tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82168883713124286262008-05-05T23:45:48.982-04:00WebmasterBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-74030097988810919772008-05-05T21:44:00.009-04:002008-05-05T23:45:49.008-04:00

Winner of the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006 followed by an impressive festival circuit run, Mexican director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's moving debut feature follows the events that occur during one day in New York City to a former soccer star turned Mexican restaurant cook (Eduardo Verástegui) and a fired waitress (Tammy Blanchard), who recently learned she's

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-65668122004687815082008-03-23T23:18:00.018-04:002008-03-24T17:20:21.009-04:00

A feminist voice, maverick filmmaker, or just an egomaniac? Filmmaker Henry Jaglom has been called many things and all of them are explored in Henry-Alex Rubin and Jeremy Workman's brief (only 58 minutes) but entertaining documentary. Armed with his trademark hat, loose tongue and nonstop-running camera, Jaglom explores the inner psyche of his actors and the audience by filming the "reality"

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-34887175637810006092008-03-15T17:00:00.016-04:002008-03-17T16:00:28.184-04:00

Inspired by true events, director Ti West (The Roost) throws out the typical elements and traps of the horror genre to create what he calls an "experimental horror." Shot with one HD camera, West uses sparse dialogue, long takes and a haunting score to tell the story of three friends who travel from New York City to the woods of Delaware to hunt deer. Similar to films like Deliverance, The

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-26219607904607150522008-03-10T16:20:00.004-04:002008-03-13T15:01:06.718-04:00

Few films have had an effect of making people think differently about the world, or at least confirming their worst instincts about it. No Country For Old Men is one of those films. Set against the arid backdrop and sparsely populated tableau of West Texas, Joel and Ethan Coen paint a bleak depiction of human nature in which there is no country for good men, who are helpless to stop the evil

Rupert Chiarellatag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-73903183923276418782008-02-21T00:29:00.003-05:002008-02-21T01:21:48.861-05:00

Every once in a while you remember an old film and wonder if you actually saw it or just had this amazing dream of an incredible movie. And every once in a while an old film is mercifully released on DVD for a new generation to discover. Today's dream DVD release is Payday (1973), starring the overboard Rip Torn as an overboard country singer on a three-day binge of life on the road. Torn is

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-48164572266015145702008-02-18T09:53:00.027-05:002008-02-18T23:53:37.446-05:00

With more eye-catching docs coming out of Sundance in 2007 (Manda Bala (Send A Bullet), Crazy Love, My Kid Could Paint That, No End In Sight, War Dance, Zoo, ect.), Daniel Karslake's For The Bible Tells Me So was lost in the flurry, but this interesting look at how decades of religious anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon the misinterpretation of the Bible, the film should certainly be in

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-72772464037743540312008-02-11T12:44:00.000-05:002008-02-11T23:58:42.153-05:00

This heartfelt doc of one man's attempt to give something back to the world before he leaves it has gone on to win the hearts of festival goers all over the world. Following the journey of Mr. Vig, an elderly Danish man who's been a lifelong bachelor and recluse, he offers up his 50 year old castle to the Moscow Patriarchate so that they can turn it into a Russian Orthodox monastery. But seeing

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-2347870334548426262008-02-04T13:32:00.000-05:002008-02-05T00:37:12.967-05:00

In Julie Delpy's directorial debut she stars opposite Adam Goldberg in this intimate and funny look at a couple, Marion and Jack, who during a trip to Venice stop over in Paris for two days to visit Marion's parents (who in fact are Delpy's real parents) on their way home to New York. Delpy and Goldberg are perfect together as they argue over petty things like "black mold," their immune

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-38835454959009458772008-01-28T13:58:00.000-05:002008-01-29T00:02:07.384-05:00

There were a number of teen angst movies this past year -- Eagle vs. Shark, Superbad -- but the one I thought brought the most originality to a very watered down genre was Jeffrey Blitz's Rocket Science, and seeing it again just reaffirms my belief. Armed with great writing, a humorous yet sensitive performance by the talented Reece Daniel Thompson as the film's unorthodox lead Hal Hefner, and

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-72418426129723814212008-01-05T01:31:00.000-05:002008-01-08T13:26:24.857-05:00

In remaking the 1957 classic Western starring Van Heflin and Glenn Ford, director James Mangold (Walk The Line) thankfully doesn't bastardize the solid story or the sanctity of the original. Instead he returns to the source material (an Elmore Leonard short story) and creates this battle of wills between a struggling rancher and the notorious leader of a band of outlaws with respect to the

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-74148474220417486312007-12-23T04:37:00.000-05:002007-12-23T11:24:23.908-05:00

In Chameleon Street, the enigmatic Doug Street goes through a series of cons, sometimes to make money, sometimes to prove he can do more than what the world expects of him. In short time he goes from a simple extortion plot to complex impersonations, including as a reporter from Time, a Yale student, a lawyer and even a surgeon. Yes, a surgeon – who performed 36 successful hysterectomies. The

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-16186781588243102312007-12-13T20:20:00.000-05:002007-12-13T20:46:03.665-05:00

In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. See, they live in a monastery in the French Alps, as mythic as you could think of. Sixteen year later the monks said ok. Living with them and a camera, Gröning created an amazing document of their world, what they see and do. To call it a documentary might suggest it is a

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-30224101775163942752007-12-03T20:58:00.000-05:002007-12-06T13:10:18.713-05:00

Drama/Mex is the bittersweet night-in-the-life tale of three intense, interlaced human relationships. Once a luxurious port but now in slow decline, Acapulco serves as the backdrop for the stories of a suicidal man, a 15-year-old runaway, and a young couple facing hardship after a tragic breakup. As we catch glimpses of a night that will change their lives, we are also given different

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-9750086106774720032007-12-03T11:30:00.000-05:002007-12-03T11:58:15.304-05:00

Some DVD titles have been issued and re-issued to the point where it's a bit difficult to get excited when a new edition is announced. Such is the case with F.W. Murnau's expressionist horror masterpiece, NOSFERATU. We've seen crappy un-authorized versions, one with a goth-metal score by Type-O Negative, and even a nice authorized version by Kino, put out not too long ago. Which is another

André Salastag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-49590525612183544212007-11-28T20:40:00.000-05:002007-11-28T20:49:31.158-05:00

Close to his 18th birthday and living in a tiny apartment with his divorced Dad, Wes is tortured by his virginity. After getting fired for beating off at work, he befriends Dusty, an older neighbor who writes for porn mag Dear Pillow. (Sorry dude, those letters aren’t real.) Becoming an earnest writer himself and avid listener of other peoples’ sex phone calls, Wes partners up with Dusty and

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-77313388931334190592007-11-18T21:32:00.000-05:002007-11-28T23:00:39.486-05:00

A compilation of videos/short films for the legendary "band" Negativland, made by themselves with collaborators. One of a few pioneers of culture jamming - attacking the notions of copyright laws and media conglomerates - Negativland has made incredible new songs from existing audio of songs and voice samples, ranging from U2 and irate wanna-be lawyers to the unforgettable bootlegged tape of

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-59240995107469012872007-11-18T11:49:00.000-05:002007-11-19T18:21:26.208-05:00

So Yong Kim's intimate debut feature about a young teenage Korean girl who tries to adapt to American life and the separation of her parents has been beloved by many since it premiered at Sundance in 2006 (the film caught our attention back then as well, as we named Kim one of our "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in '06). Shot handheld on DV with no score, the film uses its guerilla mentality

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-28255862994138453852007-11-12T16:04:00.000-05:002007-11-12T23:11:58.647-05:00

Winner of the 2007 Slamdance Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature, Dylan Verrechia's look across the border is as much reality as it is fiction. Set in Tijuana, the film follows 14-year-old Indio (Pablo Tendilla Ortiz) as he journeys to become a man. I love the film's synopsis on its MySpace page, so I'll just quote directly. "Every man remembers how hard it is being 14 years old: Your voice

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-90788499109112974632007-11-12T14:16:00.000-05:002007-11-12T14:25:30.209-05:00

An “independent” film is only so if it is independent minded. The most scrappy, handheld, no-budget, shot on stolen location, non-actors playing realistic characters can still reiterate the status quo and be dull and pointless. John Huston made more independent films than most and those were studio movies with Academy Award winning cast and crew. John Cassavetes tried for a year to fix the

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-43747665101184658162007-11-05T20:33:00.000-05:002007-11-05T20:51:23.982-05:00

In the opening scene of Four Sheets to the Wind, a twenty-something guy gently pushes the lifeless body of an old man into a lake. Beautiful and more subtle than it sounds, this sets the tone for the story of a young man wanting to find a new world. Cody Lightning does a wonderful job portraying Cufe, who finds his father has taken a lethal overdose of pills. After respecting his father’s

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-64463697076990773242007-11-02T13:26:00.000-04:002007-11-02T13:48:56.015-04:00

Part loving art-doc recreation, part comedic musical, Interkosmos may be the best communist propaganda since 1955, a genre that excelled in style and mathematic form. It revels in the Russian avant-garde cinematics that bled into its bombastic government documentaries. Once some human issues come up (birds and bees and astronauts), the film gets realistic and funny. Although you are never quite

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-50931750263065369382007-10-30T10:17:00.000-04:002007-11-01T10:04:24.634-04:00

Who killed Laura Palmer? Why is the FBI here? Where can a man find a good cup of coffee? Infamous questions from David Lynch's cult classic Twin Peaks. This week the complete series became available in a gold box that should have Lynch buffs salivating, for this marks the first time the pilot (arguably the best episode) has been released on DVD. When Twin Peaks first aired on Easter Sunday 1990

Benjamin Crossley-Marratag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-38577828200729712952007-10-29T10:53:00.000-04:002007-10-30T00:28:11.643-04:00

Since showing his debut feature We Are The Strange at Sundance last January, M dot Strange has become the poster boy for DIY filmmaking as he's warded off all main stream avenues for theatrical distribution, concentrating instead on festival screenings, grassroots programs like MobMov (mobile movie drive-ins) and now a comprehensive 2-disc DVD package that is a must have for low-budget

Jason Guerrasiotag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-82412278338914346432007-10-23T21:11:00.000-04:002007-10-24T00:21:04.382-04:00

The legendary Days of Heaven has finally gotten the Criterion Collection treatment. The second masterpiece by writer-director Terrence Malick after his debut Badlands, Heaven has long been a hallowed title of personal poetic cinema, even with its Paramount studio backing (ah yes, the 70s). Set in wide-skyed Texas in the romantically naive turn of the (last) century, lovers on the run Richard

Mike Plantetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8216888371312428626.post-16444550999095830582007-10-22T00:57:00.000-04:002007-10-22T01:13:01.933-04:00

2006, written, directed and edited by Jennifer Shainin and Randy Walker. Sometimes if you want your film to come out on DVD, you’ve got to do it yourself. And if you are DIY, then why not make it such a great package that it’s better than what any mainstream company would do. In various overlapping stories and dialogue, Apart from That teaches you about people. Ella is a beautician who rents

Mike Plante