gus van sant | the m0vie blog

New Podcast! The Movie Palace – “Summer of Psycho: Gus Van Sant’s Psycho”

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Darren

I had the pleasure of joining the great and generous Carl Sweeney on his excellent classic Hollywood podcast The Movie Palace.

To mark the sixtieth anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, The Movie Palace has dedicated a run of episodes to exploring elements of the iconic horror film. I was thrilled to rejoin Carl for a discussion of the infamous and divisive remake of the film, in which Gus Van Sant leveraged the success of Good Will Hunting to convince Universal to sign off on a full colour remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, using a largely unchanged script and even emulating a lot of the same camera angles. The result was a critical and commercial failure, but remains an interesting experiment.

You can listen to the episode here, back episodes of the podcast here, click the link below or even listen directly.

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: carl sweeney, film, gus van sant, hollywood, Movie, Psycho, psycho (1998), remakes, the movie palace | Leave a comment »

Watch! Trailer for Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land!

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Darren

Universal Pictures Ireland just sent over this trailer for the upcoming reunion of Matt Damon and Gus Van Sant, Promised Land. The actor and director famously worked together on the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, so it’ll be interesting to see if their latest collaboration can match that Oscar-winning gem. Much like Good Will Hunting, Van Sant has surrounded Damon with a powerhouse cast including veterans like Frances McDormand and Hal Holbrook, younger developing talents like John Krasinski and Scoot McNairy, and even familiar faces like Titus Welliver. It’s certainly worth a look.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: frances mcdormand, Good Will Hunting, gus van sant, Hal Holbrook, John Krasinski, matt damon, Scoot McNairy, Titus Welliver | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Psycho (1960)

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Darren

Psycho is a masterpiece from Alfred Hitchcock, a uniquely American horror story that redefined and codified the horror genre. Even after one has already seen the film, and knows the twists and the plotting detours that Hitchcock’s adaptation of Robert Bloch’s novel might make, it’s still a powerful and compelling piece of cinema. Hitchcock laid a template here that would inform generations of horror films that followed, with the DNA of Psycho to be found even in the most unlikely of places.

“You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave…”

Note: Hitchcock famously guarded the ending to this project. “Don’t give away the ending — it’s the only one we have!” he pleaded in advertisements. However, it has been fifty-two years, so I fear that the statute of limitations on potential spoilers has expired. After all, Psycho has been so massively influential it’s hard not to know what happens. If, by some fluke, you know nothing about the film… see it! See it now! We’ll still be here when you get back.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred hitchcock, art, AT&T, Edward Hopper, film, graphic design, Graphic Designers, gus van sant, halloween, hitchcock, Janet Leigh, Movie, non-review review, Norman, Norman Bates, Psycho, review, Robert Bloch, Saul Bass, United States, wes craven | 4 Comments »

Can a Sequel Spoil the Original Film More Than a Remake?

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Darren

So, the rights to Blade Runner have been sold. However, us on-line film nerds are being told to breathe easy, because the rights that were sold explicitly do not include the option to remake or “reimagine” or “reboot” the classic Ridley Scott film. However, is that really that much of a comfort? Surely a terrible sequel can tarnish an original film just as much as a terrible remake?

Concept art from Blade Runner by Syd Mead

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Alcon Entertainment, batman, blade runner, christian bale, Darth Vader, gus van sant, ridley scott, starsky & hutch | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Milk

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Darren

Finally got to sit down and watch Milk, despite it being on my DVD shelf for just over a month now. Tonnes of Oscar nominations and two wins, so it’s got a lot of hype to live up to. Was I satisfied with the latest effort from director Gus Van Sant? Was I ever.