I know no one who has emerged unscathed from The Act of Killing. The film might be one of the strangest ever made, as it forces men to confront their actions by recreating them in movie form. But these aren’t just any men — they’re guys like Anwar Congo who, as death squad leaders during the “Thirtieth of September Movement,” staged a coup d’etat in Indonesia in 1965, and then committed genocide through an anti-Communist purge.
Estimates of the death toll vary widely, from 80,000 to one million. By any standard, these are heinous crimes. ”War crimes are declared by the winners,” Anwar Congo says, before happily proclaiming “I’m the winner!”
Today Anwar and other death squad leaders have not been tried as criminals; rather, they hold positions of some social standing. The Act of Killing features their full cooperation. It invites the death squad leaders to recreate their actions as genre movies — westerns, musicals, and so on — and in so doing bring their past back to life. The trailer below shows you some of the effect, and even in this abbreviated form it is deeply chilling. Read More »
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Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 46 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness.
Header Photo: CANNES: ROGER EBERT HONORED WITH AMERICAN PAVILION PANEL AND “500 THUMBS UP” ON THE BEACH
Why Do You Hate This? The series finale of Lost
Your definitive list of ‘Arrested Development‘ lists
Hanksy’s Pie Hard print
The 5 Best Episodes Of ‘Arrested Development‘ From The First 3 Seasons
Why Does Hollywood Hate The Future?
The Ultimate Avatar Tattoo [Kinda NSFW]
Lee Unkrich: My Life in Soundtracks
10 Movies…About Really Fast Cars (To Prepare You for ‘Fast & Furious 6’)
Read More »
Amazon is having a sale, offering $4 off Select Animated DVD’s and $6 off Select Animated Blu-rays by using the promo codes 4OFFDVDS and 6OFFBLRY. Here are some of the deals, prices displayed are after the promo amounts are discounted.
The fine print: Codes can only be used once per customer. Only works on Amazon purchases (not third party). To use both codes, they must be applied in a single transaction.
Director Bryan Singer took to Twitter Thursday, announcing the latest piece of casting for his upcoming film X-Men: Days of Future Past. In doing so, he may have inadvertently created a rift in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Singer revealed that Evan Peters (American Horror Story) will be playing the mutant Quicksilver in the film. Now, that’s the same Quicksilver that Joss Whedon revealed would be appearing in The Avengers 2 along with his sister, Scarlet Witch.
How is that going to work? We’ll discuss, and have a Kevin Feige quote, below.
Read More »
Every great hero has a great villain, a nemesis that completes their existence. It’s a theme explored in films like Unbreakable and The Dark Knight, and later this weekend will be the centerpiece at the Hero Complex Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.
Their latest show is called Arch Nemesis, and is comprised of works depicting that topic. Some of the work is just of the bad guys, others show both sides, but each takes into account that core idea: “Without evil there can be no good, so it must be good to be evil sometimes.”
The show opens May 24 and remains on display through June 15. Check out a selection of work below, including the exclusive reveal of the variant editions of Laurent Durieux’s Peter and Wendy poster. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 by Angie Han
Briefly: It took a long time for the English-language remake of Chan-wook Park‘s Oldboy to come together. Now FilmDistrict is asking audiences to stay patient just a tiny while longer.
The Spike Lee-directed thriller has been pushed back two weeks, from October 11 to October 25. It’s not a massive difference, but it pits the film against some different competitors. The only other major release currently scheduled for the 25th is Paranormal Activity 5, whereas on October 11 Oldboy would’ve been up against Captain Phillips, Haunts, and The Fifth Estate.
The news that Oldboy would get an American remake was initially met with dismay by fans of the original, but there’s reason to hope Lee’s remake will do it justice. For starters, it’s locked in a great cast including Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Sharlto Copley. For another, the early buzz is that the new film stays faithful but not too faithful to the original. If we’re lucky, it could turn out to be just the dark, twisted entertainment we crave during the Halloween season.
Discussions of Steven Soderbergh‘s “retirement” hadn’t gone on very long before the writer/producer/director clarified that he was really moving away from feature films, not necessarily from working in moving images. Television projects have been on the table, and he’s talked about a couple. (Info on The Sot-Weed Factor is here, for example.)
Now there’s a new one: a Cinemax series called The Knick, which Soderbergh’s will produce and direct, with Clive Owen starring. The show is “a period series set in New York in 1900,” with a ten-episode commitment from the channel. Soderbergh will direct all ten episodes, which depict working life in a hospital before the development of modern medical practices. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 by Angie Han
By now, you’ve probably heard about the controversy over Star Trek Into Darkness‘ infamous Carol Marcus underwear scene. The moment has attracted enough criticism that writer Damon Lindelof has apologized for it on Twitter. Now director J.J. Abrams has stepped up to offer his own take on the matter.
Disgruntled fans looking for an apology will be disappointed by Abrams’ response; while the filmmaker admits that the scene he didn’t “quite edit the scene in the right way,” he falls short of actually saying he’s sorry. He does, however, attempt to even the score by offering a peek at a deleted scene featuring Benedict Cumberbatch‘s character in the shower. Hit the jump to watch it.
Read More »
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