The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Venice Film Festival 2012

Venice Film Festival day 2 reviews: At Any Price, Bad 25 and The Iceman

Venice Film Festival day 2 reviews: At Any Price, Bad 25 and The Iceman
1 September 2012
Filippo L'Astorina
Avatar
Filippo L'Astorina
1 September 2012

The second day at the Venice Film Festival was a rich mix of solid pictures from American directors (well, Vromen actually only studied in America): At Any Price by Ramin Bahrani (in competition), Bad 25 by Spike Lee and The Iceman by Ariel Vromen (both out of competition).

At Any Price by Ramin Bahrani

Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) is a 40-something man on the brink of exhaustion. He is a father of two: Grant, the “designed” heir of the family business, who ran away to seek adventure in Argentina; and Dean (Zac Efron), a restless and wild soul who dreams of becoming a NASCAR driver.

The family farm is going down and is under investigation by the multinational Liberty for the unlawful resale of cleaned seeds.

At Any Price is an American independent movie shifting between tractors and race cars, cornfields and tracks.

Two big fish in small ponds, Henry and his son Dean are distant, but an unexpected event brings them close as never before.

The film stars the festival’s revelation Maika Monroe (Dean’s sweetheart) and Heather Graham (Henry’s lover).

★★★★★

Bad 25 by Spike Lee

We know Spike Lee mainly for very serious pictures and documentaries. This time, the 25th Hour director dedicated his latest work to his long-time friend Michael Jackson and his well-known chart-topping album, Bad.

The feature focuses on each of the 11 tracks and is filled with interviews and unreleased videotapes of those magical yet difficult days when Michael wanted to beat every single record.

Bad was not an easy album to produce; it took five years as it had to face the still unbe

aten success of Thriller (by far the best selling record of all time).

Featuring Martin Scorsese, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, Justin Bieber – just to name a few – this formative film is a music and business lesson: a must-see for every Jackson fan.

★★★★★

The Iceman by Ariel Vromen

A ruthless killer and a loving father. The Iceman is the incredible story of Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon), a hitman who killed over 100 people for the mafia and convinced his family of being a talented currency agent.

Shannon is unbelievably credible, fixing us with those cold eyes and measured expressions as he takes the lives of the targets of his violent boss Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta).

The movie boasts a cast full of stars, with Winona Ryder playing Kuklinski’s wife, Chris Evans in the vests of his main partner, David Schwimmer the mad right arm of Roy Demeo and James Franco in a exhilarant cameo as a mafia nark.

A classic gangster movie set in the New York of 1960s, The Iceman will not disappoint those who love the genre.

★★★★★

Filippo L’Astorina, the Editor

Related Itemsreview

More in Venice Film Festival 2012

Spring Breakers: interview with Ashley Benson

The editorial unit
Read More

Venice Film Festival awards: Pieta wins best picture, PT Anderson best direction

The editorial unit
Read More

Venice Film Festival day eight reviews: Spring Breakers and The Company You Keep

Filippo L'Astorina, the Editor
Read More

Spring Breakers: interview with James Franco

The editorial unit
Read More

Spring Breakers: interview with Selena Gomez

The editorial unit
Read More

Spring Breakers: interview with Vanessa Hudgens

The editorial unit
Read More

Venice Film Festival: Robert Redford presents The Company You Keep with Shia LaBeouf

Filippo L'Astorina, the Editor
Read More

Venice Film Festival day seven reviews: O Gebo e a Sombra, Bella Addormentata and Pieta

Filippo L'Astorina, the Editor
Read More

Venice Film Festival day 6 reviews: Outrage Beyond, Linhas de Wellington and Kapringen (A Hijacking)

Filippo L'Astorina, the Editor
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • “Theatre is totally unique… there’s simply nothing else quite like it”: An interview with Sir Howard Panter as the new cast of Jersey Boys opens at Trafalgar Theatre
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Eiffel
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • South Facing Festival: Richard Ashcroft and his band were on impressive form from start to finish
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ed Fringe 2022: Hungry
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • “Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree
    Cinema & Tv
  • Kasabian – The Alchemist’s Euphoria
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Rita at Charing Cross Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • “Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck
    Cinema & Tv
  • Nope
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Five Days at Memorial
    ★★★★★
    apple
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

An interview with Kirill Serebrennikov, director of Izmena (Betrayal)
Venice Film Festival day 3 reviews: E’ Stato il Figlio and The Master