Not often does a director with an indie pedigree seamlessly segue into subject matter like… children’s literature. But in many ways Wes Anderson has been training for the moment to use his hyper-stylized, extremely detailed storytelling to make a film like Fantastic Mr. Fox. Based on the Roald Dohl classic, Anderson (and co-writer, Noah Baumbach) use the book’s premise of a sly fox who outwits his farmer neighbors to steal their food to create a film that dazzles children and adults alike with it’s Andersonesque storytelling and stop-motion animation. When we meet Fox — voiced by George Clooney with motormouth […]
A maverick of the 1950s Hollywood system, with Johnny Guitar and Rebel Without a Cause already under his belt earlier in the decade, Nicholas Ray’s melodrama Bigger Than Life was perhaps his most structured work when it came out in 1956. Starring James Mason (who also produced) in a uncharacteristic — yet riveting — role, the film was virtually ignored by audiences when it opened, but with its look at American suburbia during the nuclear-era (and a precursor for highlighting the abuse of prescription drugs) it has since become a popular title of critics and cineastes alike. The film opens […]
I took note of the videogame Heavy Rain after reading Seth Schiesel’s wildly positive review in the New York Times. Here are the first two grafs: The big storm has been raging for days. The winds around the eaves make me lonely, melancholy, and yet my guilt forces me forward in search of redemption. I have probably spent 10,000 hours playing various sorts of electronic games. But no single-player experience has made me as genuinely nervous, unsettled, surprised, emotionally riven and altogether involved as Heavy Rain, a noir murder mystery inspired by film masters like Hitchcock, Kubrick and David Lynch. […]
While at Sundance I sat down with director Floria Sigismondi to discuss her debut feature, The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Joan Jett and Cherie Curie. I’ve been a fan of Floria’s for years, and with The Runaways she has brought her keen sense of place and design to convincingly recreate the Los Angeles rock scene of the ’70s. We talked about the origins of the movie, her cinematic inspirations (Christianne F.!), and getting the City of Angels right. Thanks to Sabi Picture’s Zak Forsman, Kevin Shah and Jamie Cobb for shooting and editing the piece.
So I’ve been a little out of touch, I know. It’s taken some time to absorb what’s been going on since we premiered at the G-Tech 500 seat theater in the Austin Convention Center on Monday afternoon. Everything has been happening so fast. Jeanette Maier, the subject of our film, seemed pretty calm as we all had our photos taken in front of the step-and-repeat (the yellow SXSW logo wall) and there was a huge lineup before anyone got in. I realized this just after I sent a message to two colleagues who I’d been emailing with (but had never […]
The Tribeca Film Festival announced today its line-up of short films. The Festival has selected 47, including Joachim Back’s 2010 Academy Award-winning film for Best Live Action Short, The New Tenants. They will be presented in six thematic programs with 21 world premieres, a record number for the festival. Selections include shorts directed by Ken Jacobs, Max Hoffman, James Cromwell, Joshua Bell, and returning TFF directors include Jacobs, Domenica Scorsese, Rodney Evans, Mark Street, Jean-Gabriel Periot, Tal Rosner, Bill Morrison, Thomas Hefferon and Sara Zandieh. Learn more at tribecafilm.com/festival. Full list of titles are below. HARD CORE Bedford Park Boulevard, […]
Here is Ride Rise Roar director David Hillman Curtis’s post-screening, post-Austin blog. Back in Brooklyn. Missing the warmth. The house we rented. The juice shack down the street I went to everyday, the festival and the films and the camaraderie we shared in that big house on Barton Blvd. It was an exciting trip for so many reasons. Like any big project, our film almost met an early fate several times. There were the cuts David rightly did not like and the commercial projects that sidelined the film for months at a time. A couple little flare ups looked as […]
It’ not everyday that I can stream in its entirety a new film by Jean-Luc Godard on the website. Okay, I don’t know for sure that the teaser trailer for Godard’s forthcoming Socialism is the whole film, albeit sped-up, but I imagine it is. From a blog called Radio Deleuze comes what seems to be a synopsis: A symphony in three movements. Things such as: The Mediterranean, a cruise ship. Numerous conversations, in numerous languages, between the passengers, almost all of whom are on holiday… An old man, a war criminal (German, French, American we don?t know) accompanied by his […]
Heather Menicucci from Howcast, the online site that develops filmmakers by having them create its instructional training videos, was down at SXSW meeting filmmakers and interviewing them for Howcast and YouTube’s Creator’s Corner. She’s just posted this video with tips from directors on how to attend SXSW. SXSW may be winding down on the film side (the awards are over but films are still screening), but, needless to say, these tips hold true for independent filmmakers and fests in general. Heather says the series will continue in coming days so check back to her site.
Garth Donovan’s Phillip the Fossil got good buzz at SXSW, with its lead actor, Brian Hasenfus, picking up a Special Jury Award for Best Individual Performance. I met Donovan on Tuesday and used my Flip camera to ask him a few questions about his movie.