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Ranking the films of Alexander Payne

Alexander Payne directed and co-wrote only six films, including Election, About Schmidt, Sideways and The Descendants, but he’s regarded as one of the best American filmmakers working today. He’s directed some of the best performances from Hollywood’s top actors, including Paul Giamatti, Jack Nicholson, and George Clooney in starring roles, and he and his writing partner …

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‘The Way, Way Back’ a charming, low-key, and bittersweet coming-of-age tale

The Way, Way Back belongs, in no small way, to the same subgenre of low-key indie dramedies like Little Miss Sunshine and Juno, small-town stories populated with well-known actors and an almost sitcom-esque quality to the dialogue. Where this film, written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, breaks free from such familiar shackles is in its impressive ensemble cast, specifically the teen actor Liam James and the raffish character actor Sam Rockwell. The Way, Way Back is maybe a touch formulaic, but it’s an assured, enjoyable, and bittersweet coming-of-age story.

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Why Can’t An Oscar-Winner Look More Like A Hit?

 Throughout the first half of February, the Sound On Sight staff will take a look at the Academy Awards. Whether one of the major studios takes the top prize at the Academy Awards or not, they have no squawk this year. Several years ago, as you might recall, the Big Guys were getting fed up …

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Watch the hour-long Hollywood Reporter’s Directors Roundtable, which might leave a sour taste in your mouth

Every year at award season, The Hollywood Reporter invites several handpicked actors, actresses and directors who they feel represented some of the best work in the film industry. This year’s director’s roundtable gathered The Descendants‘ Alexander Payne, Beginners‘ Mike Mills, Shame‘s Steve McQueen, Young Adult‘s Jason Reitman, Moneyball‘s Bennett Miller and The Artist‘s Michel Hazanavicius …

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‘The Descendants’ an uncharacteristic letdown from Alexander Payne

The Descendants Directed by Alexander Payne Written by Alexander Payne USA, 2012 The most obvious theme running through the films of Alexander Payne is the wide-eyed angst that all of Payne’s protagonists struggle through. At his best, Payne is a more humorous version of Thomas McCarthy, as he often analyzes small town America and its …

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Best Soundtracks Of 2011

This is a list of our favourite soundtracks of 2011. We are currently working on a list of the best original scores, which should be posted sometime before the end of the year. It hasn’t been the greatest year for movie soundtracks, but I can say that the top five have been spinning in my …

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‘The Descendants’ crystallizes Alexander Payne’s heartfelt vision

The Descendants Written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, based on Kaui Hart Hemmings’s novel Directed by Alexander Payne USA, 2011 If it’s true that filmmakers spend their careers repeatedly remaking the same movie, few filmmakers seem to relish the prospect of repetition to the same degree as Alexander Payne. After cutting his …

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NYFF2011: Main Slate Announced

The 49th New York Film Festival has announced their main slate which takes place September 30th thru October 16th at Lincoln Center. The closing night selection is Alexander Payne’s The Descendants which joins the gala screenings of opening night’s Roman Polanski’s Carnage, David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, and the Almodóvar/Banderas reunion The Skin I Live …

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