Last year was great for American independent cinema; this year, not so much. The lineup for the 35th annual Telluride Film Festival has been announced, and only two U.S. filmmakers made the cut -- Paul Schrader (Adam Resurrected) and Tim Disney (American Violet). In addition, David Fincher will be there to screen his cut ofZodiac and to accept the festival's Silver Medallion.
According to Michael Jones at Variety's festival blog, the scarcity of U.S. films is simply...
'Tropic Thunder' Mockumentary Now Available on iTunes
Considering the lengths to which the Tropic Thunder gang went to sell all of their Hollywood fakery, it comes as little surprise that the mock making-of Rain of Madness does exist beyond a mere trailer (embedded above, and probably not kid-friendly) and website. However, while I'm sure it'll be included on the eventual DVD, who's really going to wait that long when it's currently available as a free iTunes exclusive?
That's right: for thirty minutes and zero dollars (yep), one can follow filmmaker Jan Jürgen (co-writer Justin Theroux,...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Nightmare Before Christmas' & 'Lynch'
Last week, I alerted you to a few sneak previews for the new Collector's Edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and now you can see the discs in all their glory for yourselves!
The stop-motion classic stars Chris Sarandon as the voice of Jack Skellington -- the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown. He gets bored with the town's work of scaring humans on Halloween, and when he accidentally falls into Christmas and sees all the good tidings, he comes back with a plan to nab...
The dog days of summer hit the indie box office this weekend, as the top earner was a film in its third week of release. Elegy, directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz, expanded from six to 92 theaters and grossed $5,546 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. The adaptation of a novel by Philip Roth has not been universally praised, but maintains a strong 74% positive rating at
These are the times (i.e., late August) that try movie-lovers' souls. But if this week's multiplex offerings are lackluster, don't forget about the art houses! The Indie Spotlight is here every Friday to let you know what's opening in "select cities," keeping you informed so you know which titles to look out for when you're in the mood for something different.
This week's indie releases, in alphabetical order, are: Cthulhu, I.O.U.S.A., Momma's Man, and Trouble the Water. Here's the scoop on each of them:
With all due respect to my esteemed colleague Elisabeth Rappe, geeks are not the only ones who learned important lessons from watching movies this summer. Herewith is my personal, arthouse summer school summary.
Werner Herzog cast a disapproving eye on the ugliness he discovered at Antarctica's McMurdo Station ("they even have a yoga studio and an ATM!") and was skeptical about the sanity of some of the real-life characters he met, which is partly why Encounters at the End of the World was...
The 'Friday the 13th' Series Gets Its Own Documentary
The Halloween series has its own documentary. As does the Psycho series, the Jaws series ... Hell, even Troll 2 has its own documentary. So it's perfectly OK with me if someone wants to pick up a camera, snag a bunch of interviews, and put together a nice, shiny Friday the 13th documentary. And according to Shock, that's precisely what someone is doing.
That person is Daniel Farrands, editor of Peter Bracke's stellar Crystal Lake Memories tome, screenwriter of Halloween 6 and The Girl Next Door, and producer of a DVD documentary for The Amityville Horror. So obviously this guy has...
As was the case with HBO's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Lionsgate has very discreetly opened Bill Maher's Religulous in two theaters -- one in New York, the other in Los Angeles -- in an qualifying run for next year's Academy Awards.
As pointed out by Jeff Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere, the Academy's Rule 12 states that any documentary hoping to qualify must open in both Los Angeles Country and the borough of Manhattan for at least one week prior to the end of August. Having already premiered at the Traverse City Film Festival, the doc will then...
If you squint your eyes just right and look at a photo of the late comedian Bill Hicks, he kind of resembles a young Russell Crowe (or vice versa). So, it would have been really cool if the Australian actor had played Hicks around ten years ago, when he was still in his 30s. But if we've learned anything from Kevin Spacey and Mike Myers (respectively, star of the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea and star of an upcoming Keith Moon biopic titled See Me Feel Me), you're never too old to play an icon...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Please Vote for Me' and 'Wizard of Gore'
It's a slow week, packed mainly with television box sets, but there are a few little-known films you might want to check out.
Please Vote for Me This was a film that I was dying to see at TIFF last year, but scheduling conflicts kept me from it. Luckily, the highly praised Please Vote for Me is now hitting DVD shelves.
Imagine a group of third-grade students putting Tracy Flick to shame as they hold a democratic election for school monitor. In my day (man, that phrase makes...
Last year was great for American independent cinema; this year, not so much. The lineup for the 35th annual 
The dog days of summer hit the indie box office this weekend, as the top earner was a film in its third week of release. 
These are the times (i.e., late August) that try movie-lovers' souls. But if this week's multiplex offerings are lackluster, don't forget about the art houses! The Indie Spotlight is here every Friday to let you know what's opening in "select cities," keeping you informed so you know which titles to look out for when you're in the mood for something different. 
With all due respect to my esteemed colleague Elisabeth Rappe, .jpg)
The Halloween series has its own documentary. As does the Psycho series, the Jaws series ... Hell, even Troll 2 has its own documentary. So it's perfectly OK with me if someone wants to pick up a camera, snag a bunch of interviews, and put together a nice, shiny 
As was the case with HBO's 
If you squint your eyes just right and look at a photo of the late comedian 
