In our newest series of sporadic posts, our contributors show screengrabs of IM conversations about random things that they wanted to talk about, but were to lazy to write another 150 words for. These are meant to be (hopefully) clever and succinct. 'Nuff said.
Let's face it: for the past decade or so, the Muscles from Brussels has been on the receiving end of a lot of jokes. In the post-YouTube world, it has been really tough to take Van Damme and the lot of his action B-movie colleagues seriously. Which is why this trailer really caught us off guard. Van Damme gets meta? Say it ain't so, Joe! The conceit is an interesting take on the state of action stars, and action movies in general. We hope that the idea stays fresh for more than the first act and plays out more like Dog Day Afternoon (except with Van Damme), rather than ninety minutes of "JCVD is old and broke" jokes.
We've been waiting for this one for a while. Coming to theaters soon is one of the most buzzed movies of the year, Let The Right One In. It's part romance, part coming of age story, and part fantasy. Well, we don't know about the fantasy part, but the idea of asking a vampire to be your girlfriend is, at least to us, bat shit crazy. Dude's trying to get some 'tang, but that chick is out for his sweet neck blood. The movie comes out in Los Angeles and New York on October 24th, but if you're in the City of Angels, you can check out a special screening next Tuesday at The Montalban as part of Flux/Nike Sportswear's Cinema Tuesdays series. The trailer can be seen on purty HD over at Apple.
Wow. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I'm somewhat a David Fincher fanboy. It's no surprise that the film I'm looking forward to most this year is what looks to be his most romantic film yet, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which reunites him with Brad Pitt, who plays a man who ages backwards. The second trailer for the film has been released on Apple's trailer website and I suggest you check it out.
On a side note, I think I've come around to like how digital looks nowadays. Granted, Fincher's films are always superbly lit and colored, but something about the patina seen on this trailer makes digital beautiful. It's not the beauty of celluloid, but something all it's own. Perhaps it's how close digital cinema has come to large format photography; the trailer looks like a Gregory Crewdson chromira print.
I don't think they're ready for this jelly. Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, releases his directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York in a couple of months and the boxfresh trailer has me hyped (and scared, if I'm to be completely honest). The early buzz is mixed and the release of the film could signal Kaufman's emergence as a great director on his own right, or it could spread the idea that the brilliance of his previous scripts were brought about by Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. Or it could turn out as just "okay", and he'll get another chance to swing for the fences.
Either way, the trailer displays some signature Kaufmanisms: characters yearning to create great work, the search for human connection, receding hairlines, etc. By the look of it, the film is not afraid to explore deep, dark places. I just hope there's a rewarding light at the end of the tunnel.
Remedee, a nonprofit organization aiming to give a voice to the youth and their issues by providing education and resources, will be making its debut over at Echo Park's SiteLA on September 18th. The event is presented by GOOD Magazine and will include an opening reception with free cocktails and a live set by DJ Morgan. Remedee will then premiere Reel Earth, a series of documentaries made by New Orleans youth.
The event is free, although you are required to RSVP via e-mail.
Filmaka.com has just added on another great film competition. This time they've teamed up with Cisco Systems and are looking for a 3 minute film about a digital crib.
Always one to put his money where his mouth is, political documentarian Michael Moore is making his film, Slacker Uprising, available for free download starting September 23rd. The documentary chronicles Moore's 2004 tour of colleges in background states as a way to encourage the students to vote.
The move to distribute the film is a contemporary extension of that cause-and a costly one at that. The film took about $2 million to make, with half of that amount coming directly out of the director's pocket. Moore plans for the film to be screened in private neighborhood screenings on October 4th, the "Night of A Thousand House Parties". If you like hard copies of your films, don't fret, the film will also be released on DVD on October 7th.
Sign up to be notified of when the film will be available for download at the official website. The trailer can be viewed below.
P.S. On a somewhat related note, I've changed my clan tag for Call of Duty 4 to "OBMA" and can count on getting shit for it in every game lobby and even getting teamkilled when playing Hardcore Team Deathmatch. Who knew conservatives were the only ones on XBox Live?
Looks like Bela Tarr is completely out of Gus Van Sant's system. GSV, as he shall be referred to from now on, spent the better part of the last decade trying to earn back his indie cred after directing Good Will Hunting, the Psycho remake, and Finding Forrester, by focusing on making long films with long takes about not-so-long lives. With those projects completely behind him, it looks like GSV is just about ready to return to mainstream Classical Hollywood Cinema with Milk, his soon to be released biopic about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to serve in public office.
I have to say, the movie looks damn good on many levels. GVS was able to cast the perennially angsty Sean Penn, the recently resurrected Josh Brolin, indie cred magnet Diego Luna, and jailbait magnet James Franco plus Harris Savides is lighting the whole soiree. A well-lit ensemble cast in a movie depicting the tragic death of a historical figure may sound like utter Oscar bait, but with GVS on the canvas chair keeping the saccharine levels low, I'm sure that this will definitely be one of the films to watch in 2008.
To celebrate it's fifteenth anniversary, indie film festival Slamdance is planning a year-long series of special events. The first of these events is a special screening of Director Du Jour Christopher Nolan's debut feature film, Following. For those who don't know Nolan by name, you surely have seen his work, whether it be the neo-noir instaclassic, Memento, or his latest, The Dark Knight.
The screening is scheduled for 8PM on Friday, September 5th at LACMA's Bing Theater. A Q&A session with Nolan will immediately follow the screening along with a hosted reception. Tickets can only be purchased online here, going for $20 each.
Red Bull is looking for visually striking, 2 to 3 minute films to play in their next installemtn of x13 - a series of cutting-edge work from around the world. Your film can be live-action, animated, tell a story, showcase an event, or any and all of the above. 13 winners get $3000 and 5 runners-up get $1000. Winning films may be broadcast on Red Bull TV. It's free to submit and entries are due Aug 17 - go to www.filmaka.com/redbull for more info.
An interesting article came from the Los Angeles Times the other day talking about the blurring of the lines between high-culture and low-culture. The general thesis is that mass-media has pretty much obliterated the divisive line between the two, with more and more typically snobby cultural elitists flocking to cinemas to watch summer blockbusters and "lowly" everyday people being exposed to high art, music, and film via culture sharing sites such as YouTube. Some of you might read this and yawn at the whole thing, but one of the more interesting points in the article is the idea that by accepting everything, the tables have turns and we're starting to experience guilt in finding pleasure in work of quality.
Instead of feeling guilty about reading pulp novels, he said, we worry that we've become "elitist" if we go see chamber music or jazz. "The culture as a whole seems to have decided which arts are elitist and which ones popular, and so made some people feel guilty to be watching European movies [otherwise known as art-house stuff] or to be reading novels not likely to be turned into screenplays."
It's a view that i've been agreeing with for some time and it's a shame that, culture, at its current state is more comfortable with professional academics checking TMZ every half an hour than with a kid at McDonald's going to watch a play. Recommended reading.
Hoop Dreams, the 1994 documentary about two Chicago teens frantically chasing their NBA dreams, can now be seen on Hulu for free. Granted, there will be commercial interruptions, but for people who have not seen this fantastic documentary and don't want to shell out twenty bucks to blind buy the Criterion Collection DVD, this movie can't be missed. As an example of how powerful this film is, here's what Jason Kilar, the CEO of Hulu, has to say about the film on his blog:
Please, if you have not seen this film, take the time to watch it. You won't regret it. It is a story that is painful and uplifting at the same time. And in my opinion, it possesses perhaps the most poignant and unvarnished line uttered in a documentary over the past 15 years.
