Samson & DelilahJoe Johnston Conjures The Wolfman
Former Industrial Light and Magic art director Joe Johnston became a feature film director over 20 years ago when he came aboard... »
Danish Director Blends Comedy and Tragedy in An Education
The critically acclaimed film, An Education, which garnered the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, has quietly slipped into Oscar contention. From a script by British author Nick Hornby (About a Boy), and based on Lynn Barber’s memoir, the film is more than just the story of a bright schoolgirl on the... »
Terry Gilliam on Creating The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is director Terry Gilliam’s first film in four years. The movie tells the story of a circus wagon with a troupe of players traveling through modern-day London. Presiding is Doctor Parnassus, played by Christopher Plummer, as a wizened old storyteller who supposedly has lived for thousands of years. »
Celebrated Fashion Designer Makes His Directorial Debut on A Single Man
As a first-time film director, fashion designer Tom Ford makes an auspicious debut in A Single Man. Based on a Christopher Isherwood story of the same name, the movie, set in the early 1960s, is about a portentous day in the life of a gay man, George Falconer, who is coming to terms... »
Defying Conventional Expectations in Up in the Air
With his earlier films Juno and Thank You for Smoking, Oscar-nominated director Jason Reitman established himself as a smart, imaginative and wry storyteller with a penchant for provocative anti-heroes that defy conventional expectations. With his latest offering, Up in the Air, based on Walter Kirn’s 2001 novel of the same title, Reitman continues along... »
The Long, Slow Process of Bringing Coraline to the Screen
“It’s difficult to get funding for stop motion,” says director Henry Selick, of trying to finance his projects. That he was previously the director of modern holiday staple The Nightmare Before Christmas tells just how over-cautious—or non-available—production capital must really be. Selick was talking about raising money for Coraline, his adaptation of the Neil Gaiman... »
Jane Campion – Bright Star
After a four-year hiatus, award-winning director-writer Jane Campion returns to top form with Bright Star, a film about 19th century Romantic poet John Keats and his inspiring two-year love affair with Fanny Brawne before his death at the age of 25. Campion, who won an Oscar for her screenplay for The Piano in 1994,... »
Paul Schraeder The Walker
The Walker is the most recent film from veteran director and screenwriter Paul Schrader — the third part of what’s referred to as his “lonely man” trilogy, which began with American Gigolo (1980) and continued with Light Sleeper (1992). The Walker is a dark satire about a man on the margins whose importance lies in... »
A Bittersweet Journey into the Heartland of Japan
The 2009 Best Foreign Language Academy Award winning film, Departures (Okuribito), takes the viewer into the heartland of Japan to experience a sacred part of Japanese cultural heritage—the ceremonial preparation of the dead for cremation in the presence of the bereaved. When cellist Daigo Kobayashi’s (Masahiro Motoki) orchestra disbands, he returns to his family... »
Director Ross Katz Takes Risks on Taking Chance
When Oscar-nominated producer-turned-director Ross Katz makes a movie, he hopes his crew is as emotionally invested as he is. When he found one of his Teamsters weeping in the restroom after an especially detailed scene in a military mortuary, he realized the difficult subject matter of Taking Chance—nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at... »
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Director Series
Joe Johnston Conjures The WolfmanFebruary 2010 | By Scott Essman
Former Industrial Light and Magic art director Joe Johnston became a feature film director over 20 years ago when he came aboard... »
Danish Director Blends Comedy and Tragedy in An Education
January 2010 | By Mary Ann Skweres
The critically acclaimed film, An Education, which garnered the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, has quietly slipped into Oscar contention. From... »
Exclusive Film Reviews
Up in the AirDecember 2009 | By Len Klady
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has an amiable disposition that belies the fact that it’s best to stay out of his path. You see he’s... »
The Young Victoria
December 2009 | By Len Klady
The enduring image of Queen Victoria, whose reign dominated the bulk of the 19th century, is of a benevolent, elderly grandmother. Though she was... »