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Not all of the classic Universal Monsters were based on classic stories. While Frankenstein and Dracula came from the minds of Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker, The Wolfman, and previously Werewolf of London, was based on folklore dating back centuries rather than fiction. While the character has had a hard time coming back into the limelight with the disappointing Wolfman from 2010 and even more disappointing Wolf Man from 2025, the myth has done well for itself even while not being as in the public favor as the Zombie or Vampire. Those original films may not be based on books but that didn’t stop writers from creating their own stories or studios from adapting them. This includes the likes of Hammer Studios Curse of the Werewolf being adapted from The Werewolf of Paris and The Wolfen getting turned into the 1981 movie Wolfen. Speaking of 1981, there were two other rather small werewolf...

Turns out you don’t have to be Irish to be lucky come March. That’s right, repertory cinemas from coast to coast will be raining down four-leaf clovers in the form of cinematic gems like “Matewan,” “The Watermelon Woman,” “The Cable Guy,” and many more. And we know what you’re thinking…you just got through slamming back Oscar film after Oscar film, maybe it’s time to take a little break from the movies. After all, spring’s around the corner — it might be nice to step outside for a bit, breathe in the fresh air.

Well, you’re wrong.

Fresh air is for people who can’t appreciate a random assortment of food scents and possibly carbon dioxide from a leaking soda machine tank. You’re of a different breed and as such, we know there’s no better place for you than the comfy cozy darkness of your local cinema.

Tumultuous times call for voices of reason. In a thorny climate where civil liberties and protection seem to be under fire in the public and private fields, Matewan has become an essential watch for all Americans. Of course, the film was already urgent and probing upon release in 1987, but John Sayles' masterpiece has taken on a new life in recent years.

Bubble, boil, steam, and burn, it’s time to watch those film reels turn. That’s right, it’s October, which means it’s almost Halloween, but the minute the clock struck midnight on the 1st, we here at IndieWire were already decked in black and frightening our office mates at Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. While carving pumpkins, eating candy, and donning elaborate costumes may be how most ring in this special time of year, we believe there’s no better celebration of spooky season than entering a dark theater and sharing a few collective screams with strangers.

This month, repertory theaters in New York and Los Angeles have plenty of offerings to get those lungs expanding and heart beating. From black-and-white classics like Don Siegel’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) to modern monster favorites such as “The Mummy” (1999) starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, don’t miss...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSNo Other Land.Politically engaged documentaries—including some of the most lauded films of the festival season, like No Other Land (2024)—are struggling to find buyers, with many filmmakers resorting to self-distribution or service deals (in which a distributor is paid to release the film while filmmakers retain the rights).After the ignominious resignation of Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, many in the nation’s film industry are calling upon his replacement, Alessandro Giuli, to abandon plans for new legislation that would curtail government subsidies for film production.With drastically expanded tax incentives and brand-new soundstages, New Jersey hopes to again become a major hub for motion pictures. First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy emphasizes the importance of every community,...

Legendary actor James Earl Jones, who passed away on Monday at the age of 93, has a robust legacy filled with films, television, and theatre projects that aren't just famous, but immortal. "The Empire Strikes Back," "The Lion King," "Conan the Barbarian," "Field of Dreams," "Matewan," and "Coming to America" are merely the top titles on his lengthy resume, and they're just the tip of the iceberg that was his fantastic performing career. However, when it comes to pure number-crunching, it seems that none of those films emerge victorious on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. To be fair: as an aggregator, the Tomatometer is only able to judge reviews that it has access to, and since Jones' career predates the internet by a good number of years, not every review of every Jones performance is weighted equally.

Perhaps that's why a most surprising title actually lays claim to the name of James...

The resonant baritone of James Earl Jones – the Emmy Award-, Grammy Award-, and Tony Award-winning actor who also received an honorary Oscar, making him a non-competitive Egot designee – has gone silent. At age 93, the actor, best known for voicing the evil Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and later the regal Mufasa in “The Lion King,” began his career on stage, in productions of “Othello” and the boxing biography “The Great White Hope.” The latter won him his first of three Tonys, as well as an Academy Award nomination for the film version in 1970.

His other notable work over the years included “Dr. Strangelove,” “The Hunt for Red October” (and its sequels), “Conan the Barbarian,” John Sayles’s labor struggle drama “Matewan,” the Broadway production of August Wilson’s “Fences,” the uneasy racial comedy “Soul Man,” and the South Africa-set “Cry, the Beloved Country.” He was also a...

James Earl Jones, who died at age 93 on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, was one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents and voices. From the evil Darth Vader from George Lucas’ “Star Wars” to the regal Mufasa from Disney’s The Lion King,” Jones’ deep baritone was a commanding and dominant presence wherever he appeared. In live-action, he had roles in “Conan the Barbarian” (1982), “Matewan” (1987), “Coming to America” (1988), “Field of Dreams” (1989), “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), “The Sandlot” (1993) and many more.

He won two Tony Awards, for “The Great White Hope” (1969) and “Fences” (1987), and two Primetime Emmys in the same year, for “Heat Wave” (1991) and “Gabriel’s Fire” (1991). Jones rounded out his Egot status, which only a handful of artists have ever earned, with a Grammy for best spoken word and a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 2011.

“The secret is never forgetting that you’re a journeyman actor and that nothing is your final thing,...

Before we dive into Winona Ryder’s picks from the Criterion Closet, we have some breaking news that takes precedent. In a stunning reveal this week, a poster on Reddit shared a photo with the Criterion community showing that their famous closet wasn’t an actual closet, but rather a set placed within a van.

The closet, is actually a van.

byu/throgmortal incriterion

A spokesperson for Criterion responded to IndieWire’s request for comment by confirming that its videos are actually filmed in a closet in Criterion’s office in New York City. Nevertheless, this photo may imply Criterion has plans of taking their closet on the road and social media is abuzz with intrigue.

Iconic actress Ryder stopped by the closet ahead of her film “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” premiering at Venice Film Festival and spoke of the space as if it were a holy sanctuary.

“I am so lucky...

Chris Cooper is an Oscar-winning actor who has brought his laconic, folksy presence to dozens of movies, many of which have become modern classics. Let’s take a look back at 17 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1951 in Kansas City, Missouri, Cooper cut his teeth in theater before making his film debut at the age of 36 with a lead role in John Sayles‘ “Matewan” (1987). The movie kicked off a decades long collaboration between the actor and director, with the two pairing up for such titles as “City of Hope” (1991), “Lone Star” (1996), “Silver City” (2004) and “Amigo” (2010).

He hit the Oscar jackpot with his supporting turn in Spike Jonze‘s “Adaptation” (2002), a self-reflective comedy about screenwriter Charlie Kaufman‘s (Nicolas Cage) struggles to adapt Susan Orlean‘s (Meryl Streep) nonfiction book “The Orchid Thief.” Cooper played John Laroche, the eccentric, swampy horticulturalist at the center of Orlean’s story.

In the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Tuvix", a transporter accident fused the stern, logical Vulcan Tuvok (Tim Russ) with the jolly hobbit-like chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips) into a single being. This new being, who says he's named Tuvix (Tom Wright) possesses memories and personality traits from both Tuvok and Neelix, which is a matter of great consternation from Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the crew of the Voyager. Tuvix soon finds that he likes his new amalgam personality, finding happiness and agency as an individual. 

Soon, however, the Voyager engineers find a way to reverse the effects of the transporter accident and separate Tuvix back into his two constituent beings. Tuvix objects, of course. To do so would mean to murder him. Surely a newly created person has rights just as much as any other member of the crew, and Tuvix would like them to be protected. Notoriously among Trekkies,...

John Sayles has made a career out of writing and directing some of the finest ensemble films of all time, movies like “Matewan,” “Eight Men Out,” and “Sunshine State” that create rich tapestries of American life filled with intimate detail and epic sweep. One of his most entertaining and sophisticated works, the 1996 contemporary Western “Lone Star,” is newly available in 4K and Blu-ray editions from Criterion, and it has, like most of Sayles’ movies, only improved with age. As a Texas sheriff investigates an old murder, the film becomes timeless and specifically of its era (particularly in the border crossing scenes conceived and shot before the wall that eventually went up in Sayles’ location), a complex consideration of cultural conflicts and generational divides that seem hardwired into the American consciousness.

It’s a great American epic, yet like all of the director’s films it was shot on a modest...

Near the end of Matewan (1987), socialist union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), a guiding light and galvanizing force for a West Virginia town of striking coal miners under siege, attempts to console frustrated young Danny Radnor (Will Oldham), a nascent preacher and union man. Overwhelmed by the violence and hardships they’ve suffered, the boy gives into despair, declaring in rage and desperation that it’s every man for himself. Joe’s stirring reply is that they must all look after each other, no matter what. Though followed by a long-brewing scene of climatic violence, this quiet but deeply moving moment between […]

The post Cinema of Bread and Roses: An Interview with Maggie Renzi and John Sayles first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Near the end of Matewan (1987), socialist union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), a guiding light and galvanizing force for a West Virginia town of striking coal miners under siege, attempts to console frustrated young Danny Radnor (Will Oldham), a nascent preacher and union man. Overwhelmed by the violence and hardships they’ve suffered, the boy gives into despair, declaring in rage and desperation that it’s every man for himself. Joe’s stirring reply is that they must all look after each other, no matter what. Though followed by a long-brewing scene of climatic violence, this quiet but deeply moving moment between […]

The post Cinema of Bread and Roses: An Interview with Maggie Renzi and John Sayles first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

As cultural institutions crank out their various “Best of 2023” lists, there’s one year-end list that always feels especially poignant. The Library of Congress has announced its 2023 class of additions to the National Film Registry — a collection of titles that the United States National Film Preservation Board has deemed as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” This year, additions include Home Alone (1990), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Love & Basketball (2000), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and more.

“Films are an integral piece of America’s cultural heritage, reflecting stories of our nation for more than 125 years,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We’re grateful to the film community for collaborating with the Library in our goal to preserve the heritage of cinema.” Among this aforementioned film community, the Library of Congress Blog highlighted Spike Lee’s fifth entry into the registry with his 2000 satire Bamboozled, as well...

A new batch of classic films have made their way into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry this week, including Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas!

This year’s new lineup of films that have been deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” also includes James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day!

The National Film Registry says of The Nightmare Before Christmas, “The king of dark whimsy, Tim Burton won over an even larger (and decidedly younger) crowd with this delightful stop-motion animated offering. Jack Skellington, whose giant pumpkin head rests precariously on top of his rail-thin body, is the king of Halloween Town; one year he dreams of bringing a little Christmas magic to his humble hamlet. Conceived and produced by Burton (with direction by Henry Selick), Nightmare features creative set design to construct an imaginary world, songs by Danny Elfman and the voice talents of Chris Sarandon,...

The Library of Congress National Film Registry has just inducted 25 new films, ranging from beloved fan favorites to esteemed cinematic classics. In a holiday-themed twist, Chris Columbus’ “Home Alone” and Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” are among the inductees, along with films by Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, Ron Howard, Ang Lee, and James Cameron.

Twenty-five influential films were selected “for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage,” per the official press release. The 2023 selections date back more than 100 years to a 1921 Kodak educational film titled “A Movie Trip Through Filmland” about how film stock is produced and the impact of movies globally, as well as Oscar-winning films “20 Feet From Stardom” and “12 Years a Slave.”

The public submitted 6,875 titles for consideration this year, with “Home Alone” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” garnering significant support. The total number of films in the registry...

Whenever films reach a certain point of cultural, historical or aesthetic significance, they get added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The movies are preserved for their contribution to the nation’s film heritage. Deadline reveals the 25 films that have been selected this year include Apollo 13, Home Alone and Lady and the Tramp, Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet; James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball, Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, and Steve McQueen’s Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave.

Ron Howard commented on his Apollo 13 film’s inclusion, “It’s a very honest, heartfelt reflection of something that was very American, which was the space program in that time and what it meant to the country and to the world… I was very proud of the outcome. The experience remains an absolute highlight. It was...

Since 1989, the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has been accomplishing the important task of preserving films that “represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking.” From films way back in 1897 all the way up to 2013, they’ve now reached 875 films that celebrate our heritage and encapsulate our film history.

Today they’ve unveiled their 2023 list, which includes Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Love & Basketball, John Sayles’ Matewan, and more.

“The National Film Registry is an essential American enterprise that officially recognizes the rich depth and variety, the eloquence and the real greatness of American cinema and the filmmakers who have created it, film by film,” said Scorsese.

Check out the list of this year’s additions below, the full list here, and...

The Library of Congress announced the 25 features joining the National Film Registry for 2023, with titles including “12 Years a Slave,” “Home Alone,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” Selected films must be more than 10 years old and are selected each year for their cultural, historic or aesthetic significance to preserve the film heritage of the U.S.

The Library of Congress is not responsible for the physical preservation of the titles selected — many have already been preserved by copyright holders, filmmakers or other archives. For those that haven’t yet been preserved, the Library’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center works to make sure it will be — through ventures with other archives or studios or through its own preservation program.

The selected films encompass more than 100 years of history, including the earliest title of this year’s additions — the 1921 educational film “A Movie Trip Through Filmland.”

Hollywood studio...

Harlan County, USA

Filmmakers loves an underdog and movies have a long tradition of supporting the rights of workers, dating all the way back to the silent era. Here are some classic movies that celebrate workers’ right to strike for better wages and safer working conditions and the sometimes unlikely allies they find along the way. Many are based on true stories, including John Sayles’ masterful “Matewan,” about a coal miner strike in West Virginia, as well as Barbara Kopple’s Oscar-winning documentary, “Harlan County, USA.”

Photo credit: Disney

“Newsies” (1992)

“Headlines don’t sell papes, Newsies sell papes!” In this exuberant and pro-worker musical, Christian Bale’s Jack Kelly leads a group of newsboys in a strike against penny-pinching newspaper owner Joseph Pulitzer. They’re aided by Bill Pullman’s kindly, reform-minded journalist and, of course, Teddy Roosevelt, who was then governor of New York.

Photo credit: 20th Century

“Norma Rae...

Boston Strangler is a Hulu original movie with a fantastic ensemble cast portraying the story's real-life characters. It's based on the investigation of the titular serial killer who terrorized the streets of Boston in the 1960s. Although the case is widely known, there's not enough acclaim for Loretta McLaughlin, the brilliant investigative journalist responsible for breaking the case. For this reason, Boston Strangler commits to a new approach by telling the story from her perspective, following in detail the many confusing clues that led to the identity of the infamous murderer.

In 1968, the first movie about the case, entitled The Boston Strangler, was released. That version put Loretta in the background and focused on the serial killer as the main character. The 2023 Boston Strangler movie is better than the original for many reasons, with director Matt Ruskin claiming he "didn't want to glorify violence" (via Deadline) and instead, decided to...

Mulan and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Rosalind Chao chats about a few of her favorite movies with Josh & Joe.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mulan (2020)

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Mary Poppins (1964)

The Sound Of Music (1965)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Gremlins (1984)

Explorers (1985)

Funny Girl (1968)

What’s Up Doc? (1972)

The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

The Graduate (1967)

Midnight Run (1988)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The Lonely Guy (1984)

Waiting For Guffman (1996)

Best In Show (2000)

Hamilton (2020)

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)

Misery (1990)

Paris, Texas (1984)

Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

sex, lies and videotape (1989)

The Shining (1980)

Matewan (1987)

Thousand Pieces of Gold (1990)

Lost In Translation (2003)

Mean Streets (1973)

On The Rocks (2020)

Somewhere (2010)

Adaptation (2002)

Mandy (2018)

Possessor (2020)

Midsommar (2019)

The Wicker Man (1973)

Hereditary (2018)

The Lighthouse (2019)

Other Notable Items

The Scott Alexander podcast episodes

Tfh Guru Larry Karaszewski

Star Trek franchise

The It’s A Small World ride

Disneyland

University of the Arts

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...

Leslie A. Pope, an Oscar-nominated set decorator who worked on several Marvel movies, has died at 65 in Venice, Calif., according to her friend, Trish Gallaher Glenn.

Pope had heart surgery in February and was still recovering when she died, Glenn said.

She moved to New York in 1979 to begin her career in the film industry, and later moved to Venice in 1997. In her 40-year career, she worked on more than 50 films as a set decorator.

Pope received an Oscar nomination for “Seabiscuit” in 2003 for best art direction along with Jeannine Oppewall. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” would go on to win the category.

She also worked on several movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most recently the blockbuster “Avengers: Endgame.” Her other superhero film credits include “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Ant-Man,” “Spider-Man 3” and “The Amazing Spider-Man.”

The Art Directors Guild awarded Pope the...

The Criterion Collection rounds the corner on its final three-digit spine number (#999) this week with John Sayles' 1987 union drama, Matewan, before busting our collective eyeballs (and wallets) with spine #1000 -- the Godzilla boxed set -- which hits the street on the same day. Don't let the latter overshadow the former. If the havoc wreaked by irradiated kaiju is oftentimes slyly political, Sayles' take on the Matewan Massacre of 1920 is brazenly so. It's as disturbingly fresh -- and arguably, even more relevant -- as it was when it was released. I wonder if they'll sell it on Amazon. Taking place entirely in a holler in West Virginia where local miners are attempting to stand up to the mining company that is crushing...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

At long last, Criterion has revealed its 1,000th entry to be the ultimate “Godzilla” collection, with all 15 films of the Japanese monster series’ original Showa era films beautifully burnished for the first time. This massive set, with all films digitally restored, ranges from Ishirō Honda’s 1954 original-that-started-it-all “Godzilla” to Honda’s 1975 “Terror of Mechagodzilla,” which was his directorial swan song.

Also featured in the set are such iconic Godzilla face-offs as “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963), “Mothra vs. Godzilla” (1964), “Godzilla vs. Gigan” (1972), “Godzilla vs. Megalon” (1973) and more.

Criterion promises “a landmark set showcasing the technical wizardry, fantastical storytelling, and indomitable international appeal that established the most iconic giant monster the cinema has ever seen.”

The series has featured its fair share of imitations and reboots over the years, including this year’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” whose director, Michael Dougherty modeled the creature design for his film after the 1954 version...

Chris Cooper celebrates his 68th birthday on July 9, 2019. The Oscar-winning actor has leant his laconic, folksy presence to dozens of movies, many of which have become modern classics. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1951 in Kansas City, Missouri, Cooper cut his teeth in theater before making his film debut at the age of 36 with a lead role in John Sayles‘ “Matewan” (1987). The movie kicked off a decades long collaboration between the actor and director, with the two pairing up for such titles as “City of Hope” (1991), “Lone Star” (1996), “Silver City” (2004) and “Amigo” (2010).

SEEOscar Best Supporting Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

He hit the Oscar jackpot with his supporting turn in Spike Jonze‘s “Adaptation” (2002), a self-reflective comedy about screenwriter Charlie Kaufman‘s (Nicolas Cage) struggles to adapt Susan Orlean‘s (Meryl Streep...

Hitler? Bigfoot? Sam Elliot? Sign me up. This sounds like the second best movie of 2018! It's probably not, but I can still dream, right? Today, we get a cool new poster for one of the weirder sounding thrillers of the year. The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot. Take that title in, Bask in it. It's the real deal.

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot is showing off this new monstrous FrightFest exclusive poster ahead of its UK premiere! The critically acclaimed film comes to London's top genre event August 26th! The film screens this Sunday at Cineworld, Leicester Square with director Robert D. Krzykowski, Aidan Turner and Caitlin FitzGerald in attendance! I know, you're sad you can't attend. And so am I.

So, what the heck is The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot anyway? And is The in front of Bigfoot really necessary?...

Film history is home to dozens of space movies, from “2001: A Space Odyssey” to “Interstellar,” but which happens to be the most accurate? If you were to ask a real astronaut, say former Nasa administrator Charles F. Bolden, the answer would not be Kubrick’s magnum opus but “The Martian,” the Matt Damon-starring survival film directed by Ridley Scott. Bolden is one of 24 professionals asked by The Washington Post to name the most accurate film in his line of work, and it appears “The Martian” does space better than any film of its kind.

Read More:The 100 Best Reviewed Movies of 2017, According to Rotten Tomatoes

“Most people think about astronaut movies and they want to talk about ‘The Right Stuff,'” Bolden tells The Post. “But ‘The Martian’ is just so scientifically accurate, and it tells this story of what we’re on the cusp of — not just Americans,...

Labor Day celebrates working people and the labor unions that brought working people the 40-hour work week, the 8-hour day, overtime pay, work-place safety, paid holidays and vacations, and a host of other protections and benefits. To honor those hard-working people and organized labor, here is a list (in no particular order) of a dozen worthy narrative films for Labor Day.

Norma Rae (1979)

For many people, the words “labor union” bring to mind the image of Sally Field standing up in defiance in “Norma Rae.” Field won an Oscar for her unforgettable, inspiring character, a worker in a Southern textile factory who becomes involved in labor organizing and stands up to management after the factory workers’ health is threatened in the workplace. This stirring drama, based on a true story, also stars Beau Bridges as Norma Rae’s husband Sonny and Ron Leibman as an union organizer from the Northeast.

I think everyone in this country should be aware by now that our race relations are at an all time low. It seems every time we hear the news another black citizen has been shot by the police or police have been shot by someone angry about these shootings. It cannot continue. We as a nation cannot keep going down this road.

I have always sympathized with Black Americans. In fact as a Scot and Irish American I have always sympathized with anyone who ever got pushed around, starting with Native Americans, Asians, Jewish immigrants, women of any ethnic group, Hispanics from any country.

I also sympathize with the people who are tasked with law enforcement. It’s a tough job. I had some training in that area. A couple of years ago I was hired by a Security company and was trained in unarmed, and armed, uniformed security. I...

Still doing it his way: Sayles today.

By Mark Cerulli

The interview was set for 10:30 Am. Usually they run a few minutes late as the celebrity works his way through a call list. When the moment arrives an assistant handles the intros. Not this time. At precisely 10:30:00, the phone rang and iconic Indie filmmaker John Sayles introduced himself. And why not? A no-nonsense, get- it -done type of auteur, Sayles handles his own publicity calls and was keen to discuss his remarkable and varied career in advance of a weekend retrospective at La’s Cinefamily February 18 - 20.

Sayles broke into the business, like so many before him, by working with genre legend Roger Corman who figuratively and literally wrote the book on low budget filmmaking. “I got very lucky, didn’t realize it at the time, “Sayles recalls. “I wrote three screenplays (Piranha, The Lady in Red...

While the holidays unfolded, we lost two of the greatest photographers to ever work in cinema, and it's only when you look back at the filmography they leave behind and the legacy they passed on to all the cameramen who worked under them and then went on to shoot films of their own that you understand the magnitude of what we've lost. There was a point in my own film education when I stopped going from actor to actor or from director to director in the way I was watching movies and spent a summer going from cinematographer to cinematographer, and doing that proved to be an education in the tricky definition of what we call "authorial voice" in film. I think it is only in collaboration that magic happens, and one of the people who has to be absolutely killing it for that to work is the cinematographer. The...

Haskell Wexler: “He was the first cinematographer in over 35 years to receive a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame." Haskell Wexler, who has died today at the age of 93, was considered one of the industry’s most important and influential cinematographers.

He photographed a wide range of films that earned him five Academy Award nominations and two Oscars for Best Cinematography for Mike Nichols’ Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf in 1966 and a decade later for Hal Ashby’s Bound For Glory. He also photographed the Oscar-winning short-subject documentary Interviews With My Lai Veterans in 1971.

His Academy Award nominations came for his work on his first feature documentary, The Living City; a short film, T for Tumbleweed; Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; John Sayle’s Matewan; and Ron Shelton’s Huey Long biopic Blaze.

Born in Chicago, Wexler attended the University of California,...

Los Angeles – At the 2013 Chicago International Film Festival awards ceremony at the Ambassador East, an older man started shooting me with a video camera in the bar area. Later that same man, Haskell Wexler, picked up a lifetime award at that ceremony. Haskell Wexler died on Dec. 27, 2015, at the age of 93.

Haskell Wexler, Oscar Winning Cinematographer

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Wexler won two Oscars for his cinematography, for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” – the last separate Oscar given for Black & White cinematography – and “Bound for Glory,” which was also notable for the first use of the Steadicam. The rest of his resume isn’t too shabby either, with Best Picture winners or nominations for “In the Heat of the Night, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” “America America” and “Coming Home.” Wexler had five Oscar nominations, including his wins, during his career.

Legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler died today. His son Jeff Wexler reported on his father’s website and via Facebook that the Oscar-winning Wexler “died peacefully in his sleep.” Haskell Wexler was 93. Wexler won the last Oscar cinematography award that went to a black-and-white film for Who’s Afraid Of Virgina Woolf? and another Academy Award for the Woody Guthrie biopic Bound For Glory. He also was nominated for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Matewan and…...

Two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Haskell Wexler has died at age 93. The icon, who lensed famed films such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Bound for Glory and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, passed away in his sleep at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, his son Jeff Wexler announced on his website. "It is with great sadness that I have to report that my father, Haskell Wexler, has died," Jeff wrote. "Pop died peacefully in his sleep, Sunday, December 27th, 2015. Accepting the Academy Award in 1967, Pop said: 'I hope we can use our art for peace and for love.

Cinematographer, director and producer Haskell Wexler has passed away, aged 93. He may be "best remembered by cineastes of the baby boomer generation as the director of an innovative narrative film, Medium Cool (1969), which seamlessly melded documentary footage of the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with the lives of fictional characters," notes Maria Garcia in Film Journal International. Wexler won his first Oscar for shooting Mike Nichols's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and his second for Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory. He was also nominated for shooting Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, John Sayles’s Matewan and Ron Shelton’s Huey Long biopic Blaze. We're collecting remembrances. » - David Hudson...

Cinematographer, director and producer Haskell Wexler has passed away, aged 93. He may be "best remembered by cineastes of the baby boomer generation as the director of an innovative narrative film, Medium Cool (1969), which seamlessly melded documentary footage of the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with the lives of fictional characters," notes Maria Garcia in Film Journal International. Wexler won his first Oscar for shooting Mike Nichols's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and his second for Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory. He was also nominated for shooting Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, John Sayles’s Matewan and Ron Shelton’s Huey Long biopic Blaze. We're collecting remembrances. » - David Hudson...

The double Oscar-winning cinematographer who worked on One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest died in hospital in Santa Monica on Sunday. He was 93.

Haskell Wexler was nominated five times for the Academy Award and won twice for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1967 and Bound For Glory ten years later.

His other three nominations came for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (shared with Bill Butler) in 1975, Matewan in 1987 and most recently Blaze in 1990.

Wexler was born in Chicago and joined the Merchant Marines before returning home to make documentaries and educational films. He remained politically aware after moving to California and directed Medium Cool in 1969, about the 1968 Democratic National convention.

His son Jeff Wexler posted the following notice on his website: “It is with great sadness that I have to report that my father, Haskell Wexler, has died. Pop died peacefully in his sleep, Sunday, December 27th, 2015.

“Accepting the Academy...

The double Oscar-winning cinematographer who worked on One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest died in hospital in Santa Monica on Sunday. He was 93.

Wexler was nominated five times for the Academy Award and won twice for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1967 and Bound For Glory ten years later.

His other three nominations came for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (shared with Bill Butler) in 1975, Matewan in 1987 and most recently Blaze in 1990.

Wexler was born in Chicago and joined the Merchant Marines before returning home to make documentaries and educational films. He remained politically aware after moving to California and directed Medium Cool in 1969, about the 1968 Democratic National convention.

His son Jeff Wexler posted the following notice on his website: “It is with great sadness that I have to report that my father, Haskell Wexler, has died. Pop died peacefully in his sleep, Sunday, December 27th, 2015. Accepting the Academy...

Before he received acclaim as a writer/director of such films as Brother from Another Planet (’84), Matewan (’87), and The Secret of Roan Inish (’94), John Sayles made a splash on the horror scene as the writer of fun, clever satires such as Piranha (’78) and The Howling (’81). However, he did another that doesn’t get nearly as much love, and that’s his ode to an overgrown reptile, Lewis Teague’s Alligator (’80). Which is a shame, as it is just as much of a blast as the other two.

Alligator was released in July to solid reviews, and tripled its budget in returns, bringing in $6.5 million U.S. Not too bad for an independent (Group 1 International Distribution Organisation Ltd., the fine folks behind Ufo’s Are Real), and a good indicator that horror fans are always up for a smart romp. Alligator glides through that sweet swamp filled with fear and good humor.

Retrospective of 10 Sayles films includes Go For Sisters and The Return of the Secaucus Seven.

John Sayles will be honoured with a retrospective at the 54th Cartagena Film Festival (Ficci) and he will also participate in a March 18 roundtable discussion at the festival.

The festival will screen 10 of his films, including the recent Go For Sisters, Lone Star, Casa de los Babies, Men With Guns, Sunshine State, City of Hope, SIlver City, Matewan, Eight Men Out and his directorial debut The Return of the Secaucus Seven.

Actor Clive Owen will be a Guest of Honour at the festival, which will show the Latin American premiere of his latest film, Guillaume Canet’s Blood Ties on March 14. Owen will be presented with the India Catalina prize and then will be publicly interviewed by Ficci director Monika Wagenberg.

As soon as I heard about the Austin Film Society's special screening of Matewan with director John Sayles in attendance, I purchased my ticket. I've made it a point to see as many Sayles movies as I can, since seeing my first (The Secret of Roan Inish) as a teenager.  Unfortunately, the quality of the Matewan DVD I rented a few years back was so awful that I couldn't watch more than 5 minutes of it -- the sound was terrible.  I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see the 35mm print at the Marchesa.

I spied the director's tall form in the Marchesa lobby, among the booths at the Blue Genie bazaar, before we were seated.  After being introduced to the audience, Sayles explained to us the correct pronunciation for the town in the title: Mayte-one, not Matt-uh-won (which is how I'd been saying it, oops).  He then told us...

 

If you're getting in the Christmas spirit, you'll want to head over to the Paramount on Sunday for 35mm screenings of Love Actually. They've got two afternoon matinee showings. If that doesn't work for you, it's also a Girlie Night booking at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz on Tuesday, but that appears to be a digital screening (for those of you, like me, who care about such things). 

Speaking of the Ritz, they've got a Kung Fu Double Feature on Sunday night from the American Genre Film Archive, Richard Donner's Superman in 35mm on Monday and Sweet Smell Of Success on Wednesday night. If you've got six hours to spare on Thursday evening, they're also showing a double feature of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug in 35mm. If you want to forgo the high frame rate/IMAX/3D options, it's a rare opportunity to see new releases on film.

In his latest film Go for Sisters, which screened at SXSW and opens today in Austin, longtime indie filmmaker John Sayles (Lone Star, Matewan) brings us yet another almost noir-ish mystery set on the U.S.-Mexico border. But like his other films, it's primarily character driven. The characters in Go for Sisters are strong, complex and interesting, and make up for a story that seems to meander aimlessly at times.

Bernice (LisaGay Hamilton) is a parole officer who is inadvertently assigned to an old high-school friend, Fontayne (Yolonda Ross). Bernice was always the straight arrow, but Fontayne is on parole after serving time for drug-related crimes. But Bernice needs Fontayne's help to find her son Rodney, who has mysteriously vanished after one of his friends has been murdered.

Bernice and Fontayne soon realize they need help and engage the services of an aging, sight-impaired ex-detective, Suarez (Edward James Olmos...

Mexican border noir "Go For Sisters," the latest emphatically idiosyncratic self-financed original from indie icon John Sayles, is finally hitting theaters in New York and Los Angeles this month, followed by a slow rollout through the rest of the country. (DVDs are available for pre-order on the Vhx/Variance website.) A black female buddy road movie starring Lisa Gay Hamilton and Yolonda Ross as two African-American women who could "go for sisters" when they knew each other as teenagers is not exactly a commercial picture. But Sayles has made his peace with that long ago, deciding to tell the stories he wanted to tell, the way he wanted to tell them, discovering talent along the way, from Chris Cooper ("Matewan") to Matthew McConaughey ("Lone Star").In order to do just that, "Go For Sisters" was filmed in 19 days in two countries with 65 locations, all for under a million dollars.

The years have seen countless musicians cross over into the acting world, and of late, indie films have featured their fair share of artists taking a stab at a new medium. Will Oldham (who actually was an actor first, starring as a child in "Matewan"), James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), David Yow (Jesus Lizard) and Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney) are among those who have traded the stage for a set, and now Deerhunter and Atlas Sound frontman Bradford Cox will be making the transition with the Jean-Marc Vallée-helmed '80s-set AIDS drama “The Dallas Buyer's Club.” Written by Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack, the film is based on the true story of Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey), who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986 and was given only months to live. With nothing to lose, he began experimenting with underground, non-fda-approved drugs, and wound up living longer than expected. He began getting these...

Jurassic Park 4 is actually currently in the works, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver writing the script, and a release date of summer 2014 in mind. But when you're making a sequel to a movie that enormous, of course there have been earlier versions of the story, and a glimpse at the Jurassic Park 4 that might have been has just emerged, and perfectly timed to Halloween, as it turns out. The rejected concept art images come from a 2005 script written by William Monahan (Oscar-winner for The Departed) and John Sayles (director of indies like Lone Star and Matewan, but also write of more Hollywood films like The Spiderwick Chronicles and Battle Beyond the Stars). Around that time producer Frank Marshall was out there suggesting that Jurassic Park 3 director Joe Johnston would be returning and they were firming up the script, but of course,...

Six years ago the musician Nick Cave and the director John Hillcoat made the visually striking, ultra-violent outback western, The Proposition, a return to the glory days of Australian cinema.

Their new film, similarly celebrating an intransigently independent, anti-social clan engaged in a fight with oppressive authorities, is less coherent and persuasive. The setting is now the backwoods of Virginia in 1931, the last days of prohibition, where a corrupt new law enforcement officer, the sadistic dandy Charles Rakes (Guy Pearce), arrives to shake down the real-life Bondurant family, the county's leading redneck moonshiners led by tough, tight-lipped Tom Hardy and his mild younger brother (Shia Labeouf). More than a little indebted to Bonnie and Clyde, it's a slow, painterly movie with sudden, sustained outbursts of violence. Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us and John Sayles's Matewan are much better and more authoritative in their treatment of crime and social conflict...