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Rachel Samuels Takes Viewers Down Some Dark Streets
Low-key lighting casts shadows upon its characters. A story of deception and murder where the closer one gets to the truth the more dangerous it gets. A femme fatale leads the protagonist through a world of moral ambiguity, only to bring him to his demise. These are some of the things normally associated with film noir. If you keep all that and then add in a couple of singing vixens, a lushly ornate visual palate and a slew of original blues songs from the likes of Chaka Khan and Etta James, you've got director Rachel Samuels’ new film noir musical fantasy, Dark Streets.
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Christmas Kids With Spirit
Five of the most memorable children's roles in Christmas classics
Turn on any television during the holiday season and you’re bound to find a wide variety of Christmas movies from which to choose. Santa, snow and sleigh bells are everywhere this time of year. But one important element that makes these festive flicks so special is the bright young faces of children, whose innocence, faith and whimsy so aptly portray the spirit of the season. Here, MovieMaker takes a look back at five of the most memorable performances by children in holiday movies (and incidentally made a list of pretty good stocking stuffers, too).
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Gus Van Sant Enjoys Moviemaking By the Bay
“I have always been rather better treated in San Francisco than I actually deserved.” While this quote is attributed to the great Mark Twain, it is surely appropriate when describing the sentiment moviemakers have after visiting the City by the Bay.
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Summit Entertainment Announces Twilight Sequel
After this past weekend’s sold-out showings of Twilight, fans will have something new to look forward to: Summit Entertainment has announced that the studio is moving forward with a sequel to the teen vampire love story.
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Ron Howard to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Palm Springs Film Festival
Oscar-winning moviemaker Ron Howard will receive the Director’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 20th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. Howard will be honored for his 50 years in the industry, with special focus on his upcoming drama Frost/Nixon.
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Shooting People Celebrates 10 Years
Finding a stable entry point for the aspiring moviemaker in the ever-shifting waters of cinema can be a difficult task. But with 10 years of connecting independent moviemakers under their belt, the online community, Shooting People, has become just that, an integral part of the way in which thousands of moviemakers survive in this dog-eat-dog business.
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Twilight Fans Vote for Most Badass Vampire
Twilight mania is at its peak and what better way to illustrate this than with a to-the-death match between Robert Pattinson, the actor playing the 108-year-old vampire in the much anticipated romantic fantasy movie, and some of the most legendary vampires in movie history? Not literally, of course, but at spout.com, visitors have been voting for their favorites as the famous fangs behind Bela Lugosi, Max Schrek, Gary Oldman and Tom Cruise have been pitted against one another in a digital cage match.
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Milan Film Festival to Unveil New Format
For its 2009 event, taking place May 4-12, the Milan International Film Festival will unveil a new format, allowing more chances to win its Milanese "Oscar" statuette, Leonardo’s Horse.
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Take Home TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, the studio with the world’s largest film library, is partnering with Turner Classic Movies, the authority in classic film, to introduce the TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection. Beginning in early 2009, the partners will release a collection of 60 acclaimed movies in 15 themed groups.
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Idyllwild Awards Scholarships for “Hollywood Ending” Writing Contest
For those 13- to 18-year-olds who already know they want a career in moviemaking, steadfastness in knowing what you want to do with your life at such an early age will get you far. But with Idyllwild Arts Academy’s (IAA) announcement to offer scholarships for the 2009-2010 school year to those students who take part in their “Hollywood Ending” contest, you can get even further ahead of the curve.
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Melissa Rosenberg Takes a Bite Out of Twilight
With Twilight, the series of teen-lit vampire romance novels that have courted 13-year-old girls and their mothers more heroically than Miley Cyrus ever could, there are two factions: The uninitiated and the over-initiated. But come November 21, only the latter bloc will remain as the first novel's movie adaptation, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, will be released in the United States. A few weeks before the predictable chaos of screaming fans and swooning pre-teens reaches its tipping point, MM spoke with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who was unaware of Twilight altogether (blasphemous, we know) when she was offered the job of adapting it for the screen.
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License to Cut: Editor Matt Chessé on Quantum of Solace
As Quantum of Solace is released in theaters, editor Matt Chessé discusses cutting the latest Bond film—which also happens to be his seventh collaboration with director Marc Forster.
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Robert Davi Introduces The Dukes
Actor-turned-director Davi addresses America’s economic woes with some overseas inspiration
When The Dukes screened at the International Rome Film Festival in October 2007 audiences gave it a standing ovation, critics applauded and the following day it was splashed across all the major newspapers in Italy. After successfully running the festival circuit for the past year, writer-director Davi’s first movie will hit theaters November 14. Here, he speaks with MM about the project that took him nearly 40 years to release, the state of independent film today and how The Dukes is more timely now than ever.
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Entries Now Being Accepted for the 23rd Annual ASC Awards
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) is now accepting entries for their 23rd annual Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards, taking place Sunday, February 15, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Awards will be presented in several categories, including feature films, episodic television and television movie/miniseries/pilot. The deadline for television entries is December 1. The television nominees will be announced the week of December 15, while the theatrical film nominees will be announced January 6 or 7.
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AFI Fest 2008 Winners Announced
The American Film Institute has announced the winners of AFI Fest 2008. The festival, now in its 22nd year, offers exposure to the entertainment community while providing audiences with the very best of world movies.
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Obama Rally a Boon to Chicago Film Suppliers
The 500 camera crews of all sizes from all over the world that converged on Tuesday night in Chicago's Grant Park for the Obama rally gave the local film community a much needed huge financial boost.
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Eric Mofford Produces Some Unconventional Media
Unconventional Media, a cross-over film and new media company, is pioneering this strange new ground, producing cinematic portions for the Electronic Arts (EA) game “Need for Speed: Undercover” and bringing the moviemaking process to gamers everywhere. MM got the chance to speak to Eric Mofford, the company’s founder, to discuss what it takes to make the cinematic portions of video games, the reason behind the video game-movie hybrid and what it means for moviemakers in the future.
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Young Moviegoers Already Awaiting Twilight
Twilight, adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s highly popular romantic vampire novel for young adults, doesn’t open for another two weeks but avid fans are already counting down the days until the movie’s release.
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Darren Lynn Bousman, Hollywood's Repo! Man
How the maker of Saw II, III and IV went from horror blockbuster to rock opera indie
When he was 26, Darren Lynn Bousman turned his feature debut, Saw II, into a certified blockbuster. Parts III and IV quickly followed. But now he’s ready for something completely different—a rock opera starring Paris Hilton—with Repo! The Genetic Opera.
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Donald McAlpine to Receive ASC International Achievement Award
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has announced Donald McAlpine as the 2009 recipient of the annual ASC International Achievement Award. The award, presented to a cinematographer who has made significant contributions to the art of moviemaking, is “an expression of our admiration for Don McAlpine both as a human being and as an artful filmmaker,” says Awards Committee chairman Michael Goi.
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Joseph White Aims and Shoots for Repo! Men
Arriving in theaters on November 7th, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a true original—a "science fiction horror rock opera" that is sure to be unlike any other musical you've ever seen. Directed by the Saw series stalwart Darren Lynn Bousman and based on a play by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich (who also wrote the script), the movie takes place in the not-so-distant future, when an epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. Biotech company GeneCo emerges, offering organ transplants for a price. So how do you mix science fiction, horror, opera and Paris Hilton? Any way you'd like, says cinematographer Joseph White.
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Two Thumbs up for Roger Ebert’s Scorsese by Ebert
Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest moviemakers of all time. With movies like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas, Scorsese has redefined cinema. Now, one of the greatest film critics of all, Roger Ebert, has written a new book, Scorsese by Ebert, about this legendary auteur. The book compiles all of Ebert’s original reviews of Scorsese’s movies, includes a number of “reconsiderations” of some of the director's lesser-known works (such as Who’s That Knocking At My Door and The King of Comedy) and provides interviews conducted over the years, including a transcription of an in-depth conversation the two men had in a packed auditorium at The Ohio State University in 1997. Read on to find out if the book is worth your time... or if you're better off catching a Scorsese movie instead.
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Politics As Usual—At Least in Hollywood
Lessons Learned From 15 Politically-Minded Movies
As eye the home stretch of the 2008 presidential race and brace for the endless "I approved this message" tags, it may seem cruel and unusual punishment to consider a raft of political films. But these 15 standouts offer a useful primer on politics American-style.
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Prepare to Be Scared By These 10 Sequels and Forgotten Horrors
Horror is perhaps one of the hardest genres to execute effectively; it has to have just the right balance of scares, just the right pacing, or the whole movie falls flat. Perhaps that’s why there seems to have been more truly horrendous horror movies made than actual good ones. Of the many horror movies out there, sequels tend to be one of the most critically detested sub-genres. But, after searching high and low, MM has compiled a list of five actually worth seeing. Plus, we’ve found five “forgotten horrors,” movies that were overlooked both critically and commercially in their initial release, but deserve to be praised. Read on and prepare to be scared.
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Festival Beat
MovieMaker takes a look at some of the best film festivals from late 2007 and early 2008: Big Apple, Whistler, Cucalorus, Hamptons International, Ft. Lauderdale International, Filmstock International, International Festival Summit, Beloit International and Florida ART Film Festivals.
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Something’s Brewing in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts, also known as "The Witch City," is most famous for the Salem witch trials of 1692 and still hosts the locations that prove it. It's the history that has led moviemakers to this New England city over the years, as the fictional setting and practical location for everything from witch documentaries to the 1993 feature Hocus Pocus.
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Kevin and David Make a Porno
A conversation with Zack and Miri Make a Porno director Kevin Smith and cinematographer David Klein
For writer-director Kevin Smith and cinematographer David Klein, the first time is a charm. But so is the second, and the third… After their first collaboration, Clerks (1994) won awards and critical raves at Sundance and Cannes, the director and cinematographer paired up for Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), "Reaper" (2007) and Clerks II. Now, they're aiming for a sixth successful project when Zack and Miri Make a Porno hits theaters Friday, October 31.
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Festival Beat
From big to small, longform to short and online to nonline, MM takes a look at some 2007's best and brightest film festivals including Dominican International, Starz Denver, Austin and BendFilm.
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Eight Great Fests
From First-Years to Veterans, Notes from the Spring 2008 Fest Circuit
From scream queens and student films to music videos and John Leguizamo, the highlights from some of this year's most innovative festivals around the country prove that small fests pack some of the biggest punches.
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Roger Corman Weaves Tales of Terror
Although in some circles Corman is better known as "King of the Bs," having produced nearly 400 low-budget exploitation movies, he proved himself a masterful horror moviemaker by directing several highly atmospheric Edgar Allan Poe adaptations in the 1960s, all starring genre legend Vincent Price.
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Eric Poydar (the Editor) Meets Larry (the Actor)
Archival footage, scenes differing in aspect ratio, a movie that tiptoes the line between documentary and fiction; for even the most established editor, these things could become a real headache in the cutting room. But for Eric Poydar, writer-director-editor of the faux-documentary Larry (the Actor), the challenge of seamlessly interweaving different forms of footage into a present day narrative about Larry (Lionel Mark Smith), an actor on the verge of giving up his livelihood, was met with a desire to tell an interesting story in an innovative and effective way.
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The Abominable Vincent Price
With his velvet-smooth voice and suave countenance, Vincent Price didn’t really look like your average horror star. Yet, it was his distinguished persona that made him the go-to guy for moviemakers looking to add a touch of respectability to their horror movies from the 1950s to the 1980s.
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Editor David Michael Maurer has Audiences Shrieking with Splinter
Recent festival hit Splinter, a movie about a parasite that turns its victims into blood-lusting hosts, is a perfect example of how editing affects audiences’ reactions. Editor David Michael Maurer, an Emmy-nominated master of his craft, took an inventive approach when collaborating with director Toby Wilkins. Just days before Splinter took home six awards (Best Editing and Best Picture among them) at Screamfest, MovieMaker spoke with Maurer about his process and what inspires him to do what he does so well.
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Tobe Hooper’s Cult Classics
Originally a college professor and documentary cameraman, Tobe Hooper burst onto the horror scene in 1974 with his cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But the writer-director's success also extends to television where his miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" was nominated for three Emmy Awards. With recent adaptations and spin-offs of his Chainsaw series, this famed moviemaker will continue to shock and terrorize audiences for many years to come.
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When a Stranger Calls, Which One Phones it In?
Before Scream made the line, “Do you like scary movies?” everyone’s favorite creepy thing to say on the telephone, the even scarier, “Have you checked the children?” from Fred Walton’s When a Stranger Calls (1979) marked a bone-chilling achievement in the world of horror movies—with babysitters everywhere taking note.
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Video Views Pick: Wanted
The editors of VIDEO VIEWS magazine pick Wanted, based on the Mark Millar graphic novel, as the best new DVD this week. Featuring eight bonus featurettes and a cast that includes James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, home video watchers can't go wrong.
Posted 12.3.08 | Video Views Pick | 1 comment
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