Film

The exceptional Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra, starring Michael Douglas, proves why film still needs Steven Soderbergh, says Robbie Collin.

Michael Douglas has donned the wigs and braid which defined Liberace's stardom in the new Steven Soderbergh film, Behind the Candelabra. But the pianist was not the only musician fond of fancy dress: Alice Vincent picks her favourites.

"In this age of digital video - in which there are cheap cameras, editing software, and funding to be had (if rarely big money to be earned) - the cool kids are making docs. The form is not just good for you these days. It's incredibly sexy." - David Edelstein, New York Magazine. I just love this quote. For me, the joy of watching documentaries comes not only from experiencing something interesting, challenging or thrilling, but also the knowledge that it will teach me something about the world that I live in. The Sydney Film Festival, which is due to start in just over a couple of weeks, has a strong tradition of featuring incredibly good documentaries, and the following are a few of my picks from... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Welcome back to my ongoing coverage of the Melbourne Cinematheque's fantastic program for 2013. I have made an executive decision that my singular reviews are much too insular and often miss the point of promoting the holistic concept of this seasonal schedule, so will instead be breaking down what you shouldn't miss out on and a brief tiding as to why. For the rest of May 22-29 is the excellence of the bizarre and thrilling Italian auteur Elio Petri: A filmmaker above suspicion.About the Auteur:Elio Petri (1929-1982) was one the most uncompromising and eclectic of political filmmakers. His often underrated, incendiary, satiric work exposed the moral complacency and corruption of postwar Italian politics and religion. He was awarded with a (non-collected) 1970 Best Foreign Language Film... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

Our fellow C.O.B.R.A.S. site Double O Section has alerted us to a special spy event tonight on Turner Classic Movies. TCM will be airing a fantastic lineup of fun spy flicks, including Our Man Flint, the Matt Helm movies The Silencers and Murderer's Row, Carry On Spying, and the wonderful Vincent Price movies, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. I wish we could all be in the Spy Vibe lair to watch these together. What are your favorite spy spoofs? More details about tonights program at Double O Section here. Check Spy Vibe for recent posts about our fiendish villains archive, WWII spy Krystyna Skarbek, recycled James Bond covers, interview with Fu Manchu author William Maynard, Man From UNCLE manga. new James Bond omnibus, Orson Welles the Shadow, rare Piero Umiliani Kriminal soundtrack, new Beatles Yellow Submarine game, James Bond audio book re-issues, Mid-Century Modern in Peanuts, Ralph Byrd Dick Tracy, my review of SKYFALL and more. Spy Vibe is now on Pinterest! Check out our image archives and follow us here.Ian Fleming on Spy Vibe: recent posts include Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, and our Ian Fleming image archive link here.Can you help to support Spy Vibe? Please make a small donation with our secure Paypal tip-jar link at the top left of the main page. Nothing is too small to help cover the increasing bills for the domain, web-forwarding and other costs to maintain the site. Thank you!

Check out two new posters for The Wolverine featuring Viper and Yukio and look for a new trailer tomorrow morning at 6 AM PST.

Four new Man of Steel posters have arrived featuring Michael Shannon as General Zod, Henry Cavill as Superman and Russell Crowe as Superman's father Jor-El.

Financing has come through and Jim Mickle, writer and director of Mulberry Street, Stakeland and We Are What We Are, and frequent collaborator Nick Damici can continue adapting Joe R. Lansdale's Cold In July for the big screen. This is their fourth silver screen collaboration together and will be produced by Belladonna Productions who produced their previous three films. I for one, am an enormous fan of Lansdale's Hap and Leonard novels and will have to extend my reading into the rest of his canon now. Read the plot details below to get an idea of how crazy good this is going to be...Richard Dane shoots and kills an armed burglar in his living room. It's a clear-cut case of self defense to everyone but the burglar's... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

It was really only a matter of time before the first chapter in Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, was optioned. Again. With the Oldboy remake by Spike Lee on the way this Fall and plans for Sympathy For Lady Vengeance somewhere out there in the production ether it is no small wonder that it took this long for someone to pick up where Warner Bros left off. A partnership between Silver Reel and Lotus Entertainment has picked up the remake. They will be working with CJ Entertainment and Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.There was a script written by Broken City screenwriter Brian Tucker back in 2010. No word yet on a director or casting. If the producers are moving ahead with Tucker's script we... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]

With As i Lay Dying, James Franco delivers some fascinating visual elements, but in the end I didn't much care for the film, but I respected the effort.