Tony Award for The Boy From Oz, his sole Oscar nomination for Les Miserables, and, of course, his instantly iconic turn hosting the 2008 Academy Awards. In light of Entertainment Weekly’s recently released photo spread from his upcoming P.T. Barnum (original!) musical The Greatest Showman, the question begs itself. Will Jackman land once more with Oscar for his latest tripping of the light fantastic?

More images and info after the jump... 

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"How to Talk to Girls at Parties" Tease x 3

Chris here. Slightly lost in all of the Cannes hullabaloo is John Cameron Mitchell's directorial return to the cinema with How to Talk to Girls at Parties (though not completely lost considering its part of Nicole Kidman's Cannes foursome). Granted, other than some tantalizing set photos ages ago, we haven't heard much on what to expect from this Neil Gaiman adaptation. But now non-festival goers have their first look at what Mitchell and co. has in store for us with three tiny teasers. They may be brief, but ooh boy are they wild:

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Interview: James Ivory on "Maurice" Turning 30

By Jose Solís.

 
Can you believe Maurice came out 30 years ago? James Ivory’s film adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel was released in the fall of 1987, a year after the Oscar winning A Room with a View. While it was never as celebrated as the former, throughout the years it’s come to be more highly regarded for its groundbreaking LGBTQ romance, and as the film that launched Hugh Grant’s screen career.

The tale of forbidden love between the title character (played by James Wilby) and a male servant (Rupert Graves) is filled with pithy dialogue, handsome actors and a then unparalleled sensuality when it comes to conveying gay romance. Its influence can be seen in countless films that came after it, yet for decades it remained the happiest of LGBTQ screen romances. That's a position I discussed with Mr. Ivory as the film is being re-released in theaters this weekend in a 4K restoration to celebrate its landmark anniversary. (If you're in NYC it's showing at the newly renovated Quad Cinema which has its own rich history of showing LGBTQ cinema).

Our interview follows:

JOSE: You’ve mentioned you enjoy watching your films...

JAMES IVORY: I enjoy watching them on the big screen, let me put it that way. What I like to do is see them big, especially after I haven’t seen them in a while.

JOSE: Have you re-discovered anything about Maurice having seen it recently?...

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