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This week I'll be back on the West Coast covering the Los Angeles Film Festival. By my count, this will be the 30th festival I've attended since the start of 2006. Opening Night was Thursday and screenings will continue through Sunday, June 29th, mostly in and around the Westwood Village area surrounding the campus of UCLA.
One of the things which makes this festival unique is that it's sponsored by Film Independent, the same organization responsible for the "Oscars" for indies -- the Spirit Awards (known officially as Film Independent's Spirit Awards). As someone whose life revolves around indies and the festivals which showcase them, it's truly exciting to be attending a festival which is run by the same folks who put on the Spirit Awards every year, as it should have a schedule second-to-none for fans of independent films.
As usual, I'll be covering the red carpets, the screenings, the Q&As, the panel discussions, the press conferences, and just about anything else I can fit into my schedule. And, as usual, you can expect photos, interviews, and reviews of my Top Picks during and after the festival. I'll be posting reports whenever possible. The quantity and timing of the articles will, of course, depend on local conditions and every festival presents different challenges. There should be guests galore as the event is within a stone's throw of Hollywood.
The complete schedule is available online in list format (title, director, screenwriter, or country) and in calendar format.
COMPLETE 2008 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP
CALENDAR & SCHEDULE
Posted by phileysmiley at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Pack, directed by Alyssa Rallo Bennett and written by Alyssa and Gary O. Bennett, is a no-holds barred, stark look at the horrors of tobacco use and nicotine addiction. Compelling and frightening, The Pack is inspired by true events and dares to ask questions which remain unanswered to this day. Few films deserve the label "important," and this is one of them.
At its center is a portrait of a family torn apart by cancer. Nonsmoker Jack Jordan Sr. (Scott Bryce) has died of lung cancer at the age of 47, presumably brought on by 30 years of breathing his wife Eleanor's (Lucie Arnaz) secondhand smoke. An ambitious Assistant District Attorney (Carlos Leon) brings her to trial on murder charges, and 24-year-old son Jack Jr. (Ryan Homchick) is caught in the middle. The subsequent trial, the role young Jack plays in the proceedings, and the jury deliberations revolve around the questions of who knew what and when did they know it. Unspoken are the obvious political ramifications of the answers.
Arnaz gives a tour-de-force performance as the wife and mother whose only crime was that she was blissfully ignorant (or perhaps not) of the consequences of her actions. Homchick's Jack Jr. is like a puppy constantly on edge from having been beaten by one too many newspapers. The ensemble cast which makes up the jury, veterans as well as newcomers, inhabit their characters seamlessly. To single anyone out is a difficult task. Watch for Adam Ferrara as the maniacal Cassidy, who will not let go of his pro-tobacco stance, and Zach Galligan as Anson, a wide-eyed open book who can play the fool with ease.
The Pack cuts back and forth between the flashbacks of the family's past, the trial, and the jury deliberations. If told in linear fashion the film would likely have plodded along at an interminably slow pace. Instead, smart editing decisions placed each jump in time at precisely the right moment, while maintaining just enough consistency to avoid confusion. A careful balance needed to be struck, and kudos to editor Jeff Turboff for pulling it off masterfully. During the deliberation room scenes, cinematographer George Lyon cleverly used slow pans around the table to create a sense of movement where there was none. Occasional jump cuts sliced out the inevitable dead spots. The result puts still life into action -- no small feat.
The look of the film ironically contrasts the carefree days of the family's past with the sad reality of the present. Flashbacks are presented through the use of old home movies, bright and colorful and reflective of the myth we all bought into that secondhand tobacco smoke was benign. Scenes which take place in the present day are filled with blues and grays and give a dull, washed-out appearance, as though the air itself is affected by the cancer which struck down Jack Jordan Sr. The courthouse sets, particularly the jury deliberation room, are as cold and stark as can be.
A bit Silkwood, The Insider, and 12 Angry Men all rolled into one, The Pack poses the question, "what if your behavior was legally accepted for dozens of years and all of a sudden it came into question?" The answer is not likely to change many viewers' minds about the dangers of smoking but, perhaps, it will.
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Hoboken International Film Festival screening
Pictured, L to R: Assistant editor/colorist Mark Dershowitz, actors Jennifer McCabe and Suzanne Froix, writer/director/producer Alyssa Rallo Bennett, actors Ryan Homchick and Angela Pietropinto, Sterling Worldwide Entertainment Rep Kira Baskerville, and editor Jeffrey Turboff
Posted by phileysmiley at 03:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Here is the official announcement:
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced The Forbidden Kingdom which stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The 2-disc release will be available to own from the 9th September, and should retail at around $27.95. Extras will include a commentary by director Rob Minkoff and writer John Fusco, deleted scenes with commentary, featurettes (The Kung Fu Dream Team, Dangerous Beauty, Discovering China, Filming in Chinawood, Monkey King and the Eight Immortals), a Previsualization featurette with commentary by Rob Minkoff, and a blooper reel.
A digital copy of the film will also be included. A Blu-ray release with a high-definition presentation and 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio will also be available for $39.95.
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Posted by phileysmiley at 03:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
We've been following the exploding career of young actor Michael Welch for several years on this blog.
In February, PROnetworks was the first online to announce that he had been cast in the role of Mike Newton in Twilight, the highly anticipated Summit Pictures release of the film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel. Twilight is due in theaters on December 12.
In addition, Michael has seven films just released or coming out before the end of the year, as well as a number of television projects. He starred in several of my favorite films of 2006 and 2007: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (scheduled to be released within a few months), An American Crime (currently airing on Showtime), and Lost Dream (in post-production). He has also completed Remember the Daze and Day of the Dead (both just released on DVD), The Thacker Case, American Son (soon to debut on Starz), and four episodes of the FX series The Riches.
Michael has both an official site at michaelwelchonline.com/ as well as an official MySpace at myspace.com/officialmichaelwelch.
Michael has granted us this exclusive first look at his newest photoshoot. Thanks Michael!
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Posted by phileysmiley at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Still Green was one of my Top Picks of the 2007 festival year. I attended and reported on the film's screenings at both the New Hampshire Film Festival in October as well as the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival a month later. We've been following the film's progress here on this blog ever since.
The official trailer can be seen at the film's official site. You can also view a high quality version there.
The roller coaster ride that was the making of Still Green was captured by Real Life Media documentarian Steven Petty. He was on location during production and followed the filmmakers' harrowing ride for a feature documentary about the making of the film. Now Petty has created a 13-week web series for our friends at Film Threat. Webisodes will appear as the top story on the site's home page every Wednesday. Film Threat will also be hosting production blogs from writer Georgia Menides which will correspond to the weekly webisodes.
"This is going to be a fresh look into what really goes on behind the scenes of a film shoot, without the candy coating," the producers told us. "We are hoping the series is a hit. So If you start watching and get sucked in, please tell your friends. Please tell your friend's friends, please post comments, and please show your support!"
Episode 1 went online today. The production team for Still Green heads to Naples, Florida and all appears well. That is, if you don't count Hurricane Cindy and some bank account issues...
Posted by phileysmiley at 10:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Air I Breathe was one of my Top Picks of 2007. It was the talk of the Tribeca Film Festival and I've been following its progress on this blog ever since.
Following a limited theatrical run, the DVD has now hit store shelves and movie sites. Director Jieho Lee, who wrote the film with Bob DeRosa, are thrilled that their provocative film is now available to be seen by a wider audience. The DVD offers tasty extras, of course. "You can hear a commentary track with me, Jieho [Lee], Walt [Lloyd] (our DP) and Robert [Hoffman] (our editor)," co-writer Bob DeRosa told me. "There are some fun outtakes and a few deleted scenes, including my fave, the check-up scene between Kevin [Bacon] and Julie [Delpy]."
Just one week into its home video distribution, rentals and sales of The Air I Breathe are already brisk.
Remember the Daze, from first time writer-director Jess Manafort, is out today on DVD. A talented group of up-and-coming young actors portrays the graduating class of 1999 as they make their way through the last day of high school in the teenage wasteland of suburbia. The cast of indie darlings includes Amber Heard, Alexa Vega, Leighton Meister, Melonie Diaz, Douglas Smith, John Robinson, Chris Marquette, and Michael Welch.
Posted by phileysmiley at 02:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
1968 Tunnel Rats makes a brutal statement about the horrors of war and pulls no punches. Unlike many Hollywood epics which purport to teach their lessons through clever manipulations of the heart, this is no coming-of-age film or family drama couched in a setting of battle. Writer/director Uwe Boll has created a film which is very simply about the futility of war, in this case, set in the jungles of Vietnam.
North Vietnamese fighters dug tunnels, sometimes hundreds of miles long, in which they hid, lived, and carried out surprise missions against the Americans. After an ambush of several members of his squad, Sergeant Vic Hollowborn (Michael Pare) returns to the area with a ragtag group of Army soldiers to avenge their deaths. These young men, some barely out of high school, walk blindly into a world they've never known.
The ensemble cast does what they need to do -- this is not as much of a character-driven piece as other films of this genre, and the improvised dialogue isn't Hollywood war movie fluff. I've never been in battle but I hope the soldiers in the film are realistically depicted. They certainly aren't romanticized a la
The look is stark and the action unrelenting. The lighting is subdued -- dark and dirty, much like the jungle landscape and tunnels themselves. Opening credits are accompanied by the Zager & Evans' classic In the Year 2525, which had me deceptively smiling from the start. Jessica de Rooij's score turns ominous after that and was one of the highlights of the movie. But what stood out the most for me was the camerawork of Mathias Neumann. From the copious use of crane shots, as if we are hiding up in the trees ready to pounce, to the handheld closeups in the tunnel sequences, there is no relief. Visual effects are topnotch and breathtaking. But with few exceptions, 1968 Tunnel Rats does not rely on sweeping vistas and long shots of masses of soldiers readying for battle. And it doesn't need to. This is about hand-to-hand combat, literally, and the claustrophobic setting is palpable.
Shot on location in South Africa, Boll put all the actors through a boot camp with actual mercenaries prior to filming. This wasn't a "Hollywood" boot camp, referring to the usual type of training actors go through before a war movie. No, they were trained by men who literally had been out killing just a few days beforehand. Filmmakers, cast, and crew all took this project seriously and it shows.
This film may be difficult to watch but it's too compelling to turn away. There isn't a lot to laugh at, although the characters are well-developed enough that we get to know their hopes and fears. It's also definitely a war movie in the true sense of the genre, with heavy political undertones. But It doesn't try to be all things to all people. 1968 Tunnel Rats is dark and dirty and about as serious as a film can get. If writer/director Uwe Boll is trying send a message, it comes through loud and clear.
Posted by phileysmiley at 02:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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