RIP Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016)

The world just lost another master artist yesterday, after the recent passing of Michael Cimino and Elie Wiesel. Abbas Kiarostami has passed away after a battle with gastrointestinal cancer.

Kiarostami's blended fiction and non-fiction during his over forty year career in film. One of the most prominent Iranian filmmakers, he had been a mainstay of the Cannes Film Festival, jurying multiple times and winning the Palme d'Or in 1997 for Taste of Cherry. His most recent films Certified Copy and Like Someone in Love ventured out of Iran, but it's his homegrown meditations on death like Cherry and The Wind Will Carry Us are what instantly come to mind on this sad news.

Kiarostami wasn't just a film artist but a poet as well, though poetic language heightened much of his film work. His films were soulfully awake and fiercely personal - Cherry being the brusing and enlightening standout, with Copy's existentialism winning him his newest fans. Just last week, he had been included on the Academy's list of newly invited members. You can catch up with many of his films on Hulu.

What was your favorite Kiarostami film?

The Long Box Office Weekend: Finding Tarzan

How was your holiday weekend? I took a rare break from blogging for a long 4th of July weekend with two friends I hadn't seen in far too long. We didn't hit the movies but for a couple of post meal watches on shared couches (The Intern & 10 Cloverfield Lane). But movies are always big business on this weekend, even without our help. It was a tough opening weekend for The BFG but both the new Tarzan and The Purge did well, Despite three major new films and a big expansion for a others like Swiss Army Man, cinemas were still under the sea. Finding Dory remains at #1 and will soon be the top grossing film of the whole year. Haven't all the fish been found by now?

TOP FIVE WIDE
1000+ screens. arrows indicate gaining or losing screens
▫️01 Finding Dory $50.1 (cum. $380.5) Review
🔺02 The Legend of Tarzan $45.5 NEW Review
🔺03 The Purge: Election Year $34.7 NEW
🔺04 The BFG $22.2 NEW
🔺05 Independence Day: Resurgence $20.2 (cum. $76.3)  Roland Emmerich

TOP FIVE LIMITED
Less than 1000 screens. Excluding previously wide. 
🔺01 Swiss Army Man $1.7 (cum. $1.8) 636 screens 
🔺02 Our Kind of Traitor $1.2 NEW 372 screens 
🔻03 Love & Friendship $512K (cum. $12.6) 185 screens Review, Podcast  
🔻04 The Lobster $425K (cum. $7.6) 151 screens Reviewish, Podcast 
🔺05 Maggie's Plan $400K (cum. $2.7)  Review
 

What did you see/do this weekend?

Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Editor's Note: This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. Our "Swing Tarzan Swing" column, investigating the shifting portrayals and quality of Tarzan films over pop culture history will resume next weekend. We'll circle back to Skarsgård at the end.

You know that antipiracy text that sometimes appears on movie screens now post-credits? "The making and legal distribution of this film supported over X-many thousands of jobs." This message kept bothering me the day after seeing The Legend of Tarzan (2016). Yes, piracy is bad but you know what else is terrible? That none of those jobs were for animal trainers! I swear that not a single real animal appears in the new film, which has to be a first for a Tarzan film. And hopefully a last. It's all computer generated imagery for this jungle adventure...

Click to read more ...

ICYMI: The Furniture

Our new contributor Daniel Walber is taking the 4th of July off but I wanted to take this wee break from his column "The Furniture," to sing its praises. When he first pitched the series I requested only that it be really focused, not solely Oscar-nominated specific (so much brilliant work isn't honored each year, after all), and that we alternate contemporary and classic cinema so there's something for everyone. But the series is all him. It's been a joy to read each week and the exact type of thing I've long wanted to do for my favorite craft category costume design. He beat me to it but I find it inspiring and am looking forward anew to our coverage of the below-the-line Oscar categories this year. 

If you haven't yet read any of these episodes, I think you'll learn something about the cinema and the power of production design to enhance a theme, sell a heightened reality, and underline character arcs.

The episodes to date: The Witch (2016), Hail Caesar! (2016), Deadpool (2016), Lady in the Van (2015), Joy (2015), The Force Awakens (2015), Embrace of the Serpent (2015), Carol and Brooklyn (2015), Orlando (1992), Batman (1989), The Exorcist (1973), Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Black Narcissus (1947), That Hamilton Woman (1941) 

Happy Fourth of July !

Have fun & stay safe! (We'll be back briefly this afternoon and then back to regular frequent posting tomorrow.)