Indieville

Ways to object to "Precious."

2009-11-06T17:22:00Z

For anyone familiar with habitual barnburner Armond White and his politics, it's zero surprise that the NY Press critic object strenuously to "Precious." His review of the film has, as usual, much food for the comment trolls, particularly in his insistence that, by attaching their names and confessing personal histories of abuse, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey are converting "their private agendas into heavily hyped social preoccupation," which I guess means... child abuse...(read more)

A guide to Roland Emmerich's early work.

2009-11-06T11:05:00Z

I've had so much fun writing about "2012," I'm almost sad it'll actually be coming out next Friday. Almost. In a fairly amazing recent interview with Roland Emmerich, the schlock auteur explains he could get away with casting John Cusack because "I make movies where the movie itself is the star" and says it's totally cool that "2012" is a whopping 158 minutes because "The ten most successful movies of all time are all around three hours long. My...(read more)

"Nailed" is back, Tony Kaye is probably not.

2009-11-05T22:45:00Z

David O. Russell ("I Heart Huckabees") and Tony Kaye ("American History X") are both fearsomely talented directors and, from most accounts, extremely difficult human beings; their projects attract trouble on a regular basis. Both had the bad luck to get tied up with Capitol Films when the company imploded. It's a complicated saga, but essentially Capitol heads David Bergstein and Ron Tutor owe a lot of people money and are trying to sell their remaining movies even though...(read more)

The Cinema Eyes love "The Cove."

2009-11-05T22:09:35Z

"The Cove," Louie Psihoyos' much-lauded documentary about Japanese dolphin hunting, is the big fish (heh) amongst this year's nominees for the Cinema Eye Honors, the awards dedicated to excellence in non-fiction filmmaking. "The Cove" was nominated in seven categories, including feature of the year, in which it will compete with Anders Ostergaard's "Burma VJ," Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc.," Darius Marder's "Loot" and Michael Palmieri...(read more)

TCM, now a film festival.

2009-11-05T20:36:00Z

There are over 700 film festivals worldwide, but only a few are devoted entirely to showing old movies -- which is odd, considering that these days, it's just as hard to see most older films in a theater as it is to see any of the new festival darlings. Those that do exist tend towards the obscure and specialized. MoMA's annual "To Save and Project" series (which is now in progress) alternates between the well-known (say, a new print of Cassavetes' "A Woman Under The Influence"...(read more)

Britain gets ready for rapsploitation.

2009-11-05T15:52:00Z

Unlike the US -- where the ghetto issue movie has for years been its own subgenre -- the UK only recently got with the program. Friday sees the release of the UK's first hip-hop musical, "1 Day," which shows how quickly their film industry is adapting to the inner-city turf it previously ignored. In 2004, there was the pioneering "Bullet Boy," followed soon by "Kidulthood" and its follow-up "Adulthood." Watching the trailers in chronological order, the...(read more)

"Gentlemen Broncos" gets corralled.

2009-11-04T19:44:45Z

Fox Searchlight has become to the '00s what Miramax was to the '90s: a company that gets known for putting out "niche" movies that aren't honestly the toughest of sells. With the trifecta of "Napoleon Dynamite," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Juno," they basically cracked open the window for the mainstreaming of Sundance quirk. But they've hit a wall this year, with the exception of "(500) Days of Summer": "Amelia" is tanking...(read more)

The death of the original screenplay...?

2009-11-04T14:07:00Z

This week's favorite Oscar topic, besides last night's announcement that Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will be co-hosting the awards, is where all the original screenplays have gone. The Hollywood Reporter's Steven Zeitchik points out the a dearth of obvious candidates for the "Best Original Screenplay" category. If "Up," "Inglourious Basterds" and "A Serious Man" are virtual locks, what else does that leave us with? Zeitchik proposes "(500...(read more)

Uwe Boll's "Darfur" drama.

2009-11-04T12:42:00Z

Like the part of Cannes you don't usually hear about, the American Film Market is the largely unglamorous event held every year in L.A. where film buyers and distributors from across the globe come to put the business back in show business, looking at the latest Sofia Coppola film in the same way they look as "The Whiffler," a comedy about a 'roided up whiffleball player -- that is, as products. Beginning tomorrow, films like Coppola's "Somewhere" will be debuting...(read more)

Roger Avary pioneers jail-tweeting.

2009-11-04T11:36:00Z

Until recently, Roger Avary was a respected if controversial writer/director, best known for "Rules Of Attraction" (easily the best of the Bret Easton Ellis adaptations) and for breaking up with video store-days friend Quentin Tarantino over accusations he was shafted on credit for the "Pulp Fiction" screenplay (he only got a story credit). On the geek side, Avary worked on "Silent Hill," "Beowulf" and a proposed upcoming adaptation of the "Return to Castle...(read more)

The Wes Anderson Happy Meal.

2009-11-03T15:05:00Z

It's expected that a blockbuster like "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen" get nonsensical tie-ins like Strawberry-Peanut Butter M&Ms -- junk movies spawn junk food. And we don't squawk in protest at "Twilight: New Moon" band-aids, if only because it takes a certain amount of wit (or, uh, greed) to propose using a vampire's face to stop bleeding. But then there are our auteurs, our artists, whose work is challenging, unusual, not just empty entertainment. Clearly...(read more)

Doom, gloom and Michael Haneke.

2009-11-02T22:26:00Z

As Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning laugh riot "The White Ribbon" opens in the UK and Sony Classics ramps up for the December 30th US release of the film, Hari Kunzru comes forth to praise the director and Stuart Klawans to (covertly) bury him. What's funny is they both end up pointing out the same thing. Kunzru -- the awesome British novelist whose "Transmission" is one of my favorite novels of the decade -- offers up his thoughts on the political context of Haneke's...(read more)

How to diss the dead.

2009-11-02T21:04:00Z

Robert Altman's been dead for nearly three years, and apparently the time for politeness is over. (Hey, it's longer than Heath Ledger got). Mitchel Zuckoff's "Robert Altman: An Oral Biography" hit shelves last Tuesday, a book built out of Altman's final interviews and the voices of his collaborators that doesn't skirt the fact that, however acclaimed he was as a filmmaker, Altman could be a real ***. Janet Maslin notes actor Michael Murphy's anecdote about how "Bob...(read more)

Barbet Schroeder's Don Draper.

2009-11-02T17:18:00Z

"Mad Man," the series with which every critic in the country seems to be smitten except me, lured no less than Barbet Schroeder in to direct last night's episode "The Grown-Ups," Schroeder's first venture into TV and the next-to-last installment of the season. (And one that -- whoops -- some found disappointing.) Schroeder's not the first unusual director to pop up in "Mad Men"'s three-season run, though, as an Oscar-nominee who filmed both General Idi...(read more)

Five obnoxious Troy Duffy quotes.

2009-10-30T17:40:00Z

This week saw the, er, proud return of Troy Duffy, writer/director of 1999's Boston-set cult favorite "The Boondock Saints," about the stylish side of vigilante violence, and its new sequel "Boondock Saints II," which arrives in theaters today. Duffy's also the resentful subject of 2003's "Overnight," a fascinating 2003 documentary-as-showbiz-cautionary-tale that showcases how he's not one of those people to whom modesty and introspection come naturally...(read more)