Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture frontrunner is beginning its Oscar push
Warner Bros.
After winning critical acclaim and becoming the first major awards contender this summer, Warner Bros.’ “Dunkirk” is beginning its Oscar push with a limited theatrical re-release next month.
WB announced Thursday that “Dunkirk” will be released in IMAX and 70mm on 50 screens on Dec. 1, and will expand to 250 locations on Jan. 24, the day after Oscar nominations are announced. Premium formats played a key role in the film’s marketing and distribution, with IMAX providing director Christopher Nolan with the cameras used for the film along with a heavy promotion boost.
“Dunkirk” has grossed $525 million worldwide, with $188 million domestic and $76.5 million from worldwide IMAX screens.
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“With ‘Dunkirk,’ Christopher Nolan broke new ground in the use of large-format cameras to create a theatrical event that demands to be seen on the largest possible canvas,” Sue Kroll, WB Marketing and Distribution President, said. “As we head into the holiday season, we are excited to offer audiences another opportunity to be swept up in this truly immersive moviegoing experience… whether for the first time or again.”
“Dunkirk” tells the true story of the evacuation of over 400,000 Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk during the early stages of World War II. It stars Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden and Harry Styles.
It has received critical acclaim for Nolan’s direction, Hans Zimmer’s musical score, as well as the film’s editing and cinematography.
‘Unforgiven’ Turns 25: 14 Reasons Why Clint Eastwood Film Is One of the Best Westerns (Photos)
The last 25 years have not been kind to Western films, but that’s, in part, because Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” shaped the genre for the next few decades. Like “The Wild Bunch” back in the ‘60s, it removed the romanticism from the Old West but introduced the humanity that has led to revisionist takes, like “True Grit,” “Dead Man” and “The Revenant.” Here are 14 reasons why “Unforgiven” remains the best Western of the last 25 years — and one of the best of all time. Warner Bros.
The film’s opening overture falls in line with the classical tradition, but Eastwood quickly subverts the grandeur with a visceral, violent scene of sexual abuse against a prostitute to set the stage for the film. Warner Bros.
Enter Gene Hackman as Sheriff Little Bill. One look at his commanding eyes shows that even justice in this film is bleak. Hackman’s charismatic performance — building his house or weaving yarns of his glory days — gives way to his more ruthless side with barely a blink. Warner Bros.
As for Eastwood, we first see him pathetically stumbling over himself in the mud as he tries to wrangle his hogs. He’s hopeless. In one moment he shows his age, instantly removing the mystique and menace built up over his entire career. It’ll take the next two hours for him to win that respect back. Warner Bros.
Even the lines of good and evil aren’t so clear in “Unforgiven.” The women of the brothel have to justify to themselves they’re in the moral right, even as they call for blood. A touching scene, where one of the cowpokes offers his best pony to his victim, complicates the film’s morality even further.
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We first get a glimmer of the old school Western when Eastwood, unable to pick off a nasty looking can with his pistol, stomps off, grabs his shotgun, then flashes this pissed off snarl. Yeah, that’s the old Clint. Warner Bros.
Before heading off on his quest, Eastwood’s William Munny meets up with his old partner Ned Logan, played by Morgan Freeman. Freeman is smart casting because, even at this point in his career, he’s another character who has built up a cultural legacy. This shot of Ned in front of his mounted rifle hints at that storied past before it comes back to haunt him. Warner Bros.
Ned and Bill are both bad men turned good, who have come to realize they never quite had this in them to begin with. They recall one guy who had the teeth shot out the back of his head. “He didn’t deserve that.”
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Hackman steals the show, but Richard Harris as the storied English Bob gives an underrated, brilliant performance of showmanship and sophisticated eloquence. “I’ll shoot for the Queen, and you’ll shoot for, well… whomever,” he says in a line designed to get a rise out of anyone more in tune with the American sensibilities of the genre. Warner Bros.
The film’s first great, heart-stopping moment comes when Little Bill confronts English Bob. Bill represents the law, but justice in Bill’s hands looks bleak. The scene works on multiple levels, both as a rebuke to the storybook myth-making that English Bob’s “biographer” hopes to discover, and also as tightly wound suspense. Warner Bros.
Hackman is an absolute beast when he tells the real story of English Bob’s legacy. His words could kill when he curtly addresses Bob as “The Duck of Death.” It’s a fantastic acting showcase, but within that monologue is Eastwood laying the stakes for the final showdown: “A man who will keep his head and not get rattled under fire, like as not, he’ll kill ya.” Warner Bros.
The first actual shootout — where Will, Ned and the Schofield Kid bag their first mark — would be a moment of catharsis in another movie. Here, the way the man slowly bleeds to death, is a hollow victory. Ned, too, looks absolutely defeated.
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“It’s a hell of a thing, killin’ a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have. We all have it coming.” Rarely have Westerns been this honest and grim. Warner Bros.
Will’s rage absolutely boils over when he sees what Little Bill did to Ned, and Eastwood stages this saloon shootout as intensely ruthless as something out of “The Wild Bunch.” It’s not lightning quick action, but it’s Will smoothly and coolly dolling out vengeance. Warner Bros.
“Deserve’s got nothing to do with it,” Will coldly says to Little Bill before finishing him off. He then calls outside and threatens to kill the families and burn the houses of anyone who takes a shot at him.
