Cate Blanchett

‘Knight of Cups’ is repetitive, heavy-handed, “First World” navel-gazing at its most self-indulgent. But my god is it beautiful!

It begins and ends with a look. In that look is hesitance, longing, desire, confusion, confidence, conviction, hope. Even love. On NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, writer and critic Glenn Weldon described real chemistry between actors living in the look, elaborating on the attraction manifesting in the movement of the eyes.

Cate Blanchett is signing on to play a comedy legend by portraying I Love Lucy comedienne Lucille Ball in an authorized biopic written by Aaron Sorkin. The Wrap exclusively reported today that the film centered on Ball’s 20-year marriage to her I Love Lucy co-star and cohort Desi Arnaz. The two were married between 1940 …

We find ourselves in a time and place where the voice of feminism has never been louder. Issues like Gamer Gate, sexism in Cosplay, a woman’s right to an opinion on fantasy, comics, or horror, as well as a myriad of issues outside the realm of pop culture like slut shaming, and blame for being …

Cinderella is a refreshing callback to the unabashed costume epics of the past, when story and aesthetic held equal sway over ambitious filmmakers. Director Kenneth Branagh and his production team luxuriate in breathtaking sets, opulent costumes, and impeccable special effects while still keeping the old-fashioned story of courage and kindness at center stage. Yes, it would have been nice to see a little more cellulite and gumption from our heroine, but it’s hard to complain about a movie that so thoroughly delivers on spectacle and heart. Lush, extravagant, and painfully earnest, Disney’s Cinderella is a worthy adaptation of its classic predecessor. In fact, it’s quite wonderful.

There is a sense in watching Kingdom of the Crystal Skull play out that Spielberg’s lack of enthusiasm carried on into pre-production and then filming itself. One final, brutal visit to the editing suite before the film’s release would have fixed much of the damage and created a final product that, while hardly a classic, would not have infuriated to such a degree.

The Monuments Men Written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov Directed by George Clooney USA and Germany, 2014 The high-school history teachers of the world, or at least of the United States, can breathe easy, because they’ll have a new movie to add to their collections soon enough. Right before exam week, they can pop …

Part 2 will cover: – Best Actor – Best Actress – Best Supporting Actor – Best Supporting Actress – Best Film Best Actor – Bruce Dern (Nebraska) – Tom Hanks (Captain Philips) – Christian Bale (American Hustle) – Leonardo DiCaprio (Wolf of Wall Street) – Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) All nominees have performed …

During the mid-2000s, between his exercise in low-budget filmmaking and new modes of exhibition with Bubble, and his big-budget ensemble Ocean’s Thirteen, Steven Soderbergh made a mid-budget return to 1940s style with The Good German.

Announcing the unambiguous Casablanca reference with a mimicking poster, Soderbergh’s black-and-white film is full of classic Hollywood soft-lighting and sinister wartime figures.

Elizabeth Directed by Shekhar Kapur Written by Michael Hirst UK, 1998 The trouble with biopic is that, for the most part, the real life story of the big name doesn’t fit into any kind of cinematic format that we have become accustomed to over the years, and there seems to be a rule that the …

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Directed by Peter Jackson Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo Del Toro New Zealand and USA, 2012 Who can blame Peter Jackson for not wanting to leave Middle-Earth? His adaptation of The Lord of the Rings book series, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, was an enormously successful …

Hanna Directed by Joe Wright Written by David Farr and Seth Lockhead USA, 2011 In promoting Hanna, his new thriller/fairy-tale starring a barely pubescent female killer, director Joe Wright has taken a stance against Zach Snyder’s Sucker Punch, deriding it (as most critics have) as appropriating the language of female empowerment in order to sell …

Variety reports that Cate Blanchett is set to star as Lady Edwina Mountbatten in Joe Wright’s Indian Summer.  The film will follow the critical events during India’s Independence from England.  Lord Mountbatten (with Edwina in tow) is sent to oversee the transfer of power to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the summer of …