Martin Scorsese

Alec Baldwin and James Toback Join Forces for Cannes Documentary SEDUCED AND ABANDONED

by Matt Currie    Posted: May 15th, 2012 at 6:38 pm

Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) and Oscar-nominated director James Toback (Bugsy) want to make a movie—a political drama (or something) in which Baldwin will star. But they don’t have the money. So they’re going to Cannes to pitch their ideas to some money men. There are no guarantees that it’s going to happen. But don’t worry, because while they’re trying to get that film made, they’re going to be making another film…a documentary, in fact, about trying to get their other film made. It’s all very avant-garde.

While the film they’re trying to get made is currently untitled, the film they’re filming about trying to get that film made is called Seduced and Abandoned. It will follow their efforts to secure financing for a movie armed with only an idea and take audiences inside Cannes, exploring how the industry is changing and the festival itself is no longer just a festival. The two have already lined-up interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Hit the jump for more.

Martin Scorsese to Produce Rolls Royce Biopic SILVER GHOST

by Matt Currie    Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 1:13 pm

American legend Martin Scorsese is set to lend his singular filmic eye to a British tale, signing on as a producer for car biopic Silver Ghost. He joins fellow producer Lord Richard Attenborough (Ghandi) on the long-gestating project, which will delve into the true story behind the Rolls Royce car company. Beginning around 1900,  it will follow the lives of founders Charles Rolls and Henry Royce, as well as touching on car enthusiast Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, whose secret love affair with his long-time secretary ultimately led to the creation of the brand’s signature hood ornament, “The Spirit of Ecstasy.” Hit the jump for more.

Kyle Chandler Joins Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 9th, 2012 at 5:53 pm

Director Martin Scorsese is putting together one hell of a cast for his next project, The Wolf of Wall Street.  Based on Jordan Belfort’s memoir, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  Oscar nominee Jonah Hill recently joined the cast as Beflort’s close friend and business partner, and now Deadline reports that Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler is signing on to play the FBI agent who built the case against Belfort and took him down.

Chandler has landed some fantastic roles after wrapping the final season of FNL (for which he won the Best Actor Emmy).  He’s currently filming Kathryn Bigelow’s drama about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, he stars opposite Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe in Broken City, and he’ll be seen later this year in Ben Affleck’s very promising period drama Argo.  It’ll be interesting to see if Scorsese makes good on his promise to use 3D on all his post-Hugo projects, but either way he’s lining up a fantastic cast for The Wolf of Wall Street.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the book.

New Red-Band Trailer for THE DICTATOR; Sacha Baron Cohen Kidnaps Martin Scorsese on SNL

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 7th, 2012 at 10:38 am

A new red-band trailer for the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy The Dictator has gone online.  The clip is basically structured similarly to the other trailers, but it includes alternate takes and different jokes.  I was a big fan of Borat and admired the ballsiness of Bruno, but I’m starting to feel like The Dictator may be a bit one-note.  This is the first Cohen comedy that’s set up as a true narrative feature instead of a mockumentary, so it’ll be interesting to see how this outlandish character fares throughout a true story arc.  I liked the opening scene of the film so hopefully I’m wrong, but I’m not entirely convinced that I won’t tire of the character after 30 minutes of the film.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  We’ve also included an embed of a sketch from this past weekend’s Saturday Night Live in which Cohen appeared in character as said Dictator holding the actor’s Hugo director Martin Scorsese hostage.  The Dictator opens on May 16th.

Jonah Hill Joins Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: May 4th, 2012 at 1:00 pm

Proving that his dramatic turn in last year’s Moneyball (and subsequent Oscar nomination) wasn’t simply a one-off, Jonah Hill is looking to next work with legendary director Martin Scorsese.  Deadline reports that Hill will star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Scorsese’s adaptation of Jordan Belfort‘s memoir The Wolf of Wall Street.  DiCaprio stars as Belfort, a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.

Hill will play Belfort’s close friend who becomes Belfort’s business partner once he convinces Hill’s character to join him in the world of stocks. Hill is also set to star opposite James Franco in the drama True Story, and his addition to The Wolf of Wall Street only affirms the fact that he plans on continuing with more dramatic roles.  Nevertheless, he’s not leaving comedy completely behind.  He’s set to star in Seth Rogen’s directorial debut The Apocalypse and he’ll next be seen alongside Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn in the sci-fi comedy The Watch.  Production on The Wolf of Wall Street begins in August.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the book.

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST and VANYA OF 42ND STREET Criterion Blu-ray Reviews

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: April 28th, 2012 at 6:00 am

The Martin Scorsese who put out The Last Temptation of Christ is not the Martin Scorsese we know today. He had yet to make Goodfellas, and though Raging Bull netted Robert De Niro an Oscar, Scorsese spent much of the 1980’s in the wilderness, making niche films which were considered disappointments, only to secure financing through directing a for-hire hit movie (The Color of Money). Christ was most notable for the controversy it engendered, as it was protested by a number of religious groups, which kept it out of most big chain theaters. Vanya of 42^nd Street is a project that transcends its set-up, and acts as a follow-up to Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre. It reunited Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn with a cast (that includes Julianne Moore) that performed Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya on the fly for years. Both have come out from Criterion on Blu-ray, and our reviews of both follow after the jump.

Confirmed: Martin Scorsese to Direct Leonardo DiCaprio in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 19th, 2012 at 10:57 am

Red Granite Pictures has confirmed last month’s report that Martin Scorsese will reteam with Leonardo DiCaprio for the adaptation of Jordan Belfort‘s memoir The Wolf of Wall Street.  DiCaprio will play Belfort, a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter penned the script.  Filming is slated to begin in New York in August.

Hit the jump for the press release.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio Back on for THE WOLF OF WALL STREET ; Shooting Begins in August

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 15th, 2012 at 10:26 am

Martin Scorsese is back on to reunite with Leonardo DiCaprio for a fifth time, and will collaborate on the drama The Wolf of Wall Street.  A little over a year ago, we reported that the two were set to make the film and have it be Scorsese’s follow up to Hugo, but Scorsese dropped off the project in May.   Now Deadline reports that Scorsese is back on board, and shooting is set to begin in August in New York.  The story is based on “Jordan Belfort‘s memoir of his days as a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.”  Boardwalk Empire creator Terrence Winter wrote the script, and he’ll polish it up before the movie goes into production.

Hit the jump for more.

HUGO Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: March 5th, 2012 at 11:00 am

Martin Scorsese loves movies. You don’t even have to watch Scorsese’s films to know that he’s as movie mad as they come, it’s part of what defines him as a human being. Where Quentin Tarantino has made himself the king of cinema from 1970 on, Scorsese’s love seems to cover the entirety of cinema. And to enjoy Hugo, his love letter to early cinema, it probably helps to be a little movie mad yourself. Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Sacha Baron Cohen star in Hugo, and our review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Tribeca Film Picks Up Keanu Reeves’ Film vs. Digital Documentary SIDE BY SIDE

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 13th, 2012 at 12:24 pm

The documentary Side by Side is certainly one of the most interesting projects I’ve learned about in the past few months, and now it looks as though the film will be heading to a theater near you this summer. Tribeca Film announced today that it has acquired North American rights to the documentary produced and presented by Keanu Reeves. The film explores the evolving landscape of filmmaking, specifically the advent of digital and how its popularity affects traditional filmmaking. While that subject matter alone is worth exploring, Reeves and director Chris Kenneally sat down with nearly every master filmmaker working today to get their musings on the future of moviemaking.

Side by Side features interviews with James Cameron, David Fincher, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Stephen Soderbergh, the Wachowskis, and many, many more. You can watch the trailer right here. Tribeca Film is planning a multi-platform summer release for the pic, followed by a broadcast premiere early next year in addition to screenings at college campuses and film schools across the country. The film is having its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

2012 Oscar Nominations Announced; HUGO and THE ARTIST Lead the Pack

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 6:05 am

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

Oscars 2012: Adam Predicts the Nominees

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 21st, 2012 at 2:38 pm

As I’ve been covering awards season pretty extensively here on the site over the past few months, I figured it would be appropriate to (foolishly) try to predict the upcoming Oscar nominations. It’s been a fairly tame year, as a few frontrunners were singled out early in the race and have held their ground throughout the grueling awards season. We haven’t been without a few surprises, as Steven Spielberg’s War Horse took a massive tumble following snubs from most of the major guilds, and David Fincher has surged back into the race bringing his adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with him.

Though there are plenty of safe bets when it comes to the 2012 Oscar nominations, there are still a few wildcards and tricky categories. I’ve put on my prognosticating cap (those interested can purchase one of these nifty hats at your local Target) and compiled a list of who and what I think will make the cut. Hit the jump to see how I think the nods will stack up when they’re announced on January 24th.

First Trailer for Film vs. Digital Doc SIDE BY SIDE Featuring Interviews with Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and More

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 18th, 2012 at 5:12 pm

A little over a week ago, a curious little documentary was announced called Side by Side. The project, spearheaded by Keanu Reeves, features interviews with a number of master filmmakers regarding the film vs. digital debate. Now the first trailer for the film has popped up and Side by Side is officially one of my most anticipated movies of 2012. The trailer showcases Reeves having candid conversations about the death of film (and the advent of 3D) with people like George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Steven Soderbergh. It looks incredibly intriguing, and I can’t wait to hear today’s foremost filmmakers weigh in on the future of moviemaking.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Side by Side will be released sometime this year.

2012 Golden Globe Winners Announced; THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS Take Top Prizes

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 15th, 2012 at 8:20 pm

I’ve just spent the past three hours watching and live-blogging the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.  My brain feels mushy.  After the jump and presented without comment is a list of this year’s winners. If you don’t even want to hit the jump, The Artist and The Descendants won Best Comedy/Musical and Best Drama, respectively.  If you want to awards prognosticate, I’ll save you the trouble: both were nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.  Those nominations haven’t been announced yet, but they were nominated.  Trust me.  I’m a professional.

Also, feel free to sound off on the winners and losers.  Lord knows I’ve been doing it for the past three hours.

Directors Guild Award Documentary Nominees Announced; includes PROJECT NIM, THE INTERRUPTERS, and Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison Doc

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 12th, 2012 at 1:07 pm

On the heels of announcing their nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2011, the Directors Guild of America have announced their nominations for Best Documentary Director.  The nominees are Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky for Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Steve James for The Interrupters, James Marsh for Project Nim, Richard Press for Bill Cunningham New York, and Martin Scorsese for George Harrison: Living in the Material World.  Scorsese also picked up DGA nomination this year for Hugo, which brings his total number of nominations to ten.  He previously won for The Departed.

While I’m rooting for Project Nim, this is a fine collection of nominees.  It’s much better than the Academy’s short list, which only includes Project Nim, Paradise Lost 3, and Bill Cunningham New York.  The winner of the DGA’s 2011 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary will be announced January 28th.

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