May 2008
Cannes 08: "Wendy and Lucy."
By Alison Willmore on 05/24/2008
Filed under: Festivals, ReviewsI've seen films about genocide at this year's festival, I've seen films about corruption, about terrible crimes, about war and about murder, but nothing cut me to the quick like "Wendy and Lucy," which is about a girl who loses her dog. The second third film from Kelly Reichardt, whose superb "Old Joy" was one of the few bright lights on the American indie landscape of the past years, is, like that last feature, deceptively simple and brief. Over the course of 80 minutes, Wendy (a very good Michelle Williams) drives into a shabby Oregon town with her dog, Lucy.... MORE »
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Cannes 08: "Che."
By Alison Willmore on 05/23/2008
Filed under: Festivals, ReviewsThe noxious thing to say would be that when Steven Soderbergh's "Che" is whittled down and divided up into two solid-sized features for realistic theatrical consumption, it's not going to be nearly as good as it is in the Brobdingnagian, barely finished form that screened here at Cannes — 268 minutes, with no credits but with an intermission, during which the festival staff proffered brown bags stamped with "CHE" containing a bottle of water and half a sandwich, and smokers and non-smokers alike crowded onto the balcony to feverishly light up. And to be sure, there are resonances between part... MORE »
Cannes 08: "Changeling."
By Alison Willmore on 05/21/2008
Filed under: Festivals, ReviewsA cloche-wearing madonna, Angelina Jolie is the porcelain personification of trembling courage and devoted motherhood in "Changeling." As Christine Collins, entire scenes exist solely for the world's most famous collector of international orphans to allow her eyes to well up as, clutching her hands over her mouth, she gives in to despair of ever finding Walter, her kidnapped son. Other times, the facade shatters and she shrieks "He's not my son! He's not my son!" Or "Did you kill my son?! Did you kill my son?!" Or "No! No! No!" Someone actually refers to her as having "moxie," which is... MORE »
Cannes 08: "The Chaser."
By Alison Willmore on 05/19/2008
Filed under: Festivals, ReviewsA few ways to cut in line at Cannes: Get there late and drift in with the crowd at the front, looking lost or bewildered. Pretend to only be walking over to get a magazine off the table conveniently by the theater entrance, then glide in through the doors. Shove. Most often, though, someone will just wriggle into a line near the front, and then stoically pretend not to understand the people standing nearby telling him or her to fuck off in various languages. There's a lot of press at the festival, divided into the strata of white, pink with... MORE »
Cannes 08: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
By Alison Willmore on 05/17/2008
Filed under: Festivals, ReviewsHere's a sentence I wasn't expecting to write: Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is... fun. It's not sexy, despite all the buzz about the Scarlett Johansson/Javier Bardem/Penélope Cruz menage and sapphic snuggling between Johansson and Cruz, which, sorry to disappoint, consists only of an ungainly kiss. But it is an enjoyable fling of a film, and enjoyment is something that seemed to have dropped off Allen's list of interests entirely. His European excursions post-"Match Point" haven't lived up to that film's promise of auteurist rejuvenation, but rather than try out more cultural ventriloquism this time around on the guitar, Allen... MORE »
Cannes 08: "Tokyo!"
By Alison Willmore on 05/17/2008
Filed under: Festivals, Reviews"Tokyo!" is made up of three unrelated shorts directed by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho, all set, yes, in Tokyo. Stop, you're shrieking, how much hipness can one little omnibus film contain? It turns out, as is often the case with these things, a swoopingly uneven amount. I liked the Gondry portion, found Carax's a promising joke stretched too thin (though it attracted the most applause at the screening) and Bong's pretty damn disappointing. None of these filmmakers is actually from the city in which the film is set, and their methods of approach to encapsulating it in... MORE »
Cannes 08: "Waltz with Bashir."
By Alison Willmore on 05/15/2008
Filed under: Festivals, ReviewsFollowing up Fernando Meirelles' dystopic "Blindness" with the animated Israeli documentary "Waltz with Bashir" made for an exceedingly dour day here at Cannes. "Bashir," the better film, orbits a black hole in director Ari Folman's memory that's consumed his time in the army in the early '80s, the point of singularity being the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which Israeli soldiers allowed Lebanese Christian Phalangist militiamen to go into two Palestinian refugee camps, where they then slaughtered hundreds of men, women and children. Folman was there, but all he remembers is looking at the flare-illuminated ruined city while floating... MORE »
Cannes Cam, class of 08.
By Alison Willmore on 05/14/2008
Filed under: FestivalsThe third annual IFC Cannes Cam, streaming live, 24/7, for the duration of the festival, is going live in a minute or two. You can find it here; at 6:40pm local, Matt Singer and I will be on to discuss tonight's opening film, "Blindness," during the red carpet. + Cannes Cam (IFC) MORE »
Side note: The problem of Susan.
By Alison Willmore on 05/09/2008
In a piece on the premiere of "The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian," MTV News offers this tidbit: [M]uch of the prerelease chatter about "Prince Caspian" has been about a new element that the filmmakers contributed: a romance between Caspian and Susan. [Ben] Barnes said he initially shared the concerns of many die-hard Narnia fans: "I was deeply concerned about [the romance]." Director Andrew Adamson carefully defended the plot addition. "I think it's very sensitively handled," he said. "The kids are growing up. If you look at Ben and you look at Anna, it seems really implausible that they wouldn't... MORE »
Critic wrangle: "The Fall."
By Alison Willmore on 05/09/2008
Filed under: Critic wrangleA labor of love from Tarsem Singh (who often prefers to go by just "Tarsem"), the musical video director who made his feature debut with 2000's "The Cell," "The Fall" was paid for out of pocket by the filmmaker and shot over the course of four years. The film, about a movie stuntman (played by "Pushing Daisies"' Lee Pace) who narrates a fantastical story to the five-year-old girl with whom he's in the hospital, is certainly visually striking, but reviews are mixed as to how well it all actually comes together. "[L]acking the ability to fashion cohesive tales driven by... MORE »
Critic wrangle: "Battle for Haditha."
By Alison Willmore on 05/09/2008
Filed under: Critic wrangleDocumentarian provocateur Nick Broomfield, of "Biggie and Tupac" and "Kurt & Courtney," goes semi-scripted in "Battle for Haditha," which portrays a real and ugly incident involving 24 Iraqi men, women and children, all civilians, who were killed by a group of United States Marines, possibly in retaliation for the earlier death of one of their own. Broomfield uses non-professional actors, many former military, in his film, which begs comparison to Brian De Palma's "Redacted" but is certainly getting a better reception from the critics. Certainly most see it as more balanced — New York's David Edelstein compares it to the... MORE »
Odds: "Oh yes, Lucas would really dare to put something like that in!"
By Alison Willmore on 05/08/2008
Filed under: OddsKevin Maher at the London Times tries to interview John Hurt, who's been forbidden by the studios to discuss his role in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Maher attempts to come up with a workaround: I suggest a game. I'll run plot points (gleaned from the internet and beyond) by him, and will judge their validity, or not, by his reactions. There's more than one Crystal Skull? "Hmmm, interesting," he says. Your character comes back from the dead? "He'd be called Lazarus, wouldn't he?!" There's a cameo from the Elephant Man? "Depends on how you look... MORE »
Picturehouse goes dark, and so does Warner Independent.
By Alison Willmore on 05/08/2008
Filed under: BizNew Line for the win (I guess). From the Hollywood Reporter: In a surprising move, Warner Bros. has decided to shutter both Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures. "With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we're able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and budgets without overlapping production, marketing and distribution infrastructures," announced Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn. "After much painstaking analysis, this was a difficult decision to make, but it reflects the reality of a changing marketplace and our need to prudently run our businesses with increased efficiencies. We're confident that the... MORE »
"Speed Racer": May cause bodily harm?
By Alison Willmore on 05/08/2008
Filed under: Critic wrangle"Imagine someone pouring hot, melted Starburst candies into your corneas, and you just begin to approximate the experience of 'Speed Racer.'" —Alonso Duralde at MSNBC "Watching Speed Racer... is comparable to dousing one's eyeballs in a sugary hyper-digitized Skittles soup. It's like being immersed in a kaleidoscopic pop-art LSD nightmare in which one's bounced around a pinball machine and assailed by an onslaught of electric smoke tendrils." —Nick Schager at Slant "But what about the rest of us? True, our eyeballs will slowly, though never completely, recover, but what of our souls?" —Anthony Lane at the New Yorker "The Wachowski... MORE »
Good news, bad news.
By Alison Willmore on 05/08/2008
Filed under: Critic watchThe good and the very bad news this morning: On the plus side, Criterion has announced that it's going Blu-ray, with "Chungking Express," "The 400 Blows" and "Contempt" amongst its first releases in the format. /film has the announcement. On the minus, and this is an incredible downer, Glenn Kenny at Premiere writes that I've just been informed that my position at Premiere.com is being terminated. What this means for this blog is still up in the air; I've got meetings this afternoon in which such things are to be negotiated. In any case, I now join the ever-growing ranks... MORE »
Odds: "London Fields," shock art, cookiegate.
By Alison Willmore on 05/07/2008
Filed under: OddsMartin Amis' novel "London Fields" looks to be back on track to become a film after all, according to the Guardian: "Amis himself is collaborating on the adaptation of his controversial 1989 novel, and may even take a small part in the resulting film, which will be directed by David Mackenzie, best known for the films Hallam Foe and 2003's Young Adam." The novel, about a woman who, having foreseen her own death, manipulates the circumstances leading up to it, was for a while one of several projects attached to director David Cronenberg. "Next month, Ira Isaacs, a 57-year-old Los... MORE »
Thomas Kinkade, son of a bitch.
By Alison Willmore on 05/07/2008
Filed under: In quotesNew York's Vulture blog has a great, too-short interview with "Fritz the Cat" animator Ralph Bakshi (the subject of an exhibition at the Animazing Gallery running through the end of the month) that's worthy of its own post. Key quotes: On giving Thomas Kinkade his start as a background artist on "Fire and Ice": "That son of a bitch! Kinkade was the coolest. If Kinkade wasn't a painter, he'd be one of those cult leaders." On "Night Moves" being used at the end of "American Pop": "' 'Night Moves' sucks! I was furious! It was all wrong. I had a... MORE »
Sundance Channel acquired by Cablevision.
By Alison Willmore on 05/07/2008
Filed under: BizFresh off the wires — Rainbow Media, the company that owns IFC as well as AMC and WE, has purchased the Sundance Channel. Here's the press release. + Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings to Acquire Sundance Channel (Yahoo) MORE »
Trailering: Space Nazis and car alarm vigilantes.
By Alison Willmore on 05/07/2008
Filed under: TraileringYes! Nazis on the moon. Here's a trailer for "Iron Sky," a film that doesn't actually exist yet. It's the new project of the Finnish group responsible for "Star Wreck," which, according to their site, is "the most popular Internet feature film of all time, as well as the most popular Finnish film ever. Over 8 million people have downloaded Star Wreck since its free Internet release in 2005." It's an interestingly unusual way to attempt to make a movie — "Iron Sky"s's producers will be at Cannes looking for funding, and are also selling "war bonds." According to them:... MORE »
Odds: Page is Eyre, an appreciation of Pepper Potts, and promoting "Poultrygeist."
By Alison Willmore on 05/06/2008
Filed under: OddsEllen Page, everyone's favorite sassypants MySpace generation heroine, will be playing Jane Eyre in an upcoming BBC Films adaptation, reports Variety, honest to Brontë. Elsewhere, the Guardian claims "MacGyver" creator Lee David Zlotoff has threatened to be in the planning stages of adapting the series for the big screen. Jon Favreau salutes his "Iron Man" lead while not forgetting his own roots when talking to Entertainment Weekly: "It's inspiring when somebody who sort of has his work cut out for him actually accomplishes that and comes back bigger and better than he was before. I mean, that's the American dream... MORE »
Thurman's stalker offers an alternative take on "Kill Bill."
By Alison Willmore on 05/06/2008
Jack Jordan was found guilty of stalking Uma Thurman today. According to the New York Times, "During the jury trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Jordan testified in his own defense, describing his elaborate visions -- which he called the daydreams of an artistic soul -- that he was predestined to meet Ms. Thurman and live a happy life with her and her two children." New York magazine reprints a few of the emails Jordan sent to Thurman's father, a Columbia professor, which suggest that, Jordan's other issues aside, he's come up with some unnecessarily laborious reads of... MORE »
The stages of grief, as chronicled online.
By Alison Willmore on 05/06/2008
Filed under: From the Editor, WatchyA touch more network news (May's a big month for us). IFC.com's been hosting new, never-before-seen episodes from the "Four Eyed Monsters" filmmakers here. The last one, episode 13, will go up tomorrow; here are the rest to date: > Episode 9 (Shock) > Episode 10 (Denial) > Episode 11 (Anger) > Episode 12 (Bargaining) Elsewhere, Austin Bunn at Stream sums up the Susan Buice and Arin Crumley saga. [Photo: Susan Buice and Arin Crumley in "Four Eyed Monsters," Less Life Lived LLC, 2005] + Four Eyed Monsters (IFC) + Four Eyed 101: From Break-Up to Breakout (Stream)... MORE »
The number one film in heaven.
By Alison Willmore on 05/06/2008
At the Guardian, Sean Michaels writes that "Somewhere in heaven there's a cinema playing movies that never were, films that existed solely in a producer's, an actor's, a screenwriter's imagination." And the one everyone would be lining up for would be a version of "A Clockwork Orange" that was bandied about pre-Kubrick. Michael reporters that a recently discovered letter from exec producer Si Litvinoff to John Schlesinger (of "Midnight Cowboy"), who was looking into directing the film, reveals that Mick Jagger was dying to play Alex and the Beatles wanted to do the soundtrack. Schlesinger, of course, turned the film... MORE »
"I just say I'm not brain dead any more."
By Alison Willmore on 05/05/2008
Filed under: In quotesA survey of who's been saying what: "I don't even say I'm not a liberal. I just say I'm not brain dead any more. I just want to consider the other guy's point of view. It's a wonderful lesson for me to learn so late in life." —David Mamet on his March Village Voice essay "Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'" (which you can find here), at the Boston Globe "I like Frank Rich a lot. I know him. I like the whole editorial. I am not eager to have an obituary written for my film before the... MORE »
Cough to get off.
By Alison Willmore on 05/05/2008
Filed under: From the Editor, WatchyA bit of network news: "Wilfred," IFC.com's new web series, kicks off today, with a new episode going up every weekday — the first episode is here, the second here. A cult TV show from Australia, the series began as a short film that won the best comedy award at Tropfest in 2002, possibly due to its killer thematic combination of pot-smoking pets and guys in animal costumes. The shiny new third season of Joe Swanberg's "Young American Bodies" will also be premiering on IFC.com starting next week — here's a promo. [Photo: "Wilfred," IFC, 2007] + Wilfred (IFC)... MORE »
"But that doesn't scare me... my sexual drive is the strongest!"
By Alison Willmore on 05/05/2008
Filed under: WatchyIsabella Rossellini's "Green Porno" shorts, in which she enacts the mating rituals of various insects, are now all up online here. [Photo: "Green Porno," Sundance Channel, 2008] + Green Porno (Sundance Channel) MORE »
Critic wrangle: "Son of Rambow."
By Alison Willmore on 05/02/2008
Filed under: Critic wrangleHere's my review from Sundance last year. "Son of Rambow," the second film from music video team Hammer & Tongs, whose first was the not so well received "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," is long in coming — it was delayed due to a legal struggle with StudioCanal over use of footage from "Rambo: First Blood." Word is, again, mixed on the way whimsical film about two children shooting their own sequel to Stallone's action film. Lisa Schwarzbaum at Entertainment Weekly sighs that director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith "display plenty of whirligig energy, if not much control... MORE »
Critic wrangle: "Mister Lonely."
By Alison Willmore on 05/02/2008
Filed under: Critic wrangleWord is mixed on "Mister Lonely," former indie poster child Harmony Korine's first theatrical release since 1999's "Julien Donkey-Boy." The film, which premiered at Cannes last year, stars Diego Luna as a Michael Jackson impersonator who ends up at a remote Scottish colony composed entirely of celebrity impersonators, among them Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) and Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant). In an alternate storyline, Werner Herzog plays a priest presiding over skydiving nuns. Most critics are just lukewarm,: Andrew Sarris at the New York Observer offers "the faint praise of Mister Lonely as the least offensive of the works in the... MORE »
Tribeca '08: Rednexploitation! "Tennessee," "From Within," "The Wild Man of Natividad."
By Alison Willmore on 05/02/2008
Filed under: Festivals, ReviewsAfter a few rounds on the festival circuit, you start to wonder if the road to indie inauthenticity is paved with Southern accents. "Tennessee" is a banner example of the type of film that aims for grit and heartstrings by way of regional blue-collar misery and ends up seeming as genuine as a McDonald's sweet tea. The second film from Aaron Woodley, who's actually Canadian — so Canadian he's David Cronenberg's nephew — is indeed about Tennessee, along with New Mexico, and the states through which you'd have to drive in order to get from the latter to the former.... MORE »
Trailering: Babylon A.D., The Edge of Heaven, Towelhead.
By Alison Willmore on 05/01/2008
Filed under: TraileringA few new trailers out on the web: Here's a wordless teaser trailer for "Babylon A.D.," introduced in French by actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz, the man behind both the high highs of "La Haine" and the loooow lows of "Gothika." Delayed, over budget and pushed back from a February release date to the less desirable one of August 29th, the film at least promises to be odd, with Vin Diesel playing a mercenary named Thoorop (hee!) escorting a woman carrying the Messiah through the near dystopic future. Michelle Yeoh, Gérard Depardieu and Charlotte Rampling are also part of the cast. Fatih... MORE »
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