Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York Movie Trailer
Posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has described his directorial debut Synecdoche, New York as his version of a horror movie. It’s a film about death, and man’s fear of mortality. I had the chance to se the film in Toronto, and I’m still unsure of what I saw. It is either brilliant or completely insane. It’s the type of movie that requires repeat viewings to understand the many layers of complexity. But it’s also one of those type of movies that is very dark and depressing in tone, so you might not be as inclined to see it the required amount of times. It’s also one of those movies that grows on you with time. The more I think about it, the more I want to see it again. I rarely give props to Sony Pictures Classics, but this is an extremely well cut trailer. Check it out and tell me what you think in the comments below!
Official Plot Synopsis: Synecdoche, New York explores nightmares that are all too realistic and human. Its hero, Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a 40-year-old local theater director in Schenectady whose life is collapsing around him. His marriage to his artist wife Adele (Catherine Keener) is on its last legs while at the same time he is stricken with a series of increasingly catastrophic illnesses. He is afraid he will die any moment having never accomplished anything important in his life. When he receives a MacArthur Grant, he decides to use the windfall to stage a massive theater piece in NYC, determined to create The Great Piece of Art and leave something as true, honest and heartbreaking as life itself. It’s one of those rare films that deals with death, excruciating illness, gross bodily fluids, despair, heartbreak and bad sex but can still bring a twinkle to the eye.
You can watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo. Synecdoche, New York hits theaters on October 24th 2008.
De Niro Fever: What Just Happened and Righteous Kill Movie Posters
Posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Somebody up there really likes us, because this glorious day brings not one, not eight, but two new posters for upcoming Robert De Niro flicks. First is Righteous Kill, the serial killer thriller starring Al Pacino and De Niro as no-nonsense cops who squat over crime scenes and directed by the guy who forever lives with directing Pacino’s worst film ever, 88 Minutes (and probably the worst De Niro/Pacino movie ever). Wow, this hot cake doesn’t open until September? Oy vey.
More promising is director Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened, which currently has an 8.0 on IMDB from 200+ votes, albeit probably from industry people who quote industry movies like The Player and Hurlyburly. Judging from the poster, you might think the film is about a suit’s wild getaway in Daytona Beach, but De Niro stars as a past-his-prime Hollywood producer struggling to get a new film in the can (bucket?). Nice cast: Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn and veteran Michael Wincott. If you like the sound of knowing guffaws, go see it in L.A. on October 3rd.
Discuss: Stay calm.
Three Video Clips from Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York
Posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Cannes2008 has released thre first three clips from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind) directorial debut Synecdoche, New York. The three clips don’t reveal much. The first screening of the film happened at Cannes on Saturday. Anne Thompson writes that those who have seen it describe the movie as “ambitious, arty and brilliant, if not entirely accessible.” Others have said that like Eternal Sunshine, Synecdoche stays with you for a few days.
Synecdoche, New York stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theater director named Caden Cotard, whose life in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his body’s autonomic functions. Worried about the transience of his life, he moves his theater company to a warehouse in New York City. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton and Tilda Swinton co-star.
Kaufman described the film to the hollywood reporter: “it’s about people’s losses and death and fear of death and intimacy and relationships. Romance and regret and struggle and ego and jealousy and confusion and loneliness and sex and loss — all those things are in the movie. I wanted it to be an all-inclusive experience of a person’s life. It’s this guy’s world.”
Check out the three video clips after the jump.
New Photos: Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York
Posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Next up we bring you new photos from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind) directorial debut.
Synecdoche, New York stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theater director named Caden Cotard, whose life in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his body’s autonomic functions. Worried about the transience of his life, he moves his theater company to a warehouse in New York City. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton and Tilda Swinton co-star.
Running time is 124 minutes. I love the imagery in the background of the life-size replica of New York City which is being housed in a large warehouse.
First Look: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener in Synecdoche, New York
Posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
You might recognize Charlie Kaufman as the screenwriter of some of the strangest films in the last decade: Being John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation., Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. Now the Academy Award-winning writer makes his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York.
Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a theater director named Caden, who ambitiously attempts to put on a play by creating a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse after finding out something is wrong with him on a trip to the dentist. The city model inside the warehouse gets bigger and bigger, as Hoffman’s character continued to age and with a mysterious disease that shuts down his autonomic functions one by one.
Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton and Tilda Swinton co-star. The project was originally written for long time collaborator Spike Jonze. More information on the film can be read in our earlier post.
Synecdoche, New York is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this month.
source: Anne Thompson
First Look: Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York
Posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Ioncinema has the first photo from Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York. Click on the image to enlarge.
Many of you will recognize Kaufman’s name from his unique screenwriting credits: Being John Malkovich, Human Nature, Adaptation., Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. The movie stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton and Tilda Swinton. Hoffman plays a theater director named Caden, who ambitiously attempts to put on a play by creating a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse after finding out something is wrong with him on a trip to the dentist. The project was originally written for long time collaborator Spike Jonze. More information on the film can be read in our earlier post.
Synecdoche, New York is currently scheduled for a March 21st release, and will likely premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
 
Many of you probably know Sean Penn as an actor, but he’s been directing flicks since 1991. His latest, Into the Wild stars Emile Hirsch as a young, idealistic kid who abandons life as most of us know it for the Alaskan wilderness. Based on the bestseller by Jon Krakauer, and inspired by a true story. The movie also stars Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Kristen Stewart, William Hurt, and Marcia Gay Harden. Check out the trailer after the jump.
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Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York begins in May
Posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman will begin principal photography on Synecdoche, New York in May.
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