Monthly Archives: January, 2012

For film snobs such as myself, you'd need a really valid reason to want to see a film with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey toplining. Arkansas born Jeff Nichols is that reason. From the day in 2007 where I decided to pull out Shotgun Stories from my pile of screeners to the blissful satisfaction I received approximately one year ago when taking in Take Shelter on premiere night in Park City, in just two feature films, this gifted auteur has proven his worth as one of the most talented filmmaking voices in American Independent cinema. Worth noting: Michael Shannon is in this film too.

Coens' working on a musical biopic? We're in. In the mean time, we'll be checking out van Ronk's career (listen here) and watching companion film, I'm Not There.

Yet another QT signed revenge coming to us with the usual bells and whistles: scenes with instant re-watch value, classic characters (Waltz has the funnest character of them all), well-written spoken dialogue, an homage riddled score and a casting job that will pay out in spades. Should be a blast - but will this top Basterds or the Kill Bills?

Coming off her career best in Meek's Cutoff (which was one of our top films of the year regardless if you think of the title as a 2011 or 2010 release -- as we saw this in Toronto the year before), we hope that Reichardt has a long-lasting wind in her sails. Her she tacks the rarely explored subject matter of eco-terrorism and would be joined by actors (Dano for a second time in a row) in touch with their indie roots. Watch the doc If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front to get prepped for this work.

Once again working with Cinematographer Oleg Mutu (4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days), I'm expecting this depiction of WWII to employ the same sort of gritty realism found in his 2010 Cannes preemed My Joy, his feature film debut about a grizzly road trip gone terribly wrong was totally up my alley, but was dissed by fellow Cannes critics. The helmer describes his film as the tale “about a man trying to make a moral choice under the immoral circumstances” and with a harsh, wilderness backdrop we expect humanity to be put to test once again. We can't wait for this.