Genres
-
Thompson on Hollywood1 commentlike0tweet0
Now and Then: Five Reasons 'Mumblecore' and 'Millennial' Don't Mean the Same Thing
Reading wave after wave of writing about the Millennial generation and the so-called "mumblecore" movement, you would be forgiven for thinking the commentators had somehow mistaken movies for real life.
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood1 commentlike0tweet0
Now and Then: Remarkable New Doc 'La Camioneta,' a Masterful Miniature (TRAILER)
Spotsylvania County, Virginia and Queztal City, Guatemala are separated by nearly 3,000 miles of road, and by what would seem, at first, an unbridgeable cultural distance. But in Mark Kendall's remarkable documentary "La Camioneta" -- a brilliant microhistory of our globalized world -- you're hard p...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood4 commentslike0tweet0
Now and Then: Obituary for 'The Big C,' Starring Luminous Laura Linney
Cathy Jamison was a brave bitch. Through four seasons of Showtime's "The Big C," which ended its run Monday, she suffered the indignities of metastatic melanoma, chemotherapy, brain tumors, hospice, and bad insurance, yet remained steadfast in her belief that "surviving" and "living" do not necessar...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood0 commentslike0tweet0
Now and Then: In Two 'Steel Magnolias,' the Times Are Not A-Changin'
The first thing one notices about "Steel Magnolias" (Herbert Ross, 1989) is the hair. Truvy's Beauty Shop overflows with tight-rolled pastel curlers and foot-high teases, held in place by enough hairspray to commit arson -- a style so far out of fashion it seems historical, as rococo as Marie Antoin...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood3 commentslike17tweet23
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: 'Kill List' Director Ben Wheatley Talks IFC's 'Sightseers'
Brit filmmaker Ben Wheatley had brought his prior two low-budget features, "Down Terrace" and "Kill List," to the Cannes market. Then he made his proper Cannes debut with "Sightseers" in the Director's Fortnight, an unexpected breakout during an unexceptional year. Then the film played the fest circ...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood0 commentslike0tweet0
Now and Then: Olivier and the Bard
"I can smile, and murder while I smile," confides that notorious noble, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Laurence Olivier), "and frame my face to all occasions." For Olivier, pronouncing "frame" like "feign," it's an auspicious beginning. In Shakespeare's words, he finds his performer's credo.
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood0 commentslike0tweet0
Now and Then: 'Veep' and Why We Need Satire Right Now
Satire and solemnity are tense bedfellows, and in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings -- after the flags of nations stiffened in the white smoke of the blast, after the dead began to be named, the wounded tallied, the innumerable stories of bravery recounted -- you might say the latter is ...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood3 commentslike0tweet0
Now and Then: Cary Grant, The Man from Dream City, Revisited (CLIPS)
My own fever dream of Cary Grant takes place between cities, sitting down for a Gibson with Eva Marie Saint on a moving train somewhere in Middle America. Headed "North by Northwest," he's at his sexiest then, temples just flecked with gray, tanned and almost ageless. He's not just the recipient of ...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood4 commentslike3tweet4
Now and Then: Quentin Dupieux's 'Wrong' Exposes the Limits of Surrealism
Drafthouse Films, the distributor of Quentin Dupieux's bizarre new film, "Wrong," describes the French director and electronic musician (stage name: Mr. Oizo) as "one of the world’s most fearless cinematic surrealists." The surreal does indeed seem to be Dupieux's preferred register, but this leads ...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood1 commentlike6tweet6
Review: Pre-'Les Mis,' Minnie Driver & Gang Sing Live in Welsh High School Musical 'Hunky Dory'
Welsh filmmaker Marc Evans' elegiac, semi-autobiographical high school musical "Hunky Dory," which played at SXSW last year after its UK release, is finally opening in NY and LA theaters and on VOD March 22 via distrib Variance. The delightful comedy written by Laurence Coriat, set in the sweltering...
Read More »
fresh from the blogs
-
From the Wire: Biskind's Welles at Lunch Book Sounds ...Criticwire
-
'Prometheus 2' Will Use 'Transcendence' Writer Jack ...The Playlist
-
Who Will Play Thurgood Marshall In 'Devil In The Grove' ...Shadow and Act
-
LAFF Review: Lake Bell's 'In a World' a Hilarious Feminist ...Thompson on Hollywood
-
Melissa McCarthy and the Definition of SuccessWomen and Hollywood
-
Not As “Himself”: Three Early Alan Arkin Screen Pe ...Press Play
-
Good Night, Lost Boy(s)The Lost Boys
-
The Real Lone Ranger—At AuctionLeonard Maltin
on facebook
Newsletters
In Theaters
- Between Us
- In the Fog
- Twenty Feet From Stardom
- Fukrey
- Berberian Sound Studio
- The Stroller Strategy
- The Guillotines
