the good shepherd Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Are you ready to see Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as partners in Righteous Kill? Is it the casting pair-up you've been waiting 35 years for? Or does it feel too strange to watch a whole movie in which they're all buddy buddy? Perhaps you were fully satisfied with their showdown as enemies in Heat, even though the esteemed veteran actors had much less screen time together. Personally, I like the idea of them going head to head better, but that's mainly because they're both such huge figures that having them team up seems a bit unfair to the other side. As enemies they're like the Incredible Hulk and the Abomination or Iron Man and Iron Monger, to compare them with recent superpowered showdowns in cinema.

It's difficult to choose the better actor of the two, or even decide who's been the more successful Hollywood player. De Niro's been in a lot more films, but his ratio of bad films to good might have suffered as a result. Meanwhile, they've both arguably become too much of caricatures of themselves, to the point where it's sometimes hard to tell which performances are intentional self-parodies and which are accidental. However, despite the difficulty of pitting De Niro against Pacino for a general comparative showdown, there are a number of easily corresponding roles among them. So, just for fun, I've come up with seven specific character showdowns, chosen my pick for which is the better performance, and invite you all to vote on your favorite, whether you agree or disagree with my own.

After the jump ... De Niro vs. Pacino -- it's on!

What Just Happened has opened the Karlovy Vary Film Festival to a less than enthusiastic crowd, which I don't find particularly surprising, but Robert De Niro has other things to talk about.

Variety reports that he talked about the possible actors' strike at a press conference this weekend. De Niro said: "I do not think it is a good time to strike now. The issues could be resolved over the next couple of years (without strike action)." He also noted that he didn't think actors have "done their homework" to get a good deal, and that "I do not know if it is the right time to be doing this at all with the economy the way it is." Between the economy and the wake of the last strike, it certainly seems like the worst possible time, although I'm sure some would say a few years is a long time to wait.

While that gets sorted out, De Niro is looking to the future. He says that we should expect at least two more films between him and Martin Scorsese because it's "a lot of fun" to work together. De Niro is currently working on the first of these projects, to be ready for 2009, but does not want to discuss it. (He noted earlier that he was "superstitious about talking about it.")

Meanwhile, there's also The Good Shepherd. He is hoping to make two sequels to the CIA Cold War drama: one detailing 1961-1989, and another that brings Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) to the present day. There's definitely enough material to talk about, but what do you think? Is it time for more Shepherd?

With tales of Grand Theft Auto IV breaking sales records, and cartoon Russian Mob bosses plastered on billboards everywhere you look, it is the perfect time to give the Bratva more screen time (and it's probably about time we gave the Italians a break). The Hollywood Reporter announced that Morgan Creek, in partnership with Universal, have purchased Rand Ravich's Russian mob script, Gregory Burns. Ravich's script centers on an undercover cop from Arizona who re-locates to L.A. to take down a Russian crime family.

Ravich has a mixed bag of credits to his name, including video games (Crime Lords), TV (Life), and feature films. His last feature was the sci-fi ode to Rosemary's Baby, The Astronaut's Wife. Sure, Wife might have been bad, but it was definitely a step up from his other foray into screenwriting.

According to THR, Burns has been floating around the studio for a long time and has been at the top of many a studio exec's wish list. After a series of false starts, the profitable indie studio has finally put the film into production. There is no word on casting yet, but if Morgan Creek is half as eager as they appear to get this film into the can, it shouldn't take long.

More than two years ago, Erik wrote a post titled "Joe Pesci Returns!" and we were all excited. Of course, that return -- Pesci's first film role since 1998's Lethal Weapon 4 -- was just a tease. Fortunately, for those of us who couldn't get enough of him with that bit part in The Good Shepherd, the Oscar-winning actor is finally back for a starring role. And it isn't even a bad comedy a la Gone Fishin' or 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag. It's a new film from Taylor Hackford, whose last film, the biopic Ray, earned the director two Academy Award nominations. This one, titled Love Ranch, will also star Hackford's wife, Helen Mirren, who he last worked with on 1985's White Nights. The drama is about Joe and Sally Conforte, a couple who opened Nevada's first (and eventually largest) legal brothel, Mustang Ranch. Scripted by Mark Jacobson (The Believer), the movie will deal with the couple's problems with infidelity. Maybe we'll get to hear Pesci yell the line "You f***** my wife!" at whoever plays boxer Oscar Bonavena, who was shot dead by Mustang Ranch bodyguard Ross Brymer in 1976, allegedly because he was sleeping with Sally.

Hackford begins shooting Love Ranch in Albuquerque in late January and hopes to have the film ready for the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. He told Variety that he is mostly excited to direct his wife again, and that he had to beg her to make time for this. I bet she finally saw him fit to direct her after getting those Oscar noms (even though he has a statue for a 1979 short film he directed). Hackford also mentioned that Pesci was his first choice for Joe and seems fortunate to have convinced the actor, who apparently isn't too interested in doing movies much anymore. Certainly Pesci is a perfect choice to play this seedy "godfather of legalized prostitution," as Hackford calls him. Now, can Hackford please try to get DeNiro in for a cameo?

At a little under three hours, The Good Shepherd isn't exactly the perfect film to watch in a movie theater. Aside from its running time, the pace is somewhat slow, the characters often whisper to one another, the timeline jumps back and forth -- between the late 1940's and the early 1960's -- on several occasions, and most of the dialogue consists of CIA code-speak. That said, it's definitely a fun film to figure out. And, now that it's available on DVD, folks can settle down in the comfort of their own living rooms, and pause or rewind as needed. Trust me, if you miss even the tiniest line of dialogue, there's a good chance you'll need to go back. And then back again. Yup, this one's a thinker.

Essentially, the film is a character study -- it spans twenty years in the life of Edward Wilson (Matt Damon), one of the first members of a newly-formed Central Intelligence Agency (or CIA). When we begin, it's 1961 and Edward is one of the key players involved in a little plan to rid Cuba of Fidel Castro (later referred to as the Bay of Pigs invasion) -- a plan that would ultimately backfire on Edward due to a mysterious intelligence leak. When a photograph winds up underneath Edward's door, along with a taped conversation that may or may not reveal who was behind the leak, Edward and his team pick apart both picture and tape piece by piece until, eventually, it reveals a truth no one (including the audience) was ready for.

By now, I'm sure you've all heard the names Valerie Plame and Ambassador Joseph Wilson; Plame was outed as a CIA agent by White House officials following an op-ed piece in the New York Times written by her husband, Wilson, in which he attacked the Bush administration for manipulating intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the current Iraq invasion. It's juicy stuff -- and now that Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is on trial defending accusations that he lied to FBI agents investigating the leak -- Warner Bros. has decided to snag the life rights of Plame and Wilson for -- you guessed it -- a delicious Hollywood movie.

Ah, but here's the catch: studio wants to use Plame's upcoming memoir Fair Game for the film, however before it's published the CIA has to approve. As Variety points out, it's ironic that the same government who outed her -- threatening the safety of herself and her family -- can also prevent her from telling the story. Set up as a co-production between Weed Road's Akiva Goldsman and Zucker Productions, producers Jerry and Janet Zucker feel there's more than enough scandal currently out in the media that, while the memoir would be added incentive, it's not a make or break situation. But is it worthy of the big screen treatment? The last two CIA-related pics to hit theaters, The Good Shepherd and Breach, barely made a dent at the box office; these days, it seems folks want their CIA agents to shoot bad guys and blow things up, while bedding a number of beautiful women. Has real life become too boring? Jez and John Butterworth will pen the script, having just completed work on Spike Lee's James Brown biopic, Superbad.

I'd like to think pic's box office draw will rely heavily on its cast, but De Niro had Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie for Shepherd, yet the film still didn't attract a mass audience. I immediately expect Nicole Kidman or Diane Lane to be a frontrunners for Plame, and perhaps Richard Gere for Wilson -- but is this material worthy of a Hollywood picture or more made-for-TV?

The World War II movie Days of Glory opens today on 3 screens. That's not to be confused with another movie called Days of Glory, from 1944, or the other one from 1945. Nor is it to be confused with Hope and Glory, Paths of Glory, What Price Glory, Bound for Glory, Days of Heaven, Days of Thunder, or just plain Glory.

In the past, war movies used to be about something. By the titles alone, you could go to a movie expecting to see Attacks, Battles, Bridges, Boats, The Big Red One, Bullets, Dawn Patrols, Dirty Dozens, Fighting Sullivans, Fixed Bayonets, Flying Leathernecks, Great Escapes, Guns of Navarone, Merrill's Marauders, and even Full Metal Jackets. Titles like these make you want to roar and holler and tear around the woods, ripping right through enemy cover with thunder and trumpets driving you on.

My love of cinema originally came about through my love of production design, particularly for science fiction and fantasy films. As I grew up, one of my dream careers was art director, and some my early heroes were Dante Ferretti and Bo Welch. Naturally, then, a lot of my favorite filmmakers have been those who display creative art direction in their movies. Terry Gilliam has always been at the top of my list.

Other fans of Gilliam will agree with me that no other living director is more deserving of recognition by the Art Directors Guild. In fact, I'm surprised that he wasn't the first choice to receive the guild's Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award when it was originally given in 1998 (to Norman Jewison instead). Other filmmakers that I expect to see honored in the future include Tim Burton, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro.

Gilliam will receive the award at the Art Director's Guild Awards on February 17, when the guild also names the winners of its prizes for excellence in production design for 2006. Like other guild awards, the ADG's honors recognize distinct categories for its field. Nominated films are separated into three groups: period piece; contemporary; and fantasy (you may remember these are the same categories for the Costume Designer Guild Awards).

More award nominations have been announced! Are you tired of this yet? I must have been hibernating for part of my life because I didn't realize that there were 700 -- I'm over exaggerating just a little -- award ceremonies each year. The members of the American Society of Cinematographers have tallied their votes and the nominees are in.

• Emmanuel Lubezki got a nod for Children of Men. This is only his second nomination with ASC. I say 'only' because he has an incredible body of work. Children of Men was a gorgeous film in many aspects and the rest of his work can be summed up in that same statement -- Y Tu Mamá También, The New World as well as even more extravagant films such as The Cat in the Hat and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

• Dick Pope is receiving his first ASC nomination for The Illusionist. Pope is also responsible for Vera Drake -- an exceptional film.

• Robert Richardson is in the running for The Good Shepherd. This is his eighth ASC nomination. Dare I say it again? Eighth nomination. Rightfully earned though, he's responsible for so many great films since the 80s: Platoon, JFK,Casino and Kill Bill.

• Vilmos Zsigmond has received his third nom for The Black Dahlia. Zsigmond is the veteran in comparison to the rest. His body of work began in the 50s and includes The Deer Hunter and Melinda and Melinda.

• Finally, Dean Semler for Apocalypto. This is nomination number two and makes me curious to actually see this film.

Repeat nominations seem to be the recurring theme with the ASC. Only one nominee is a new-timer to the honoree pool. You can tell who has my vote (Lubezki) but ultimately; I have no say in the matter.

At the risk of stating the fairly obvious: movies are a visual medium. Sure, you have actors speaking lines of dialog, music, sound effects and a whole host of other elements that go into the final motion picture experience. But first, you have the image, the picture, the light and shadow. Think back to all the movies you've loved over the years and what comes to mind? For me, its occasionally a great line of dialog I remember fondly. But more often, its a series of iconic images etched in my mind from the films I've seen.

John Wayne standing in the doorway at the end of The Searchers, T.E. Lawrence walking on top of the train, triumphant and defiant, after he and his men attacked it in Lawrence of Arabia, De Niro's violent slo-mo ballet in the ring as boxer Jake La Motta in Raging Bull, Janet Leigh meeting Norman Bates' "mother" while taking a shower in Psycho, the hands pointing to the sky indicating where the sounds made by the aliens came from or the giant mothership almost obscuring Devil's Tower in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and yes, even the "Rosebud" sled burning in the furnace at the end of Citizen Kane. These images, and so many more, helped define the "look" of movies then and now -- and will continue to do so far into the future.

So, I feel its fitting that Variety is currently running some articles that specifically address one of the most important jobs of the filmmmaking process and one of the major -- if not the major -- element that determine the "look" of any movie -- the cinematographer. In the articles, many of the top cinematographers working today, such as Newton Thomas Sigel, Tom Stern, Emmanuel Lubezki and the great Michael Ballhaus, discuss the latest tools and techniques that allow them to push the boundaries of filmmaking and further shape how movies look. In addition, Variety also interviews many other cinematographers, such as Wally Pfister of The Prestige, Robert Richardson of The Good Shepherd and Rodrigo Prieto of Babel, about "facing the challenges, aesthetics and problem-solving behind some of this year's most visually compelling pix." All in all, a good series of articles and a good way to pay a little well-deserved respect to these artists.