list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around The Hurt Locker on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/The_Hurt_Locker/389134/default.aspx Title: The Hurt Locker
Year: 2009
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Plot: Based on recently declassified information and the personal wartime experiences of journalist Mark Boal (who adapted his experiences with a bomb squad into a fact-based, yet fictional story), director Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker presents the ongoing conflict in the Middle East from the perspective of those who see the fighting firsthand -- the soldiers. As an elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team tactfully navigates the streets of present-day Iraq, they face the constant threat of death from incoming bombs and sharp-shooting snipers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 5
Number of Lists: 11
Number of blog posts: 10
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:29:39 GMTThe Hurt Locker2009Kathryn BigelowBased on recently declassified information and the personal wartime experiences of journalist Mark Boal (who adapted his experiences with a bomb squad into a fact-based, yet fictional story), director <a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P____81836/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kathryn Bigelow</a>'s Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker presents the ongoing conflict in the Middle East from the perspective of those who see the fighting firsthand -- the soldiers. As an elite Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team tactfully navigates the streets of present-day Iraq, they face the constant threat of death from incoming bombs and sharp-shooting snipers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide5Slightly Tagged (1-5)11104http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s389134.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/The_Hurt_Locker/389134/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/kevynknox/archive/2009/7/22/43231.aspx Post By: KevynKnox
Post To: KevynKnox Blog
Post Date: 7/22/2009 3:09:20 PM
Body: (this review was first published at www.thecinematheque.com on 07/19/09) There has been a veritable onslaught of Iraq war movies over the past few years. Both of the dramatic variety (Jarhead, The Kingdom, Redacted, Stop-Loss) and the documentary (Fahrenheit 9/11, Voices of Iraq, No End in Sight). Some have been pro-America. Most have been anti-war. Some gung-ho chest-thumping, some thought-inducing and philosophical. The one thing they all have in common is their attempt to document, from a non-fiction or fictionalized viewpoint, an event so fresh in moviegoers minds that it is still actually going on to this very day. What Kathryn Bigelow's new film, The Hurt Locker does, is take a completely different stand on the subject. Without seeming to be pro or anti anything, The Hurt Locker acts as a completely apolitical war film. What Bigelow shows is a group of three men, a bomb disposal crew, going through their daily routine in the craggled streets and bombed-out countryside of Baghdad. Three men who could at any moment, via an explosion, be sent to the "hurt locker". More than war, this film is about the psyche of human nature. We barely even get to see either a US or an Iraqi flag. If not for our pre-conceived knowledge, these men could be from anywhere. This movie could be from anywhere. It could be about anywhere. But this is Iraq and it is real. At least in the sense that it is something going on right this very moment. After all this, The Hurt Locker may well be the most personal war film I have ever seen. As far as the story itself goes, The Hurt Locker stars Jeremy Renner (a relatively unknown actor who is hopefully going to finally get the recognition he deserves with the release of this film) as Staff Sergeant William James, a wild cowboy soldier who dismantles bombs as if not having a care in the world. One general praises him for the 878 bombs he's defused so far as if he were a sports hero of some sort. The Babe Ruth of Baghdad. He is a gung ho redneck who thrives on the adrenaline that pumps through his veins as he is dismantling bombs. Refusing to wear the protective suit (it's not going to do anything up close and personal anyway) or heed any warnings from his anxious teammates, Sgt. James is a renegade out to prove something to someone, if only to himself. But James' loose cannon does not play well with his two teammates played by Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty. To these two, their brazen team leader seems the most dangerous man out there. There is even a conversation about killing their superior. It is a strange mix of anger and hate, with a sort of obligatory adoration, that serves these two soldiers only thirty-eight days from going home when they are assigned together. The love/hate tension comes to a boil in the relationship between the racist redneck James and Mackie's African American comrade. Eventually coming to a head the only way it can with men such as these. Mano y mano in a punching contest that, thanks to James' insistence on going too far, ends up with a knife at someones throat. I could, as many critics have, gone the route of highlighting the (quite obvious) fact that Kathryn Bigelow is a woman. A woman who has made a career out of playing with the boys in the usually male-dominated world of action cinema. With such testosterone-laden films as Point Break, Strange Days, Near Dark and K-19: The Widowmaker, not to mention her 1978 student film The Set-Up, which was a thesis on why violence is so seductive (plus she directed a few episodes of the gritty TV drama, Homicide: Life on the Streets) it is almost obligatory to question how a woman filmmaker can make such films. The question is unnecessary though. Male or female, one can have an eye for action. An eye for bravado. An eye for the bonding of men (or women). Bigelow seems to take us to the very edge of cliche but then turns us on our heads instead. Bigelow may be a pioneer of sorts, paving the way for future female action directors (if they ever show up), but to delve too deeply into such a theme only sells the filmmaker short. First and foremost, Bigelow is a director. A director who knows how to show action without it seeming comical. Something her male brethren like Michael Bay and his ilk cannot seem to do. Yet it is not this boys club her film seems in simpatico with. The filmic connections to John Ford's The Searchers is rampant throughout The Hurt Locker. So much so that Renner's Sgt. James could be seen as the evolutionary eventuality of John Wayne's iconic Ethan Edwards. Even Bigelow's final shot has Sgt. James, just like Ethan, turning his back on hearth and home and walking into the sunset with his demons. It is this bravado of character, this seeming death wish attitude that is the focal point of the film. As Renner's Sgt. James goes about his business, done in the most methodical manner and therefore spiking the tension level up to about 11, he is like a machine that can do no wrong – or more appropriately, a machine that, just like Ethan Edwards again, doesn’t care if he does wrong, as long as he gets the job done. It is this very adrenaline rush that he needs to keep on surviving doing what he is doing. There is a scene in a supermarket (while James is back home for a while) which shows this misplaced soldier in an unknown world, his eyes dead to the sterile environment around him. His eyes only alive when he is surrounded by war and getting his fix of action. Just watching this highly intense film is enough action for this critic. I'll leave the high risk jobs to the likes of Sgt. James and his real-life heroic ilk.
]]>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:09:20 GMTKevynKnoxKevynKnox Blog7/22/2009 3:09:20 PM(this review was first published at www.thecinematheque.com on 07/19/09) There has been a veritable onslaught of Iraq war movies over the past few years. Both of the dramatic variety (Jarhead, The Kingdom, Redacted, Stop-Loss) and the documentary (Fahrenheit 9/11, Voices of Iraq, No End in Sight). Some have been pro-America. Most have been anti-war. Some gung-ho chest-thumping, some thought-inducing and philosophical. The one thing they all have in common is their attempt to document, from a non-fiction or fictionalized viewpoint, an event so fresh in moviegoers minds that it is still actually going on to this very day. What Kathryn Bigelow's new film, The Hurt Locker does, is take a completely different stand on the subject. Without seeming to be pro or anti anything, The Hurt Locker acts as a completely apolitical war film. What Bigelow shows is a group of three men, a bomb disposal crew, going through their daily routine in the craggled streets and bombed-out countryside of Baghdad. Three men who could at any moment, via an explosion, be sent to the "hurt locker". More than war, this film is about the psyche of human nature. We barely even get to see either a US or an Iraqi flag. If not for our pre-conceived knowledge, these men could be from anywhere. This movie could be from anywhere. It could be about anywhere. But this is Iraq and it is real. At least in the sense that it is something going on right this very moment. After all this, The Hurt Locker may well be the most personal war film I have ever seen. As far as the story itself goes, The Hurt Locker stars Jeremy Renner (a relatively unknown actor who is hopefully going to finally get the recognition he deserves with the release of this film) as Staff Sergeant William James, a wild cowboy soldier who dismantles bombs as if not having a care in the world. One general praises him for the 878 bombs he's defused so far as if he were a sports hero of some sort. The Babe Ruth of Baghdad. He is a gung ho redneck who thrives on the adrenaline that pumps through his veins as he is dismantling bombs. Refusing to wear the protective suit (it's not going to do anything up close and personal anyway) or heed any warnings from his anxious teammates, Sgt. James is a renegade out to prove something to someone, if only to himself. But James' loose cannon does not play well with his two teammates played by Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty. To these two, their brazen team leader seems the most dangerous man out there. There is even a conversation about killing their superior. It is a strange mix of anger and hate, with a sort of obligatory adoration, that serves these two soldiers only thirty-eight days from going home when they are assigned together. The love/hate tension comes to a boil in the relationship between the racist redneck James and Mackie's African American comrade. Eventually coming to a head the only way it can with men such as these. Mano y mano in a punching contest that, thanks to James' insistence on going too far, ends up with a knife at someones throat. I could, as many critics have, gone the route of highlighting the (quite obvious) fact that Kathryn Bigelow is a woman. A woman who has made a career out of playing with the boys in the usually male-dominated world of action cinema. With such testosterone-laden films as Point Break, Strange Days, Near Dark and K-19: The Widowmaker, not to mention her 1978 student film The Set-Up, which was a thesis on why violence is so seductive (plus she directed a few episodes of the gritty TV drama, Homicide: Life on the Streets) it is almost obligatory to question how a woman filmmaker can make such films. The question is unnecessary though. Male or female, one can have an eye for action. An eye for bravado. An eye for the bonding of men (or women). Bigelow seems to take us to the very edge of cliche but then turns us on our heads instead. Bigelow may be a pioneer of sorts, paving the way for future female action directors (if they ever show up), but to delve too deeply into such a theme only sells the filmmaker short. First and foremost, Bigelow is a director. A director who knows how to show action without it seeming comical. Something her male brethren like Michael Bay and his ilk cannot seem to do. Yet it is not this boys club her film seems in simpatico with. The filmic connections to John Ford's The Searchers is rampant throughout The Hurt Locker. So much so that Renner's Sgt. James could be seen as the evolutionary eventuality of John Wayne's iconic Ethan Edwards. Even Bigelow's final shot has Sgt. James, just like Ethan, turning his back on hearth and home and walking into the sunset with his demons. It is this bravado of character, this seeming death wish attitude that is the focal point of the film. As Renner's Sgt. James goes about his business, done in the most methodical manner and therefore spiking the tension level up to about 11, he is like a machine that can do no wrong &ndash; or more appropriately, a machine that, just like Ethan Edwards again, doesn&rsquo;t care if he does wrong, as long as he gets the job done. It is this very adrenaline rush that he needs to keep on surviving doing what he is doing. There is a scene in a supermarket (while James is back home for a while) which shows this misplaced soldier in an unknown world, his eyes dead to the sterile environment around him. His eyes only alive when he is surrounded by war and getting his fix of action. Just watching this highly intense film is enough action for this critic. I'll leave the high risk jobs to the likes of Sgt. James and his real-life heroic ilk. http://www.spout.com/blogs/todddiroberto/archive/2009/7/18/43181.aspx Post By: ToddDiroberto
Post To: ToddDiroberto Blog
Post Date: 7/18/2009 12:07:46 PM
Body: This must be a great film http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/05/19/4186011.htm
]]>Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:07:46 GMTToddDirobertoToddDiroberto Blog7/18/2009 12:07:46 PMThis must be a great film http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/05/19/4186011.htm http://www.spout.com/blogs/todddiroberto/archive/2009/7/18/43180.aspx Post By: ToddDiroberto
Post To: ToddDiroberto Blog
Post Date: 7/18/2009 12:05:40 PM
Body: This must be a great film http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/05/19/4186011.htm
]]>Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:05:40 GMTToddDirobertoToddDiroberto Blog7/18/2009 12:05:40 PMThis must be a great film http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/05/19/4186011.htm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/2/27/40704.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 2/27/2009 6:01:50 PM
Body: Today’s news that Summit Entertainment has already chosen a release date for Eclipse, the third entry in theTwilight series, suggests the studio is in a hurry. With New Moon, the second entry in the series, currently in a production surge under the direction of Chris Weitz for a November 20 release date, Summit’s latest decision raises the bar even higher, by placing Eclipse right in the heat of summer 2010’s blockbuster season. What’s the rush? Former New Line marketing chief Russell Schwartz, whose resume includes a steadily successful franchise about hobbits and rings, offers one piece of advice for the newbies at Summit: Slow down. “They think the audience is going to grow up and get too old [for the movies] by the time two or three comes out,” Schwartz tells me. “But I honestly don’t believe it’s that crucial to have it out ever year, like Saw. I wish they would take more time, but I’m not making decisions for them.” Nevertheless, Schwartz knows a thing or two about the fledgling company’s current state. Having worked at New Line throughout the successful run of The Lord of the Rings series, he recognizes the difficulty of handling a massive franchise while simultaneously trying to maintain the studio’s specific brand identity with different releases. “You can’t chase a franchise, that’s for sure,” he says. “It’s one thing to exploit it and to finish its run, but [Summit] is not in that high stakes, big budget business. They’re more competitive with Lionsgate than they are with major studios.” Which, of course, explains the recent rumors that Lionsgate sought to buy out its nascent competitor. Whether or not such a deal was ever seriously considered, Lionsgate’s uneven track record in recent years — first it was a torture porn factory, now it’s ground zero of Tyler Perryville — may indicate to Summit that it shouldn’t make too much of a good thing. “If you are going to make all young girl movies, Twilight being a big one, you become the young, tween studio,” Schwartz says. “But you can’t be in that business seriously as a steady diet. When you’re not in the tentpole business, the key thing is to diversify.” On that front, at least, the company appears to have its bases covered. In addition to New Moon, Summit’s 2009 slate contains an odd blend of star-driven material and smaller, low budget projects. A recent series of previews shown at New York Comic Con showcased the variety: First, an exasperated Nicolas Cage made desperate attempts to thwart natural catastrophes predicted by a series of ominous numbers in director Alex Proyas’s March release Knowing; then, Jeremy Renner engaged in a detailed attempt to defuse a car bomb in Kathryn Bigelow’s quietly gripping The Hurt Locker; finally, an animated adolescent went swooping through the clouds in a CGI adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy. It almost felt like the projectionist grabbed a few reels at random on the way out the door. During its nearly invincible run with the LOTR movies, New Line had its fair share of diverse content, from dramas aimed at older demographics like the Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Notebook, to auteur-driven works such as David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. Both did strong business on a quantitatively separate scale from LOTR. New Line also had a few comedic successes — most notably, Wedding Crashers in 2005. Summit has yet to succeed on that front, having released the dud Sex Drive last year. For now, however, that’s a failure the studio can handle. “There was always one movie that took care of the year,” Schwartz recalls of his New Line days. “Then, you sort of bubbled through the rest of the year, and had some ups and downs and singles and doubles and strikeouts.” Schwartz thinks The Hurt Locker, which Summit purchased at the Toronto Film Festival and plans to release at the end of the summer, was a good buy for the company (assuming it ever releases the movie). Referring to the difficulties he endured with the release of the dramatically overwrought Rendition in 2007, he urges the studio to avoid the “Iraq war” label. “It doesn’t seem like it’s got any kind of political attitude about it, so that’s how you sell it,” he advises. “I don’t think the Iraq thing means that much anymore, honestly. To me, it seems like a movie you could play right against that 17-24-year-old male forum.” How much mature, intellectual movies like The Hurt Locker can fill the voids between Twilight movies remains to be seen. A Summit representative declined to comment for this story, perhaps because they’re still not quite sure what to say. Speaking to The New York Times during the wave of optimism on the eve of Twilight’s theatrical premiere, Summit co-chairman and CEO Robert G. Friedman said the company would probably use the franchise’s success to create a brand, which he chose to define as “commercial.” His colleague, Summit president Patrick Wachsberger, added that Twilight’s success “makes it much easier for agencies to let their big stars come do a movie with us.” So far, the big stars and commercial movies haven’t become Summit’s exclusive route — but it’s early yet. “What a franchise gives you is terrific credibility in Hollywood,” Schwartz says, adding that the relatively low budget approach to the first Twilight movie, and the subsequent monetary advantages Summit has achieved as a result, should motivate other mini-studios to follow suit. “Everybody thinks they can do it now,” he says. “For the independent film business in general, that is a fantastic accomplishment, and I think it has a very big echo effect.” While the Twilight gears keep turning, Schwartz warns Summit not to assume guaranteed successes with its current pipeline. “The biggest problem that any of these companies face is a tendency to become complacent, particularly as an independent,” he says. “You have to be very careful about that.” Either way, the Moon will rise, but we all know how vampires fare in the sunlight. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:01:50 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com2/27/2009 6:01:50 PMToday’s news that Summit Entertainment has already chosen a release date for Eclipse, the third entry in theTwilight series, suggests the studio is in a hurry. With New Moon, the second entry in the series, currently in a production surge under the direction of Chris Weitz for a November 20 release date, Summit’s latest decision raises the bar even higher, by placing Eclipse right in the heat of summer 2010’s blockbuster season. What’s the rush? Former New Line marketing chief Russell Schwartz, whose resume includes a steadily successful franchise about hobbits and rings, offers one piece of advice for the newbies at Summit: Slow down. “They think the audience is going to grow up and get too old [for the movies] by the time two or three comes out,” Schwartz tells me. “But I honestly don’t believe it’s that crucial to have it out ever year, like Saw. I wish they would take more time, but I’m not making decisions for them.” Nevertheless, Schwartz knows a thing or two about the fledgling company’s current state. Having worked at New Line throughout the successful run of The Lord of the Rings series, he recognizes the difficulty of handling a massive franchise while simultaneously trying to maintain the studio’s specific brand identity with different releases. “You can’t chase a franchise, that’s for sure,” he says. “It’s one thing to exploit it and to finish its run, but [Summit] is not in that high stakes, big budget business. They’re more competitive with Lionsgate than they are with major studios.” Which, of course, explains the recent rumors that Lionsgate sought to buy out its nascent competitor. Whether or not such a deal was ever seriously considered, Lionsgate’s uneven track record in recent years — first it was a torture porn factory, now it’s ground zero of Tyler Perryville — may indicate to Summit that it shouldn’t make too much of a good thing. “If you are going to make all young girl movies, Twilight being a big one, you become the young, tween studio,” Schwartz says. “But you can’t be in that business seriously as a steady diet. When you’re not in the tentpole business, the key thing is to diversify.” On that front, at least, the company appears to have its bases covered. In addition to New Moon, Summit’s 2009 slate contains an odd blend of star-driven material and smaller, low budget projects. A recent series of previews shown at New York Comic Con showcased the variety: First, an exasperated Nicolas Cage made desperate attempts to thwart natural catastrophes predicted by a series of ominous numbers in director Alex Proyas’s March release Knowing; then, Jeremy Renner engaged in a detailed attempt to defuse a car bomb in Kathryn Bigelow’s quietly gripping The Hurt Locker; finally, an animated adolescent went swooping through the clouds in a CGI adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy. It almost felt like the projectionist grabbed a few reels at random on the way out the door. During its nearly invincible run with the LOTR movies, New Line had its fair share of diverse content, from dramas aimed at older demographics like the Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Notebook, to auteur-driven works such as David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. Both did strong business on a quantitatively separate scale from LOTR. New Line also had a few comedic successes — most notably, Wedding Crashers in 2005. Summit has yet to succeed on that front, having released the dud Sex Drive last year. For now, however, that’s a failure the studio can handle. “There was always one movie that took care of the year,” Schwartz recalls of his New Line days. “Then, you sort of bubbled through the rest of the year, and had some ups and downs and singles and doubles and strikeouts.” Schwartz thinks The Hurt Locker, which Summit purchased at the Toronto Film Festival and plans to release at the end of the summer, was a good buy for the company (assuming it ever releases the movie). Referring to the difficulties he endured with the release of the dramatically overwrought Rendition in 2007, he urges the studio to avoid the “Iraq war” label. “It doesn’t seem like it’s got any kind of political attitude about it, so that’s how you sell it,” he advises. “I don’t think the Iraq thing means that much anymore, honestly. To me, it seems like a movie you could play right against that 17-24-year-old male forum.” How much mature, intellectual movies like The Hurt Locker can fill the voids between Twilight movies remains to be seen. A Summit representative declined to comment for this story, perhaps because they’re still not quite sure what to say. Speaking to The New York Times during the wave of optimism on the eve of Twilight’s theatrical premiere, Summit co-chairman and CEO Robert G. Friedman said the company would probably use the franchise’s success to create a brand, which he chose to define as “commercial.” His colleague, Summit president Patrick Wachsberger, added that Twilight’s success “makes it much easier for agencies to let their big stars come do a movie with us.” So far, the big stars and commercial movies haven’t become Summit’s exclusive route — but it’s early yet. “What a franchise gives you is terrific credibility in Hollywood,” Schwartz says, adding that the relatively low budget approach to the first Twilight movie, and the subsequent monetary advantages Summit has achieved as a result, should motivate other mini-studios to follow suit. “Everybody thinks they can do it now,” he says. “For the independent film business in general, that is a fantastic accomplishment, and I think it has a very big echo effect.” While the Twilight gears keep turning, Schwartz warns Summit not to assume guaranteed successes with its current pipeline. “The biggest problem that any of these companies face is a tendency to become complacent, particularly as an independent,” he says. “You have to be very careful about that.” Either way, the Moon will rise, but we all know how vampires fare in the sunlight. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/9/39323.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/9/2009 3:00:24 PM
Body: Back in September, Kathryn Bigelow told SpoutBlog that there’s a misconception regarding the failure of movies dealing with the Iraq War because so far we’d really only seen dramatic films about soldiers coming home. We hadn’t exactly seen any war movies about the ongoing conflict. “I mean, war is inherently dramatic, look at Black Hawk Down,” she explained, picking a film released a year prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Now it should make more sense that she referenced that specific title, as a new international trailer for Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker almost makes this film appear to be Black Hawk Down reset in Iraq. There seems to be a lot of similarly chaotic action involving an ensemble of talented actors running around a war-torn metropolis. The main difference is all the stuff with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), which actually makes it potentially even more appealing to the action movie crowd, they who never tire of the “which wire do I cut?” cliches. So why are we only seeing an international trailer, with no domestic release date for The Hurt Locker in sight (Summit Entertainment’s 2009 preview only mentions a Spring opening)? Over at Vulture, they joke that Summit is too busy with the Twilight sequel to pay attention to the acclaimed and awarded The Hurt Locker, yet they also speculate that this movie could leap over the supposed Iraq War film hurdle due to its action-heavy plot. I think it could do more than be a breakthrough for the subject matter; it should appropriately blow away the hurdle. Then again, The Kingdom, which didn’t even mention or take place in Iraq, should have done the same thing. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:00:24 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/9/2009 3:00:24 PMBack in September, Kathryn Bigelow told SpoutBlog that there’s a misconception regarding the failure of movies dealing with the Iraq War because so far we’d really only seen dramatic films about soldiers coming home. We hadn’t exactly seen any war movies about the ongoing conflict. “I mean, war is inherently dramatic, look at Black Hawk Down,” she explained, picking a film released a year prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Now it should make more sense that she referenced that specific title, as a new international trailer for Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker almost makes this film appear to be Black Hawk Down reset in Iraq. There seems to be a lot of similarly chaotic action involving an ensemble of talented actors running around a war-torn metropolis. The main difference is all the stuff with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), which actually makes it potentially even more appealing to the action movie crowd, they who never tire of the “which wire do I cut?” cliches. So why are we only seeing an international trailer, with no domestic release date for The Hurt Locker in sight (Summit Entertainment’s 2009 preview only mentions a Spring opening)? Over at Vulture, they joke that Summit is too busy with the Twilight sequel to pay attention to the acclaimed and awarded The Hurt Locker, yet they also speculate that this movie could leap over the supposed Iraq War film hurdle due to its action-heavy plot. I think it could do more than be a breakthrough for the subject matter; it should appropriately blow away the hurdle. Then again, The Kingdom, which didn’t even mention or take place in Iraq, should have done the same thing. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/9/9/34929.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 9/9/2008 11:00:40 AM
Body: Are we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:00:40 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog9/9/2008 11:00:40 AMAre we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/9/34928.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/9/2008 11:00:28 AM
Body: Are we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:00:28 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/9/2008 11:00:28 AMAre we entering the era of the apolitical Iraq film? I won’t see Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker until later in the week, but the accounts I’ve heard suggest that it’s an action film that happens to be set in Baghdad, with tunnel-vision on the technical aspects of warfare and an almost complete disregard for the politics of the war being fought there. Similarly, Matthew Newton’s drama 3 Blind Mice is a film about Australian marines en route to Iraq, but the war these boys are heading into could be anywhere and backed by any kind of ideology, so timeless are the film’s ideas about camaraderie and duty. It’s essentially a modern redo of On the Town, with ample fist fights in place of fancy footwork, a much more cynical attitude towards the notion of patriotism, and a completely credible sense of verisimilitude. In fact, the writing and performances create such a life-like mise en scene that when movie-like violence happens, it’s as shocking as it would be in real life. Harry, Sam and Dean, three 20-something boys dressed in full Royal Australian Navy reglia, crash into a Sydney hotel room, where they’ll spend a single night before heading to the Gulf. They fall into three types right away: Harry is the charismatic schemer, Dean is the uptight innocent, Sam the brooder with a secret. Amidst intimations that “something happened out there” which Sam is still recovering from and the other boys aren’t sure how to deal with, Harry calls to arrange a late-night hooker visit as a back-up before the boys head out into the night looking to drink and get laid. Newton’s handheld camera follows them closely throughout the sleepless night to follow, their pale white faces more often than not lit blue by neon street lights, as their interactions with one another and others build slowly towards a shuffling of their moral standings and personal identities. Mice is full of incredibly long dialogue scenes which inevitably attain a natural-feeling momentum, maybe in spite of the rapid-fire edits with which they’ve been put together. The first notable example of this is an epic scene set around a poker table, which begins with the awkwardness of two groups of strangers being thrown together for an activity that, being that it involves a modicum of trust and gauging of sincerity, is probably best kept to friends. Not only does the gradual collision of personalities in this scene allow Newton to reveal what his characters are capable of, but it implicitly comments on the tension between street-smart young men who defend themselves and their own interests every day, and the relatively sheltered navy boys, who are decorated for ostensibly defending their country and its interests, but to this point have only spent months at a time stuck on a boat mired in petty procedure and miles away from any sort of action. But what we think we’ve learned up to that point gets thrown on its head in the film’s centerpiece, a meet-the-folks dinner which an excessive infusion of sake sends off the rails, pushing Dean to confess his role in the incident that may push one of the three to desertion. Newton manages to steer his characters from amiability to rowdiness to dead-serious, straight faced moral bankruptcy in the course of a single long meal without once loosing his uncanny grasp of conversational naturalism. Mice’s final act feels a bit forced and unearned, but on the whole it marks Newton as an exciting new talent to watch. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/9/4/34742.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 9/4/2008 12:01:36 PM
Body: The 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:36 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog9/4/2008 12:01:36 PMThe 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/4/34741.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/4/2008 12:01:21 PM
Body: The 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:21 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/4/2008 12:01:21 PMThe 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/war/MemberTagFilms.aspxwar
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