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Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
This Oscar winner is so much more than a biopic
It may be titled simply Amadeus but this hugely fun 1980s classic didn't win eight Oscars for being a straight-up biopic. What made it an enduring cultural touchstone is the framing. Lavishly shot on location in Prague using candlelit 18th-century architecture and extravagant costumes, Milos Forman's opulent epic retells the life of the musical wunderkind Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce, up until then best known for National Lampoon's Animal House) through the tormented eyes of his older, less-talented rival, Antonio Salieri (F Murray Abraham). Where the religious Salieri is ascetic and disciplined, Amadeus is hedonistic and childish, his genius seemingly a gift from God. After years spent consumed by jealousy, the embittered Salieri becomes obsessed with plotting Mozart's downfall. • Read more film reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews An adaptation of Peter Shaffer's elegantly constructed play, the narrative probes the agony of unfulfilled ambition. That Abraham's on-screen career subsequently eclipsed Hulce's is a pleasing dramatic irony.★★★★★ PG, 153min Times+ members can enjoy two-for-one cinema tickets at Everyman each Wednesday. Visit to find out more. Which films have you enjoyed at the cinema recently? Let us know in the comments and follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
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Malaysia Sun
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Malaysia Sun
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (4K UHD) [Blu-Ray]
In the span of only three years, from 1984 to 1987, John Hughes directed and/or wrote six movies, which resulted in his becoming known as the reigning king of the Hollywood teen movie, a genre that had seen a massive resurgence in the 1980s after being largely dormant since the "teenpics" of the 1950s and '60s (George Lucas's American Graffiti in 1973 notwithstanding). However, unlike other filmmakers who saw the world of teenagers as an excuse to exploit the adolescent obsessions with booze, drugs, and sex, Hughes was fascinated by the complex social and emotional terrain of middle-class teenagerdom, and he treated his characters with a degree of sympathy and good-natured humor that was largely absent from a genre glutted with movies like Private Lesson (1981), Porky's (1981), and Zapped! (1982). Beginning as a writer for National Lampoon in the 1970s, Hughes entered Hollywood as a screenwriter, scoring two hits in 1983 with the comedies Mr. Mom and National Lampoon's Vacation. He made his directorial debut in 1984 with Sixteen Candles, an often absurdly funny, but ultimately poignant comedy about a girl whose crucial 16th birthday is ignored by her family (among other indignities). Hughes followed that film with The Breakfast Club (1985), which was one of the first serious teen dramas of the decade and probably his most influential film. He subsequently wrote and produced two other teen dramas, Pretty in Pink (1986) and Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), both of which were directed by Howard Deutch, and he also wrote and directed Weird Science (1985), the closest he ever came to making a deliberately crude teen comedy. Yet, if one had to pick the quintessential John Hughes teen movie, it would have to be Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which was also the last teen movie he both wrote and directed. Ferris Bueller stands out for a number of reasons, particularly in the way it so perfectly evokes teenage fantasies of absolute autonomy and subversion of adult power (which, from this perspective, can only be seen as moronic and buffoonish). While his previous films had centered around misfit protagonists who didn't fit in, the titular character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off is the teenager all teenagers want to be: confident, secure, and so individualistically cool that he transcends the traditionally rigid boundaries of adolescent cliques (as Edie McClurg's otherwise clueless secretary Grace famously notes in the film, "The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheadsâ€'they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude"). Hughes has great fun taking the concept of teen popularity to its absurd zenith throughout the film, with the entire city of Chicago rallying around the mistaken belief that Ferris is dying, when in fact he is simply faking a stomach flu to skip school for the tenth time that semester. "Popular" characters in teen movies are traditionally the villains (possibly because it's the nerds who end up going to Hollywood and becoming writers and directors), but Hughes pulls a coup in making the most popular kid in school also the most likable and the most sympathetic. This is largely due to the casting of Matthew Broderick, who at the time had appeared in only a handful of films, including Max Dugan Returns (1983) and War Games (1983), although he was well known for his stage roles as Neil Simon's alter ego in Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. In all of those roles Broderick had played smart and thoughtful, but somewhat awkward and unsure charactersâ€'quite the opposite of Ferris Bueller. Youthful in appearance and not conventionally handsome in the manner of most popular teens, Broderick perfectly embodied Ferris's unrivaled individuality without being unreachable. He was, in a sense, the cool kid that any kid could potentially be or be friends with. As the title suggests, the story in Ferris Bueller's Day Off follows Ferris as he ditches school by faking illness, a performance that his gentle, well-meaning, and utterly loving parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward) swallow hook, line, and sinker (the fact that Ferris can so blatantly manipulate his parents' affections without coming across as a cad is a small miracle in and of itself). Ferris brings along his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), the latter of whom is crucial to further establishing his uniqueness of character. The fact that his longtime best friend is a chronic worrier who is usually home from school because he's literally sick due to being browbeaten by cold and distant parents contrasts and therefore accentuates Ferris's supreme self-confidence while also showing Ferris's loyalty to an unlikely friend. Having Sloane as a girlfriend simply cements the fantasy of Ferris having everything, which is a constant source of tension with his sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey), whose resentment toward Ferris borders on the pathological. However, when it comes to being anti-Ferris, Jeanie has nothing on Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), the school principal who knows that Ferris is making him look like a fool, but has so far failed to catch him in the act. If Ferris is the ultimate fantasy teen hero, then Rooney is the ultimate villain, the very personification of repressive adult culture and its envy of youth. With his starched suits, impeccable grooming, and shifty eyes, Rooney embodies official power, the enemy of adolescent freedom, and the primary pleasure of Ferris Bueller's Day Off is not so much in watching Ferris and his friends get away with everything, but in watching Rooney humiliate himself (and, by proxy, all stuffy adults) while trying and failing to stop them. Re-watching the film for the first time in many years, I was struck by how often Ferris is off-screen in lieu of Rooney's slapstick antics in trying to break into the Bueller home and thereby prove that Ferris is truant, an absurd strategy that develops into a litany of physical and personal humiliations involving mud, a garden hose, an angry Rottweiler, and a rapid-fire series of head kicks worthy of Bruce Lee. It is no surprise that Hughes has the final credits running over Rooney's last indignity: having to ride the school bus home because his car has been towed. Perhaps because he only directed eight films in his career while writing or co-writing more than 30, Hughes has typically been undervalued as a director. However, Ferris Bueller's Day Off provides ample evidence of his visual sophistication and willingness to experiment in a genre that typically deploys the look of a made-for-TV movie. Throughout the film Hughes plays freely with form and aesthetics, allowing Ferris to break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience, a move that also contributes to our connection with him. The film's editing patterns are reminiscent of music videos, which at the time were still a new and evolving form, and Hughes deploys pop music in consistently interesting ways, never more so than in his evocative use of Yello's instantly memorable "Oh Yeah" when Ferris cajoles Cameron into allowing him to take out his father's prized 1961 Ferrari (which is simultaneously the symbol of ultimate freedom and ultimate repression). The film is also replete with all means of vaguely surreal detours and oddball moments of humor, particularly a sequence in the Art Institute of Chicago that has literally no narrative purpose. There are, of course, also the big set pieces, such as when Ferris commandeers a float in a downtown Chicago parade and has the whole city dancing along while he belts out "Twist and Shout." And, while those moments have their place, it is the film's overall sense of abandon, its willingness to break convention and throw us into the fantastical, but strangely believable world of its characters, that makes Ferris Bueller not only Hughes's best teen films, but one of the best teen films ever made. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 4K UHD + Digital Code Steelbook Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Audio English Dolby Atmos English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 surround German Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Subtitles English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish Supplements Audio commentary by director John Hughes "Getting the Class Together: The Cast of Ferris Bueller's Day Off" featurette "The Making of Ferris Bueller's Day Off" featurette "Who is Ferris Bueller?" featurette "The World According to Ben Stein" featurette "Vintage Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes" featurette Distributor Paramount Home Entertainment Release Date August 1, 2023 COMMENTS The same Blu-ray of Ferris Bueller's Day Off has been packaged and repackaged since 2009, so it is wonderful to have this remastered 4K Ultra HD release with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 in hand, especially since there had been some minor grumbling about the earlier transfer, specifically that the print used was dirtier than expected and some of the images seem too dark. That is definitely not a problem here. The 4K presentation is a solid, even revelatory improvement, as colors, clarity, and detail are all significantly boosted. There is still a slight softness to the image that is typical of 1980s movies shot on celluloid, and I'm glad that Paramount didn't try to artificially enhance the sharpness to bring it more in line with the contemporary movie look. The Dolby Vision grading has the colors looking better than I've ever seen, with Cameron's red jersey (Detroit Red Wings right winger Gordie Howe, who was Hughes's favorite hockey player when he was a kid) really popping off the screen, and black levels being nice and stable. This release also gives the soundtrack a bump with a new Dolby Atmos mix and a Dolby Digital TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack. This gives the disc some notable improvement in the sound department, with good separation on the musical sequences and strong clarity throughout. In terms of a supplements, the big news hereâ€'and it is bigâ€'is that John Hughes's original director's commentary, which has not been included on any Ferris Bueller release since the initial DVD all the way back in 1999, has been included! (I have no idea why it was left off all subsequent releases for the past 24 years, and I imagine there is an interesting story there.) This is especially good news for long-time fans of the film and Hughes's work in general, since it is the only audio commentary Hughes, who passed away in 2009, ever recorded. It is definitely worth the listen, especially the ways Hughes expands on our understanding of the characters and shows how, despite his legendary status for churning out screenplays in very short periods of time, he really thinks through the characters he writes. Otherwise, the supplements are all familiar, having appeared previously on numerous releases going back to the "Bueller ... Bueller … Edition" DVD that was first released back in 2005. They consist primarily of featurettes that include then-new interviews with Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and Ben Stein and archival interviews with Mia Sara, Broderick and Ruck, and John Hughes looking like a lost member of a-ha. Copyright © 2023 James Kendrick Thoughts? E-mail James Kendrick All images copyright © Paramount Home Entertainment
Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
80s movie icon who was once linked to Al Pacino looks unrecognizable as she steps out for rare outing... can you guess who?
This actress, who is known for her iconic movie roles in the 80s, was spotted on a rare outing in Los Angeles last week. On Tuesday, July 8, the actress was seen running errands — over 40 years after she first rose to fame on the silver screen. She is a renowned entertainer, famous for her most notable roles, such as starring in the National Lampoon's Vacation comedy film series. She has a number of Golden Globe and Emmy nominations in her belt for showcasing her range in many cult classic film and TV show appearances including in Hair, Honky Tonk Freeway and A Streetcar Named Desire. Off the screen, she is also known for being linked to fellow movie star Al Pacino, dating the famed actor for five years in the early 2000s and sharing two kids with him. She looks unrecognizable since she played her most iconic roles, but can you guess who she is? She is Beverly D'Angelo! She is known for starring as Chevy Chase's beleaguered wife in the comedy spoof National Lampoon's Vacation in 1983 and its three following sequels. In addition to portraying the fan-favorite Ellen Griswold in the Lampoon films, she also starred in over 60 movies. In her decades-spanning career, she also earned critical praise for her portrayal of country music legend Patsy Cline in Coal Miner's Daughter — earning a Golden Globe nod after starring in the 1980 film. She also received an Emmy nomination for playing Stella Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire back in 1984. Additionally, D'Angelo starred in The Miracle in 1991 and played a notable role in American History X in 1998. She is also a nepo baby, growing up with musical talent running in her blood as her mother Priscilla Ruth Smith had been a violinist and her father Eugene D'Angelo managed a television station and played bass. Before breaking into film, D'Angelo was once a backup singer for rockabilly artist Ronnie Hawkins and worked as an animator at Hanna-Barbera. In her personal life, she once dated Al Pacino for five years before they called it quits in 2003. In the early 80s, she was married to Italian duke Lorenzo Salviati, who she once said had happily divorced her so she could be with the star of The Godfather. For her solo outing last week, D'Angelo looked effortlessly stylish as she stepped out in a summer linen shirt to run errands and pick up some snacks in sunny LA During their time together, they welcomed twins Olivia and Anton, now 24, together. After their separation, they were entangled in a bitter custody battle but later put aside their differences to raise their kids. The pair have remained close friends and opened up about their contemporary, co-parenting relationship over the years. The former couple still spend time together with the most recent being their 2023 outing when they were pictured taking their family to an escape room for a weekend excursion. For her solo outing last week, D'Angelo looked effortlessly stylish as she stepped out in a summer linen shirt to run errands throughout sunny LA. The actress paired a blue, pinstriped button-down blouse with straight-leg jeans and white, leather sandals. At one point, she was seen walking out of a convenience store with chilled canned beverage and a snack in one hand and with a green, leather tote bag in the other. With a fresh blowout, she flipped and flaunted her trademark bouncy waves after shopping at a HomeGoods store in Los Angeles. In recent years, she has stayed active in film and TV, appearing in the 2008 romantic comedy The House Bunny and, most recently, she appeared in the 2022 holiday horror movie Violent Night. She continued to act in such films as Harold & Kumar's Escape From Guantanamo Bay and was featured in a number of smaller features, like David O. Russell's Accidental Love and Robert Schwartzman's The Unicorn.
The Sun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
80s movie bombshell unrecognizable 42 years after hit comedy and dating Al Pacino – can you guess who she is?
An ICONIC 80s actress looks unrecognisable in recent photos after she was seen stepping out to run some errands in Los Angeles. The 73-year-old was casually dressed in jeans and a striped shirt and sported long hair while on a shopping trip. 4 4 4 Beverly D'Angelo is most known for playing the main character Ellen Griswold in the hit series of National Lampoon Vacation films. Her alter-ego was married to character Clark Wilhelm Griswold Jr AKA Sparky. There are a number of movies in the franchise including National Lampoon's Vacation, National Lampoon's European Vacation, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Vegas Vacation and Vacation. The movies were released between 1983 and 2015. Fans were also treated to a spin-off that aired in 2003 called National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2. Beverly has also appeared in numerous other TV shows and films over the years. Her roles include Law & Order, Family Guy, The Simpsons and Cougar Town. Others include A Streetcar Named Desire, Hair and American History X. Last year, Beverly D'Angelo performed onstage at the Ryman Auditiorum in Tennessee as part of Walkin' After Midnight: The Music of Patsy Cline. Outside of her 50-year-long career, she is known for her high profile relationships. National Lampoon star, 72, has barely aged a day in 40 years since hit movie as she performs onstage at Patsy Cline tribute In 1981, Beverly married the Italian duke Lorenzo Salviati in a secret ceremony in Las Vegas. The pair met while Lorenzo was a student at the University of Southern California and they went on to have an open relationship. Then, in 1996, while on a flight to New York City, Beverly met the The Godfather actor Al Pacino and they hit it off. Beverly eventually ended her relationship with Lorenzo and went on to date Al Pacino for five years. AMICABLE EXES In 2001, the pair welcomed twins, Olivia and Anton, before splitting in early 2003. In a recent Instagram post celebrating Al's birthday, Beverly wrote: "We lived together for seven years, had two children, broke up, but continued steadily on our journey as co parents… '... and came to share our lives with a deeper kind of intimacy, honesty and acceptance than a 'traditional' relationship would have allowed (for us at least)." Beverely and Al remain good friends, with Beverly previously telling PEOPLE: "The greatest gift that Al ever gave me was to make me a mother." 4
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
This Father's Day, Let's *Really* Talk to Our Dads
When my dad FaceTimes me, he's often multitasking — reading Facebook posts or watching a football game or an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, oblivious to the fact that I can see his focus is elsewhere. I've grown used to it over the years, because even if he's distracted, at least he's checking in on me. I'm often preoccupied as well, just less visibly so: When we talk, sometimes I'm thinking about the next thing I want to say, or whether I remembered to turn the burner off on the stove. We both have ADHD — and in my father, that manifests as an innate restlessness. As my siblings and I unwrapped presents on Christmas morning or during birthday parties, he'd hover over us with a garbage bag, never letting the wrapping paper scraps touch the floor. During family movie nights, he'd get up halfway through National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and start vacuuming. But meals out and car rides were different. At a restaurant or behind the steering wheel, my dad was forced to sit still, so he was easier to talk to. It wasn't that we were discussing anything important. In fact, the subject matter was irrelevant, ranging from drama with former friends to a paper I'd written for class. What I loved was knowing that my dad was listening to me with no distractions. Focused attention is harder to come by in 2025, even for those without ADHD. People listen to podcasts or audiobooks at accelerated speeds because they don't have enough time in the day (or are just impatient). We add so many items to our to-do lists that they start to feel like an overstuffed garbage bag. There's always somewhere we need to be, something we need to do. So it's not surprising that serious conversations — especially with people who can already be tough to connect with — get pushed to the back-burner. As I edited a new anthology for Simon & Schuster called What My Father and I Don't Talk About: Sixteen Writers Break The Silence, I thought about the numerous reasons why conversations between dads and their adult children can be so difficult — or even painful. A common theme that emerged was an unwillingness to engage with difficult topics. Men aren't encouraged to be direct about the emotions they're struggling with, often the result of a lifetime absorbing the tenets of toxic masculinity. And if someone can't discuss their own flaws or problems, how are they supposed to help their kids? There are also plenty of good excuses to intentionally not talk to one's father: Some of the contributors to my latest anthology wrote about dads who were harmful, whether they were emotionally manipulative, abusive, absent, or struggling with drug addiction. But when dads and their kids can fully open up to one another, it's a beautiful thing. In Susan Muaddi Darraj's 'Baba Peels Apples for Me,' the eldest daughter of Palestinian immigrants writes about coming to understand her father after years of resistance. Darraj writes that she felt increasingly isolated during her divorce and the pandemic — until her dad told her the words she needed to hear: 'It's not easy to tackle this life alone, my daughter…That's why I will always be here for you.' Her father sat with her in her pain and offered reassurance. As I read those lines, I thought about a similar moment with my own father on a humid August day in 2021. I had broken up with a longtime boyfriend and called my father mid-run, sweat and tears glistening on my face. He doesn't always know what to do when confronted with extreme emotions, so I was surprised when he didn't tell me to 'calm down and stop crying.' Instead, he said over FaceTime, 'You're going to be okay,' aware of the gravity of the situation and directing all his attention to me. Somehow, that made me feel like it would be. For Father's Day this year, I'm not buying my father a dense history book about World War II (he wouldn't have the patience to read it, anyway) or noise-canceling headphones (a gift given in a previous year). Nor am I getting him a gift certificate to eBay, even though I know he'd make good use of it for a new vintage truck accessory. Instead, I'm treating him and my husband to a lobster dinner. Away from the distractions of computers and televisions and phones, I'll ask my father how he's doing and what's on his mind lately. Who knows where the conversation could lead? All I know is that I want to listen. Michele Filgate is the editor of What My Mother and I Don't Talk About and What My Father and I Don't Talk About. Her writing has appeared in Longreads, Poets & Writers, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Gulf Coast, Oprah Daily, and many other publications. The post This Father's Day, Let's *Really* Talk to Our Dads appeared first on Katie Couric Media.
