RobertBenton Tagged Articles at Cinematical
DVD Review: Bonnie and Clyde (Special Edition)
Filed under: Warner Brothers », DVD Reviews », Home Entertainment »
Where exactly does Bonnie and Clyde rank in the American pantheon? It's a bona-fide classic, to be sure. It placed on the American Film Institute's Top 100 in 1998 and again in 2007. It's also on the IMDB's Top 250 list. Upon closer inspection, however, it's far more than a perfect, polished gemstone. Rather, it's a bundle of contradictions. Everyone knows that it was a groundbreaking film of its day, the first to incorporate a new kind of violence and moral complexity into the mainstream. But screenwriters Robert Benton and David Newman borrowed these elements directly from French New Wave films like Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1959) and Francois Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player (1960). In fact, Truffaut was the first director approached for the project. Despite this, Bonnie and Clyde somehow transcends time. More than just a moldy relic of the 1960s, it has aged much better and is far more watchable today than, say, Easy Rider (1969) or even The Graduate (1967).
Kinnear Joins Freeman's Feast
Filed under: Drama », Romance », Casting », Newsstand »
As Erik reported earlier this month, Morgan Freeman recently signed on to star in Feast of Love, an adaptation of Charles Baxter's well-reviewed novel of the same name. According to this morning's Hollywood Reporter, Freeman has been joined in the cast by Greg Kinnear. Alongside Freeman's philosophy professor, Kinnear will play Bradley Thomas, "an all-around nice guy who owns a coffee shop and paints on the side." Unfortunately for Thomas, like many other cinematic nice guys, he's had some issues with love. Issues like losing one wife to another man, and a second to lesbianism. Doh! Not to worry, though, he's getting back on the horse. Or I assume he is, what with the movie being about "an exploration of the magical, mysterious and sometimes painful incarnations of love" and all.And about that summary -- it sounds horrible and cloying, doesn't it? The novel, however, sounds complex and witty and actually quite good, so there's a chance that, if the screenplay is somewhat faithful, the movie will be about more than schmaltz. Granted, it's small chance, but still. At least it's there.
Feast of Love starts shooting in August in the capable hands of Robert Benton (who, among other things, directed Kramer vs. Kramer and Nobody's Fool); he'll be working from a screenplay by Allison Burnett, whose stellar writing for Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight surely made
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
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