By Jennifer Vineyard Bobcat Goldthwait is back behind the camera with his latest dark comedy, “God Bless America,” which is an indictment of stupidity, cruelty, and reality television, all of which inspire a killing spree when the lead character decides to shoot anyone and everyone he finds repellant. “Some people think this is an anti-gun…
By Jordan Hoffman At some point in mid-February one of the many publicists I deal with on a regular basis in New York asked if I was planning on going to the Sarasota Film Festival in April. If I had my druthers, I’d go, I said. I love film festivals. You watch movies all day…
By Jordan Hoffman If nothing else, “The Fourth Dimension” marks a new way for me to accord a film with a basement-level backhanded compliment. I won’t recommend you go so far as to rent it or catch it on cable, but I do urge you to, in time, watch clips of it YouTube. This anthology…
By Jordan Hoffman Gorgeous Swedish-Canadian actress Malin Akerman is in town to support “The Giant Mechanical Man” as it plays in the Tribeca Film Festival. During my conversation about that Jenna Fischer/Chris Messina romantic dramedy, I gave in to temptation and began discussing “Watchmen.” While Ms. Akerman remains blissfully unaware that I keep a small…
By Jennifer Vineyard Whit Stillman was worried when he discovered his “Damsels in Distress” star Adam Brody was about to shoot the “Deep Throat” movie “Lovelace.” “He said, ‘Oh no. I hope you’re not doing any nudity,’” the actor recalled when talking to IFC. But is Brody disrobing for his portrayal of Linda Lovelace’s co-star…
By Jennifer Vineyard The new Luc Besson sci-fi movie “Lockout,” which takes place in the year 2079, is less “The Fifth Element,” more “Die Hard” in its sensibilities — Guy Pearce plays a wisecracking action hero tasked with saving the President’s daughter (Maggie Grace) during a prison riot (and did we mention the prison is…
By Jennifer Vineyard It’s called “Damsels in Distress,” but Whit Stillman’s first movie in 14 years (like “Metropolitan,” “Barcelona,” and “The Last Days of Disco” before it) also has quite a few dudes in distress as well. This time, they are played by Adam Brody, Billy Magnusson, Ryan Metcalf, and Hugo Becker (best known for…
By Jennifer Vineyard Felicia Day is a geek goddess — after all, she’s the creator and star of the online gamer series “The Guild” (which in turn inspired Joss Whedon’s smash miniseries “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”) But what’s a goddess without a realm to rule over? Day’s solved that problem with her new YouTube channel…
By Andy Hunsaker It’s the great comedy dynamic – groups of uptight, hoity-toity, nose-in-the-air snobs against groups of down-to-earth, slovenly fun-seeking slobs. The haughty vs. the naughty is a genre unto itself. It had its heyday in the late 70s and throughout the 80s, but it’s hardly a dead notion, since all the kids who…
By Jennifer Vineyard Lynn Collins, who plays the female lead in “John Carter,” thinks she might have gotten an overdose of testosterone working on the film. “I feel like maybe my mustache has gotten thicker,” she laughed while on the phone with IFC. “Maybe I have a few chin hairs to pluck.” Since the cast…
By Chris Harris The pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, has already begun for most of this year’s attendees and performers. Bands are in vans, playing shows here and there as they make their way to the fabled home of South By Southwest, which has earned a much deserved reputation as one of America’s most consistent music…
By Jordan Hoffman Last year I saw 26 films at South By Southwest. I also ate a dinner plate-sized donut covered in bacon and maple icing. Yeah, it’s not a festival for the weak. This year’s lineup looks incredible – and a little intimidating. When you consider that SXSW is also loaded with music events,…
By Jordan Hoffman Movies about baseball, basketball or football present a vocation rich in glory, glamour and dignity. There haven’t been too many films about hockey, but each one I see makes it look like a tour in ‘Nam. “Goon,” directed by Michael Dowse and co-written by Jay Baruchel has the makings of a frat…
Don’t just watch the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards this weekend, celebrate them. How? Well, the good people at Film Independent have put together a guide to help you plan your Spirit Awards party complete with a playlist inspired by this year’s nominees, a list of (similarly inspired) cocktails, ballots for your guests to make…
By Jordan Hoffman There are two things that always bring a smile to my eyes: murderous space aliens and drunken Irishmen. “Grabbers,” a delightful little romp playing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is surely the first movie ever to have both. A streak of light shoots through the night sky which spells mysterious doom…
By Jordan Hoffman There are some characters you love to hate. Like, you know, Severus Snape or Bill O’Reilly. But what about characters that you loathe – how can you spend an entire movie with them? That’s the question behind “The Comedy”, the new experiment in darkness starring Tim Heidecker that debuted at the Sundance…
By Jordan Hoffman Paul Giamatti was at the Sundance Film Festival promoting the whacked out paranormal adventure comedy “John Dies At The End.” He is an executive producer on the film, directed by Don (“Beastmaster”) Coscarelli, and has a supporting role as well. Someone else who has a supporting role is Clancy Brown, so this…
By Jordan Hoffman What’s scarier: ethereal creatures lurking in your bedroom at night or the thought of sitting through another “found footage” horror film? The cabal of independent filmmakers behind “V/H/S,” which tore the roof off of Sundance’s Library theater at its midnight debut, might have trouble answering that one. And like all good artists,…
By Jordan Hoffman After surviving near catastrophic ice-slips and trudging through what many Sundance veterans were calling the worst mid-fest snow storm in memory, I arrived, nose dripping, feet soaked and grumpy to talk to Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim and Will Forte. The grumpiness lasted roughly thirty-five seconds. These guys are about as friendly and…
By Jordan Hoffman There’s a moment early in “Celeste and Jesse Forever” when the very talented Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg are being sickeningly cute. We cut to their friends Ari Graynor and Eric Christian Olsen looking grossed out by their silly, “Hans and Franz read the dinner menu” shtick and the gag is “man,…
By Jordan Hoffman Not since John Waters’ “Desperate Living” has a feature film ever been more dedicated to stream-of-consciousness shock humor as Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim’s “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie.” It will simultaneously blow your mind and test your patience, offering bathtubs full of gross-outs, character oddities, baffling post-production tweaks, and, on…
By Russ Frushtick The new year is finally upon us and, chances are, you’re probably broke, thanks to one of the best gaming holiday seasons in recent memory. But it’s time to start saving up once more, as 2012 will be a doozie of a gaming year, as well. We’ve collected our list of the…
In September, IFC assembled the ultimate list of films, mostly childhood favorites, which we would like to see converted into 3D and re-released for audiences. Among those films was Randal Kleiser’s watershed coming-of-age story/sci-fi adventure, “Flight of the Navigator.” Last week, we actually got an opportunity to speak with Kleiser for the DVD release of…
With the possible exception of Steven Spielberg, no 1980s filmmaker was responsible for more watershed Generation X films than Randal Kleiser: starting with “Grease” in 1978, Kleiser created a seemingly neverending series of coming-of-age films, including “Summer Lovers,” “The Blue Lagoon,” “Flight of the Navigator” and “Big Top Pee Wee,” that continue to entertain and…
