Actualités

Author: Stefan Pape

Upper class society in a period setting is ripe for ridicule; the outfits, the language, and just the sheer grandiosity of it all is so easy to caricature and be derisory about, and it’s exactly here Whit Stillman triumphed with his indelible drama Love & Friendship. It’s clear to see that John Stephenson is vying to thrive in a similar capacity with Interlude in Prague, except this kitsch melodrama falls flat thanks to a lacklustre screenplay, without that same sharpness and wit it requires to truly work.

Baron Saloka (James Purefoy) is a nasty, embittered, affluent member of society, who promises those around him he will fund a trip for the esteemed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Aneurin Barnard) to the Czechoslovakian capital. And so begins a few turbulent months in the life of the prolific talent, as he falls for opera singer Zuzanna Lubtak (Morfydd Clark...

Classics like The Princess Bride, Titanic, and Wayne’s World in our February Events Guide!Classics like The Princess Bride, Titanic, and Wayne’s World in our February Events Guide!Jenny Bullough1/31/2017 10:02:00 Am

Ugh, February. The holidays are long over, winter’s charm has faded into dirty snow, and spring can’t come soon enough. Which makes it the perfect time of year to be comforted by some of your favourite, classic movies! What, you didn’t think Cineplex was just the place to go for new movies, did you? In case you didn’t already know, through our Event Cinema programming, every month you can see classic films back on the big screen as well as live theatre presentations, Broadway musicals, and more! Here are a few choice highlights from our February Events Calendar:

Feb 2: Amadeus – National Theatre Live

In Peter Shaffer’s iconic play,...

1984 is our "Year of the Month" for August. So we'll be celebrating its films randomly throughout the month. Here's Daniel Walber...

Simon Callow as PapagenoAmadeus is not a biopic, it’s a myth. Milos Forman’s adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play is an utterly absurd portrayal of a long ago, unknown relationship. Antonio Salieri may not have had any negative feelings toward Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but that hardly matters. The legend, a story of deep faith that twists into jealousy, is a whole lot more interesting than the truth.

The film’s production design mimics the delicious falseness of its narrative. The Vienna of Emperor Joseph II is opulent, to be sure, but it is a strange opulence. Rather than focus on the grandeur of the palaces, Forman keeps much of the drama in drawing rooms. Production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein and art director Karel Cerny keep away from too much gold and silver,...

Plus: Ce+S wins first contract to instal Dolby Atmos in Colombia

The National Association Of Theatre Owners on Wednesday revealed that the average cost of going to the cinema in the first quarter of the year in the Us climbed 5.4%.

Q1 2016 tickets prices increased to $8.58 from $8.12 for the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile the average price over 2015 amounted to $8.43 and the cost in Q4 2015 reached $8.70. 

Cinema Equipment and Supplies (Ce+S) has been selection by Cinemas Procinal to become the first company to design and implement Dolby Atmos in a Colombian theatre.Malibu-based Fortune Features plans to adapt classic plays for the virtual reality market. The company is securing funding to produce Mozart & Salieri in Virtual Reality into 180-degree Vr. The film is based on a play by Alexander Pushkin about the poisoning of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by his old friend Antonio Salieri. Fortune Features hopes to adapt Shakespeare and Chekhov in the future and, separately...

James Purefoy, Aneurin Barnard and Samantha Barks have joined the cast of John Stephenson's "Interlude in Prague". Brian Ashby penned the screenplay

Set in the Czech capital in 1787, the true story tale follows a few turbulent months in the short life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which influenced the creation of his opera "Don Giovanni". Mozart is brought to the Bohemian city by the vain aristocrat Baron Saloka who is also a psycopath and serial rapist.

Mozart sets about creating a new opera at the Nostitz Theater, but his unconventional presence soon unleashes a series of dramatic and tragic events including a love affair with a beautiful soprano and ultimately murder.

Source: Variety...

Kate’s Classical Corner: Hannibal, Ep. 3.12, “The Number of the Beast is 666…”

As a classical musician, I can’t help but be influenced in my interpretation of Hannibal by its amazing score and soundtrack, composed and compiled by music supervisor Brian Reitzell. This is not intended to be a definitive reading of Reitzell or showrunner Bryan Fuller’s intentions in regards to the music, but rather an exploration of how these choices affect my appreciation of the given episode. Read my review of “The Number of the Beast is 666…” here.

Classical piece featured:

Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478, Allegro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1785): Hannibal receives fanmail

Mozart’s first composition for piano quartet, this piece is lovely and dark, fitting to accompany a gift from Dolarhyde to Hannibal. However, this scene’s placement in the episode makes it a bit of an odd choice. While Reitzell makes...

Sometimes I imagine that it is 1983 and Terrence Malick is somewhere in Paris, living a quiet, normal life. As he walks to one of his favorite cafes, he catches a glimpse of Gilles Deleuzes’ Cinéma 1: L’image-mouvemont in a bookstore window. Naturally, he’s curious. In an intellectual era dominated by Theory, the only other book of philosophy that had taken up cinema as a way to do philosophy was The World Viewed, written by his friend and one time academic advisor Stanley Cavell. I imagine that Malick seeks out Deleuze, who is lecturing at the University of Paris VIII. Two years later, he buys a copy of Deleuze’s Cinéma 2: L’image-temps. Deleuze confirmed what Malick has long suspected, but either forgotten or was distracted from in the hedonistic atmosphere of 1970s L. A. chronicled by Peter Biskind in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls—cinema “thinks” philosophically. Other...

Kate’s Classical Corner: Hannibal, Ep. 3.08, “The Great Red Dragon”

As a classical musician, I can’t help but be influenced in my interpretation of Hannibal by its amazing score and soundtrack, composed and compiled by music supervisor Brian Reitzell. This is not intended to be a definitive reading of Reitzell or showrunner Bryan Fuller’s intentions in regards to the music, but rather an exploration of how these choices affect my appreciation of the given episode. Read my review of “The Great Red Dragon” here.

Classical pieces featured:

Alleluia from Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1773): Hannibal experiences his arrest from his mind palace

This famous movement from Mozart’s solo motet, beautifully performed here by boy soprano Aiden Glenn (the piece was originally composed for a castrato), is a fitting choice to represent how Hannibal elects to experience his arrest and incarceration at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Kate’s Classical Corner: Hannibal, Ep. 3.07, “Digestivo”

As a classical musician, I can’t help but be influenced in my interpretation of Hannibal by its amazing score and soundtrack, composed and compiled by music supervisor Brian Reitzell. This is not intended to be a definitive reading of Reitzell or showrunner Bryan Fuller’s intentions in regards to the music, but rather an exploration of how these choices affect my appreciation of the given episode. Read my review of “Digestivo” here.

Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, II. Andante by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1785): Mason entertains Hannibal and Will

(15:06)

This lovely piece is a fitting choice to accompany Mason’s dinner—he’s always trying to ape Hannibal and Hannibal is a fan of Mozart—but it’s made all the better by being a reference to The Spy Who Loved Me. In this Bond film the villain, Stromberg,...

Kate’s Classical Corner: Hannibal, Ep. 3.05, “Contorno”

As a classical musician, I can’t help but be influenced in my interpretation of Hannibal by its amazing score and soundtrack, composed and compiled by music supervisor Brian Reitzell. This is not intended to be a definitive reading of Reitzell or showrunner Bryan Fuller’s intentions in regards to the music, but rather an exploration of how these choices affect my appreciation of the given episode. Read my review of “Contorno” here.

Piano Sonata in B-flat major, K. 333, III. Allegretto grazioso by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1784): Hannibal plays the piano

Both of the classical pieces featured in this episode were presumably chosen as direct references to other works, the first of which is Thomas Harris’ Hannibal, in which Hannibal plays this Mozart Sonata on a harpsichord. The particular performance of the piece used is lovely and fluid, though this makes the shots...

Years ago, I asked The Walking Dead’s zombie makeup maestro Greg Nicotero for his fake blood recipe. He said, “I’ve always based my blood on Dick Smith’s formula. His blood has always been the staple of the industry. It’s one of those things where if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Dick Smith, the Oscar-winning makeup effects legend behind The Exorcist, Taxi Driver, and The Godfather, who passed away on July 30 at age 92, was more than just Hollywood’s sanguine Colonel Sanders with a secret recipe for plasma that became a cinematic standard. He was...

The clear difficulty of identifying the definitive movie musicals is separating the musical itself from the film version. The Phantom of the Opera is, without a doubt, a top ten definitive stage musical. Movie musical? Not so much. Drawing a clear line between the two is what makes this list a little trickier. For this segment of the list, we have musicals that have no stage version, two Best Picture winners, a Palme d’Or winner, and a few musicals that may stretch the term a bit.

courtesy of writeonnewjersey.com

20. Jailhouse Rock (1957)

Directed by Richard Thorpe

Signature Song: “Jailhouse Rock” (http://youtu.be/HZJTgYzf9FE)

It brought “The King” to the big screen for the first time in a film about a man in prison who learns to express himself through music, rather than violence (he’s in prison for manslaughter). Vince (Elvis Presley) accidentally kills a drunk in...

Today is the 258th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Of course he didn't live to see 258 (unless there's a vampire Mozart creeping around), dying an ignoble pauper's burial death at 35 despite a lifetime's worth of legendary brilliant compositions already behind him. Remember how great Amadeus (1984) was back when the biopic genre still produced huge quality epics? Remember when The Academy understood that movies could have two leads of the same gender? [More...]...

London — The English National Opera's 2013-14 season will include a world premiere of Oedipus-inspired opera "Thebans" and the return of Monty Python's Terry Gilliam to direct a new production, the company announced Wednesday.

"Thebans," based on the tragedies of Sophocles, is a first opera from composer Julian Anderson, with libretto by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness. It opens in May 2014.

Gilliam, who directed "The Damnation of Faust" at the Eno in 2011, will lead a production of Hector Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini" in June 2014.

Both will be conducted by Eno Musical Director Edward Garner.

The season includes 10 new productions, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte," directed by Katie Mitchell, a Calixto Bieito-directed production of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fidelio" and Mozart's "The Magic Flute" directed by Simon McBurney – a co-production with the Netherlands Opera.

The company also plans revivals of recent successes including David Alden's production of...

★★☆☆☆ With the title Mozart's Sister (2010), audiences could be forgiven for thinking that they are in for a historical biopic about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's life through the eyes of his sister. Instead, René Féret's problematic and historically questionable feature is a feminist examination of the difficulties of being a woman in the patriarchal society of 18th century Europe.

Read more »...

If you’ve hunted around for movie bargains, you’ve probably seen some of Mill Creek Entertainment’s 50-Movie Packs on DVD. Apart from other great releases by Mill Creek, these packs are phenomenal boons to cinephiles looking to collect older titles.

There are three new packs available, and I want to not only let you in on a discount code, but I have one of the packs available for you to win.

I know a lot of people may be quick to overlook these packs, and not every movie included stands out as a major value, but there are some great titles in each of them, and fans of the genres will be pleasantly surprised by what they get out of the deal. I have to admit that there is something about seeing a 50-movie pack, especially when it doesn’t cost a couple of hundred dollars, or more,...