RollerDerby Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: Whip It
Filed under: Comedy », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Fox Searchlight »
It's no Citizen Kane. It's not meant to win awards. I watch movies to enjoy them. These standbys are frequently trotted out before us fuddy-duddy critics whenever we decide that a movie ostensibly meant to be two hours of pure mindless fun simply isn't very good at doing just that. More often than not, it seems that films are championed for their laziness, their relentless adherence to formula, and rarely do these formulas serve a story that's worth more than the sum of its beats. School of Rock managed to work wonders with its wholly predictable plot; I'd vouch for Fever Pitch in much the same way. And joining their ranks of surprisingly satisfying comedies is Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It, a coming-of-age tale fused with an underdog sports story that hits all the expected developments with unexpected personality and grace.
Skate With This: First Trailer for Barrymore's 'Whip It'
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Independent », Romance », Sports », Fox Searchlight », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand », Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
Ellen Page plays Bliss Cavender, who rebels against her conservative, beauty-pageant loving parents to become a badass chick of the roller derby. She becomes a proud member of The Hurl Scouts, and does some fine elbow hits alongside Smashley Simpson (Barrymore), Dinah Might (Juliette Lewis), and Malice in Wonderland (Kristen Wiig). It looks like a fun combination of an athletic underdog story and coming of age tale, with some healthy dashes of romance and girl power for color. Plus the hair and make-up rocks!
Check out the trailer embed after the jump. Whip It! hits theaters on October 9, and I sincerely hope that it's the first of many directorial gigs for Ms. Barrymore. It looks like she's got a winner her first time out.
First Look: Ellen Page Ready to 'Whip It'
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Fox Searchlight », Movie Marketing », Images »
Call it Juno on Wheels. The first image of Ellen Page in the upcoming roller derby flick Whip It has been released, showing her strapped into a girl scout uniform as she skates around a track with Drew Barrymore and Kristen Wiig. The photo above, and several others, can be viewed at USA Today (additionally, check out two extra images below)
The film represents Barrymore's directorial debut. Page stars as 17-year-old Bliss Cavendar, who is tired of competing in beauty pageants at the insistence of her mother (Marcia Gay Harden). She rebels by joining the Hurl Scouts, a women's roller derby team in Austin, Texas, and finds her true calling -- or, at least, a good place to unleash some pent-up aggression. Barrymore skates with the Scouts, as does Saturday Night Live's Wiig and the great Zoe Bell (Death Proof). Juliette Lewis is described as the villain of the piece, an opposing player determined to defeat Page and the Scouts, and the players all have cool nicknames: Smashley Simpson, Maggie Mayhem, Bloody Holly, and so forth.
As Jenni Miller advised, Fox Searchlight will distribute the film, which is set for release on October 9. Roller derby vet Shauna Cross (AKA Maggie Mayhem) wrote the screenplay, based on her own novel, Derby Girl. A very good doc about the Austin roller derby scene, Hell on Wheels, is available to view at SnagFilms (we also embedded it after the jump), and if Whip It can approach that real-life excitement, it could break out of the fall pack. Since nicknames are de rigeur for roller derby players, what nickname will you choose if you decide to see Ellen Page Whip It?
Oh, Man! Ellen Page is Off the Lesbian Werewolf Flick?
Filed under: Gay & Lesbian », Independent », Casting », RumorMonger », Fandom », Cinematical Indie »
Well, this is a bit of a bummer. I've been waiting, it seems like forever, to see when Jack and Diane, Bradley Rust Gray's endlessly gestating "lesbian werewolf" movie that Ellen Page was supposed to star in, would finally go into production. As I wrote waaaaaaay back in September, the film is supposed to be about:
"Jack and Diane, two teenage lesbians, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane's charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack's tough skinned heart. But, when Jack discovers that Diane is leaving the country in a week she tries to push her away. Diane must struggle to keep their love alive while hiding the secret that her newly awakened sexual desire occasionally turns her into a werewolf."
SXSW Review: Hell on Wheels
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », SXSW », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
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For years, I've had occasional fantasies about joining one of the Austin all-female roller derby leagues. All the women I've met who do roller derby are cool, and it sounded like fun in a twisted kind of way, like the time a friend of mine told me about a study where women went through firefighter training (I was too late to join, sadly) or triathlon training (I did two Danskins) or another friend who used to play rugby but grew tired of sustaining injuries.
For a brief and shining moment, Hell on Wheels fanned the flames of my roller derby chick fantasies. On the surface, the documentary is about roller derby in Austin, and begins with a brief history of roller derby in an amusing newsreel format (I loved the flying skate). However, the events that occurred during the five years when director Bob Ray followed around the Austin roller derby founders and skaters turned the movie into something a little larger -- it's about women trying to find the best ways to run a business.
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