(Gun Hill Road world premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, which is when the original version of this review was first published at Hammer To Nail. It was picked up for distribution by Motion Film Group and opens theatrically in New York City on Friday, August 5, 2011, and Los Angeles on Friday, August 12th. Visit the film’s Facebook page and official website to learn more.) A late work by the Cuban director Tomas Gutierrez Alea called Strawberry And Chocolate is one of the few films I’ve ever seen to confront the strange relationship […]
by Mike S. Ryan on Aug 4, 2011
(Distributed by Screen Media, 3 Backyards opens theatrically in NYC at the IFC Center on Friday, March 11, 2011. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.) What do you want from a film experience? If I am going to schlep into Manhattan and pay money for a ticket I want the large-screen experience to be something specifically cinematic. I don’t need any William Castle-like “transmedia” gimmicks or 3D to prod me into the seat. I just need to know that I will be in the hands of a director who understands that narrative cinema can operate in a space […]
by Mike S. Ryan on Mar 10, 2011
Producer Mike S. Ryan challenges the current preoccupations of our independent film scene.