Monthly Archives: June 2012 »
Neil Young Journeys | Review
Walk with him: Neil Young makes Canada shake in Demme’s concert film On R.E.M.’s farewell masterpiece ‘Collapse Into Now,’ Michael Stipe channels the deep need of human beings to make sense of their lives
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Unforgivable | Review
Téchiné explores family ruptures through a noir lens Veteran French director André Téchiné’s (‘Wild Reeds,’ ‘Les Voleurs’) Unforgivable is a deceptively nuanced story that skirts the edges of a crime thriller, without ever cracking
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Criterion Collection: Gray’s Anatomy | Blu-ray Review
After a lifetime’s worth of straight stage work, and several decades of fine tuning his own signature craft, Spalding Gray’s final long form monologue to be converted for the big screen was the Steven
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2012 LAFF: The Breaking Point (1950) | Review
Point of No Return: A Curtiz Classic Resurrected While history prizes a 1944 adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s story To Have and Have Not, there does exist a little seen (and more faithful to its
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The Nine Muses | DVD Review
After nearly a decade of focusing his energy on music history television docs, director John Akomfrah has returned to one of his favorite topics, the struggles of minorities, and more specifically here, the wave
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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | Review
Lars Von Trier Would Weep: Scafaria’s Roadtrip Romance Facelifts Apocalypse Old Hollywood studios had it good. Between two World Wars and countless other miseries (like stagnant marriages, repressed housewives, the ultra masculine matinee idols,
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Kumare | Review
Kumare is an Illusion, and Illusion is Truth After growing up in the U.S. as part of a highly traditional Indian family, and later, graduating from college with a degree in religion, Vikram Gandhi’s
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LAFF 2012: Dead Man’s Burden | Review
Dry-Eyed Narrative: Jared Moshe’s Western Exercise An Intriguing Effort Producer Jared Moshe’s directorial debut, Dead Man’s Burden, is a mostly winsome procedure as an homage to the bare bones Western efforts of yore. While
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People Like Us | Review
Alex Kurtzman’s Debut A Bombastic, Exercise in the Unsubtle With several successful (quality questionable) screenplays under his belt, Alex Kurtzman, the man who co-wrote the latest Star Trek (2009) reboot and, errr, Cowboys and
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Brave | Review
Bravery For Andrews Doesn’t Lead To Better Things Every time Pixar releases a film, animation fans euphorically rejoice, as they know John Lasseter and the gang would never steer us wrong. Well, that was
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Four Lovers | DVD Review
Just a few notches above porn you’ll find Antony Cordier’s second feature, Four Lovers, an erotic French indie that premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, and details the sexual escapades of a
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Sony Pictures Classics Just Can’t Hide It; Almodovar’s “I’m So Excited” Makes it 8 Between Label & Helmer
In a no-brainer deal, SPC have grabbed all North American rights to Pedro Almodóvar’s next project which begins lensing next month. Curiously the pic known as “Los Amantes Pasajeros” with early/translated titles of “The
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Lightning Strikes Twice; Tribeca Film Picks Up Tribeca Film Fest Preemed “Struck By Lightning”
It appears that Tribeca Film does indeed have a ferocious appetite these days especially for films that played at the recent edition of the Tribeca Film Fest. Today’s catch Struck By Lightning - is Brian
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Interview: Ilinca Calugareanu (Chuck Norris vs Communism)
Ilinca Călugăreanu is a freelance documentary filmmaker and editor based in London with a background in anthropology but as she describes it, “I moved towards filmmaking whilst exploring the same themes of memory, place,
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Cannes 2012 Producers on the Move | Monica Lazurean-Gorgan: “We cannot talk about profit when it comes to European films”
Producers on the Move is an European Film Promotion (EFP) program that focuses on assisting European producers in finding partners for their upcoming projects and, since 2000, it take place during the Cannes International
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To Rome With Love | Review
Roma, Ti Amo: Woody Allen Sketches Snippets of the Eternal City Say what you will about Woody Allen, but he’s had an amazing decade with his Euro tour, wrapping it up in Italy with
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The Invisible War | Review
Sexual Assault Will No Longer Be Overlooked It’s horrifying to acknowledge that females in the United States Armed Forces are more likely to be raped by fellow soldiers than killed by enemy fire by
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LAFF 2012: Four | Review
Looking for a Love That’s Never Enough: Joshua Sanchez Directs a Broody Debut Director Joshua Sanchez has chosen excellent material to adapt for his film debut, Four, based on the play by Obie award
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The Tortured | Review
Apt Title Foretells Effect on its Audience: Lieberman’s Absurd Attempt at Horror Robert Lieberman’s latest film, a quaggy, moronic torture porn debacle, ironically titled The Tortured, is finally getting released by IFC Films nearly
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Tribeca Films Escape with Nguyen’s “War Witch”; Label Grabs Own Fest Winner
After it claimed a pair of prizes (Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film Award and World Narrative Competition Award) at the Tribeca Film Festival, Kim Nguyen’s War Witch (Rebelle) will not have traveled
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The Woman In The Fifth | Review
May try Your Patience to the Nth: Pawlikowski’s Comeback Thriller Travels in Familiar Territory Highly esteemed director Pawel Pawlikowski’s first feature since 2004’s excellent My Summer of Love is an adaptation of Douglas Kennedy’s
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Extraterrestrial | Review
Perhaps not as extra as it thinks it is: Vigalondo’s Sci-Fi Romance Mash-up is Forgettable The problem with Nacho Vigalondo’s sophomore feature, Extraterrestrial, is that it’s a bit of a one trick pony. The follow
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El Velador | Review
Shooting Spree: Almada Documents Open Air and Closed Doors of War Zone A documentary film that is a nearly wordless account, save for the Mexican TV and radio broadcasts of the ongoing drug wars
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Americano | Review
We fell in love, but not in court: Demy References Parent’s Filmography Americano, the directorial debut of actor Mathieu Demy, (son of two legendary cinematic directors from the French New Wave, Jacques Demy and
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Paul Williams Still Alive | Review
Kessler Gets The Rainbow Connection Back when Paul Williams was a supremely popular songwriter, a regular on Johnny Carson, and a freshly awarded winner of an Academy Award, a Grammy, and a pair of
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"Ron and I wanted to make a film that looked at what it means to be an outsider and we wanted to explore what it takes to reach out to someone whose life is very removed from your own."
