He is famed for his organisational skills and rapid shooting pace on films which never run over time or over budget (usually while in the depths of post-production for one he is well on his way preparing for his next), not to mention racking over 100 varied producing credits with Scott Free Productions, the company he founded with his late fellow filmmaker brother Tony.

Throughout his directorial career Sir Ridley has displayed a fascination with exploring human nature and telling stories with complex and formidable women at their centre, and over a 45-plus year career he has tried his hand at most genres, always bringing distinct and atmospheric visual sensibilities with him.

How do you even begin to put such an impressive body of work in any kind of justifiable order? Well, we at The Film Magazine are certainly going to try. So put on your favourite Hans Zimmer soundtrack, draw the blinds to cast some interesting shadows, and turn on the smoke machine. Based on each film’s critical and audience reception, and their wider impacts on popular culture, here is Every Ridley Scott Directed Film Ranked from worst to best.

Follow @thefilmagazine on X (Twitter).

28. The Counsellor (2013)

In an effort to buy himself out of trouble, a lawyer (Michael Fassbender) agrees to facilitate the theft of a Cartel drug shipment on behalf of local kingpin Reiner (Javier Bardem).

Acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy writing a script for Ridley Scott sounds like a dream come true, yet The Counsellor was anything but. The characters are all broad strokes, amoral archetypes, or, in Bardem’s case, cartoon characters. No one changes or learns anything, and the smattering of kinky sex and splatter violence is transparently aiming for shock value.

By squandering an intriguing premise and an impressive cast, The Counsellor ends up as an amateurish, sleazy and boring crime film with, particularly disappointing for McCarthy (a writer famed for pristine penmanship), only a single memorable exchange of dialogue.

27. Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

A re-telling of the Old Testament story of Moses (Christian Bale), an adopted prince of the Pharaoh leading the Israelite rebellion and escape from their slave-masters in Egypt.

The animated The Prince of Egypt did this story so much better, or at least executed it in a more emotionally compelling way. Ridley Scott might be Mr Historical Epic, but in adapting a Biblical story he bit off more than he could chew.

Even putting aside the uncomfortable look of casting white Europeans and their descendants to populate a story of Egypt and the Middle East (this was only half a decade ago and everybody should’ve known better) Exodus never seems to work out exactly what it wants to be; grounded or fantastical, spiritual or cynical, faithful to the Old Testament or out to deconstruct it; it’s all of these and none of them at the same time.

26. Robin Hood (2010)

Returning from the Crusades, Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe in his fourth collaboration with Ridley Scott) leads a series of uprisings in the villages surrounding Nottingham in protest of the cruelty of the Crown’s treatment of the peasant classes.

Who decided Monsieur Hood should be gritty? Give me a fox or Errol Flynn any day.

This take on the classic English folk tale had all the action chops but never managed to present Robin as an engaging character with compelling or relatable struggles.

Crowe’s accent going on a walking tour of the British Isles was distracting to say the least, and while Mark Strong and Oscar Isaac are fun baddies to boo at, Cate Blanchett is largely wasted as a more active than usual Marian, the copious convoluted flashbacks only serving to muddy the characters and their struggles. 

Recommended for you: Once More with Feeling – 10 More of the Best Remakes

25. Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

Newly-promoted NYPD detective Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger) is assigned to protect socialite Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) who has witnessed a brutal mob assassination, but finds himself helplessly falling for her.

This is a pretty dull, by-the-numbers noir-thriller enlivened only slightly by Scott’s usual visual flair and Lorraine Bracco’s sturdy supporting performance which manages to make the usually thankless role of cop’s wife fairly interesting.

You can predict every twist and plot turn coming at you a mile off, and all the late 80s fashion and hair is far more terrifying than any violent threats to the protagonists might be.

24. A Good Year (2006)

High-flying British stock trader Max Skinner (Russell Crowe) returns to his family vineyard in France to tie up his late uncle’s estate but falls in love with a simpler way of life and the people he connects with, chiefly waitress and childhood friend Fanny (Marion Cotillard).

Russell Crowe’s first reunion with Scott since Gladiator is a pretty strange beast, all things considered. It’s basically the story of a man with money being humbled, going on a trip down memory lane in summery rural France and trying to recall a more innocent point in his life when things other than wealth mattered to him.

For once Crowe isn’t playing a gruff macho man, he’s got good comic chemistry with Tom Hollander, and the flashbacks featuring Freddie Highmore and Albert Finney are admittedly rather poignant. Sadly Marion Cotillard doesn’t get much of interest to do despite being key to the plot, and Scott seems far less comfortable directing what is essentially a rom-com.

23. Hannibal (2001)

Hannibal Review

A decade after his escape from the asylum, Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) is being pursued not just by the FBI’s Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) but one of his few surviving and highly vengeful victims (Gary Oldman).

It was an almost impossible task, to follow Jonathan Demme’s 1991 masterpiece adapting an inferior book sequel, but Scott did his best with what he was given. Anthony Hopkins has fun with a lot more screen time as Hannibal Lecter, and the whole thing is presented with handsome cinematography and a beautifully orchestrated score from Hans Zimmer, including a meticulous original aria for the sake of a single scene at the opera.

Unfortunately these iconic characters lose a lot of their power and allure, and the whole thing feels over-stuffed, unfocused and unnecessarily gory.

Recommended for you: Hannibal Movies Ranked

Napoleon (2023)
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: David Scarpa
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Rupert Everett, Paul Rhys

Almost a quarter of a century after his swords and sandals epic Gladiator became a critically acclaimed cultural phenomenon and Oscars Best Picture winner, Ridley Scott re-teams with one of its stars – one of this generation’s leading actors and a multi-time Academy Award nominee, Joaquin Phoenix – to revisit another of history’s most written about leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte of France. With more historically accurate locations and just as many period-appropriate costumes as in his turn of the century fable, this life and times of France’s great-then-disgraced general should be a lot more affecting than it actually is. This bullet point journey through Bonaparte’s rise and fall from power doesn’t make powerful comment on the corruption of man, nor does it evaluate the emperor’s influence on war or peace, on Europe or France or the United Kingdom or Russia. In fact, it doesn’t say much at all…

It would be difficult to chronicle Napoleon’s story and fail to capture the imagination in one way or another. This is one of history’s most important figures, an emblem of power and greed. His various roles in post-revolution France took him across continents, saw him as the figurehead of coups, and brought about the deaths of more than one million people. His was a life filled with so many historically significant events, moments, and decisions, that anyone with so much as an Encyclopaedia Britannica could recount his story with at least some drama, shock and awe. The issue with this $200million film is that the script does little more than precisely that, recounting the significant moments of his leadership as if listing them out of a book, with a cheap and at times barely legible love angle tacked on to evoke empathy and provide commentary on the events that come fast and often with little context.

Joaquin Phoenix tries his best. He dominates every scene, embodying a character he clearly sees as more of a creature than a man. Under his spell, Napoleon Bonaparte is worthy of attention, a character whom we are desperate to investigate, to interrogate. But the film doesn’t allow for that. As we depart the beheading of Marie Antoinette in revolution-era France to first meet our subject, Phoenix is not unlike a lion with his jaw clenched, his eyes glazed, his uniform as extravagant and symbolic as a mane. There is so much promise held within this introduction – a potentially world-shifting performance, some spectacular wardrobe work, effective framing and blocking – and instead it sadly becomes emblematic of a film that leaves so much of its potential unfulfilled.

The bullet point journey through Napoleon’s conquests, political manoeuvres, and exiles, requires an emotional core for any potential audience to attach to, and it finds that in the would-be emperor’s marriage to his beloved Josephine. Vanessa Kirby embodies the infamous leader’s muse as if a witch who has cast a spell, and the Oscar-nominated performer’s turn is at times just as beguiling as Phoenix’s. Together, they never hit the highs of some of their other on-screen relationships (Phoenix in Her, Kirby in Pieces of a Woman), nor is their relationship as moving as that presented by Mel Gibson and Catherine McCormack in Braveheart, or as lustful as that presented by Omar Sharif and Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago. There isn’t even a sense of dangerous plotting as underlined by the incestuous relationship hinted at between Phoenix and Connie Nielsen in Gladiator, which at least provoked a reaction. In Napoleon, Phoenix and Kirby are believably brought together, but they are far from enchanted by one another, and as time passes and events occur, you expect that to become part of the commentary on Napoleon’s lack of humanity, but it doesn’t. Napoleon instead frames this relationship as the beating heart of its subject, as the primary motivating factor, the biggest achievement, the biggest regret. And the film only takes brief moments to dissect this, or even present a valid argument as to how the relationship motivated the man to achieve otherworldly horrors. Theirs is a story that runs parallel to the story of Napoleon’s “achievements”, evolving from time to time but largely suffering from the same “this happens and then this happens and then this happens” that plagues the rest of the tale.

Beyond the limitations of David Scarpa’s screenplay, which was no doubt limited in its potential by the vast period of time it sought to cover (a period of more than 25 years), and the effects this has on Claire Simpson’s editing and pacing of the film, Napoleon does achieve a lot cinematically. First and foremost, the costume work is spectacular. David Crossman and Janty Yates’ work in costuming is nothing short of stellar, and a glimpse at the level of quality many expected a modern Ridley Scott historical epic to achieve. Everyone looks unique and period-appropriate, but the smaller details on the limited selection of main characters are worthy of the biggest screen possible and plenty of critical acclaim. Similarly, the production design by Arthur Max is a significant factor in bringing cinematic qualities to scenes that are otherwise inconsequential or at least far from unmissable. The party and governmental scenes are where the latter shines the brightest, some sequences decked out and presented as if the period’s great paintings.

Ridley Scott must be commended for his role in bringing this to life, too. Some shots are of the highest cinematic calibre, a master clearly touching on the greatness that has been foundational to his visually impressive career to date. His party scenes are filled with life, there are unique physical qualities to many of the major historical figures at play in the story, and he seems intent on ensuring that not a single battle is presented in as bland a fashion as many other director’s have long since settled. His work with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski in the capturing of cold, of fog, of early morning winter sunrises, imbues the piece with a sense of reality and ensures that nobody can be bored by the achievements held within each frame. Some sequences, such as the one in which Napoleon takes Moscow, are worthy even of a highlight reel that includes The Duellists, Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise and Gladiator.

As has often been the case in more recent Scott movies, there are also shots, scenes and sometimes even entire sequences that seem absent of his once unique and form-topping touch. Early on, it is easy to be removed from the reality of the time period courtesy of poor CGI, such as that showing Joaquin Phoenix riding a horse on a beach or large crowds resembling AI renditions more than actual people. The picture is also so awash with greys that it seems more like a mid-2000s early digital filmmaking release than even Scott’s own from that era. Some night time shots are utterly spectacular, and seem to be of the same school as those celebrated in Jordan Peele’s Nope, but there are vast periods in which everything looks washed out, and it is almost certain that minutes of this film will be barely legible (too dark) to anyone who eventually watches it at home.

Ridley Scott has spoken a lot in the press tour for Napoleon about how his movies do not need to be historically accurate. When a film seeks to explore something thematically, personally, or ideologically, then Scott is most certainly correct. Film is art, and art seeks truth rather than fact. Gladiator worked because of this perspective, because of how it abandoned fact in search of the truth held within the myth. But Napoleon doesn’t do that. It presents moment after moment from the history books, often inaccurately out of negligence as opposed to deeper purpose. There is no doubt that a lot of care and artistry can be seen on screen in Napoleon, but that negligence will be the story of this film: a movie that could have been great, that could have meant something, that could have simply been accurate, and ended up being none of those things. Like Napoleon himself, Napoleon thinks itself as greater than it is. It isn’t insulting like Ridley Scott’s idea of Napoleon firing canons into the Great Pyramid of Giza was to historians the world over, but it does offer only glimmers at its full might. Some individual pieces are greater than the whole in this instance, and what a shame that is. This should have been special.

Score: 15/24

Recommended for you: Ridley Scott Films Ranked

In the 21st century, 23 films have thus far won the glamourous Oscar for Best Picture, each of which have gone on to become synonymous with film history; whether made for $3million or $300million, whether seen by millions of people worldwide or just a small handful in relative terms. This largely American-made and almost exclusively English-speaking collection of films has reflected to us – not only the English-speaking westerners amongst us, but the global film-watching populous that watches the Oscars in numbers that top out at one billion – our great fears, or deepest anxieties, and our most lofty ambitions, and has thus highlighted our collective abilities to empathise with the lives of others on a mass scale.

In this edition of Ranked, we here at The Film Magazine have looked back at every winner of the Best Picture Oscar from The Academy’s 23 21st century Oscar ceremonies to judge each in terms of quality first and foremost, but also longevity, relevance, popular consensus, critical appraisal and contextual importance, to see which of the films released 1999-2021 is the best and, first, which is the worst…

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter.

All films are listed in the year they were awarded (eg, CODA is listed as “2022”).

23. The King’s Speech – 2011

The other nominees: 127 Hours; Black Swan; The Fighter; Inception; The Kids Are All Right; The Social Network; Toy Story 3; True Grit; Winter’s Bone

It’s not easy being the ruler of so much as one third of all humanity…

The King’s Speech is like a fashion show of rotating period tropes that request you chuckle along at the absurdity of old fashioned sexism and outdated customs, nod as you recognise the name-dropping of Queen Elizabeth or the recreation of the old Wembley Stadium or the reading of the most obvious line of Shakespeare (“to be or not to be”). It’s a bland and uninspired mess that made it to the Best Picture finish line because it was backed by the awards season manipulators of the 90s and 00s, the Weinstein Company (yes, that Weinstein company).

Tom Hooper knows how to cast actors good enough to carry his acting-focused movies, but beyond period appropriate sets and costumes his films are as bland and unimaginative in all cinematic terms as can possibly be imagined, The King’s Speech being a never-ending barrage of British heritage references presented as if a stage show. Through the eyes of contemporary audiences, finding sympathy for an all-powerful ruler who has to tackle a speech impediment is nigh on impossible and would be laughable were it not for the film’s earnest approach. The sheer ignorance of this film’s final act being one framed as a triumph and celebration of perseverance is nothing short of insulting, the fact that King George VI sends an entire nation (and consequently the world) into World War II being framed as insignificant in comparison to the achievement of overcoming a stammer to speak on the radio.

Few films have felt so hopelessly out of touch and as evidently aimed at a privileged group of unknowing and uncaring people as this one, its Best Picture win speaking to the absurdity of the formulaic and frankly terrible “Oscar-worthy” formula of the day.

Recommended for you [Affiliate link]: Tom Hooper Tees, Cups & More | RedBubble

22. Crash – 2006

The other nominees: Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Good Night, and Good Luck; Munich

By reputation Crash is the worst Best Picture winner of all time, and it’s easy to see why…

Directed by Paul Haggis and starring an ensemble cast led by Don Cheadle (who also acted as producer), Crash suffers from the same issue as The King’s Speech in that it is aimed at a very select group of privileged people, the sort of liberal white folk that make up The Academy and, specifically to Crash, live in Los Angeles.

Set in California’s largest city – and the home of Hollywood let’s not forget – Crash cycles through everyday issues such as racism, violence, prejudice, police brutality, relationship drama, sexism, stereotyping, and so on, its ensemble cast adding gravitas to what are shallow and barely developed stories that interweave throughout its runtime. Crash is the archetypal Oscars “issues” movie in that it appears to be saying a lot without it actually saying much at all; it highlights issues whilst reinforcing the status quo.

To its credit, Crash moves at a quite rapid pace, and by modern standards it can be considered refreshing to see so many flawed characters (some would say that not a single character in this film is likeable), but a Film of the Year it is not, and a stain on the Oscars it remains.

21. Green Book – 2019

2019 Oscars Best Picture Nominees Ranked

The other nominees: Black Panther; BlackKklansman; Bohemian Rhapsody; The Favourite; Roma; A Star Is Born; Vice

Green Book is by no means a bad film from a technical perspective. It is photographed beautifully, with every shot being sublimely lit, graded and focused; the performances are each fantastic too, with Best Supporting Actor winner Mahershala Ali transformed and Viggo Mortensen trustily strong in the lead role; the period appropriate costuming, sets and music all functioning to create an immersive experience that highlights the best of the acting and photography. The issue is the message, and perhaps even more importantly the timing.

As Jacob Davis said in his article “Green Book’s Win Says More About the Academy Than Society“, “Society changes at a rapid pace in the social media age, yet The Academy is experiencing some kind of cultural lag”. As was the case with Crash and The King’s Speech, Green Book was precisely the kind of “message movie” that only the very select group of privileged white Academy members could associate with; issues of race and unity as told through the eyes of the white man.

In Green Book, racism is quite literally a thing that happened in the past, and as each racist stereotype is used to cause a small character quibble or is regurgitated for laughs with no thought as regards the possible wider impact that doing so may have on its audience or the volatile cultural conversation of the time, and the narrative focuses more and more on the lessons of its white lead, it becomes apparent that this Best Picture winner is an ignorant take on racism that seems to make the prehistoric suggestion that so long as a black man is able to provide outstanding service (in this case through music) he can be on the level of a lowly white criminal.

Fifty or more years earlier, Green Book may have been heralded as forward-thinking and interesting, but in a year of race-fuelled violence and cinema that directly tackled the issues of racism and promoted the values and inclusion of black people (BlackKklansman and Black Panther each being Best Picture nominees from black directors), Peter Farrelly and his almost all-white team of filmmakers centring a “based on true events” story about a noteworthy black artist on the white man who escorted him through the south seemed… out of touch.

Recommended for you: Green Book’s Verdant Views on Race Allow Inherent Contradiction

20. CODA – 2022

2022 Oscars Best Picture Nominees Ranked

The other nominees: Belfast; Don’t Look Up; Drive My Car; Dune; King Richard; Licorice Pizza; Nightmare Alley; The Power of the Dog; West Side Story

2022 Oscars Best Picture winner CODA wasn’t even close to being the film of the year. A glorified coming-of-age film complete with all the trappings of run-of-the-mill teen dramas, CODA was heavy on exposition and narrative/character conveniences but light on technical prowess. Its selection as the Best Picture of 2021 seemed like the choice of an academy looking to create an important moment, the crowning of its full-hearing crew proving to highlight how shallow that choice may have been.

Telling of a child of deaf adults (a CODA) played impressively by Emilia Jones, Sian Heder’s film no doubt had potential as a moderately discussed teen film that led with empathy and taught positive ethics, but a run at the Oscars seemed laughable upon its release on Apple TV+ in the summer of 2021 and its eventual win only seemed to come into view in the few weeks ahead of the final votes being cast.

The 2022 Oscars Best Picture race was a dirty one, and that’s important to recognise in relation to CODA’s victory. Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza was heavily criticised for an apparently racially insensitive joke, seemingly putting the latest film from that particular Academy favourite out of contention, while Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story held similar potential for controversy having cast alleged abuser Ansel Elgort in the lead role. The Academy will no doubt be relieved to have kept King Richard from this award given the controversies surrounding Lead Actor winner Will Smith on the night, while early awards season favourite The Power of the Dog was seemingly met with the ire of more conservative Academy members, A Star is Born actor Sam Elliott among its most vocal critics at the start of 2022. Apple saw their opportunity to take advantage of a fractured race and put their financial clout and heavy sway with a number of academy members (courtesy of their investments across multiple studios regarding technology, share ownership and so on) to good use, ensuring that it was an Apple film that became the first ever direct-to-streaming Best Picture winner.

In the years to come it may be the case that CODA is looked back upon as an important Best Picture winner that opened doors for deaf talent to cross into the world’s most accessible visual realm, and it may even be considered warmly amongst the less inspired and more offensive choices in Oscars history, but a classic of the silver screen it is not nor shall ever be. CODA was a victor courtesy of circumstances and power plays, a Best Picture that doesn’t even come close to mirroring the quality of what is to come on this list.

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The post 21st Century Best Picture Oscar Winners Ranked first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> https://www.thefilmagazine.com/21st-century-best-picture-oscar-winners-ranked/feed/ 0 26181 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/brief-history-of-directors-cut/ https://www.thefilmagazine.com/brief-history-of-directors-cut/#respond Fri, 21 Feb 2020 02:11:33 +0000 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/?p=17871 From the Ridley Scott's Director's Cut of 'Blade Runner' to Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' extended editions and right through to the Snyder Cut of 'Justice League' - the history of the director's cut as presented by Sam Sewell-Peterson.

The post A Brief History of the Director’s Cut first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> For at least half of the medium’s existence, there has existed the concept of the director being a film’s sole author. With the emergence of Auteur Theory (Andrew Sarris building on French critics’ ideas in 1962) this idea continued to gain traction in the minds of audiences and critics alike. But the director’s word is not always law. The version of a film released to the public has passed through many hands, is evidence of an almighty collaborative effort and is the result of many hundreds of hours in the edit. Film directors nearly always have to make compromises along the way, cutting small but significant moments or entire subplots from their movies to make them work.

Nightmarish tales of perfectionist, visionary directors getting locked out of the editing suite by philistine Hollywood executives only concerned about their bottom line (Orson Welles on Touch of Evil, Orson Welles on The Magnificent Ambersons, Michael Cimino on Heaven’s Gate) have become folkloric. A film, especially a director’s passion project, might be seen as too obtuse, too indulgent and/or too weird, and unless said director has final cut written into their contract (which isn’t going to happen if they’re not “a name” in the industry) executives can always find someone else to do a hard edit. However, outside theatrical release windows and with the rise of home media there came a new outlet for directors to not only show their preferred cut to audiences, but for studios to tap into another lucrative revenue stream in the form of shiny new box sets.

A good director’s cut isnt just made up of footage retrieved from the cutting room floor pasted back in (more often than not this was cut for a good reason), but it should coalesce into a distinct artistic vision. Ridley Scott, an advocate for and a frequent maker of director’s cuts over his long and prolific career, tends to describe them in his DVD/Blu-ray introductions as his “preferred version”. Directors such as Cimino and James Cameron have blamed studio pressure and interference from executives for not meeting their original vision and have subsequently released director’s cuts seemingly to correct this. The Abyss, Aliens, Terminator 2 and Avatar all received this treatment for their home release, though these cuts usually amount to only a few extended scenes and give Cameron an excuse to enhance the existing footage with the latest technology.

Ridley Scott could be a case study on his own – when handled correctly and with a clear storytelling purpose in mind, the director’s cut can be an art form in itself. Blade Runner is now on its fifth or eighth version (depending on how you count them), and the “Final Cut” released in 2007 is supposedly just that. Scott has gone back and forth on the main discrepancy and key character question of the story – whether Deckard is a replicant or not – over the years, and various iterations of the film which are all in one cut or another were further contradicted by Blade Runner 2049. Elsewhere Scott has presented a Director’s/Extended Cut of Gladiator (more scenes, none especially essential), Black Hawk Down (ditto) and Kingdom of Heaven. The Director’s Cut of Kingdom of Heaven should be what all other director’s cuts are compared against, being an entirely different and far superior film that not only deepens characterisation and re-incorporates several affecting subplots, but which also fascinatingly incorporates divine intervention into an otherwise grounded historical epic.

Francis Ford Coppola famously re-cut Apocalypse Now twice with decades between each version. The “Redux” added a whopping 49 minutes while the “Final Cut”, only released in 2019, gathered Captain Willard’s journey through hell back to a tight (yeah, right…) 3 hours. Classics like Apocalypse Now are always worth revisiting and seeing them from any new angle that can potentially further enlightenment.

A quite different take on the director’s cut is Peter Jackson and his infamous Middle Earth Extended Editions. New Line Cinema and latterly Warner Brothers put a whole lot of extra time, effort and money into Jackson’s quest to seamlessly incorporate new scenes (complete with added action and special effects) into the already hefty fantasy epics, and packaged them with hours and hours of special features. Were these even really director’s cuts (again, they were Jackson’s preferred versions) or simply very effective marketing exercises that convinced fans to buy each film at least twice? The jury’s out. But, while the extended Lord of the Rings gave us some welcome character expansion for Aragorn, Eowyn and Faramir, not to mention giving Saruman – so cruelly cut out of the theatrical release – a great death scene, no new scene added to The Hobbit was strictly necessary.

The director’s cut will always be a marketing strategy to a certain extent, an opportunity to re-promote and resell your product. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing (though was anyone really asking for a director’s cut of Daredevil?) and it’s a strategy more recently adopted by directors in the horror genre. The release of Mike Flanagan’s director’s cut of Doctor Sleep will be upon us soon and already out is the Midsommar Director’s Cut. Adding 25 minutes to an already lengthy genre picture might seem like overkill, but director Ari Aster uses the time well, to seed the most important ideas much earlier in the narrative, let the uneasy atmosphere really seep in, and deepen the biggest character moments. It’s a different and rewarding alternative viewing experience of Midsommar, as good as the original cut was.

Yet another way of looking at the concept is the “fantasy cut”. Richard Donner was unceremoniously fired from Superman II midway through production, and a large portion of his footage was re-shot by incoming replacement director Richard Lester. We’ll never truly see Donner’s original vision because it doesn’t exist, but fans and colleagues of Donner came together to help create a close approximation from outtakes for home video release in 2006, and the resultant film was not only different but arguably more thematically satisfying if understandably not as polished as the original Superman II. It may use Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder’s chemistry scenes from the audition process, but it also gives Lois enough credit to work out who Superman really is all by herself because she’s, ya’know, a journalist.

The Holy Grail of director’s cuts is of course the elusive (because it doesn’t exist – yet) Snyder Cut of Justice League. I’m not saying unseen footage doesn’t exist, or that Zack Snyder’s original plans for the lacklustre film were not very different from the theatrically released version, but a so-called director’s cut would have required at least as much of an investment as the Middle Earth Extended Editions to complete, and surely Warner Bros’ marketing team would have gone into overdrive by now if it was ever going to be released?

The director’s cut has been many things over the decades – cynical marketing, a treat for super-fans and a way for creatively stifled filmmakers to release something truly special. You of course have to consider that auteurs can be a difficult bunch of perfectionists and that sooner or later a cut of their film in some shape or form has to see the light of day, but if you’re paying for that named director, you want to see that director’s signature in the final product. A director’s cut is a compromise, an opportunity for a filmmaker to exhibit their work unadulterated and for a studio to boost profit margins. There have been good director’s cuts, there have been bad director’s cuts, there have been pointless director’s cuts, but when said cuts are treated with care and respect they can be an enlightening new view of any film worth talking about.

The post A Brief History of the Director’s Cut first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> https://www.thefilmagazine.com/brief-history-of-directors-cut/feed/ 0 17871 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/ridley-scott-gladiator-sequel-reveal/ https://www.thefilmagazine.com/ridley-scott-gladiator-sequel-reveal/#respond Fri, 02 Nov 2018 02:08:52 +0000 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/?p=11400 We're getting a sequel to 'Gladiator' (2000) and original director Ridley Scott looks set to return. Full details...

The post Ridley Scott to Direct ‘Gladiator’ Sequel first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> Reports from Deadline have revealed that Paramount are shaping up a sequel for Universal’s 2000 box office hit and Oscar-winning success Gladiator, with original director Ridley Scott set to return at the helm.

Top Gun: Maverick screenwriter Peter Craig (The Town; Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 1 & 2) has been challenged with resurrecting the story in the aftermath of central protagonist Maximus’ death at the end of the original film, with this narrative centring on the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), Lucius, the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus. The sequel, which is expected to be Scott’s next feature directorial effort, will present Lucius as a Roman greatly influenced by Maximus, though other story details are currently scarce.

The sequel is reportedly being fast-tracked as the next project for Scott after his upcoming venture into TV on TNT’s ‘Raised By Wolves’ and will mark the 80 year old Englishman’s first feature film since the release of mild awards season contender All the Money in the World (2017).

Universal Pictures, the studio which backed the original project, reportedly has an opt-in deal regarding co-financing this venture, though they are yet to make a decision.

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The post Ridley Scott to Direct ‘Gladiator’ Sequel first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> https://www.thefilmagazine.com/ridley-scott-gladiator-sequel-reveal/feed/ 0 11400 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/top-10-ridley-scott-movies/ https://www.thefilmagazine.com/top-10-ridley-scott-movies/#respond Wed, 12 Jul 2017 18:51:22 +0000 http://www.thefilmagazine.com/?p=6998 From 'Alien' to 'Gladiator', 'Blade Runner' to 'Thelma and Louise', here are the 10 best films directed by iconic British filmmaker Ridley Scott. List by Joseph Wade.

The post Top 10 Ridley Scott Movies first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> Ridley Scott is over 80 years old and shows no signs of slowing down. The filmmaker, whose feature-length cinematic outings as a director have spanned across 5 decades, has been one of the more well-respected genre directors of the contemporary era having earned 3 Oscar nominations for Best Director and having been at the helm for some of cinema’s best-remembered and most beloved releases.

Having directed 25 films across a wide range of genres at high, middling and low budgets alike, Ridley Scott’s catalogue is rich and diverse, and as a whole will guarantee the British director’s place among the greats of cinema. In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we’ve narrowed this director’s 25 feature directorial releases (not including documentaries) into his very best, for these: the Top 10 Ridley Scott Movies.

Have an opinion? Leave your thoughts in the comments. And be sure to follow us on Twitter.

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10. Prometheus (2012)

Welcoming Scott back to the Alien universe after 33 years was special to many fans of the famous series. The filmmaker had ignited the franchise with his horror-sci-fi original, thus increasing expectations of his long-awaited prequel.

He managed to capture much of the tension and drama that he did in 1979, only with slightly less authenticity as Prometheus was developed and marketed to be just as much of another mainstream Alien feature film as a personal passion project for Scott, resulting in a movie that felt like it had to replicate the high points of the original rather than find such high points naturally as the story developed.

Prometheus is a very good standalone science fiction movie that pleased audiences and critics alike but didn’t break waves like the majority of entries on this list. When all was said and done, this film was very good franchise reboot, but a franchise reboot nonetheless.

Recommended for you: Alien Movie Franchise Ranked

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9. Matchstick Men (2003)

Sam Rockwell and an in-form Nicolas Cage headed up this Ridley Scott picture about a pair of con artists looking to pull off a huge financial swindle, in what critics called “an earthed story” that was “quietly devastating”.

For this film, Scott chose to do away with much of the aesthetic flair that had brought him success via Black Hawk Down and Gladiator in particular, instead focusing on ensuring that the quality of the script’s somewhat dark and down-trodden tone managed to shine.

Intricately made and of the highest quality in all regards, Matchstick Men never found the cult fame that many critical darlings do, but it remains a very good Ridley Scott movie that packs more of a punch than first meets the eye.

Recommended for you: Top 10 Times Nicolas Cage Went Full Cage

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The post Top 10 Ridley Scott Movies first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> https://www.thefilmagazine.com/top-10-ridley-scott-movies/feed/ 0 6998 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/30-greatest-universal-films/ https://www.thefilmagazine.com/30-greatest-universal-films/#respond Sun, 16 Oct 2016 02:03:44 +0000 http://www.thefilmagazine.com/?p=5188 The 30 greatest Universal Studios movies, from 'To Kill a Mockingbird' to 'Jurassic Park', 'Back to the Future' to 'Despicable Me', ranked.

The post 30 Greatest Universal Films first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> It’s Count Down Time Again!

The rules are simple: if Universal Studios produced or co-produced the film, it is eligible for the list. Any distribution-only films do not count.

Number 30: Field of Dreams (1989)
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Cast: Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Timothy Busfield, Kelly Coffield Park, Frank Whaley, Gaby Hoffmann, Dwier Brown, Fern Persons 

Number 29: The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
Director: Judd Apatow
Cast: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks, Leslie Mann, Kat Dennings

Number 28: Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Director: James Whale
Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester, Gavin Gordon, Douglas Walton, Una O’Connor 

Where to Start with Universal Classic Monsters

Number 27: Mallrats (1995)
Director: Kevin Smith
Cast: Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Renee Humphrey, Jason Mewes, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Smith, Priscilla Barnes, Michael Rooker

Number 26: Jarhead (2005)
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Brian Geraghty, Lucas Black

Number 25: The Mummy (1999)
Director: Stephen Sommers
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O’Connor, Jonathan Hyde, Oded Fehr

Brendan Fraser Mummy Movies Ranked

Number 24: Scarface (1983)
Director: Brian De Palma
Cast: Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio , Paul Shenar, Robert Loggia 

Number 23: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey, Christina Ricci, Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz

Number 22: Apollo 13 (1995)
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris

Top 10 Ron Howard Movies

Number 21: The Blues Brothers (1980)
Director: John Landis
Cast: John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd

Number 20: Army Of Darkness (1992)
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Richard Grove, Timothy Patrick Quill, Michael Earl Reid, Bridget Fonda

10 Best Sam Raimi Movie Moments

Number 19: National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
Director: John Landis
Cast: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, Donald Sutherland

Number 18: A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Judd Hirsch, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Christopher Plummer

21st Century Best Picture Oscar Winners Ranked

Number 17: To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Director: Robert Mulligan
Cast: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, John Megna, Ruth White, Paul Fix, Brock Peters, Frank Overton

Number 16: The Bourne Identity (2002)
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

The Bourne Collection Ranked

Number 15: American Pie (1999)
Director: Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz
Cast: Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein
Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Seann William Scott, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Eugene Levy

Number 14: Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, Mélanie Laurent

Quentin Tarantino Movies Ranked

Number 13: Born On The Fourth Of July (1989)
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley, Willem Dafoe

Number 12: The Thing (1982)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast:  Kurt Russell, Keith David, A. Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, Richard Dysart

10 Best Moments from The Thing

Number 11: Furious 7 (2015)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Djimon Hounsou, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham

Fast and Furious Movies Ranked

Number 10: Despicable Me (2010)
Directors: Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
Cast: Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Will Arnett, Julie Andrews

Illumination Entertainment Animated Movies Ranked

Number 9: Bridesmaids (2011)
Director: Paul Feig
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ellie Kemper, Chris O’Dowd, Jill Clayburgh

Number 8: Gladiator (2000)
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, Richard Harris

Number 8: The Breakfast Club (1985)
Director: John Hughes
Cast: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, John Kapelos, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy

Number 7: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
Director: Steven Speilberg
Cast: Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore , Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote

 

Number 5: The Birds (1963)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Veronica Cartwright

Top 10 Alfred Hitchcock Films

Number 4: Schindler’s List (1993)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Davidtz

Number 3: Jurassic Park (1993)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, B.D. Wong, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards

Jurassic Park / World Movies Ranked

Number 2: Back To The Future (1985)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson

Back to the Future Movies Ranked

Number 1: Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

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Make sure to watch our full video of the 30 greatest Universal Movies below!

 

The post 30 Greatest Universal Films first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> https://www.thefilmagazine.com/30-greatest-universal-films/feed/ 0 5188 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/30-greatest-academy-award-best-picture-winners/ https://www.thefilmagazine.com/30-greatest-academy-award-best-picture-winners/#respond Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:35:21 +0000 http://www.thefilmagazine.com/?p=4293 This month we have been counting down the 30 Greatest Academy Award Best Picture Winners. Let us know if you agree.

The post 30 Greatest Academy Award Best Picture Winners first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> As you may be aware, throughout the month of March we have been counting down the 30 Greatest Academy Award Best Picture Winners on our Tumblr. But, just in case you missed it here is the complete list from 30 to 1. Let us know what you think!

Number 30 – Forest Gump – Winner 1994

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field, Haley Joel Osment

Number 29 – Chariots of Fire – Winner 1981

Director: Hugh Hudson

Cast: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Struan Rodger, Nigel Davenport, Patrick Magee, David Yelland, Peter Egan, Daniel Gerroll, Dennis Christopher, Brad Davis

Number 28 – The Hurt Locker – Winner 2009

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Christian Camargo, David Morse, Ralph Fiennes, Evangeline Lilly, Christopher Sayegh

Number 27 – Chicago – Winner 2002

Director: Rob Marshall 

Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, Lucy Liu, Colm Feore, Mýa, Dominic West

Number 26 – A Beautiful Mind – Winner 2001

Director: Ron Howard 

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Josh Lucas, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Vivien Cardone, Christopher Plummer, Judd Hirsch, Jason Gray-Stanford, Bryce Dallas Howard

Number 25 – American Beauty – Winner 1999

Director: Sam Mendes

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Scott Bakula

Number 24 – All Quiet on the Western Front – Winner 1929/30

Director: Lewis Milestone

Cast: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, Scott Kolk, Owen Davis, Jr, William Bakewell, Russell Gleason, Richard Alexander

Number 23 – Braveheart – Winner 1995

Director: Mel Gibson 

Cast: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Angus Macfadyen, Catherine McCormack, Brendan Gleeson, James Cosmo, David O’Hara, Peter Hanly, Ian Bannen, Seán McGinley, Brian Cox

Number 22 – An American In Paris – Winner 1951

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Cast: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, Nina Foch, Eugene Borden

Number 21 – Rocky – Winner 1976

Director: John G. Avildsen

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith, Thayer David, Joe Spinell, Tony Burton, Pedro Lovell

Number 20 – All About Eve – Winner 1950

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Cast: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter, Gregory Ratoff, Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Bates

Number 19 – Rain Man – Winner 1988

Director: Barry Levinson

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Jerry Molen, Ralph Seymour, Michael D. Roberts, Bonnie Hunt, Beth Grant, Lucinda Jenney

Number 18 – West Side Story – Winner 1961

Director: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins

Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Simon Oakland, Ned Glass, Marni Nixon, Jimmy Bryant

Number 17 – Gladiator – Winner 2000

Director: Ridley Scott 

Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, David Schofield, John Shrapnel, Tomas Arana, Ralf Möller, Spencer Treat Clark, David Hemmings, Tommy Flanagan, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Richard Harris, Omid Djalili, Giorgio Cantarini

Number 16 – The Silence of the Lambs – Winner 1991

Director: Jonathan Demme

Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald, Masha Skorobogatov

Number 15 – From Here to Eternity – Winner 1953

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Philip Ober, Mickey Shaughnessy, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Warden

Number 14 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Winner 2003

Director: Peter Jackson 

Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Sala Baker, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm 

Number 13 – One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Winner 1975

Director: Miloš Forman

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson, Brad Dourif, Sydney Lassick, Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito, William Redfield, Dean Brooks, William Duell, Vincent Schiavelli 

Number 12 – 12 Years A Slave – Winner 2013

Director: Steve McQueen 

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano, Adepero Oduye, Paul Giamatti 

Number 11 – The Bridge On The River Kwai – Winner 1957

Director: David Lean

Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, Geoffrey Horne, André Morell, Peter Williams, John Boxer, Percy Herbert, Harold Goodwin

Number 10 – Platoon – Winner 1986

Director: Oliver Stone

Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, John C. McGinley, Kevin Dillon, Reggie Johnson, Keith David, Mark Moses, Francesco Quinn, Forest Whitaker, Tony Todd, Bob Orwig, Richard Edson, Johnny Depp

Number 9 – The Departed – Winner 2006

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin 

Number 8 – Titanic – Winner 1997

Director: James Cameron 

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill, David Warner

 

Number 7 – Lawrence of Arabia – Winner 1962

Director: David Lean

Cast: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif, José Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy

Number 6 – Ben-Hur – Winner 1959

Director: William Wyler

Cast: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O’Donnell, Sam Jaffe, Finlay Currie, Frank Thring, Terence Longdon, George Relph, André Morell 

Number 5 – Schindler’s List – Winner 1993

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Davidtz, Małgorzata Gebel, Mark Ivanir, Beatrice Macola, Andrzej Seweryn

Number 4 – The Sound of Music – Winner 1965

Director: Robert Wise

Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr, Nicholas Hammond, Heather Menzies, Duane Chase, Angela Cartwright, Debbie Turner, Kym Karath

Number 3 – The Godfather: Part II – Winner 1974

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo, Morgana King, G. D. Spradlin, Richard Bright 

Number 2 – Casablanca – Winner 1943

Director: Michael Curtiz

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet

Number 1 – Gone With The Wind – Winner 1940

Director: Victor Fleming

Cast: Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O’Neil, Vivien Leigh, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, George Reeves, Fred Crane, Hattie McDaniel, Oscar Polk, Butterfly McQueen, Victor Jory, Everett Brown, Howard Hickman, Alicia Rhett, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Rand Brooks, Carroll Nye, Clark Gable

The post 30 Greatest Academy Award Best Picture Winners first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> https://www.thefilmagazine.com/30-greatest-academy-award-best-picture-winners/feed/ 0 4293 https://www.thefilmagazine.com/djimon-hounsous-3-career-defining-performances/ https://www.thefilmagazine.com/djimon-hounsous-3-career-defining-performances/#respond Mon, 02 Mar 2015 05:29:25 +0000 http://www.thefilmagazine.com/?p=695 "Djimon Hounsou's 3 Career Defining Performances" documents the Benin-born 2-time Academy Award-nominated actor's three greatest on-screen portrayals. Article by Joseph Wade.

The post Djimon Hounsou: 3 Career-Defining Performances first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> Djimon Hounsou has been an ever-present of the Hollywood film industry for over several decades, notching up some top performances along the way. Often critically acclaimed for his supporting roles, the Benin-born star made his acting debut in music videos for the likes of Paula Abdul after moving to the United States in 1990. Now in his 50s, the actor has used his fame to become an advocate for Africans in Hollywood, using his stature to bring attention to issues of representation. After working with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, James Gunn and Edward Zwick, Hounsou’s career will be memorable for many different roles. After much deliberation, here are the three career-defining performances by Djimon Hounsou.

3. Amistad (1997)

Hounsou’s role as Cinque, a rebellion-leading African of a mid-19th century slave ship, was without a doubt a breakthrough role. Though his on-screen part was relatively small due to the film being a courtroom drama that emphasized the work of Matthew McConaughey and Anthony Hopkins in the lead roles, the entire plot was centred on Hounsou’s character and his wish for freedom, placing an incredible amount of emphasis on his performance. Hounsou, under the tutelage of director Steven Spielberg, wowed audiences and critics alike, producing the first of his career-defining performances in one of his most memorable roles.

2. In America (2002)

Djimon Hounsou became Academy Award-nominated for the first time in his career for In America (2002). Nominated for the Actor In a Supporting Role category, Hounsou’s moving performance as Mateo – a HIV positive and physically imposing neighbour to a family of Roman Catholic Irish immigrants during the 1980s – stands as a true illustration of the actor’s range. Though eventually beaten to the Oscar by Tim Robbins for his performance in Mystic River, In America proved to be further reinforcement that Hounsou was one of Hollywood’s top actors.

Other recognisable performances…

1. Blood Diamond (2006)

Continuing with his theme of playing characters illustrative of changes in social consciousness, Hounsou this time played an African war child turned freedom fighter desperate to help overthrow the warlords who had kidnapped and brainwashed his child in the name of diamond foraging. He was nominated for Actor In a Supporting Role at the Oscars for a second time as a result, losing out to Alan Arkin for his performance in Little Miss Sunshine at the 79th Academy Awards. Though he wasn’t a winner on the night, his performance opposite Leonardo DiCaprio earned him the most critical praise of his career and was undeniably one of the best performances from any actor since the turn of the century. Tough, but with a heart of gold, Hounsou’s character demanded the range that the actor inevitably delivered and ultimately provided to be the launching pad for Djimon Hounsou’s number one career-defining performance.

Recommended for you: Richard Jenkins: 3 Career-Defining Performances

The post Djimon Hounsou: 3 Career-Defining Performances first appeared on The Film Magazine.]]> https://www.thefilmagazine.com/djimon-hounsous-3-career-defining-performances/feed/ 0 695