Michael Roiff Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Indies on DVD: 'Waitress,' 'The Namesake,' 'Manufactured Landscapes'
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », New on DVD », Cinematical Indie »
Have you recovered from your holiday eating binge? Are you ready for some pie? Reviewing Waitress at Sundance earlier this year, Cinematical's James Rocchi described it as "a light, breezy romantic comedy with a crackerjack cast and a certain degree of faux-Southern charm that never descends to cornpone mawkishness, and also has a whip-smart comedic sensibility in every scene." The late Adrienne Shelly wrote, directed, and co-stars with Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion and Andy Griffith. The DVD includes several featurettes and an audio commentary with Russell and producer Michael Roiff. The Namesake very much impressed our own Kim Voynar, who called it "a deeply felt look at the ties of family and birthplace, the loneliness of living far from your home, and the connections that hold everything together, sometimes in ways we don't appreciate until much later." Mira Nair directed; the film stars Irfan Khan, Tabu, Kal Penn and Sahira Nair. The DVD features an audio commentary by director Nair and several featurettes, plus deleted scenes.
Critics gave high marks (83% positive, per Rotten Tomatoes) to documentary Manufactured Landscapes. It's said to be an "investigation of photographer Edward Burtynsky's legacy, with its aesthetic studies of industrial landscapes. ... It uses the topic of Burtynsky as a springboard." Jennifer Baichwal directed. The DVD includes additional scenes, a stills gallery and a discussion with Baichwal and Burtynsky.
We can never get too many rebellious child prodigy dramas, can we? Vitus fairly well divided critics: 34 positive and 21 negative, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The veteran and versatile Bruno Ganz is the most recognizable name in the cast. The DVD features an interview with Ganz, a "making of" feature and an audio commentary by director Fredi M. Murer.
Cheryl Hines to Direct Adrienne Shelly's 'Serious Moonlight'
Filed under: Comedy », Deals », Scripts », Newsstand »
Time flies, and we've almost approached the first anniversary of Adrienne Shelly's murder. Since then, Waitress has hit both the festival circuit and local big screens, charming audiences as a bittersweet cherry to her career; however, Waitress wasn't the only material she was working on. Variety reports that another Shelly screenplay is heading towards production. Cheryl Hines, who co-starred with Keri Russell in Waitress, is going to make her feature directorial debut with a project called Serious Moonlight -- which Shelly's husband, Andy Ostroy, will co-produce along with Michael Roiff.Moonlight is a dark comedy about a "high-powered female attorney who learns that her husband is about to leave her for another woman, then prevents him from doing so by binding him to the toilet with duct tape." I guess she didn't see 9 to 5, which has a much more creative means of binding the pesky man. Anyway, things get more tricky when the home is invaded by robbers.
Ostroy says: "I felt compelled to continue her work for her after her death. I think she was just hitting her stride with Waitress. I tried to put together a team that was part of the Waitress family to re-create the vibe and the success of that film and honor Adrienne and get her work out there with a group of people who really cared about her and (understood) her spirit and vision." The comedy will head into production this December in LA, and considering Ostroy's plan, there's probably a decent chance Russell will also get involved, since there has been no mention of new projects. We should know soon -- Roiff, Ostroy, and HInes are currently casting the film.
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