Bonnie & Clyde miniseries, "Gun Crazy" inspired-opera, "Side Effects" (neo noir)

Holliday Grainger will play Bonnie Parker

Holliday Grainger and Emile Hirsch will play the infamous bank-robbing couple Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in Bonnie & Clyde, Lifetime/History’s four-hour miniseries directed by Oscar-nominated helmer Bruce Beresford and produced by Sony Pictures TV and Craig Zadan and Meron’s Storyline Entertainment. They join Oscar winners Holly Hunter and William Hurt, who were recently cast in the project.

Emile Hirsch will play Clyde Barrow

Written by John Rice and Joe Batteer, the mini is based on the true story of Clyde Barrow (Hirsch), a charismatic convicted armed robber who sweeps Bonnie Parker (Grainger), an impressionable, petite, small-town waitress, off her feet, and the two embark on one one of most infamous bank-robbing sprees in history. Hunter will play Bonnie’s mother Emma Parker; Hurt plays Frank Hamer, the Texas Ranger credited with tracking down and killing Bonnie and Clyde. Source: www.deadline.com

“Don Giovanni” runs Friday evening and Sunday afternoon in the Brown Theater. Directed by Kristine McIntyre, this production updates the staging with a set and costumes inspired by 1950s film noir. “Here we find a morally corrupted antihero, an emotionally scarred femme fatale, and a conclusion that is destined to come but resolves nothing for those who remain standing," says Roth. "Add an inescapable past of the antihero plus an urban setting in the darkest hour of night and you have basically film noir.” To fans of film noir, that rings a bell. The Louisville Film Society partners with the opera Wednesday night with a film noir double feature at the Dreamland Film Center (810 East Market St.).

The double feature spotlights the Bonnie and Clyde-style "couple on the run" subgenre, with Nicholas Ray's seminal 1948 film "They Live By Night" and Joseph H. Lewis's "Gun Crazy," a 1950 melodrama about a World War II veteran and a carnival sharpshooter who embark on a crime spree.

Peggy Cummins as Annie Laurie Starr in "Gun Crazy" (1950) directed by Joseph H. Lewis

The dramatic black and white tones of noir make an interesting pairing with the soaring highs and lows of classical opera. Imagine a glorious soprano singing "Gun Crazy" Annie Laurie Starr's lines: "I told you I was no good. I didn't kid you, did I? Well, now you know. But I've been kicked around all my life. From now on I'm going to start kicking back." Source: www.wfpl.org

Steven Soderbergh's new film Side Effects is mostly an engine for delivering Very Surprising Plot Twists. A big part of the way it does that is by switching up a kind of movie-of-the-week problem film (the struggles with depression; the pathos of a spouse returning from prison) with noir. So you go from female-friendly melodrama (with a female protagonist) to female-loathing noir (with a male protagonist). Noir and its attendant misogyny aren't really the point, in other words; they're just a byproduct of Soderbergh's rage for cleverness. A side effect, if you will.

Still, as the film makes clear, side effects—even ersatz ones—can matter quite a bit. In this case, a lot of the damage is not so much to the woman in the film as to the male lead, Jonathan Banks (Jude Law). Banks is supposed to be a caring, talented hard-working psychiatrist, with a loving wife and child.

But then his depressed patient, Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) goes off the rails spectacularly—and everything Banks has worked for collapses. His practice, his professional reputation, even his family disintegrate around him.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in "The Big Sleep" (1946) directed by Howard Hawks

Misogyny is, at least, attention. Chandler and noir may loathe women, but at least that means they think women are important. The Last Seduction makes Linda Fiorentino into a hyperbolic evil bitch goddess—but at least she gets to have the fun of being a hyperbolic evil bitch goddess. Side Effects, on the other hand, reaches into noir for its fascinating, deadly women—and then myopically insists that we pledge our allegiance instead to a standard Hollywood male protagonist and his reservoirs of oleaginous self-absorption.

Noir is terrified of feminization and powerful women —which means, in part, that it is able to conceive of, and even perhaps at times to point towards, both of those things. Side Effects, in contrast, borrows some tropes from noir, but they're chewed to nothing in the remorseless grinding of the plot. In the end, we're left, not with noir or with misogyny, but simply with the complacent smirk that signals that once again the good guy who is a guy gets to live happily ever after. Source: www.theatlantic.com

Most Awkward Couples for Saint Valentine

"People have written infinite pages about the chemistry between movie couples like Stanley and Stella Kowalski (Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter) in A Streetcar Named Desire or Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh) in Gone with the Wind. While we can’t deny the magic those iconic romances have lent to the silver screen, some of our favorite couples in film are the awkward pairings that don’t quite fit".

Rachel Dawes and Bruce Wayne: Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight was the pinnacle of the awkward romance between Gotham’s District Attorney and billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne. We weren’t huge fans of Katie Holmes in the role for 2005′s Batman Begins, but the casting of Maggie Gyllenhaal for Nolan’s sequel was downright weird. We’re huge fans of the actress, but the duo spent most of the movie looking like unwilling partners in a game of dodgeball.

Benjamin Braddock and Mrs. Robinson (and Elaine Robinson): It doesn’t really get more awkward than sleeping with your girlfriend’s mom. Benjamin Braddock starts his post-graduate career by embarking on a sexual relationship with the wife of his father’s law partner, Mrs. Robinson. What should be a fun way to waste his youth while figuring out the next steps in his confused life ends up becoming an affair with a depressed woman he has nothing in common with. Benjamin takes an interest in Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine, but mom’s competitive streak and creepy lies about their summer-long fling ruins his shot with her. With Elaine banished to a life of housewifery by her family, Benjamin manages to break up Elaine’s wedding in progress, and the film ends with the most awkward and uncertain moment of all.

Travis Bickle and Betsy: The pairing of unhinged cabbie Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) and Presidential campaign volunteer Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver is totally awkward — mostly because the relationship is inside Travis’ head. Betsy does agree to go on two dates with the stalkery driver, but Travis still hasn’t adjusted to life after Vietnam. He winds up taking Betsy to a porn theater, which pisses her off. Travis resents her disgust, but his rage isn’t wasted and helps inspire one of the coolest mohawks in cinema.

Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater: Whoever says they don’t find Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) at least a little awkward and annoying in James Cameron’s epic, Titanic, is totally lying. We admit that things would have been a lot more uncomfortable with the twitchy, brooding Jeremy Sisto in the part of Jack. DiCaprio’s casting, however, makes Winslet look like she’s making out with her little brother for 194 minutes. Source: www.flavorwire.com

More Film Awkward Couples:

Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams in "Chasing Amy" (1997) directed by Kevin Smith

Going well beyond other Gen X movies such as Swingers and Reality Bites, Chasing Amy embraces the new generation with an unparalleled frankness. Although this boy-meets-lesbian love story is more mature than Smith's earlier work, its never before seen subject matter is indicative of Smith's predilection for ignoring the taboos of film. Source: www.imdb.com

Marley Shelton and Jake Gyllenhaal as Chloe and Jimmy Livingston in "Bubble Boy" (2001) directed by Blair Hayes

Ellen Page and Michael Cera as Juno and Bleeker in "Juno" (2007) directed by Jason Reitman

"Boxer-turned-homicide detective Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) single handedly brings order to the violence in a suitcase alley, and solicits the prizefighting support of fellow officer Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett). The movie gets off to a creeping start as Lee and Bucky are elected by their police precinct to fight a politically motivated exhibition boxing match. The duo’s boxing nicknames "Fire" (Lee) and "Ice" (Bucky) disguise the ensuing alliance that the two men will share as detective partners and as friends caught in an oddball love triangle at the hand of Lee’s platonic girlfriend Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson)." Source: filmcritic1963.typepad.com


Josh Hartnett ("Bad Valentine/I Want Your Love") video - Songs: "Bad Valentine" & "I Want Your Love" by Transvision Vamp, "Take 'em or Leave 'em" by Amy Levere, "Not Dark Yet" by Bob Dylan, "Walk & Talk It" by Lou Reed, "Won't Let You Down" by Wilco, "I Found a Reason" & "That's the Story of My Life" by The Velvet Underground, "That's How Strong My Love Is" by Otis Redding, "The Greatest Love" by Lee Dorsey, "Goodnight Sweetheart" by The Platters, "My Sugar Baby" by Connie Clark, "Crazy 'bout My Baby" by Randy Newman, "Goodnight Baby" by The Searchers, "If You Love Me Let Me Know" by Elvis Presley, "Range Life" by Pavement, and "Heartbreak Hotel" by The Cramps.

"End of Watch": top-selling DVD and Blu-ray in the United States

Jake Gyllenhaal's police drama "End of Watch" is the top-selling DVD and Blu-ray in the United States, Rentrak announced Monday.

Coming in at No. 2 on the DVD and Blu-ray sales chart for the week ending Jan. 27 is "Taken 2," followed by "Death Race 3: Inferno" at No. 3, "Pitch Perfect" at No. 4 and "The Possession" at No. 5. Rounding out the top tier are "Frankenweenie" at No. 6, "Looper" at No. 7, "Ted" at No. 8, "The Dark Knight Rises" at No. 9 and "Dredd" at No. 10.

The No. 1 DVD and Blu-ray rental for the week ended Jan. 26 is "Looper." Source: www.realitytvworld.com

One of the more underappreciated movies by audiences in 2012 was End of Watch (2012) from writer/director David Ayer. When the Academy Awards allowed only five Best Picture nominations, it was easier to accept that a certain movie “just isn’t a ‘Best Picture’ kind of movie.” Now, with ten available slots for nominations—and frustrating film-lovers the past two years by selecting only nine—everything decent is “snubbed”, especially independent films that were teased into believing they now had access. And of all snubbed films, End of Watch is near the top of the list and now available in DVD/Blu-ray. (You can read my analysis of the Oscar nominations and the top films of 2012.) I recommend it to you heartily as both good cinema for the film and good social insight in the story and special features. Source: www.justpressplay.net

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Kendrick as Brian and Janet Taylor in "End of Watch" (2012) directed by David Ayer

Gangster Squad, Lingeman's The Noir Forties, Detour, Brick: Neo-Noir & Fate

Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney in "Angels with Dirty Faces" (1938) directed by Michael Curtiz

In the annals of Hollywood history, there has been no studio more associated with the gangster genre than Warner Bros. Pictures. From Robinson, Cagney and Bogart appearing in films like “The Public Enemy” and “Angels With Dirty Faces”, to De Niro and Scorcese’s “Goodfellas”, Warner Bros.’ reputation as the “gangster studio” is one well earned. With that reputation and the current resurgence of the gangster in modern pop culture – “The Godfather” never really went away, while “Boardwalk Empire” is a TV favorite – it seemed inconceivable that the star-studded “Gangster Squad” could be anything but a hit with fans and critics.

Marketing “Gangster Squad” to moviegoers as a serious crime picture along the lines of De Palma’s “The Untouchables” was a mistake.

The final film lacks the weight or ambition to elevate it to such esteemed company. This is the gangster picture as one of the lesser summer comic book action movies: something to keep you distracted for a couple of hours, but one that you’ll have trouble remembering a few months down the line. Source: www.gmanetwork.com

DETOUR IS AN ULTRA-LOW-BUDGET 1946 film noir that packs an undeniable punch. “He went searching for love,” the Detour poster said, “but fate forced a detour” — to accidental murder. The film is one of Richard Lingeman’s touchstones in his new book The Noir Forties. For him the film dramatizes how, in the feverish world of immediate postwar America, “guilt is arbitrary, the sentence is death, and there is no appeal.” Yes, on V-J day in 1945 the sailor kissed the nurse in Times Square in that ecstatic Albert Eisenstaedt photo. But less than a year later, fear had returned; people were anxious about another Depression, about the Germans, about the Soviets, about the A-bomb. “Fate,” it seemed, “was in the driver’s seat.”

“Films noir,” Lingeman declares at the outset, “are a key for unlocking the psychology, the national mood during those years.” But despite its title, The Noir Forties is not a book about the films — for that, readers should turn to J. Hoberman’s recent book An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War, and to the classic More Than Night: Film Noir in its Contexts by James Naremore. Instead, Lingeman’s book provides a broader history of the brief but crucial period when the world of the New Deal died and the iron cage of Cold War politics and culture was forged. It would remain in place for the next 45 years. Source: www.salon.com

Happy 32nd birthday, Nora Zehetner!

Nora Zehetner as Laura in "Brick" (2005) directed by Rian Johnson.

The film is, in fact, a refreshing private-eye thriller in a style now widely identified as neo-noir, and the brick in question is a block of heroin. Along the trail, he meets assorted noir archetypes. One of them is the school's femme fatale, with the resonant name of Laura, who's a cross between Bacall in The Big Sleep and Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon. Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Eva Green will be Ava Lord in "Sin City: A Dame To Kill For"

Eva Green has been tapped to play the femme fatale of Dimension Films’ Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, being directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller.

Green’s casting marks the end of a long search for an actress to take on the role of Ava Lord, who is at the centre of the pulpy story first published as a comic book in the 1990s. Josh Brolin is playing Dwight, the photographer. Returning for the sequel are Mickey Rourke, Jessica, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson and Jaime King. New additions include Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Jamie Chung, Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, and Julia Garner.

Eva Green in Madame Figaro magazine (2012)

“Ava Lord is one of the most deadly and fascinating residents of Sin City,” Rodriguez and Miller said in a statement. “From the start, we knew that the actor would need to be able to embody the multifaceted characteristics of this femme fatale and we found that in Eva Green." Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

Michael Pitt, Eva Green and Louis Garrel during 2003 Venice Film Festival - 'The Dreamers' Photocall in Italy

Jake Gyllenhaal was initially considered by Bertolucci for the role of Matthew in "The Dreamers" but Gyllenhaal turned it down because of the explicit nature of the nude scenes.

Jake Gyllenhaal filming "Prisoners" in Georgia

Jake Gyllenhaal with mom Naomi Foner attending the 'Very Good Girls' Premiere - Sundance Film Festival, in Salt Lake City (Utah) on January 22, 2013

Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of "Prisoners" (2013) in Georgia, on January 20, 2013

"Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman were in character on the Conyers, GA, set of Prisoners yesterday. The picture sees Hugh Jackman playing a father, who, not content with the job law enforcement is doing to find his kidnapped daughter, takes the case into his own hands. Jake reportedly plays a local policeman assigned to the case. Jake and Hugh will appear in the movie, slated for a September release, with Paul Dano and Melissa Leo." Source: www.popsugar.com

"End of Watch has come home on DVD and Blu-Ray and it's a fantastic opportunity for millions to see this fantastic film that should have been a blockbuster. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena star as two Los Angeles police officers working some of the most dangerous streets in the city. Also not-to-be-missed features include Fate with a Badge and Honors, a must-see in its ability to have the viewer see those that protect their safety on a daily basis in a whole new light.

End of Watch, standing on its own, deserved serious Academy Awards consideration." Source: www.moviefanatic.com