News

The long and rewarding collaboration between Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater stretches back 30 years to Before Sunrise, continuing with the other two parts of that superlative romantic trilogy, filmed at nine-year intervals, Before Sunset and Before Midnight. While that project spanned 27 years, the actor and the director also spent more than a decade shooting Boyhood for a few days at a time, once or twice a year. Their intimate knowledge of artistic symbiosis adds a poignant underlay to Hawke and Linklater’s reunion on Blue Moon, a transfixing character study that X-rays the shaky skeleton of a creative partnership of comparable duration.

Written with wry humor and perspicacity by Robert Kaplow, whose novel was the basis of Linklater’s 2008 feature, Me and Orson Welles, the new film again is set in the world of Broadway and expands on theater lore in illuminating personal ways.

It unfolds in real time on...

The Alexa 35 is booming! As IndieWire released its camera survey, it seems that the new Super 35 flagship from Arri is among the most popular cameras chosen by Sundance 2024’s filmmakers. The Arri 35 causes the notable Super 35 format to go back to the game. Furthermore, the Arri Alexa Mini is the most popular camera five years in a row. Watch the segmentation.

Sundance 2024’s Narratives: Camera Manufacturers’ chart

As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the Arri 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the Arri 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) Alexa Mini, the Arri 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers.

Stars: Carlson Young, Udo Kier, Vinessa Shaw, Dermot Mulroney, John Karna, Soko, Lillie Frank, Liz Mikel | Written and Directed by Carlson Young

Actress Carlson Young (best known for Scream: The TV Series) turns writer-director-star with this trippy horror debut, adapted from her own 2018 short film. Inspired by a 1666 sci-fi novel by pioneering author Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World delivers delivers nightmarish imagery and some decent jump scares, but the simplistic script struggles to match the quality of the visuals.

Young plays Margaret (presumably named in tribute to Cavendish), a depressed student who’s still haunted by the mysterious death of her twin sister Elizabeth (Lillie Frank), who drowned in the swimming pool when they were both children. In particular, she has recurring memories of a sinister figure (Udo Kier) who appeared just before the death, seemingly beckoning both sisters into a black hole.

When Margaret’s frequently bickering parents (Vinessa...

For a filmmaker to take a possessive credit in their debut is already a confident move; for the opening credits of the first feature by writer-director-star Carlson Young to present it as “Carlson Young’s ‘The Blazing World’” is a brazen one. That title, of course, belongs first to a somewhat more established female author: Margaret Cavendish, whose 1666 book “The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World” was a foundational work of science fiction. Cavendish’s adventurous exploration of alternate dimensions has given loose inspiration to Young’s glittery but grief-fueled fantasy, which those credits again describe as “inspired by Margaret Cavendish and other dreams.”

Other names like Lewis Carroll, Guillermo del Toro and Tarsem Singh aren’t lucky enough to get namechecked, though they’re all clearly in Young’s dream stew. The result, however, isn’t a film to which many would eagerly lay claim. Ambitious but tediously precious,...

The Blazing World is trying—really, really trying. It knows a whole bunch of classics and clearly took more than a few notes from them. The starting point is straight out of Ordinary People. The production design is straight from Robert Wiene and Victor Sjöström. The score borders on plagiarizing that of The Shining a few times, and the main character is clearly named after Margaret Cavendish as if naming the film after her 1666 work wasn’t enough. Come to think of it, saying that Carlson Young’s feature debut is really trying is something of an understatement.

But while most bad movies are easy to dismiss, The Blazing World is a bit different. It’s easy to feel bad for how bad it is. Everyone involved here clearly wanted to make something great, to pour themselves onto the screen. Here, Young adapts her 2018 short film of the same name to 99 minutes,...

Fans of Maria Semple’s book-club staple have long loved the mad protagonist of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette”: a middle-aged mother who has lost her way and, quite possibly, her mind. Semple’s novel portrays this dramatic unraveling via a clever collection of modern detritus — emails, receipts, memos and interviews.

Richard Linklater’s adaptation is a much more straightforward affair, heavily reliant on star power to replace the literary stylings he and his co-writers have left behind. This approach is not an ideal match for the source material, and many may wish the book had been adapted by a filmmaker more connected to its distinctive idiosyncrasies.

But those who arrive without any preconceptions — or are willing to stray from the novel’s style — will appreciate the assets of a modestly engaging and gently touching dramedy.

Watch Video: Cate Blanchett Terrorizes Kristen Wiig's Home in New 'Where'd You Go Bernadette?...

Over the years, no one has quite captured the feeling of just spending time with friends on the big screen like Richard Linklater has. It’s an amazing skill for which he doesn’t quite get the credit he deserves. Yes, he’s feted often and this skill is mentioned, but to be able to do it like he does is really something. This week, and today, actually, audiences can see Linklater once again chronicle individuals just spending time with each other, as Last Flag Flying is being released. This is a terrific movie, among the best of the year. Linklater has done it again. He’s on quite the run lately, between this, Everybody Wants Some, and of course, Boyhood. Once more, a description for those of you not aware what this one is about. The film is a sequel of sorts to The Last Detail, though familiarity with that picture is hardly required.

This morning, audiences at the 2017 New York Film Festival were the first to see Richard Linklater’s latest outing, the road trip dramedy Last Flag Flying. It’s the Opening Night Selection of the fest, officially kicking it off. Luckily for all of us in attendance, it’s also a terrific work, signaling not just another Academy Award contender, but another great film for the year. Plus, it honors the legacy of the flick that came before it (more on that in a moment). Amazon Studios continues to pick excellent bits of cinema to promote. This could very well end up just as successful as Manchester by the Sea was for them last year. The film is a sequel to The Last Detail, though familiarity with that picture is hardly required. Out of contact with each other for three decades, a trio of the Vietnam War veterans are brought back together.

Earlier today, a Trailer dropped for Richard Linklater’s upcoming pseudo sequel to The Last Detail. It’s called Last Flag Flying and is set to open the New York Film Festival this year. Until now, it’s been purely based on speculation that this movie could be a good one. Well, now that I’ve seen the Trailer, I feel confident in saying this should be in contention during the season. You’ll be able to scope it out later, but right now, we should discuss the flick a bit first. There will obviously be more to come around Nyff time, though that shouldn’t stop us from getting a head start now, should it? From the looks of it, the film is going to be at least partly a road trip, working as a sort of pseudo sequel to the classic The Last Detail. Back when the Nyff press release hit,...

After a decade working with Richard Linklater, cinematographer Shane F. Kelly has learned that the most important rule on a Linklater set is that the performers have primacy. “Rick wants you to provide him with a stage for his actors to work within. So as a Dp you can’t really be too controlling,” Kelly said. “He wants the actors to have freedom of both performance and movement and if I try to restrict that, I’ll get a little nod from Rick.” It’s a lesson Kelly learned in his first collaboration with Linklater on 2006’s A Scanner Darkly, when the Irish-born […]...

If I had to estimate how many times I’ve seen Richard Linklater’s Dazed & Confused since it was released in 1993, I’d be willing to bet it’s over three dozen by now. I adore the film, and it’s one of those movies that has grown over time for me. The more I’ve gone back to it, the longer I’ve lived with it, the more I’ve found in it. That movie has a cast that was largely unknown at the time but that has gone on to look almost overstuffed with star power. It is a remarkable ensemble, and even the kids who didn’t go on to further work or bigger stardom did work that has aged beautifully. I never got around to seeing a trailer for this one. In fact, it almost feels like Paramount’s sneaking it out. It just premiered at SXSW,...

It might have something to do with how much I love Everybody Wants Some, but I’m still thinking about Richard Linklater and his career to date. Yes, I touched on that a bit last week, and previously in 2014 when Boyhood was making its way through the awards season, but I’m not quite done just yet. There’s something about Linklater that has me constantly thinking about and re-evaluating his films. Interestingly enough, his flicks tend to be ones that lend themselves nicely to introspection/retrospection. In doing this, one of the things I’ve actually come up with is that he’s actually yet to make a bad movie, despite having a nearly 20 deep filmography. As such, it made perfect sense to rank his films today, showing you just how varied yet consistent he is as a director. It’s really quite something to behold, at least in my eyes…...

I knew going in to see Richard Linklater’s new film Everbody Wants Some earlier this week that it was likely to appeal to me. What I didn’t expect was a near masterpiece and perhaps an instant cult classic. I absolutely adored this movie and really think it’s among the best titles of 2016 so far. Linklater has made something that’s not just a worthy companion piece/spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused, but something that even continues some of the themes explored in Boyhood. This is another top notch effort that shows his current filmmaking to be at near master status. This is a special film. The movie looks at the first weekend at college for freshman pitcher Jake Bradford (Blake Jenner). We basically just follow him as he meets his teammates, including Glenn McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), Billy Autry (Will Brittain), Dale Douglas (J.

Richard Linklater's 12-year odyssey "Boyhood" is the film to beat in this year's Oscar race, racking up critics group awards and distinguishing itself  as "an epic of the intimate." But for longtime editor Sandra Adair (winner of the La Film Critics' prize) and camera operator turned Dp Shane Kelly, "Boyhood" represents the ultimate in Linklater's brand of fictional vérité. "The film taps into some very core things about what makes us human and our experiences dealing with the disappointments in life, the unexpected little moments that seem so inconsequential at the time but add up to the fabric of our lives," Adair says. "And I think that's what audiences relate to. They see themselves, they see their parents, they see their siblings. It's the cumulative effect of all of these little moments that become a little stunning." If we thought Linklater's "Before" trilogy was bold,...

By Terence Johnson

Managing Editor

I don’t think I can recall having as transformative screening experience at a film festival as I did with Boyhood. This new film from Richard Linklater was a picture 12 years in the making and the finished product is a wonderfully epic sojourn into the life of a child as he grows into a young man. Dazzling without being over the top, soulful without being pandering, Boyhood is a great film that leaves you a changed person at the end.

We first meet Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) at age 6. His parents (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke) are divorced and he’s concerned more with riding his bike with a friend and painting graffiti on random bridges. As the film progresses, we see the family move from their house, his mother get remarried twice, and all the while track Mason’s growth as a person and how his experiences shape him.

Right up there with the Mona Lisa, she is one of the centuries’ many curiosities and subject of endless fascination, Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” will be included in Sony Pictures Classics fall curriculum. After recently picking up Alex Gibney’s Lance Armstrong docu, they’ve now acquired the worldwide rights to Teller’s (of Penn & Teller fame) Tim’s Vermeer and as reported earlier this morning, the docu will be shown at Tiff and other fall fests before receiving a theatrical release next year.

Gist: This follows Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, as he attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all of art: How did 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) manage to paint so photo-realistically, 150 years before the invention of photography? Jenison’s epic research project ultimately succeeds as he uses 17th century technology — lenses and...

Sony Pictures Classics announced today they have acquired worldwide rights to the documentary Tim's Vermeer, directed by Teller of Penn & Teller fame. Produced by Teller's stage partner Penn Jillette and Farley Ziegler, the film follows Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, as he attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all of art: How did 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer ("Girl with a Pearl Earring") manage to paint so photo-realistically, 150 years before the invention of photography? Jenison's epic research project ultimately succeeds as he uses 17th century technology - lenses and mirrors - to develop a technique that might have been used by Vermeer, supporting a theory as extraordinary as what he discovers.

Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces; on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney; and eventually even to Buckingham Palace,...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights to the art documentary "Tim's Vermeer," directed by Teller, the famed magician of Penn & Teller fame. The film follows Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, as he attempts to solve how 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer managed to paint photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography. The film features a score by composter Conrad Pope ("My Week With Marilyn") and cinematography by "A Scanner Darkly" Dp Shane F. Kelly. "My buddy, Tim Jenison, told me over supper he was going to try to paint a Vermeer," said producer Penn Jillette. "Tim is a genius, but I'm a skeptic. I wanted to see him do it. Teller has been the Penn & Teller de facto director since our beginnings so we made a movie of Tim's whole monomaniacal trip. Having Sony Pictures Classics as the first words on the screen means it's more than...