Archive | May, 2013

Interview: Mira Nair (The Reluctant Fundamentalist)

By Simon Miraudo May 31, 2013 Mira Nair is one of the world’s most acclaimed directors; her features helping to illuminate life in the Indian subcontinent like no one before her (save perhaps the iconic Satyajit Ray).  Her debut feature, Salaam Bombay, earned the Golden Camera prize at Cannes in 1988 and also scored a Best Foreign Language Film […]

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Teaser Debut: Machete Kills

Robert Rodriguez’s mad collection of pals assemble in the teaser trailer for Machete Kills, the unlikely sequel to 2010’s Machete (which, as you may recall, began life as a fake trailer from Grindhouse). Just some of the names we get to see in action beside Danny Trejo’s title character: Lady Gaga, Sofia Vergara, Antonio Banderas, […]

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‘Muppets’ director might take over from Tim Burton on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ sequel

James Bobin, of The Muppets and Flight of the Conchords fame, is in talks to helm Disney’s sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Variety reports. The picture – tentatively titled Into the Looking Glass – is still being penned by Linda Woolverton, but the studio is no doubt keen to lock away principal talent, and replicate […]

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M. Night Shyamalan ghost-wrote ‘She’s All That’

And now, for his most shocking twist yet… M. Night Shyamalan has revealed to Movies.com that he ghost wrote the teen rom-com She’s All That back in the late 1990s. She’s All That was released in 1999; the same year his breakout flick, The Sixth Sense, captivated audiences and critics alike. Also released in 1999: Stuart Little… which was also penned by Shyamalan (but […]

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All that glitters – The Great Gatsby review

By Simon Miraudo May 30, 2013 That Baz Luhrmann is incorrigible. When struck by inspiration, he’ll stop at nothing to bring his preposterous film concepts to life. Be it a baroque pop tribute to France’s most famous bordello, a three-hour romantic epic set in Australia’s sun-scorched desert, or a 3-D, hip-hop infused adaptation of F. […]

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Television Revision: The Sopranos – Season 5

By Andrew Williams May 29, 2013 Television Revision is a weekly feature in which our tuned in TV critic trawls through the best the box has to offer, giving you a primer on some of history’s finest shows (and warning you away from the specific episodes – or even seasons! – that might have ruined […]

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The unenthusiastic analysis – The Reluctant Fundamentalist review

By Simon Miraudo May 29, 2013 Mira Nair branches out with The Reluctant Fundamentalist, adding the ‘conspiracy thriller’ genre to her varied oeuvre. Trouble is, it barely feels like a ‘Mira Nair’ film; lacking her distinct flavour and vibrancy. A flat, not entirely compelling adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s book of the same name, it’s so […]

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Play It Again – Altered States

By Simon Miraudo May 29, 2013 Play It Again is a weekly feature in which our classic-film connoisseurs revisit a revered motion picture from the annals of movie history, to see if it holds up… or if it has aged terribly. And yes, it takes its name from a famously misquoted Casablanca line (hey, whatever; it […]

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Louis Leterrier admits Clash of the Titans’ 3D was “horrible”

Louis Leterrier has expressed his disappointment over Clash of the Titans post-conversion to 3D in a particularly candid interview with The Huffington Post. As well he should, because that movie was terrible. On the hustings, promoting his newie Now You See Me, Leterrier opened up about his experiences on that Warner Bros flick. “It was […]

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Talk Hard – Mira Nair (The Reluctant Fundamentalist)

“I am the very model of a reluctant fundamentalist…” Is that how that song goes? This week, Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo speaks to Mira Nair, of Monsoon Wedding fame, about her latest feature, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. [audio https://qfxblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/talk-hard-mira-nair.mp3] Show Notes: Apologies for the audio quality this week. A combination of a bad phone line with Mira, […]

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Amanda Seyfried joins Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young

Amanda Seyfried has signed on for Noah Baumbach’s next directorial offering While We’re Young, The Wrap reports. While Baumbach’s latest Indie, Frances Ha, continues to do well on the festival circuit and in limited theatrical release overseas, he’s already focused on his next project, which has Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts and Adam Driver (Girls) attached. […]

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Trailer Debut: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

The first trailer for David Lowery’s crime drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints has appeared online, and it proves you can’t go home again. Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) and Ruth Gunthrie (Rooney Mara) are outlaws in love and on the run following a crime spree. A shootout in which Ruth wounds an officer finally sees them […]

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Dead again – A Haunted House review

By Richard Haridy May 28, 2013 Marlon Wayans has described A Haunted House as a “labour of love,” and after watching it, one can only read this as a truly terrifying statement. A straightforward parody in the vein of the Scary Movie franchise (which the Wayans brothers’ ignited), it directs most of its punches at […]

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Controversial French drama, Blue is the Warmest Colour, collects Palme d’Or at Cannes

Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Colour has collected the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, as selected by a jury led by Steven Spielberg and comprised of such industry luminaries as Ang Lee, Christoph Waltz, Nicole Kidman, Christian Mungiu, and Lynn Ramsay. The sexually explicit French drama set tongues wagging on the Croisette […]

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Trailer Debut: Don Jon

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a porn-obsessed body builder who must choose between his predilection for adult videos and a new girlfriend, played by Scarlett Johansson, in Don Jon. The trailer for Gordon-Levitt’s feature directorial debut plays up the comedic aspects of the premise, which is smart, because taking that conflict even a little seriously would be a […]

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Tom Cruise abandons The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Seems like you could make a movie out of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s troubled production history. Tom Cruise is the latest actor to abandon the project, Deadline reports. Guy Ritchie is set to helm the adaptation of the classic TV series for Warner Bros, which would have starred Cruise and Armie Hammer. Though Hammer is […]

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Gael Garcia Bernal to star in Jon Stewart’s directorial debut

Gael Garcia Bernal will take on the lead role in Jon Stewart’s upcoming feature directorial debut, The Wrap reports. Stewart is taking 12 weeks off from The Daily Show to film Rosewater, based on Maziar Bahari’s 2011 book Then They Came For Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival. It tells the true, harrowing tale of a […]

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Richard Linklater suggests spiritual sequel to Dazed & Confused will shoot this year

Richard Linklater’s long awaited ‘spiritual sequel’ to Dazed & Confused may start shooting later this year. Linklater revealed during his recent AMA on Reddit that this college ensemble film should enter production soon. For several years this unofficial sequel to Dazed & Confused has been on the cards. It is rumoured to follow a group […]

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Trailer Debut: We’re the Millers

The trailer for the upcoming comedy We’re The Millers has just been released and it features Jennifer Aniston as a stripper, should you be interested in that kind of thing! This oddly flat looking comedy from Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball) also stars Ed Helms as a super-villain styled drug lord and Jason Sudelkis as the […]

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Place off – The Place Beyond the Pines review

By Simon Miraudo May 23, 2013 John Mayer one cautioned the fathers of the world to be good to their daughters. But what of their wayward sons? What of them, John?! Writer-director Derek Cianfrance steps in to answer that question with The Place Beyond the Pines, his follow up the world’s worst date flick, Blue […]

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Poster Debut: Blue Jasmine

A not-at-all informative poster for Woody Allen’s upcoming Blue Jasmine has been unveiled. Pretty though! According to distributor Sony Pictures, “it is the story of the final stages of an acute crisis and a life of a fashionable New York housewife.” That housewife is played by Cate Blanchett, seen beneath the eclectic group of names assembled […]

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Zac Efron turns Narc for Fox

Zac Efron will star in the true crime tale Narc, Deadline reports. Described as a “college Donnie Brasco,” it tells of a star student, who, after being busted with drugs at a party, turns narc and helps the coppers capture the peddlers. Fox has purchased the life rights of the real subject. Narc marks another decidedly dark […]

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Michael Shannon’s General Zod gets his own Man of Steel trailer

Michael Shannon’s been working on his ‘fire and brimstone’ speeches for years now, and it seems he’ll have the perfect opportunity to threaten a literal apocalypse as General Zod in the upcoming Man of Steel. This new teaser trailer puts the villainous alien front and centre, wherein he demands puny earthlings turn over Kal-El (Henry Cavill) lest […]

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Into darkness – The Hangover Part III review

May 22, 2013 By Simon Miraudo Todd Phillips’ ongoing experiment to populate his comedies with increasingly unlikable lead characters – to see if his fratboy fans will follow him down the rabbit hole and continue to wrong-headedly emulate them while jacking energy drinks, listening to Pitbull, and high-fiving – continues with The Hangover Part III. […]

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Play It Again – Klute

By Jess Lomas May 22, 2013 Play It Again is a weekly feature in which our classic-film connoisseurs revisit a revered motion picture from the annals of movie history, to see if it holds up… or if it has aged terribly. And yes, it takes its name from a famously misquoted Casablanca line (hey, whatever; […]

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New York Stories – Greetings from Tim Buckley / Lords of Salem / What Maisie Knew

By Glenn Dunks May 21, 2013 There’s a wide world of cinema out there, and Quickflix’s Glenn Dunks is on the ground in New York City bringing you the titles that will soon be seen in Australian cinemas, and eventually available on home entertainment. What does I do once I’ve returned from a film festival on the […]

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Talk Hard – Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher)

Hear our chat with Christopher McQuarrie, the Oscar winning screenwriter of The Usual Suspects and director of Jack Reacher (out now in Australia on DVD and Blu-ray) as well as the upcoming Mission: Impossible 5. Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo gives his brief thoughts on Tom Cruise’s new vehicle later in the ep. [audio https://qfxblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/talk-hard-christopher-mcquarrie.mp3] Show Notes: […]

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See Lars von Trier and the cast of Nymphomaniac in, ahem, action

The first official image from Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac – featuring Charlotte Gainsbourg mid-threesome – set tongues wagging. Now comes a new cast picture showing off her co-stars Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier, Stellan Skarsgard, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Sophie Kennedy Clark, and Mia Goth. Oh, and capturing it all on his […]

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Teaser Debut: Last Vegas

Everyone old is new again! The teaser for Last Vegas – looking like a cross between The Hangover and The Bucket List – touts Oscar winners Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, and Kevin Kline “like you’ve never seen them before.” Douglas plays a long-time bachelor finally bound for matrimony. He brings his three […]

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel announced at Cannes

It’s official. The Weinstein Company has set up a sequel to Ang Lee’s Oscar winning, box office record breaking Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Deadline has TWC’s official press release (which preceded their Cannes press conference), revealing the picture’s title, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon II – The Green Destiny, and director, Yuen Wo Ping. Michelle Yeoh […]

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