“Gravity” is a full-on ride, as immersive an experience as you could hope for in a movie. It puts you right there with Sandra Bullock, having its way with your equilibrium. So it’s high praise when a guy like James Cameron calls it “the best space film ever done.”
James Cameron on 'Gravity': 'It's the movie I've been hungry to see for an awful long time'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:58 pm · September 4th, 2013
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
'12 Years a Slave' featurette details the true story setting of Steve McQueen's film
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:55 am · September 4th, 2013
A new featurette for McQueen’s film does a great job of setting the true story scene of the film. Interviews with McQueen, star Chiwetel Ejiofor and producers Dede Gardner and Bill Pohlad are sprinkled throughout.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
'Saving Mr. Banks,' 'Foxcatcher' and 'Inside Llewyn Davis' set for 2013 AFI Fest
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:25 am · September 4th, 2013
AFI Fest has come out swinging with a pair of big premieres for the 2013 edition of the Los Angeles-based festival and a closing night selection reflective of an American indie skipping across the festival circuit like a stone this year.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Ron Howard's 'Rush' could shift into high gear this Oscar season
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 4:11 pm · September 3rd, 2013
Ron Howard’s “Rush” has occupied some prime real estate throughout our Contenders section for a number of weeks. Lots of “but racing movies don’t register” and “it looks too commercial” or whatever greeted the suggestion that it could be an Oscar player. There’s been a reason we’ve had a lot of faith in it: people love this movie.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: Wrapping up the 40th annual fest
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:06 am · September 3rd, 2013
The 40th annual Telluride Film Festival has come to a close, unofficially launching the Oscar season and wrapping up another wonderfully curated program that continues to be one of my most anticipated journeys each year.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: J.C. Chandor on the multiple metaphors of 'All is Lost'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:21 pm · September 2nd, 2013
Like any artist, J.C. Chandor isn’t interested in tying his work down with one thematic takeaway. Indeed, his latest film, “All is Lost,” lives in the abstract and can service any number of perspectives on it. But for a guy who launched his career with the financial crisis indie “Margin Call,” one can’t help but wonder if this film, about a man stranded at sea as things go from bad to worse, isn’t in some way a metaphor for market collapse and financial ruin as seen over the last five years.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention · Interviews
Off the Carpet: Telluride launches the season from 'Gravity' to '12 Years a Slave'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:27 am · September 2nd, 2013
The Telluride Film Festival wraps up today and with that, the upcoming awards season has finally taken a little shape. We have a long way to go, of course, and no one should be calling the race from this far out, but we certainly know a few things.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: Penn and Teller's 'Tim's Vermeer' might be the breakout hit of the festival
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:17 pm · September 1st, 2013
I must say I’m happy to see that the media is finding its way to Penn and Teller’s “Tim’s Vermeer” here at the fest. I caught the film on a whim Thursday morning and haven’t found the right time and headspace to write it up, but it might just be — still — my favorite entry of the 40th annual Telluride Film Festival.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: Jonás Cuarón's 'Aningaaq' short plays as a companion piece to Alfonso Cuarón's 'Gravity'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:29 pm · September 1st, 2013
There’s an interesting bit of synergy happening in Telluride this year between the hottest ticket of the festival and a modest short film that has been screening before John Curran’s “Tracks.”
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: 'All is Lost' and 'Gravity' play with similar themes at sea and in space
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:38 am · September 1st, 2013
Survive this life-affirming double feature.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: Nothing touches Oscar Isaac in 'Inside Llewyn Davis' … nothing
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:42 pm · August 31st, 2013
As I let the film marinate I can’t help but take a moment to praise this performance.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: On the beauty and barbarity of sure-fire Oscar contender '12 Years a Slave'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:11 pm · August 31st, 2013
TELLURIDE, Colo. – Fox Searchlight was smart to get into business with filmmaker Steve McQueen two years ago when, not long after screening his last film, “Shame,” here at the Telluride Film Festival, they acquired it for distribution. Further dividends will be paid in the sterling accomplishment of “12 Years a Slave,” to be sure.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: The Coen Bros. and T Bone Burnett celebrated for telling the stories of American music
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:15 pm · August 31st, 2013
Given the Coen brothers’ catalog of great American films, they would have been perfectly suited to a tribute unto themselves at this year’s 40th annual Telluride Film Festival. But when you consider Telluride’s connection to music via the annual Bluegrass music festival held in June, the Coens’ collaboration with T Bone Burnett over the years and particularly how that collaboration has reached a peak with this year’s “Inside Llewyn Davis,” honoring them together made way too much sense.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: Robert Redford looks back at the progression of an industry
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:52 pm · August 30th, 2013
It’s interesting seeing Robert Redford receive a tribute at the Telluride Film Festival. With Sundance so ingrained in his blood and his being the face of an entire institution, his presence here — albeit in a completely warranted capacity — feels like a touch of infidelity. But it’s too good an opportunity to pass up for a fixture of Hollywood history who this year delivers an absolutely amazing, sure-fire Oscar-contending performance in J.C. Chandor’s “All is Lost.”
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: Denis Villeneuve's 'Prisoners' is a bow of tension drawn impossibly tight
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:47 pm · August 30th, 2013
They simply don’t make thrillers like Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” at the studio level, and yet here it is. Glacially paced, bloated to a 158 minute running time, stingy with details as its mystery unfolds, it goes against most every convention for a film like this.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: Weinstein to sneak 'Salinger' after pulling 'Philomena' at the last minute
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:42 pm · August 30th, 2013
Shane Salerno’s documentary “Salinger” has reportedly grabbed a “surprise late entry” to the lineup. If true, it’s an interesting turn of events, given how things were apparently supposed to shake out originally.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride dedicates The Werner Herzog Theater with a gorgeous presentation of 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:21 pm · August 29th, 2013
In 1975, filmmaker Werner Herzog had films such as “The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser,” “Even Dwarfs Started Small” and “Signs of Life” under his belt. Tom Luddy went to his fellow Telluride Film Festival co-founders Bill and Stella Pence with the idea to honor him with one of the festival’s tributes at the second annual edition. And so the stage was set for a long-lasting relationship.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Telluride: 'Labor Day' with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin marks a fresh and mature departure for Jason Reitman
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:30 pm · August 29th, 2013
My immediate takeaway from Jason Reitman’s “Labor Day,” which kicks off the Telluride Film Festival this afternoon at the annual patrons screening, was that it was an unexpected mature step for the filmmaker who has offered up such self-aware films as “Thank You For Smoking,” “Juno,” “Up in the Air” and “Young Adult.” There isn’t a whiff of that tone here whatsoever. The edge that has defined Reitman’s work has been set aside while a more refined, lived-in aesthetic has taken hold.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
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