Full-time awards season columnists, move over. There’s a new prognosticator in town: Oscar the Grouch is ready to tell you how the Oscars are going to go when the awards are handed out this Sunday. And at least Oscar — this Oscar — is consistent in his reasoning that leads to each prediction. (Hint: trash is a factor.) Check out the video after the break. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 by David Chen
I’ve done a lot of interviews during my time at /Film, but I usually don’t have the opportunity to interview cinematographers. However, when the offer came to chat with Roger Deakins, I jumped at the chance. Deakins has helped to craft some of the most memorable images in the history of cinema. His insanely accomplished filmography includes the likes of The Shawshank Redemption, Revolutionary Road, and A Beautiful Mind, not to mention many of the films of the Coen Brothers. This year, Deakins received an Academy Award nomination for his work in the Coen Brothers True Grit (his 9th nomination, although he hasn’t yet won). He will also be the recipient of the American Society of Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award.
Below is an excerpted version of our lengthy conversation. Note that there is a quasi-spoiler for True Grit in the interview.
Read More »
Posted on Monday, January 24th, 2011 by Peter Sciretta
UK graphic artist Tom Muller has created an awesome infographic connecting the dots of reoccurring actors in the movies of Coen Bothers. Hit the jump to see the graphic.
This week, David Chen, Devindra Hardawar and Adam Quigley deliver their thoughts on two of this year’s most critically acclaimed films, debate whether or not the Coens have ever done a “straight genre exercise” before, plus offer a crazy theory about the real meaning of Black Swan and speculate on where Aronofsky’s career might be headed next. Thanks to all our listeners, sponsors, donors, and subscribers for an exciting 2010! Check back in a few days for our Top 10 Movies of 2010 in this week’s /Filmcast: After Dark.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. We are off until January 9th. Join us then at Slashfilm’s live page at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST, where we’ll be reviewing Exit Through the Gift Shop.
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Posted on Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 by Peter Sciretta
Last week I had the awesome opportunity to screen the Coen Brothers newest film, a big screen adaptation/remake of True Grit. For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer (and if you haven’t seen the trailer — click here now!), the western stars newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as a spitfire 14-year-old farm girl named Mattie who sets out to capture the man who murdered her father. To aid her in her adventure, “she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with “true grit,” Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn” (played by Jeff Bridges).
The movie doesn’t come out until the end of this month, so I decided against doing a full proper review and instead record a shorter video reaction piece. After this film is released, I’m sure we’ll have a couple in-depth reviews and probably a lengthy analysis on the /Filmcast. But for now I just wanted to go the spoiler free broad strokes route.
Our plan was to record a short five minute video blog giving our brief reaction and thoughts about the film. But If you’ve ever watched one of the video blogs Frosty from Collider and I record together, then you know we are unable to keep things short. The result is a ten minute video blog reaction. It’s still spoiler free, a broad overview of our thoughts. You can watch/listen to it now, embedded after the jump.
Posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 by Russ Fischer
Briefly: With festival and awards seasons coming up fast, we’ve got a lot of new images arriving from the fall’s bumper crop of movies. (Thankfully, the lineup looks a lot more promising than the summer’s was.) Not long ago we showed you the first official still from the Joel and Ethan Coen version of True Grit. Now there’s a high-res version of the image that shows an eyepatched Jeff Bridges as marshall ‘Rooster’ Cogburn and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross.
The film, which is a new and reportedly more faithful take on the Charles Portis novel than was the fan-favorite John Wayne version, opens on December 25. That’s as good a present as I think I’ll get this year. What could be better than a Coen Brothers Western? Full image after the break; click it to get the full-size version. Read More »
Posted on Saturday, May 1st, 2010 by Russ Fischer
I’m wildly curious about True Grit, the new version of the Charles Portis novel currently lensing under the supervision of Joel and Ethan Coen. For the past couple weeks I’ve resisted posting the many set photos that have hit the internet as the film shoots in New Mexico and Texas. Mostly because they didn’t show much; you could see old west building facades and some period-appropriate costumes, but there wasn’t anything that really suggested what the movie would look like.
Now there is some video, but the useful factor here is that it shows some brief glimpses of the young, mostly unknown actress Hailee Steinfeld, who plays the story’s heroine, Mattie Ross. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 by Russ Fischer
Joel and Ethan Coen are in New Mexico right now filming True Grit, their take on the Charles Portis novel that inspired the 1969 film of the same name. We know that this version will hew closer to the source novel than the original film did, and given the fact that the Coen Brothers are behind it, we can make certain guesses about the general tone of the film.
Carter Burwell will once again be writing the score for the Coens, and he has recently talked in brief detail about their ideas for the score.
