Blogging Sundance

Sundance U.S.A.: The Festival Comes to You

Eric D. Snider — 2009-11-04T14:27:00+00:00

Filed under: Independent, Sundance, Festival Reports, Exhibition

If you can't make it to Park City, Utah, in January for the Sundance Film Festival, don't worry -- Sundance will come to you! Sort of! If you live in one of eight specific cities! Still, it's a good start, and a pretty nifty idea.

They're calling it Sundance Film Festival U.S.A., and it will work like this. On Jan. 28, while the festival is taking place in Utah, eight filmmakers from the fest will travel to theaters around the country to show their movies to local audiences, followed by the customary Q&A. For the local audiences, it will be a decent approximation of what a real Sundance screening is like, minus the insane crowds and absence of parking. Several of the chosen cities are even in snowy climes, so you won't have to miss out on that aspect of Sundance attendance. If you're lucky, for the full effect, maybe you'll even run into a journalist complaining about the weather.

The selected theaters are: Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, Mass.; BAM, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Music Box Theatre, Chicago; Downtown Independent, Los Angeles; Sundance Cinemas, Madison, Wisc.; Belcourt Theatre, Nashville; and Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, San Francisco. Tickets will be sold through the individual theaters. Each location will get a different film, and we won't know what those films are until after the festival announces its programming in December.

Dispatching filmmakers to appear with their movies live and in person is a cool innovation, and a good way to spread the Sundance vibe beyond the confines of Park City. But it makes me wonder if the next logical step is to simply beam the films via satellite to theaters around the country, the way they do with concerts and special events. As big as Sundance is getting, and as small as Park City is staying, I'm glad to see the festival expanding its reach any way it can.

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Free Flick of the Day: Sleeping Dogs Lie

Eric D. Snider — 2009-10-22T09:48:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Sundance

You may have heard about Bobcat Goldthwait's current film, World's Greatest Dad, possibly from all the raving various people at Cinematical have done about it. It's an outrageously dark comedy -- but that should be no surprise if you've seen any of Bobcat's previous films, including Sleeping Dogs Lie, which I've chosen as AOL/SlashControl's free flick of the day.

Sleeping Dogs Lie premiered under its original title, Stay, at Sundance in 2006, where its perverse subject matter was taboo even by Sundance standards. It's about a young woman who has fallen in love with a guy she hopes to marry, but she's not sure whether she can ever tell him about a certain embarrassing moment in her sexual history. It involves a dog, that's all I'm sayin'. Finally she takes the plunge and tells her boyfriend, and that's when the squirm-inducing comedy really takes off.

Not surprisingly, Goldthwait had a hard time finding a distributor for the movie. The best it ever got was a two-week run on six screens, grossing $15,745 in the U.S., but another $622,000 internationally. (Apparently this sort of thing plays better in foreign countries. Make of that what you will.) It's obviously not for everyone, but if you like bawdy, clever, shocking comedy, it's worth watching. It will almost certainly make you feel better about whatever shameful secrets you have in your own past.

Watch Sleeping Dogs Lie at SlashControl.

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Tyler Perry Reacts to 'Precious,' Reveals Own Childhood Abuses

Jen Yamato — 2009-10-06T19:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Drama, Sundance, Celebrities and Controversy, Movie Marketing

Critics and celebs alike have raved about the Sundance darling Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Lee Daniels' hard-hitting account of a teenage girl's struggle with abuse growing up in Harlem. (Even comedienne Mo'Nique has commanded some serious awards season buzz for her performance as Precious' domineering, abusive mother.) But no endorsement can or will be quite as moving, or as disturbing, as the one Precious got from filmmaker Tyler Perry, for whom the film dredged up cathartic memories of his own childhood abuses.

Writing on his official website, Perry - who's created his own film niche with often comic tales of dysfunctional African American families - revealed that his own childhood growing up in New Orleans was filled with abuses to rival those in Precious, based on the experiences of teenage girls author Sapphire taught in New York.

In an open letter to his readers, Perry recounts beatings at the hands of his father, multiple child molestations by friends of the family, his father's disdain for writing and drawing, and one particular ammonia bath administered by his grandmother to get rid of his asthma. And that's not even all of it, he adds. Read his letter here.

The celebrity confessional too often ties into the promotion of a new book or film release, but Perry's revelations are hard to dismiss as mere viral marketing. And while he's hinted at his abusive childhood in the past, this is the first that Perry's revealed just how badly he and his siblings were mistreated. Like the whole of his ouvre, Perry's letter circles back to issues of faith and if anything, explains what may drive his artistic motivations and why he's such a private, yet personal filmmaker.

Precious will open nationwide November 6 with the backing of executive producers Perry and Oprah Winfrey.

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Review: The September Issue

Cinematical staff — 2009-08-30T13:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Documentary, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Roadside Attractions

By James Rocchi (repint from 2009 Sundance Film Festival)

The September Issue , directed by RJ Cutler (The War Room), offers the tantalizing promise of immediate inside pleasures with its synopsis alone, as it follows Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and her editorial team in the assembly and shaping of 2007's edition of the title issue of Vogue magazine -- the largest issue of the year, the holy writ and testament for the upcoming year in fashion, the big brassy bloated bane of every postal carrier's existence. Immediately, we're promised glamour, high-stakes editorial crisis, the confluence of commerce and style, the manic business of modern magazine publishing.

The good news is not only that The September Issue offers much more than those immediate inside pleasures -- although it does, commenting on celebrity culture, digital image-altering technology, power and privilege in the distraction-industrial complex and much more -- but that it delivers those immediate inside pleasures superbly along with the nitty-gritty, so we get to witness a mix of high fashion and near-fascism with Ms. Wintour as the iron fist inside the stylish hand-stitched calfskin glove -- velvet is so last year, darling.

And I have no clue if calfskin is hot right now or not, but as The September Issue makes clear, it would be if Wintour thought so. Wintour stands astride the world of fashion like a colossus, and for designers and tastemakers her trademark sunglasses mask a gaze that inverts the legend of the gorgon -- if Anna doesn't look directly at you and your work, you're dead. Watching Wintour tour the studios of various designers to appraise their work for the upcoming season, you understand that in this world, she's the equivalent of a monarch -- and that to her, there's no other world. "What I often see is that people are frightened of fashion, and because it scares them or makes them feel insecure," as Wintour notes in an early interview segment, "they try to put it down." The 300-billion dollar-a-year industry of fashion -- as Wintour defines it, and she does -- is like religion, and to speak against it is heresy.

And if Wintour is the ruler, then her most trusted second-in-command -- who nonetheless is second -- is Grace Coddington, the model-turned-photographer who has served for decades as Wintour's Creative Director. Through the film, we watch as Grace proposes, and Anna disposes -- throwing out photos Grace loves but Anna doesn't, ignoring outfits Grace would love to photograph and Anna couldn't bear to have in the magazine. The two women have a fascinating, frustrating and fruitful relationship, and watching it is one of The September Issue's greatest pleasures.

We don't get much from Wintour's superior, media magnate S.I. Newhouse -- a few nods of agreement and mumbles of enthusiasm about the plans for the September issue -- but while Anna has a boss, The September Issue make it clear that she is the boss; we watch as Wintour, like a crowned ruler of feudal times, carefully cultivates opportunities and patronage jobs for the young designer Thakoon, and his career is made. As Anna dismisses photos, story ideas, outfits brought for her opinion and staff members' suggestions with icy grace, we understand how easily it could have gone the other way.

At the same time, you also get a disarming, fascinating occasional glimpse of vulnerability; Wintour may be a monarch, but uneasy lays the head that wears the crown. We watch as Wintour uses her college-age daughter as a one-woman focus group, trying to get a take on how the next generation thinks and feels about fashion, and you realize that she could never do that with her younger staff for fear of seeming out-of-touch, and you feel a touch of sympathy for The Devil (who) Wears Prada. Cutler and his team got to see everything and go everywhere, and while they find the manic buzz and thrum of fashion week and high fashion (aided by the stylish electro-pop of the soundtrack), they also find the stolid, steady bump and hum of cold cash commerce under it. Cinematographer Bon Richman doesn't just show the gleam and glory of glorious extravagance, but he also finds the cluttered workspaces and hectic studio sets where that magic is messily made.

And there's humor in The September Issue, mostly when Andre Leon Talley, a Vogue Editor-at-Large -- although, really, the title should be Editor-at-Larger-Than-Life --stumbles through the scene dressed like a Bond villain or wearing a piece of camping equipment and acting like a deleted scene from Zoolander. And while there are digressions -- the documentary crew winds up being drafted as extras and tone-setting props for a re-shot piece on "color blocking" -- but when Anna notes of a cameraman's photo that he "needs to go to the gym more" and offers that there's no need to worry about the curve of his belly, since it can be fixed digitally, Coddington puts her foot down to keep the photo untouched and get the look she most wanted, and the digression becomes a demonstration of everything the film's about.

The September Issue also offers a glimpse of both our gilded age and the rot underneath it -- we see Vogue as the transmission vector for a fever-vision of a fabulous, glamorous world of designer gowns and sumptuous couture fashions that are unaffordable, unattainable and impractical, with the occasional outfit or piece you can afford and wear more than once scattered throughout the magazine like crumbs hurled to the starving mob. I'm not especially interested in fashion (I'm interested in style as opposed to fashion, much as you can be interested in athleticism as opposed to pro sports, or movies as opposed to Hollywood), but The September Issue's look at power, money, pop culture and professionalism (and its absence) had me enthralled.

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Review: Mystery Team

Cinematical staff — 2009-08-29T17:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Roadside Attractions

By Erik Davis (reprint from 2009 Sundance Film Festival) The film opens this weekend in Austin, Texas, and should it "expand" in October (like we've heard it will), then we'll probably reprint the review again! We liked the flick just that much.

It's Encyclopedia Brown meets Napoleon Dynamite with a pinch of Ace Ventura ... and it's hilarious.

The Derrick Comedy troupe arrived at Sundance with a snot full of sketch videos and a massive internet fanbase. Sure, these were a group of kids from NYU who struck a cord with the YouTube audience and never looked back -- but a series of short online comedy bits and random late night improv are one thing; opening a feature film at the Sundance Film Festival is a completely different ballgame. Thankfully, with Mystery Team, these boys hit one way out of the ballpark, producing not only the funniest comedy I've seen at the fest so far, but one that definitely has the potential to stand toe-to-toe with the finer comedies of 2008 and the most hyped of 2009.

Inspired by Encyclopedia Brown, the Mystery Team are comprised of three kid detectives who run around with big magnifying glasses and several cheap, cliched disguises solving neighborhood whodunits, like who stuck their fingers in Mrs. What's-Her-Name's freshly-baked pie. Only problem is they're 18-year-old high school virgins who should've grown out of this detective phase back when they were seven. The entire community laughs at them, except for Jordy, the half-brain-dead doofus (aka the Mystery Team's "inside informant") who works at the 24-hour hole in the wall. However, when a tiny neighborhood girl asks the Mystery Team to find out who killed her parents, the guys that spend their days solving lame schoolyard pranks are forced to take their game up one giant, life-threatening notch.
The three members of the Mystery Team are Jason (Donald Glover), the master of disguises, Duncan (D.C. Pierson), the boy genius, and Charlie (Dominic Dierkes), the skinnier-than-Victoria-Beckham "muscle". Unfortunately for all three boys, solving a real-life murder is a little out of their league -- considering all their files and prior cases involve reckless children and a creepy old man who's on life support. That is, until the boys get a tip from Jordy that leads them to a homeless guy who may have some crime scene evidence in his shopping cart, and from there the boys stumble into a number of scenarios that are way too dangerous (gun fights and hostage situations) and way too hilarious (a strip club scene featuring a foul-mouthed kid and a nasty sight gag absolutely steals the show).

As actors, the three boys give us one step above sketch humor -- the performances are nothing to write home about (especially from some of the supporting players), but the script, expert comedic timing and larger set pieces cancel out most of the film's other missteps. Similar to The Brady Bunch Movie, Mystery Team relies on the audience member buying into their fish-out-of-water shtick. If you don't dig the concept -- think its humor is too Napoleon Dynamite-esque and not original enough -- then you won't have a fun time. Clearly this is Derrick Comedy's Super Troopers -- it's a silly, stupid, ridiculous comedy that when it works, it really works, and when it doesn't, there's still a laugh or two to be found. Is it for everyone? No. Like Kids in the Hall or Broken Lizard, Derrick Comedy are going to have hardcore fans who get their humor, as well as a whole mess of folks who don't like it all. Such is life.

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Review: Five Minutes of Heaven

Cinematical staff — 2009-08-23T13:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Drama, Sundance, IFC, Theatrical Reviews

By Scott Weinberg (reprint from Sundance Film Festival 2009)

The latest film from Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel is a simple, straightforward, and very sincere story that covers some rather fascinating issues: The cyclical nature of violence, the difficulties inherent in forgiveness, and the importance of being able to defeat tragedy and go on to live a happy life. If it sounds like a dark and slightly depressing story to hear, well that's the good news. For all its stark honesty and confrontational emotions, the messages found in Five Minutes of Heaven are refreshingly humane and hopeful.

We open in mid-'70s Belfast, and a very young Alistair Little is about to commit a heinous act. Fueled by streetwise fury and a need to prove himself, Alistair assassinates another young man, leaving his little brother as the horrified witness to the act. Poor Joe Griffen has just began a cycle of tragedy that would defeat most people: Dead brother, accusing mother, heartbroken father ... one act of horrible violence leads to a ripple effect that virtually destroys Joe's life.

So when a TV series tracks him down, more than thirty years later, hoping to put victim and killer in the same room, Joe's first impulse is to grab a giant knife and plan some late-yet-well earned revenge. Alistair, for his part, is justifiably torutured by his memories, and he seems completely intent on helping Joe to heal. Problem is, for all of Alistair's good intentions, the simple fact is that he DID kill Joe's brother, and (in a roundabout way) destroyed Griffen's entire family. So, really, how is Joe supposed to forgive Alistair for his horrible crime? Lord knows I couldn't do it.

Fortunately, Hirschbiegel and screenwriter Guy Hibbert are much more interested in the emotional impact of this meeting, and not so much in the more ... salacious aspects of this story. Different filmmakers might frame the tale as a stark-yet-emotionally appealing "revenge" story, but Five Minutes of Heaven is interested in quite a bit more than simple revenge. After all, justifiable vengeance is just another way to keep the bloody cycle rolling, which means that at some point -- someone's simply going to have to turn the other cheek and let the past remain in the past.

Easier said than done, obviously.

Bolstered by a smart, insightful screenplay, directed with low-key style and restraint, and supported by two fantastic performances (Liam Neeson as the killer, James Nesbitt as the survivor), Five Minutes of Heaven shuffles some very difficult themes and emotions -- and it succeeds on sheer force of honesty, intelligence, and wisdom, This is a film that understands why a man would have every right to kill another one ... but it's also a film that wants to focus on what happens to the one who does the killing. Once his "five minutes of heaven" (aka sweet, cold revenge) are up.

Best of all, Five Minutes of Heaven is a movie that trades in harsh, dark material, but it never loses sight of the true nature of humanity. Joe craves retribution, he needs and deserves it ... but that doesn't mean he should get it. It's not a sudden and horrible crime that ruins a life; it's how one actively deals with the aftermath that defines his future.

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Review: World's Greatest Dad

Cinematical staff — 2009-08-22T11:03:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Sundance, Magnolia, Theatrical Reviews

By Scott Weinberg (reprint from Sundance Film Festival 2009)

You hear it in lots of (usually sad) movies, and I'd say it's probably one of the truest things ever spoken: "There's nothing more tragic than having to bury your own child." But, just for the sake of argument, let's pretend -- for just a second -- that (in one specific case) it wouldn't be the end of the world. As a matter of fact, let's further pretend that the death of a child could somehow lead to several wonderful and life-changing results.

Sick, I know, but that's one of the ideas that runs through the twisted-yet-amusing dark comedy World's Greatest Dad. Written and directed by the consistently unpredictable Bob Goldthwait (he also gave us the similarly strange Shakes the Clown and Stay), and anchored by an unexpectedly strong Robin Williams performance, World's Greatest Dad is indeed about a high school poetry teacher who finds his life blossoming after his son accidentally commits suicide.

It's important to note that 16-year-old Kyle is one of the most stunningly unpleasant (and hilariously profane) teenagers ever conceived, because this is how we're able to laugh (if a bit uncomfortably) as the story of his posthumous popularity sets in. Nobody likes Kyle, you see, but it's only after his death (which is caused by an errant bout of autoerotic asphyxiation) that the kid becomes some sort of cult hero and patron saint. (At its most satirical moments, World's Greatest Dad feels a little like Heathers, which is obviously meant as a compliment.) But why would a kid who died while masturbating be worthy of post-death respect? Well, it's because his well-meaning papa decided to hang his son's body in a closet -- suicide is just a little less embarrassing than the truth, you see -- and then he pens his son's suicide note. Sort of noble and disgusting at the same time...

But things get a lot more frantic once Kyle's suicide note becomes a campus sensation. Lance is a failed novelist, and he simply cannot believe that this -- a fake suicide note -- is the first time people have appreciated his writing skills. And Lance's newfound popularity is sweetened by the affections of his girlfriend ... and then things get really twisted. What began as a noble gesture for his dead son has transformed into an unstoppable freight train of deception. Meanwhile, all of the students who used to hate Kyle are finding new ways to deify the deceased dork ... all because of a suicide letter that his Dad slapped together to avoid a giant humiliation.

So, yeah, clearly this movie is not for all tastes. You'll have to have a strong respect for gallows humor and uncomfortable silences to get much of what World's Greatest Dad is doling out, but for those who don't mind a strong mixture of "dark yet broad" comedy, I'm betting you'll appreciate what's being offered here. If a few of the jokes are telegraphed and a handful of the scenes run on a bit long, those are small gripes in the face of a truly strange comedy that, yep, actually has a message hidden beneath its colorfully tacky exterior.

But just like you should warn a group before you tell them a really "blue" joke, I think it's important to warn notify potential viewers that, yes, World's Greatest Dad is a very dirty joke of a movie. As a director, Goldthwait (whom you probably remember as a clever comedian trapped in a screechy exterior) continues to mine the middle ground between the absurd and the stupidly mundane, and while it takes an open mind to appreciate the odd 'n' twisted messages that Dad has to offer, I think it's refreshing to find a slick, smart comedy that's not afraid to trade in a little "sick" humor.

Ah, and a special dose of bemused praise is due to the young Daryl Sabara, whom you'll no doubt remember from the Spy Kids flicks. Let's just say his performance here is so over-the-top hilariously obnoxious that I wanted to climb into the screen and punch the kid in the mouth. I do believe that this is what Goldthwait was going for, and so this should be taken as a compliment. Having said that, I hope Sabara plays a nice guy the next time out. This character was just so ... icky.

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Review: Cold Souls

Cinematical staff — 2009-08-09T15:03:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews

By James Rocchi (reprint from Sundance 2009)

It's inevitable Cold Souls -- with its pseudo-scientific commercialized metaphysics and actor's angst -- will be compared to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich; it's the first post-Charlie Kaufman film, where the writer-director's weird, wooly aesthetic becomes a genre unto itself. Starring Paul Giamatti as, in a blatant piece of typecasting, actor Paul Giamatti, Cold Souls begins with Giamatti rehearsing the title role in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and it's obviously taking its toll as he plunges into sad-sack Russian angst and anomie. Giamatti's agent tips him to an article in The New Yorker, profiling a new service called "Soul Storage," wherein melancholy Manhattanites are having their souls extracted by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn) and held in escrow so they can live less complicated lives. Giamatti, wondering if having less soul would help him better play the part and get through the day, goes to Flintstein's office to get the details: "Your soul can be stored here ... or if you'd prefer to avoid the sales tax, it can be shipped to our storage facility in New Jersey. ..."

And again, you get the Kaufman vibe from writer-director Sophie Barthes; the dry humor, the everyday acceptance of the ludicrous, the ludicrous nature of the everyday. But while the comparisons to Eternal Sunshine and Being John Malkovich are inevitable, they're also not quite right. Eternal Sunshine was about the messy business of loving another; Cold Souls, with the equally messy proposition of living with one's self. Being John Malkovitch riffed comedy out of celebrity and stardom; Cold Souls examines sub-lebrity and acting. Cold Souls is a beautifully shot film, and it also becomes more than a little bit moving, as Giamatti struggles with a question we've all asked ourselves: Is it possible to remove the burden of our soul without taking away the benefit of it? Is it the very weight we struggle under that makes us strong?

Deep questions, but Cold Souls is also funny; there are fast, laugh-out-loud gags like Giamatti's compensation anxiety over the small size of his extracted soul ("It looks like a chickpea!") or the Russian trophy wife obsessed with getting an American actor's extracted soul so she can implant it and do better Soap Opera work. But there are also subtler bits of comedy that not only make you laugh but make their point; Strathairn's placid, soothing man of medicine seems entirely too reasonable and calm -- more glad scientist than mad scientist -- until you realize that, to paraphrase the old Hair Club for Men ads, he's not just the founder of Soul Storage, but he's also a client.

The soulless Giamatti feels better, briefly, but the fact he's become a glib, insufferable fool annoys his wife (Emily Watson) and turns his performance as Vanya into a wide, weak piece of cheese. The scene of the de-souled Giamatti playing Vanya -- with his easy grin and broad delivery of lines like "Whaddaya waiting for?" -- brings back Paul Thomas Anderson's observation on the Boogie Nights DVD commentary that it takes a great actor to play a bad actor, and it's a truly impressive piece of work. But when he wants to reverse the process, his soul can't be found, and so Giamatti has a Russian donated soul installed in place of his own. That borrowed sprit helps, a little, but it too becomes close to unbearable, and in trying to find the donor alongside one of the system's soul couriers (Dina Korzn) gets mixed up in the Russian network of mules and donors and customers working with Dr. Flintstein, even traveling to St. Petersburg to walk the wintry streets in search of a soul...

With cinematography by Andrij Parkeh, Cold Souls is a gorgeously shot movie, whether flickering between the real world or the visions of the unconscious, capturing a snowy Russian vista or the art-deco whiz-bang claustrophobia inside the soul collector. And the supporting cast is excellent -- Strathairn, yes, but also Dina Korzn as the soul-mule who comes to help Giamatti, Michael Tucker as Giamatti's confused director and an uncredited Clancy Brown as a Russian soul-storage capitalist with an eye on the next opportunity.

Giamatti, though -- well, you know Giamatti does great work, whether as the striving, snobbish flawed man trying to do better in Sideways or the curdled creative curmudgeon of American Splendor; Giamatti was even worth watching in the sub-moronic Shoot 'Em Up, which is saying a lot. Here, though, he gives what may be his best performance, stretching to play several variations of himself, and manages several seemingly incompatible things -- investing real heart into what's essentially a character defined by a science-fiction device, finding real emotion in surreal inventions and yet giving his everyday moments a deft, askew energy. He doesn't even want the Soul Storage procedure to be a cure-all, just a moment of rest: "I don't want to be happy; I just need to not suffer." He's talking about a completely fictional procedure, but his need for it -- his desperate, anguished need for some relief, any relief -- rings out as real. Cold Souls looks and feels like a Charlie Kaufman film, but it's somehow slipperier and yet simpler, more complex and yet more direct. Part of the pleasure of Cold Souls is that as we watch Paul Giamatti struggle to understand his soul, we can't help but cast a glance towards our own.

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New 'Grace' Trailer -- Red Band Baby!

Scott Weinberg — 2009-05-31T11:03:00+00:00

Filed under: Horror, SXSW, Sundance, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips

I'll keep this short: There's a horror flick coming out later this year called Grace. Lots of people (including me and Eric Snider) like it a lot, such as former Cinematical scribe (and mother of five) Kim Voynar, who went to the Sundance screening after I basically commanded her to. When I saw her later she was both grateful (for recommending it) and angry (for not seeing it with her). Then it hit Austin and earned even more fans -- and not just horror geeks, mind you, although they're the ones who seemed to dig it the most.

The flick is still shuffling through the festival circuit, but Anchor Bay will deliver the DVD before year's end, and it looks like my pals over at FEARnet have scored the first look at the "red-band" (R rated) trailer for Grace. Click right here to take a look at the rather impressive new promo clip, and then come back for some friendly advice. (Pause.) OK, back? Good: This movie is not suitable for pregnant women. Frankly you should spend three years in jail if you show Grace to a pregnant woman. Ten years if you make it a double feature with Inside.

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I Think We Liked 'In the Loop'

William Goss — 2009-05-17T11:32:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Sundance, IFC, Trailers and Clips

Embedded above is the trailer for Armando Iannucci's political spin farce, In the Loop, which James and others had been talking up since Sundance. I suppose that's a fitting response, for them to talk about a movie that's all about talk, as the trailer capably demonstrates (well, a commenter or two on Funny or Die still demand to know what the movie's really about). I myself was initially skeptical of anything dealing with labyrinthine political dealings, but I've been assured that that isn't really the point of it all -- and I've gotta say, the phrase "difficult-difficult-lemon-difficult" still tickles me so.

IFC will release this in select theaters and (thankfully, for us non-NY/LAers) on-demand come July 24th. That's enough time for me to catch up on original series "The Thick of It," though I've been told that familiarity with it wouldn't be necessary. At least, that's what I think they said...

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Interview: Writer-Director Rian Johnson of 'The Brothers Bloom'

William Goss — 2009-05-13T22:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, Romance, Sundance, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Distribution, Movie Marketing, Fantastic Fest, Interviews, Toronto International Film Festival

Writer-director Rian Johnson burst onto the scene when his high school-set noir riff, Brick, took home the Originality of Vision prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Now, after bouncing around Summit's release slate like the proverbial beach ball, his follow-up -- the romantic, romanticized con man caper, The Brothers Bloom -- is finally receiving a NY/LA bow this Friday before rolling out to more markets in the weeks to come.

Johnson obliged us to do a follow-up interview this week to complement our original chat from last November, and between the two, the filmmaker discusses everything from making the festival rounds and absorbing critical response to the glory of talking monkeys and just where he likes to stick his tea kettle...

Download Part 1 (31 mins.) by clicking here

Download Part 2 (12 mins.) by clicking here

-Score samples by Nathan Johnson, the film's composer and the director's cousin.-

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Indie Roundup: New Deals, Jarmusch Rules, Fest News

Peter Martin — 2009-05-06T21:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Deals, Sundance, Seattle, Box Office, Distribution, Cinematical Indie, Trailers and Clips, Los Angeles Film Festival

Deals. What a busy seven days! Cannes starts in a week, so distributors are clearing the decks by firming up their release schedules for the next several months in anticipation of more deals to come. We've already reported on the acquisitions of Blood: The Last Vampire and The Eclipse, but that just scratches the surface (complete details can be found at indieWIRE):

Crude. First Run Features picked up Joe Berlinger's documentary about a lawsuit pitting 30,000 rain forest dwellers in Ecuador against oil giant Chevron. (60 Minutes broadcast a story on the case this past Sunday.) A theatrical bow is planned in New York on September 9, followed by expansion to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities.

Beeswax. The Cinema Guild acquired rights to Andrew Bujalski's low-key comedy / drama. They plan to open the film in New York on August 7, followed by a national release. Jette Kernion called it "a good movie that does some surprising things in a quiet way."

Also acquired: Uruguayan comedy Gigante, crime drama La Linea, psycho-sexual tale Death in Love, and bleak but black comedy Sugisball, whose very cool trailer (in Estonian!) is embedded below.

Box Office. Was it the power of my review? (Probably not.) Jim Jarmusch's very fine The Limits of Control raked in $18,607 per-screen at the three theaters in New York and Los Angeles where it opened over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, demonstrating Wolverine-like power. The film expands to eight more locations on Friday. Tyson, James Toback's doc about the controversial former heavyweight boxing champ, and Il Divo, Paolo Sorrentino's dramatic biopic about a controversial former Italian prime minister, followed modestly behind, grossing $5,757 and $5,657 per-screen, respectively.

After the jump: New Sundance Director of Programming; festivals in Los Angeles and Seattle unveil lineups.

Fest News. Trevor Groth has been named Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival, according to indieWIRE, replacing John Cooper, who was promoted to the top position at the fest after the departure of Geoff Gilmore to Tribeca. By promoting from within, Cooper sends a strong signal that he is perfectly happy with the direction the programming team has been taking in recent years.

Groth has been serving with the Sundance programming staff since 1993 and was named a Senior Programmer in 2003. He took on a second job as Artistic Director for the CineVegas Film Festival in 2002. While it's not unusual for programmers to work for more than one festival at the same time, I would imagine his new Sundance post is a full-time, year-round position. That would mean the reins at CineVegas will likely be passed on to someone else. The next edition of CineVegas will run from June 10-15.

Right after CineVegas comes the Los Angeles Film Festival, held from June 18-28 in Westwood Village. Director of Programming Rachel Rosen, Senior Programmer Doug Jones, and their team have assembled another sterling lineup, which was announced yesterday. The fest will feature Michael Mann's Public Enemies as its centerpiece, with opening and closing night presentations yet to be announced. Could Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen be one of them? The first film debuted there two years ago.

After a quick glance, the films that caught my eye: Convention, doc by AJ Schnack; Bronson, brutal prison drama by Nicolas Winding Refn; Call If You Need Me, crime drama by acclaimed Malaysian helmer James Lee; My Dear Enemy, Korean road trip comedy; outdoor screenings of Black Dynamite and Soul Power; Tom Laughlin talking about and screening his seminal work, 1971's Billy Jack; and Jon Voight doing likewise for Midnight Cowboy. Plus, the great, sprawling, ambitious, mesmerizing, frustrating, infuriating, and powerful United Red Army by Koji Wakamatsu, Curtis Harrington's 1961 debut Night Tide, with Dennis Hopper; and a three-film series "Hell on Wheels: Hot Rods and Fast Times."

Starting in about two weeks, the Seattle Film Festival will take over the city by the sea, running from May 21-June 14. In the Loop opens the fest, Humpday will be the centerpiece, and OSS117: Lost in Rio will close things out. The official site is not quite ready to display the lineup, but Quiet Earth has details on some of the 203 (?!) feature films.

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Exclusive Clip from 'Black Dynamite'!

Scott Weinberg — 2009-04-22T15:32:00+00:00

Filed under: Action, Comedy, Sundance, Tribeca, Sony, Comic/Superhero/Geek

Cinematical has received an exclusive clip from the upcoming blaxploitation spoof Black Dynamite, which played at Sundance a few months back and earned a lot of early fans in the process. I'll quote myself just a little:

"I grew up in the golden days of the spoof flick, and I've always had a soft spot for the oft-maligned sub-genre. So while it's true that a lot of lazy and generally talentless filmmakers rely on the spoof approach (probably because broad jokes seem easier to pull off?), there will always be room for new entries that poke fun at genre-specific trappings while maintaining a healthy respect for the films they're lampooning. Black Dynamite seems to really love the blaxploitation, but not enough to avoid mocking it within an inch of its life. So while it's certainly not the second coming of Airplane!, Black Dynamite is more than fast, funny, and likable enough to warrant a visit. Triply so if you happen to be a blaxploitation fan." (Full review here.)

Anchored by a drop-dead hilarious Michael Jai White performance, and presently 5 for 5 at Rotten Tomatoes, Black Dynamite is still strutting down the festival circuit (including Tribeca this weekend), but here's an amusing new clip to keep you interested. Release date is scheduled for September 4, which seems like a good time for a strange little comedy to make some noise.

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Magnolia Gives Some Love to the 'World's Greatest Dad'

William Goss — 2009-04-13T10:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Sundance, Magnolia, Distribution

Recently, someone and I -- it might've been Weinberg -- were discussing the fact that Magnolia seems to be replacing Lionsgate when it comes to a studio's willingness to put out the seemingly untouchable stuff.

The conversation mostly concerned horror fare, natch, but I suspect that Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad falls particularly well into Magnolia's fold, and they seem to agree, as they're all set to have a video-on-demand premiere before a theatrical run in late August, according to The Wrap.

James Grey's Two Lovers was recently released in a similar manner, and Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience looks to be getting a likewise treatment at the end of this month. So far as I can tell, it's a strategy that works to their favor (that is, until everyone inevitably moves to either New York or Los Angeles). As far as the film itself is concerned, it certainly garnered its share of raves out of Sundance, but its subject matter -- Robin Williams capitalizes on his son's suicide -- had put off distributors until now. Here's hoping that Magnolia can tap into the niche audience for blacker-than-black comedy... right in their own living rooms.

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Indie Spotlight: New Releases for April 10

Eric D. Snider — 2009-04-10T15:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, New Releases, Sundance, Indie Spotlight

Welcome back to the Indie Spotlight, in which we list the new limited-release films being released today. Keep an eye out for when they come to your local art house or Netflix queue.

We only have three new ones this week, which should leave you plenty of time for the Janna Fontana movie.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (pictured) was one of the success stories at Sundance in 2008, where it played in one of the lower-profile sections and sort of came from nowhere to be a much-buzzed-about hit. It's about a Canadian heavy metal band that has been together for 30 years without ever quite hitting the bigtime. You will think it is a mockumentary, but no, it's real, and the story is inspiring, hilarious, and bizarre. Cinematical's James Rocchi loved it (he even got quoted on the poster!), calling it "a hymn to the human spirit, played loud in power chords." And hey, check out that 98% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes! It's just playing in New York and Los Angeles for now, but just wait, it'll make the rounds.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is based on beloved author Michael Chabon's first novel, a coming-of-age story adapted and directed by the guy who directed Dodgeball. (Uh-oh.) If Anvil was one of the success stories at Sundance 2008, this was one of the major disappointments. Cinematical's Scott Weinberg reviewed it then, saying it's "such an inert, episodic, and familiar piece of very typical festival fare. It's as if Mr. Thurber watched six Sundance films at random, and then just copied his favorite scenes from each one." The consensus at Rotten Tomatoes is dismal, too: only 11% of the reviews are positive. Playing in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Minneapolis.

Lymelife has more coming-of-age, this time set in the 1970s and starring a couple of the Culkin kids, Timothy Hutton, and -- hey, Alec Baldwin! Sold! The reviews are split right down the middle at Rotten Tomatoes, with many reviewers praising the performances while others say it's a trite and familiar indie. On four screens in the New York City area now; opens in L.A. next week.

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New 'Moon' Trailer & Poster! (Has Nothing to Do With 'Twilight')

William Goss — 2009-04-10T09:03:00+00:00

Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, SXSW, Sundance, Mystery & Suspense, Sony Classics, Summer Movies, Trailers and Clips

Having not attended Sundance, last month's SXSW Film Festival was my first chance to catch up with Duncan Jones' acclaimed sci-fi drama, Moon, and I'm happy to say that my expectations were well-met, with Sam Rockwell giving what is bound to be one of the more uniquely layered performances of the year.* (You can read James Rocchi's review here.)

Well, it looks like the guys over at IGN got their hands on the trailer, which we've embedded after the jump and which carefully embraces the intrigue of the film's central conceit. Jones himself told us that the development in question isn't exactly a spoiler in his mind, but don't worry, we're not about to give it up here. All in all, it's a smart sell, and one accurately representative of the movie. AICN, meanwhile, happens to have one snazzy poster on display. Mere coincidence? We may never know...

Co-starring Kevin Spacey (sort of), Moon gets a NY/LA opening on June 12th before rolling out to other markets, where it'll should prove a welcome respite to the comparatively mindless summer fare.

*Trust me, I'm not just saying that.

(Click above to enlarge poster.)

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Cinematical Seven: Ways That 'Adventureland' is Not Like 'Superbad'

William Goss — 2009-03-31T22:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, SXSW, Sundance, Movie Marketing, Cinematical Seven, Miramax

The first poster for Adventureland gives "from the director of Superbad" the lowest, smallest billing. The most recent poster puts it first and foremost, even making it more colorful than the title and, one could argue, the cast itself.

In the weeks leading up to its release this Friday, the marketing campaign for Adventureland has been slowly, steadily, understandably tweaking itself to play up director Greg Mottola's last hit teen comedy, Superbad, but ever since seeing the film, I've been convinced that those expecting something so raucous this weekend will soon find themselves shifting in their seats as they watch something that's a bit more concerned about the 'age' in 'coming-of-age' than the 'coming.' It's not a tremendously misleading sell, but rather a matter of tone, and as such, here's seven reasons why you should look forward to the film beyond thinking it's the Next Big Quotable Comedy.

1. Think less Apatow, more Crowe and Linklater -- I'm not saying that Adventureland quite ranks with the likes of Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused, but it has that slack feel of a summer that gradually changed everything. In fact, take out the handful of appearances by Kristen Wiig and Bill "Superbad" Hader (or don't, because they're pretty funny), and I'd feel perfectly comfortable sticking this in the 'drama' shelves of your local video st-- right, Netflix, in the 'drama' section of Netflix.

2. It's one summer, not one night -- It struck me that Adventureland plays out like teen lives that just happened to take place in 1987, in the same way that Dazed and Confused was how a bunch of kids seemed to hang out on the day school got out, with the music and clothes falling on the favorable side of nostalgia (even when the songs sucked). For all its laughs, Superbad plays to the cinematic ideal of so much craziness conveniently happening in so little time, and while that worked in that case, this film aims for something a bit more autobiographical, which tends to leave stuff like penis drawing flashback montages out of the picture.

3. It's not all cock-punching -- The current TV spots play up the presence of the feasibly obnoxious Frigo (Matt Bush), who has a penchant for abrupt groin assaults, and then encourage viewers to check out the restricted trailer online, which -- if memory serves -- contains just about every 'naughty bit' that the film has to offer in the space of roughly ninety seconds (actually, it's more like a minute once the set-up's done). One minute of f-bombs does not a raunchy film make.

4. Read the reviews -- I don't know that I'm as gushy on the film as many critics already seem to be (as of this afternoon, the Tomatometer stands at 87% approval from 15 critics, with Superbad currently residing at... actually the same score, albeit with over ten times as many reviews). So while it seems fair to say that they're both good movies, I still don't believe they're quite comparable. Even our own Erik Davis noted right out of the gate at Sundance that "first off, no matter what the trailer may show you, this is in no way Superbad, circa 1987 -- so get that out of your head now."

5. From the director of "The Daytrippers" -- This ties back to the first two points somewhat. Adventureland is the third feature directed by Mottola, and the second written by him, so it stands to reason that the film might be more like 1997's indie dramedy about a family inadvertently bonding through one day of detours in NYC. Of course, here's where the simple math of the matter comes into play -- that film grossed $2 million twelve years ago, whereas Superbad grossed $121 million a mere two years ago. Again, I get the angle -- I get that Superbad is what'll get butts in seats -- but I still think it's a bit of a stretch.

6. Jesse Eisenberg was Michael Cera before Cera was -- I fully understand the comparisons to Michael Cera that Jesse Eisenberg is getting with regards to this film and without mention of Superbad. They both have the socially-awkward-white-boy-on-the-verge-of-becoming-a-man bit down pat. But as with the seemingly ancient The Daytrippers, Cera's work in 2008's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, 2007's Juno and (of course) Superbad seem to overshadow Eisenberg's similar and similarly effective performances in 2005's The Squid and the Whale and 2002's Roger Dodger.

7. It's not strictly a work comedy -- The other facet of the marketing campaign that's getting an understandable push is whether or not you, the viewer, can relate to the crappy job that our protagonists are slaving away at. Maybe half of the film, though, is actually spent at the eponymous amusement park (and then maybe half of those scenes have a hint of Hader and Wiig's welcome goofiness). Again, it's not a bad thing that the film is concerned with the whole of their lives, and it makes sense for a thirty-second sell -- Superbad + groin attacks + lame job = opening weekend -- but the next Waiting... or Empire Records or Clerks or Citizen Kane, this is not.

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Indie Roundup: 'Burma VJ' Pickup and Trailer, Sundance Speculations

Peter Martin — 2009-03-12T20:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Gay & Lesbian, Independent, Music & Musicals, Deals, Sundance, Box Office, Distribution, Cinematical Indie

Deals. As Eugene Novikov informed us, hard-hitting dolphin doc The Cove was picked up by Roadside Attractions. Via our friends at indieWIRE, we also learned:

"Don't run! If we must die, we will die." Street protest doc Burma VJ will be released by Oscilloscope in theaters this spring. If you don't think a monk with a megaphone can make for riveting footage, watch the trailer, embedded below.
Biopic Pedro (about the late gay activist who memorably appeared on MTV's The Real World) will skip a theatrical release and instead debut on MTV before hitting DVD.
First Run Features acquired Andrew Jacob's Holocaust survivor doc Four Seasons Lodge for theatrical release.
Lucrecia Martel's critically-acclaimed thriller Headless Woman will hit theaters in August through Strand Releasing.
Heavy metal doc Anvil! The True Story of Metal, will get a very decent-sized release next month by VH1, of all companies, opening in at least 18 cities on April 10, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Box Office. The three-director team-up Tokyo! took the top spot last weekend, raking in $23,460 at a single theater in Manhattan, per Box Office Mojo. The film, featuring segments directed by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho, opened to generally good notices. Eric D. Snider said: "Think Paris Je T'aime, only a lot weirder (and about Tokyo, not Paris, duh)."

Festivals. Michael Lerman posted the news that John Cooper has been named Director of the Sundance Film Festival. Cooper told indieWIRE that he wanted to "establish a clearer distinction between the event's festival director vs. its programming director." He also emphasized that Sundance is a "discovery festival, we're not launching Academy Award campaigns." That sounds good as a means of preserving Sundance's artistic integrity and stated mission, but he's not really saying Sundance will eliminate star-studded screenings, is he?

Is this a forward step for Sundance or simply the safe choice? It's definitely a vote of confidence for a man with a great reputation. By all accounts I've seen, Cooper is well-liked and respected both within the organization and by outsiders. He's been with Sundance for 20 years, serving as Director of Programming for the festival and Director, Creative Development for the Sundance Institute since September 2002.

Festivals in general face a difficult economy, and Sundance in particular will be intensely scrutinized to see how it adapts to changes in the independent film community. Presumably, Cooper's next big step will be selecting a new Director of Programming. Will he promote one of the festival's Senior Programmers? Or bring in fresh blood? Are major changes really needed at Sundance?

(For more rambling roundups, confined to 140 characters or less, follow me at Twitter.)

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John Cooper Named New Sundance Film Festival Director

Michael Lerman — 2009-03-11T11:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Sundance, Executive shifts, Newsstand

After almost a month in limbo that left the film community eagerly awaiting the news of a replacement for Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Institute announced in a press release late last night that they are appointing John Cooper as the director of the Sundance Film Festival. According to a story in indieWIRE, Gilmore announced, much to the surprise of many industry professionals, last month that he would be leaving the fest after 19 years to take the position of Chief Creative Officer for Tribeca Enterprises.

Cooper, the former Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival and Director of Creative Development for the Sundance Institute, has pioneered several new initiatives for Sundance over the past few years including New Frontier on Main, Sundance at BAM, The Sundance Institute Art House Project and the distribution of Sundance shorts through various digital platforms like iTunes and XBOX.

In the press release, Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford is quoted as saying, "When we established the Festival, it was always with two goals in mind: supporting new artists and inspiring new audiences. Cooper has never lost sight of these goals. He brings to the position an infectious enthusiasm as well as a deep understanding of the Sundance brand and culture. Forward thinking, he is a natural choice of succession to lead the Festival into the 21st century."

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'Push' Shoved; 'Precious' is the New Title for Sundance Smash

William Goss — 2009-02-20T18:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Drama, Independent, Awards, Sundance, Lionsgate Films, RumorMonger, Oscar Watch

Just a couple of weeks back, it seemed that only film bloggers could bring themselves to crack jokes about how Dakota Fanning's super-power sub-performer Push might get confused with the award-winning and far-from-fantasy Sundance title Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire -- and lo, most did.

Well, hopefully, they've gotten that out of their system, because attached today to the release of Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail is a trailer that now refers to it as Precious: Based on a Novel by Sapphire, after the protagonist's preferred nickname.

Having not seen the film -- which our Eric D. Snider referred to as "unsettling and bleak," though "ultimately triumphant and hopeful" -- I can't help but think that the change not only avoids confusion with that other film's eventual DVD release (an admittedly unlikely scenario), but it adds a sense of the personal that was lacking before (having seen the trailer, which is not yet online, I still wouldn't know what "Push" referred to). Wouldn't you rather want to know who this Precious is exactly and what she's about?

Better yet, the very word itself lends a hint of the positive, which could very well make the difference between some Academy voter either picking it up or passing it over in their mounting pile of screeners in favor of something a bit more obvious like So The Holocaust Kinda Sucked.

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