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His riotous new film, The Disaster Artist, is one of the best in a fascinating but patchy career. So how did this notorious workaholic with a fear of failure learn to laugh at himself?

James Franco, the stoner’s comedian inside a workaholic arthouse auteur trapped in a Hollywood leading man’s body, is a bewildering enough prospect as an actor, but that’s nothing compared with what he is as an interviewee. As I walk into his hotel room in San Sebastián, Spain, where he is at the film festival showing his latest effort, The Disaster Artist, which he directed and stars in, I wonder which side I’ll get today. (Please, God, not the pretentious-auteur one.) After all, what to expect of a man who, in one year, made eight movies including Eat Pray Love; the pretty good Allen Ginsberg biopic, Howl; the completely meh comedy, Date Night; the endurance movie,...

A extensive look at all those movies James Franco directed.

James Franco has done a lot of things, we’ve heard. Following a successful turn on Judd Apatow’s Freaks and Geeks and a well-received starring spot on a TNT biopic on James Dean, he turned immediately to a litany of pursuits: from playwriting and English degrees to painting and directing no less than ten feature-lengths. The latter project interested me. Were they any good? In Franco’s Rolling Stone profile last year, Jonah Weiner ran around a thesaurus of words like “dizzying,” “indefatigable“ and, wait for it, “multihyphenate” to describe his subject but none of those words mean very much. Paul Klee painted over a thousand paintings in the penultimate last year of his life. So could I. So what?

“What did we do to deserve James Franco?,” asked Rex Reed in a slightly different era. Back then, even the The Guardian agreed with Jared Kushner...

After playing Jake Epping in Hulu's limited series adaptation of Stephen King's 11/22/63, James Franco is stepping back into Stephen King territory to narrate a new audiobook of King's The Dead Zone (1979).

One of King's most seminal novels (it was adapted for the big screen by David Cronenberg in 1983 before being the basis for a USA Network TV series that ran from 2002–2007), The Dead Zone audiobook will be released by Simon & Schuster in digital and CD form on April 25th, according to EW and Amazon, and you can check out the official synopsis and cover art below (via Simon & Schuster).

The Dead Zone Audiobook: "When Johnny Smith was six years old, head trauma caused by a bad ice-skating accident left him with a nasty bruise on his forehead and, from time to time, those hunches . . . infrequent but accurate snippets of things to come. But it isn’t until Johnny’s...

Every week, the CriticWire Survey asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday morning. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: Fall movie season is right around the corner, and we can’t wait for the onslaught of good films to begin. What is the one movie coming out between now and December 31st that people should be sure to keep on their radar?

Christopher Campbell (@thefilmcynic) Nonfics/Film School Rejects

There are a number of great documentaries on their way to theaters this fall, but if I have to choose one to promote I pick Kirsten Johnson’s “Cameraperson.” It’s a hard sell if only because it’s so unique that it’s difficult to explain just how fresh and significant it is.

Dan Cooper Jul 8, 2016

From Dumb & Dumber and The Martian, through to Arachnophobia and Steve Jobs - we salute the screen work of Jeff Daniels...

They say that when you play the Game of Thrones, “you win or you die”. The Game of Jeff Daniels, however, is an undeniably different beast and for the most part is a definite “you win or you win”. After viewing dozens of Jeff Daniels movies and spending many, many hours with his on-screen personas, it’s fair to say that the maxim has been sorely tested but guess what? It still holds true. This list has been carefully curated to celebrate the veteran actor’s talent, versatility and wit and no matter which (if any) of these movies you decide to revisit or check out for the first time, Jeff is guaranteed to give you something to love in each and every one.

25. Dumb And Dumber To (2014)

Hmmm.

James Franco has once again discussed his sexuality in a new interview. Speaking with New York Magazine, the actor describes himself as "a little gay" but clarified that if the definition of gay and straight is who he sleeps with, then he would call himself a "tease." Franco, 38, who has explored gay-themed roles in films including Howl, Milk and I Am Michael, insists there's "overfocusing" when it comes to the media's curiosity with his sexuality. "There is a bit of overfocusing on my sexuality, both by the straight press and the gay press, and so the first question is why do they care?...

Making a movie about a famous writer is a difficult undertaking for many reasons. But James Ponsoldt somehow managed to avoid most of the pitfalls as such with “The End of the Tour,” last year's winsome, loving ode to David Foster Wallace. Similarly, Bennett Miller erected a commendable testament to Truman Capote back in 2005 with his Philip Seymour Hoffman-starring biopic. There's something to said for films like 2010's noble but erratic “Howl,” which starred James Franco as beat poet Allen Ginsberg, as well as the two big-screen Hunter Thompson adaptations, 1980's "Where the Buffalo Roam" and 1998's "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas," both of which indulge in the author’s penchant for overkill. Read More: James Ponsoldt's 'The End Of The Tour' Starring Jason Segel & Jesse Eisenberg So a movie about Ernest Hemingway is going to spark at least a flash of intrigue in any bibliophile.

A troubling hush seems to follow Anton Corbijn’s fourth and least enthusiastically received Life, a snapshot on the short but intensely felt celebrity of actor James Dean revolving around a famed photo shoot for the titular magazine administered by Dennis Stock. Considering the film stars Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson in the lead roles, the lukewarm reception of the film seems surprising, beginning with a muted response at the premiere at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, where it played as a Special Gala Screening. Based on the film’s marketing and demure DVD release, one would be surprised to note Us distributor Cinedigm collected a titch over one million in box office following a limited theatrical and VOD release in December of 2015.

Following his 2014 John Le Carre adaptation A Man Most Wanted, director Anton Corbijn delves into the life of another desired individual, cherished cinematic icon James Dean with Life.

Flawless in every way: sumptuous visually and emotionally. One of the more mature and sophisticated romances the big screen has ever seen. I’m “biast” (pro): adore Cate Blanchett and Todd Haynes

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I first saw Carol at the London Film Festival last October. So, three months ago. And I’ve been terrified to write about it ever since. This happens sometimes with a movie I fall in love with, because I fear that nothing I could say would do it justice, that I would somehow diminish it with words that fail to capture how transcendent it is. I’ve seen the film twice more since — including again just this morning — in the hope that something would inspire me to feel as if I could pin it down in a fair way.

Or Something Like It: Corbijn Resurrects Dean Without a Cause

Following his 2014 John Le Carre adaptation A Man Most Wanted, director Anton Corbijn delves into the life of another desired individual, cherished cinematic icon James Dean with Life. Focusing on the behind-the-scenes relationship between Dean and photographer Dennis Stock during the creation of a belabored, but eventually fruitful 1955 photo shoot for the titular magazine, Luke Davies’ screenplay falls short of showcasing any kind of notable bond potentially worth documenting.

Two artists come together for what would eventually become a particularly notable moment for them both and Corbijn does a fine job of catching the significance of changing times. Dean exhibits the sort of Beat sensibility that had revived a new generation’s interest in literature the decade prior, and Corbijn catches him just at the cusp of the stardom that would possess the public’s attention. But neither persona manages...

You’ve never seen such a compelling, entertaining movie about a genius jerk. As smart and as sleek as a Macbook Pro, and a compulsory bit of modern history. I’m “biast” (pro): love the cast and Danny Boyle; huge Mac devotee

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Steve Jobs: Genius. Visionary. Asshole. Steve Jobs is not a traditional biography of the Apple founder and, after it went off the rails in the late 1980s and early 90s, its returning hero and savior. We don’t peek in on his childhood, or on the battle with pancreatic cancer that he eventually lost. This is much narrower, the tale of how one man revolutionized the computer industry and as a result, you know, changed the world. Jobs wasn’t an engineer or a...

The San Francisco Film Society has revealed the eight finalists for the seventh annual Sffs/Hearst Screenwriting Grant. The $15,000 grant will be awarded to a screenwriter, or screenwriting team, that has been practicing for at least five years and who has previously written at least one feature screenplay. The grant is intended for Us-based writers, with priority given to those whose past works were successfully made into finished films. The winner will be announced mid-October. This year's finalists listed below. One of the past grant winners, Ian Olds, is just now going into production on "The Fixer" starring James Franco. This year, finalists include "Howl" and "The Celluloid Closet" writer/director Rob Epstein, and Maris Curran, whose David Oyelowo-starrer "Five Nights in Maine" premieres in Toronto. Read More: Tiff First Look: David Oyelowo and Dianne Wiest Lead 'Five Nights in Maine' Andrew Burrows-Trotman (writer/director) – If...

Lenny Bruce: Dustin Hoffman in the 1974 Bob Fosse movie. Lenny Bruce movie review: Polemical stand-up comedian merited less timid biopic (Oscar Movie Series) Bob Fosse's 1974 biopic Lenny has two chief assets: the ever relevant free speech issues it raises and the riveting presence of Valerie Perrine. The film itself, however, is only sporadically thought-provoking or emotionally gripping; in fact, Lenny is a major artistic letdown, considering all the talent involved and the fertile material at hand. After all, much more should have come out of a joint effort between director Fosse, fresh off his Academy Award win for Cabaret; playwright-screenwriter Julian Barry, whose stage version of Lenny earned Cliff Gorman a Tony Award; two-time Best Actor Oscar nominee Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy); and cinematographer Bruce Surtees (Play Misty for Me, Blume in Love). Their larger-than-life subject? Lenny Bruce, the stand-up comedian who became one of the...

The biggest deals of this year’s Cannes Marché du Film and how the Competition titles sold throughout the festival.

Behind the glamour of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, business was booming at the Marché du Film (May 13-22), with representatives from 120 countries in attendance - up four on 2014.

A total 3,300 films were on offer this year, around 1,000 at the project stage, with an estimated 11,000 film professionals in attendance, in line with last year.

In the opening days, Marché chief Jérôme Paillard told Screen: “Acquisition agents are telling me that it’s the first time in a number of years that there are so many big projects. I’ve been told there are around 50 high profile projects on offer.”

North AmericaHOT Projects

Universal Pictures and Focus Features took worldwide rights to Tom Ford’s upcoming thriller Nocturnal Animals, starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal, in a deal reportedly worth $20m. [Story]

Open Road paid...

Los Angeles - Last night musicians and comedians gathered at the Ace Hotel to honor the 60th anniversary of Allen Ginsberg's groundbreaking poem "Howl," in the form of a benefit concert thrown by the David Lynch Foundation. The non-profit centers on spreading the word about the benefits of Transcendental Meditation. Sounds like a laugh riot, right? Actually, everyone fared pretty well... "David Lynch... the man who made me afraid of hallways." Musician Kevin Drew, as an introduction "Live abortions! Raise your hand if you've had an abortion... or you can just slap me five when you leave." Amy Poehler "I love rap music but I despise poetry." Chris Parnell, prior to rapping "The Ballad of the Skeletons" with Amy Poehler "This should go for two or three hours. Let's round it up to six... Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness. You have to if you wanna see Nic Cage.

For many actors, Downton Abbey was their first big break in television.

But not everyone can be a Lord Grantham or a Carson. For many - whether they chose to leave or were written out - their fortunes changed after exiting the ITV drama.

So after the news that Dan Stevens has joined Beauty and the Beast, Digital Spy looks at the careers (so far!) of 9 actors who have bowed out of Highclere Castle...

1. Ed Speleers

After starring in series three, four and five of Downton, Ed Speleers left Jimmy Kent behind for another role in a big budget British TV drama.

We most recently saw him in the part of Edward Seymour in Wolf Hall, and he will also star in upcoming films Remainder and Howl. Most prominently, he's been cast alongside Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter in Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass.

2. Amy Nuttall...

Park City - I would guess there is no working actor right now more suited to playing the lead in "I Am Michael" than James Franco. Walking into the film this morning, I didn't know what it was about. That's how I like to try to see as many movies as possible at Sundance, because it leaves the opportunity for surprises. As soon as it started, though, I recognized the material, and I became intrigued to see how they were going to approach telling the story of MIchael Glatze, who is best known for being a former high-profile advocate for gay rights who "went straight" in a very public way after a health scare, eventually becoming a Christian pastor and proclaiming himself heterosexual. That's a tough story to tell without demonizing either side of things, and I wasn't sure I really wanted to see a movie that played Glatze as a hero.

If the Sundance Film Festival has an unofficial spirit animal, it's James Franco. In recent years, the crinkly-grinned polymath-movie star/filmmaker/artist/perennial grad student has become a fixture at North America's ranking showcase for independent film. He's come as an actor in such films as Howl and Lovelace and as director of Interior. Leather Bar and the short film Herbert White, but also as a producer of Kink, a 2013 documentary about Bdsm porn. Franco even enacted a meta-art piece called Three's Company: A Drama—transgressively riffing on the '70s sitcom—at the festival's New Frontier program in 2011. With...

Birdman, Fury and Leviathan among main competition titles; Roland Joffé to preside over main jury.

Alejandro G Ińárritu, Yimou Zhang, Mike Leigh and Jean-Marc Vallée are among the directors with films screening in competition at the 22nd Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.

The main competition at the festival, held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, comprises:

Alejandro G Ińárritu’s Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki

Yimou Zhang’s Coming Home (Gui lai); China, 2014; Cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding

Richard Raymond’s Desert Dancer; UK, 2014; Cinematographer: Carlos Catalán Alucha

Lech J. Majewski’s Field of Dogs - Onirica (Onirica - Psie pole); Poland, 2014; Cinematographers: Paweł Tybora and Lech J. Majewski

Krzysztof Zanussi’s Foreign Body (Obce cialo); Poland, Italy, Russia, 2014; Cinematographer: Piotr Niemyjski

David Ayer’s Fury; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Roman Vasyanov

Tate Taylor’s Get on Up; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt

Łukasz Palkowski’s Gods (Bogowie); Poland, 2014; Cinematographer:...

Polish film festival sets competition juries; Roland Joffe to preside over main competition.

Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, has set an impressive roster of jurors for its various competition categories.

The Killing Fields director Roland Joffe will preside over the main competition jury, which incldues cinematographers Christian Berger and Manuel Alberto Claro.

Caleb Deschanel has been appointed president of the Polish Films Competition.

The full list of jurors is below.

Main Competition

Roland Joffé – Jury President (director, producer; The Killing Fields, The Mission, Vatel)

Christian Berger (cinematographer; The Piano Teacher, Hidden, The White Ribbon)

Ryszard Bugajski (director, screenwriter; Interrogation, General Nil, The Closed Circuit)

Ryszard Horowitz (photographer)

David Gropman (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, Life of Pi)

Arthur Reinhart (cinematographer, producer; Crows, Tristan + Isolde, Venice)

Oliver Stapleton (cinematographer; The Cider House Rules, Pay It Forward, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark)

Manuel Alberto Claro (cinematographer; Reconstruction, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Where feature filmmakers head into a project with a script and a plan, the path for documentarians is unpredictable. They follow real subjects and real issues often in real time — and sometimes for years at a time — and piece everything together as the footage comes along. Sometimes, things fall apart or the subject has to change, such as it with Alex Gibney’s The Armstrong Lie (2013). Though different skill sets go into the distinct film forms, some documentary filmmakers choose to transition to narrative features and vice versa, such as Spike Lee, whose next release will be a documentary titled Go Brasil Go!.

Rob Epstein and Jeff Friedman have made the jump from documentaries to feature films and have said that they intend on continuing to make both types of film. Epstein and Friedman won an Oscar for their first co-directed documentary, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt...

Howdy ladies and gentleman For this week’s spotlight piece, I wanted to go ahead and take a look at a rather unique A-lister. Someone who vacillates between humongous Hollywood blockbusters and odd little independent films, always doing his own thing. The A-lister in question? None other than James Franco. He’s many things to many people, but he’s unquestionably a star. He’s given a few incredibly good performances, but he’s never a boring actor to watch. He’s easily one of Tinseltown’s most interesting actors to follow. Almost constantly engaging in some form of art, Franco is at his core, just that…an artist. He may be a bit of a weirdo to some, but he’s an A-lister regardless and deserves this tribute. Franco wasn’t always considered a “weird” star. He got his start basically as a heartthrob. He first came on to...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 271 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.

Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2014.

“This year’s class of invitees represents some of the most talented, creative and passionate filmmakers working in our industry today,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “Their contributions to film have entertained audiences around the world, and we are proud to welcome them to the Academy.”

The 2014 invitees are:

Actors

Barkhad Abdi – “Captain Phillips”

Clancy Brown – “The Hurricane,” “The Shawshank Redeption”

Paul Dano – “12 Years a Slave,” “Prisoners”

Michael Fassbender – “12 Years a Slave,” “Shame”

Ben Foster – “Lone Survivor,” “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”

Beth Grant – “The Artist,” “No Country for Old Men”

Clark Gregg – “Much Ado about Nothing,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”

Sally Hawkins – “Blue Jasmine,...

Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o of 12 Years a Slave were two of the 271 artists and industry leaders invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which determines nominations and winners at the annual Oscars. The entire list of Academy membership—which numbers about 6,000—isn’t public information so the annual invitation list is often the best indication of the artists involved in the prestigious awards process. It’s worth noting that invitations need to be accepted in order for artists to become members; some artists, like two-time Best Actor winner Sean Penn, have declined membership over the years.

Pop quiz: What do Chris Rock, Claire Denis, Eddie Vedder and Josh Hutcherson all have in common? Answer: They could all be Oscar voters very soon. The annual Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences invitation list always makes for interesting reading, shedding light on just how large and far-reaching the group's membership is -- or could be, depending on who accepts their invitations. This year, 271 individuals have been asked to join AMPAS, meaning every one of them could contribute to next year's Academy Awards balloting -- and it's as diverse a list as they've ever assembled. Think the Academy consists entirely of fusty retired white dudes? Not if recent Best Original Song nominee Pharrell Williams takes them up on their offer. Think it's all just a Hollywood insiders' game? Not if French arthouse titans Chantal Akerman and Olivier Assayas join the party. It's a list that subverts expectation at every turn.

Not all docu films that make the cut into the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Edit and Story Labs are fortunate enough to then land a coveted spot at the festival (recent examples include Roger Ross Williams’ God Loves Uganda and Tracy Draz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo’s Rich Hill) but some fresh air and supportive pounding from the Institute’s Advisors surely contributes to the realization of passion projects that are buckets filled in blood, sweat and tears. Among the press release mentions below, we’ll surely be discussing them in Park City setting in a January to too far off from now. Here are the selection of 20 Fellows representing eight documentary film projects to participate in the 2014 Documentary Edit and Story Labs, June 20-28 and July 4-12 at Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah.

Artists and projects selected for the June 20-28 Documentary Edit and Story Lab:

A Flickering...

Sundance Institute has unveiled the 20 fellows, and their eight documentary film projects, who will participate in this Summer's 2014 Documentary Edit and Story Labs. The labs run June 20-28, and July 4-12, at Sundance Resort in Utah. Based on Sundance's immersive Lab model launched by Robert Redford in 1981, each session of Documentary Edit and Story unites directors and editors with world-class doc filmmakers. Creative advisors in June include editors Jonathan Oppenheim ("The Oath") and Mary Lampson ("Harlan County USA"), and directors Jesse Moss (this year's breakout "The Overnighters") and Jon Else ("Sing Faster!"). In July, editors Kate Amen ("The Case Against 8") and Joe Bini ("We Need to Talk About Kevin"), and directors Ross McElwee ("Photographic Memory") and Rob Epstein ("Howl") are among those onboard as creative advisors. Artists and projects selected for the June 20-28 Documentary Edit and Story Lab: "A Flickering Truth" Director: Pietra Brettkelly  Editor: Jacob...

With The Company, Coco Before Chanel, Howl, Ginger & Rosa, Devil’s Knot and American Hustle under his belt, and a role in J.C. Chandor’s upcoming A Most Violent Year, Alessandro Nivola is quickly becoming the go-to actor for directors working on period pieces. Now, he’s added another one to his busy schedule in the form of civil rights biopic Selma.

Nivola will play civil rights activist John Doar in the movie, which Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere, ABC’s Scandal) is directing for Paramount and Pathe. Though the film is being marketed as a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic, it actually focuses on “the three attempts of black marchers to walk from Selma to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, in 1965 in order to gain voting rights. The first two times they were beaten back by police, and by the third time it had become a national crusade.”

Doar...

James Franco is to portray a former gay activist in a new film.

Gus van Sant will produce the Justin Kelly-directed film about Michael Glatze, reports Page Six.

Watch James Franco admit flirty messages with 17-year-old

Glatze, a co-founder of Young Gay America magazine, left San Francisco after a health scare, converted to Christianity and renounced his homosexuality.

The film will be based on Benoit Denizet-Lewis's New York Times article 'My Ex-Gay Friend'.

Franco will shoot the film from July while continuing to star in the Broadway production of Of Mice and Men.

The actor has previously portrayed gay men in biographical films Milk and Howl.

Given the eclectic nature of James Franco's projects, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to host a festival in Franco's honor, and it looks like the man himself plans to attend. New York's IFC Center will host FrancoFest, a retrospective celebrating the work of James Franco, from March 5-13, with Franco appearing at several screenings. The festival will showcase several of Franco's most notable performances ("127 Hours," "Howl," "Spring Breakers"), as well as a number of his efforts as a director ("As I Lay Dying," "The Broken Tower," "Sal").  Perhaps the most notable inclusion is Franco's Berlin and Sundance hit "Interior. Leather Bar.," which re-imagines the destroyed explicit scenes cut from William Friedkin's controversial thriller "Cruising." Friedkin's film will appear in concurrence with Franco's.  Also scheduled to appear is Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho," which influenced the included films "My Own Private River" and "Idaho,...

As jaunty as Jean Dujardin’s beret, but in a sincere, old-fashioned kind of way. It could almost have been rediscovered from the 1940s… I’m “biast” (pro): love Clooney as an actor and a filmmaker; love the cast

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I try to avoid hearing too much of other critics’ reactions to a film before I’ve seen it, but there was no avoiding the barrage of disappointment that came hurling over Twitter last week, as so many of my North American colleagues responded to The Monuments Men with a resounding “meh.” This was a disappointment to me, because I’d been so looking forward to this movie.

Well, now that I’ve seen it, I don’t know what the hell they’re all talking about, because this movie is fantastic.

As we quickly approach the American release of Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film, The Wind Rises, it’s time once more for Mousterpiece Cinema to wade into the past of Studio Ghibli. This week, Gabe and Josh focus their sights on Howl’s Moving Castle, with two special guests: Simon Howell of The Televerse and Andrew Daar of This Was TV. Both guests are huge Miyazaki buffs, and Josh is well-known for not being an ecstatic fan of every Miyazaki film. But. If you think you know where this conversation is going, trust us, you don’t. Unless you presume this conversation is heading down tangential avenues, talking about Jeff Daniels, Werner Herzog, and Poochie the rappin’ dog. In that case, you’re right. But still! Listen to the show, because you won’t know for sure until you hear it, not just read it in a description.

iTunes

The post Mousterpiece Cinema,...

The 86th Academy Awards are just 30 days away! Still deciding on your favorites? Go Here for a list of the nominees.

The Academy has announced it will present a slate of public events leading up to the 86th Oscars where they’ll be celebrating this year’s nominees. If you’re in the Hollywood area (Feb 25 – March 1) and an Oscar fan, you wont want to miss these fantastic events!

Events at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills will focus on the films nominated for Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and the Short Film categories.

Something new this year is the live concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles highlighting the nominated musical scores and songs.

The Oscar Week schedule is as follows:

Animated and Live Action Shorts

Tuesday, February 25, 7:30 p.m.

Hosted by actor Kevin Pollak.

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream on Netflix, blinkbox, and BBC iPlayer.

streaming now, while it’s in cinemas

The Square: history firsthand, in progress, and unfinished; an invaluable record of revolutionary spirit, and of the lengths to which a threatened leadership will go to preserve itself [my review] [at Netflix]

new to stream

Donnie Darko: teenaged Jake Gyllenhaal versus satanic bunny Frank [my review] [at Netflix] Robot & Frank: thoroughly charming and cleverly original sci-fi comedy with a wonderful performance by Frank Langella [at Netflix] Step Brothers: wonderfully absurdist farce finally holds up endless male adolescence as a thing to be ridiculed, not celebrated [my review] [at Netflix]

streaming now, before it’s on dvd

Prisoners: a superb film that shifts from unvarnished depictions of terrible, tragic, mundane reality to almost unbearable suspense; an intense, uncomfortable, unforgettable cinematic experience [my review] [at blinkbox] Rush: a thoroughly magnificent film on every level, with astonishing performances...

Rabbit Bandini Productions

With movies like On The Road and Howl picking up A-listers to star in their high-brow book adaptations and poetry biopics, it’s starting to look more like film versions of literary fiction are no longer reserved solely for the basements of spectacle-wearing book buffs and college professor-types in leather-patched jackets.

Nowadays, even us low-brows can get a piece of the action – and it’s about time. This isn’t because the new literature-based films are any better than before, no; it’s because now they are finally getting the exposure they deserve, helped mostly by art-loving superstars like James Franco, who (love him or hate him) make it their business to do as many Howls as they do Spider-Mans. Yes: having to drag yourself through endless second-hand DVD shops to find a movie based on a William Faulkner novel could soon be a thing of the past.

Daniel Radcliffe shines as Allen Ginsberg in a film that takes a deeper look at the birth of the beat generation

Kill Your Darlings is the third film recently about the beat generation, after Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Howl (2010) and Walter Salles's On the Road (2012). This movie by John Krokidas is superior to both, with Daniel Radcliffe giving an intelligent and considered performance as the young Allen Ginsberg.

There is admittedly some of the same self-consciousness and 50s beat preciousness with polo-necked guys nodding life-affirmingly to live jazz. But it's also revealing about the role played by violence, shame and denial at the birth of beat and of Ginsberg's career. These ignited the poetry, and the film suggests that the poetic impulse is at least initially a flight impulse; an impulse away from a horrible real-world mess to a vantage point from where the mess can be artistically controlled,...

★★★☆☆ Beat literature and its purveyors have had a long and varied relationship with the silver screen which has seen no less than three films about them in the last few years. James Franco accepted the challenge of the lead in Allen Ginsberg pseudo-biopic Howl (2010), whilst Walter Salles took on the unenviable task of bringing Jack Kerouac's "unfilmable" On the Road (2012). Now, first-time director John Krokidas tackles the formative years of the movement in his fairly standard period piece, Kill Your Darlings (2013), which boasts an impressive cast including Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Ben Foster and Michael C. Hall.

James Franco is one of the most intriguing gentlemen working in film today. With a career that has led to hugely successful feature films like Spiderman and Oz The Great And Powerful to off the beaten path projects like As I Lay Dying, Interior: Leather Bar or Howl, his choices runs the gamut. The actor, artist, director and writer seems to want to do everything that somebody in his position could possibly do… and why can’t that mean playing the bad guy in a Jason Statham...

Perhaps the most misleading aspect of the new crop of Beat movies that have surfaced during the past few years is that they obscure the fact that there was once an older crop of Beat movies. If your only exposure is Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s Howl, Walter Salles’ On the Road, John Krokidas’ Kill Your Darlings, and Michael Polish’s Big Sur, you might assume that the Beats participated in an artistic movement reserved exclusively for the written word. Yet Allen Ginsberg was front-and-center of experimental film projects like 1959’s Pull My Daisy (narrated by Kerouac) and 1966’s Chappaqua, while William S. Burroughs spent most of his career after the 1970s in independent films (alongside producing spoken word albums). Even Jack Kerouac, the most novelistic of the best-known Beats, showed his media literacy by recording improvisatory experiments in audio technology before he published “On the Road.” The literary Beats not only inspired later independent filmmakers...

Hollywood actors James Franco and Chris O'Dowd will appear in a production of Of Mice And Men in March 2014

Hollywood actor James Franco will make his Broadway debut in a production of Of Mice And Men beginning March 2014, a play that hasn't been performed on Broadway in nearly 40 years.

Playing the part of George, he'll be joined by Chris O'Dowd in the role of Lenny. O'Dowd initially found fame on British television in The It Crowd before successfully making the transition to Hollywood, appearing in Bridesmaids, This Is 40 and the hit HBO TV series Girls.

Franco originally announced the project in March this year, and gave details of casting and direction a month ago, but the project has been officially announced by lead producer David Binder. The play's director will be Anna Shapiro, who won a Tony for her production of August: Osage County, since turned into a film starring Meryl Streep.

Ryan Gosling, James Franco and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are the hottest men in Hollywood. So why aren't they sticking to the path of previous pin-ups? Nicholas Barber on a new wave of actor-directors

Read enough interviews with Hollywood film stars and two themes keep cropping up. Theme one is that the star in question is working on a screenplay. Theme two is that they hope to become a director. Perhaps we can all take some comfort from the knowledge that, however much power and influence these stars may have, the vast majority never finish that screenplay or direct that film.

A few stars do get around to directing when they've passed their acting peak (Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Dustin Hoffman). A few manage the transition once they've established themselves as A-listers (George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes). And some (Ben Affleck) turn to directing in desperation, following several years of lurching...

Don’t kill your darlings, the movie seems to say, but rather save them, love them, embrace them.

Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg tirelessly promoted himself, his work and the work of his friends – Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and Neal Cassady – and, while he often performed in Los Angeles, he never tried to promote himself in Hollywood perhaps because he felt more at home in the world of books than the world of film. Surely, he’d be surprised – he died in 1996 at the age of seventy – by the recent batch of movies about him and the “boy gang,” as he called it, to which he belonged in New York in the 1940s.

James Franco portrayed him as a cartoonish countercultural figure in Howl (2010), Tom Sturridge depicted him as a mad poet in On the Road (2012), and now Daniel Radcliffe turns him into a conflicted moralist in Kill Your Darlings (2013), which...

Moviefone's DVD of the Week:

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

What's It About? The first installment of Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of the beloved J.R.R. Tolken novel, "The Hobbit," follows an epic quest to retain a treasure. Martin Freeman stars as the titular Bilbo Baggins hobbit (the younger version of Ian Holm's Bilbo), who travels with a pack of dwarves to reclaim their stolen treasure from the vicious dragon Smaug.

Why We're In: While Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey" is in no way as grand or as incredible as his "Lord of the Rings" films, it is still a fun and worthy visualization of the book.

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week:

"James Dean: The Ultimate Collector's Edition"

What's It About? This collection features the three films that spanned the iconic actor's short career. In Elia Kazan's 1955 "East of Eden," Dean plays Cal,...

Behind the scenes on the Sal set with James Franco and Val Lauren

No one has a career quite like James Franco. There are his big screen star turns in films like Milk, Howl or 127 Hours, but he’s just as likely to pop up on television in everything from The Mindy Project to General Hospital. Then there’s his own writing and directing projects such as Interior. Leather Bar. Franco always manages to compel us and keep us interested in what he’s up to, including his latest project.

He may have directed the film Sal a few years ago but it’s only been his busy schedule that has kept it from reaching theaters (and VOD) until now. The film, written by Stacey Miller, chronicles the final day in the life of Sal Mineo, the twice-Academy Award-nominated actor (for Rebel Without A Cause and Exodus) who came out in the 1960s and,...

Commercials will never stop finding new ways to entice us into the never-ending abyss of complicit consumerism, and the seductive but anodyne faux-Swede spokesperson for Gevalia coffee Johan is just one in a long line of male pitchmen hunky enough to appeal to American women (and gays) but– we’re guessing here– simultaneously hokey enough not be threatening to American men.

Oh Johan, “Toot toot.” No need to toot your own horn, we’ll do it for you. And side note, the actor who plays Johan, Jon Prescott, also played James Franco‘s lover Neal Cassady in Howl.

Bad blonde wig aside, Prescott’s Johan is almost as seductive as another recent pitchman with nearly universal appeal, The Old Spice Guy…

Of course, the trope of cartoonishly sexy but goofily charming and wholesome mascot is not particularly new. It dates back to at least to that most sanitary of topmen,...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 5, 2013

Price: DVD $24.98, Blu-ray $39.99

Studio: Anchor Bay

Amanda Seyfried is adult film icon Linda Lovelace in Lovelace.

Amanda Seyfried (In Time) and Peter Sarsgaard (Green Lantern) star in a 2013 film drama about the iconic Seventies adult film star Linda Lovelace in the drama Lovelace.

In 1972—before the internet, before the adult film explosion—Deep Throat was a phenomenon: the first scripted adult theatrical feature film, featuring a story, some jokes, and an unknown and unlikely star, Linda Lovelace (Seyfried). Escaping a strict religious family, Linda discovered freedom and the high-life when she fell for and married charismatic hustler Chuck Traynor (Sarsgaard). As Linda Lovelace, she became an international sensation—less centerfold fantasy than a charming girl-next-door with an impressive capacity for fellatio. After struggling to break free from Traynor whose endless abuse nearly killed her, Linda made it her life’s mission to fight violence against women.

Director: John Krokidas; Screenwriter Austin Bunn, John Krokidas; Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C Hall, Jack Huston, Ben Foster, Elizabeth Olsen; Running time: 104 mins; Certificate: Tbc

Despite the unruly black hair, the round glasses and the wide-eyed sense of wonder upon entering a brave new world, the most impressive thing about Daniel Radcliffe's turn as Allen Ginsberg in intoxicating melodrama Kill Your Darlings is that you don't for a moment see Harry Potter. Contrary to the expectations of many, it's taken him less than two years to shake off the pall of franchise typecasting.

Set several years prior to 2010's James Franco-starring Howl, this remarkably assured debut from director John Krokidas tracks the young Ginsberg's early days at Columbia, his infatuation with fellow student Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan), and the murder that would test his bond with fellow Beat writers William Burroughs (Ben Foster) and Jack Kerouac...

Manis Film announced that production started on Big Sky, the English-language debut of Mexican helmer Jorge Michel Grau (the original We Are What We Are). The film will star Bella Thorne (upcoming The Familymoon with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day with Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner), Kyra Sedgwick (Emmy and Golden Globe winner for The Closer; The Possession; upcoming films Kill Your Darlings and Reach Me), Frank Grillo (The Grey; End of Watch; Zero Dark Thirty; upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and Aaron Tveit (Les Miserables; Howl; USA's Graceland). Principal photography commenced this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Here's what producer Randy Manis had to say about the production.

"Big Sky is a suspenseful and thrilling story that will have audiences on the edge of their seats as our troubled characters tumble further into peril. We are very...

Manis Film announced today that production has started on Big Sky , the English-language debut of Mexican helmer Jorge Michel Grau ( We Are What We Are ). The film will star Bella Thorne ("Shake It Up," The Familymoon , Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ), Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer," "The Possession"), Frank Grillo ( The Grey Captain America: The Winter Soldier ), and Aaron Tveit ( Les Miserables , Howl ). Principal photography commenced this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico. .'Big Sky' is a suspenseful and thrilling story that will have audiences on the edge of their seats as our troubled characters tumble further into peril,. says Randy Manis of Manis Film. .We are very excited to share the talent of our skilled...

Daniel Radcliffe: Gay sex scene in ‘Kill Your Darlings’ will ‘startle’ fans (photo: Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan in ‘Kill Your Darlings’) Daniel Radcliffe, 24, has survived Harry Potter. Last year, he starred in the horror thriller The Woman in Black, a major sleeper hit in the United Kingdom and a moderate one in several other countries, including the United States and Mexico. Radcliffe’s next release is the John Krokidas-directed drama Kill Your Darlings, in which the (former) bespectacled Harry Potter plays bespectacled gay poet Allen Ginsberg — whose sexually daring poem "Howl" resulted in charges of obscenity in 1957. And of course, when it came to gay sex, Ginsberg did more than just write poems. And that’s where Daniel Radcliffe will do some unHarry Potterish on-screen business. ‘Kill Your Darlings’ gay sex scene “I felt like I was breaking new ground," Daniel Radcliffe is quoted as saying in Total Film.