Humpday Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Star Trek
In rebooting the franchise, J.J. Abrams faced the daunting challenge of pleasing long-time Trekkies and roping in new viewers who think 'Live long and prosper' is a slogan for an insurance company. This is not your father's Star Trek, but he'd probably like it too (begrudgingly). Buy it. Also on Blu-ray (see Todd Gilchrist's review for more on that edition.)

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Bruno
I'm not a big fan of the 'ridicule the clueless' school of humor, so I turn to Cinematical's review by Todd Gilchrist: "curiously ineffective, a sort of middling effort that fails to liberate itself from the stereotypes that provide the character's foundations, even if it also doesn't deliberately or harmfully reinforce them." Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

My Sister's Keeper
Despite a relentless barrage of scenes evidently designed with the sole goal of jerking tears, Nick Cassavetes' My Sister's Keeper did not make me cry. It is, however, one of the most glorious-looking terminal cancer pictures I've ever seen. Cameron Diaz, Jason Patric, Abigail Breslin, and Alec Baldwin star in a film I found entirely unsatisfying. (See my review for more.) In addition, fans of the novel by Jodi Picoult may not appreciate the changed ending. Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Also out: How to Be (with Robert Pattinson), Wild Child (with Emma Roberts).

After the jump: Indies on DVD, more Blu-ray, and Collector's Corner.

Our friends over at Moviefone came up with a clever time-waster question: What if this summer's indie movies were instead giant blockbusters? What would they look like? What would they be about? After all, summer is definitely a strange animal -- because while it's known for its massive, big-budgeted popcorn flicks, summer is also a time for a host of indie films (most of which previously played festivals like Sundance, Berlin, SXSW and Tribeca) to find their little profitable corner in theaters. So you'll have a Transformers 2 ... but you'll also have a 500 Days of Summer or a Moon or an Away We Go. It's pretty weird to see two completely types of films co-existing in this hot, steamy marketplace, but that's what makes it so much fun, I suppose.

Anyway, Moviefone took this summer's most talked-about indies and pretended they were also blockbusters. Here's a taste of what they came up with:

'500 Days of Summer'
What It Is: A charming, offbeat romance about a greeting card writer's year-and-a-half courtship of a free-spirited woman who doesn't believe that love exists.
What It Could've Been: Roland Emmerich's latest global warming-oriented disaster flick in which we watch in delight as the Statue of Liberty melts, the Atlantic Ocean evaporates and the entire population of Arizona spontaneously combusts.








'Humpday'
What It Is: In this latest entry from the "mumblecore" movement (low-budget filmmaking characterized by improv and naturalism), two hetero friends attempt to have sex with each other for an art project.
What It Could've Been: A couple of totally straight bros/undercover cops (Dane Cook and Johnny Knoxville) must pretend they're lovers in order to infiltrate an ecstasy ring operated out of a Chelsea nightclub.







Check out the rest over at Moviefone

Ask anyone who has seen Humpday, the low-budget indie comedy that's been getting rave reviews since Sundance, and they'll tell you it's NOT a gay movie. They will tell you this because otherwise it really sounds like it is: It's about two straight male friends who decide to video themselves having sex as a sort of artistic expression. But what it's really about is how heterosexual male friendships work in the 21st century, and its portrayal of those relationships is hilariously, insightfully dead-on. That's why so many straight people who wouldn't enjoy a "gay movie" are enjoying this one -- because it's about straightness.

But convincing people to see the film has been a hard sell all year long, and to be honest, the poster wasn't helping. The movie is called Humpday. Its tagline -- "Some loves are meant to be. This one, not so much" -- and its scruffy stars suggest a gay hipster romantic comedy. The title hides their guts, makes them look thinner than they are. The poster is pink, for crying out loud. Once you've seen the movie, the poster feels perfect for it -- masculine, with a hint of irony about how obsessed we are with being masculine. (The flowery wallpaper is a nice touch.) But without having seen the movie, the poster just looks ... well, gay. Which the movie isn't.

It seems like the people at Magnolia might have been thinking along these same lines, because the DVD cover -- which only seems to be posted at Amazon so far -- changes the color scheme to blue and shoves a wife between the two man friends. Here it is, after the jump:

I can't hold my tongue any longer. Humpday is no more a bromance than writer/director Lynn Shelton is "the female Apatow." The term bromance is lazy shorthand for the loveably dorky and confused guys populating the Apatow et al movies, and while Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) could be described as such, the writing of Shelton elevates what could be a one-trick pony -- two straight dudes might have sex or might not for "art" -- into a real discussion of identity, both of Ben and Andrew and of those around them. It becomes a discussion of sexuality -- what's straight, what's not, what threatens Andrew and what interests and confuses Ben -- and identity and how we want to perceive ourselves.

In an Apatow-ish film, if a protagonist was about to have a threesome with two women (one of which is played by Shelton) and suddenly gets cold feet when one pulls out sex toys, it would be played for laughs -- add in a fart joke or dildo joke and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Whew, wouldn't that have been crazy! Instead, there's a supremely awkward and human moment when Andrew weighs the pros and cons of the situation, extricates himself, puts on his clothes, and leaves. The women turn to each other laughing, shutting him out from their intimacy as much as he's shut himself off by flitting across the world as an artist.

(By Erik Davis - reprinted from the Sundance Film Festival, 1/17/09)

We're only a couple weeks into 2009, but clearly this year will be all about the term 'bromance' -- which describes, in case you haven't heard, a close, non-sexual bond between two straight men. Bromance is now a cheesy show on MTV; the flick I Love You, Man (in theaters this Spring) is carrying some advanced bromantic-comedy-of-the-year buzz; and now here's this quiet, unassuming festival film called Humpday -- which takes the Hollywood out of the bromance by bringing it down to a level practically everyone can relate to. And while Humpday lacks the sparkle, the set pieces, the A-listers and the foul-mouthed fart gags, its well-written script remains grounded with the type of real-people humor we've grown to adore over the years.

Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) are friends; good friends -- some would say great friends -- except that was way back when and, now, Ben has a cushy marriage, a new house, a nice office job and all the time in the world to love his wife and make her a new baby. Andrew, on the other hand, doesn't know how to settle or how to stay put -- he's an intense adventurer who's always looking for the next great "experience". And while it's been some time since Ben and Andrew last saw each other, that all changes when the latter shows up on his old pal's doorstep at two-in-the-morning looking for a place to crash and play catch-up. But Andrew's arrival sparks more than just a few fun memories ...

District 9
Peter Jackson produced this film about extraterrestrials being held on Earth in slum-like conditions while some evil corporation tries to figure out how the technology of their space craft works. Cool idea, even if it does seem a bit like Alien Nation, and that shot where you first see the alien craft is pretty sweet. Please note that the version William Goss posted the other day does not blur the alien's face and provides subtitles to translate what he is saying. The film opens on August 14.

Tetro
Francis Ford Coppola's latest film is about a young man who travels to Buenos Aires to find his brother, a tortured geniius and playwright who cut himself off from the rest of a family a decade earlier. The black and white cinematography looks gorgeous and this looks like one worth seeking out. Sadly, as this will only be getting a limited released on June 11, most of us will probably have to wait for the DVD.

Humpday
This indie comedy takes the whole bromance thing further than most films. Two old college friends reunite after ten years, one thing leads to another, and they decide to take part in an amateur porn contest as two straight men having sex with each other. Erik gave the film a pretty strong recommendation and it opens on July 10.

SXSW jumped their own gun last night by announcing their line-up of film titles for this year's festival in Austin, TX.

Right around the ides of March, we'll be treated to the world premieres of:

• Best Worst Movie (all about the cult surrounding Troll 2 and supposedly containing an appearance by none other than our own Scott Weinberg),
• South By staple Joe Swanberg's latest, Alexander the Last,
• Gerald Perry's For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (Scott's in this too? WTF?!),
• John Hamburg's bromantic comedy I Love You, Man,
• Gary Hustwit's new doc, Objectified (go queue up Helvetica already!),
• Jody Hill's Observe and Report (because we can't all love Paul Blart: Mall Cop),

...and much, much more! Personally, I'm also psyched to catch up with Sundance hits like Grace, Moon, We Live in Public, Humpday, and a couple of others -- not to mention the U.S. premiere of The Hurt Locker and a special anniversary screening of Office Space (yes, Austinites, another one). All I'd otherwise beg for is 500 Days of Summer, but who am I to look a gift fest in the mouth?

SXSW '09 runs from March 13-21, and you can expect plenty of coverage around these parts.

(Warning: This one goes up to eleven...)

1. Moon -- Most were admittedly intrigued by the prospect of Sam Rockwell alone and yet potentially not on a lunar station going into the fest, and this seemed to be the first film to live up to its promise as a modest yet straight-up sci-fi endeavor (that just happened to have a Kevin Spacey-voiced robot, and just tell me you wouldn't want one of those waking you up and telling you to pay it forward all the friggin' time).

2. 500 Days of Summer -- I'd liked the vague stuff I'd been hearing about this one going into the fest as well -- namely, "Zooey Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel" -- and I certainly liked the teaser trailer that made its way out just hours before the film's formal premiere. Does it look like Fox Searchlight's particular brand of indie hipster quirk that's just begging to get too popular for its own good by about Labor Day? Sure, but if it's as adorable as it seems, that's a chance I'm willing to take, Zooey.

1. Twiddle thumbs while waiting for bidding wars to break out -- So Senator Entertainment has already landed domestic distribution for Antoine Fuqua's cop drama, Brooklyn's Finest (they'll probably do right by it and sit it on a shelf right next to All the Boys Love Mandy Lane); now, it's just a matter of waiting for Fox Searchlight to snatch up their next sleeper in waiting, and for either Focus or Paramount Vantage to pick up the rights to something they can't quite turn a profit on *cough1* *cough2*. Modest comfort comes in the form of Searchlight already planning a late-summer release for 500 Days of Summer, and of Sony Pictures Classics reportedly calling dibs on Sam Rockwell's sci-fi drama, Moon. Keep those ears and eyes open, folks.

2. Monitor some seriously similar, sometimes simultaneous Twitter action -- For starters, there's our crew: Snider, then Davis, then Rocchi, and (lastly but not least-ly) new convert Weinberg. Then you have the Onion folks, your CHUD, the IFC one-two, the Spout reps, our HitFix homies, not to mention your /Film and your Film School Rejects and your First Showing (these fellas happen to be sharing accommodations, so expect much echo). Daily posts? Facebook status updates? Please. With a minute-by-minute play-by-play, who needs to go outdoors?

Packed with screenings and the beginnings of buzz on several titles, Saturday kept Sundance visitors hopping.

Deals. Antoine Fuqua's police drama Brooklyn's Finest , starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, and Ethan Hawke, was in play after its Friday night debut as a "work in progress," with several distributors making offers (per THR). Gregg Goldstein at Movie City News dubbed it "Friday Night Fever." Senator Distribution closed the deal for North American rights on Saturday night, according to indieWIRE, with a fourh quarter 2009 release planned. Lynn Shelton's 'two straight guys decide to make a gay porno" Humpday has motivated four buyers to actively engage in talks to acquire it, Mike Jones reported for Variety at his blog The Circuit.

Our Coverage. Humpday is a "quiet, unassuming festival film" says Erik Davis of Cinematical. He also describes it as "uncomfortable," "awkward," and "often laugh-out-loud funny," which means this sucker better get picked up by somebody and released in theaters pronto. Scott Weinberg loved Sam Rockwell in Moon and reported on two people fainting during horror flick Grace. And Eric D. Snider complained about getting ripped off ... by another blogger. You can catch up with all of our coverage via the convenient Sundance hub at Moviefone.

Elsewhere. Though Brooklyn's Finest has drawn mixed reviews, Moon and Humpday continue to generate great buzz across the Internets (especially the latter, with even Karina Longworth of Spout succumbing to its charms).

More blog talk after the jump.