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Always More Horror to Watch - 2024 Sitges Film Festival is Underway
It's October which means it's time to celebrate horror and all the magnificent genre cinema. Now underway in Spain is the 57th Sitges Film Festival, still regarded as THE best horror film festival in all of Europe. It's also the oldest horror festival in the world, with the very first festival taking place in 1968. This is my 6th year back to Sitges, and I'm glad to be in town. Sitges is a small beach town located just 30 minutes by train from Barcelona in Catalonia. The official Catalan name of this fest is Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, which just translates to Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Now that I'm based in Europe, it's much easier for me to attend Sitges instead of TIFF or Fantastic Fest or Fantasia or Beyond Fest or Telluride Horror Show (some of the best genre fests in North America). I'm glad Sitges usually plays the best films from these fests for everyone here in Europe to feast upon. And so now we begin, diving into horror and sci-fi and thrillers and action and everything fun from all corners of the world.
Watch: Tarsem Singh Chats About 'The Fall' While Reading Reviews
"I spent all my money to make the movie..." Some of you may have heard of this film before, some of you maybe not. But now it's screening again with a glorious 4K re-release thanks to Mubi – this interview might convince you to watch. Tarsem's film The Fall is considered a masterpiece by some critics, a flop by others, though it is being given a chance to shine again 18 years later with this restoration. The Fall 4K "Restored Cut" originally premiered at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival a few months ago, and just debuted streaming on Mubi. During the premiere, Letterboxd caught up with filmmaker Tarsem Singh and asked him to read some of the recent Letterboxd reviews raving about the film. The result is this extra fascinating 8-minute video where Tarsem goes on and on telling amazing stories about the film and the process and how hard it was to make & distribute. One of my favorite stories is how David Fincher & Spike Jonze agreed to put their names on it for free to help the film. The Fall stars Lee Pace in one of his first roles, with Catinca Untaru and Justine Waddell. It's a vivid, entrancing, unforgettably unique cinematic experience. So glad it exists.
› Posted on September 29 in Feat, Featurette, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Montage Video Celebrating '30 Years of Searchlight Pictures'
The iconic movie studio Searchlight Pictures is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1994 under the name Fox Searchlight Pictures, they dropped "Fox" after Disney bought 21st Century Fox The cinema chain Picturehouse in the UK is celebrating "30 Years of Searchlight Pictures" with a screening series of 11 films. Below is their lovely trailer. "An independent film powerhouse formed in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, to tell the story of Searchlight is to tell the story of the last thirty years of indie film itself: follow the company's decades-spanning thread, weaving award winners and cult classics together, and find a slate of modern masterpieces dear to the hearts of both the most devoted cinephile and the casual movie-goer." Some of my fave Searchlight films: Sunshine, 500 Days of Summer, Napoleon Dynamite, Black Swan, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, Juno, The Menu, Super Troopers, Thank You for Smoking, The Tree of Life, and The Descendants. Here's to 30 amazing years!! And many more to come.
› Posted on September 25 in Feat, To Watch | Comments
Watch: Director Francis Ford Coppola Drops by 'Video Club' in Paris
"I don't care about prizes..." A legend visits the legendary store in Paris! The latest Video Club video from Konbini in Paris is with the one-and-only filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola - there to promote the release of Megalopolis. They've been on a roll (a cinephile's dream job), getting Brad Pitt and Christopher Nolan, but now it's Coppola's turn. And boy does he deliver. It's their banger 100th episode of the Video Club. "The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Dracula... Francis Ford Coppola is probably the most talked-about director in the history of our Video Club. To celebrate our 100th episode, we couldn't have asked for a more legendary guest." He takes his time strolling around the Parisian video store, chatting about films and filmmakers he admires (and a few he doesn't like), telling stories from his past and his experiences in cinema. He mentions other greats like Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Jean Renoir, Jacques Tati, Martin Scorsese, Sofia Coppola, and many others. This is a fascinating video, it sounds like he just wants to go on & on, never ending stories.
› Posted on September 23 in Feat, To Watch | Comments
Venice 2024: Best of the Fest - Brady Corbet's 'The Brutalist' By a Mile
Each year, I am honored to have a chance to return to the beautiful city of Venice in Northern Italy to attend the Venice Film Festival and catch the latest films premiering there. This year's festival ended up being a mostly low-key, fairly uneventful event. Much like Cannes earlier in the summer, most critics went home wondering why it was such an unimpressive year. it's time to present my picks of my favorite films from Venice 2024. I've chosen only 6 of the best of the fest films that deserve to be highlighted - it's just not a "Top 10" year for fests. This was my eighth year returning to Venice, and I'm always glad to be back, even if there aren't a ton of great films. In total, I watched around 34 films at Venice this year, unfortunately only a handful of them were worthy. Brady Corbet's epic The Brutalist is the best film by a mile - nothing else is even remotely close to being in its league. It's a towering, monumental, majestic masterpiece and I'm glad we had the chance to experience it together at the festival during its initial unveiling. I always do my best to watch as many films as I can, hoping to find any hidden gems and breakout hits amidst the global selection.
Fall Film Festival Season 2024 is Here - 10 Films to Keep An Eye On
Back into the fray we go. Back into the cinemas. Ready to experience cinematic stories of all kinds. The fall film festival season is upon us once again. Starting with the 81st Venice Film Festival which kicks off this week in sunny Italy, along with the 51st Telluride Film Festival in Colorado – two of the most beloved and iconic festivals in the world. Then the 49th Toronto Film Festival will take over in mid-September, before Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX (starting on Sept. 19) and the 62nd New York Film Festival in NYC (starting on Sept. 29). This is when all the secret projects and surprise features they've been saving for the end of the year finally make their first appearance. Which of them will win us over? It's an exciting time for cinephiles who make the voyages to these cities to discover the latest that the gods of cinema have provided. We've been covering these festivals all over the world for the last 18 years in a row - it's part of who we are. Below is my list of my most anticipated from the line-ups across all of the festivals. I'll be back in Venice to watch films at this annual cinema celebration in Italy - though this list contains films from each of the fests.
Interview: Wes Ball - Director of 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes'
"We love Apes movies, let's be happy we have another cool Apes movie to watch." He's so right about this! One of the best sci-fi movies of 2024 is the latest take on the Planet of the Apes franchise - titled Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Directed by sci-fi filmmaker Wes Ball, the movie opened in theaters in May and ended up becoming a massive box office hit over the past few months. I've actually been following Wes Ball's filmmaking career for over a decade - we posted his acclaimed VFX short film Ruin back in 2012 when it first launched. That became a viral hit, then he got the gig to direct The Maze Runner movie, which ended up becoming The Maze Runner trilogy. Somehow in the 12 years since Ruin debuted online, I realized I had never actually interviewed Wes formally for FS. It's finally time... I asked Wes to have a conversation after watching Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in May and we talked for over an hour about making this movie. Along with recapping his entire career so far, his thoughts on VFX, Apes mythology, and much more. Enjoy.
Interview: Composer Tom Holkenborg on Crafting 'Mad Max' Scores
"I consider myself, I call it, a 'full contact composer.' I'm not a guy that sits behind a piano with a piece of paper..." Now playing in theaters worldwide is the newest awesome George Miller post-apocalyptic action movie - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The movie kicks ass and so does its score. Just like with Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa features a score composed by Dutch musician Tom Holkenborg. Before getting into composing scores for movies, Holkenborg went under the moniker "Junkie XL" and was a techno DJ and producer crafting electronica remixes and tracks galore. After achieving mega fame as Junkie XL, he moved into composing - one of his first scores is for the video game movie DOA: Dead or Alive (2006). He later composed the scores for the sequels 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), before being hired by George Miller to craft the intense rock n' roll score for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). It's one of my all-time favorite scores, I still listen to it all the time. So when I was offered a chance to chat with Holkenborg for an interview, I couldn't say no. Here is my brief conversation with him about Mad Max.
Cannes 2024 Finale - The 8 Best Films to Watch Out For From the Fest
What are the best films out of this year's Cannes Film Festival? Which ones should you be taking an interest in? What films should be a priority for you to see? After diving into cinema for 12 days at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, after watching a total of 40 films, it's time to present my 2024 list of my Top 8 Favorites. This was my 14th year back to this festival (I also handed out 4 signed books), and I still love being there right in the middle of all the buzz and excitement, watching new cinema every single day. As I usually say - there's always more to see, always more to take our breath away. These eight favorites listed below are the ones that connected with me emotionally or intellectually, and I hope you'll consider watching a few when they arrive in your neighborhood. They are worth the wait - each one distinct and memorable. It might have been another lackluster Cannes overall, for the most part, though I am happy I caught a few bangers by the end. This is my very final recap of Cannes 2024 - don't skip a chance to watch any of these with an audience.
Cannes Book Giveaway Recap - Thank You for Another Amazing Year
"Fremaux knows his films, his festival, his audience. His taste is exceptional." (–Roger Ebert's notes from Cannes 2009.) At the start of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival two weeks ago, I announced a special giveaway of four signed copies of Matt Singer's book called Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever. Now that the festival has ended, it's time for a quick recap and a thank you to all those who crossed paths with me this year in Cannes. This 2024 giveaway was a follow-up to my 2019 giveaway, when I originally handed out 10 copies of Ebert's Cannes diary book called Two Weeks in the Midday Sun. This time the books were signed by the author, making them even more unique as a gift. Of course, I wanted to connect them to Roger Ebert again, and Matt's book is fantastic - recalling his history as a legendary film critic. All it took to win was finding me at a screening and saying the name of one film – The Brown Bunny. I had an amazing time chatting with my friends and colleagues in Cannes this year. Congrats to the winners.
Cannes 2024 Video Interview with Kazakh Film Critic Oraz Kereibayev
Meet Oraz! Last year while on the film festival circuit, I met a young film critic named Oraz Kereibayev. We quickly became friends, hanging out at the Venice and Berlin Film Festivals. Oraz is from Kazakhstan, a big country in Central Asia located just below Russia and above Uzbekistan & China. Most know Kazakhstan from Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat movies, though of course that's a very deplorable caricature of the country and the people from there. I'm a big fan of Oraz, I'm lucky to call him my friend, and overjoyed that he has become a part of the international film critic community covering film festivals all year long. He decided to make the trek to the 2024 Cannes Film Festival - his first time ever attending this prestigious cinema event. Before the fest ended, I met up with Oraz and interviewed him to talk about who he is, the films he loves, and his experiences at Cannes. I've been going to Cannes for 14 years already, and I also love showing newcomers the ropes and listening to them chat about what it's like to be at this fest. Watch the video below.
Cannes 2024 Giveaway - Signed Copies of 'Opposable Thumbs' Book
"There was no chemistry. They didn't even like each other! But they had a style of relating to the movies, which both of them loved. They were very good critics, and very smart." It's finally time to announce a very special giveaway at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. This is my 14th year attending Cannes, and it's the year 2024, so I have decided to give out 4 signed copies of a new book about two legendary film critics. Back in 2019, I hosted a Cannes giveaway of the hard-to-find Roger Ebert book "Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook" about his thoughts while attending the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. Some of my colleagues that received this book have told me how much they still cherish it. Now in 2024, I want to hand out another Roger Ebert book – but he only published one Cannes diary book in his time. However, the superb author / film critic Matt Singer recently published his own book about Ebert called Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever. 37 years after Ebert published his Cannes diary, we're back again in Cannes for the 77th iteration of this festival and I'm happy to give away a few copies of Matt's book.
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