TESIS, BILBAO, and More Included in Science Fiction Film Festival, 1/16-3/6
by Nicole Rosky - Jan 15, 2013
The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival which opened its first annual event this past December has partnered with the Cervantes Institute to host the much anticipated 'A Retrospective of Classic Spanish Horror Cinema' every Wednesday at 7pm from January 16 through March 6. The event kicks off with the screening of Alejandro Amenábar's chilling film Tesis (1996), a unique interpretation that presents secrets, crime and suspense in this Goya Award winner for Best Film. Nothing is as frightening yet absolutely brilliant than the featured works from filmmakers who have brought forth a classic cornerstone of cinema and have unleashed some of the most heart-wrenching moments in movie history.
Sherman Hemsley, Michael Eisner, et al. to Be Inducted Into Television Hall of Fame
by Nicole Rosky - Nov 29, 2011
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame Committee has selected a groundbreaking production team, an iconic executive, an internationally renowned TV variety show host, a leading actor, an award-winning lighting designer, a multiple Emmy®-winning producer, and one of television's most beloved comedy couples as the newest inductees into the Hall of Fame, announced Television Academy Chairman and CEO John Shaffner.
SATURDAY SPECIAL: A Salute To Sidney Lumet
by Robert Diamond - Apr 9, 2011
Today we lost one of the greats: the gentle giant of directors, Sidney Lumet. What a resume! Just to pick seven of perhaps the best known of the bunch, the bunch in question being over 100 titles strong: 12 ANGRY MEN, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK and BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD - the films spanning fifty years from MEN in 1957 and DEVIL in 2007 - it is clear to see why Lumet was one of the most cherished and celebrated directors in Hollywood, especially known for his tough, gritty New York stories and his pristine stage-to-screen transfers. For an excellent example of the latter (in addition to LONG DAY'S JOURNEY and the others) check out DEATHTRAP - based on Ira Levin's play, the longest-running thriller in Broadway history - featuring Michael Caine in one of his best roles and Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon in their finest performances on film. For an example of the former genre, look no further than NETWORK, containing one of the strongest screenplays ever penned, from the fiery and ferocious pen of Paddy Cheyefsky, and Faye Dunaway in her Oscar-winning performance for all the ages. As far as theatrical screenplays on screen, Lumet would be hard-pressed to even come close to the power, prescience and transformative brilliance at the core of the conceit of that film - yet he did just that; with his final, 2007 film no less. I am speaking, of course, of the underrated and riveting BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, with Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris. Taking an original screenplay that could just as well have been written for the stage - shades of 12 ANGRY MEN, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, NETWORK and SERPICO, certainly - Lumet made a bristling, biting brilliant work of staggering craft and ingenuity - all with verve, energy and drive of a man a quarter of his age at the time (80). His films were classics in his own time and, now, in his passing, they are just as timeless - if not more so. With each passing year, new layers of truth, beauty, sadness and soulfulness can be found in the countless frames in the innumerable unforgettable scenes in his many masterpieces.