News

By Hank Reineke

A March 1945 notice in the Los Angeles Times reported that following his return to Hollywood from a Uso camp tour, Boris Karloff was to begin work on a Rko Radio production titled Chamber of Horrors. The film was to be produced by Val Lewton, the producer who had already brought to the screen such psychological-horrors as Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and Curse of the Cat People (1944). Karloff had already appeared in a pair of Lewton’s horror-melodramas for Rko, The Body Snatcher (1945) and Isle of the Dead (1945). The actor had been enjoying his freelance status of late. Recent castings in a series of mad scientist films (1940-1942) for Columbia solidified Karloff’s reputation as cinema’s preeminent boogeyman - even in roles sans grotesque makeup appliances. So the engagement of the actor for Chamber of Horrors was properly trumpeted in a 1945 Variety notice as...

Adieu au langage - Goodbye to Language

A Works Cited

Introduction

From its bluntly political opening (Alfredo Bandelli's 'La caccia alle streghe': "Always united we win, long live the revolution!") to its hilarious fecal humor and word play—with 3D staging that happily puts to shame James Cameron and every other hack who's tried their hand at it these past several years—Adieu au langage overwhelms us with a deluge of recited texts, music and images, hardly ever bothering to slow down to let us catch our breath. Exhilarating and certainly not surprising—this is the guy who made Puissance de la parole after all!

The release of a new Godard film or video means a new encounter with texts, films and music often familiar from the filmmaker's earlier work—reworked and re-contextualized—as well as new discoveries to be sorted through and identified. This life-long interest in quotation...

Here’s an Archive of every TV Recap we’ve ever done here at Bwe.tv, organized by show and season, for Breaking Bad, Lost, The Walking Dead, Game Of Thrones, Mad Men, The Office, Teach: Tony Danza (essential), American Idol, The Real Housewives, Boardwalk Empire, and Top Chef. Feel free to read them at your recap-needing leisure, or all right now in a row (mini photo-spoilers): Breaking Bad Breaking Bad Season 4: Episode 1 – “Box Cutter” Episode 2 – “Thirty-Eight Snub” Episode 3 – “Open House” Episode 4 – “Bullet Points” Episode 5 – “Shotgun” Episode 6 – “Cornered” Episode 7 – “Problem Dog” Episode 8 – “Hermanos” Episode 9 – “Bug” Episode 10 – “Salud” Episode 11 – “Craw Space” Episode 12 – “End Times” Episode 13 – “Face Off” Lost Lost Season 4: Episode 1 – “The Beginning of the End” Episode 2 – “Confirmed Dead” Episode 3 – “The Economist” Episode 4 – “Eggtown” Episode 5 – “The Constant” Episode 6 – “The Other Woman” Episode 7 – “Ji Yeon” Episode 8 – “Meet Kevin Johnson” Episode 9 – “The Shape of Things to Come” Episode 10 – “Something Nice...

French actor who played several classic roles on stage and dubbed the voice of Marlon Brando in The Godfather

In order to fully appreciate the wide-ranging acting talents of Michel Duchaussoy, who has died from a heart attack aged 73, one would have to be both French-speaking and resident in France. To those less fortunate, the knowledge of Duchaussoy is restricted to his striking appearances in several Claude Chabrol movies, and others by Alain Jessua, Louis Malle and Patrice Leconte, which were among the relatively few of his many films to be released in Britain and the Us.

In France, Duchaussoy was equally known as a television actor, whose voice was also recognisable from his dubbing of cartoon characters and stars such as Marlon Brando, in The Godfather. Prolific as he was in films and television, Duchaussoy was celebrated mainly for his 20-year tenure with the Comédie-Française theatre in Paris. There,...

Andrew takes a look back at Terry Gilliam’s fourth film, The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, an 80s box office disappointment that deserves reappraisal…

This was originally going to be a look back at The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam's fourth film and the third in his Trilogy of the Imagination. Instead, it will partly be a rant interspersed with bouts of despair and misanthropy. For you see, Baron Munchausen was almost strangled at birth, and made $8 million at the Us box office due to receiving only a very limited release.

It was reported to have cost around $40 million to make in an eventually rushed production, but this figure has been denied by those who worked on the movie, estimating it at $35 million instead. Columbia were in the process of being sold as the movie was made, and the new owners were not interested in putting money into the film or promoting it.

Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, and Homeland will battle it out at the Writers Guild Awards next year - they have landed three nominations apiece.

Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire and drama Breaking Bad will go head-to-head for Outstanding Drama, along with psychological thriller Homeland, Game of Thrones and The Good Wife.

Boardwalk Empire will also seek honours for best episode for The Age of Reason and A Dangerous Maid, as will Breaking Bad for Box Cutter and End Times. Rounding out the category are Homeland's The Good Soldier and Dexter's Just Let Go.

Homeland received another nod for Outstanding New Series, alongside Zooey Deschanel's New Girl, Matt LeBlanc's Episodes, Game of Thrones and The Killing.

Modern Family and The Office are also triple nominees, and they will compete for Outstanding Comedy alongside 30 Rock, Louie, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Parks and Recreation.

The winners will be unveiled at a star-studded awards ceremony on 19 February.

It was yet another good year for cable TV as the dramas "Boardwalk Empire," "Breaking Bad" and "Homeland" secured three nominations each for the 2012 Writers Guild Awards. On the comedy side, the networks fared well. ABC's "Modern Family" led that charge with three nominations.

The WGA announced these nominations Wednesday (Dec. 7) as well as those up for consideration in television, news, radio, promotional writing and graphic animation nominees. The WGA Awards are slated for Feb. 9, 2012.

"Boardwalk Empire," "Breaking Bad" and "Homeland" were cited in both the best drama category as well as best episode of a drama show.

"30 Rock" and "Modern Family" both received noms for best comedy and best comedy episode.

On the new series side, the nominees were "Episodes," "Homeland," "Game of Thrones," "The Killing," and "New Girl."

Following is a full list of the TV show nominations.

Drama Series

"Boardwalk Empire" - HBO

"Breaking Bad" - AMC...

It’s Boardwalk Empire Season 2, Episode 18 (#6 this season) entitled “The Age Of Reason”, and like you in class when you haven’t read the assignment but can’t resist talking, let’s discuss the title. Margaret’s family priest kicks things off by uttering the titular line, noting that 7-year-old Teddy has “reached the age of reason” and is ready for his First Confession; I get that 7-year-olds might understand basic right and wrong, but that’s really the “age of reason?” This rule was clearly established in biblical times back when the average human lived to be eleven. Father Brennan also tells Margaret that she’ll have to confess in order to set a good example, but it’ll be totally confidential — “Just speak into my giant wire-shaped collar, and God will forgive you” — but Nucky isn’t on board, possibly because he violates 7 of the 10 commandments every time...

Since confession played a big role in the latest episode of Boardwalk Empire, entitled “The Age of Reason”, let me get something off my chest: I liked this episode despite the presence of Paz de la Huerta’s Lucy. As a matter of fact, her plot was tied to Agent Van Alden’s (Michael Shannon), which fit with the theme in “Reason”. Usually that’s not the case when it comes to the character but somehow writer Bathsheba Doran (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) was able to make Lucy relevant to what is going on in the story. And I say to that: “Bravo!” While Lucy is giving birth alone in her apartment, Van Alden visits the FBI agent who had half of his body burnt to a crisp during the explosion at Mickey Doyle’s warehouse. Van Alden puts on an air of religious superiority in front of the...

A review of tonight's "Boardwalk Empire" coming up just as soon as I catch your meaning... "The Age of Reason" is the last of the episodes that HBO sent out before season 2 began, and when I watched it, I half-wished the initial screener package had ended with "Gimcrack and Bunkum." I was on such a high after the Richard/Jimmy scene, the Eli/Nucky fight and the other great moments, and then brought back down a bit by an episode that spends a lot of time with Agent Van Alden, and with Nucky back to his more buttoned-down, less compelling self. Still,...

Yann Samuell's L'âge de raison is just what you'd expect from a summer film. Although it's not worthy of an award, L'âge de raison is fun to watch thanks to its lead actress Sophie Marceau (The World Is Not Enough).

Marceau plays Marguerite Flore, a woman who grew up in poverty. At 40, she's a successful business woman and is going to have a child with Malcolm (Marton Csokas), her fellow colleague. On her birthday, Marguerite receives a letter she wrote when she was seven years old. At that age, she voiced, with her friend Philibert (Jonathan Zaccaï), the desire to help people in Africa.

Unfortunately, at 40, she forgot her childhood dreams to Philibert's dismay. Eventually, she starts to question to herself. Does she still want to work as a business woman? How would she like to help Africans now that her childhood dreams are catching her up?

Honestly, there's...

With three in the Director's Fortnight and one in the Main Comp for good measure, Films Distribution are making a significant contribution to Cannes this year – my money is on Katell Quillevere's Un Poison Violent (see pic above) but Wang Xiaoshuai, Jean-Stéphane Bron's doc on white collar crimes that hinder the working man and an immigrant tale gone wrong portrait from Olivier Masset-Depasse could make this a great year for the distributor. Something to look forward to in the near future: Yann Samuell's next effort. Chongqing Blues (Rizhao Chongqing) by Wang Xiaoshuai - Completed Cleveland Vs Wall Street by Jean-Stéphane Bron - Completed Illegal by Olivier Masset-depasse - Completed L'amour Fou by Pierre Thoretton - Completed With Love... From The Age Of Reason (L'ÂGE De Raison) by Yann Samuell - Completed A Cat In Paris (Une Vie De Chat) by Alain Gagnol - Production Family Tree (L'arbre Et La FORÊT...