Movie Review: "Taking Woodstock"

Seen on: July 31, 2009

The players: Director: Ang Lee, Writer: James Schamus, Cast: Henry Goodman, Edward Hibbert, Imelda Staunton, Demetri Martin, Kevin Chamberlin, Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber

Facts of interest: Lee also directed "Brokeback Mountain."

The plot: The film chronicles the events that eventually led to the gigantic Woodstock Festival in 1969.

Our thoughts: I wasn’t alive yet when the ultra-popular Woodstock Festival rocked the little town of Bethel, New York in the summer of 1969, but after watching Ang Lee’s wildly entertaining new film “Taking Woodstock,” I kind of wish I could’ve been part of this historic three-day concert event. What an experience this must have been!

Click to read more ...

This week's new movie releases - August 28, 2009

Opening this week are David R. Ellis' "The Final Destination"; Rob Zombie's "Halloween II" with Tyler Mane; and Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock" with Demetri Martin, Emile Hirsch and Imelda Staunton.

THE FINAL DESTINATION (will open in 3D)

Synopsis: On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O'Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori, and their friends, Janet and Hunt, to leave...

Click to read more ...

62nd Cannes Film Festival announces lineup

And what a lineup we've got at the 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival this year! Let's dive right in. As previously announced, Pete Docter's 3D Pixar flick "Up" will open the festival and screen out of competition. The festival will open its doors May 13 and will run through May 24. The closing film will be Jan Kounen's "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky."

Here are the films fighting for the top prizes: Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds," Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock," Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric," Lars von Trier's "Antichrist," Gaspar Noe's "Enter the Void," Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" (Los Abrazos Rotos), Jane Campion's "Bright Star," Tsai Ming-Liang's "Visage," Alain Resnais' "Les Herbes Folles," and Johnnie To's "Vengeance."

Also screening in competition are "Fish Tank" by Andrea Arnold, "Vincere" by Marco Bellocchio, "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" by Isabel Coixet, "The White Ribbon" (Das Weisse Band" by Michael Haneke, "Un Prophete" by Jacques Audiard, "A L'Origine" by Xavier Giannoli, "Kinatay" by Brillante Mendoza, "The Time That Remains" by Elia Suleiman, and "Bak-JWI" by Park Chan-Wook.

The feature film jury this year will be presided by Isabelle Huppert. Also on-board are Asia Argento, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Lee Chang-Dong, James Gray, Hanif Kureishi, Shu Qui and Robin Wright Penn.

Click to read more ...

Ang Lee will lead Venice Film Festival jury

Venice just can't get enough of Ang Lee.

The award-winning director will head the jury at this year's Venice Film Festival, which runs Sept. 2-12, 2009.

Lee is certainly no stranger to Venice. In 2007, he won the prestigious Golden Lion award for "Lust, Caution" (Se, jie), and in 2005, he won it for "Brokeback Mountain."

Wim Wenders presided over the jury at last year's edition.

Lee is also currently wrapping up "Taking Woodstock," which is set during the summer of 1969 and follows a man whose actions will eventually provoke the birth of the legendary concert.

Source: Associated Press

Ang Lee may direct 'Life of Pi'

Ang Lee is in negotiations to helm "Life of Pi," the big-screen adaptation of Yann Martel's novel for Fox 2000.

The book focuses on a youngster "who is the lone survivor of a sunken freighter and winds up sharing a lifeboat with a hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan and a hungry Bengal tiger," accoring to Variety.

The trade also says the studio will hire a new writer to generate a new script Lee will supervise. Dean Georgaris, M. Night Shyamalan and Jean-Pierre Jeunet worked on previous drafts.

Lee's recent directing credits include "Hulk," "Brokeback Mountain" and "Lust, Caution." He is also wrapping up "Taking Woodstock," which is set during the summer of 1969 and follows a man whose actions will eventually provoke the birth of the legendary concert.