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Getting Buzzed - Doing the Cannes Cannes Over Leftovers

Well, the premiere film festival Cannes has announced its lineup and the true-blue film geeks are abuzz. This week columns looks at some of the exciting films playing at the French movie fest, as well as some interesting trailers from the last two weeks and an major oversight on my most anticipated films of the summer list.

Oversight Correction
A major oversight was made on my 30 Most Anticipated Summer Films list last week. The site I used for the summer release schedule was missing one film that I forgot was sliding into theaters on August 14th. Any new Hayao Miyazaki film is worth celebrating. PONYO tells the story of a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a goldfish princess that wants to become human. Check out the Japanese trailer to get a visual treat.

Blogs

THE SOLOIST (2009) (***)

Mental illness, personal rights, personal responsibility, homelessness, the crumbling newspaper business — these are the issues circling this biopic on Los Angeles Times journalist Steve Lopez and homeless musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers, who is possibly schizophrenic. In real life Lopez won accolades for his columns on Ayers. He wants to help, but what is the best thing to do for Nathaniel?

Lopez (Robert Downey Jr., IRON MAN) meets Ayers (Jamie Foxx, RAY) in a park playing a violin with two strings. In their first rambling conversation, Ayers mentions that he went to Julliard and Lopez's journalism ears are piqued. Ayers did indeed go to Julliard, but something happened and over the course of the film we learn how Ayers went from the poor neighborhoods of Cleveland to Julliard to the streets of Los Angeles where he lives unaware of reality from moment to moment.

Blogs

This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates The Comeback

There is a special sub-category of the inspirational film genre reserved for comebacks. Accomplished people trying to rebuild their reputation. Regain some of their former glory. Success is a matter of degree and some don't succeed at all. This Weekend's Film Festival celebrates the comeback on screen with the home entertainment release of THE WRESTLER and FROST/NIXON — two films that seem on the surface to have nothing in common. In the lineup, these tales of a washed up wrestler and disgraced president share the spotlight with once top-notched fighters and a movie star.

THE WRESTLER is not only a comeback tale for its protagonist, but also the actor who plays him. Much has been said and written about Mickey Rourke's return to the limelight. As I said in my original review, "Rourke’s performance is without reserve. He lays his soul bare on the screen." He plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a once primetime pro-wrestler that can't even pay the rent on his mobile home now. His profession and hard living have ravaged his body and to continue wrestling might kill him. He tries to fill his loneliness with the attention of a 40-something stripper named Cassidy, played in an Oscar-nominated performance by Marisa Tomei. She suggests he try to make amends with his college-aged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), who he has barely seen throughout her life. When a big comeback match opens up, the Ram has to decide whether the quiet life is for him or whether he's lived in front of the lights too long and doesn't know how to do anything else. This character piece looks at a man who used his body to make a living, which gave him self worth through self-expression. But was it worth the price he had to pay when the spotlight can only shine on him for so long?

Blogs

SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) (****)

I first saw Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD in college and was struck by its dark look at the Hollywood Dream. Now years later, having lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, the film cuts to the bone. One sees William Holden's character Joe Gillis driving the streets of Hollywood, a few of the buildings are the same, but everything around them are different. When it comes to the tale of a fledging writer and the aging movie star, the types are the same today only the trappings around them have changed.

Gillis has had some minor success as a writer, but he's now behind on his rent and about to have his car repossessed. By happenchance, he blows a tire and pulls into what he assumes is an abandoned mansion off of Sunset Blvd. Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson, GREED) is waiting. Her and her dutiful butler Max von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim, THE GRAND ILLUSION) believe he is a mortician come to deliver the child's casket for Norma's dead monkey. It's a perfect scene to introduce the eccentric star. And when Gillis recognizes her and says, "You used to be big." She replies, "I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

Blogs

The WIREGRASS FILM FESTIVAL

This past weekend April 17th and 18th, we attended the first annual WIREGRASS FESTIVAL in Tifton, Georgia.

We arrived Friday night just in time for the special screenings and student work. A bevy of short student films were shown.

The highlight of the night was the James Lipton-like interview/screening  of Ron Ellison and his works.

Saturday's screenings were dominated by the Southern Short Circuit's travelling Film Festival. the films are varied and the quality is really high. My film OUR WORLD was a part of the afetrnoon segment. We really enjoyed the the screenings and talked with the other filmmakers.

We were treated very, very well by the festival - we were given rooms at the newly opened Hilton Garden Inn. The cafe served scrumptious meals at very reasonable prices.

Blogs

NOTORIOUS (2009) (***)

The Notorious B.I.G. Biggie Smalls. He was only 24 when he was gunned down in Los Angeles. He never lived long enough to see his classic second album released. Unlike Nick Broomfield's documentary, BIGGIE AND TUPAC, this film doesn't try to solve his murder — this film simply tries to tell his story. Produced by his friend and executive producer Sean "Puffy" Combs, this biopic turns out to be a touching tribute to the fallen star.

Jamal Woolard, aka the rapper Gravy, plays Christopher "Biggie" Wallace in a compelling screen debut. Outside of his size, he doesn't look like the real Biggie, but he captures the persona perfectly. The story watches how Biggie turned from a solid student to a cold-hearted crack dealer on the streets of Brooklyn. For the young Christopher, played by Biggie's real life son Christopher Jordan Wallace, ghetto doctors and lawyers didn't have anything on the wealthy dealers. It's a typical story of a young man with an absent father being raised by his single mother Voletta (Angela Bassett, WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?).

Blogs

ANIMA BRUSSELS 2009 February 20 – 28; A Festival Close to Home and Heart

Ever since I moved to Belgium I always look forward to ANIMA BRUSSELS each February. The festival is only a half hour train ride from my front door, and it always marks the beginning of Spring to me.  Best of all, it is a wonderful opportunity to see a great deal of Belgian animation.Opening night got off on a high note with a screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s beautiful new film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.  I had previously seen Ponyo on opening night of the Anilogue Festival in Budapest but was very glad to have another chance to see this lovely film a second time.  There are so many layers and textures that, as with all of Miyazaki’s films, you can watch it over and over discovering new things each time.
Blogs

Getting Buzzed - RFP’s 30 Most Anticipated Summer Films

Anticipation is a funny thing. There are many factors that go into why we get excited about going to see a movie. And as funny as it sounds, whether or not we think the movie will be good is usually not the top criteria. This especially applies to the mood we are in. Summer movies are usually spectacle event films with big stars. But that's not the only films that come out in the summer. Smaller, quieter films hit art houses between May and August too, but the mega-marketing campaigns of the studios' tentpole releases overshadow the smaller films. Most people go into a theater hoping the film they're seeing will be good even if they believe it might not be. Unless you're being dragged to seeing something, there was at least something that intrigued you.

Blogs

STATE OF PLAY (2009) (***1/2)

Based on a BBC miniseries, which starred Bill Nighy and James McAvoy, Kevin Macdonald's American feature version brings back the hero journalist to the big screen before they are blogged out of existence. I am aware of the irony in that statement for I am blogging right now. The director of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND mixes journalism and politics and murder in a film well aware of how all three are changing in modern society.

Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe, THE INSIDER) is a veteran reporter for the Washington Globe, a top newspaper that has been bought by a bigger corporation that's demanding profits. His editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN) feels the pressure the most, valuing Cal's journalistic integrity, but salivating over cheaper, faster blog-style reporters like the young Della Frye (Rachel McAdams, THE NOTEBOOK). A big story breaks involving Cal's friend, congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck, HOLLYWOODLAND). Turns out, he was having an affair with his researcher, who has been murdered. It also turns out that their friendship has been on the rocks ever since Cal slept with Collins' wife Anne (Robin Wright Penn, FORREST GUMP). How does the young woman's death relate to the murder of a purse-snatcher? Is the military contractor that Collins is fighting against involved? Cal digs for the truth anyway he can, which doesn't make for fast headlines, while Della can turn out copy fast based solely on knee-jerk speculation.

Blogs

This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet is among the upper echelon of living actors. Looking at her resume, she has given one stellar performance after another in some of the best and most successful films of the past decade and a half. Upon the home entertainment release of her Oscar-winning performance in THE READER, This Weekend's Film Festival celebrates this new legendary performer. The lineup not only captures some of her best work, but also the wide range and undeniable passion she brings to each role. Whether playing a fantasy drunk teen or an impulsive outsider or a disgruntled wife or a provocative writer or a secretive reader, she proves time and time again why Kate is great.

Kate Winslet made her striking feature film debut in Peter Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES. She plays Juliet, a rich girl whose parents are about to divorce who hides in a fantasy world to shield herself from reality. She is the spark that brings protagonist Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) out of her shell. However, the girl's close relationship begins to worry their parents, and when they are torn apart, the darker their fantasy world becomes. As I said in my original review, "[Winslet] never overplays Juliet. We believe that she is drunk on life and fantasy. The honesty of the performance makes her actions all the more disturbing, because she's a real person losing her way instead of some caricatured 'crazy person.'" Based on a true story, the impending dread that builds toward the tragic ending is strongly created by the believability of the leads. Winslet and Lynskey's characters are smart, inventive girls whose emotions swing wildly. While their highs are giddy and their lows are morose, Winslet especially captures the excessive passion of youth. But there is a point when that passion slips into a dark place and because we have come to care for these characters, we wish for them to turn away from where they are headed.

Blogs

Getting Buzzed - Is It Summer Yet?

This week's Getting Buzzed list has three films that have made appearances here before and will certainly be at the top of my Most Anticipated Summer Films list coming next week. With some of these new trailers, I'm getting excited about the summer season starting up. How about you?

10) Shorts (August 7)
Trailer
Robert Rodriguez has taken a break from his adult fare to return to kid-friendly entertainment. This fantasy flick looks like it could be fun. Hoping it's in the vein of the first SPY KIDS and not SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL.

9) Il Divo (April 24)
Trailer
This drama about former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti looks electric. Andreotti is a fascinating figure and this tale of his power and influence feels not like your typical biopic. The trailer makes it feel like a hip gangster flick. The film won the Prix du Jury at Cannes, so the French liked it.

Blogs

Cartoons on the Bay: A Different Bay, A Different Festival

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 10, 2009 at 10:15am

Cartoons on the Bay debuted in their new, more post-MIPTV friendly location. Now held in the three towns of Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino, the festival is just one jaw-droppingly stunning ride away from Cannes. What a place!

Blogs

This Weekend’s Film Festival Contemplates Nuns Behaving Badly

With DOUBT now on DVD, This Weekend's Film Festival takes a look at nuns behaving in ways not becoming of religious women. Conflicted nuns, sexualized nuns, sadistic nuns — they all make appearances. Along with these stories of poor behavior comes religious conflict. Filmmakers have used nuns to deal with hypocrisy and doubt for many decades. Several of the films featured this week were banned upon their original release. Prepare yourself for this week's provocative lineup.

John Patrick Shanley's DOUBT is about exactly what its title suggests. As I said in my original review, "In the age of slam-dunk wars and growing Biblical literalism, DOUBT is something that we need." When rumors of an impropriety between the new priest, Brendan Flynn, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in an Oscar-nominated performance, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, played by Meryl Streep in an Oscar-nominated performance, is certain of his guilt. Flynn's secrets about what exactly happened between him and the boy and what may have led him to leave one parish to come to his new assignment are beside the point. The young naïve nun, Sister James, played by Amy Adams in an Oscar-nominated performance, is caught between the two dynamic leaders in the church. Who wins may seal the direction the church takes in the future. This performance-driven drama provokes powerful ideas about how rumor and gossip destroy good intentions. With the plot's mystery in the air, the boy's mother, played by Viola Davis in the film's four Oscar-nominated performance, reveals secrets to Sister Aloysius that change the perspective on the whole event. But she is not swayed, she knows he is guilty and she with only listen to things that confirm it. Dramas arguing the different sides of difficult issues use to be the standard in Hollywood, now they are a rarity. That makes DOUBT special instead.

Blogs

DARK HABITS (1983) (***)

Pedro Almodovar has always been a filmmaker of grand ambition, which is evident in this early film that mixes surrealism with nunsploitation films. Religion and gay themes have been a signature of his work and they're used here to provoke. THE TIME OF LONDON named it one of the 50 most controversial films. It was rejected by the Cannes Film Festival for being anti-Catholic. His two previous films before this one dealt with drugs, sex, violence and religion, but this is the one that made people sit up and notice.

Yolanda Bel (Cristina Sanchez Pascual, PEPI, LUCI, BOM) is a singer who deals drugs on the side. When her boyfriend kills himself via an overdose, she goes on the lam, and seeks refuge from Mother Superior Julia (Julieta Serrano, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN), a fan she met at a concert. The nun's parish is in dire economic straits, but she will put all other concerns aside to impress Yolanda. Mother Superior is not only obsessed with the sexy singer, but a drug addict as well. Making matters worse, the church's biggest backer, the Marquise (Mary Carrillo), pulls her financial support, wanting to know what happened to her daughter Virginia, who went on a mission to Africa and hasn't been heard from since.

Blogs

Getting Buzzed - Fame, Fortune & Bruno

This week we look at nine films a lot of them are indie flicks. One is a big summer release. Why toy around, let's get to the flicks.

9) Fame (Sept. 25)
Trailer
Yep, I'm man enough to put the remake of FAME on my buzz list. I'm doing so for three reasons. First I love dance. I hope director Kevin Tanchareon knows how to film it. Second, Kherington Payne. She was a contestant of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, and she has star quality. I'm curious if she can act. Lastly the film reunites Fraiser with Lilith — both Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth appear.

8) Easy Virtue (May 22)
Trailer
Yep, I'm man enough to put Noel Coward on my buzz list. Coward was one of the wittiest writers of his day and this cast looks like they are having fun with his dialogue. Film stars Colin Firth (perfect for Coward), Kristin Scott Thomas, and Jessica Biel. Is it me, or does Biel shine in the trailer?

Blogs

ADVENTURELAND (2009) (***1/2)

ADVENTURELAND isn't as funny as I thought it would be. That's because it's not really a comedy — a dramedy at best. Ads have played up the humor and that it's written and directed by SUPERBAD's Greg Mottola, who used what power he earned on the Judd Apatow-produced comedy to revisit this story, which he had written years before. It's a personal '80s coming-of-age story that feels authentic due to its keen feel for setting and tone. While many of the characters could be described in a few words, it wouldn't tell you all there is to tell about them. Just like life.

James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE) has just graduated college and is looking forward to a summer trip cavorting around Europe with his friends before starting grad school at Columbia. However, his parents give him surprise news on his graduation day — his father has been demoted and they don't have the money to send him to Europe or pay for his apartment in NYC. So he has to go back home to Pittsburgh and find a job. The only work he can get is at the old school amusement park Adventureland.



There he meets a collection of oddball characters. Bobby (Bill Hader, SNL) and Paulette (Kristen Wiig, GHOST TOWN) are the unflappable couple who run the amusement park. Well, Bobby does get a little heated around litterbugs. James' old friend Frigo (Matt Bush, ONE LAST THING) has an obsession with punching guys in the balls when they least expect it. Joel (Martin Starr, KNOCKED UP), who shows James the con of the amusement park games, is one of those eccentric looking guys who only extenuates his eccentricities by smoking a pipe. Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds, DEFINITELY, MAYBE) is the cool older guy who only works maintenance at the park so he can play in a band at night. You know the kind of guy who comes to the park with his guitar for no other reason than it makes him look cool, and helps sell his story about jamming with Lou Reed. Lisa P (Margarita Levieva, THE INVISIBLE) is the town tease, a good Catholic girl who dresses like she should be saying Hail Marys all day long. But James can't resist Em (Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT). She's the cool rocker girl who seems to have it all together. That's until you see what her life is really like.

What struck me most is that the film doesn't judge its characters. It presents them as they are. It doesn't apologize for the characters it wants us to like when they do wrong and it doesn't demonize the characters it wants us not to like. A perfect example of this is with Connell and Lisa P. Connell puts on a good front, but it's easy to see he's a fraud. But the film doesn't need to force some comeuppance upon him. Lisa P is shallow and not too bright, but even she gets to have a deep moment or two where Mottola doesn't pull the rug out from under her to make her depth just the butt of a joke.

This non-judgmental tone also stretches to its main characters. James is a 21-year-old virgin, but the film doesn't make it out like he has to fix that problem to be normal. And yet, the film is honest about James being a 21-year-old virgin. Moral stances he took when he was younger aren't as firm anymore. Kristen's budding relationship with James has more behind it then girl meets cute nice guy. Her rocky home life has led to rocky relationships, none of which could be called commitments. And just because these two have seen each other doesn't mean the rest of the world around them has stopped looking.

While the film is set in the 1980s, the film isn't a '80s spoof. It has the bright flashy clothing and the asymmetrical hairstyles, but Mottola resists the urge to make those questionable fashion choices the main punchline to every joke. For those raised in the Reagan era, you just have to think, "what were we thinking?" More importantly what ADVENTURELAND gets right is the feel of a summer job and a summer romance. Working at the amusement park with its repetitive soundtrack playing over crappy speakers and puking children is not too much fun, but the people you work with make it the best time of your life. The guy who threatens to stab you over a stuffed animal is crazy, but it makes for a great story to tell. Each day is a new adventure and that's how being young feels sometimes. That's why the film's title is so perfect, because the adventure this film is about is the adventure of being young.


Blogs

This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates The Indian Invasion

With Oscar-winning Best Picture SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE now on DVD, This Weekend's Film Festival looks at the increasing influence of Indian culture on international cinema. Danny Boyle brings an outsider's point of view to an Indian set tale, but Gurinder Chandha and Mira Nair have been bringing a strong Indian point of view to English-language films, as well as stories similar to SLUMDOG. Cook up some sag aloo and naan, pour a cup of chai or some bangers & mash and a pint (Boyle is British so you have to follow through with all the cultural stereotypes) and enjoy a collection of films that have a bit of humor, a bit of drama, a bit of song, a whole lot of excitement.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE was a critic darling since its debut at the Toronto Film Festival. Danny Boyle's inspiring take of an Indian street kid's improbable success on the Indian version of WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? is like a virtual tour of the clash between the old and new elements of the growing country. As I said in my original review, "Mix Charles Dickens with the Brazilian gangster film CITY OF GOD and sprinkle a Bollywood epic all over it and you’ll get a sense of the flavor of this film." We watch as the young orphaned Jamal survives the harsh streets with his wanna-be gangster brother Salim, while continuously crossing paths with his one true love Latika. Played as late teens by Dev Petal and Freido Pinto, Jamal and Latika became one of the sweetest screen romances of all time. Boyle's electric direction propels the film as it cuts across storylines and years, creating a grand tale rooted in the honesty of characters that we relate to and care for. And the innovative use of subtitles makes the film easy to follow for the subtitled adverse. Powered by an infectious soundtrack, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is not only moving but an exciting piece of entertainment that has something for everyone.

Blogs

SALAAM BOMBAY! (1988) (****)

Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award in 1988 after winning the Audience Award at the Cannes Film Festival, director Mira Nair's breakthrough feature debut has a storied history. Nair and Sooni Taraporevala interviewed Bombay (now Mumbai) street kids about their experiences and developed a screenplay from their stories. They opened an acting school where they trained the kids to perform naturally, casting from the best of group. Following the production, they set up a foundation to support the children in the film, which still exists, providing aide for street kids in several cities in India.

As a result, SALAAM BOMBAY! is a harrowing tale of children finding the means to survive on the streets. Krishna (Shafiq Syed) works for the circus, and one day, he is left behind after running an errand. He travels to Bombay where he holds out hope that if he can earn 500 rupees, he can go back to his home village and reunite with his family. But whether his mother sent him or sold him to the circus is unclear. In Bombay, Krishna is known as Chaipau, or "Tea and Bread," which is screamed from top floors of apartments when someone wants something from the food stand where he works. While the street life is harsh, there are moments of levity. The prostitute Rekha (Anita Kanwar) is kind to him, giving him money from time to time. Krishna befriends her daughter Manju (Hansa Vithal), who gets quite jealous when he becomes smitten by Sweet Sixteen (Chanda Sharma), a beautiful girl who has been either kidnapped or sold into prostitution where men will bid on her virginity.

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