— by CHERRY BELL — With less than a month until its release, Lionsgate is pulling all the stops for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” giving the audience more of a glimpse into the treacherous arena for the 75th Hunger Games. We also see howler monkeys, Jabberjays and, of co[...]
Archive for October, 2013
Production has begun on Chappie
Sony Pictures Entertainment and MRC have begun production in Johannesburg, South Africa, on “Chappie,” the next film from writer-director Neill Blomkamp, it was announced by Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures and Hannah Minghella, president of Production for the studio. “Chap[...]
Review: Alias Ruby Blade
— by BEV QUESTAD — Abigail Disney, niece of Walt, searches for true-life Peter Pan/Cinderella stories and supports their production into the best human rights films on the face of the Earth. “Ruby Blade” is one of the best. It has all the courage, perseverance and magic that makes a [...]
Review: The Missing Picture
— by RON WILKINSON — Screened at the 2013 New York Film Festival, Rithy Panh’s documentary is a scathing and heart rending tale of the Khmer Rouge campaign of terror. Using childlike clay figures, the film maker is able to put the audience into the place of a child who is incapable of [...]
Review: Sweet Dreams
— by RON WILKINSON — Screened November 2012 at the third annual DOC NYC documentary film festival, “Sweet Dreams” is the story of Kiki Katese, one of the few people in crisis-torn Africa who walks her talk. Rather, perhaps it should be said that she drums her talk. She did so by foun[...]
Review: The Square (aka Al Midan)
— by RON WILKINSON — This documentary is a firsthand account of the Egyptian revolution in the setting of Cairo’s Tahrir Square in 2011 through Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow in 2013. Screened at the 2013 New York Film Festival, it is directed by Jehane Noujaim, who also directed indie fa[...]
Review: 12 Years a Slave
— by JAMES SHAW — This year already has delivered several Oscar nominee-type films — including “Fruitvale Station,” “Gravity,” “Prisoners” and “Captain Phillips” — but Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” has moved right to the top of the list. In my opini[...]
Review: Tall as the Baobab Tree
— by BEV QUESTAD with ARDELLE ANDERSON — After a son falls from the village baobab tree and breaks his leg, there is no money for the necessary medical care – unless dad sells a daughter off for marriage. This re-enactment film is based on a true story, acted out by local rural Senegal[...]
American Hustle: Feature Trailer
— by ADAM POYNTER — The second trailer for David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” is here and it looks phenomenal, giving us much more narrative and plot points than the first trailer did. This is a film that can pretty much combines the casts of “The Fighter” and “Silv[...]
All Wifed Out: First Trailer
— by SEAN GERSKI — When a movie starring Marc Maron, Metta World Peace, Dustin “Screech” Diamond and Eve came to my attention, my first thought, of course, was WTF? (pun intended). How can there be a movie that includes these four personalities, and yet I have never heard of it? I ch[...]
Review: Carrie
— by JAMES SHAW — It is very hard to make original movies these days, so Hollywood tends to re-make, create sequels or spin-off from past popular films. The original 1976 version of “Carrie” was based on the 1974 Stephen King Novel, a story about an out-cast teenage girl named Carrie[...]
Review: Camille Claudel 1915
— by RON WILKINSON — Nominated for the Golden Bear, the top award at the Berlin Film Festival, Bruno Dumont has added another bitter pill to his weighty list of accomplishments with “Camille Claudel 1915.” He has either won or been nominated for most of the top European film [...]
Review: Concussion
— by JAMES SHAW — I am not one for clichéd movies and the following scene is all too familiar. A married couple with kids has their relationship tested either through personal complications or temptations. The relationship loses its spark and gets dull and repetitive. One person usually[...]