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DOPE is Genius

July 3, 2015 By 2 Comments

DOPE is Genius

DOPE is a provocative blend of gritty realism, gentle compassion, and piercing social satire that is so unlike anything that has come before that its maker, Rick Famuyima, may have just invented a new cinematic sub-genre in the spirit, and brilliance, of the Coen Brothers’ FARGO.  Boldly venturing into issues of identity, class, gender, sexuality,… Read More »

Tagged With: cinema, class issues, DOPE, film, geek culture, gender issue, hip-hop, movie, narrative, race relations, Rick Famuyima, social satire, The Bottoms

Stephen Winter Re-discovers JASON AND SHIRLEY

June 27, 2015 By 1 Comment

Stephen Winter Re-discovers JASON AND SHIRLEY

Click here to listen to the interview. When Shirley Clarke made PORTRAIT OF JASON, she was doing more than exercising her creative impulse. The Oscar™-winning director had been all but shut out of Hollywood, and returned to New York to pursue a career as an indie filmmaker rather than deal with being marginalized by the… Read More »

Tagged With: 1960s, African-American, Alan Ginsberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Perkins, Canada Lee, Carl Lee, cinema, civil rights, director, film, gay, Gus Van Sant, homophobia, Howl, interview, Jack Waters, James Baldwin, James Tobak, Jason Holliday, LGBT, Marion Crane, Miles Davis, MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, narrative, New York City, Orson Welles, PARIS IS BURNING, PORTRAIT OF JASON, PSYCHO, racism, River Phoenix, ruthlessness, Sarah Shulman, sexism, Shirley Clark, Stephen Winter, THE TRIAL

Maya Forbes’ Pet INFINITELY POLAR BEAR

June 19, 2015 By 1 Comment

Maya Forbes’ Pet INFINITELY POLAR BEAR

Click here to listen to the interview. Maya Forbes has been a screenwriter for years, with co-credits for MONSTERS AND ALIENS and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID to her credit. She was also a writer and story editor on HBO’s groundbreaking THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW. For her directorial debut, though, she chose a script she… Read More »

Tagged With: autobiography, based on a true story, bi-racia;, Bipolar Disorder, cinema, father-daughter, hypomania, Imogene Wolodarsky, Mark Ruffalo, Maya Forbes, mental illness, movie, narrative, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, race, Zoe Saldana

SAN ANDREAS’ Flight of Fancy

June 6, 2015 By 1 Comment

SAN ANDREAS’ Flight of Fancy

If nothing else, SAN ANDREAS is one of the finest advertisements ever made for the importance of emergency preparedness.  Those who survive the state-long earthquake that erupts on the eponymous fault line are either those who know to duck under a table or shelter by a solid wall, or those who are related to those… Read More »

Tagged With: blockbuster, Carla Gugino, disaster movie, Dwayne Johnson, Los Angeles, narrative, plate tectonics, SAN ANDREAS, San Francisco, The Rock, tsunami

Bertrand Bonello and Gaspard Ulliel Resurrect SAINT LAURENT

June 3, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Bertrand Bonello and Gaspard Ulliel Resurrect SAINT LAURENT

Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent rocked the fashion world of the 1960s and 70s, and he designed his image as carefully as he did any of his haute couture. When making a bio-pic about a legend like this, the trick is to say something that hasn’t been said before. That was the first thing I… Read More »

Tagged With: Amira Casar, Bertrand Bonello, bio-pic, fashion designer, French Cinema, Gaspard Ulliel, haute couture, Helmut Berger, high fashion, Lea Seydoux, Louis Garrel, narrative, Paris, Pierre Bergé, Rue Babylon, stars Jeremie Renier, Thomas Bidegain, Yves Saint Laurent

Wade Gasque and Mark Strano are TIGER ORANGE

June 2, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Wade Gasque and Mark Strano are TIGER ORANGE

Wade Gasque and Mark Strano are partners in the film business and in life. When I spoke to them by phone on June 2, 2015, the first question I had was about the sort of trust they have in each other when working on a film that is so personal to Strano. We went on… Read More »

Tagged With: Best Actor, father-son relationship, Frankie Valenti, fraternal relationship, Johnny Hazzard, LGBT, Mark Strano, movie, narrative, Outfest Grand Jury Award, single father, small town, TIGER ORANGE, Wade Gasque

ALOHA

May 28, 2015 By Leave a Comment

ALOHA

ALOHA is a glorious, unkempt disaster of a film.  Individual elements are ambitious, even praiseworthy, but the narrative arc of this comedy-drama about Hawaiian legends, the privatization of space, and a hunky guy with commitment issues falls apart almost as soon as the whirl-a-gig ride begins.  Credit where it’s due, though, writer-director Cameron Crowe is… Read More »

Tagged With: Air Force, feature, Hawaii, Hawaiian myths, Lomo, military, muddled, narrative, Pele, rom-com

A Pale Shadow of A POLTERGEIST

May 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment

A Pale Shadow of A POLTERGEIST

The original POLTERGEIST was said to have a curse attached to it.  Perhaps because the producers opted to use real skeletons rather than models because they were cheaper. Perhaps because taunting the supernatural might tick off the wrong non-corporal entity. Aside from the deaths associated with members of the original cast and crew, certainly the… Read More »

Tagged With: cinema, film, ghosts, haunting, horror, Jared Harris, narrative, POLTERGEIST, remake, Rosemary DeWitt, Sam Rockwell

Brett Haley Makes I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS Reality

May 17, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Brett Haley Makes I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS Reality

There’s a reason people will go out of their way to help Brett Haley. After only a few minutes, his generous nature is readily apparent, as is his delight in giving credit where he thinks it’s due. My only quarrel is that he might be giving too little to himself. True, the superb cast and… Read More »

Tagged With: Blythe Danner, Brett Haley, co-screenwriter, comedy-drama, director, feature, I'll SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS, narrative, ukulele

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

May 13, 2015 By Leave a Comment

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

George Miller first sent Mad Max blazing across the sere post-apocalyptic landscape in 1979 and thence onto cinematic legend. Sequels followed. Mel Gibson in the eponymous role rose to international fame and, eventually, Miller moved on to different sorts of classics with BABE and HAPPY FEET. Now, thirty years and more later, he is revisiting… Read More »

Tagged With: Charlize Theron, cinema, dystopian future, George Miller, Hugh Keays-Byrne, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, movie, narrative, Nicholas Hoult, patriarchy, post-apocalyptic, reboot, Sci-fi, Toecutter, Tom Hardy

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