indie Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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.

Oh, Robin Williams. You furry, awesomely funny freak. We've missed you! And Bobcat Goldthwait -- sorry, Bob Goldthwait -- yeah, some of us have missed you too. If you're ready to visit a very dark and funny place, check out this red band trailer for Goldthwait's new movie, World's Greatest Dad.

Williams stars as a failed writer slash poetry teacher who endures horrible haikus about menstruation, professional humiliation, and abject failure when it comes to publishing. He also has pretty much the worst kid in the world. Kyle looks at (and is aroused by) German sheiser porn. He takes pictures of his dad's girlfriend's underwear with his cellphone under the dinner table and sends it to his friends. He's generally horrendous and creepy. I'm so looking forward to seeing a movie that shows Robin Williams telling his teenage son, "If you don't act right at dinner, I'll stab you in the face."

So take a look at this very naughty trailer after the jump and read Scott Weinberg's review of the film from Sundance. Or you can check out Williams' upcoming Disney flick Old Dogs, co-starring John Travolta and directed by the dude who inflicted Wild Hogs (and soon its sequel!) on the world.

Back in the VHS days, "direct to video" actually meant something. It meant something BAD, more often than not. The video marketplace allowed a lot of people to make and sell their own flicks, but uh, they were generally pretty terrible. So when someone says "Ugh, I don't wanna rent that. It went direct to video," they're probably dredging up memories of backyard horror flicks or Oliver Gruner action films. But in today's ultra-modern, mega-bandwidth, multi-distributive movie landscape, "direct to video" can mean a whole lot of things.

Take the recent French horror film Inside, which played at festivals all over the world, opened theatrically in several countries, and got a basic (but well-received) DVD release from The Weinstein Company here in the States. So as far as the U.S. is concerned, this is considered a "direct to video" title. Yet it's an awesome film. How can that be? Heard of a little flick called Special, starring Michael Rapaport? Probably not, but if it's a good flick, why does "DTV" even matter anymore?

When you think of DTV, you probably think of low-rent and generally atrocious sequels like American Pie 5: Down to the Crust, Bring It On 6, The Bringening, or Prom Night 2: Sudden Cat Noises. And that's because the video market is a great place to bring in a few bucks from the teenage weekend rentals -- but since when are rotten sequels the exclusive domain of the video stores? (I recall six different Police Academy releases before the seventh one was finally remanded to the video market.) A great example would be the pretty wretched Hills Have Eyes 2 (theatrical release) versus the unexpectedly entertaining Wrong Turn 2 (DVD premiere). I say we should be grateful to the video shelves for cataloging all the flicks we'd probably NEVER go see at the multiplexes -- even if they're movies that even I'd never bother to rent. (I'm lookin' at you, Lost Boys 2.)

Once you become a horror icon, it's pretty tough to find work outside the genre. Case in point: Longtime character actor Tobin Bell hit the jackpot when he appeared as the villain of the Saw series, and now he's just signed on to portray Satan himself in an indie flick called Highway 61. We're not entirely sure if this is a full-bore horror movie, or simply a dramatic piece with an occult twist -- but if you need someone to play The King of Darkness, you could do a lot worse than Tobin Bell. (Like many horror icons, Mr. Bell was a well-established and recognized character actor long before the horror genre suck him in.)

Written and directed by Luke & Jeremy Jackson, Highway 61 is about a floundering rock band that decides to sell its collective soul to you-know-who. According to Variety, Nick Thune is also on board as the band's lead singer. As far as Mr. Bell is concerned, here's what he's appeared in since the first Saw movie: Buried Alive, Decoys 2 and the upcoming Boogeyman 2. Someone please get this guy and Robert Englund in the same movie already. (Oh wait, they already were.) Here's hoping Highway 61 is a solid flick. It's not like Mr. Bell needs the money these days.

Four years ago, Osama made a splash at Cannes. It won several awards for first-time director Siddiq Barmak, then played at a number of US festivals, received a modest theatrical release, and picked up a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The first movie to be made in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, Osama was a powerful drama, telling the story of a 12-year-old girl who was forced to masquerade as a boy called Osama in order to get a job and provide for her family. Without resorting to the genre conventions of a thriller, Osama kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see if the far-too-young heroine could pull off the deception at the risk of her life.

Barmak started filming last month in his homeland for his second feature, titled Opium War. Korean company Cineclick Asia is handling sales, and a little snooping around on their site led me to their Cannes sales flyer (PDF), where the following plot details were revealed. Two American soldiers -- a white officer and a black soldier -- must fend for themselves in the Afghanistan desert after their helicopter crashes. The military men are at odds to begin with, as the wounded officer must hold a gun on the soldier to keep him from running away. Things change when they come across an opium field and partake of the pleasures of the poppies. Then they discover an Afghan family living inside a Russian armored personnel carrier, and who knows what happens from there. The quality of sophomore films are extremely tricky to predict, but Osama was so strong that I'm eager to see what Barmak makes of the intriguing premise; I'm hoping for another potent, emotionally-involving drama. Opium War is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2008.

Within less than five minutes of The Signal, you already care about the main characters. They're adulterers, but they're obviously in love, which makes everything that follows a lot more engaging. It's a character-based (and very well-acted) science fiction horror flick that's got a solid sense of humor, an admirable air of dread and a 50-ton vat of ultra-gooey gore: Cool. Admirable enough for simply being a true treat of a genre flick, The Signal is also noteworthy for how it was made. Although it's not an anthology film, The Signal is the work of three different directors: David Bruckner for Act (or "Transmission") One, Jacob Gentry for part two and Dan Bush for the final third. Whether or not this unique approach is actually a good (or necessary) thing is up to you, but I can tell you this: The Signal is one viciously fun little genre flick.

As you know from reading Ryan Stewart's post below, the main face of Cinematical is changing. That doesn't mean the indie, foreign and short film coverage you've come to know and love here is going away -- a lot of it is just moving to it's own house (or really, it's own bedroom in the big house that now makes up Cinematical). Starting right ... about ... now! ... you will be able to get all your "classic" Cinematical -- reviews of indies, foreigns, obscure art house films and shorts, penetrating interviews with indie filmmakers, news on the world of indie film, and, of course, lots of film festival coverage, -- at CineIndie. I'll be hanging out with you there as managing editor of CineIndie, and you'll see some familiar faces posting there, and eventually some new ones as well.

Cinematical and CineIndie will work together to cover the major film fests with our usual extensive coverage -- tomorrow, in fact, we'll be starting our Sundance coverage at our spandy-new space. Jette Kernion will be keeping her eagle-eye out for breaking Sundance news and deals for us, and James Rocchi, Scott Weinberg, Kevin Kelly and I will be on the ground in Park City, bringing you a slew of reviews, interviews, and all that hot Sundance scene action. We'll be cutting a wide swath through the Sundance schedule, bringing you the scoop on docs and features, competition films and experimentals, shorts and animation, and lots of video interviews with indie filmmakers and actors. Make sure you check back often, as we'll be posting day and night from January 18-29 from the Sundance Film Festival.

We hope that you'll think this is a good change for Cinematical, as we do. Please join us over at CineIndie for tons of new indie film coverage, and keep on coming to Cinematical's front page for your mainstream fare.

Hi, and welcome to the grand opening of CineIndie, the brand-new indie film blog branch of the Cinematical family tree! You can kind of think of us as the cozy little refurbished arthouse theater down the road apiece from the big multiplex -- a place where you can come to get all the news you want on the world of indie film.

One of the reasons I'm thrilled about this change is that it will allow those of us who are really passionate about indie film to devote the majority of our energy to covering it for you. We'll be greatly expanding the breadth and depth of our coverage of all things indie, bringing you interviews with indie directors, reviews of indies, foreigns, docs and shorts, and more. We'll be covering news on indie film, and more articles targeted at filmmakers as well.

My Film Clips column will be here, and you'll probably see Jette Kernion's IndieSeen, Jeffrey Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows, and Richard Von Busack's After Images there as well. We'll be able to cover even more independent films, and I'm especially looking forward to being able to give some more love to under-appreciated or under-covered fest films and all you truly independent filmmakers out there maxing out your credit cards in pursuit of your dreams.

As CineIndie's managing editor, I'd like to invite you to help us create the kind of site you want to come back to every day. So sit down, have a nice latte, and open up with us about what you really want to read here. For the next two weeks we'll be nose-to-the-grindstone at the Sundance Film Festival, so be sure to check back often -- we often post at 3am from fests, so there's likely to be something fresh no matter when you pop by.

To be honest, I think when most people heard that Mischa Barton had left The OC, everyone was waiting for her career to take the inevitable nosedive. I'm guessing being lumped in with the Paris Hilton and Brandon Davis party crowd probably didn't help much in the respectability department either. There had been rumors that Mischa's character had been killed off due to her bad-mouthing of the show and general naughty behavior. Well, it's all water under the bridge now since the teen soap has gotten the axe, and Barton has managed to set up several film roles for 2007.

Variety reports that Barton is set to star in the indie drama Don't Fade Away for first-time director Luke Kasdan (nephew of famed writer-director Lawrence Kasdan). Kasdan's drama stars Ryan Kwanten and Barton as a Manhattan couple that are forced to deal with a father's illness. Rounding out the cast is the unlikely combination of Ja Rule and Beau Bridges. Since I never consistently watched The OC and I've tried to remain blissfully ignorant when it comes to the "Kiddie Table" of Hollywood gossip, I'll have to wait to see if Barton can transform herself into a leading lady ... or whether High School drama and hair tossing are the sum total of her talents.

[via Movie Web]

Zach Braff's next film Open Hearts may be currently on hold, but he plans to shoot in New Jersey again once everything comes together. On a conference call yesterday, he told Cinematical that he remains involved in New Jersey, where he currently serves on the board of the South Orange Performing Arts Center.

He plans to lens Open Hearts in Northern New Jersey, and enjoys working in the area where he can utilize actors and crews from New York. Braff was born and raised in Jersey, and filmed his directorial debut Garden State there three years ago.

While I wouldn't say Braff's filmmaking sensibilities are diametrically opposed to Kevin Smith's, they do target similar young audiences, but when you watch Garden State you'll come away with a much different view of Jersey than you get from Smith's films. At least no one was getting it on with a donkey in the version I saw.

It's great when a director can work outside of the Hollywood environment and manage to capture the essence of where they come from. Richard Linklater did a great job of it with Slacker, and Braff seems to have done equally as well with Garden State. Although it's hard for me to know for sure since I spent several years in college living in Austin, and have never been to New Jersey, but it feels more real than the Jersey you get from The Sopranos or Clerks II.

If you try your hand at writing, you'll hear the phrase, "write what you know" many times. Whoever coined this phrase probably had no idea how much it applied to directing as well.