One of the discoveries of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival was a film that actually premiered at SXSW: David Robert Mitchell’s Myth of the American Sleepover. Receiving its international premiere in the Critics Week section, Myth of the American Sleepover is a dreamy, romantic, and wistful take on the amorous longings of our teenage years. It’s set during one night in which Mitchell’s various teen characters crisscross their Michigan town between several sleepovers, all-night slumber parties, and general hang outs. Without stooping to farfetched plot elements or melodramatic contrivances, the film compels our viewing by nailing just the right tone […]
At Google’s IO Conference this week, the search giant announced several new products and platforms, including the latest Android operating system, Froyo (named after “frozen yogurt”), and, perhaps most significantly for filmmakers, Google TV. At the heart of Google TV is a simple notion: right now we watch a lot of TV after it is broadcast on our computer simply because a) its creators have placed it there and b) it’s easy to find what we want to watch through internet search. But, if we could watch it on our TV screens? Wouldn’t we rather view it there? At his […]
Anne Thompson reports that starting today Rotten Tomatoes has integrated with Apple‘s iTunes store. According to Thompson: “Rotten Tomatoes is now part of Flixster; together the sites and their mobile apps reach more than 30 million moviegoers each month.”
The 13th annual Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF) will be held June 4th-13th at indieScreen and the Brooklyn Heights Cinema. This year’s BiFF will feature over 100 premieres from 92 countries, including a record 16 films made by Brooklyn filmmakers on Brooklyn sets. For more information, please visit: www.brooklynfilmfestival.org. Some of the feature films to be shown: Gabi on the Roof in July | NY Premiere Director: Lawrence Michael Levine Narrative Feature / United States, 2010 99 min An edgy character-driven ensemble comedy about ex-girlfriends, sibling rivalry and whipped cream set in a city that’s constantly in flux. Bad Day […]
In celebration of its 15th anniversary, The Nantucket Film Festival (NFF) is expanding its program to include more special guests and events. This year, NFF will present an All-Star Comedy Roundtable presented and moderated by Ben Stiller and featuring Sarah Silverman and Zach Galifianakis. Its annual Screenwriting Tribute will honor a trinity of Academy Award winning writers, including Barry Levinson (Diner), Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3), and Davis Guggenheim (Waiting for “Superman”). And the fest will screen Toy Story 3 for it’s opening night. See full list of films below. For passes and more detailed information, please visit: www.nantucketfilmfestival.org. Ticket […]
I’m happy to see that one of my favorite films from last year’s fest circuit has found a home, Ben Steinbauer‘s hilarious and touching doc, Winnebago Man. If you’re not familiar with the antics of his subject, Jack Rebney (a.k.a “The Angriest Man In The World”), then you’ll get a kick out of this. Kino will release the film July 9.
We only get so many chances in life. Perhaps getting more than one, whether it be to achieve your financial goals or to grow into a mature and loving relationship, could be considered extremely fortunate. For Ben Kalmen (played by a pitch perfect Michael Douglas) in Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s new film Solitary Man, no matter how many chances he’s given and despite his bountiful charm, he’ll find a way to make the worst of his circumstances. He’s the type of well to do, emotional self-saboteur that never realizes until it is much too late how his personal behavior […]
Like history itself, historical documentaries tend to be written by the winners – experts whose “greatest hits” style approach is as comforting as the muzak that plays underneath their interviews. Last night’s Stranger Than Fiction featured director Robin Hessman’s My Perestroika, a documentary so good at breaking the rules of historical docs that it makes you question why anyone ever follows them. Hessman focuses on the Meyersons, an ordinary Moscow couple who teach history at the same school they attended as children. Struggling to articulate what it meant to grow up Soviet to a group of students that did not, […]
I ran into another New York film critic last night. I said that this doesn’t seem to be a very good Cannes. Her answer was, “No masterpieces so far.” The closest is, according to many journalists here, Mike Leigh’s Another Year. Not for me, however. It’s fine, filming a middle-class family (with working-class roots) against four distinct seasons. The problem is that Leigh’s renowned “rehearsal method,” in which actors develop their characters over time, before a script is written, backfired a bit. The usually dependable Leslie Manville channels Brenda Blethyn in Secrets & Lies, but overdoes the tics and drunken […]
Jamie Stuart and I visited Josh and Benny Safdie at their Red Bucket Films studio on Tuesday to talk about their new film Daddy Longlegs, guerrilla marketing, and other things. He shot and edited, I interviewed, and this is our conversation. Click here to download through Jamie’s site.