Amblin Partners Begins Principal Photography on “A Dog’s Journey”
Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad Return for the Heartwarming Follow-up to “A Dog’s Purpose”
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amblin Partners announced that it has begun principal photography on “A Dog’s Journey,” the much-anticipated follow-up to 2017’s beloved “A Dog’s Purpose.” Both films are based on the inspirational, best-selling books by award-winning author W. Bruce Cameron.
“Our mission is to be a gateway for Hollywood into China and help great universal stories with positive energy maximize their potential with audiences in China and around the world”
Co-financed and co-produced by Walden Media and Alibaba Pictures, “A Dog’s Journey” reunites Dennis Quaid as Ethan with his cherished dog, Bailey, voiced by Josh Gad—who also returns. Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Henry Lau and Kathryn Prescott have joined the film, which is being directed by Gail Mancuso. The screenplay was written by W. Bruce Cameron & Cathryn Michon and Wally Wolodarsky & Maya Forbes. Gavin Polone is producing the film.
“A Dog’s Journey” will be distributed by Universal Pictures in the U.S. and select international territories.
In making the announcement, Amblin President and Co-CEO Jeff Small said, “We are excited to join with our partners at Walden Media and Alibaba Pictures to produce ‘A Dog’s Journey,’ the follow-up to our successful ‘A Dog’s Purpose.’ With Director Gail Mancuso at the helm, we can’t wait to share another beautiful story about the special bond between humans and their treasured dogs.”
Frank Smith, Walden Media’s President and CEO, said, “Walden Media is proud to produce content that warms the heart and bring entire families together. ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ beautifully conveyed the unconditional love dogs bring to our families and lives, and we are excited to be portraying this unbreakable bond once again with ‘A Dog’s Journey,’ produced together with Amblin Partners and Alibaba Pictures.”
“Our mission is to be a gateway for Hollywood into China and help great universal stories with positive energy maximize their potential with audiences in China and around the world,” said Alibaba Pictures President Wei Zhang. “‘A Dog’s Purpose’ was embraced by audiences globally with great storytelling and a heartwarming message. We are excited to build upon the success of that film by working with our partners at Amblin and Walden to bring the next chapter of this film to audiences around the world.”
Published by Forge Books, “A Dog’s Journey” spent weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list and has been released in 36 countries around the world.
About “A Dog’s Journey”
Audiences are invited along on “A Dog’s Journey,” the next chapter of the beloved best-selling series by author W. Bruce Cameron. The family film told from the dog’s perspective serves as the much-anticipated follow-up to the soulful story of one devoted dog who finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he teaches to laugh and love. Dennis Quaid returns as Ethan and Josh Gad once again voices Bailey. They are joined by newcomers to the series including Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Henry Lau and Kathryn Prescott.
Directed by Gail Mancuso (TV’s “Modern Family”), “A Dog’s Journey” is once again produced by Gavin Polone (“A Dog’s Purpose,” “Zombieland”). Mancuso directs from an adapted screenplay by Cameron & Cathryn Michon and Wally Wolodarsky & Maya Forbes, based on the book by Cameron. The film from Amblin Entertainment, Walden Media and Alibaba Pictures will be distributed by Universal Pictures.
About Amblin Partners
Amblin Partners is a content creation company, led by Steven Spielberg, that develops and produces films using the Amblin, DreamWorks and Participant Media Banners and includes Amblin TV, a longtime leader in quality programming. The company’s investment partners include: Participant Media, Reliance Entertainment, Entertainment One (eOne), Alibaba Pictures and Universal Pictures.
About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family, creating movies, books and television series that spark the imagination and delight all generations. A subsidiary of the Anschutz Film Group, Walden Media movies include adaptations of notable books, compelling biographies and thrilling accounts of historical events. The company’s films are entertaining and commercial, while also telling stories that are inspirational, aspirational and explorational. Past award-winning films include: “Wonder,” “A Dog’s Purpose,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” franchise, the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” franchise, “Nim’s Island,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Holes,” “Amazing Grace,” and the Sundance Audience Prize Winning documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman.’”
About Alibaba Pictures
Alibaba Pictures Group Limited (“Alibaba Pictures”) is the flagship unit of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group. The company’s operations integrate the full entertainment value chain, including investment and financing, content development and production, promotion and distribution, merchandising of intellectual property rights, as well as cinema services. Alibaba Pictures is listed on both The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited. Alibaba Group is the largest shareholder.
Alibaba Pictures and Amblin Partners have a comprehensive strategic partnership to co-produce and finance films for global and Chinese audiences, as well as collaborate on the marketing, distribution and merchandising of Amblin Partners films in China.
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Showing posts with label Dennis Quaid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dennis Quaid. Show all posts
Friday, August 31, 2018
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Amazon Announces "Fortitude" for Prime Video
Amazon Studios Orders Original Dramatic Series Fortitude from Sky Vision
Ten episodes of the Arctic thriller, featuring an ensemble cast that includes Richard Dormer and Dennis Quaid, will debut later this year on Prime Video in the US
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon Studios and Sky Vision today announced the addition of Fortitude to Amazon’s lineup of dramatic original series for Prime Video in the US. The first season of Fortitude premiered on Sky Atlantic in 2015 and became the network’s most successful original drama commission to date, with the first episode watched by an accumulative audience of more than 3.2 million.
The first season has also been available on Prime Video in the US since January 2016, with more than 2,000 four and five star reviews from customers. Season two of the series will become an Amazon Original Series and features an ensemble cast, including Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones), Dennis Quaid (Vantage Point), Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing), Luke Treadaway (Clash of the Titans), Darren Boyd (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Jar 2pm City), Mia Jexen (Happiness), Alexandra Moen (Strike Back), Verónica Echegui (The Cold Light of Day), Sienna Guillory (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), Ramon Tikaram (Jupiter Ascending), Parminder Nagra (ER), Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones), Robert Sheehan (Misfits) and Ken Stott (The Missing). The series is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video in the US later this year.
“Amazon is the perfect home for Fortitude in the US”
Fortitude follows Sheriff Dan Anderssen (Dormer) of Fortitude, a small isolated community with a captive population in an environment that is undergoing change and upheaval due to parasite and pathogen activity. After shooting the woman he loved, Dan becomes consumed with guilt, disappears into the wilderness and was presumed dead. Without a sheriff, the people of Fortitude begin to wonder whether Deputy Eric Odegard (Haraldsson), who has spent the last few weeks desperately searching for Dan, can fill his shoes. A new body is discovered on the other side of town and Eric must step up and lead this horrific investigation. As his own police team is trying to figure out who would have killed a man for no apparent reason, Dan suddenly reappears—a violent broken ruin of a man and wild to the point of feral. Quaid stars as Michael Lennox, a fisherman and patriarch of a family living in Fortitude, who is struggling to come to terms with his terminally ill wife, and will try anything to find a cure.
“In Fortitude, our customers will experience Dennis Quaid in a remarkably compassionate role, joined by an ensemble cast that has resonated with audiences globally,” said Joe Lewis, Head of Comedy, Drama and VR, Amazon Studios. “We’re excited to add such a beautiful and captivating series to our originals slate.”
“Amazon is the perfect home for Fortitude in the US,” said Jane Millichip, Managing Director, Sky Vision. “Fortitude is high-end, addictive viewing and perfectly suits Amazon's scripted portfolio. Amazon has been a keen supporter of the series from the outset, having taken an SVOD window on season one. We're delighted to now extend the relationship and make Amazon the home of our most successful returning Sky Atlantic original drama series.”
Fortitude is an Amazon Original Series in the US and Sky Original Production in the UK, produced by Fifty Fathoms, the makers of BAFTA-winning Marvellous, for BBC Two. The series is created and written by Simon Donald, and executive produced by Donald, Faye Dorn (Inspector George Gently) and Patrick Spence (The A Word). Trevor Hopkins (Strike Back) and Susie Liggat (Doctor Who) serve as producers.
Fortitude will be available for Prime members to stream and enjoy using the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Amazon Fire TV, and mobile devices, or online, along with other Amazon Original Series at Amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost to their membership. Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:
In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalog with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more, visit: www.amazon.com/prime.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.
About Sky Vision
Sky Vision is the production and distribution arm of Sky. The distribution arm represents around 5,000 hours of quality primetime programming from Sky Originals and independent third-party production, across all key primetime genres (drama, entertainment, factual entertainment and factual). The business also has equity investments in seven production businesses in the UK and US; Love Productions, Blast! Films, Sugar Films and Sky Vision Productions in the UK; and in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, Talos Films and Znak & Co.
In addition to its equity investments, Sky Vision works extensively within dependent producers in the UK and US and has development deals with a number of production companies; including Asylum Entertainment and Peacock Alley in North America; and Avanti Media, Bohemia, Chalkboard, LittleRock Pictures, Merman Films and Spring Films in the UK.
About Fifty Fathoms
Fifty Fathoms was set up by Patrick Spence under Endemol Shine Group in 2010. Patrick now runs the company with Katie Swinden (Peaky Blinders, Marvellous). Filming recently completed on Guerrilla, a 6 x 60' series for Sky Atlantic and Showtime, written and directed by Academy Award winner John Ridley, starring Freida Pinto, Babou Ceesay, Rory Kinnear, Denise Gough, Danny Mays, Zawe Ashton and Idris Elba, about two political activists fighting against a racist police force in 1970s London.
Fifty Fathoms’ 2014 debut production, Marvellous, a 90′ single film written by Peter Bowker, told the incredible true story of Neil Baldwin, a man who refused to accept the label of learning difficulties. Directed by Julian Farino (Entourage, The Office (US) ) and starring Toby Jones and Gemma Jones, it went on to win BAFTAs for Best Single Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress; Best Writer and Director, RTS; Best Film and Best Actor, BPG and Best Film, Writers Guild Awards and FIPA. And they have been picked up for a second season of The A Word, Pete Bowker's 6 x 60' series for BBC1 and Sundance, directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Christopher Eccleston, Lee Ingleby and Morven Christie, a co-production with Keshet.
Source: Amazon.com, Inc.
-----------------------------
Ten episodes of the Arctic thriller, featuring an ensemble cast that includes Richard Dormer and Dennis Quaid, will debut later this year on Prime Video in the US
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon Studios and Sky Vision today announced the addition of Fortitude to Amazon’s lineup of dramatic original series for Prime Video in the US. The first season of Fortitude premiered on Sky Atlantic in 2015 and became the network’s most successful original drama commission to date, with the first episode watched by an accumulative audience of more than 3.2 million.
The first season has also been available on Prime Video in the US since January 2016, with more than 2,000 four and five star reviews from customers. Season two of the series will become an Amazon Original Series and features an ensemble cast, including Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones), Dennis Quaid (Vantage Point), Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing), Luke Treadaway (Clash of the Titans), Darren Boyd (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Jar 2pm City), Mia Jexen (Happiness), Alexandra Moen (Strike Back), Verónica Echegui (The Cold Light of Day), Sienna Guillory (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), Ramon Tikaram (Jupiter Ascending), Parminder Nagra (ER), Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones), Robert Sheehan (Misfits) and Ken Stott (The Missing). The series is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video in the US later this year.
“Amazon is the perfect home for Fortitude in the US”
Fortitude follows Sheriff Dan Anderssen (Dormer) of Fortitude, a small isolated community with a captive population in an environment that is undergoing change and upheaval due to parasite and pathogen activity. After shooting the woman he loved, Dan becomes consumed with guilt, disappears into the wilderness and was presumed dead. Without a sheriff, the people of Fortitude begin to wonder whether Deputy Eric Odegard (Haraldsson), who has spent the last few weeks desperately searching for Dan, can fill his shoes. A new body is discovered on the other side of town and Eric must step up and lead this horrific investigation. As his own police team is trying to figure out who would have killed a man for no apparent reason, Dan suddenly reappears—a violent broken ruin of a man and wild to the point of feral. Quaid stars as Michael Lennox, a fisherman and patriarch of a family living in Fortitude, who is struggling to come to terms with his terminally ill wife, and will try anything to find a cure.
“In Fortitude, our customers will experience Dennis Quaid in a remarkably compassionate role, joined by an ensemble cast that has resonated with audiences globally,” said Joe Lewis, Head of Comedy, Drama and VR, Amazon Studios. “We’re excited to add such a beautiful and captivating series to our originals slate.”
“Amazon is the perfect home for Fortitude in the US,” said Jane Millichip, Managing Director, Sky Vision. “Fortitude is high-end, addictive viewing and perfectly suits Amazon's scripted portfolio. Amazon has been a keen supporter of the series from the outset, having taken an SVOD window on season one. We're delighted to now extend the relationship and make Amazon the home of our most successful returning Sky Atlantic original drama series.”
Fortitude is an Amazon Original Series in the US and Sky Original Production in the UK, produced by Fifty Fathoms, the makers of BAFTA-winning Marvellous, for BBC Two. The series is created and written by Simon Donald, and executive produced by Donald, Faye Dorn (Inspector George Gently) and Patrick Spence (The A Word). Trevor Hopkins (Strike Back) and Susie Liggat (Doctor Who) serve as producers.
Fortitude will be available for Prime members to stream and enjoy using the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Amazon Fire TV, and mobile devices, or online, along with other Amazon Original Series at Amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost to their membership. Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:
- Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Love & Friendship, and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
- Amazon Channels: Over 100 video subscriptions to networks like HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV, and more, available to Amazon Prime members in the US as add-ons to their membership. To view the full list of available channels, visit www.amazon.com/channels.
- Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers.
- Instant Access: Customers can instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on compatible TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
- Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content.
In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalog with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more, visit: www.amazon.com/prime.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.
About Sky Vision
Sky Vision is the production and distribution arm of Sky. The distribution arm represents around 5,000 hours of quality primetime programming from Sky Originals and independent third-party production, across all key primetime genres (drama, entertainment, factual entertainment and factual). The business also has equity investments in seven production businesses in the UK and US; Love Productions, Blast! Films, Sugar Films and Sky Vision Productions in the UK; and in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, Talos Films and Znak & Co.
In addition to its equity investments, Sky Vision works extensively within dependent producers in the UK and US and has development deals with a number of production companies; including Asylum Entertainment and Peacock Alley in North America; and Avanti Media, Bohemia, Chalkboard, LittleRock Pictures, Merman Films and Spring Films in the UK.
About Fifty Fathoms
Fifty Fathoms was set up by Patrick Spence under Endemol Shine Group in 2010. Patrick now runs the company with Katie Swinden (Peaky Blinders, Marvellous). Filming recently completed on Guerrilla, a 6 x 60' series for Sky Atlantic and Showtime, written and directed by Academy Award winner John Ridley, starring Freida Pinto, Babou Ceesay, Rory Kinnear, Denise Gough, Danny Mays, Zawe Ashton and Idris Elba, about two political activists fighting against a racist police force in 1970s London.
Fifty Fathoms’ 2014 debut production, Marvellous, a 90′ single film written by Peter Bowker, told the incredible true story of Neil Baldwin, a man who refused to accept the label of learning difficulties. Directed by Julian Farino (Entourage, The Office (US) ) and starring Toby Jones and Gemma Jones, it went on to win BAFTAs for Best Single Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress; Best Writer and Director, RTS; Best Film and Best Actor, BPG and Best Film, Writers Guild Awards and FIPA. And they have been picked up for a second season of The A Word, Pete Bowker's 6 x 60' series for BBC1 and Sundance, directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Christopher Eccleston, Lee Ingleby and Morven Christie, a co-production with Keshet.
Source: Amazon.com, Inc.
-----------------------------
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Houston Film Critics Named "Spotlight" Best Picture of 2015- Complete List of Winners
Houston Film Critics Society is a not-for-profit, unincorporated voluntary organizaton of print, broadcast, and internet film critics based in the Greater Houston metropolitan area that meet its membership criteria. According its website, the group was founded in 2007 by Nick Nicholson and Danny Minton and helps to organize and coordinate the local area film critics community.
The nominees for the 9th annual Houston Film Critics Society Awards were announced, December 13, 2015. The winners were announced January 9, 2016.
2015 / 9th Houston Film Critics Society winners:
Best Picture: Spotlight
Best Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for The Revenant
Best Actor: Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs
Best Actress: Brie Larson for Room
Best Supporting Actor: Tom Hardy for The Revenant
Best Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara for Carol
Best Screenplay: Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer for Spotlight
Best Animated Film: Inside Out (Pete Doctor, director)
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for The Revenant
Best Documentary: Amy (Asif Kapadia, director)
Best Foreign Film: Son of Saul (Hungary; László Nemes, director)
Best Score: Ennio Moriccone for The Hateful Eight
Best Song: Brian Wilson for "Love and Mercy" from Love & Mercy
Texas Independent Film Award: Mark Craig for The Last Man on the Moon
Technical: Guy Norris for Mad Max: Fury Road
Worst Movie: Pixels
Lifetime Achievement: Dennis Quaid
Humanitarian of the Year: Matt Damon
Outstanding Cinematic Contribution: Joe Leydon
--------------------------
The nominees for the 9th annual Houston Film Critics Society Awards were announced, December 13, 2015. The winners were announced January 9, 2016.
2015 / 9th Houston Film Critics Society winners:
Best Picture: Spotlight
Best Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for The Revenant
Best Actor: Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs
Best Actress: Brie Larson for Room
Best Supporting Actor: Tom Hardy for The Revenant
Best Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara for Carol
Best Screenplay: Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer for Spotlight
Best Animated Film: Inside Out (Pete Doctor, director)
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for The Revenant
Best Documentary: Amy (Asif Kapadia, director)
Best Foreign Film: Son of Saul (Hungary; László Nemes, director)
Best Score: Ennio Moriccone for The Hateful Eight
Best Song: Brian Wilson for "Love and Mercy" from Love & Mercy
Texas Independent Film Award: Mark Craig for The Last Man on the Moon
Technical: Guy Norris for Mad Max: Fury Road
Worst Movie: Pixels
Lifetime Achievement: Dennis Quaid
Humanitarian of the Year: Matt Damon
Outstanding Cinematic Contribution: Joe Leydon
--------------------------
Thursday, August 6, 2015
DreamWorks and Walden Media Unite "A Dog's Purpose"
Walden Media Joins DreamWorks Studios’ “A Dog’s Purpose”
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Walden Media, producer of such hit films as “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Charlotte’s Web,” and the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” series, will co-finance and co-produce DreamWorks Studios’ upcoming film “A Dog’s Purpose.” Based on the best-selling novel, “A Dog’s Purpose” is an inspirational story of one devoted dog finding his purpose in the lives of the humans he loves.
Dennis Quaid (“Far From Heaven,” “The Rookie”), Britt Robertson (“Tomorrowland,” “Delivery Man”), K.J. Apa (“Shortland Street”), Juliet Rylance (“The Knick,” “Frances Ha”) and Peggy Lipton (“Mod Squad,” “Twin Peaks”) join the film, which is being directed by Academy Award nominated director Lasse Hallstrom (“The Hundred-Foot Journey,” “Chocolat”). Based on the beloved book by W. Bruce Cameron, the screenplay was written by Cameron & Cathryn Michon and Audrey Wells. Gavin Polone is producing with Alan Blomquist and Mark Sourian serving as executive producers. Production on the canine tale begins this month in Winnipeg, Canada, where its variety of locations afford the filmmakers the opportunity to tell this multi-generational story.
“This heartwarming and humorous tale is a great addition to our quality storytelling brand,” said Michael Wright, CEO of DreamWorks Studios. “Together with our partners at Walden, we believe that with Lasse Hallstrom directing, ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ will find its way into the hearts of families everywhere.”
“We are proud to once again partner with the great team at DreamWorks on ‘A Dog’s Purpose,’ a heartfelt and uplifting story that is in great hands with Lasse Hallstrom directing,” said Frank Smith, President and CEO of Walden Media. “This film is a perfect addition as we continue to build and diversify our slate and bring audiences movies that inspire and entertain.”
“Walden Media is the perfect partner for this very special story, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have them on board,” said Jeff Small, President and COO of DreamWorks Studios.
Published by Forge Books, “A Dog’s Purpose
” spent 52 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. It has been translated into 20 languages and is published in 29 different countries worldwide.
“A Dog’s Purpose” joins Walden Media’s growing slate, which includes a diverse range of films that every member of a family can enjoy. Other upcoming projects include Universal Pictures’ dramatic adventure/thriller “Everest” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, Keira Knightley, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Emily Watson and Robin Wright (September 18, 2015) and “The BFG” directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Roald Dahl’s beloved novel (July 1, 2016).
About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family, creating movies, books and television series that spark the imagination and delight all generations. A subsidiary of the Anschutz Film Group, Walden Media movies include adaptations of notable books, compelling biographies and thrilling accounts of historical events. The company’s films are entertaining and commercial, while also telling stories that are inspirational, aspirational and explorational. Past award-winning films include: “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” series, “Nim’s Island,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Holes,” “Amazing Grace,” and the Sundance Audience Prize Winning documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman.’”
For more information please visit www.Walden.com.
About DreamWorks Studios
DreamWorks Studios is a motion picture company formed in 2009 and led by Steven Spielberg in partnership with The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The company’s recent releases include Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. The film has grossed over $180 million at the U.S. box office and was nominated for twelve Academy Awards® with Daniel Day-Lewis winning for Best Actor. Other releases include “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” starring Helen Mirren; Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” based on Michael Morpurgo’s award-winning book and was nominated for six Academy Awards® including Best Picture; and “The Help,” which resonated with audiences around the country and earned over $200 million at the box office and received four Academy Award® nominations with Octavia Spencer winning for Best Supporting Actress.
DreamWorks Studios can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DreamWorksStudios and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dw_studios.
------------------------
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Walden Media, producer of such hit films as “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Charlotte’s Web,” and the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” series, will co-finance and co-produce DreamWorks Studios’ upcoming film “A Dog’s Purpose.” Based on the best-selling novel, “A Dog’s Purpose” is an inspirational story of one devoted dog finding his purpose in the lives of the humans he loves.
Dennis Quaid (“Far From Heaven,” “The Rookie”), Britt Robertson (“Tomorrowland,” “Delivery Man”), K.J. Apa (“Shortland Street”), Juliet Rylance (“The Knick,” “Frances Ha”) and Peggy Lipton (“Mod Squad,” “Twin Peaks”) join the film, which is being directed by Academy Award nominated director Lasse Hallstrom (“The Hundred-Foot Journey,” “Chocolat”). Based on the beloved book by W. Bruce Cameron, the screenplay was written by Cameron & Cathryn Michon and Audrey Wells. Gavin Polone is producing with Alan Blomquist and Mark Sourian serving as executive producers. Production on the canine tale begins this month in Winnipeg, Canada, where its variety of locations afford the filmmakers the opportunity to tell this multi-generational story.
“This heartwarming and humorous tale is a great addition to our quality storytelling brand,” said Michael Wright, CEO of DreamWorks Studios. “Together with our partners at Walden, we believe that with Lasse Hallstrom directing, ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ will find its way into the hearts of families everywhere.”
“We are proud to once again partner with the great team at DreamWorks on ‘A Dog’s Purpose,’ a heartfelt and uplifting story that is in great hands with Lasse Hallstrom directing,” said Frank Smith, President and CEO of Walden Media. “This film is a perfect addition as we continue to build and diversify our slate and bring audiences movies that inspire and entertain.”
“Walden Media is the perfect partner for this very special story, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have them on board,” said Jeff Small, President and COO of DreamWorks Studios.
Published by Forge Books, “A Dog’s Purpose
” spent 52 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. It has been translated into 20 languages and is published in 29 different countries worldwide.“A Dog’s Purpose” joins Walden Media’s growing slate, which includes a diverse range of films that every member of a family can enjoy. Other upcoming projects include Universal Pictures’ dramatic adventure/thriller “Everest” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, Keira Knightley, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Emily Watson and Robin Wright (September 18, 2015) and “The BFG” directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Roald Dahl’s beloved novel (July 1, 2016).
About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family, creating movies, books and television series that spark the imagination and delight all generations. A subsidiary of the Anschutz Film Group, Walden Media movies include adaptations of notable books, compelling biographies and thrilling accounts of historical events. The company’s films are entertaining and commercial, while also telling stories that are inspirational, aspirational and explorational. Past award-winning films include: “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” series, “Nim’s Island,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” “Holes,” “Amazing Grace,” and the Sundance Audience Prize Winning documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman.’”
For more information please visit www.Walden.com.
About DreamWorks Studios
DreamWorks Studios is a motion picture company formed in 2009 and led by Steven Spielberg in partnership with The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The company’s recent releases include Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. The film has grossed over $180 million at the U.S. box office and was nominated for twelve Academy Awards® with Daniel Day-Lewis winning for Best Actor. Other releases include “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” starring Helen Mirren; Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” based on Michael Morpurgo’s award-winning book and was nominated for six Academy Awards® including Best Picture; and “The Help,” which resonated with audiences around the country and earned over $200 million at the box office and received four Academy Award® nominations with Octavia Spencer winning for Best Supporting Actress.
DreamWorks Studios can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DreamWorksStudios and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dw_studios.
------------------------
Monday, April 9, 2012
Review: "The Day After Tomorrow" is Still Relevant and Entertaining (Happy B'day, Dennis Quaid)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Running time: 124 minutes (2 hours, 4 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense situations of peril
DIRECTOR: Roland Emmerich
WRITERS: Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Roland Emmerich; from a story by Roland Emmerich
PRODUCERS: Roland Emmerich and Mark Gordon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ueli Steiger (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: David Brenner
COMPOSERS: Harald Kloser and Thomas Wanker
BAFTA winner
ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FANTASY/SCI-FI/THRILLER
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Dash Mihok, Jay O. Sanders, Sela Ward, Austin Nichols, Arjay Smith, Tamlyn Tomita, Ian Holm, Kenneth Welsh, and Perry King
The subject of this movie review is The Day After Tomorrow, the 2004 science fiction and environmental disaster film from director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day). Released by 20th Century Fox, the film is an ensemble drama about people trying to survive a new ice age brought upon by abrupt global warming. The character that is the main focus is a climatologist who is determined to save his son who is trapped in a frozen New York City.
A crack paleoclimatologist, Professor Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), discovers that the Ice Age is coming back with a vengeance in director Roland Emmerich’s hip retro cool disaster film, The Day After Tomorrow. Mixing such controversial concepts as the green house effect, global warming, and modern super SFX, the film is truly the movie as roller coaster ride.
After this new Ice Age hits the northern hemisphere with almost unimaginable fury, especially New York City, Hall begins a dangerous track across the frozen face of the northeastern U.S. to reach his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is trapped in NYC with a group of fellow students. Meanwhile, the freak weather is tearing half the planet apart.
Although many critics and detractors will cry over the film’s allegedly implausible concept, the important question is always, “Is it good.” Hell, yeah, it’s good. It’s a big, old giant tub of popcorn movie fun. The Day After Tomorrow is also a finely constructed drama and thriller with that just right touch of melodrama that stays one notch below over the top, which is just enough to pull at the old heartstrings. It’s exciting. It’s thrilling. It’s a damn good time at the movies.
Roland Emmerich reaffirms what his film Independence Day hinted – he’s a great movie director. Emmerich does the same thing Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg do with a “serious” drama – make the ordinary extraordinary. When it comes to a fun film, The Day After Tomorrow is a keeper.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2005 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Karen E. Goulekas, Neil Corbould, Greg Strause, and Remo Balcells)
------------------------
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Review: New "Footloose" Both Respectful and Down-and-Dirty
Footloose (2011)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some teen drug and alcohol use, sexual content, violence and language See all certifications
DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
WRITERS: Dean Pitchford and Craig Brewer; from a story by Dean Pitchford
PRODUCERS: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Neil Meron, Dylan Sellers, Brad Weston, and Craig Zadan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amy Vincent
EDITOR: Billy Fox
COMPOSER: Deborah Lurie
DRAMA/MUSIC with elements of romance
Starring: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Miles Teller, Ray McKinnon, Patrick John Flueger, Kim Dickens, Ziah Colon, Ser’Darius Blain, L. Warren Young, Brett Rice, Enisha Brewster, and Tony Vaughn
Footloose is a 2011 drama and dance film from director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow). It is also a remake of the 1984 teen drama, also entitled Footloose. The new Footloose is surprisingly faithful to the first, so much so that it can be unsettling at times. The new film updates the story, changes some scenes, and repurposes some characters. Footloose 2011 is also edgier, hotter, and dirtier – in a Southern sort of way.
As before, Footloose focuses on Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald), a teenager who arrives in the small town of Bomont (Georgia?). Ren’s mother recently died, so Ren has come to live with his Uncle Wes Warnicker (Ray McKinnon), Aunt Lulu (Kim Dickens), and their two daughters. Although he is the new kid, Ren doesn’t have trouble fitting in and soon befriends two football players, the cowboy Willard (Miles Teller) and the jovial Woody (Ser’Darius Blain), and Willard’s girlfriend, Rusty (Ziah Colon). His most startling new friend is the wild child, Ariel Moore (Julianne Hough), the daughter of local pastor, Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid), and his wife, Vi (Andie MacDowell).
Ren likes to dance and play loud music, but he soon learns that loud music and dancing, for the most part, are not allowed in Bomont by several different city ordinances. Ren decides that the senior class should have a prom and starts a petition to change the law. His decision not only pits him against the city council, but especially against Rev. Moore.
Footloose 2011 is so faithful to the original that it retains many well-known scenes from the original – including Ren’s dance of anger at the mill, the out-of-town trip to the club (where Willard gets punched), and a re-imagined version of the “chicken race.” Some of the original songs return, including “Footloose,” in the original Kenny Loggins version and in an up-tempo country version by Blake Shelton.
Most importantly, the new Footloose is simply a very good movie. I had a darn good time watching it, and I would watch it again. It has a killer opening to Kenny Loggins’ pounding “Footloose” that also sets the stage for this film’s darker tone. This time, director/co-writer Craig Brewer and co-writer Dean Pitchford (who wrote the original film and co-wrote its songs) delve deeper in the psychology of the characters. The audience will get a more intimate look into why Ariel is so wild and why her father has control issues, both with his family and with the town at large.
The heart of the film is still Ren MacCormack, the rebellious teen with the dark glasses, black jacket (and black pants), and skinny tie. Kenny Wormald plays him to near perfection with a James Dean-like swagger and intensity. Movies need a star, Footloose has one in Wormald.
The original film had synthesizer-driven pop music as its structural backbone, and while music is important in the new film, Brewer relies on character drama and the distinctive setting, the backwoods Bomont, to drive the story. Brewer, who is known for earthy films featuring lots of Southern black folk, takes the original all-white, Midwestern Bomont of the original film and populates the new Bomont with lots of African-Americans, rednecks, good-old boys, and good Southern people. It’s the Deep South side by side with the Dirty South.
The dance moves performed by the young actors is heavily influenced by country music (line dancing), hip hop, and krumping. When Brewer isn’t making his cast mesmerize you with suggestive, booty-poppin, hip-thrustin’ dance moves, he is dragging you into the drama. With the new Footloose, Brewer does right by the original and still manages to make his own unique film – the best teen dance movie in years. It’s not perfect, but it’s perfect for me.
7 of 10
A-
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
"Footloose" Remake Soundtrack Due in September
ATLANTIC RECORDS / WARNER MUSIC NASHVILLE RELEASES “FOOTLOOSE” SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 27th
BLAKE SHELTON REMAKES ICONIC “FOOTLOOSE” SINGLE
Soundtrack Features Additional Songs From Big & Rich, Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band, Cee Lo Green, Hunter Hayes, Victoria Justice and Jana Kramer, among others
“FOOTLOOSE” Opens Nationwide in Theatres October 14th
NASHVILLE, TN – (August 9, 2011) – Atlantic Records / Warner Music Nashville announced today that they will release the movie soundtrack for the upcoming Paramount Pictures film, “FOOTLOOSE,” available everywhere on September 27th. The 12-track album features music from the film and includes eight new songs along with remakes of four of the classic hits from the original soundtrack.
Blake Shelton sings the film’s title song, “Footloose” and Victoria Justice and Hunter Hayes join the album with the movie’s love theme, “Almost Paradise.” The star-studded line-up for the soundtrack also includes new music from Big & Rich, Cee Lo Green, David Banner, Whitney Duncan, Lissie and Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band. Other classic songs featured on the album are “Holding Out For A Hero” by Ella Mae Bowen and “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Jana Kramer.
Writer/Director Craig Brewer (“HUSTLE & FLOW,” “BLACK SNAKE MOAN”) delivers a new take of the beloved 1984 classic film, “FOOTLOOSE.” Ren MacCormack (played by newcomer Kenny Wormald) is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough) in the process.
“FOOTLOOSE” Soundtrack track listing:
1. Footloose – Blake Shelton
2. Where The River Goes – Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band
3. Little Lovin’ – Lissie
4. Holding Out For A Hero – Ella Mae Bowen
5. Let’s Hear It For The Boy – Jana Kramer
6. So Sorry Mama – Whitney Duncan
7. Fake I.D. – Big & Rich feat. Gretchen Wilson
8. Almost Paradise – Victoria Justice & Hunter Hayes
9. Walkin’ Blues – Cee Lo Green feat. Kenny Wayne Shepherd
10. Window Paine – The Smashing Pumpkins
11. Suicide Eyes – A Thousand Horses
12. Dance The Night Away – David Banner
About “FOOTLOOSE”
Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Dylan Sellers Zadan / Meron Weston Pictures Production of a Craig Brewer Film. Footloose stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Andie MacDowell and Dennis Quaid. The film is directed by Craig Brewer from a screenplay by Dean Pitchford and Brewer and Story by Dean Pitchford. It is produced by Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Dylan Sellers and Brad Weston. The executive producers are Timothy M. Bourne, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman.
BLAKE SHELTON REMAKES ICONIC “FOOTLOOSE” SINGLE
Soundtrack Features Additional Songs From Big & Rich, Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band, Cee Lo Green, Hunter Hayes, Victoria Justice and Jana Kramer, among others
“FOOTLOOSE” Opens Nationwide in Theatres October 14th
NASHVILLE, TN – (August 9, 2011) – Atlantic Records / Warner Music Nashville announced today that they will release the movie soundtrack for the upcoming Paramount Pictures film, “FOOTLOOSE,” available everywhere on September 27th. The 12-track album features music from the film and includes eight new songs along with remakes of four of the classic hits from the original soundtrack.
Blake Shelton sings the film’s title song, “Footloose” and Victoria Justice and Hunter Hayes join the album with the movie’s love theme, “Almost Paradise.” The star-studded line-up for the soundtrack also includes new music from Big & Rich, Cee Lo Green, David Banner, Whitney Duncan, Lissie and Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band. Other classic songs featured on the album are “Holding Out For A Hero” by Ella Mae Bowen and “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Jana Kramer.
Writer/Director Craig Brewer (“HUSTLE & FLOW,” “BLACK SNAKE MOAN”) delivers a new take of the beloved 1984 classic film, “FOOTLOOSE.” Ren MacCormack (played by newcomer Kenny Wormald) is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough) in the process.
“FOOTLOOSE” Soundtrack track listing:
1. Footloose – Blake Shelton
2. Where The River Goes – Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band
3. Little Lovin’ – Lissie
4. Holding Out For A Hero – Ella Mae Bowen
5. Let’s Hear It For The Boy – Jana Kramer
6. So Sorry Mama – Whitney Duncan
7. Fake I.D. – Big & Rich feat. Gretchen Wilson
8. Almost Paradise – Victoria Justice & Hunter Hayes
9. Walkin’ Blues – Cee Lo Green feat. Kenny Wayne Shepherd
10. Window Paine – The Smashing Pumpkins
11. Suicide Eyes – A Thousand Horses
12. Dance The Night Away – David Banner
About “FOOTLOOSE”
Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Dylan Sellers Zadan / Meron Weston Pictures Production of a Craig Brewer Film. Footloose stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Andie MacDowell and Dennis Quaid. The film is directed by Craig Brewer from a screenplay by Dean Pitchford and Brewer and Story by Dean Pitchford. It is produced by Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Dylan Sellers and Brad Weston. The executive producers are Timothy M. Bourne, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Review: "Far From Heaven" is Heavenly (Happy B'day, Julianne Moore)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 80 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux
Far From Heaven (2002)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexual content, brief violence and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Todd Haynes
PRODUCERS: Jody Patton and Christine Vachon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: James Lyons
COMPOSER: Elmer Bernstein
DRAMA/ROMANCE
Starring: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, James Rebhorn, Ryan Ward, Lindsay Andretta, Jordan Puryear, and Celia Weston
Last year (2002), a number of people thought that mean old Halle Berry had stolen her Best Actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball from Nicole Kidman for Kidman’s performance in the overblown and somewhat empty Moulin Rouge!. This year, Nicole finally received an Oscar for her performance in the tepid and mediocre The Hours, but she may have been the thief this time. Julianne Moore gives a rich and lush performance as a 1950’s era housewife facing a philandering husband and the era’s strict racial and social mores in Todd Haynes’s Far From Heaven, a film that may have touched too close to home for many in Hollywood's hypocritical, closed, and bigoted community.
Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) is the dream housewife living the dream version of the American dream. Her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), has a hot advertising executive job, and together, they have a huge two-story home and two adorable children. They fill their lives with the latest consumer goods, and they throw fancy, catered affairs for their ritzy, upper middle class friends. However, Frank has a skeleton in the closet with him; he’s gay, and he is having an increasingly difficult time suppressing his need to press male flesh. As her marital crisis worsens, Cathy turns to her gardener, Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), a strapping hunk of black manhood, for comfort. That relationship doesn’t sit well with cracker and spearchunker alike, and racial tensions, which had been on the down low, simmer and threaten to boil over.
Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine) made Far From Heaven a kind of homage to the slick melodramatic films of the 1950’s, in particular the work of director Douglas Sirk. Sirk’s work was ignored for years after his heyday, but he always had a cult following. In the last few decades, many have given his films a more critical and careful review, especially his infamous color remake of the old black and white film, Imitation of Life. Far From Heaven apparently borrows liberally from Sirk’s film, All That Heaven Allows, in which a socialite also falls for her gardener.
Heaven magnificently captures the amazingly rich and colorful look of Technicolor films. It’s like watching a movie from another era, from the impressionistic palette of the photography and the opulent art direction to the lavish costumes and Elmer Bernstein’s fabulous score. It is hard to believe that someone could capture the lost look of the Fifties melodrama, but Haynes ably puts it together.
Haynes’s really impressed me with his script. While he manages to capture the social and personal heat that filmmakers hid under the surface of their films in the 50’s, he also writes a story that revels in and openly mocks the hypocrisy of the supposedly enlightened America of that time. By the 1950’s, the United Stated considered itself the greatest nation on the face of the earth, a land awash in freedom and opportunity, when in reality, freedom and opportunity were simply catch phrases for the powerful sold to the powerless.
Although the film is set in the 1950’s and portrays 50’s era prejudices, the film is perfect for this time, as well as a clear reflection of a past time. Watching Frank Whitaker struggle with his sexuality and watching Cathy and Raymond be persecuted for their friendship, you can’t help but realize that things have not changed. Homosexuality is still taboo today, and many well-known political and public figures still refer to homosexuality as the most heinous sin of all. Interracial friendships of any kind are still call attention to themselves and still cause many people to frown. Today, we give the alleged acceptance of the gay lifestyle and color-blind friendships lip service. However, modern American society is still almost as stuck in the mud as the one portrayed in Heaven.
As good as Haynes and his technical cohorts are in recreating a film that looks like it came from an movie era almost half a century gone, the people who make Far From Heaven more than just a grand technical achievement are the actors. Ms. Moore makes Cathy a charming character, a generous woman with an open heart and a good spirit. She easily rides the good times, but she makes it through the tough; she has to, as we know by the title, that all doesn’t end so very chipper. I was amazed by her performance. She made Cathy’s happiness and satisfaction with her life not just a façade, but the real thing.
So often, middle class housewives are played as secretly unhappy, but Cathy is quiet content; in fact, she adores her life, and she does her best to stay happy even when she encounters difficulty. I’m sure many would consider it politically incorrect to portray a housewife as a strong heroine, fighting to save her marriage, family, and lifestyle Julianne Moore makes you believe; she makes you root for Cathy. She even drew me into the character, so that I felt like I was experiencing every joy, every pain, and every slight that Cathy experienced. What more can one ask of a performer other than that she make you believe and feel?
A lot of people always knew that Dennis Quaid was a very good actor; somehow, a fair assessment of his talent kept getting lost because of his good looks and tomcatting lifestyle. It takes a movie like this and The Rookie to show us what an underrated talent he is. Quaid makes Frank both pathetic and sympathetic – quite complex. He doesn’t allow the viewer to always make an easy assessment of Frank. He’s just a man in a complicated situation fighting his own complications within himself.
Next to Cathy, the best character in this film is Raymond the gardener. He’s a noble Negro full of wisdom, and, at first, that might seem so typical – quiet suffering black man, so strong in the face of silly racism. However, that stereotype is a deliberate creation of Haynes, and Haysbert pulls it off with disarming charm and the knack of a skilled movie thespian. In the kind of film Haynes recreates, Raymond would have been noble, like the God-loving housekeeper in Imitation of Life. Here, the point isn’t his nobility; Raymond simply has to be strong, like Cathy, to survive the slings and arrows of outrageous hypocrites. Somehow, the proper acclaim for Haysbert in this role was nonexistent.
Do you realize that of all the post-season film awards, only the Golden Satellite Awards (as of this writing) recognized Haysbert’s performance with even a nomination (which he also won)? What up? Were (dumb) white critics and voters just too color struck (and dense) to notice the subtlety of both character and performance in Raymond’s case? Or do they feel that awards for Halle and Denzel pretty much take care of awarding darkies for film roles for another decade or so?
Give Far From Heaven a viewing. Not only is it relevant, but it’s quite entertaining with beautiful performances; Julianne Moore’s alone is worth a look. It’s also one of the best films about the culture of class and racial hypocrisy that you’ll ever see.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Julianne Moore). “Best Cinematography” (Edward Lachman), “Best Music, Original Score” (Elmer Bernstein), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Todd Haynes)
2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actor” (Dennis Haysbert)
2003 Golden Globes: 4 nominations: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Elmer Bernstein), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Dennis Quaid), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Julianne Moore), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Todd Haynes)
-------------------------
Far From Heaven (2002)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic elements, sexual content, brief violence and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Todd Haynes
PRODUCERS: Jody Patton and Christine Vachon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: James Lyons
COMPOSER: Elmer Bernstein
DRAMA/ROMANCE
Starring: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, James Rebhorn, Ryan Ward, Lindsay Andretta, Jordan Puryear, and Celia Weston
Last year (2002), a number of people thought that mean old Halle Berry had stolen her Best Actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball from Nicole Kidman for Kidman’s performance in the overblown and somewhat empty Moulin Rouge!. This year, Nicole finally received an Oscar for her performance in the tepid and mediocre The Hours, but she may have been the thief this time. Julianne Moore gives a rich and lush performance as a 1950’s era housewife facing a philandering husband and the era’s strict racial and social mores in Todd Haynes’s Far From Heaven, a film that may have touched too close to home for many in Hollywood's hypocritical, closed, and bigoted community.
Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) is the dream housewife living the dream version of the American dream. Her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), has a hot advertising executive job, and together, they have a huge two-story home and two adorable children. They fill their lives with the latest consumer goods, and they throw fancy, catered affairs for their ritzy, upper middle class friends. However, Frank has a skeleton in the closet with him; he’s gay, and he is having an increasingly difficult time suppressing his need to press male flesh. As her marital crisis worsens, Cathy turns to her gardener, Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), a strapping hunk of black manhood, for comfort. That relationship doesn’t sit well with cracker and spearchunker alike, and racial tensions, which had been on the down low, simmer and threaten to boil over.
Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine) made Far From Heaven a kind of homage to the slick melodramatic films of the 1950’s, in particular the work of director Douglas Sirk. Sirk’s work was ignored for years after his heyday, but he always had a cult following. In the last few decades, many have given his films a more critical and careful review, especially his infamous color remake of the old black and white film, Imitation of Life. Far From Heaven apparently borrows liberally from Sirk’s film, All That Heaven Allows, in which a socialite also falls for her gardener.
Heaven magnificently captures the amazingly rich and colorful look of Technicolor films. It’s like watching a movie from another era, from the impressionistic palette of the photography and the opulent art direction to the lavish costumes and Elmer Bernstein’s fabulous score. It is hard to believe that someone could capture the lost look of the Fifties melodrama, but Haynes ably puts it together.
Haynes’s really impressed me with his script. While he manages to capture the social and personal heat that filmmakers hid under the surface of their films in the 50’s, he also writes a story that revels in and openly mocks the hypocrisy of the supposedly enlightened America of that time. By the 1950’s, the United Stated considered itself the greatest nation on the face of the earth, a land awash in freedom and opportunity, when in reality, freedom and opportunity were simply catch phrases for the powerful sold to the powerless.
Although the film is set in the 1950’s and portrays 50’s era prejudices, the film is perfect for this time, as well as a clear reflection of a past time. Watching Frank Whitaker struggle with his sexuality and watching Cathy and Raymond be persecuted for their friendship, you can’t help but realize that things have not changed. Homosexuality is still taboo today, and many well-known political and public figures still refer to homosexuality as the most heinous sin of all. Interracial friendships of any kind are still call attention to themselves and still cause many people to frown. Today, we give the alleged acceptance of the gay lifestyle and color-blind friendships lip service. However, modern American society is still almost as stuck in the mud as the one portrayed in Heaven.
As good as Haynes and his technical cohorts are in recreating a film that looks like it came from an movie era almost half a century gone, the people who make Far From Heaven more than just a grand technical achievement are the actors. Ms. Moore makes Cathy a charming character, a generous woman with an open heart and a good spirit. She easily rides the good times, but she makes it through the tough; she has to, as we know by the title, that all doesn’t end so very chipper. I was amazed by her performance. She made Cathy’s happiness and satisfaction with her life not just a façade, but the real thing.
So often, middle class housewives are played as secretly unhappy, but Cathy is quiet content; in fact, she adores her life, and she does her best to stay happy even when she encounters difficulty. I’m sure many would consider it politically incorrect to portray a housewife as a strong heroine, fighting to save her marriage, family, and lifestyle Julianne Moore makes you believe; she makes you root for Cathy. She even drew me into the character, so that I felt like I was experiencing every joy, every pain, and every slight that Cathy experienced. What more can one ask of a performer other than that she make you believe and feel?
A lot of people always knew that Dennis Quaid was a very good actor; somehow, a fair assessment of his talent kept getting lost because of his good looks and tomcatting lifestyle. It takes a movie like this and The Rookie to show us what an underrated talent he is. Quaid makes Frank both pathetic and sympathetic – quite complex. He doesn’t allow the viewer to always make an easy assessment of Frank. He’s just a man in a complicated situation fighting his own complications within himself.
Next to Cathy, the best character in this film is Raymond the gardener. He’s a noble Negro full of wisdom, and, at first, that might seem so typical – quiet suffering black man, so strong in the face of silly racism. However, that stereotype is a deliberate creation of Haynes, and Haysbert pulls it off with disarming charm and the knack of a skilled movie thespian. In the kind of film Haynes recreates, Raymond would have been noble, like the God-loving housekeeper in Imitation of Life. Here, the point isn’t his nobility; Raymond simply has to be strong, like Cathy, to survive the slings and arrows of outrageous hypocrites. Somehow, the proper acclaim for Haysbert in this role was nonexistent.
Do you realize that of all the post-season film awards, only the Golden Satellite Awards (as of this writing) recognized Haysbert’s performance with even a nomination (which he also won)? What up? Were (dumb) white critics and voters just too color struck (and dense) to notice the subtlety of both character and performance in Raymond’s case? Or do they feel that awards for Halle and Denzel pretty much take care of awarding darkies for film roles for another decade or so?
Give Far From Heaven a viewing. Not only is it relevant, but it’s quite entertaining with beautiful performances; Julianne Moore’s alone is worth a look. It’s also one of the best films about the culture of class and racial hypocrisy that you’ll ever see.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Julianne Moore). “Best Cinematography” (Edward Lachman), “Best Music, Original Score” (Elmer Bernstein), “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Todd Haynes)
2003 Black Reel Awards: 1 win: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actor” (Dennis Haysbert)
2003 Golden Globes: 4 nominations: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Elmer Bernstein), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Dennis Quaid), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Julianne Moore), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Todd Haynes)
-------------------------
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Cast of 2011 "Footloose" Remake Now Complete
Paramount Pictures Will Release On April 1, 2011
Adam Goodman, President of Paramount Pictures Film Group, announced today the completion of principle casting on writer / director Craig Brewer’s “Footloose”. Following an extensive worldwide search, newcomer Kenny Wormald will play the highly coveted role of ‘Ren’, opposite previously announced star Julianne Hough as ‘Ariel’. Dennis Quaid also joins the cast in the role of ‘Reverend Moore’, along with Miles Teller as ‘Willard’.
Craig Zadan, who also served as a producer on the original film, joins his longtime creative partner Neil Meron (“Chicago”) and producers Brad Weston and Dylan Sellers (“Agent Cody Banks”) on the remake. OscarÒ winning songwriter Dean Pitchford, who wrote the screenplay and songs for the original movie, will executive produce. Brewer (“Hustle And Flow,” “Black Snake Moan”) will shoot from a script he adapted from Pitchford’s original.
Julianne Hough will make her feature film debut in “Burlesque” in November, opposite Christina Aguilera and Cher, which will also coincide with the release of the two-time “Dancing With the Stars” champion’s second country album. She will co-star alongside newcomer Wormald, who appeared in the MTV series “Dancelife”, and most recently toured with Justin Timberlake. The film will mark the first major U.S. feature film role for the Boston native.
Actor Dennis Quaid, known for his starring roles in countless hit movies including “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Traffic,” and most notably for his Golden Globe and SAG nominated role in the acclaimed movie “Far From Heaven”, also joins the cast. The actor most recently starred in the critically praised HBO movie “The Special Relationship”.
Miles Teller, who will next appear in John Cameron Mitchell’s “The Rabbit Hole” starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, will also appear in the film.
The movie will feature choreography from Jamal Sims, who recently worked with Madonna on her Sticky & Sweet Tour. Sims has choreographed countless movies and videos, and will next choreograph the Neil Patrick Harris' production of the award-winning musical Rent starring Nicole Scherzinger and Vanessa Hudgens, from August 6-8 at the Hollywood Bowl.
“I saw ‘Footloose’ in my hometown theater when I was 13-years-old and it rocked my world. It was a teenage rebellion movie that explored the struggles of faith and family in a small town, and it had an awesome soundtrack. I can promise ‘Footloose’ fans that I will be true to the spirit of the original film. But I still gotta put my own Southern grit into it and kick it into 2011,” said Brewer. "It's going to be a blast!"
"When we discovered Kevin Bacon in 1984, we were both excited and gratified – and also knew the chances of ever duplicating that effort was a million to one shot. Decades later Kenny Wormald proved history could repeat itself,” said Zadan. “We've wanted to work with Brewer ever since we saw ‘Hustle & Flow.’ His fresh and contemporary vision will bring ‘Footloose’ to a whole new generation of moviegoers when the movie opens in 2011."
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
"The Rookie" is a Warm Family Sports Drama
The Rookie (2002)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
DIRECTOR: John Lee Hancock
WRITER: Mike Rich
PRODUCERS: Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray, and Mark Johnson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Schwartzman (director of photography)
EDITOR: Eric L. Beason
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell
DRAMA/SPORTS
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez, Beth Grant, Angus T. Jones, and Brian Cox
Jimmy Morris’s (Dennis Quaid) perennially losing baseball team made a bet with him. If they won district, he would give his dream of being a Major League Baseball player another shot. Of course they won, and he did try again.
Director John Lee Hancock, a television director and screenwriter (A Perfect World), and writer Mike Rich (Finding Forrester) take the ideas of dreams and wish fulfillment and force them into the harsh light of day in the film, The Rookie. They remind the viewer that getting what you want isn’t always easy, but they have a bigger surprise in store for the viewer. It’s how this film deals with what happens when you get what you want.
In the case of Morris, he does make it to the big leagues (no big spoiler), and the majors is what he expected it to be. It’s just that he had a life and responsibilities before he got his dream job, and now the two conflict. He also discovers that being a big leaguer is a little more complicated than just “playing ball.” Director and screenwriter weave a story and create characters that seem real, because, not only is the story based on real events, the Morris struggle is universal – the desire to do what you want to do and the need to do what you have to do. This is the most intense and heaviest G-rated film in history. The creators still manage to make it fun and uplifting because they encourage us to identify with Morris’s quest.
Quaid gives a very good performance as man navigating his life, between the responsibilities and the dreams. It’s the performance that endears us to him, and Quaid sells us on a story that could have been very down beat. His every gesture, each look into his eyes and his face sells us that the reward at the end is worth the struggle along the way. In Quaid’s Morris, we see that there are rarely ever any pat resolutions to the problems we face in life.
The movie does seem a bit long, and some of the other characters (Morris’s wife and father) should have had more screen time, as they are obviously important to the growth of the character. There’s also a religious element in the film that’s clumsily underplayed. However, The Rookie
does deliver both a message and fine entertainment. One other nice thing that it is subtly played throughout the film – regardless of how tough it is to achieve a dream and no matter how lonely one might feel, there are a lot of people around the dreamer supporting him along the way.6 of 10
B
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Review: "Yours, Mine & Ours" is a Fun Family Film
Yours, Mine & Ours (2005)
Opening date: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some material may not be suitable for children
DIRECTOR: Raja Gosnell
WRITERS: Ron Burch & David Kidd (based upon the 1968 motion picture screenplay by Melville Shaveson and Mort Lachlan from a story by Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll Jr.)
PRODUCERS: Robert Simons and Michael Nathanson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Theo Van de Sande, ASC
EDITORS: Stephen A. Rotter and Bruce Green, A.C.E.
COMEDY/FAMILY with elements of romance
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo, Rip Torn, Jerry O’Connell, David Koechner, and Linda Hunt
One evening, while he is in the middle of an unpleasant date, Frank Beardsley (Dennis Quaid), a widow, runs into his old high school sweetheart, Helen North (Rene Russo), and it’s as if the thirty years since they last saw each other never passed. Helen, a widow, also feels the attraction and can’t wait to meet Frank again, which they do at a high school reunion cruise. They rush into marriage, but they don’t tell their kids…
Frank has eight children: four-year old Ethan (Ty Panitz), six-year old twin boys Otter (Briger Palmer) and Ely (Brecken Palmer), eight-year old Kelly (Haley Ramm), 10-year old Harry (Dean Collins), 12-year old Michael (Tyler Patrick Jones), 16-year old Christina (Katija Pevec), and 17-year old William (Sean Faris).
Helen has 10 children – four she had with her late husband and six they adopted: four-year old Aldo (Nicholas Roget-King), eight-year old twins Marisa (Jessica Habib) and Bina (Jennifer Habib), nine-year old Lau (Andrew Vo), 10-year old Joni (Miranda Cosgrove), 11-year old Jimi (Lil’ JJ), 12-year old Mick (Slade Pearce), 14-year old Naoko (Miki Iskikawa), 16-year old Dylan (Drake Bell), and 17-year old Phoebe (Danielle Panabaker).
But maybe love can’t conquer all. The two families don’t mesh quite as easily as Frank and Helen had hoped. Frank, a Coast Guard Admiral, is a by-the-book disciplinarian, but the free-spirited Helen has no “book” and believes that the home is a place for free expression, not military style discipline. The children are always at odds. Helen’s brood aren’t pleased about moving or sharing rooms with a bunch of uptight strangers, and Frank’s offspring have nothing in common with the unruly and strange pack of kids their father’s new wife brings into their lives.
On the other hand, both sets of children realize that they have a common goal – breaking up their parents’ marriage, so they band together to create the kind of chaos that causes confusion between a couple with different parenting styles. As the kids succeed in their plot, they also realize that they really like each other in spite of their differences. Now, they have repair the bond between Helen and Frank that they broke, but are Helen and Frank still interested in being a couple.
The box office success of 2003’s Cheaper by the Dozen, the remake of a 1950’s film about a father managing a large pack of children, probably encouraged Paramount Pictures and MGM to remake another film about parents struggling to manage a large number of offspring. Thus, we have Yours, Mine & Ours, the remake of a 1968 film. This 2005 version of Yours, Mine & Ours
isn’t as good as the Cheaper by the Dozen remake. For one thing, the acting by the leads playing the parents, Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo, two talented actors with a deft touch at comedy, waffles between listless and over done. Quaid has his moments when his talent shines through this murky material, but Russo delivers a surprisingly mediocre turn in a role she should sleepwalk through, or may be she did sleepwalk through it.Also, 18 child and teen actors can’t get the screen time that even 12 can get, so none of young cast gets a chance to give his or her character personality. The script for the 2003 Cheaper by the Dozen gave the actors playing two of the older children (Tom Welling and Hilary Duff) a chance to bond with the parents (played by Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt), which gave the comedy some emotional resonance. Here, the script lumps the older kids in completely with the younger ones. The film would have more dramatic resonance if the older ones could be seen as a bridge between what the parents want and what the kids want. This doesn’t happen until the very end, and it comes across as a tacked on happy ending.
Still, Yours, Mine & Ours has some truly funny moments. It’s a silly and fun family flick for parents with ‘tweens and younger. The adult actors give the film some credibility, and director Raja Gosnell (Big Momma’s House and the Scooby Doo movies) keeps the pace fast, only slowing down for some romantic scenes between Quaid and Russo. It’s all too fast for us to stop and examine the numerous cracks in this picture and just fast enough to keep the easy laughs coming. Yours, Mine & Ours is chock full of predictable moments, and the audience can see the punch line the moment any particular joke or gag begins, but it’s all still funny.
5 of 10
B-
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
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