Authors — Scott Macaulay

FUNNY OR DIE ON HEALTH REFORM

Will Farrell, Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm and other actors stick up for the insurance companies. Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 22, 2009
THE YES MEN TAKE NEW YORK

“SPECIAL EDITION” NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 21, 2009
FINAL DAYS FOR FILMMAKER STIMULUS PLAN SUBSCRIPTION OFFER

Please forgive this commercial interruption, but we’re in the final three days of our Filmmaker magazine Stimulus Plan, our annual subscription drive, and I hope that if you have not already taken advantage of this offer that you’ll consider doing so. It’s a fantastic deal, offering not only a year of Filmmaker for only $10 but also our digital edition (which contains all back issues through 2005) free. The offer runs until September 24. Below is the note I posted in our newsletter a few weeks ago detailing the offer in a bit more detail. And for those who have […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 21, 2009
TORONTO — THE BEST LAID PLANS: ACCIDENT AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED

Industry friendly genre films are always top draws at film festivals, and So Chiang’s Accident, produced by Johnny To and straight from Venice, has a diabolical premise that calls out for an English-language remake. A team of hit-men and women meticulously stage their killings to appear as accidents. Chiang takes an Argento-like glee in these elaborate projects, which are part Rube Goldberg and part Al Queda training manual. Balloons float into the sky to block ever-present security cameras; minor car crashes set off chain reactions leading to neck-slicing rain showers of shattered glass; the slicked-down streets found in so many […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 17, 2009
"ARE YOU READY TO KILL SOME NAZIS?" INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS IN ISRAEL

With its pulp fiction take on the Nazi regime, World War 2, and a band of Jewish avengers, many have wondered how Quentin Taratino’s Inglourious Basterds would play in Israel. Well, if initial press reports are accurate, the answer is pretty well. Haaretz.com titles its story, “Israelis go wild for Inglourious Basterds,” noting that Tarantino introduced the premiere by saying, “Are you reading to kill some Nazis?” (They didn’t note the second line: “Are you ready to fuck up some Nazis?”). See the intro here: The film opens in Israeli theaters on Thursday, and we’ll check out the reviews when […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 16, 2009
DEALS, OLD AND NEW, IN TORONTO

“What’s the state of the market here?” I asked a sales rep last night. “Well, the first deal announced during Toronto is for a film that already sold at Sundance.” He was referring to Antoine Fuqua’s Brooklyn’s Finest, which sold at Sundance, sat in a distribution limbo while a new cut was readied (and while Senator tried to come up with funds for its release) and now, following Senator’s collapse, has moved over to Overture. Anne Thompson has the details at Indiewire, and the story of unpaid labs, films sitting on the shelf, and general financial malaise at Senator is, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 15, 2009
ON UP IN THE AIR AND A CITY FULL OF THOSE GUYS

“I don’t know whether I liked the film because it’s a good film, or because I think I’m that guy,” a colleague said to me the other night here in Toronto about Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air and its lead character, George Clooney’s smooth-talking, frequent flying, no-attachments corporate road warrior. (In actuality, my colleague is nearly 20 years shy of being able to call himself “that guy.”) Or, he continued, “Maybe it’s just that the film is such a perfect fit for a film festival,” a thought that had occurred to me too. As film festival attendees, we fly […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 13, 2009
PREVIEWING THE TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL

Howard Feinstein will be covering Toronto for Filmmaker this year. Below, he jots down a few of the things he’s looking forward to. Question: How to group the films at Toronto I am most eager to see, by section or by geographical programming (a major plus for the festival)? Answer: Both. Here goes, but frankly, the titles are hardly exhaustive. “Visions,” with only 12 titles, could turn out to be the hot strand. I’m eager to see Trash Humpers (above left), by the poet of the most ignored among the marginalized, Harmony Korine. Ditto To Die Like a Man, by […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 10, 2009
KARYN KUSAMA’S “JENNIFER’S BODY” By Scott Macaulay

Here’s the way it used to be. You made an edgy, well-received independent film, one that showed your facility to tell a story and work with actors, and the smart Hollywood scripts — quality writing that required the touch of someone outside the system — would arrive in those expensively-printed agency binders. And that’s the way it seemed to be playing out for Karyn Kusama, who made an excellent debut with her gritty, low-budget Girlfight, a female boxing movie that launched the movie career of Michelle Rodriguez. But then a couple of things happened. First, her follow-up, Aeon Flux, was […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 9, 2009
TORONTO: TEASING HARMONY KORINE’S TRASH HUMPERS

Here’s the teaser for Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers, premiering this week in Toronto and then heading to the New York Film Festival.
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 9, 2009

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