LA Film Festival: We're Not There, But Other People Are

We're not hanging out in sunny Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Film Festival this year -- although, looking at their lineup, maybe I'll lobby for someone at Cinematical who enjoys sun, glitz and Botox a lot more than I do to cover it next year -- but I thought I'd check in and see what other folks are saying about it.  Surprisingly, given that 60,000 people are supposedly descending on Westwood for this fest, I'm not finding a whole lot of folks writing interesting stuff about it. Maybe nothing interesting has happened yet, I don't know. If you're there, and you're blogging about it, drop me a line at kim@cinematical.com and let me know.

• Matt Dentler is still so excited about Brothers of the Head, the punk-rock mockumetary about Siamese Twin punk rockers, I'm beginning to regret not catching it at SIFF when I had a chance. If you're one of the 9 million or so people living in or around Los Angeles County, you might want to check it out. Film has it's L.A. premiere June 28 at the fest.

• Scott Foundas at L.A. Weekly has a great little interview up with LA Film Festival program director Rachel Rosen on the fest's move from West Hollywood to Westwood, and the factors that go into putting on a film festival.

• The fest opened with The Devil Wears Prada, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway (who, to be honest, I don't dislike as much as a lot of people seem to). Interesting choice for a fest opener. David Poland at Movie City News pretty much hated it. Well, to be fair, he liked Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt. And he doesn't even blame Anne Hathaway for the fact that he thought her character was dull and ambivalent. Other than that though? As Poland says, "And so begins LAFF. It can only get better." On the other side of the critical coin concerning Prada, Kirk Honeycutt at The Hollywood Reporter dug it, and thinks it'll find box office success with the chick demographic. Matt Dentler liked the film, and had a good time at the after-party. Eliza Hajek at indieBlog enjoyed the film, but seemed to enjoy the post-movie drinks even more.

• If you're liberal (or know someone who is) you're in luck, because today, June 24, is "Green Day" at the Los Angeles Film Festival, complete with screenings of Who Killed the Electric Car? and An Inconvenient Truth. Lots of other green-friendly companies will be on hand to pimp their products (and probably give stuff away too!) So hey, if you're green, fire up that hybrid car or hop on your bike and hie thee to Westwood.

• On the official LAFF site, filmmaker Jacques Thelemaque has posted five films he plans to see, in the hopes that others who see it will come and discuss. Kinda like talking over a film with your movie-buds over martinis or coffee -- bring your own beverage of choice, fire up that laptop, and chat away! Thelemaque has chosen some interesting fims: Gretchen, Old Joy, Deliver Us From Evil, Gradually, and The Foot Fist Way.