Podcaster, IFC News on-air host and general man about town Matt Singer is getting hitched, and in honor of his impending nuptials, this week’s podcast takes a look at significant film wedding scenes, two of our favorite wedding movie clichés, and the heated discussions that have sprung from this year’s major marital-themed picture, Jonathan Demme’s…
Arnaud Desplechin’s haute holiday tale “A Christmas Tale” is probably my favorite film of the year, barring a few yet-unseen stragglers like “Benjamin Button,” and from the reviews it’ll probably make plenty of critic top ten lists. Therefore Armond White at the New York Press dutifully dislikes it, though despite the requisite snipe at the…
Half grimy portrait of Mumbai poverty, half fable by way of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” Danny Boyle’s new film “Slumdog Millionaire” was a hit at Toronto, where it won the Audience Award, and is a solid candidate for a sleeper hit in the new “Juno” sense of the term, given that the film’s…
RogerEbert.com has switched over from the usual four star rating system to a mix of stars and thumbs, which makes for an interesting repurposing of the two digit approval system over which the critic got into a tiff with Disney. The thumbs, which have been sort of replaced by “See It/Skip It/Rent It” on the…
Does this Bond need saving? On this week’s IFC News podcast, we look at the reinvention of the James Bond character in franchise reboot “Casino Royale” and the new “Quantum of Solace,” including what’s worked, what hasn’t, the shadow of the Bourne films and whether in updating the franchise and the character the new film…
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…
Genius? Overrated? Jean-Claude Van Damme plays “himself” in Mabrouk El Mechri’s meta-drama “JCVD,” caught in a bank robbery gone wrong in a trip back to Brussels to recuperate. It’s a film I enjoyed the hell out of, though general critical word is mixed, or perhaps just more bemused. At New York, David Edelstein calls it…
Among a certain group of critics, the mere mention of Roberto Benigni’s Holocaust… dramedy?… “Life is Beautiful” is enough to provoke hours of enraging ranting. It’s doubtful that Mark Herman’s “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” will endure in theaters or memory long enough to be worth such a reaction, but there’s still plenty of…
The still from George A. Romero’s new movie that’s up at USA Today is a completely uninspiring glimpse of a zombie extra with blood on her face and matted hair. But in the accompanying article, Romero makes the new film, which IMDb has labeled as “Island of the Dead” though USA Today maintains it’s untitled,…
The new issue of Bright Lights Film Journal is up online here, and the centerpiece is a particularly nice article from John Calendo on the remoteness of Hitchcock’s blondes and why the Vanity Fair recreations for that photo shoot early this year missed the mark: The numb starey Janet, the icy Tippi (in both The…
In the works: David Lynch has signed with digital media company On Networks to make a new web series! Unfortunately, it’ll be based on his book “Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity,” so it’s best to be ready for more transcendental meditation rantings than strange narratives. Lynch has offered up online videos before…
A tour around the interview circuit: “Personally, the opportunity to vote for someone like Barack Obama will be one of the greatest things I will have done in my life. The Republicans aren’t kidding when they say he’s the ‘most liberal’ senator in the Senate. When have we ever had the chance to vote for…
As avowed fans of “JCVD,” we’ve been trying to get an interview with Jean-Claude Van Damme for ages now, only to have him cancel without much notice. Today’s NY Post purports to have the reason behind this: JEAN-Claude Van Damme is canceling promotional appearances for his new flick, “JCVD,” over a puppy. The “Muscles From…
In “JCVD,” faded action icon Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a sadder-sack version of himself who returns to Brussels after losing his daughter in a bitter custody battle, hoping to regroup but unlucky enough to get caught in a botched bank robbery. It takes a special brand of self-awareness and sense of humor to play yourself…
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…
I liked Kevin Smith’s rom-com just fine when I caught it at Fantastic Fest last month, though I’m getting pretty tired of the Smith/Apatow tendency to obscure sappiness with poop jokes. Own it or get over it, boys. The critics are all over the place with “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” which is either…
The common refrain when describing Kurt Kuenne’s documentary “Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father” is that you shouldn’t — that the shocking events that occur over the course of the film should blindside audiences as much as they blindside the filmmaker and his subjects. But you wouldn’t be watching “Dear Zachary”…
For this Halloween week IFC News podcast, we look at the various professions and day jobs movie killers have before and during their turn to murder — everything from doctor to carnival clown — before celebrating our 100th episode, Jackie Chan-style, with violent outtakes* from podcasts past. Download: MP3, 31:05 minutes, 28.5 MB Subscribe to…
The man was Dolemite, not to mention otherwise funny like burning. From Mike White: Moore passed away at age 81 on Sunday October 19, 2008. Via rhymed couplets, free form verse, and dirty versions of the alphabet, Moore entertained audiences for decades. His best-remembered routine, “The Signifying Monkey,” continues to echo through the world of…
Here’s a trailer for “Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father,” Kurt Kuenne’s documentary that begins as a memorial to his murdered best friend and goes to even more distressing places from there. The film, which has had a very successful festival fun since its premiere at Slamdance, opens in New York…
Lance Hammer’s self-distributed Sundance hit “Ballast” is the favorite amongst the Gotham Awards nominees, with the film’s four nominations including Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, Best Breakthrough Director and Best Breakthrough Actor. The Gothams are now officially called the “Gotham Independent Film Awards,” and while their criteria for which films can be nominated are not…
Kim’s Video, the venerable New York City store famous for its massive, esoteric and not always legal collection of movies as well as its judgmental staff, is shutting down its rental business. This week on the IFC News podcast, we look at the legend of Kim’s, the decline of video stores in general, and, with…
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…
“And Bruce Willis as himself” — Barry Levinson’s industry satire “What Just Happened?” wasn’t the buzzy Sundance hit those who made it clearly had expected, despite a bright and shiny cast of biggish names like Robert De Niro, Robin Wright Penn, John Turturro, Stanley Tucci. Catherine Keener and the aforementioned Willis. In theaters today, it’s…
