Categories
Widget Image
Trending
Recent Posts
Entertaintment
MCU
Monday, Oct 19th, 2026
Widget Image
logo
mobile-logo
HomeStandard Blog Whole Post (Page 976)
Video

THE BREAKING ICE
Section: Un Certain Regard
Director: Anthony Chen
Screenwriter: Anthony Chen
Logline: In cold wintry Yanji, a city on China’s northern border, young urbanite Haofeng, visiting from Shanghai, feels lost and adrift. By chance, he goes on a tour led by Nana, a charming tour guide who instantly fascinates him.
Panelists: Anthony Chen, Zhou Dongyu and Liu Haoran
Sales Agent: Rediance 
Premiered: Monday, May 22nd
Key Quote: “I think that’s the only way I could make this film, because I didn’t grow up in China, so if you were to ask me to make a film where it’s a very very deep, thorough socio-realist observation of working young people in China, I think it’s really tough, which is why I can only use the lens of an outsider.”

Click above to watch the interview.

The 2023 Cannes Film Festival runs May 16-27. Follow Deadline’s complete coverage of the deals and doings on the Croisette here.

Source link

0 Comments

THE BREAKING ICESection: Un Certain RegardDirector: Anthony ChenScreenwriter: Anthony ChenLogline: In

Entertaintment

A daunting task faces the protagonists in Terrestrial Verses (Ayeh haye zamini): Each of them is trying to reason with a government bureaucrat or other self-important authority figure. They’re all residents of Tehran, and there’s something specific to Iran in the oppressive regulations and catch-22s that hinder them, but there’s universal resonance, too, in the escalating lunacy and bleak implications.

In 10 of the feature’s 11 subtly interlocking segments, a single character faces an offscreen interlocutor. The fixed camera holds them in an unwavering embrace as each one tries to make sense of arbitrary rules and demands. Inspired by the intricate rhymes of ghazal, a classic form of Persian poetry, writer-directors Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami have constructed a thoroughly modern work of bracing concision, elegance and blistering deadpan humor, one that pulses with sorrow and outrage over the absurdity of authoritarian dictates that aim to crush souls.

Terrestrial Verses

The Bottom Line

A fine distillation of blistering deadpan humor and righteous anger.

Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard)
Cast: Majid Salehi, Gohar Kheirandish, Farzin Mohades, Sadaf Asgari, Hossein Soleimani, Faezeh Rad, Bahram Ark, Sarvin Zabetian, Arghavan Shabani, Ardeshir Kazemi
Director-screenwriters: Ali Asgari, Alireza Khatami

1 hour 17 minutes

Terrestrial Verses, which takes its title from a poem by 20th century iconoclast Forugh Farrokhzad, cycles from birth to death, beginning with the frustrated efforts of a new father (Bahram Ark) to register a name for his infant son. The next figure is a spirited girl of about 8 (Arghavan Shabani), and they grow progressively older as the film moves from one sequence to the next. Deeply intrusive lines of questioning unfold. Bizarre requirements and illogical reasoning are expressed by each vignette’s unseen figure, in most cases an officious interviewer. “I am here to help you,” the government clerk declares as he stymies that young father’s intentions at every turn. But hope blooms too in the good questions, often laced with healthy sarcasm, that various protagonists ask. Their disbelief is contained but rising, and in some cases their alarm bursts into quiet defiance.

The most overtly daring, a teenage girl (Sarvin Zabetian) called into the principal’s office because she was seen with a boy — on a motorcycle! — also has the last word. Her boldness is productive because, it turns out, she has a card to play involving her would-be punisher’s hypocrisy.

Delving into matters of state surveillance and restrictive policies that target women, the next segment involves 20-something Sadaf (Sadaf Asgari), a rideshare driver trying to retrieve her car — impounded because footage from CCTV cameras shows her riding around with her hijab off. (The protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for allegedly violating hijab laws, had already begun when the helmers started making this film.) As Sadaf asserts a right to privacy, the Traffic Department lackey sitting opposite her insists that she’s just doing her job, and is more interested in her lunch than the political implications of the policy she’s enforcing against a fellow female.

No hijab would be required for 30-year-old Faezah (Faezeh Rad) if she’s hired by the private company whose ad she’s answered. But it quickly becomes evident that, however generous the benefits on offer, she’d be working for a boss who’s not only sexist but predatory.

The prying affects men too — notably Farbad (Hossein Soleymani), whose application for a driver’s license devolves into a ludicrous and unsettling inquisition by a bureaucrat who apparently has appointed himself an arbiter of normality. Farbad’s tattoos (of verses by Rumi) capture the interviewer’s disapproving interest, which spirals into perverse fascination.

The situation faced by Ali (Farzin Mohades), a middle-aged filmmaker seeking a shooting permit for his movie, is perhaps the most obvious of the vignettes, and also the most familiar to anyone who has watched, with alarm, the Iranian government’s persecution of directors Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad. And surely Asgari and Khatami, who partnered on the screenplay for the former’s 2022 feature, Until Tomorrow, which dramatizes the clash between repressive tradition and personal choice in Iran, have had their own surreal encounters with the Ministry of Culture.

Mohades’ performance is alive with low-key exasperation as the official assures him that he has no issue with the core of his proposed feature — only with the script, the title and the psychological underpinnings. Maybe, he suggests, Ali could tell a story from the Quran instead.

The actors are all pitch-perfect, etching full-blooded characters in scenes of 10 minutes or less. In true poetic spirit, there isn’t a wasted word or moment. From the layered sound design (by Alireza Alavian) — setting the scene with a cacophony of voices and traffic noise as Tehran begins another day — to the place- and character-defining design contributions (Hamed Aslani and Morvarid Kashian) and the graceful precision of the cinematography (Adib Sobhani) and editing (Ehsan Vaseghi), Terrestrial Verses is a marvel of potent understatement.

With its piercing glimpses of courage and backtalk in the face of totalitarian edicts and fundamentalism, the film offers hope. The barbed responses of 8-year-old Selena, in one of the early segments, are heartening. In the clothing shop where she does a spirited version of the Alley Cat before a mirror, listening to pop tunes through sparkly earphones, her offscreen mother discusses the school uniform she’s come to buy, and the saleswoman ticks off what’s decreed for schoolgirls. The restrictions begin with the colors Selena loves. The comical/heartbreaking sight of her swallowed up by a drab oversize garment and veil is the vision of a light going out. It’s warning to all of us.

Source link

0 Comments

A daunting task faces the protagonists in

Movies

22 Deleted Movie Scenes That Are Either Great Or Terrible

Source link

0 Comments

22 Deleted Movie Scenes That Are Either

MCU

Marvel and Star Wars actor Ray Stevenson tragically passed away on Sunday, May 21, 2023.

Ray Stevenson

Variety confirmed with Stevenson’s publicist that the Irish star died on Sunday at only 58 years old, although no cause of death was given.

Italian website Spettacoli first reported on Stevenson’s death, noting that he had been hospitalized on the island of Ischia during the production of his new film Cassino on Ischia.

Stevenson was well-known among comic book fans for his supporting role in the MCU as Volstagg in all three movies from the Thor trilogy as well as playing the titular Punisher in 2008’s Punisher: War Zone. 

He will also play a villainous role in Star Wars’ Ahsoka as Baylan Skoll. Previously, he voiced Gar Saxon in two episodes of Star Wars Rebels and two episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Outside of his place as a sci-fi/comic book franchise mainstay in Marvel and Star Wars, Stevenson built an impressive career over the last 30 years.

He played key roles in other action stories like the Divergent movies and G.I. Joe while also becoming well-known for his roles in major TV shows such as Dexter and Vikings.

The Scottish star even had a place in the hit 2022 Indian movie RRR, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The Direct sends our deepest condolences to Ray Stevenson’s family and friends during this difficult time.

Source link

0 Comments

DCU

Dead Boy Detectives #6
Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote
Artists: Jeff Stokely, Craig Taillefer
Color Artist: Miquel Muerto
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Reviewed By Steve J. Ray

Summary

The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives #6 brings the series to a surprising, but hugely satisfying close.

The immortal witch, Thessaly, has discovered the cause of the Thai ghost invasion and knows a way to end it. While that sounds like good news, one of the friendly spirits has already been destroyed and it seems like getting rid of the evil ones will also destroy Charles and Edwin’s friends, Melvin and Tanya.

Positives

This finale had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Ever since Charles started rotting away and Jai was “killed” I’ve been expecting the worst. Even when Thessaly finally appeared I knew that, even though she’s a capable and extremely powerful witch, her methods tend to suit her own needs and “the greater good”, with little thought about anyone else, living or (un)dead, that doesn’t fit in with her methods or ideals.

I’ve learned about new mythologies, felt scares, laughed, and had my heart broken. As a huge comics fan, this is the kind of series that proves the validity and power of the medium. It still upsets me when people put comics down, particularly when there are great stories like Dead Boy Detectives on the shelves.

What I really liked was the fact the “villain” of the piece wasn’t a foul demon, dark wizard, or megalomaniac bent on world domination, but a distraught and grieving father. On the opposite side of the coin, the “savior” of the piece was Thessaly, a character who’s frequently as bad as everything she tries to fight.

The writing’s great, the art is quirky, horrific and fun, the colors add to the texture and atmosphere of the line art, and the letters help evoke and underline all the emotions from the writing and artwork. This is a collaborative medium and this creative team show how brilliantly teamwork can produce a brilliant final product from a diverse and talented group of creators.

Oh… and look out for a fabulous little cameo from one of the Endless, near the end of the issue.

Negatives

As final chapters go, The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives #6 is about as good as it gets. I didn’t expect it to end the way it did, have no issues with the conclusion; and, best of all, as all great stories tend to do, what was the conclusion to one tale is just the beginning of another. The Dead Boy Detectives will be back (although they may need to change their name), and Thessaly’s role and connection to he larger, overall arc will continue, over in the pages of Nightmare Country.

This entire team has created a memorable, fun, scary romp that has never ceased to delight. I have bought the individual issues, and would happily own a collected version too.

Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment

Source link

0 Comments

16 Dead Boy Detectives #6 Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote Artists: Jeff Stokely, Craig

Comics

THQ Nordic will present an Alone in the Dark showcase later this week.

The presentation will be viewable on YouTube and Twitch on May 25 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET (May 26 at 1am BST / 2am CEST).

It promises to “unveil answers to some of the most pressing questions surrounding the game”.

Alone in the Dark | Spotlight Announcement

Alone in the Dark is a reboot of the classic horror franchise for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

The third-person single-player horror game has been in development for five years at THQ’s Swedish studio Pieces Interactive, with Mikael Hedberg (Amnesia, SOMA) directing and writing the game and monster designs by Guy Davis (Evolve, Pacific Rim).

According to THQ, the new game is “a love letter to the original” which is targeting “a classic third-person horror game mix” of “strange and interesting characters, a dense atmosphere and thrilling combat”.

1992’s Alone in the Dark is credited as being a forefather to the survival horror genre, releasing four years before the original Resident Evil, and developer Pieces Interactive said it was determined to recapture the atmosphere of the original.

“Playing as Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood, explore the various environments, fight monsters, solve puzzles and discover the terrible truth about the mansion of Derceto,” the game’s official description reads.

“In the deep south of the United States during the years 1920, Emily Hartwood’s uncle disappears. Accompanied by the private detective Edward Carnby, she goes looking for him in the manor of Derceto, a mental asylum where something is lurking.

“You will encounter strange occupants, nightmarish kingdoms, dangerous monsters, and uncover an evil conspiracy. At the confluence of reality, mystery and madness, the adventure that awaits you risks undermining your certainties. Who are you going to trust, what are you going to believe, and what are you going to do next?”