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Actor Transformations: Why going skinny or buff is such a big deal

It’s impressive enough that most actors can go from role to role in quick succession. But the world likes to freak out when that transition is visible. With the release of the new boxing film Southpaw last weekend, the internet has been filled with videos and gifs of Jake Gyllenhaal’s transformation into a boxer. It took …

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‘Southpaw’ features another knockout Jake Gyllenhaal performance

All boxing films come down to three storylines, or all three wrapped in one—get beaten, get angry, get back to the top. Eighty years have passed since Wallace Beery made The Champ and Southpaw doesn’t try to rewrite the formula. It’s not a surprise, Barton Fink broke himself that way.

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Week in Review: Tom Hardy exits ‘Suicide Squad’, Jake Gyllenhaal may replace

UPDATE: /Film is reporting that Jake Gyllenhaal has passed on Suicide Squad. Tom Hardy, who is a brilliant actor but sounds unintelligible, was forced this week to drop out of the superhero franchise in the making Suicide Squad. Tom Hardy was to be the lead Rick Flag, alongside Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Cara Delevigne …

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Screen Actors Guild Awards recognize ‘Birdman’, ‘Boyhood’, ‘Modern Family’

The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations were revealed Wednesday morning, serving as yet another precursor on the long road to the Oscars. In the film categories, Birdman was the big winner, scoring four nominations, including for Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone, as well as the collective ensemble cast. Boyhood followed right …

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‘Wild’ director to follow-up with ‘Demolition’, starring Jake Gyllenhaal

While Jake Gyllenhaal blows up the internet with photographs of him with massive muscles for his next project, another one of the actor’s upcoming films has been sold with the director of Wild and Dallas Buyers Club set to bring it to the screen. Fox Searchlight announced on Wednesday that Jean-Marc Vallée’s followup to this …

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Childhood memories and explaining ‘Donnie Darko’

The gateway movie to my full-blown film addiction was Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko (2001). Kelly has yet to create a film that matches the mood or magnitude of his first success. This supernatural thriller has sparked a cult following behind its intense narrative and themes. Countless arguments have played out discussing it’s a representation of madness. Made in only 28 days it utilised a low budget of 4.5 million. This made it a poster-child for indie films.

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James Newton Howard’s ‘Nightcrawler’ attempts satire, but the results prove an oxymoron

Nightcrawler James Newton Howard Lakeshore Records On the July 25, 2000 episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Conan decided to play a prank on his guest that evening, Harrison Ford. Ford, whose “no bullshit” personality both on and off the silver screen has preserved his deadpan chops to this day, was to recreate his …

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Better Living Through Framing: ‘Nightcrawler’ and the Authorship of Recording

One of the most self-defining and effective shots in Nightcrawler is also one of its most simply constructed. The camera is beneath the front window of a car, but the position isn’t revealed until the next shot when it cuts away to a wider revealing angle. Lou Bloom’s mug is in center frame, and there …

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‘Nightcrawler’ is a creepy and enigmatic thriller

Dan Gilroy’s latest, Nightcrawler, has a lot on its troubled mind. It intertwines our national obsessions with voyeurism and stardom into a sociopathic nightmare from which you can’t awaken. At its churning center is the mesmerizing performance of Jake Gyllenhaal, who charms you with his infectious intensity, even as he ruthlessly manipulates everyone and everything around him. As the blood flows and the crimes accumulate, Gilroy traps us behind the camera as his passive accomplices. Welcome to the world of the Nightcrawler. Showering after you leave is highly recommended.

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Fantastic Fest 2014: ‘Nightcrawler’ is undone by a clumsy approach to satire

Nightcrawler, the directorial debut of screenwriter Dan Gilroy, has a strong kinship with Sidney Lumet’s Network. Both take a satirical view of broadcast journalism, portraying the profession as a cold-blooded environment where sensationalism takes center stage. If there is one difference that separates the newer film from its 1976 predecessor, though, it is that the former possesses none of the latter’s biting wit. Nightcrawler is incredibly heavy-handed with its message, and the satirical dialogue is far from profound.

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The Hype Cycle: Toronto, Telluride and Venice Oscar buzz (Part 2)

The Hype Cycle is News Editor Brian Welk’s roundup of industry news, reviews and predictions of everything Oscar, boiled down into weekly power rankings of the buzziest and most likely contenders in this year’s awards season. This article is Part 2 of this week’s Hype Cycle column. Read Part 1 from yesterday.  7. Foxcatcher and …

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‘Enemy’ an unnerving, perplexing thriller toplined by Jake Gyllenhaal

Enemy Written by Javier Gullón Directed by Denis Villeneuve Canada and Spain, 2013 Enemy belongs to a subgenre of cinema known roughly as Well-Made Movies That Should Only Be Consumed Once. No doubt, this nightmarish suspense thriller is designed as something of a puzzle box, offering up clues as to what’s really going on to …

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‘Prisoners’ a well-acted but overly grim and self-serious procedural drama

As fancy as it may feel, and as stacked as its ensemble is, Prisoners is pretty much a very well-acted and technically proficient feature-length episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. To be as generous as possible, you might simply take out that NBC drama and insert the grimmest crime procedural on the air you can think of. Like the best cop dramas, Prisoners is compelling and twisty, red herrings planted with care throughout.

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‘End of Watch’ never rises above the call of duty

End of Watch Directed by David Ayer Written by David Ayer USA, 2012 Although End of Watch doesn’t have a theme song per se, one can’t help but apply a familiar tune to underscore its proceedings. Something along the lines of, “Bad boys bad boys, watcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña …

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International Day against Homophobia & Transphobia: Some Influential Queer Films

To commemorate that yesterday, May 17th, was the International Day Against Homophobia, here’s a spotlight on some influential films in queer cinema (within the last decade or so and in no particular order) that gave way to more visibility and awareness within media and popular culture . Brokeback Mountain (2005) Who could forget the incredible …

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Interview with Jake Gyllenhaal

News In Film is featuring an interesting interview with Jake Gyllenhaal about his new movie Source Code. He talks about shooting the film, the alternate scenes and endings, working with director Duncan Jones and much more. Check out the full interview here. Here’s a short excerpt: Do you have any intention of directing? Jake Gyllenhaal: …

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SXSW 2011: ‘Source Code’ is if anything, a damn fine action movie

Source Code Directed by Duncan Jones Written by Ben Ripley 2011, USA Director Duncan Jones first made waves back in 1971 when he was fathered by glam god and the man who fell to earth, David Bowie. His next big move, the 2009 film Moon, established Jones as an artist in his own right and …

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Brothers

Workmanlike and inoffensive, Brothers will neither devastate nor severely disappoint. Brothers Directed by Jim Sheridan The latest in a long line of Sheridan dramas oriented around family units,  Brothers, adapted from the 2004 Danish feature of the same name, is competently constructed and generally well-performed, but hovers just above mediocrity throughout the proceedings. Perhaps in …

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