Showing posts with label MOVIE NEWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MOVIE NEWS. Show all posts
April 4, 2011
MOVIE NEWS: FILMMAKER JAMES HENRY PROFILES FRANK TURNER
Filmmaker James Henry's short film The Road profiling Frank Turner has been selected as the first film in the Short Stories film series sponsored by Relentless Energy Drinks.
It's a simple yet beautifully effective piece. Check it out.
You can listen to Frank Turner's new song "I Am Disappeared" from the new album "England Keep My Bones" due June 7th on Epitaph Records. You can also download the song here.
Frank Turner - I Am Disappeared by Epitaph Records
February 28, 2011
MOVIE NEWS: Luke Matheny's Short Film "God Of Love" Wins An Oscar
One of our Graduate students at NYU won an Oscar last night! Yes, an Oscar. That's pretty nuts. Luke Matheny's short film "God Of Love" won the Oscar for Best Short Film, Live Action.
I've only met the guy once, but it seems it couldn't have happened to a nicer person. Congratulations to Luke.
Check out his excellent romantic comedy short "God Of Love" on iTunes now for only $3.
January 12, 2011
MOVIE NEWS: Is "Idiot With A Tripod" Oscar Worthy?
So I don't know why but everyone and their mother has been sending me this video and raving. Maybe it's because I have a Canon 7D and maybe if I applied myself I could have made this instead of eating cookies and sitting on my couch during the X-mas blizzard. Maybe.
Either way, Roger Ebert seems to think this should be nominated for an Oscar. Should it? I don't know, but it's an homage by some intrepid Brooklyner to Russian director Dziga Vertov and his 1929 silent experimental documentary Man With A Movie Camera. Im not trying to tear down the dude's film, but Ebert's posting is pretty hilarious. ""What was the passage of time, start to finish? What did you eat, when did you sleep? How cold did he get?" As if the filming took place in Antarctica. Dude walked out of his apartment in Williamsburg, come on. Regardless, it's a good little film and while anyone could of done it, that guy did. I got no right gripe.
So in honor of today's snow day, check it out while I eat cookies and sit on my couch.
UPDATE: I am not eating cookies, sitting on my couch. Today is a work day after all. Here's a pic from out my window last night.
January 7, 2011
MOVIE NEWS: Mouth Babies Comes To Slamdance!
Whatever you are thinking about right now, yes that's what this movie is about. My friend Lisa Duva and Katherine Nolfi's short film Mouth Babies is making it's world premiere at this year's Slamdance Festival. The effects were done by Morgue Anne from my old photography company They Walk By Night Productions.
If you happen to be in the Park City area check out a screening at:
Screening with The Beast Pageant
Jan 21 @ 3pm & Jan 24 @ 10pm
at Treasure Mountain Inn - Main Screening RoomTO PURCHASE TICKETS CLICK HERE!
For more info, including pics and official trailer, hit up the official Mouth Babies website and Facebook.
January 5, 2011
MOVIE NEWS: Eight Films You Should See Now
I return to the blogging world this week after a month long break in the real world. December brings utter chaos at work and in reward we get a week off from Dec. 23rd to Jan. 3rd. How did I spend my week's vacation? Stuck in a blizzard and watching movies, that's how.
Back in the day, Blockbuster had a membership program that cost $10.00 a month and got you one free classic catalog movie with every new release you rented and one free new release for every five rentals. Needless to say I had a membership and made good use of it.
At the end of a year of membership, I got an envelope from Blockbuster in the mail. Enclosed was a honorary lifetime no fee membership. The reason for such a generous gift from Blockbuster: I had rented 387 movies of the course of that previous year. Again, I am a movie nerd.
For a brief time this past week, I relived those glory days and watched movies nonstop. So here's eight films from the past year (in no particular order) you should see right now.
Winter's Bone - Is a tight, quiet neo noir thriller filled with equal parts suspense and dread. Director Debra Granik (Down To The Bone) brings you into the world of the Ozark Mountains, it's inhabitants, and the code they live by. Jennifer Lawrence carries the film with a nuanced and compelling breakout performance. I had no interest in this film when it came out but so many people recommended it, I couldn't resist any longer.
Black Swan - I'm an Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, The Wrestler) fan so I probably would have liked Black Swan either way but enough people can back me up in saying it's a great film. Weird, suspenseful, and sexy, once the film gets it's clutches in you, you only get pulled deeper in. Natalie Portman gives what may be one of her best performances and Aronofsky pulls off probably his tightest and most concise film. It's basically Polanski's Repulsion with ballet.
The Fighter - I honestly didn't have much interest in seeing this film. I'm not a fan of David O. Russel (I Heart Huckabess), Mark Wahlberg's acting as of late is closer to Andy Samberg's impression of him, and the movie doesn't cover Micky Ward's legendary fights against Arturo Gatti. My sister convinced me to go see the film and to my surprise, it was great. Christian Bale steals the show, but Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams give great performances as well. Less of a Rocky story and more of a family drama. If you like boxing, Boston, and underdog stories this film is for you.
Blue Valentine - A simple, devastating film. This is pure cinema. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams tell the story of one couples love affair, the beginnings and eventual ending - simultaneously. You fall in love with each of the characters, learn their individual shortcomings, and are heartbroken for both by the end of the film. A beautifully sad film and one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I could go on but it would be gushing.... I have a man crush on Ryan Gosling. There I said it. Deal with it.
Toy Story 3 - It's pretty rare that a sequel is better than it's predecessor but Toy Story 3 pulls it off. Hilarious for kids and adults.
Restrepo - It was about a week after seeing Restrepo that I was extremely disturbed by it. What upset me most is that I walked away feeling really nothing about the film. It wasn't until later that certain scenes would play back in my head: a nineteen year old soldier weeping and asking which comrade's body lay crumbled and lifeless under a tree, a squad leader informing his soldiers of a sister unit's nine casualty loss the previous night, two soldiers fist pumping and dancing to house music in a brief moment of release. News coverage of the Afghanistan war is nearly non existent these days, Restrepo reminds us our kids are still out there fighting and dying.
The Tillman Story - It's a shame that this film did not play to larger audiences, hopefully Netflix or On Demand will pick it up a more people will get a chance to view it. I left the theater enraged, saddened and numb. As the film argues, Tillman was not an American hero, just an American.
The Town - Ben Affleck's second directorial is a smart well paced crime thriller featuring a scene stealing Jeremy Renner, a spectacular car chase sequence, and an expectation defyingly good Blake Lively. Boston grit equal parts Mystic River and The Departed.
Many of these films have been reviewed at my friend Dustin Chang's Floating World. For reviews much more eloquent and insightful than my "it's awesome" accolades head over there and check his stuff out.
Back in the day, Blockbuster had a membership program that cost $10.00 a month and got you one free classic catalog movie with every new release you rented and one free new release for every five rentals. Needless to say I had a membership and made good use of it.
At the end of a year of membership, I got an envelope from Blockbuster in the mail. Enclosed was a honorary lifetime no fee membership. The reason for such a generous gift from Blockbuster: I had rented 387 movies of the course of that previous year. Again, I am a movie nerd.
For a brief time this past week, I relived those glory days and watched movies nonstop. So here's eight films from the past year (in no particular order) you should see right now.
Black Swan - I'm an Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream, The Wrestler) fan so I probably would have liked Black Swan either way but enough people can back me up in saying it's a great film. Weird, suspenseful, and sexy, once the film gets it's clutches in you, you only get pulled deeper in. Natalie Portman gives what may be one of her best performances and Aronofsky pulls off probably his tightest and most concise film. It's basically Polanski's Repulsion with ballet.
The Fighter - I honestly didn't have much interest in seeing this film. I'm not a fan of David O. Russel (I Heart Huckabess), Mark Wahlberg's acting as of late is closer to Andy Samberg's impression of him, and the movie doesn't cover Micky Ward's legendary fights against Arturo Gatti. My sister convinced me to go see the film and to my surprise, it was great. Christian Bale steals the show, but Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams give great performances as well. Less of a Rocky story and more of a family drama. If you like boxing, Boston, and underdog stories this film is for you.
Blue Valentine - A simple, devastating film. This is pure cinema. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams tell the story of one couples love affair, the beginnings and eventual ending - simultaneously. You fall in love with each of the characters, learn their individual shortcomings, and are heartbroken for both by the end of the film. A beautifully sad film and one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I could go on but it would be gushing.... I have a man crush on Ryan Gosling. There I said it. Deal with it.
Toy Story 3 - It's pretty rare that a sequel is better than it's predecessor but Toy Story 3 pulls it off. Hilarious for kids and adults.
Restrepo - It was about a week after seeing Restrepo that I was extremely disturbed by it. What upset me most is that I walked away feeling really nothing about the film. It wasn't until later that certain scenes would play back in my head: a nineteen year old soldier weeping and asking which comrade's body lay crumbled and lifeless under a tree, a squad leader informing his soldiers of a sister unit's nine casualty loss the previous night, two soldiers fist pumping and dancing to house music in a brief moment of release. News coverage of the Afghanistan war is nearly non existent these days, Restrepo reminds us our kids are still out there fighting and dying.
The Tillman Story - It's a shame that this film did not play to larger audiences, hopefully Netflix or On Demand will pick it up a more people will get a chance to view it. I left the theater enraged, saddened and numb. As the film argues, Tillman was not an American hero, just an American.
The Town - Ben Affleck's second directorial is a smart well paced crime thriller featuring a scene stealing Jeremy Renner, a spectacular car chase sequence, and an expectation defyingly good Blake Lively. Boston grit equal parts Mystic River and The Departed.
Many of these films have been reviewed at my friend Dustin Chang's Floating World. For reviews much more eloquent and insightful than my "it's awesome" accolades head over there and check his stuff out.