Posts tagged Redacted at Cinematical

Posts with tag redacted

Discuss: Iraq War Movies and Their Box-Office Deaths

Posted Mar 26th 2008 12:02PM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: New Releases, Universal, Box Office, Politics, War

This weekend sees the release of Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss, about a soldier who returns from a grueling tour of duty in Iraq only to learn that he's being sent back for another one. The movie's not bad: very passionate, very angry, a bit didactic, and liberal to the core. (See our own Eric D. Snider's SXSW review here.) The "liberal" part is no surprise, at least not if you've been listening to the conservative pundits who have torn into Hollywood for what they see as anti-war propaganda masquerading as entertainment. Those same pundits like to gloat about Iraq War movies' perceived financial failure, holding up their box-office receipts as proof that the American people either aren't interested or aren't on the same page.

But have the Iraq War movies we've seen in the past couple of years actually performed all that poorly? And even if they have, does that have anything to do with public distaste for liberal Hollywood or its "propaganda"? Take a look at some numbers and share your thoughts after the jump.

Continue reading Discuss: Iraq War Movies and Their Box-Office Deaths

Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Margot at the Wedding' Sparkles

Posted Nov 19th 2007 4:07PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Box Office, Cinematical Indie, War, Nicole Kidman

Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding did smashing business at two theaters in Manhattan, earning a per-screen average of $39,800, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Was it the sparkling dialog, the witty performances, the star wattage of Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black? The critics were mixed: our own Ryan Stewart opined that the film was "torpedoed by its own self-indulgence." A. O. Scott of the New York Times was kinder ("frequently brilliant, finally baffling") and Lou Lumenick of the New York Post was not ("I've had root canals that were more enjoyable"). Check Metacritic for more critical coverage.

Opening in a single Manhattan theater, What Would Jesus Buy? performed quite nicely according to Box Office Mojo, making $11,600. Personally, I thought Rob VanAlkemade's documentary was timely and entertaining, although quite scatter-shot in its approach.

Opening in a single Los Angeles theater, Smiley Face earned an estimated $5,700 over the weekend, according to Mr. Klady. Distributor First Look has been criticized for changing their plans from a wider release last April; filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake comments: "It is sad to see a film that screened at 4 incredibly well known festivals [Sundance, SXSW, Cannes, Toronto] being released in only 1 theater." Amen! Both Jette Kernion and Monika Bartyzel reacted positively to Gregg Araki's stoner comedy starring Anna Faris; the movie hits DVD in January.

Redacted ($1,760 per screen; 13 theaters) and Southland Tales ($1,780 per screen; 63 theaters) appeared to fall victim to bad buzz. Everyone kept saying that no one would want to go see Brian DePalma's Iraq War project and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Critical response was lukewarm overall, though a number championed it, according to Rotten Tomatoes. (Ryan Stewart felt it "doesn't ever truly gel.") The same site estimated that only 34% of the Southland Tales reviews were positive; its champions are fewer but no less appreciative -- but not Nick Schager, who called it "monumentally vapid."

The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men expanded into 148 theaters and soared into the overall Top 10, scoring a scorching per-theater average of $20,540.

The Rocchi Review -- With Jeffery M. Anderson of Cinematical and Combustible Celluloid!

Posted Nov 16th 2007 7:02PM by James Rocchi
Filed under: Podcasts, The Rocchi Review: Online Film Community Podcast

Why are so many film critics rushing around in November as if it's the end of the year? Is Atonement truly worthy of the Oscar buzz? Will Brian De Palma's Redacted be heard over the roar of its own controversy? When did Southland Tales go south, exactly? Is there any 'there' there in I'm Not There? And if Beowulf's truly the future of movies, are we all doomed? Joining James for this edition of The Rocchi Review is Cinematical's Jeffery M. Anderson, whose work for Metro newspapers and the Las Vegas Weekly can be found at Combustible Celluloid. You can download the entire podcast right here -- and we hope you enjoy; those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Brian De Palma and Magnolia Pictures Argue Over 'Redacted' Images

Posted Oct 10th 2007 7:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Celebrities and Controversy, Politics, War

In January, we brought you word of Brian De Palma's newest film, the Iraq war drama called Redacted. Coming from the term used to describe text that has been edited with black bars, the drama details the Al-Mahmudiyah Incident -- where soldiers murdered a young Iraqi girl's parents and younger sister before gang-raping and murdering her as well. The film is currently surfing the film fest circuit, and our Ryan Stewart reviewed it at TIFF. Now the film is being redacted itself.

At the end of his film, the director included disturbing images that were never published by the press, which he had found online. Mark Cuban and Magnolia want them removed. During a recent press conference at the New York Film Festival, IFC captured an argument between De Palma and Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles over the dispute. When De Palma starts to discuss the removal of the images, and his fight to keep them, Bowles jumped in from the back row to argue with him over them, before the film's producer, Jason Kliot, also came on stage to give his two cents. De Palma, meanwhile looks like he can't wait to get out of there and explode.

Ex-Cinematical head and current Spout blogger Karina Longworth contacted Mark Cuban about the argument, and he says: "The film is going to be 'redacted' before we release it. He is using images that have not been cleared... he can absorb 100 percent of the risk and release the film as he sees fit. If he chooses not to, then we will release the movie without the images." But it's not only business, Cuban also swears he won't include them so that family members could accidentally stumble upon the disturbing pictures and see a murdered loved one. I see where he's coming from, but in that case, why would you give De Palma the money to do whatever he wants? It's not like the guy is all about cinnamon hearts and puppies -- this is just like Casualties of War.

indieWIRE Event to Include Clips from De Palma's 'Redacted'

Posted Sep 18th 2007 5:02PM by Kim Voynar
Filed under: Independent, Site Announcements, Exhibition, DIY/Filmmaking, Cinematical Indie

Reason number #307 why I sometimes wish I still lived in New York City, in spite of the ridiculous cost of living there: There is so much cool film stuff going on there on any given night of the week. Case in point: our friends over at indieWIRE continue their series of monthly presentations with Apple Store - SOHO Wednesday night from 7:30-8:30PM with NYC-based film producers Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente.

Kliot and Viencte are the producing team behind some awesome indie fare, including films by Brian De Palma, Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley and more. The pair will discuss their producing partnership at the event -- they're responsible for films like Coffee and Cigarettes and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (they've produced over 30 films, so no doubt they have way more to talk about than will fit into a one-hour program). But wait, that's not all!

They'll also be showing scenes from De Palma's Redacted, which just played at Toronto and is showing at the New York Film Festival on October 10 and 11. Wednesday's even will be hosted by indieWIRE Editor-in-Chief Eugene Hernandez, and best of all, it's FREE, so you can even afford to go get a nice coffee with all your film geek friends after and talk about it. Seating is first come, first served, no RSVP required.

TIFF Review: Redacted

Posted Sep 13th 2007 3:02PM by Ryan Stewart
Filed under: Drama, Theatrical Reviews, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie, War

It was at last year's TIFF that Brian De Palma was approached by the guys from HDNet, who made him their 'five million' offer -- we'll give you five million dollars to make any film you want. The film he decided to make was, surprisingly, one he's already made -- 1989's Casualties of War. Redacted tells the same story, of a company of Army grunts who take part -- some willingly, some reluctantly -- in the rape and murder of a young girl. The key difference is that De Palma adopts what I can only describe as a 'bloggy' style to film his movie, instead of using traditional dramatic techniques. We frequently get plot points delivered to us via suspiciously Youtube-like video screens, we watch video letters from the troops to their loved ones back home and vice versa, and most importantly, we see through a home video camera being used by one of the main characters, Angel Salazar (Izzy Diaz.) Salazar is a grunt who plans to attach his documentary war footage to his application for film school after he returns home.

Those who go to Redacted looking for the traditional quirks of De Palma will probably not be disappointed; in addition to the video screens that recall the director's obsession with split-screen, there are also several panoramic shots that echo earlier films like The Untouchables, with one in particular standing out. The camera is placed in the inside of an Iraqi car that is approaching a U.S. military checkpoint, more or less up against the windshield, and as it turns and swerves through the curves of the checkpoint, we see the increasingly agitated faces of the soldiers – agitated because this car is not stopping. All good stuff, but the film has other peculiarities that aren't so successful, such as a decision to add unnecessary subtitles to some sections, and to more or less dump the main narrative in the closing moments in favor of showing stills of dead Iraqis. Even though these stills are explicitly titled as being authentic, during a Q&A after a screening here at TIFF, one of the producers acknowledged that some of them were created by De Palma's team.

Continue reading TIFF Review: Redacted

DePalma Returns to War Atrocities with Redacted

Posted Jan 5th 2007 5:00PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Politics

It's been many years since the cherubesque '80s Michael J. Fox co-starred with Sean Penn in Brian DePalma's Casualties of War. Dealing with the atrocious realities of the Vietnam War, the film detailed the true story of a girl taken from her village by American troops and kept as a sex slave until she's killed to cover the soldiers' tracks. In step with Fox's hero reputation, his character refuses to rape the girl, and later speaks out, determined to bring justice to the perpetrators of the terrible act. Working witha terribly similar recent real-life occurance where a young Iraqi girl was raped and murdered, DePalma has decided to re-visit the theme with his new film, Redacted.

The film gets its name from the term used to refer to edited text -- often documents edited to cover classified or sensitive information with those lovely, scribbled black bars. The particulars of the Al-Mahmudiyah Incident are as follows: Five US Soldiers have been accused of murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl's parents and 5-year-old sister before gang-raping and murdering the young girl as well. While one has been sentenced, the others are facing court martial and charges.

Unlike the fictional Casualties, Redacted will be heavily steeped in real information, using The Queen's approach to real-life narrative. According to Production Weekly, the movie will employ news broadcasts, trial coverage and also internet video from YouTube and, believe it or not, one of the solder's video blogs. The already-disturbing story will probably gain gut-punch intensity from the mixture of fictional narrative and real footage -- a strong reminder of the reality of the situation, and one that should keep it from being dismissed as 'mere' fiction.

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Discuss: Iraq War Movies and Their Box-Office Deaths

Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Margot at the Wedding' Sparkles

The Rocchi Review -- With Jeffery M. Anderson of Cinematical and Combustible Celluloid!

Brian De Palma and Magnolia Pictures Argue Over 'Redacted' Images

indieWIRE Event to Include Clips from De Palma's 'Redacted'

TIFF Review: Redacted

DePalma Returns to War Atrocities with Redacted

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#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Monika Bartyzel	163	0
2	Erik Davis	122	53
3	Elisabeth Rappe	87	0
4	Eugene Novikov	56	18
5	Kim Voynar	43	18
6	Scott Weinberg	41	18
7	Jessica Barnes	38	0
8	Peter Martin	27	18
9	Eric Kohn	25	4
10	James Rocchi	23	1
11	Jeffrey M. Anderson	19	4
12	Eric D. Snider	18	0
13	Matt Bradshaw	13	2
14	Joel Keller	13	1
15	Christopher Campbell	10	8
16	Jette Kernion	5	2
17	Patrick Walsh	3	1
18	Willy Volk	2	0
19	Nick Schager	1	0
20	Richard von Busack	1	0