The results of the 2017 board of directors elections for the Cinema Audio Society have been announced. The board represents a cross-section of experienced production and postproduction sound professionals. The CAS officers are: re-elected incumbent president Mark Ulano, CAS, and re-elected incumbent treasurer Peter Damski, CAS. The terms for VP Phillip W. Palmer, CAS, and secretary David J. Bondelevitch, CAS, were not up for election.
The incumbent CAS board of directors (Production) that were re-elected are: Peter Devlin, CAS, Edward J. Greene, CAS, Lee Orloff, CAS, Lisa Pinero, CAS, and Jeffrey Wexler, CAS. Incumbent board members (Postproduction) who were reelected are Bob Bronow, CAS, Karol Urban, CAS, and Steve Venezia, CAS, and they will be joined by newly elected board member Mathew Waters, CAS, who will be taking the seat of outgoing board member Deb Adair, CAS, who did not run for reelection. Continuing to serve as their terms were not up for reelection are: for Production Willie Burton, CAS, and Glen Trew, CAS, and for Postproduction Tom Fleischman, CAS, Tomlinson Holman, CAS, Sherry Klein, CAS, and Mary Jo Lang, CAS.
The new Board was installed at the 53rd Annual CAS Awards that were held earlier this year.
Review: Director James Watkins’ “Speak No Evil”
Quick. Has there ever been a horror film set in a country home with a decent cell signal?
Nope, and there's no signal at Paddy and Ciara's house, either, deep in the English countryside. Soon, that land line will be cut, too, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Paddy and Ciara are that fun-but-somewhat-odd British couple whom Louise and Ben, early in "Speak No Evil," meet on their idyllic Tuscan family holiday. Americans based in London, Louise and Ben are at loose ends, with both job and relationship issues. And so, when the new acquaintances write to invite them for a country weekend, they decide to go.
After all, how bad could it be?
Don't answer that. There are many such moments in the first two-thirds of "Speak No Evil," a Hollywood remake of the 2022 Danish film, here starring a deeply menacing James McAvoy. Moments where Louise and Ben, out of mere politeness and social convention, act against their instincts, which tell them something is wrong – very wrong.
Director James Watkins and especially his excellent troupe of actors, adult and children alike, do a nice job of building the tension, slowly but surely. Until all bloody hell breaks loose, of course. And then, in its third act, "Speak No Evil" becomes an entertaining but routine horror flick, with predictable results.
But for a while, it's a way more intelligent film. And the jumpy moments work — I'll confess to literally springing out of my seat when someone uneventfully turned on a power drill.
We begin in stunning Tuscany, where Louise (Mackenzie Davis, in the film's most accessible and empathetic performance) and Ben (Scoot McNairy, all nerves and insecurity) are vacationing with 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler). At the pool, they... Read More