Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Curzon/Faber Ten Bad Dates film quiz - the sequel, July 22 2008
posted @11:01 a.m. by Richard Kelly
Causing nearly as much excitement as the opening numbers of 'The Dark Knight' is the news that London's Curzon Soho Cinema and Faber and Faber will once again present TEN ROUNDS WITH DE NIRO, in conjunction with the book 'Ten Bad Dates With De Niro'. This time it's personal, etc etc. The quiz will be on Tuesday 22 July at the Curzon Soho bar. Turn up early to reserve a table: 6:30 PM for 7PM start, £10 entry fee per team (max. six people). Great prizes and free popcorn are on offer!
Friday, 16 May 2008
Ten ('10') Bad Dates Conquers America
posted @10:21 a.m. by Richard Kelly
On May 1 the Rookery Press/Overlook in New York City published their US edition of the widely-considered-amusing movie-list compendium Ten Bad Dates With De Niro, renaming it '10 Bad Dates...' and so mildly confusing the search engines. But so be it. They also put an amusing new cover on it utilising a still of the worst of all De Niro dates, that Times Square porn outing with Cybill Shepherd. So how are we faring for coverage over there? New York has never been a lucky town for me, much as I like it, but I could say my luck's already turning a little, cos I never had no mention in no New York Post before - 'Required Reading', no less. And at the New York Times, where they can be terribly snooty, there is a good-enough mention from the Papercuts blogger. I've been reading Peter Travers in the Rolling Stone since I was a boy and Reagan was President, but now - whaddaya know? - the book's got a shout-out in his blog too. Elsewhere, it's a nice thing for an old guy like me - and a book with deceptively serious intentions - to get a citation on USA Today's Pop Candy Blog as compiled by Whitney Matheson. The idea that anything associated with me could work for fans of pop, candy, and young women called Whitney... well, it takes years off the creaking knee and elbow joints. But for me at least the Treasure of the Sierra Madre is this review in the Los Angeles Times by the venerable critic and Clint Eastwood expert Richard Schickel. What further glory could this lead to, I wonder? A rush on copies at the big Barnes & Noble bookstore next to the Farmer's Market in Hollywood? Studio execs giving the book to each other as birthday gifts, or just plain timely reminders of why they first entered the beautiful business of movies? Or me being hired as a consultant on the next major studio attempt to make a half-decent Hulk picture, i.e. one that doesn't end in a silly video-game fight scene? (The latter possibility because, as Schickel notes, I am a loyal friend to well-meaning but widely despised movies everywhere.) Well, at any rate I'll just have to bide my time and keep grafting until the summons comes from Burbank...
Friday, 18 April 2008
The genius of Nicolas Roeg, live in North London this Sunday...
posted @1:28 p.m. by Richard Kelly
This Sunday, 20 April 2008, the Phoenix in North Finchley offers a Nicolas Roeg double bill - The Man Who Fell to Earth (1975) and Bad Timing (1980) after which Nic Roeg himself will take the stage for a Q&A with the audience, a session that I will have the pleasure of 'chairing'. I'll be writing about this at greater length after the weekend, but I should just quickly take this space to say some obvious things, i.e. 1) that Roeg is as brilliant a filmmaker as Britain has ever produced, the golden era of his work (roughly the 20 years from 1966-1985) being comparable to the best of anybody else's ever, 2) that a lot of us out there feel this way, and 3) that I will never forget the first time I 'met' Roeg (i.e. got his autograph) after a screening of Insignificance and a Q&A at the Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast, in November 1985. Theresa Russell was at his side that night, and I couldn't have been more in awe if the proverbial Martian had fallen to earth and sat itself beside me in the front row.
Friday, 18 April 2008
Film in Focus: a top new site for cinephiles
posted @1:14 p.m. by Richard Kelly
I am proud to say that I use and endorse Film in Focus, an excellent new film site surveying the contemporary movie scene as well as key aspects of film history. It has arisen as a joint venture between Focus Features, Filmmaker magazine, and Faber and Faber film publishing. Faber has its own dedicated page within the site, on which I have an editorial role, so for the boon let me point your browsers to this piece about Ian McEwan novels as they've been adapted for cinema. Might give y'all an idea for, say, a top-ten list. Speaking of which, some anorak-obsessive has also done a top 5 of sadly-neglected 'masterworks'...
