Say what you will about Todd Phillips Joker but its production design is on point (making it all the more remarkable that one of the film’s 11 Oscar nomination was not for Mark Friedberg’s stellar work). The film seems to be set in a late ’70s, early ’80s New York (a.k.a. Gotham) when the city was at its grittiest, somewhere vaguely in between the New York of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) and the New York of Martin Scorsese’s King of Comedy (1982), the two films that Joker shamelessly tips its green wig to. In actual fact, however, it turns out that the film is set in a very specific time, namely the last week of July 1981. But more of that later.Unsurprisingly to anyone who reads this column, I love movie posters within movies and I love movie marquees. Joker opens and closes with a couple...
- 1/31/2020
- MUBI
Multiple Emmy winner Tom Fontana has been named showrunner, executive producer and one of the writers on City on a Hill, Showtime’s upcoming drama series starring Kevin Bacon (The Following) and Aldis Hodge (Underground). The 10-episode series, executive produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Jennifer Todd, will premiere in 2019.
Created, written and executive produced by Chuck MacLean (Boston Strangler) and based on an original idea by Affleck, City on a Hill is set in early 1990s Boston when the city was rife with violent criminals emboldened by local law enforcement agencies in which corruption and racism was the norm, until it suddenly all changed. The drama is a fictional account of what was called the “Boston Miracle.” Driving that change is assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (Hodge), who comes from Brooklyn and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran,...
Created, written and executive produced by Chuck MacLean (Boston Strangler) and based on an original idea by Affleck, City on a Hill is set in early 1990s Boston when the city was rife with violent criminals emboldened by local law enforcement agencies in which corruption and racism was the norm, until it suddenly all changed. The drama is a fictional account of what was called the “Boston Miracle.” Driving that change is assistant district attorney Decourcy Ward (Hodge), who comes from Brooklyn and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran,...
- 8/1/2018
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Limbus, Inc. is not a short story collection or a themed anthology. It’s “A Shared World Experience,” a set of stories linked by the presence and actions of the mysterious, titular employment agency. Books like this are only as strong as the core concept, and in this case the participating authors had a great gimmick to work with.
Throughout the five stories that make up the bulk of the book, Limbus seeks out characters at low points in their lives, offering them employment scenarios that are tailor-made for their particular skill sets and situations. Of course, a lot of information is held back until the recruits sign on the dotted line, and they soon find themselves in jobs that are far from the simple construction gigs or administrative assistant positions they might have been expecting. How far? How about becoming a glorified food processor for a half-mad alien princess,...
Throughout the five stories that make up the bulk of the book, Limbus seeks out characters at low points in their lives, offering them employment scenarios that are tailor-made for their particular skill sets and situations. Of course, a lot of information is held back until the recruits sign on the dotted line, and they soon find themselves in jobs that are far from the simple construction gigs or administrative assistant positions they might have been expecting. How far? How about becoming a glorified food processor for a half-mad alien princess,...
- 9/26/2013
- by Blu Gilliand
- FEARnet
Reviewed By Rick O’Shea
Authors: Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Brett J. Talley, Joseph Nassise, Anne C. Petty, Jonathan Maberry
270 Pages
JournalStone Publishing
Matthew Sellers, a bookstore owner receives an ominous gift from an eccentric stranger, Ichabod Templeton. Within the present is a compilation of reports centering around a most unorthodox, elusive employment agency known simply as Limbus Inc. The personnel agency is the main focus or theme of each tale. Templeton upon parting company with Sellers declares the bookstore owner is the chosen one. Is the baffled shop owner in for far more than what he’d bargained for?
The Slaughter Man: Written by Benjamin Kane Ethridge, The Sticker copes with work conditions at the local slaughterhouse. After his marriage falls apart he takes drastic measures to fulfill his potential.
The Sacrifice: Written by Brett J. Talley, is a story about Ryan who struggles from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from time served in the military.
Authors: Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Brett J. Talley, Joseph Nassise, Anne C. Petty, Jonathan Maberry
270 Pages
JournalStone Publishing
Matthew Sellers, a bookstore owner receives an ominous gift from an eccentric stranger, Ichabod Templeton. Within the present is a compilation of reports centering around a most unorthodox, elusive employment agency known simply as Limbus Inc. The personnel agency is the main focus or theme of each tale. Templeton upon parting company with Sellers declares the bookstore owner is the chosen one. Is the baffled shop owner in for far more than what he’d bargained for?
The Slaughter Man: Written by Benjamin Kane Ethridge, The Sticker copes with work conditions at the local slaughterhouse. After his marriage falls apart he takes drastic measures to fulfill his potential.
The Sacrifice: Written by Brett J. Talley, is a story about Ryan who struggles from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from time served in the military.
- 3/9/2013
- by admin
- MoreHorror
The first Chicago bar I drank in was the Old Town Ale House. That bar was destroyed by fire in the 1960s, the customers hosed off, and the Ale House moved directly across the street to its present location, where it has been named Chicago's Best Dive Bar by the Chicago Tribune.
I was taken to the Ale House by Tom Devries, my fellow college editor from the Roosevelt Torch. It was early on a snowy Sunday afternoon. I remember us walking down to Barbara's Bookstore to get our copies of the legendary New York Herald-Tribune Sunday edition. Pogo. Judith Crist. Tom Wolfe. Jimmy Breslin. I remember peanut shells on the floor and a projector grinding through 16mm prints of Charlie Chaplin shorts. I remember my first taste of dark Löwenbräu beer. The Ale House was cool even then.
I returned to the North Avenue drinking scene on New Year's Eve...
I was taken to the Ale House by Tom Devries, my fellow college editor from the Roosevelt Torch. It was early on a snowy Sunday afternoon. I remember us walking down to Barbara's Bookstore to get our copies of the legendary New York Herald-Tribune Sunday edition. Pogo. Judith Crist. Tom Wolfe. Jimmy Breslin. I remember peanut shells on the floor and a projector grinding through 16mm prints of Charlie Chaplin shorts. I remember my first taste of dark Löwenbräu beer. The Ale House was cool even then.
I returned to the North Avenue drinking scene on New Year's Eve...
- 2/18/2013
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
It has been a year since Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9, 2011. Here is our retrospective on the legendary filmmaker to honor his memory. Originally published April 15, 2011.
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
- 4/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Being a political animal by nature is helping Kerry Washington in her starring television series debut.
Known for such movies as "Ray," the Oscar-winning "The Last King of Scotland" and the current "A Thousand Words," the actress plays a professional "fixer" on ABC's "Scandal." Premiering Thursday, April 5, the drama is the latest project of "Grey's Anatomy" mentor Shonda Rhimes, who based the central character on crisis-management consultant Judy Smith ... earlier an aide to President George H.W. Bush.
Politically active herself, as she was during then-Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the White House, Washington deems it "very exciting" to play someone as powerful in her own way as the president (portrayed in "Scandal" by actor-director Tony Goldwyn). "I love my job, and I'm so grateful that I'm getting to do it with people at the level they're at. I feel like the luckiest broad in showbiz."
By the end...
Known for such movies as "Ray," the Oscar-winning "The Last King of Scotland" and the current "A Thousand Words," the actress plays a professional "fixer" on ABC's "Scandal." Premiering Thursday, April 5, the drama is the latest project of "Grey's Anatomy" mentor Shonda Rhimes, who based the central character on crisis-management consultant Judy Smith ... earlier an aide to President George H.W. Bush.
Politically active herself, as she was during then-Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the White House, Washington deems it "very exciting" to play someone as powerful in her own way as the president (portrayed in "Scandal" by actor-director Tony Goldwyn). "I love my job, and I'm so grateful that I'm getting to do it with people at the level they're at. I feel like the luckiest broad in showbiz."
By the end...
- 4/5/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Lawyers to Lindsay: How Was Your Strip Search?
If Lindsay Lohan got strip searched at Lynwood Correctional Facility a couple of lawyers want her to spill every detail of the experience in a deposition.
TMZ has learned Lindsay's name just got dragged into a class action lawsuit that alleges unlawful strip and body cavity searches were conducted by L.A. County Sheriff's deputies when another inmate -- not Lindsay -- checked into the jail.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a request in Federal Court on Monday to take Lilo's deposition while she's behind bars. They also sent a letter to Lohan's attorney Shawn Chapman Holley asking if Lindsay would agree to be deposed.
The suit claims that female inmates are strip searched in plain view of each other in a parking lot that is neither private nor sanitary.
Sheriff's officials have said Lindsay was treated just like any other inmate...
If Lindsay Lohan got strip searched at Lynwood Correctional Facility a couple of lawyers want her to spill every detail of the experience in a deposition.
TMZ has learned Lindsay's name just got dragged into a class action lawsuit that alleges unlawful strip and body cavity searches were conducted by L.A. County Sheriff's deputies when another inmate -- not Lindsay -- checked into the jail.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a request in Federal Court on Monday to take Lilo's deposition while she's behind bars. They also sent a letter to Lohan's attorney Shawn Chapman Holley asking if Lindsay would agree to be deposed.
The suit claims that female inmates are strip searched in plain view of each other in a parking lot that is neither private nor sanitary.
Sheriff's officials have said Lindsay was treated just like any other inmate...
- 7/27/2010
- by tmz
- Gossipvita
Justin Bartha is in an enviable position. The actor, perhaps best known as the wisecracking sidekick in the "National Treasure" movies, scored a huge hit with "The Hangover" in 2009. He's also currently making his Broadway debut in an acclaimed production of "Lend Me a Tenor" under the direction of Stanley Tucci. The play runs through Aug. 13 at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. He is showing his dramatic range onscreen in the drama "Holy Rollers," now in theaters. But the actor faced several early false starts to his career—ones that might have stopped a lesser performer.Bartha thought he had won the lottery when he landed his first film role, playing a mentally handicapped man in a feature that starred top names Ben Affleck, Al Pacino, and Christopher Walken. The film was directed by Martin Brest, who helmed such hits as "Scent of a Woman" and "Midnight Run.
- 5/24/2010
- backstage.com
Chicago – Just as the actors would be no one without their fans, HollywoodChicago.com wouldn’t exist without our loyal readers. As a way to say thanks, today we’re bringing you an opportunity to communicate with one of Hollywood’s hottest stars! It’s unlike anything you’ve experienced elsewhere!
And it’s fitting to present this experience to you with Maggie Gyllenhaal of “The Dark Knight” fame because it’s that same blockbuster film on which HollywoodChicago.com’s local coverage gained widespread awareness a couple years ago.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, who has recently been nominated for an Oscar in the best supporting actress category for “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges, will be on “Live! with Regis and Kelly” early this Friday morning on ABC. Maggie will be having a conversation about her latest role and life as it is today. If you could, what would you ask her?...
And it’s fitting to present this experience to you with Maggie Gyllenhaal of “The Dark Knight” fame because it’s that same blockbuster film on which HollywoodChicago.com’s local coverage gained widespread awareness a couple years ago.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, who has recently been nominated for an Oscar in the best supporting actress category for “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges, will be on “Live! with Regis and Kelly” early this Friday morning on ABC. Maggie will be having a conversation about her latest role and life as it is today. If you could, what would you ask her?...
- 2/24/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Actress Pell James
Pell James Takes A Hot Rod To The Dark Side In Surveillance
By
Alex Simon
Virginia native Pell James hit the ground running following graduation from Nyu’s drama school in 1999, mixing TV and stage work, then landing her first high-profile part in 2005’s The King, co-starring with Gael Garcia Bernal and William Hurt. Since then, James also made impressive turns in Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers and David Fincher’s Zodiac, in one of the film’s most unsettling scenes, as one of the notorious Bay area killer’s victims.
Pell James shines in an entirely new light as Bobbi, a drug-addicted drifter who comes face-to-face with evil incarnate in Jennifer Lynch’s Surveillance, a smashingly original thriller hitting theaters June 26 from Magnet Releasing. She also appears in Shrink, a tableaux-like satire of life in L.A., starring Kevin Spacey, which arrives from Lions Gate on...
Pell James Takes A Hot Rod To The Dark Side In Surveillance
By
Alex Simon
Virginia native Pell James hit the ground running following graduation from Nyu’s drama school in 1999, mixing TV and stage work, then landing her first high-profile part in 2005’s The King, co-starring with Gael Garcia Bernal and William Hurt. Since then, James also made impressive turns in Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers and David Fincher’s Zodiac, in one of the film’s most unsettling scenes, as one of the notorious Bay area killer’s victims.
Pell James shines in an entirely new light as Bobbi, a drug-addicted drifter who comes face-to-face with evil incarnate in Jennifer Lynch’s Surveillance, a smashingly original thriller hitting theaters June 26 from Magnet Releasing. She also appears in Shrink, a tableaux-like satire of life in L.A., starring Kevin Spacey, which arrives from Lions Gate on...
- 6/25/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By Aaron Hillis
38-year-old New York actor Ken Leung ("Rush Hour," "Saw," "The Squid and the Whale") may have only gigged on a single episode of "The Sopranos" (as Junior Soprano's violent protégé in a psychiatric hospital), but it was enough to inspire producers to write him into another TV pop phenomenon, "Lost." As brooding spiritualist Miles Straume, one of the elusive strangers to parachute onto the island, Leung brings to the role both quiet menace and caustic wisecracks.
Leung can also be seen in writer/director David Kaplan's rotoscope-animated indie "Year of the Fish," a contemporary retelling of the Cinderella fairytale set in a seedy massage parlor and the streets of Chinatown. Leung costars as Johnny, an accordion player who may also be the Prince Charming to disillusioned immigrant Ye Xian (An Nguyen). Notoriously shy, Leung graciously offered up a phone interview from Hawaii while preparing to shoot...
38-year-old New York actor Ken Leung ("Rush Hour," "Saw," "The Squid and the Whale") may have only gigged on a single episode of "The Sopranos" (as Junior Soprano's violent protégé in a psychiatric hospital), but it was enough to inspire producers to write him into another TV pop phenomenon, "Lost." As brooding spiritualist Miles Straume, one of the elusive strangers to parachute onto the island, Leung brings to the role both quiet menace and caustic wisecracks.
Leung can also be seen in writer/director David Kaplan's rotoscope-animated indie "Year of the Fish," a contemporary retelling of the Cinderella fairytale set in a seedy massage parlor and the streets of Chinatown. Leung costars as Johnny, an accordion player who may also be the Prince Charming to disillusioned immigrant Ye Xian (An Nguyen). Notoriously shy, Leung graciously offered up a phone interview from Hawaii while preparing to shoot...
- 8/27/2008
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
Sidney Lumet, Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson were presented with Artists for Amnesty Awards at the opening-night ceremonies of the fourth annual Amnesty International Film Festival, which kicked off its six-day run Tuesday at the DGA in Los Angeles. Strip Search -- which Lumet directed, Fontana wrote and Levinson executive produced -- inaugurated a program of 27 human-rights documentaries, shorts and feature films from 18 countries. Glenn Close and Maggie Gyllenhaal star in Strip Search, which had a one-time airing on HBO a year ago. The Amnesty festival, co-presented by the city of West Hollywood, also screens annually in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh and Asheville, N.C., and is starting an annual unspooling in Washington in the fall in association with National Geographic.
- 5/25/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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