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David Bennent

News

David Bennent

Tom Cruise's Fantasy Movie Legend Is One of Ridley Scotts Worst Movies
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Tom Cruise can count on one hand the number of cinematic failures and box office bombs he's suffered in his illustrious 40-year Hollywood career. While some anticipated releases may have underperformed relative to their forecasts, no Cruise movie ranks as a bigger commercial black eye than Legend, the 1985 fantasy film directed by revered filmmaker Ridley Scott.

In Legend, Cruise plays Jack in the Green, a pure forest child who protects his lover Princess Lili (Mia Sara) from Blix, The Lord of Darkness (Alice Playten). A classic woodland fairytale full of ghouls and goblins, Legend was both a box office bomb and a critical misfire. It also marked the last time Cruise made a fantasy film and the only time Cruise and Ridley Scott collaborated. As Legend turns 40 next year, it's time for a closer look at the notorious Ridley Scott/Tom Cruise hiccup.

What Is Legend About?

Legend PG-13

Release...
See full article at MovieWeb
  • 10/19/2024
  • by Jake Dee
  • MovieWeb
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New UK Trailer + Poster for Mind-Boggling Film 'The Universal Theory'
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"I know where the woman you're looking for is." Picturehouse has revealed the official UK trailer for the mysterious film The Universal Theory, a mind-boggling sci-fi-tinged thriller set in the Swiss mountains. This first premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival one year ago under the original title The Theory of Everything, and it earned mostly mixed reviews (mine is here). We also posted the US trailer recently. The noir film is set in 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud in the sky, a boom under the mountain. It's "a quantum mechanical thriller in black & white." Driven by astonishing twists and improbable coincidences, The Universal Theory unravels a captivatingly complex chronicle with brain-tickling suspense. Lead by a fantastic cast & interspersed with a dynamic soundtrack, The Theory of Everything is an intellectual sci-fi film about the contingency of our world, in which much...
See full article at firstshowing.net
  • 10/15/2024
  • by Alex Billington
  • firstshowing.net
Ridley Scotts Legend is Streaming for Free on Tubi from October
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Ridley Scotts 1985 fantasy epic Legend is heading to Tubi. Fans of the dark fantasy adventure will be able to watch a youthful Tom Cruise take on the mighty Tim Curry for free, and relive a movie that was a box office bomb on its release, but has since become a cult classic thanks to some iconic imagery and special effects.

In 1985, Ridley Scott had already tasted success with Alien, and he attempted to repeat that with Legend, a movie that continues to be as visually stunning now as it was almost 40 years ago. While it is almost unthinkable to imagine Cruise and Curry starring in a movie directed by Scott and the film not becoming a success, all three were in the early years of their careers, and the initial release in theaters barely made back the movies $25 million budget.

Legend PG-13AdventureFantasyRomance Release Date April 18, 1986Director Ridley ScottCast Tom Cruise,...
See full article at MovieWeb
  • 9/22/2024
  • by Anthony Lund
  • MovieWeb
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New US Trailer for Quantum Mechanics Thriller 'The Universal Theory'
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"This young man here is working on something very significant." Oscilloscope Labs has revealed an official US trailer for a film titled The Universal Theory, a mysterious sci-fi-tinged thriller set deep in the Swiss mountains. This first premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival one year ago under the original title The Theory of Everything, and it earned mostly mixed reviews (mine is here). The noir film is set in 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud in the sky, a booming mystery under the mountain. It's "a quantum mechanical thriller in black & white." Driven by astonishing twists and improbable coincidences, The Universal Theory unravels a captivatingly complex chronicle with brain-tickling suspense. Cast with a fantastic ensemble and interspersed with a dynamic soundtrack, The Theory of Everything is an intellectual film about the contingency of our world, in which much is possible and hardly anything is necessary.
See full article at firstshowing.net
  • 8/30/2024
  • by Alex Billington
  • firstshowing.net
10 Coolest Looking Creatures In Fantasy Movies
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Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon captivates audiences with his sleek design and amicable personality. The amazing special effects in The Lord Of The Rings bring Treebeard to life, emphasizing the ethereal history of Middle-earth. Pepita from Coco stands out with her unique design and formidable presence, adding depth to the story and Imelda's character.

Fantastical creatures that look incredibly cool are a key part of some of the most popular fantasy movies ever. Many of the best fantasy movies of all time feature magical creatures based on mythology and legend that contribute to the settings and provide jaw-dropping spectacle. Some fantasy creatures play more important roles in their respective movies than others, as they may serve as a classic dragon to defeat or a loyal steed/lifelong friend.

How these creatures are rendered depends on when the movie was made. Certain older fantasy and sci-fi movies with...
See full article at ScreenRant
  • 8/14/2024
  • by Abigail Stevens
  • ScreenRant
The Most Controversial Movies That Won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival
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Between May 14th and 25th, the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival will take place in the south of France, with Greta Gerwig serving as the jury president for the main competition. This year's festival will award Meryl Streep, Studio Ghibli, and George Lucas with Honorary Palme d'Ors for their lifetime achievements in the film industry. Notable films screening in the festival's main competition include Jia Zhangke's Caught by the Tides, Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Scared Fig, and Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.

The Cannes Film Festival's highest prize, the Palme d'Or, is one of the most prestigious awards given in all of cinema. Over the years, many winners of the Palme d'Or have been among the most controversial films of their respective eras. Palme d'Or winners have been controversial for a myriad of reasons, pushing the limits of cinema regarding violence, sexuality,...
See full article at CBR
  • 5/23/2024
  • by Vincent LoVerde
  • CBR
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Oscilloscope Acquires Venice Competition Entry ‘The Universal Theory’ for U.S. (Exclusive)
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Oscilloscope Laboratories, the distribution company set up by late Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch, has acquired U.S. rights to The Universal Theory, which recently premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival (as the title The Theory of Everything). A theatrical release is planned for 2024.

From director Timm Kröger, the German drama is set in 1962 at a quantum mechanics conference in an isolated lodge nestled amid the towering landscapes of the Swiss Alps, and is the story of a gifted young physicist, his curmudgeonly mentor and an enigmatic jazz pianist who knows things about our wunderkind scientist that he’s never told another living soul. As the description goes, the film is “driven by astonishing twists, improbable coincidences and Hitchcockian suspense,” and “considers the metaverse theory from a refreshingly intelligent point of view.”

The main cast includes Jan Bülow, Olivia Ross, Hanns Zischler, Gottfried Breitfuss, David Bennent, Philippe Graber and Imogen Kogge.
See full article at The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
  • 10/5/2023
  • by Alex Ritman
  • The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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Quantum Mechanics Thriller 'The Theory of Everything' German Trailer
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This looks unique. German distributor Neue Visionen Filmverleih has revealed a first look trailer for the indie film Die Theorie von Allem, which translates directly to The Theory of Everything. Yep, it's the same title as the Stephen Hawking film from 2014, and it's also about theoretical physics and scientists. But with a more mysterious, Hitchcockian twist. Set in 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud in the sky and a booming mystery under the mountain. It's "a quantum mechanical thriller in black & white." The distributor also adds more buzz: with "Timm Kröger, everything is there that makes for great cinematic art in the best Hitchcock tradition. Cast with a fantastic ensemble and interspersed with a phenomenal soundtrack, The Theory of Everything is a brilliant film noir about the contingency of our world, in which much is possible and hardly anything is necessary.
See full article at firstshowing.net
  • 7/26/2023
  • by Alex Billington
  • firstshowing.net
First Look: Jan Bülow, Olivia Ross Star in Mystery Thriller ‘The Universal Theory’ (Exclusive)
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German director Timm Kröger’s mystery thriller “The Universal Theory” has started shooting at the ski resort of St. Jakob in Defereggen, Austria. The film’s first image has been released.

The cast is led by Jan Bülow, who starred in “Lindenberg! Mach dein Ding,” and Olivia Ross, a Paris-born, British actress whose credits include History’s “Knightfall,” Netflix’s “The Old Guard,” and the BBC’s “War and Peace” and “Killing Eve.”

Kröger previously directed Venice Critics Week entry “The Council of Birds.” The screenplay was written by Roderick Warich (“The Trouble with Being Born”) and Kröger.

Shot in Cinemascope, in black and white, the 1960s set story unfolds against the backdrop of the Alps. Johannes, a doctor of physics, travels with his doctoral supervisor to a scientific congress in the Alps. A series of mysterious incidents occur on site. He meets his femme fatale, Karin, a jazz pianist...
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 1/21/2022
  • by Leo Barraclough
  • Variety Film + TV
Catalog From The Beyond: Ridley Scott’s Legend
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If Ridley Scott stopped making movies immediately after Alien in 1979, he’d likely still be remembered as one of the great horror directors of all time. But I’m damn glad he didn’t stop there, because six years later he released a film that would forever shape my taste as a movie fan. And while his twisted fairytale Legend isn’t strictly horror, it has more than enough gorgeously spooky elements to enthrall any horror fan. Anytime it popped up on television I remember dropping everything and planting myself in front of the screen, ready to be enraptured by a world of fairies, goblins, and one of the most terrifying (yet captivating) villains ever put to screen.

Now, the seed for Legend actually predates Alien, as Scott first conceived the idea while he was filming The Duelists. The story took shape over the course of several years, with Scott...
See full article at DailyDead
  • 4/29/2021
  • by Bryan Christopher
  • DailyDead
92Y Launches Online Film Class Tied to Five Criterion Channel Masterpieces
Annette Insdorf
If you’re looking to take a break from binge-watching garbage television and exercise your brain during quarantine, film historian Annette Insdorf and 92Y might have a perfect solution for you. Beginning Sunday, March 29, you can take the online film course “Reel Pieces Remote: Classic Films with Annette Insdorf,” for five weeks every Sunday at 8 p.m.

The five films she has selected — all of them indisputable masterpieces — can be streamed on The Criterion Channel. You can view the film any time before the Sunday night class, along with a prerecorded introduction from Insdorf, followed by the weekly lecture that will also engage live group discussion. Signing up for the 92Y class includes a free Criterion Channel trial membership good for 45 days. The cost for the five courses altogether is $150 — not free by any means, if you’re in the position to enroll.

More from IndieWireThe Show Must Go On:...
See full article at Indiewire
  • 3/22/2020
  • by Ryan Lattanzio
  • Indiewire
Out of a fairy tale by Anne-Katrin Titze
Corpo Celeste (Heavenly Body), Le Meravigile (The Wonders) and Lazzaro Felice (Happy As Lazzaro) director/screenwriter Alice Rohrwacher with Alba Rohrwacher Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Cannes Best Screenplay winner Happy As Lazzaro (Lazzaro Felice), shot by Hélène Louvart, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, and starring Adriano Tardiolo with Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Chikovani, Agnese Graziani, David Bennent, Nicoletta Braschi, Sergi López, and Tommaso Ragno, was the opening night film in The Wonders: Alice and Alba Rohrwacher, organised by Museum of Modern Art Department of Film Curator Josh Siegel with Camilla Cormanni and Paola Ruggiero of Luce Cinecittà.

Alice Rohrwacher with Alba Rohrwacher: “I think fairy tales were very important for us. Especially the collection of Italian folktales done by Italo Calvino.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The casting of David Bennent (Volker Schlöndorff’s adaptation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum), the magic of Italo Calvino (Italian Folktales), Astrid Lindgren, Angela Carter (The...
See full article at eyeforfilm.co.uk
  • 12/22/2019
  • by Anne-Katrin Titze
  • eyeforfilm.co.uk
A forest underground by Anne-Katrin Titze
Volker Schlöndorff with agronomist Tony Rinaudo in the République de Niger: "He was in Africa after the big famine in 1984. You know, the Bob Geldof [and Midge Ure organised] Live Aid concerts." Photo: Volker Schlöndorff

Volker Schlöndorff is in New York and he presented the rarely seen director's cut of his Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or (tied with Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now in 1979) and Oscar-winning film The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), starring David Bennent, based on Günter Grass's novel, and the 1981 Circle Of Deceit (Die Fälschung), with Bruno Ganz and Hanna Schygulla, during the retrospective for screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière at the Museum of Modern Art. Jean-Claude Carrière also introduced Louis Malle's Milou En Mai (May Fools), Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, Luis Buñuel's La Voie Lactée (The Milky Way), and together with Julian Schnabel, At Eternity’s Gate.

Volker Schlöndorff with Anne-Katrin Titze: "This...
See full article at eyeforfilm.co.uk
  • 5/13/2019
  • by Anne-Katrin Titze
  • eyeforfilm.co.uk
Netflix Buys Cannes Winners ‘Happy as Lazzaro,’ ‘Girl’ for North America, Latin America
Netflix has bought North American and Latin American rights to a pair of awards winners at the Cannes Film Festival — “Happy as Lazzaro” and “Girl.”

The streaming service made the announcement Saturday, the closing day of the 71st edition of the world’s most glamorous film festival. The festival created a stir in April, by announcing that Netflix movies wouldn’t be eligible for in-competition slots — which prompted Netflix to pull all of its titles for consideration, including out-of-competition screenings.

Variety reported on May 7, the day before the festival opened, that Netflix executives had expressed interest in acquiring Asghar Farhadi’s “Everybody Knows,” the opening night film. On May 11, Netflix closed a deal for the animated robot movie “Next Gen” at Cannes. The deals for “Happy as Lazzaro” and “Girl” were handled by The Match Factory.

“Happy as Lazzaro” premiered in competition and was awarded best screenplay for Alice Rohrwacher...
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 5/19/2018
  • by Dave McNary
  • Variety Film + TV
Netflix Lands Cannes Award Winners ‘Happy as Lazzaro’ and ‘Girl’
Netflix has acquired Cannes Film Festival award winners “Happy as Lazzaro” and “Girl.”

Just ahead of Cannes, the streaming service had closed a $30 million worldwide deal for the animated film “Next Gen.”

Below are the official descriptions and all of the relevant details for Netflix’s newest acquisitions and the latest Cannes sales.

Also Read: 'Shoplifters' Wins Palme d'Or at 2018 Cannes Film Festival

“Happy as Lazzaro” (pictured above)

Alice Rohrwacher was awarded Best Screenplay for “Happy as Lazzaro” (in a tie with Nader Saeivar for ‘3 Faces”)

Synopsis: This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by the terrible ­Marchesa­ Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him orchestrate his own kidnapping.
See full article at The Wrap
  • 5/19/2018
  • by Tony Maglio
  • The Wrap
Netflix Gets North Am, Latin Am Rights To Cannes Award-Winners ‘Happy As Lazzaro’ And ‘Girl’
Netflix has acquired the rights to Cannes Film Festival award-winners Happy As Lazzaro and Girl for North America and Latin America.

Happy as Lazzaro premiered in competition and was awarded Best Screenplay for Alice Rohrwacher. The Camera d’Or for best first film was awarded to Lukas Dhont for Girl, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and was awarded Best Actor for Victor Polster,

Happy as Lazzaro is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by the terrible ­Marchesa­ Alfonsina de Luna, the queen of cigarettes. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him orchestrate his own kidnapping. This strange and improbable alliance is a revelation for Lazzaro. A friendship so...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 5/19/2018
  • by Bruce Haring
  • Deadline Film + TV
Therapy For A Vampire – Review
Summer just officially started just a few days ago, so Halloween is months away. Perhaps a great way to get us cooled off, to put us in a Fall state of mind, would be to pay a visit to one of the oldest horror movie icons: the vampire. Everyone’s aware of how scary those fanged fiends can be, but you may have forgotten how funny they are (intentionally, of course). Movie audiences have emitted nervous laughter ever since Max Schreck emerged from the shadows in the silent classic Nosferatu. And certainly there are bits (and bites) of humor (mostly comic relief supporting players) in 1931’s Dracula and Mark Of The Vampire, both with Bela Lugosi. It wasn’t until 1948 that he was in an all out farce (though the Count is never lampooned) in Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. After Hammer Studios brought back (in full gory color) the bloodsuckers ten years later,...
See full article at WeAreMovieGeeks.com
  • 6/24/2016
  • by Jim Batts
  • WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Therapy For A Vampire Trailer, Photos & Theatrical Release Details
When you’ve been married for centuries, it can be difficult to keep your marriage fresh. A bloodsucker seeks psycological counseling in Therapy for a Vampire, a new horror comedy hitting theaters this month.

Synopsis: “Vienna, 1930. Count von Kozsnom has lost his thirst for life, and his marriage cooled centuries ago. Fortunately, Sigmund Freud is accepting new patients; the good doctor suggests the Count appease his vain wife by commissioning a portrait of her by his assistant, Viktor. But it’s Viktor’s headstrong girlfriend Lucy who most intrigues the Count, convinced she’s the reincarnation of his one true love. Soon, the whole crowd is a hilarious mess of mistaken identities and misplaced affections in this send-up of the vampire genre, proving that 500 years of marriage is enough.”

Written and directed by David Ruehm, Therapy for a Vampire stars Tobias Moretti, Jeanette Hain, Cornelia Ivancan, Dominic Oley, David Bennent,...
See full article at DailyDead
  • 6/6/2016
  • by Derek Anderson
  • DailyDead
Kai Wessel in Hilde (2009)
StudioCanal to sell Nazi euthanasia drama 'Fog In August'
Kai Wessel in Hilde (2009)
Exclusive: StudioCanal to handle world sales on Kai Wessel’s wartime drama.

StudioCanal is to handle international sales on Kai Wessel’s Fog In August (Nebel im August), the first feature film to address the Nazis’ euthanasia programme.

Based on Robert Domes’ 2008 eponymous historical novel, Fog In August centres on the authentic life story of 13-year-old Ernst Lossa who was committed to a mental hospital in Sargau in 1942 because of his origins in a family of travellers.

However, Ernst soon discovered the truth behind the hospital’s facade and sabotaged its euthanasia programme to help his new-found friends. But his actions did not go unnoticed by the institution’s administration.

The role of Ernst is played by the young Berliner Ivo Pietzcker who played the central character in Edward Berger’s Berlinale 2014 competition film Jack, which won a German Film Award last month.

The hospital’s staunch Nazi chief physician Werner Veithausen is played by Sebastian Koch who came...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 7/7/2015
  • by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
  • ScreenDaily
The Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff pays tribute to Günter Grass by Anne-Katrin Titze - 2015-04-13 19:14:25
Günter Grass with David Bennent and Volker Schlöndorff on the set of The Tin Drum

Günter Grass, honored in 1999 with the Nobel Prize for Literature, died at the age of 87 today, April 13. Volker Schlöndorff directed The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), based on Grass’s first novel and worked on the screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière and Franz Seitz. Grass contributed additional dialogue. The film premiered at Cannes in 1979, winning the Palme d'Or in a tie with Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. Last year in New York at Lincoln Center, Volker and I discussed his adaptations, from The Tin Drum to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Cyril Gély's play Diplomatie (Diplomacy).

Peeling the onion signed by Günter Grass - June 2007 Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

When Günter Grass came to New York in June 2007, I had the chance to discuss...
See full article at eyeforfilm.co.uk
  • 4/13/2015
  • by Anne-Katrin Titze
  • eyeforfilm.co.uk
Film Review: Age Of Uprising: The Legend Of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)
  Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013) Film Review, a movie directed by Arnaud des Pallieres, and starring Mads Mikkelsen, Melusine Mayance, David Kross, Bruno Ganz, Denis Lavant, Roxane Duran, David Bennent, Sergi Lopez, Amira Casar, Jacques Nolot The slow, steady beat of drums pounds against the pitch-black background, which slowly opens up to a march of horses across the [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Age Of Uprising: The Legend Of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)...
See full article at Film-Book
  • 6/8/2014
  • by Drew Stelter
  • Film-Book
Michael Kohlhaas (2013)
Here Are All the Movies Opening Today, May 30th. What Will You See?
Michael Kohlhaas (2013)
These days, the number of indies premiering on a weekly basis can be both thrilling and intimidating. To help sift through the number of new releases (independent or otherwise), we've created the Weekly Film Guide. Below you'll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for today's fresh offerings.  Happy viewing! Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, May 30th. (Synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.) Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas Director: Arnaud des PallièresCast: Mads Mikkelsen, Mélusine Mayance, Delphine Chuillot, David Kross, Bruno Ganz, Denis Lavant, Roxane Duran, Paul Bartel, David Bennent, Swann Arlaud, Sergi Lopez, Amira Casar, Jacques Nolot, Christian Chaussex, Jean-Louis Coulloc'h, Laurent Delbecque, Guillaume DelaunaySynopsis: "With the age of feudalism in decline, Europe rests at a tense crossroads between the old world and the new. Respected, well-to-do horse merchant Michael...
See full article at Indiewire
  • 5/30/2014
  • by Steve Greene
  • Indiewire
Cannes 2013 Review: ‘Michael Kohlhaas’ Is a Tedious Waste of a Strong Cast
Arnaud des Pallieres’ take on Heinrich von Kleist’s novella, Michael Kohlhaas, has all the makings of a riveting, party-crashing entry into the Cannes Film Festival’s In Competition banner, what with its focus on adventure and righteous vengeance. Disappointing it is, then, that while it features Mads Mikkelsen in as game a mode as ever, and the landscapes are sumptuously shot, the soporific narrative pulse has kept this oddly forgettable film clear of festival discussion pretty much altogether, which many could argue is even worse than it being an alright flop. The story begins as the titular character (Mikkelsen), a merchant, is forced by a local Baron (Swann Arlaud) to relinquish two of his prized horses as collateral on the way to the market due to him not having the proper documentation. When Kohlhaas returns to discover that the steeds are of ill health and Cesar (David Bennent), the man he left behind to tend for...
See full article at FilmSchoolRejects.com
  • 5/29/2013
  • by Shaun Munro
  • FilmSchoolRejects.com
"Tin Drum" Marches To Its Own Beat
The Tin Drum might be the best film ever made about children; it's certainly the most alarming. Where most cinematic looks backwards are clouded by sentiment and nostalgia, Drum has the courage to acknowledge that what adults perceive as innocence is rarely anything other than a lack of civility, unguided by morality and unrestrained by social conditioning. Many of the things that Oskar (David Bennent) does here are shocking (it's not for nothing that this film was nearly banned in the state of Oklahoma), and we, as adults, recognize that they are wrong. But even more discomforting is the way they reflect the world he was born into, a grotesque parody of the Nazi regime embraced by his parents and his nation. Like all children, he imitates his parents even when he rejects them, but Oscar's voice does more than repeat what he has heard; it provides a piercing look...
See full article at JustPressPlay.net
  • 2/1/2013
  • by Anders Nelson
  • JustPressPlay.net
Blu-ray Review: Volker Schlondorff’s ‘The Tin Drum’ Continues to Challenge
Chicago – Volker Schlondorff’s “The Tin Drum” was a sensation when it was released in 1979, even tying Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” for the Palme D’Or at Cannes that year and winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. History hasn’t been quite as kind to “Tin Drum” as some of its late-’70s contemporaries and it is a bit surprising that it was as much of a phenomenon as it was on the arthouse scene now that one can watch it over three decades later and see the film’s notable flaws but Criterion has put together another stellar edition, highlighted by notable bonus material with the film’s director.

Blu-ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

Some Criterion releases, often by virtue of the film’s age and lack of surviving creators, are notably bereft of special features that actually include the people who made the film. Such is...
See full article at HollywoodChicago.com
  • 1/30/2013
  • by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
  • HollywoodChicago.com
Criterion Collection: The Tin Drum | Blu-ray Review
The Tin Drum is a story of Europe’s nasty history in the first half of the 20th Century and, like that tortured history, the film features an intoxicating mixture of the profound and the profane. Rewarded in 1979 with an Oscar and the Palme d’Or, Volker Schlöndorff’s satiric epic manages to reduce WWII’s enormous struggles to simple, precisely stated metaphors that entrance, shock and mystify. Schlöndorff’s intent is not to increase viewers’ historical understanding of that dark period, but to serve up its murky vicissitudes with a freakish lingua franca that simultaneously amuses and repulses; that seduces while it brutalizes.

Based on a sprawling 1959 novel by Günter Grass, The Tin Drum is set in Danzig, a nominally autonomous region on the Baltic coast established in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles. The story’s chief concern is the life and times of Oskar Matzerath (David Bennent), born...
See full article at IONCINEMA.com
  • 1/16/2013
  • by David Anderson
  • IONCINEMA.com
Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Tin Drum
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 13, 2013

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Volker Schlöndorff’s (The Handmaid’s Tale) 1979 war drama The Tin Drum, which earned the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, is based on Nobel laureate Günter Grass’s acclaimed 1959 novel.

David Bennent pounds away at The Tin Drum.

Oskar (David Bennent) is born in Germany in 1924 with an advanced intellect. Repulsed by the hypocrisy of adults and the irresponsibility of society, he refuses to grow older after his third birthday. While the chaotic world around him careers toward the madness and folly of World War II, Oskar pounds incessantly on his beloved tin drum and perfects his uncannily piercing shrieks to bizarre, dangerous and memorable effect.

Characterized by its surreal imagery, arresting eroticism, and strong, satirical tone, The Tin Drum is presented in German with English subtitles.

Available for a time...
See full article at Disc Dish
  • 10/15/2012
  • by Laurence
  • Disc Dish
Heinz Bennent Dies: Worked with Volker Schlöndorff, Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut
Veteran German actor Heinz Bennent died on October 12. He was 90. The Aachen-born (July 18, 1921) Bennent never became an international name despite several important roles in international films. Among those were Ingmar Bergman's Anglo-German drama The Serpent's Egg (1978), opposite Liv Ullmann and David Carradine; François Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980), which earned Bennent a Best Supporting Actor Cesar nomination; and Andrzej Zulawski's Franco-German psychological thriller Possession (1981), with Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill. Bennent's German films include Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975); Schlöndorff's Academy Award winning drama The Tin Drum (1979); and Ute Wieland's Im Jahr der Schildkröte (1988), which earned Bennent a Best Actor German Film Award. Heinz Bennent's children, Anne Bennent and David Bennent, are both actors. David had the lead in the World War II-set The Tin Drum, playing the boy/midget who never grows neither up nor old while...
See full article at Alt Film Guide
  • 10/13/2011
  • by Andre Soares
  • Alt Film Guide
Retro Review 1981: Pixote
Pixote: a Lei do Mais Fraco (Original Release Date: 5 May 1981)

Hector Babenco's Pixote is a movie about kids trying to survive in a world that doesn't seem to want to let them.  Outside of a documentary short like Ciro Durán's Gamín, my guess is that era reviews didn't have much to compare Pixote to beyond Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados or Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. I'd also guess that not all of these comparisons were flattering. Babenco's direction here lacks the visual punch of Buñuel's, and his characters are nowhere near as well-formed as Dickens's. With any Buñuel comparison, one must contend a sophistication that, to this day, leads people to argue over how much of the work is earnest, and how much of it is ironic or parodic. (This excludes film students.  I'd say film students still love to debate whether Las Hurdes is a...
See full article at Corona's Coming Attractions
  • 5/6/2011
  • by Thurston McQ
  • Corona's Coming Attractions
Retro Review 1981: Pixote
A champion of the film might respond to the last point by saying that's the point.  This champion might go on to say  Babenco doesn't fail to reach any sort of visual punch or character development goal because he doesn't aim for them. And it's true that Babenco would go on to show his versatility as a director with movies such as Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ironweed. Here, he has a diffent aim.  His focus is on achieving what film critics usually classify as neorealism (simply put, the attempt to achieve authenticity). It might be more accurate to call Pixote neo-Naturalist (meaning it attempts to portray the authentic while also imposing a political [usually leftist] agenda), though, as the aggressiveness of its look-how-bad-things-are-on-the-streets-of-Brazil agenda blows the air of authentic neorealism is supposed to observe out the window. (I say this knowing full well how easy it is for me to...
See full article at Corona's Coming Attractions
  • 5/6/2011
  • by Thurston McQ
  • Corona's Coming Attractions
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