Indie Cine

Sep 12 2008

Ebert Attacked, This Time Not By Roeper or Thyroid

Now I expect this behaviour from Kayne West – an egotistical rapper who thinks the world is his playground and also his punching bag. West was arrested today at LAX after he and a bodyguard attack TMZ photographers and smashed their cameras (Although unrelated to the story at hand, got here to watch the video of Kayne in attack mode).

But did I expect to hear that New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick would attack his physically crippled peer Roger Ebert at a screening yesterday during the Toronto International Film Festival? No, not until I read the following story in the Chicago Sun-Times. Personally, I find the incident in question, as I hope you do, completely absurd and hilarious, even despite the fact that Ebert followed up the original story (wherever it was first published) with this post on his blog, saying, “a fellow critic whacked me with a rolled-up program or a festival binder or something. It has been blown out of proportion. It is of little interest.” Read the following article and let me know what you think.

Ebert confirms fellow critic hit him at Toronto Film Festival
By Phil Rosenthal | Tribune media columnist
4:56 PM CDT, September 11, 2008
Though Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert no longer spars over movies with fellow critics on TV, it turns out the 66-year-old reviewer whose speaking voice has been lost to the effects of cancer treatment still has to defend himself from other reviewers — physically, if not verbally.
By e-mail Thursdsay, Ebert corroborated a New York Daily News report that New York Post film reviewer Lou Lumenick whacked the venerated Chicago critic with a binder during a screening last week at the Toronto Film Festival.
Lumenick reportedly was annoyed by being tapped on the shoulder by whomever was sitting behind him, so he got up, turned around and took a swing. Only afterward did Lumenick apparently realize he had hit Ebert, who had simply been trying to silently request Lumenick shift in his seat so as to not to block his view.
“[Lumenick] hit him so hard everybody could hear it,” a source told the Daily News. “Everyone freaked out and turned around.”
Lumenick did not respond to an e-mailed Tribune request for additional details.
Ebert wrote in a story posted to suntimes.com that the incident “has been blown out of proportion [and] is of little interest.” But he also noted his wife, Chaz, who did not witness what happened, was taken aback when she learned of it.
“Her reaction when she heard: ‘I’ll get a no-neck guy from the West Side to break his knees,’” he recalled. “Just rhetorical, I trust.”

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Sep 11 2008

El Godfather Uno, Dos, Tres, Restoration Update

Published by dwhitney under Indie Movies

You don’t have to be an Art History grad student to appreciate the obvious difference in image quality apparent in the above frames of both the original and restored prints of The Godfather. Tomorrow will be day one of NY’s The Film Forum, limited engagment of The Godfather Part I and II which I had discussed in this earlier post. These limited screenings are just a preview for the September 26 DVD/Blu-ray release of all three films. The trailer for the resorted Films and DVD’s is below, and be sure to check out TheGodfather.com where you can watch various features of the editing and restoration that was done.

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Sep 11 2008

The Soloist Trailer

Published by dwhitney under Indie Movies, Up and Coming

I am sitting here watching the very engaging 2008 documenatary kicking It on ESPN and feeling very enlightened on the Homelessness issue. The movie follows six homeless men from around the world as they gear up for the 4th annual Homeless World Cup soccer tournament in Cape Town South Africa. I recommend you go here to learn more about the movie and keep an eye on ESPN2 because I am sure they will be airing it again.

Anyways, while watching Kicking It, I was reminded of a trailer I had seen earlier in the day for a film called The Soloist. This film stars Robert Downey Jr. as real life L.A. Times Journalist Steve Lopez who discovers a left behind homeless musical genius named Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx. And while this film clearly takes a more Hollywood approach to the issue (read across from Resurrecting the Champ, August Rush, and Reign Over Me), it clearly hits all the right notes. Take for example two excellent actors, Jamie Foxx with a Miles David haircut circa Amandla era, and a running soundtrack of Bach Cello Prelude in Gm. And seeing as Foxx already won an Oscar in a musical role for his work in Ray, I don’t think that Oscar buzz for this movie is out of the question.

The Soloist, which will debut November 21st, is conceived from Steve Lopez’s original articles, written by Susannah Grant (28 Days and Erin Brockovich), and directed by Atonement’s Joe Wright.

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Sep 10 2008

Kubrick’s Boxes

Published by dwhitney under Documentaries

I have always been fascinated with the 610 cardboard boxes that encompass Andy Warhol’s Time Capsules; his attempt to document the 1960’s through the 1980’s. I imagine that for a museum curator, the thought of riffling through the great artist’s boxes of magazine clippings, photographs, and random correspondences, is attune to that first walk through King Tut’s Tomb. It is a look into the mind, or at least the thought process, of a great mystery. However, in Jon Ronson’s documentary “Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes” I discovered over at /film, I learned that Warhol’s 610 is the collection of an amateur.

Stanley Kubrick had throughout his life ammassed over 1,000 cardboard carriers filled to the brim with his intense desire to research set, costume, and historical perspective on his films to the nth degree. To me, these boxes represent the true brilliance of Kubrick’s mind and his films. This is because I assume, more than I know, that today’s film directors rely on amongst others, production designers, costumers, and historians, to handle the very small pieces of the monumental task that is the creation of a Hollywood movie. Well, Kubrick’s movies were the definition of monumental and he oversaw and obsessed about every detail of his works. And on top of all this, he somehow found the time to grade and categorize his fan letters as well as design the optimal box to store them.

These boxes which once filled Kubrick’s home, now reside at the University of the Arts London, but to truly understand their meaning, or lack thereof, watch the 49 minute documentary below. It turns out that in his later life, most specifically the 12 years between Full Metal Jacket and his final film Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick worked on his boxes most relentlessly in order to discover his next story. To me, the most eerie, compelling, and filmable story was the obsession and legacy he was fitting inside these boxes you will see below.

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Sep 03 2008

The Business of Indie

Published by dwhitney under Commentaries, Film Festivals

After mentioning Variety Editor Peter Part’s dire op-ed Why Art House Movies are on the Endangered Species List in an earlier post, and then mentioning how promising Good looked, a film premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, I figured the following article would be of some interest.

But as Anthony Kaufman mentions in his article TORONTO ‘08 | Assessing the Business Landscape as TIFF Gets Underway this Week, “Myths die hard in the film business. But the fairytale that says an independent movie goes into a film festival, sparks a bidding war and gets sold for millions and millions of dollars is fading fast.”

The entire article, which can be read here, focuses on how the distribution process works for independent film. Basically, movie buffs see a trailer or here some news for an unsigned film, and then read the reviews from the press who have seen it at a festival like that upcoming in Toronto. If the film is lucky, it will be picked up by a studio, and then released anywhere from a few theaters in New York and LA, to the golden ticket, a few thousand or more theaters across the country. Well according to Kaufman, things in the Indie marketplace may be changing. The article is an interesting read for any indie film lover curious about how the movies get from the factory to your plate.

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Sep 02 2008

Good, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Published by dwhitney under Up and Coming, War Movies

If World War II were a character actor, it is quite possible that its IMDB filmography could rival that of Michael Caine. Maybe.

The point is, we see so many World War II movies released every year, that many good ones are often overlooked. So with the impending release of big name WWII dramas like Defiance and Valkyrie, don’t forget about the two indies shown blow.

Good is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, written by John Wrathall, based on a C.P. Taylor play, directed by Vicente Amorim, and stars
Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs. The IMDB plot synopsis follows:

“John Halder (Mortensen) is a ‘good’ and decent individual with family problems: a neurotic wife, two demanding children and a mother suffering from senile dementia. A literary professor, Halder explores his personal circumstances in a novel advocating compassionate euthanasia. When the book is unexpectedly enlisted by powerful political figures in support of government propaganda, Halder finds his career rising in an optimistic current of nationalism and prosperity. Seemingly inconsequential decisions lead to choices, which lead to more choices… with eventually devastating effect.”


Good film
by coolvibesinfo

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is expected to be released on Nov. 7, written and directed by Mark Herman, and is based on the John Boyne novel of the same name. The IMDB plot synopsis follows:

“Set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.”

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Aug 28 2008

Towelhead Controversy Has Arrived

When I originally “>discussed the movie Towelhead I mentioned that it would not be long before this story of an Arab-American teenage girl caught in lustful relationship with a much older neighbor received some serious controversy. I just figured that controversy would be geared toward its risque content. However, I am not surprised problems have recently arisen with the film’s title.

When the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, it went by the title Nothing is Private, but somewhere along the line it became Towelhead. Well, for obvious reasons, this titled angered the Council on American-Islam Relations who asked Warner Brothers to change it. But since the Council’s original protest, they have merely asked for a detailed explanation ofthe use of such a racial epitaph. Below you will see the response from the author of the film’s source material, Alicia Erian, Warner Brothers, the company releasing the film, and the film’s director Alan Ball.

ALICIA ERIAN
As an Arab-American woman, I am of course aware that the title of my book is an ethnic slur. Indeed, I selected the title to highlight one of the novel’s major themes: racism. In the tradition of Dick Gregory’s autobiography Nigger, the Jewish magazine Heeb, or the feminist magazine Bitch, the title is rude and shocking, but it is not gratuitous. Besides the fact that the main character must endure taunting about her ethnicity (including being called a towelhead), so much of the novel’s plot is fueled by the characters’ attitudes toward race.

I was not contacted by any organization or group when my novel was released in 2005. I don’t know if this was because no one had heard about my book, or because they didn’t feel it would have as much of an impact as a film. Having lived in a world in which my book has existed without protest for the past three years, however, I feel I have at least some view onto what to expect from the public in terms of a response. The bottom line is, never once have I encountered anyone who didn’t understand the seriousness of the word “towelhead” and all its implications.

This is not to say that I don’t find these concerns legitimate — I absolutely do. We live in a racist society, one in which people continue to use ethnic slurs to delineate those who are different than they are. Realistically speaking, though, these people are neither the audience for my book, nor for the film. They will continue to use whatever language they wish whether or not a movie called “Towelhead” is released. For this reason, I am pleased that Warner Bros. is standing by the title.

Towelhead, like its many cousins — nigger, spic, gook, etc. — is an ugly word. The job of the artist, however, has been, and always will be, to highlight that which is ugly in the hopes of finding something beautiful. This charge, by necessity, will at times put the artist at odds with admirable groups such as CAIR. The solution, it seems to me, is not to force the artist to alter his or her work, but instead to use the occasion of that work as an entry point for meaningful debate and discussion

ALAN BALL

As a gay man, I know how it feels to be called hateful names simply because of who I am. Therefore, I felt it was important to retain the title of Alicia Erian’s novel, in which she so effectively dramatizes the pain inflicted by such language, something many people of non-minority descent never have to face. I believe one of the unintended consequences of forbidding such words to be spoken is imbuing those words with more power than they should ever have, and helping create the illusion that the bigotry and racism expressed by such cruel epithets is less prevalent than it actually is, which we all know is sadly not the case.

WARNER INDEPENDENT PICTURES

One of the ideas conveyed in the film is that we all make assumptions about each other, without knowing, based on racial stereotypes. It was our goal in releasing “Towelhead” to help make this point.

Some of our past releases, like “Paradise Now, ” were extremely controversial and elicited demands that the film not be released; “Good Night, and Good Luck.” drew criticism from some as well. Warner Bros. supported the release of these films then, as they do now of “Towelhead,” as a medium to create dialogue and support the expression of ideas, as controversial or as unpopular as they may be. We apologize for any offense that is caused by this title but support Alan Ball and Alicia Erian in this effort.

Dr. William Blizek, Founding Editor, Journal of Religion and Film; Professor of Philosophy and Religion, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Dr. Amir Hussain, Associate Professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles; Author of Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God (2006)
Dr. John Lyden, Professor and Chair of Religion, Dana College; Chair of the Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Group of the American Academy of Religion; Author of Film as Religion: Myth, Morals, Rituals (2003)
Dr. Rubina Ramji, Film Editor, Journal of Religion and Film; Professor of Religious Studies (Islam and media), Cape Breton University
Rev. Danny Fisher, Doctoral Candidate, University of the West

The concept of cinema can be described as ‘the cultural transmission of symbolic forms’ which include actions, utterances, images and texts and are embedded in structured social contexts which involve relations of power. These forms are produced by subjects and are recognized as meaningful constructs. As a form of entertainment, it also plays ‘a leading role in shaping attitudes and ideas, including political ideas’. In-depth studies of Arabs and Muslims in Hollywood films over the past eighty years have found that out of the nine hundred films examined, only five percent of all the movies (approximately fifty movies) debunked the barbaric image of Islam.

There are very few films that show Islam in a positive light. Dr. Rubina Ramji, Film Editor for the Journal of Religion and Film, is one the scholars who has researched the images of Islam in Hollywood films. Dr. Ramji screened Towelhead at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and found that this film is indeed one of those few that promote different faiths and the challenges faced by these groups in America, while offering a much more balanced representation. Using the derogatory term “towelhead” as the film’s title, in the context of this film, provides a different meaning to the term, one that encourages viewers to observe these challenges first-hand and to better understand how Muslim characters have been stereotypically displayed in previous films.

By bringing forth the racist attitudes which have arisen about Muslims living in America, Towelhead openly reveals projected fears about difference and offers a constructive, yet difficult, approach to bring forth understanding. We, the undersigned scholars, have spent years researching and understanding the impact that cinema has had and continues to have on various religious groups in American culture. We hope that the true intentions of the semi-autobiographical novel, written by Alicia Erian, who has encountered such racism as an Arab-American, will continue to be accurately reflected in the film Towelhead, by leaving the title as is – a thought-provoking and difficult term that needs to be deconstructed.

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Aug 27 2008

R.I.P. Independent Film

Published by dwhitney under Indie Movies

According to Peter Part, editor of Variety Magazine, independent film is finished, as gleamed from his blog post titled :Why Art House Movies are on the Endangered Species List. Go ahead and read the entire post below and let me know what you think.

I must have been preoccupied because I missed the ‘thud.’

The sound, that is, of the specialty film business landing in the basement.

I didn’t think things were that dire until I saw the numbers assembled by Variety’s box office guru, Pam McClintock. Box office totals to date for 2008 specialty films from the studio-owned art house divisions totaled $161 million to date, compared to $330 million last year and $418 million in 2006.

Little wonder that the acquisitions folks from these divisions heading for Toronto and other festivals show little desire to buy new movies for distribution. (Why are they going? You might ask.)

What these numbers say is simply this: In McClintock’s words, “The worst thing that ever happened to indie film was that the studios decided it was a good business.”

Her numbers include the studio units plus the Weinstein Co. They also include those New Line releases that do not fall into the bigger-budget category.

What’s responsible for these trends? The expectations of the studios for their art films were too high. Their production budgets were too lofty and their marketing budgets too ambitious.

But here’s a bigger question: The filmmakers out there aren’t coming through, either. There are more indie movies being made but, for some reason, they don’t reflect the passion and artistic clout of films of the ‘60s or ‘70s.

“The kids are all trying to be commercial and they’re falling on their faces,” says the chief of one of the specialty divisions who doesn’t want to be quoted.

That may be facile. But something is going wrong in the process and, in the end, it’s the filmgoer who will suffer.

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Aug 26 2008

New York, I love You (Trailer)

Published by dwhitney under Indie Movies, Up and Coming

If the film Noise wasn’t your idea of a glowing testament to NYC, then have a stab at the trailer for New York, I Love You, a multi-story, multi-actor, mult-writer, multi-director, mega-multi-star-studded follow up from the producers of the equally flattering Paris, je t’aime.

Opening on February 13, New York, I love You is composed of 12 stories, written and directed from various who’s who, that come together in some way throughout the film. Among the many to star include:

Kevin Bacon, Justin Bartha, Maggie Q, Orlando Bloom, James Caan, Hayden Christensen, Blake Lively, Julie Christie, Bradley Cooper, Chris Cooper, Drea de Matteo, Carla Gugino, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Irfan Khan, Shia LaBeouf, Cloris Leachman, Natalie Portman, Rachel Bilson, Christina Ricci, Olivia Thirlby, Goran Visnjic, Eli Wallach, Robin Wright Penn, Anton Yelchin, and Burt Young.

And among the many to direct include:

Yvan Attal, Scarlett Johansson, Shekhar Kapur, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner, Jiang Wen


"New York I love you" Teaser
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Aug 22 2008

Soundtracks’ Big Night

Published by dwhitney under Indie Movies

Up until about two minutes ago, I didn’t think there was anybody other than Quincy Jones, Randy Newman, or John Williams that did movie soundtracks. Welcome to the World Soundtrack Awards and their 2008 list of nominees. This is the 8th incarnation of the awards and will be held on October 18th.
You may not actually care who wins any of these awards, but did any of the nominated films/songs stand out to you. Is a great soundtrack one that blends seamlessly with the visuals or does it stand out on its own? Are there any glaring omissions in the three categories?

FILM COMPOSER of the YEAR
(award can be presented in respect of one film or a body of work in the year)

o ALEXANDRE DESPLAT (THE GOLDEN COMPASS)
o JAMES NEWTON HOWARD (CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, MICHAEL CLAYTON, I AM LEGEND)
o ALBERTO IGLESIAS (THE KITE RUNNER)
o DARIO MARIANELLI (ATONEMENT)
o JOHN POWELL (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE of the YEAR

o 3:10 TO YUMA BY MARCO BELTRAMI
o ATONEMENT BY DARIO MARIANELLI
o THE KITE RUNNER BY ALBERTO IGLESIAS
o THERE WILL BE BLOOD BY JONNY GREENWOOD
o WALL-E BY THOMAS NEWMAN

BEST ORIGINAL SONG WRITTEN DIRECTLY FOR FILM

o ‘DESPEDIDA’ from Love in the time of cholera
Music by: Antonio Pinto and Shakira, Lyrics by: Shakira, Performed by: Shakira

o ‘DOWN TO EARTH’ from Wall-E
Music by: Thomas Newman and Peter Gabriel, Lyrics by: Peter Gabriel, Performed by: Peter Gabriel

o ‘DO YOU FEEL ME’ from American Gangster
Music and Lyrics by: Diane Warren, Performed by: Anthony Hamilton

o ‘GUARANTEED’ from Into the Wild
Music and Lyrics by: Eddie Vedder, Performed by: Eddie Vedder

o ‘A HERO COMES HOME’ from Beowulf
Music and Lyrics by: Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri, Performed by: Robin Wright Penn / Idina Menzel

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