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Entries in Richard Linklater (29)

Tuesday
Jul162019

The New Classics - Before Sunset

Michael C here to honor a film with an emotional impact that hasn't diminished over countless repeat viewings...

Scene: The Car Ride
When people talk about the appeal of Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy they tend to focus on the enchanting dialogue or the romantic European locations, but I think one of the big reasons this series is so beloved is that it avoids all the contrivances usually deployed to keep couples apart in movies... 

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Monday
Nov272017

Last Flag Flying: Sizing Up the Vets 

By Spencer Coile 

In recent years, Richard Linklater has perfected the art of meandering. This is not an inherently bad quality to his filmmaking. On the contrary, recent efforts such as Before Midnight and Everybody Wants Some!! work so well because their conversations feel genuine,  real conversations happening to real people. The exchangesfeel improvised, even though they are not. When the dialogue works, Linklater captures all of the nuances of a single conversation: big and small. 

Last Flag Flying, the latest entry into Linklater's filmography, works similarly to many of his past projects. After the death of his son, Larry "Doc" Shepherd (Steve Carell) turns to his Vietnam veteran buddies from years past, Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne) to travel with him to bury his son...

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Tuesday
Jun132017

New Linklater Film to Open NYFF

Chris here. You may think it's a little early to start prepping for fall film festival season, but New York Film Festival wants to prove you wrong. The festival just announced its opening film and it's one we've heard surprisingly little about: Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying.

The film will be a spiritual sequel of sorts to Hal Ashby's The Last Detail, with Bryan Cranston taking over Jack Nicholson's reins. Cranston stars with Laurence Fishburne and Steve Carell, and the men head off on a coastal road trip after Carell's son dies while serving overseas in Iraq. If this sounds on the treacly side, we can count on Linklater to give it some verve. Plus if NYFF has the confidence in the film to announce its major placement several months away, the Texan filmmaker could have something special coming our way.

The film will open in the Thanksgiving corridor on November 17, so distributor Amazon is likely gunning for Oscar consideration. Previous NYFF openers range from last year's nominated 13th to all-around dud The Walk, so we'll be curious to see how the film lands. Could this be Linklater's post-Boyhood return to Oscar graces?

Friday
Mar242017

Cate Blanchett gets a new sparring partner, Kristen Wiig

by Murtada

Cate Blanchett always manages to get sizzling chemistry with her female co-stars, whether the story they are in is sapphic or not. She had it with Judi Dench playing the architect of her destruction in Notes on a Scandal (2007). And with Sally Hawkins as her curtseying worse gened adoptive sister in Blue Jasmine (2013). Most famously, she had it with Rooney Mara as the girl flung out of space in Carol (2015). In the same movie she etched a believable and palpable friendship with Sarah Paulson. We assume she’ll do it again with Paulson next year in Ocean’s Eight (and with Sandra Bullock, Rihanna et al).Those set pictures don’t lie. And now we can add Kristen Wiig to the list.

They already make each other laugh

In the adaptation of Maria Semple’s bestselling novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette, to be directed by Richard Linklater, Cate and Kristen will be at odds with each other. Cate is Bernadette, a once world renowned architect turned recluse who is overwhelmed by her fellow private-school mothers in Seattle. Kristen is Audrey, one of those intense mothers who annoy Bernadette. Shades of Renata and Madeleine in Big Little Lies? If you've read the novel, you know that the Bernadette-Audrey relationship goes into some unexpected but very funny places. Can’t wait to see Blanchett and Wiig sparring.

There are two other great roles in the novel. Bee, Bernadette's 15 year old daughter who puts the pieces together of her mother’s elusive previous life. And Elgin, the husband and father, a genius computer scientist who leads a design team at a very famous tech company. Linklater was seen catching Cate’s final Broadway performance in The Present, just a few days ago. He brought along a friend, Ethan Hawke. Hmmmm. This could mean nothing but it could be a sign. No matter, let's play casting director. Who would you cast as Bee and Elgin?

Thursday
Feb232017

Director Richard Linklater Fights Against Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bills With PSA

If you thought the gorgeous cadre of jocks in Everybody Wants Some!! was the extent of what Texan ally Richard Linklater had to offer in all things LGBT this past year, be sure to take a look at his recent PSA: "Taking A Seat, Making A Stand." Acting in solidarity with the transgender community, he steps up his game with his most recent project in a major way. Linklater teamed up with the I Pee With LGBT campaign to produce this bright and sharp comic short in response to the anti-transgender bathroom bill that’s currently awaiting a vote in the Texas legislature – S.B. 6, for those keeping track of the insidious discrimination measures spreading across America’s statehouses. As President Trump reverses course on establishing federal protections for transgender minors, this urgent, inclusively common sense message speaks to our shared humanity in the face of hate, and deserves to be loudly repeated more and more by the day.

What role do you think players in the motion picture industry should take within the climate of today’s increasingly omnipresent political landscape?