He has been given countless names by many cultures over thousands of years. But it has only been in the past seven decades thatthe creature was committed to film. In 1935, Universalreleased Werewolf of London by director StuartWalker. But it was 1941’s classic The Wolf Man thatfirmly established the modern myth of thewerewolf. The film created a lasting iconic character in the tragic figure of a wayward nobleman, Lawrence Talbot, played by Lon Chaney, Jr., son ofsilent film icon Lon Chaney, star of The Phantom of theOpera and Hunchback of Notre Dame.
"Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" is directed by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter), and stars Logan Lurman, Uma Thurman, and Pierce Brosnan. The film is being released February 12 by 20th Century Fox.
Chris Columbus was attracted to "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" because, as he relates, "We haven't seen the world of Greek Mythology in a story like this before," he elaborates. "I think Rick Riordan tapped into something quite unique, juxtaposing the world of the ancient Greeks with the underbelly of contemporary America."
This year, of the 20 performers nominated for an acting achievement in the four categories, three (15 percent) are African American: Morgan Freeman, Best Actor for "Invictus," Gabourey Sidique, Best Actress, and Mo'nique, Supporting Actress, both for "Precious," a movie that's also nominated for Best Picture, Director (Lee Daniels) and other major awards.
Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's Israeli film, "Ajami," which has just been nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar, is an emotionally powerful if dramatically unnecessarily confusing crimer, set on the streets of Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood, a melting pot of subcultures and conflicts among Jews, Muslims and Christians.
The new Gothic horror noir film, "Shutter Island," based on the popular novel by Dennis Lehane, represents a mid-range and mid-achievement for Scorsese in his post-Oscar phase. The film is dense in imagery but not rich enough in ideas, entertaining but not entirely gripping, stylistically overwrought without being truly poignant.
Lee Daniels is only the second black filmmaker in 82 years of Oscar to be nominated for the prestigious Best Director award. So much for progress--or history moving forward.
We are conducting a brief Oscar survey, now that the ten nominations for Best Picture have been announced. Please answer each of the four questions below. Given the choice between the two top contenders…You can answer by posting a comment or via email, levyemanuel@aol.com.
George Cukor's screen version, for which he finally won the Oscar (at his fifth nomination) is classy but also bloated, overlong (170 minutes), stagy, and suffering from bad dubbing of Audrey Hepburn's singing by Marni Nixon.
Pierre Morel (Taken) is the director of "From Paris With Love," which stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Travolta. The film is being released February 5 by Lionsgate.
This project is more about the relationship between the two guys, who aren’t supposed to work well with each other but they have to, and that’s what makes it fun,” he explains. “It starts out like a funny buddy movie and evolves, slowly but surely, into a darker plot, all the way to the final twist.”
Film reviews and Internet movie reviews by film critic Emanuel Levy. This film review database contains thousands of movie reviews on many different film genres along with profiles of your favorite movie stars and film directors. You can also find movie reviews of independent cinema shown in festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, foreign film reviews as well as DVD reviews. Movie critic Emanuel Levy is known for his accurate Oscar predictions, so be sure to visit the Oscar News section.
