FilmStew.com: FEATURES

Scions of "Rambo"

08/26/2008

Shaking off the indifferent reception to their debut feature, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith have returned with a personal tale inspired by their own childhood misadventures.

A Mirthful Mancunian

08/22/2008

Flawed characters have made Steve Coogan a star in his native England. This summer, the Manchester native is aiming to broadside the U.S.

Deciding Which Way to "Vote"

08/15/2008

Kevin Costner is under no illusions about the overall importance of his personal vote in the 2008 Presidential election. But that isn’t making the decision any easier.

Rickman, Pour Man

08/08/2008

Because the script for Bottle Shock was one that Alan Rickman felt did not deserve to be heaved across the room, the actor has added a Paris wine merchant to his long list of memorable characters.

Smoking Out a Shakespeare Connection

07/22/2008

Never in his wildest dreams did writer-director Jonathan Levine imagine that his newest script would elicit an Oscar winner to make comparisons to the Bard.

God Save McQueen

07/16/2008

For fans of the King of Cool, Roger Donaldson’s new film The Bank Job will hold an additionally pleasing retro quality.

The Would-Be Hitchcock Blonde

07/15/2008

In lieu of working with the late Master of Suspense, French actress Ludivine Sagnier is happy to settle for collaborating with a living Claude Chabrol.

A Hankering for the "Hottie"

07/03/2008

First-time writer-director Seth Packard can already take comfort in the way his film has helped a teenage audience member with her own high school crush.

A Hollywood History Lesson

07/01/2008

At age 86, veteran producer Walter Mirisch now has a rip-roaring memoir to go along with his Irving G. Thalberg Oscar and Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe.

Apocalypse Wow!

06/27/2008

Writer-director Andrew Stanton drew from a multitude of sources to fashion his latest Pixar masterpiece WALL-E.

A Valedictorian of VHS

06/26/2008

As the first teenager in the neighborhood with contractual permission to rent R-rated videos, is it any wonder that Bryan Bertino grew up to be a horror film director?

A Fondness for Quirky Teenagers

06/24/2008

When editor Jon Poll perused something like 100 scripts for consideration as his directorial debut, two caught his eye: Juno and the one he wound up making.

A "Kind" of Trilogy

06/17/2008

Through The Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind and the forthcoming Master of Space and Time, filmmaker Michel Gondry is examining the process of being creative.

Wedded to "Winnipeg"

06/12/2008

Every city should be so lucky to have as passionate a fan and chronicler as Guy Maddin, whose unique Prairie perspective kookily informs his first documentary.

Destined to Take "Control"

06/06/2008

When the financing for Anton Corbijn’s Joy Division biopic fell through, he bankrolled the movie himself. It’s the latest episode in what has turned out to be a long, fateful journey.

An Older, Gayer "Gigolo"

06/03/2008

Nearly three decades after American Gigolo, writer-director Paul Schrader winds his way back to the narrative territory of male escorts.

Charlie's Angles

05/29/2008

There are no sexy female private eyes in Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut. Just another tortured artist trying to intuit the meaning of life.

Gwyneth's One-"Two" Punch

05/27/2008

Ten years after Shakespeare in Love, Gwyneth Paltrow is reclaiming her place in Hollywood by flirting with a Malibu billionaire and dallying with a Brooklyn bachelor.

"Che" Sera Sera

05/23/2008

Even though the two-part epic Che divided journalists at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, director Steven Soderbergh appears fairly confident that the future of his movie is not theirs to see.

"Indiana Jones" and the Split Reaction

05/22/2008

So far, the fourth installment of the action-adventure series seems to be faring better with American critics than it did this past weekend with the international press corps.