What's been happening on the rest of IFC.com:

      + List: Pass the Kool-Aid - Five Flicks That Aspired To Cult Status - Can a film like "Repo! The Genetic Opera" aim at and achieve cult status intentionally? Matt Singer examines five examples would indicate that becoming a cult film is something that has to be earned.

      + Bruce Campbell on "My Name is Bruce" - The B-movie icon famous for playing Ash in the "Evil Dead" movies gives Jean-Claude Van Damme a run for his money by starring as and directing himself in his new meta-comedy.

      + On DVD: "Billy the Kid," "No Mercy, No Future" - Michael Atkinson on Jennifer Venditti's adroit and honest documentary portrait of a working-class high schooler inflicted with Asperger's; plus, Helma Sanders-Brahms' odyssey of a schizophrenic young woman on the streets of Berlin.

      + Podcast: Actors as Themselves, Sort of - Matt Singer and I look at the actors with the self-awareness (and sense of humor) to attempt the meta-role that is playing a version of themselves on screen.

      + Opening This Week: Gay zombies, the literal Sundance kid and the Muscles From Brussels - Neil Pedley rounds up what's new in theaters.

Want these updates to be sent to you each week? Email us and we'll add you to our list.

[Photo: Bruce Campbell in "My Name is Bruce," Image Entertainment, 2007]

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (3)

What's been happening on the rest of IFC.com:

      + Video: How to Give Yourself a Black Eye - For Halloween, or just to scare your parents -- makeup artist Rachel Pagani demonstrates how to make your own shiner,

      + Feature: Puddy In Their Hands - The Experts Speak - Stephen Saito gathers opinions from the pros on their favorite creature and makeup effects work from the history of horror flicks.

      + Interview: Tomas Alfredson on "Let the Right One In" - Aaron Hillis talks to the director about his vampire/coming-of-age movie, working with child actors and how technology has crushed the Swedish film industry.

      + Feature: Puddy In Their Hands - Ten Old Movie Makeup Jobs That Hold Up, Part I - Matt Singer gets into the Halloween spirit by looking back at famous movie makeup jobs that are at least 25 years old that have kept their power to scare the bejeezus out of viewers.

      + Feature: Puddy In Their Hands - Ten Old Movie Makeup Jobs That Hold Up, Part II - Continued from part one.

      + On DVD: "Flight of the Red Balloon," "Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition" - Michael Atkinson on Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien trip to France to take on Albert Lamorisse's beloved 1956 short "The Red Balloon"; plus, plumbing the depths of the MST3K gang's sophomoric, avant-garde repurposing of forgotten films.

      + Podcast: The "Killer _____" Movie - Movie murdering isn't going to pay the bills. We look at the day jobs or convenient professions held by various slasher psychos.

      + Opening This Week: Brit horror, high school horror and Kevin Smith - Neil Pedley rounds up what's new in theaters.

Want these updates to be sent to you each week? Email us and we'll add you to our list.

[Photo: "The Exorcist," Warner Bros. Pictures, 1973]

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

What's been happening on the rest of IFC.com:

      + Video: Lars Ulrich Loves Indie Film - The Metallica drummer on how '07 was a great year for independent film, his friendship with Thomas Vinterberg and why there's still hope for low-budget cinema.

      + Feature: Four Actor-Director Duos Who Are Joined at the Hip - Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott aren't the only actor/director pair attempting to be the John Wayne/John Ford of our time.

      + Interview: Eugene Hütz on "Filth and Wisdom" - Wrangling with the Gogol Bordello frontman over perversity, mustaches and his role in Madonna's directorial debut.

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

A round-up of what's been happening on the rest of IFC.com:

      + Interview: Wayne Coyne on "Christmas on Mars" - The Flaming Lips frontman on his first feature, the Large Hadron Collider, "90210" and space ovens.

      + Interview: Chuck Palahniuk on "Choke" - The "Fight Club" author on the latest adaptation of his work, making people faint and coded security announcements.

      + On DVD: Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy, "Shadow" - Michael Atkinson on Criterion's new set of three films from the Finnish master of deadpan and a "mysterious and rarely discussed work" from the Polish New Wave.

      + IFC News Podcast #95: From Fantastic Fest - Matt Singer and I report, a little worse for the wear, from the country's largest genre festival in Austin, TX.

      + Opening This Week: Ladyboys, sex addicts, Spike Lee - Neil Pedley rounds up what's new in theaters.

Want these updates to be sent to you each week? Email us and we'll add you to our list.

[Photo: "Christmas on Mars," Cinema Purgatorio/Warner Bros., 2008]

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

A round-up of what's been happening on the rest of IFC.com:

      + Interview: Diane English on "The Women" - The director defends softening up George Cukor's 1939 "bitchfest" into a celebration of female friendship.

      + Review: "Burn After Reading" - Matt Singer calls the Coens' comedy "one of their zaniest, most immature films in the best possible way."

      + List: Remaking Your Own Foreign Language Film - Five international directors who rehashed their own work in good ol' American English.

      + Interview: Jamie Kennedy on "Heckler" - The actor/comedian leaps (sort of) into the "does criticism matter" fray and comes up with an interesting toaster metaphor.

      + On DVD: "Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis," "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" - Michael Atkinson on Mary Jordan's documentary that's a :smashing introduction into the world of mid-century, iconic D.I.Y. rooftop moviemaking," as well as a one of the great masterpieces of American television.

      + IFC News Podcast #93: Debating Two Toronto Films - Matt Singer and I go yeah/nay and nay/yeah on "Miracle at St. Anna" and "Happy-Go-Lucky."

      + Opening This Week: A 9/11 noir, a Flaming Lips film and a Coens comedy - Neil Pedley rounds up what's new in theaters.

Rooftop shorts online: "The Hardest Goal", Steve Watson's doc on the village of Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide Football Match, also known as "mob football"; and "Wood," David Fenster's look at the workers, machines and raw material along the path of timber from the forest to the sawmill.

Want these updates to be sent to you each week? Email us and we'll add you to our list.

[Photo: "Burn After Reading," Focus, 2008]

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (4)

A round-up of what's been happening on the rest of IFC.com:

      + List: If the Slipper Fits... Five Cinderella Reinventions - Matt Singer on five more unconventional takes on the Cinderella story, from Leonardo da Vinci as the fairy godmother to a cell phone filling in for a lost slipper.

      + Interview: Ken Leung on "Year of the Fish" - The New York actor best known for his role on "Lost" talks about superstition, his Chinatown childhood, being an Asian-American actor and his new film "Year of the Fish."

      + Video: Impact Film Festival at the DNC - IFC's political correspondents check in with filmmakers Stuart Townsend (there with "Battle in Seattle"), Stefan Forbes ("Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story") and the director of the Impact Film Festival, which has just wrapped in Denver and now heads to St. Paul for the RNC.

      + On DVD: "Please Vote for Me," "Primo Levi's Journey" - Michael Atkinson on Weijun Chen's documentary on a Chinese third-grade election ("there may not be a more potent new film to see this election year") and Davide Ferrario's cinematic tracking of Primo Levi's route upon being released from Auschwitz in 1945.

      + IFC News Podcast #91: A Salute to Manny Farber and Termite Actors - Taking a cue from both late critic Manny Farber's idea of termite art and from the movie doldrums of late August, Matt Singer and I pay our respects to our favorite working leads in good-bad films.

      + Opening This Week: Vin Diesel saves the world, Takashi Miike goes west - Neil Pedley rounds up what's new in theaters.

Rooftop shorts online: "A Loud Color", Brent Joseph's documentary portrait of a New Orleans man returning to rebuild the community center he opened one month before Hurricane Katrina struck. and "The Braggart," David Andalman's drama starring "The Legend of Lucy Keyes"'s Anna Friedman as a girl who brags to get attention, only to find that when it matters most, no one believes her.

[Photo: Ken Leung - "Year of the Fish," Gigantic Releasing, 2008]

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

A round-up of what's been happening on the rest of IFC.com:

      + Feature: An Appreciation of Anna Faris - R. Emmet Sweeney wonders when the comedienne "capable of out-dumbing Judy Holliday and out-ditzing Carole Lombard" will finally get her due.

      + Feature: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (in Woody Allen's Movies) - Matt Singer on the 40 years Allen has spent making "movies about sex without ever actually featuring it."

      + Interview: Azazel Jacobs on "Momma's Man" - The director of the acclaimed Sundance feature starring his real-life parents as something like themselves would rather just talk about The Clash.

      + Video: Ludivine Sagnier - A quick interview with the star of "A Girl Cut in Two" and the upcoming "A Secret."

      + On DVD: Lech Majewski, "Brand Upon the Brain!" - Michael Atkinson on the Polish filmmaker who "may be one of the most pretentious filmmakers alive and working. Or is he a visionary?"

      + IFC News Podcast #90: Our Fall Indie Film Preview - Matt Singer and I pick the ten fall indie films we haven't yet seen and are most looking forward to.

      + Opening This Week: Tori Spelling does H.P. Lovecraft, Steve Coogan's sexy Jesus - Neil Pedley rounds up what's new in theaters.

Rooftop shorts online: "Rocket Science!", an animated B-movie spoof directed by Sam Morrison; and "Mister Smile," Fran Krause's short drawing "from the tropes of B-movie horror films, classic children's animation and especially 'Night of the Hunter.' "

[Photo: Viggo Mortensen in Lech Majewski's "Gospel According to Harry," Kino, 1994]

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 1 Comments | Recommended (3)

In what will hopefully be a regular Friday thing, I'm going to start listing the week on the site outside of this blog to catch anything that may have slipped through the cracks:

      + Interview: Fred Durst on "The Longshots" - Aaron Hillis talks with the Limp Bizkit frontman about how he'd like to be taken seriously as a filmmaker.

      + Interview: Whit Stillman on "Metropolitan" - Stephen Saito caught up with the king of the '90s comedies of mannerlessness to find out what he's been up to in the decade since "The Last Days of Disco."

      + List: Ten Disturbingly Powerful Fictional Film Corporations - Nick Schager on the ultimate movie monsters - the malevolent corporate behemoths that tend to haunt sci-fi films.

      + On DVD: Larisa Shepitko, "A Throw of Dice" - Michael Atkinson on a set showcasing one of the foremost figures of the Soviet New Wave, along with Franz Osten's1929 work of Euro-exoticism.

      + IFC News Podcast #89: Famously Disastrous Film Productions - Matt Singer and I sum up film productions legendarily troubled by accidents, untimely deaths, unchecked egos, runaway budgets and the acts of an unforgiving god.

      + Opening This Week: Jazz living, Asian-influenced horror and Woody Allen - Neil Pedley rounds up what's new in theaters.

Rooftop shorts online: "Polvo" (Dust), a Spanish narrative, directed by Ylva Forner, about a young woman working as a maid who receives an unexpected side offer; "Revolution Of The Crabs," Arthur de Pins' animated film telling the story of "a self-defeated Marbled Rock Crab and his species' 120 million years of tragedy"; and "One Skin," Gudrun Cram-Drach's animated short that also recently screened in the experimental program of this year's Animation Block Party.

[Photo: Fred Durst on the set of "The Longshots," MGM, 2008]

By Alison Willmore in The week on IFC.com | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (3)