December 2008
Ann Savage, 1921-2008.
By Alison Willmore on 12/29/2008
Filed under: Memoriam
Ann Savage, 1940s uber femme fatale, passed away on Christmas day at age 87. Last seen playing "Mother" in Guy Maddin's "My Winnipeg," casting that was halfway between a cinephile in-joke and the perfect measure of Maddin's favorite Freudian themes, Savage was probably best known for her role in Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 "Detour." A cultish B-movie that was shot in six days, "Detour" is burdened with obvious budget constraints, technical mistakes and outlandish characterizations, all of which somehow magically work in its favor to make it an unforgettable 68-minute noir landmark. Tom Neal plays Al Roberts, a piano player... MORE »
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David Hudson joins IFC.com.
By Alison Willmore on 12/19/2008
Filed under: From the Editor
It's my great, great pleasure to announce that Greencine Daily's David Hudson will be joining us here at IFC.com starting January 1st. He'll continue blogging just as he has been the past five years, inexhaustibly collecting and linking to everything worth knowing in the world of film news. I've long admired David, whose blog has been an essential source for anyone who loves film, and I'm thrilled to have him here at the site. I'll be continuing in what's become, lately, more of an editor role -- we'll be expanding and building on our regular film-related editorial content in the... MORE »
The year in top tens.
By Alison Willmore on 12/18/2008
Filed under: Critic watchUPDATED 12/18: IFC Films' Keaton Kail has been so kind as to pass along the following endearingly obsessive spreadsheet he's put together ranking the year's films by their mentions in critic top ten lists. I'll be resurfacing this post each week or so with updates as the lists continue to be unveiled. Here's the big breakdown (click on the image to see it full-size): MORE »
Gloden Golbes noms.
By Alison Willmore on 12/11/2008
Filed under: Awards
The Golden Globe nominations went up this morning -- you can find the full list here. The GG divide between "Drama" and "Comedy/Musical" has always been a bit of an over-inclusive cop-out, and there are no surprises in the former category: Best Picture - Drama: THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON FROST/NIXON THE READER REVOLUTIONARY ROAD SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Scratch that: one surprise. No "Milk"? Gus Van Sant's picture also gets one nod, and that's for Sean Penn. The lighter half is a weirder, with wilder picks like the meh "Burn After Reading" and the previously unmentioned in an awards context... MORE »
Manohla Dargis is mean.
By Alison Willmore on 12/10/2008
Filed under: Critic watch
Or so says Patrick Goldstein at his blog at the LA Times, deeming her a "movie killer" and adding: It's an open secret in indie Hollywood that no one wants Manohla Dargis to review their movie, fearing that the outspoken critic will tear their film limb from limb. It's the ultimate backhanded compliment, since what they really fear is Manohla's persuasiveness -- that she'll write a review whose combination of vitriolic snarkiness and intellectual heft will actually persuade high-brow moviegoers to drop the film from their must-see list. Which is all very well, except Goldstein then digs into Dargis' review... MORE »
Steve Coogan = 2009 Spirit Awards host.
By Alison Willmore on 12/10/2008
Filed under: Awards
Just announced: Steve Coogan is set to host the upcoming Spirit Awards on February 21st. With Russell Brand having kicked things off by hosting the MTV Video Music Awards, we now only need Ricky Gervais as the Academy Award host to have the requisite three British comedians to make a trend piece! [Photo: Steve Coogan in "Hamlet 2," Focus Features, 2008] MORE »
Coppola and Peralta have something to sell you.
By Alison Willmore on 12/10/2008
Filed under: WatchySofia Coppola's debut ad for Dior is a delightfully pink confection featuring Belarusian model Maryna Linchuk bobbing around a sunny Paris to Brigitte Bardot's "Moi, Je Joue," apparently leading an enviable life of dress fittings, leisurely bicycling and pastry consumption, with pauses for the reapplication of Miss Dior Cherie perfume. You can watch it here: Meanwhile, documentarian Stacy Peralta (of "Dogtown and Z-Boys") has traveled to semi-remote areas of Thailand, Romania and Greenland at the behest of Burger King to perform unbiased Whopper/Big Mac taste tests on people who've never had hamburgers before.... MORE »
New York and LA.
By Alison Willmore on 12/10/2008
Filed under: AwardsThe New York Film Critics Circle has announced its awards for the year: Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky" Best Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, "Rachel Getting Married" Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire" Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, "Milk" Best Animated Film: "WALL-E" Best Director: Mike Leigh, "Happy-Go-Lucky" MORE »
Critic wrangle: "Frost/Nixon."
By Alison Willmore on 12/05/2008
Filed under: Critic wrangleA quick look at what my favorite critics have to say about "Frost/Nixon," Ron Howard's extremely shiny adaptation of Peter Morgan's play about the 1977 televised interviews between British TV personality David Frost and former president Richard Nixon, played, respectively, by Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, both reprising their stage roles. MORE »
15 observations on the Sundance line-up.
By Alison Willmore on 12/04/2008
Filed under: FestivalsThe U.S. and world competition line-ups are here; the premieres and sidebars are here. Documentary Competition: 1. Sundance often leans toward the documentary-as-journalism/vehicle for activism, and, from the descriptions, there's again plenty of that this year: Joe Berlinger (going solo!) has "Crude" is "the inside story of the 'Amazon Chernobyl' case in the rainforest of Ecuador"; "Dirt! The Movie" is about "how humans are rapidly destroying the last natural resource on earth"; "The Cove" follows "a group of activists led by Ric O'Barry, the man behind Flipper" as they look into environmental horrors in a small cove in Japan. 2.... MORE »
Yay! Awards!
By Alison Willmore on 12/04/2008
Filed under: AwardsCourtney Hunt's "Frozen River" may turn out to the year's big winner, at least in the indie film award ghetto -- it won Best Feature at the Gothams on Tuesday, with star Melissa Leo taking the Breakthrough Actor award, and it's been nominated for seven Spirit Awards. "Trouble the Water" took the Best Doc prize, Lance Hammer was deemed breakthrough director for "Ballast," and "Sita Sings the Blues" picked up the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You prize. More at indieWIRE. Meanwhile, the National Board of Review, traditionally the first of the circles to hand out best... MORE »
"Glory at Sea" and "The Last 15."
By Alison Willmore on 12/02/2008
Filed under: WatchyShort films are often made with a practical purpose in mind: to serve as a calling card on the path to feature funding, to show off the cool camera trick someone picked up, to showcase everything learned at film school, to reach a (hopefully) memorable punchline. It's the reason so many shorts are forgettable -- they seldom stand by themselves, though there's no rule that a film has to be at least 70 minutes long to have a purpose. And the greatest proof of that fact is Benh Zeitlin's epic short "Glory at Sea," which you can now watch online... MORE »
Spirit Awards 2009.
By Alison Willmore on 12/02/2008
Filed under: AwardsThe 2009 Spirit Award nominations were just announced -- check out the full list here. Big winners? "Ballast," which is up for Best Feature, First Screenplay, Director and Cinematography, as well as acting awards for JimMyron Ross and Tarra Riggs, and "Frozen River," which is up for many of the same. "Rachel Getting Married" is also up there with six nominations, and Sean Baker managed two nominations for the John Cassavetes Award. Also, "The Take"?! Here are the nominees for Best Feature and Best First Feature: Best Feature "Ballast" Producers: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh "Frozen River" Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather... MORE »
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