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Review: The September Issue
Filed under: Documentary, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Roadside Attractions
By James Rocchi (repint from 2009 Sundance Film Festival)
The September Issue , directed by RJ Cutler (The War Room), offers the tantalizing promise of immediate inside pleasures with its synopsis alone, as it follows Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and her editorial team in the assembly and shaping of 2007's edition of the title issue of Vogue magazine -- the largest issue of the year, the holy writ and testament for the upcoming year in fashion, the big brassy bloated bane of every postal carrier's existence. Immediately, we're promised glamour, high-stakes editorial crisis, the confluence of commerce and style, the manic business of modern magazine publishing.
The good news is not only that The September Issue offers much more than those immediate inside pleasures -- although it does, commenting on celebrity culture, digital image-altering technology, power and privilege in the distraction-industrial complex and much more -- but that it delivers those immediate inside pleasures superbly along with the nitty-gritty, so we get to witness a mix of high fashion and near-fascism with Ms. Wintour as the iron fist inside the stylish hand-stitched calfskin glove -- velvet is so last year, darling.
Review: Mystery Team
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Roadside Attractions
By Erik Davis (reprint from 2009 Sundance Film Festival) The film opens this weekend in Austin, Texas, and should it "expand" in October (like we've heard it will), then we'll probably reprint the review again! We liked the flick just that much.
It's Encyclopedia Brown meets Napoleon Dynamite with a pinch of Ace Ventura ... and it's hilarious.
The Derrick Comedy troupe arrived at Sundance with a snot full of sketch videos and a massive internet fanbase. Sure, these were a group of kids from NYU who struck a cord with the YouTube audience and never looked back -- but a series of short online comedy bits and random late night improv are one thing; opening a feature film at the Sundance Film Festival is a completely different ballgame. Thankfully, with Mystery Team, these boys hit one way out of the ballpark, producing not only the funniest comedy I've seen at the fest so far, but one that definitely has the potential to stand toe-to-toe with the finer comedies of 2008 and the most hyped of 2009.
Inspired by Encyclopedia Brown, the Mystery Team are comprised of three kid detectives who run around with big magnifying glasses and several cheap, cliched disguises solving neighborhood whodunits, like who stuck their fingers in Mrs. What's-Her-Name's freshly-baked pie. Only problem is they're 18-year-old high school virgins who should've grown out of this detective phase back when they were seven. The entire community laughs at them, except for Jordy, the half-brain-dead doofus (aka the Mystery Team's "inside informant") who works at the 24-hour hole in the wall. However, when a tiny neighborhood girl asks the Mystery Team to find out who killed her parents, the guys that spend their days solving lame schoolyard pranks are forced to take their game up one giant, life-threatening notch.
'The Lucky Ones': Rachel McAdams Found Under Iraq
Filed under: Drama, Lionsgate Films, New Line, Trailers and Clips, Roadside Attractions
After making a fair impression in 2004 with Mean Girls and The Notebook, and then pulling a hat trick the following year with Wedding Crashers, Red Eye, and The Family Stone, it seemed to me that Canadian cutie Rachel McAdams was primed to take off in the years to come... and yet, here we are in 2008, with her one release since having been in the not-bad period drama Married Life (which grossed a not-great $1.5 million this past spring).
However, it looks her profile is about to rise yet again, between the star-studded drama State of Play next year and two other releases this fall: the long-awaited adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife and, before that, the Iraq War drama The Lucky Ones, in which she, Tim Robbins, and Michael Peña all play returning vets who bond on an impromptu road trip to Vegas.
Judging from the trailer, it really seems to be a change of pace for director/co-writer Neil Burger, as he follows up the modest success of The Illusionist. Do I honestly believe that some bar skank would pull such open mockery if she wasn't scripted to? Not at all, but do I believe that McAdams' character would react as she does? Absolutely.
Regardless, it's just nice to see a genuine talent working her way back into the limelight. Who knows, maybe audiences can convince her to stay there.
Review: The Fall
Filed under: Action, Independent, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, Roadside Attractions
When Tarsem Singh's The Cell was released in 2000, I spent most of my review talking about the way it looked, from the cinematography to the costume design. Eight years later, Tarsem (he's just going by his first name now) has finally made his second film, and it looks like my review of it might be structured the same way.
And why shouldn't it be? The films have a lot in common, both set primarily inside someone's mind, and the new one is only two letters away: It's called The Fall. (Suggested future titles for Tarsem movies: The Bull, The Mill, and The Doll.) The Fall is much lighter fare than the unsettling Cell was, though not without its dark moments, and if its imaginative story isn't exactly brilliant, I'm not concerned. I would be content to merely look at the film all day.
And I like the story, too. It's set in about 1915 at a hospital in Los Angeles, where a despondent stuntman named Roy (Lee Pace) is recovering from a mishap that has left him unable to walk. Scampering around the hospital grounds is Alexandria (Carinca Untaru), a mischievous little girl with a broken arm. She speaks with what sounds to me like an Indian accent, though the actress is Romanian. She meanders into Roy's room one day, and Roy, upon hearing her name, tells her about Alexander the Great. She is so entranced by his yarn-spinning that she wants to hear another. Roy obliges.
Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Reprise' and 'Sangre' Lead the Way
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, IFC, Box Office, Miramax, Cinematical Indie, Paramount Vantage, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Roadside Attractions
Two new indie releases fared well, while two others struggled. Hailing from Norway, Reprise (Miramax) earned a very good $15,500 per-screen average at three theaters, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Our own James Rocchi gushed in his review: "Directed by Joachim Trier, Reprise is one of the most brilliant, heartfelt, exciting and exuberant feature film debuts in recent memory."Mexican film Sangre de mi Sangre (AKA Padre Nuestro) (IFC Films) nestled into the #2 spot, earning $8,500 at one theater in Manhattan. The film follows two teenagers, one honest, one dishonest, trying to reach their disparate goals (reuniting with family, making money). Eric D. Snider noted: "The trouble is that the film is so bleak as to be almost hopeless ... Its grimness is not matched by its excellence."
Cinematical's Erik Davis raved about German director Christian Petzold's Yella (Cinema Guild) when he saw it at the Berlin film festival last year: "Like a drug, Yella slowly creeps on you long after the end credits roll, takes hold of your body and doesn't let go until you're convinced it was one of the best films this year's Berlinale had to offer." Opening at two theaters, the film made $3,450 per screen.
Despite good reviews (82% positive at Rotten Tomatoes), Georgina Garcia Riedel's How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (Maya Releasing) failed to make an impact, opening at 84 theaters and marshaling just $1,040 per screen, per Mr. Klady's estimate.
Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Poultrygeist' Overtakes 'Surfwise' and 'The Fall'
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Magnolia, ThinkFilm, Box Office, Cinematical Indie, Roadside Attractions
Apologies for the one-day delay, but, as it happens, the indie weekend charts changed in the interim. Early on Sunday, estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo indicated that Tarsem Singh's The Fall (Roadside Attractions) won the weekend, but when the figures were tabulated, Lloyd Kaufman's Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (Troma) sneaked into the top position with a take of $10,624 at one theater in Manhattan. Ed Gonzalez of The Village Voice says the film "chronicles what happens when a fried-chicken shack goes up on a Native American burial ground" and called it "a predictably hit-and-miss yukfest."Doug Pray's Surfwise (Magnolia) surged near the top, grossing $10,304 at another theater in Manhattan. The doc follows a doctor who abandoned his practice to become a surfer and live in a camper, packing along his wife and nine children. All 12 critics whose reviews are listed at Rotten Tomatoes were positive.
The Fall fell to third place, earning $8,845 per screen at nine locations. Reviews were mixed (57% positive, per Rotten Tomatoes), though even the naysayers acknowledged the visual beauty of the film. We've previously pointed to the trailer, posted exclusive stills and a clip, which definitely confirm this impression. In the words of our own Eric D. Snider, it is "a visually stunning fable where a man in a hospital tells a little girl a story, and that story is craaaazy."
Indies on DVD: 'Hannah,' 'Orphanage,' 'Savages,' 'Starting Out'
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, IFC, New on DVD, Fox Searchlight, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie, Picturehouse, Roadside Attractions
A solid handful of indie titles vie for your attention on the DVD shelves this week. I've already written about the marketing for Joe Swanberg's Hannah Takes the Stairs, my pick of the week, but that shouldn't overshadow the intrinsic quality of the film itself. The DVD from IFC includes Thanks for the Add!, a short film by Swanberg, an audio commentary by Swanberg and actors / co-writers Greta Gerwig and Kent Osborne, behind the scenes footage, and SXSW video production diary spots.I watched Juan Antonio Bayona's The Orphanage (pictured) with expectations set perhaps too high. I thought it would be a thrilling Spanish ghost story; instead it's a rather pallid drama about a mother and a lost son with just a smidgen of suspense and supernatural overtones. Jette Kernion had a response similar to mine, but others liked it much more, including our own Scott Weinberg, who praised it as "entirely captivating from start to finish." The DVD from Picturehouse includes three featurettes and something on the somewhat misleading marketing campaign.
Family dysfunction and elder care may not sound like sexy subjects, but Tamara Jekins "simply takes us into the story of her fascinating characters, and the integrity with which she handles it makes it ring true throughout." That was the reaction of Kim Voynar to The Savages; she was especially impressed by the performances of Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The DVD from Fox Searchlight includes an extended scene, director's snapshots, and a featurette entitled "About the Savages."
Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Counterfeiters' Continues at Top
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, IFC, Sony Classics, Box Office, Focus Features, Miramax, Cinematical Indie, Roadside Attractions
In a quiet post-Oscar week, Austria's The Counterfeiters (Sony Pictures Classics), winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, kept its position at the top of the charts, earning $10,050 per screen at 18 locations, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Klady noted that the film "doubled its playdates and box office but appears short of the commercial traction (or social vibrancy) of last year's triumphant The Lives of Others."Chop Shop (Koch Lorber) performed very nicely at its single-theater engagement in New York City's Film Forum, grossing $8,900. Kim Voynar described it as one of her favorite films from last year's festival circuit; filmmaker Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart) follows a 12-year-old orphan struggling to survive on the mean streets of New York. Chop Shop continues its run at Film Forum through March 11.
Other new indie releases struggled to find audiences. Chicago 10 (Roadside Attractions), "appreciable as one of the most creative and entertaining documentary films in years," did the best, pulling in $3,030 per-screen at 14 locations. Playing on 75 screens, City of Men (Miramax), "neither as stylistically fresh nor as powerfully raw as City of God," scratched out $1,570 per engagement, while Bonneville (SenArts), "a road trip movie for spunky older chicks" starring Kathy Bates, Joan Allen and Jessica Lange, and Romulus, My Father (Magnolia Pictures), "an incredibly slow-paced film that relies on the strength of its actors to thrive" starring Eric Bana, trailed behind, earning $1,410 and $1,070 per screen, respectively, in limited engagements.
Interview: 'Chicago 10' Director Brett Morgen
Filed under: Animation, Documentary, New Releases, Sundance, Podcasts, Celebrities and Controversy, Politics, Interviews, Cinematical Indie, Roadside Attractions
Director Brett Morgen doesn't make conventional, talking-head, "impartial" non-fiction films; he himself notes "I'm certainly more interested in creating modern-day mythologies than historical documentaries." After co-directing On the Ropes and The Kid Stays in the Picture, he next, ambitiously, decided to use state-of-the-art techniques to bring a 40-year old event to life in Chicago 10. Combining computer-animated footage and dramatic interpretations of court transcripts with footage and audio from 1968 -- some of it previously undiscovered -- Morgen's film audaciously animates and recreates the trial of activists Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seale and others that followed in the wake of the protests they organized outside the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968. Speaking with Cinematical from New York, Morgen talked about the level of digging required to unearth the unseen archival material he found, the differences he encountered between his actors who had done animation before and those who hadn't, what he learned about the '60s from making the films and much more: "This is a timeless story, that I think is relevant at any time -- and more relevant during wartime."
This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:
For Cinematical's reviews of Chicago 10, you can find Christopher Campbell's take here and my review from Sundance 2007 here.
Indie Weekend Box Office: 'Caramel,' 'Tre,' 'U2 3D,' 'Juno,' '4 Months'
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Music & Musicals, Romance, IFC, Box Office, Fox Searchlight, Cinematical Indie, Roadside Attractions
On a quiet weekend for new indie films, several stories merit attention. Let's begin with Caramel, a film from Lebanon that our own Kim Voynar quite enjoyed, calling the comedy/drama set in and around a Beirut beauty salon "funny, heartwarming, and sensitive." Distributor Roadside Attractions opened the picture at 12 locations, where it earned a tidy $6,210 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Leonard Klady at Movie City News. That was tops among new limited releases.Kim also recommended Eric Byler's Tre, a relationship drama. I haven't seen Byler's latest, but I agree with Kim that he's a very talented filmmaker; she says that he's "at the top of his game" with Tre. Playing on just two screens in Los Angeles, the film grossed $1,800 at each for distributor Cinema Libre. I'm hoping more people will get to see it as it opens in other cities in the coming weeks. The official site has a trailer and more information on future engagements in Chicago and San Francisco.
U2 3D got thoroughly dusted by the Hannah Montana phenomenon, but I would imagine there was no crossover in the audiences. And earnings of $12,620 per screen at 61 engagements is nothing to sneeze at -- that's good enough for second place in the overall per-screen standings, though far behind Hannah's $43,550 per-screen juggernaut. Have two G-rated 3D concert documentaries ever been 1-2 like that before? I think not!
Speaking of face-offs, Juno continued its remarkable run, dropping just 28% in its ninth week of release while playing on 2,475 screens. Its cumulative total is $110 million for distributor Fox Searchlight. Meanwhile, IFC Films expanded Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days into 17 theaters where it made $7,176 per engagement, according to Box Office Mojo.
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