http://www.btlnews.com Voice of the Crew Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:12:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://www.btlnews.com/awards/irans-best-foreign-film-nominee-asghar-farhadis-a-separation/ http://www.btlnews.com/awards/irans-best-foreign-film-nominee-asghar-farhadis-a-separation/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:58:36 +0000 Jack Egan http://www.btlnews.com/?p=24750 A Separation, a highly lauded film from Iran that has captivated reviewers and moviegoers and garnered two Oscar nominations. The beautifully photographed movie tells a multi-layered story of a modern-day couple in Tehran who are on the verge of a divorce. The wife wants to move abroad for a better life for their daughter but the husband wants to stay, in part because he won’t leave his father who has advanced Alzheimer’s.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/awards/irans-best-foreign-film-nominee-asghar-farhadis-a-separation/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/awards/danish-director-nicolas-windng-refn-pushes-drive-into-high-gear/ http://www.btlnews.com/awards/danish-director-nicolas-windng-refn-pushes-drive-into-high-gear/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:51:14 +0000 Jack Egan http://www.btlnews.com/?p=24336 Nicolas Windng Refn, director of Drive, doesn’t himself drive. He has failed his driver’s license test eight times. Yet the heralded Danish director came to Los Angeles, the city of cars, to make a film filled with some of the most authentic and exciting car chase sequences seen on the screen in years.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/awards/danish-director-nicolas-windng-refn-pushes-drive-into-high-gear/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/awards/stephen-daldrys-extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close/ http://www.btlnews.com/awards/stephen-daldrys-extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:57:59 +0000 Mary Ann Skweres http://www.btlnews.com/?p=24017 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, it was "very simple" for Academy-Award nominated director Stephen Daldry to immediately say yes to directing the film for producer Scott Rudin, who he had worked with on The Hours. The first decision scriptwise was to see the story primarily through the boy Oskar's point of view, a character with a form of high functioning autism that makes those with the condition experience the world in unusual ways. ]]> http://www.btlnews.com/awards/stephen-daldrys-extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/awards/rupert-wyatts-rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/ http://www.btlnews.com/awards/rupert-wyatts-rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:59:18 +0000 Mary Ann Skweres http://www.btlnews.com/?p=23534 Rise of the Planet of the Apes tells an origin story that lays the foundation for the mythology of the first Planet of the Apes film, which takes place 3,000 years in the future. The success of the current film hinges on the believability of the main character, Caesar, a chimpanzee played by a human, that has been visually and audibly created using the most advanced techniques in filmmaking.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/awards/rupert-wyatts-rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/awards/director-j-c-chandor-makes-an-auspicious-debut-with-margin-call/ http://www.btlnews.com/awards/director-j-c-chandor-makes-an-auspicious-debut-with-margin-call/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:59:49 +0000 Scott Lehane http://www.btlnews.com/?p=22590 Margin Call is an entangling thriller involving the key players at an investment firm during the first 24-hours of the 2008 financial crisis. Writer/director J.C. Chandor’s enthralling first feature is a stark portrayal of the financial industry and its denizens as they confront the decisions that shape our global future.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/awards/director-j-c-chandor-makes-an-auspicious-debut-with-margin-call/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/commentary/director-series/brazils-entry-for-best-foreign-film-jose-padilhas-elite-squad-the-enemy-within/ http://www.btlnews.com/commentary/director-series/brazils-entry-for-best-foreign-film-jose-padilhas-elite-squad-the-enemy-within/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000 Jack Egan http://www.btlnews.com/?p=22039 Elite Squad: The Enemy Within is Brazil’s official entry in this year’s competition for the best foreign film Oscar. The often-violent action movie has a reality-based and politically explosive plot – an insider’s pursuit and exposure of deep-seated corruption in the top ranks of the country’s police and government. It has become Brazil’s all-time box office champ, taking in some $70 million to date, more than even Avatar.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/commentary/director-series/brazils-entry-for-best-foreign-film-jose-padilhas-elite-squad-the-enemy-within/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/crafts/director-dee-rees-makes-a-forceful-debut-with-pariah/ http://www.btlnews.com/crafts/director-dee-rees-makes-a-forceful-debut-with-pariah/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:40:40 +0000 Leslie Lindeman http://www.btlnews.com/?p=21871 Pariah, you immediately learn the movie is about a 17 year-old lesbian. She hangs out at a lesbian nightclub, she has lesbian girlfriends, she has trouble with her parents when they suspect she’s a lesbian and she struggles inwardly with coming out as… a lesbian. Unless you are talking to Dee Rees, the film’s writer/director.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/crafts/director-dee-rees-makes-a-forceful-debut-with-pariah/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/awards/new-cronenberg-film-probes-the-birth-of-psychoanalysis/ http://www.btlnews.com/awards/new-cronenberg-film-probes-the-birth-of-psychoanalysis/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:59:11 +0000 Jack Egan http://www.btlnews.com/?p=21751 David Cronenberg describes his ambitious and audacious new film, A Dangerous Method, about the birth of psychoanalysis in the early part of the 20^th century, as an “intellectual action movie.” The real-life story revolves around the complex personal interaction of psychiatry’s pioneering practitioners, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, played by Vigo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender. The third main character, Keira Knightley as Sabina Spielrein, a deeply-troubled Russian woman who is treated by Jung and then Freud, and is involved in a fetishistic sexual relationship with the former.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/awards/new-cronenberg-film-probes-the-birth-of-psychoanalysis/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/commentary/director-series/carlos-saldanha-captures-the-brazilian-vibe-for-rio/ http://www.btlnews.com/commentary/director-series/carlos-saldanha-captures-the-brazilian-vibe-for-rio/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:58:13 +0000 Scott Lehane http://www.btlnews.com/?p=21721 Carlos Saldanha’s charming animated film Rio tells the story of Blu – a domesticated Macaw who never learned to fly, enjoying a sheltered life with his owner Linda in Minnesota. Blu and Linda think he’s the last of his kind, but when they learn about another macaw who lives in Rio de Janeiro, they head to the faraway and exotic land to find Jewel, Blu’s soul mate.]]> http://www.btlnews.com/commentary/director-series/carlos-saldanha-captures-the-brazilian-vibe-for-rio/feed/ 0 http://www.btlnews.com/crafts/scorsese-hails-his-below-the-line-collaborators-for-the-enchanting-hugo/ http://www.btlnews.com/crafts/scorsese-hails-his-below-the-line-collaborators-for-the-enchanting-hugo/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:24:18 +0000 Scott Essman http://www.btlnews.com/?p=20951 Martin Scorsese was eager to acknowledge his many collaborators, both present and in name only, for his new fantasy film, Hugo at a special event in Los Angeles on Nov. 5. Flanked by cinematographer Robert Richardson, composer Howard Shore, production designer Dante Ferretti, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and visual effects supervisor Robert Legato, Scorsese described the making of this magical fairy tale, certainly a departure from his métier of personal projects. ]]> http://www.btlnews.com/crafts/scorsese-hails-his-below-the-line-collaborators-for-the-enchanting-hugo/feed/ 0