Independent Films

Posted by Robert Bell

April 25th, 2008 brings moviegoers some great independent selection at the multiplex.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane- Limited - Amber Heard stars in this teen horror romp as Mandy Lane, a plain girl whose summertime metamorphosis into a hottie gets her invited away for the weekend with the popular kids. Once in the isolated location, the teens start dissapearing one by one.

Romen De Gere - Limited - Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant star in this clever French thriller directed by Claude Lelouch.

Standard Operating Procedure - Limited - After winning the Oscar for 2003's The Fog of War, director Errol Morris turns to Abu Ghraib prison for this documentary. Standard Operating Procedure uses two years of research to explore the horror behind the notorious photographs taken at the prison in Iraq and how the torture depicted wasn't an isolated incident.

Then She Found Me - Limited (April 28, 2008) - Helen Hunt writes/directs/stars in this comedy drama about a woman who desperately wants to have a child despite the chaos existing around her.

Posted by Robert Bell

The first quarter of 2008 is coming to an end. With it are a few more independent films making their way to the multiplex.

Irina Palm - Limited - Belgian director Sam Garbarski assembles an international cast for this thought-provoking drama. Iconic singer and actress Marianne Faithfull stars as Maggie, a middle-aged woman whose desire to pay for her sick grandson's operation takes her down a path she never would have imagined.

The Hammer - Limited - Jerry Ferro’s 40th birthday has brought his life into sharp relief and it’s not a pretty picture.

Love Songs - Limited - In the hope of sparking their stalled relationship, Ismael (Louis Farrell of Dans Paris, The Dreamers) and Julie (Ludvine Sagnier of Swimming Pool) enter a playful yet emotionally laced threesome with Alice (Clotilde Hesme of Regular Lovers).

The Grand - Limited - The Grand is in the tradition of improvisational comedies like Best In Show and This Is Spinal Tap. The story is set in the world of professional poker and follows six players who reach the final table of the world’s second most famous high stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker.

Planet B-Boy - Limited - An American dancer in Vegas looks for his big break; a Korean son seeks his father's approval; a twelve-year-old boy in France confronts his family's racism .

Boarding Gate - Limited - Controversial actress Asia Argento teams up with equally divisive director Olivier Assayas for this sexy thriller. Sandra (Argento) has left a life of prostitution behind, but her past haunts her when an old lover (Michael Madsen) returns.

Posted by Robert Bell

Friday March 7th, brings theatre patrons some more independent selection.

Snow Angels - Limited - Featuring Kate Beckinsdale, Sam Rockwell, and Olivia Thirlby, Snow Angels tells two parallel stories; one of a couple who suffer a tragedy while trying to rekindle a damaged relationship, and another of a young man dealing with the shortcomings of his parents relationship, while exploring his own love.

Fighting For Life - Wide - Documentary outlining multiple storylines of military medicine.

My Name is Albert Taylor - Limited - Swedish documentary about the avant-garde saxophone player, Albert Taylor.

Paranoid Park - Limited - A local murder brings the local police force to a high school to investigate students.

Married Life - Limited - Featuring Rachel McAdams, Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, and Patricia Clarkson, Married Life is the story of a man (Chris Cooper), in love with a younger woman (McAdams), who decides to kill his wife (Clarkson) to spare her the pain of his affairs.

Posted by Robert Bell

Those looking for an alternative to big name studio movies this week may have some selection. Some independent films are finding their way to the big screen and need as much support as they can get.

Week of February 29th, 2008

Penelope – Wide Release – Christina Ricci stars as a young woman cursed to bear the face of a pig until she finds true love. Echoing fairy tales like “The Frog Prince” and “Beauty & the Beast”, “Penelope” also stars James McAvoy, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage, and Catherine O’Hara.

Chicago 10 – Limited - Animated History lesson building up to the trial of the Chicago 7. This is the third film from director Brett Morgan and debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Hank Azaria and Dylan Baker star.

City of Men – Limited – Based on the successful Brazilian television series of the same name, “City of Men” tells the story of two 18-year old boys who discover something about their missing fathers past that puts their friendship to the test. Helmed by Paulo Morelli, who is known for collaborating with “City of God” director Fernando Mereilles.

Bonneville – Limited – A woman (Jessica Lange) sets out for adventure on the open road after the death of her husband. Two of her friends (Kathy Bates & Joan Allen) accompany her on her journey.

Posted by Rhett Murphy

Many of us get our indie fix via viral rentals. You may soon have more movies available to your queue with Red Envelope Entertainment casting its acquisition net. This is good news for fans AND filmmakers.

Liesl Copland, formerly of Cinetic Media, will head acqusitions.

Early buys include: Saint of 9/11, Sherrybaby, and This Filthy World.

The Netflix website says about it's distrbution wing: "This original content initiative creates a national distribution channel for films and entertainment programming otherwise not available to broad audiences. For more information, visit www.netflix.com."

Maybe this will do away with that negative label: Direct to DVD. Hey, maybe we can replace that label with: Direct to YouTube. Nice!

See my reviews for more stuff to add to your queue.

Posted by Rhett Murphy

These are great! Phone Booth altered self portraits of Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep) that Jamie Stuart tempted from the busy director during a mid-Spetember meeting in NYC.

Check them out here.

Posted by Rhett Murphy

The technology is new, and so Red One's design is all about its future—ready for upgrades in both hardware and software.

Shooting on film is all about Depth of Field, which the Red One claims to hold with its 12-megapixel Mysterium CMOS sensor—boasting "12,065,000 pixels resolution that can only be called Ultra High Definition."

But the Red One doesn't come cheap at a MSRP of $17,500 with lens upgrade (RED 300mm focal length prime lens is $4,750) adding to that price, but, hey, this is still cheaper than true 35mm film.

I know, I know… there's nothing better than film. But Red One may quiet that proclamation—maybe just a little… and the watch is pretty cool, too.

Posted by Rhett Murphy

A spin off of the American Storage short, the feature will star Steve Carell and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the story will focus on a man trying to save his failing storage facility business by leasing out the units as low-rent apartments.

I'm just hoping they keep the paintball bits!

Posted by Rhett Murphy

Smells like something big is coming. Buzz is perhaps a movie delivery service a la their successful music store.

My guess is this should launch sometime today.

iTunes Store

Posted by Rhett Murphy

I'm ashamed to say that I did not. I am also ashamed to say that I often bash American auto engineers as lacking against both German and especially Japanese auto engineers.

Who Killed The Electric Car? (Official,IMDb), a recently released indie documentary, has shown me the errors of my thinking. Not only did GM have the guts to lead the way in compliance of California's Zero Emissions mandate, they did it right, designing a car that was both dependable and quite stylish -- Saturn's EV-1.

I could go on and on about how Big-Oil and Big-Government and Big-GM colluded to comply with the new California law for the short time it took for them to jointly kill that same law (we've heard this so often, and it makes total sense -- if you're not seeing it by now, you likely never will) -- I could point out the ghastly and downright offensive tactics that GM took in killing the EV-1 (they only leased the vehicles and when the law was dead they simply called in the leases, gathered all the cars up, and took them into the desert to be smashed) – or how they destroyed an inventor's dream (they purchased a majority share in the company that developed much of the battery technology only to put a lid on the inventor and ultimately sell their shares to Big-Oil) – I could rant and rant about these things, but the thing that hit me the hardest about this story was that it was us, Americans, who lead and got it right. I am disalussioned about many things right now, but this story has made me feel proud of my country again – proud that our thinkers are still out there, and they're leading the world.

I'll be paying more attention to these guys now – looking forward to the next chance to get on board with something so new and evolutionary.

If you are lucky enough to have Who Killed The Electric Car? playing in your city, be sure to go see it. And spread the word.