Entertainment - Thursday, December 4, 2008 11:18 - 0 Comments
An Anime That’s Not ‘Spirited Away’ Tonight at Cantor
NYU’s Asian/Pacific/American Institute will hold a screening tonight of the anime film Tekkon Kinkreet at Cantor Film Center, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Based on a manga of the same name, Tekkon Kinkreet follows two young street urchins as they try to maintain control of the surreal streets of Treasure Town while disregarding the laws of physics and child welfare in the process.
The film is the first of its kind in that it is an anime made in Japan, but directed by an American, Michael Arias. The screening at Cantor will include a discussion with a panel headed by the film’s screenwriter, Anthony Weintraub, regarding “Anime and the Architecture of Cosmopolitanism.” Continue…
Entertainment - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 12:12 - 1 Comment
Director Spike Jones Breaks Silence On “Where The Wild Things Are”
Visionary director Spike Jonze recently sat down for an extended and revealing chat with “Moriarty” over at Ain’t It Cool News, focusing largely on the progress of his still-delayed, not-for-kids kids movie Where the Wild Things Are. A loose and reportedly creepy adaptation of the Maurice Sendak children’s book, Dave Eggers wrote the film’s script with some contributions from frequent Jonze collaborator Charlie Kaufman.
Going for what he calls an “organic” feel, Jonze opted to not use solely CGI characters for the Wild Things and will combine the digital effects with live action and animatronics. The movie will also feature voice work from James “Tony Soprano” Gandolfini and Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O is contributing the score. The result, according to early reviews of draft versions, is something wholly original and almost frightening—certainly not the children’s blockbuster the studio had in mind. In the interview, Jonze describes filming on a soundstage with the voice actors, likening the set-up to “’70s experimental theatre.” And so we wait. Continue…
Entertainment - Wednesday, November 5, 2008 9:41 - 0 Comments
“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” Plays With Dirty Money
David Denby must be depressed. A year after the film critic spent 5,000 words in The New Yorker lamenting the dubious direction in which the many apostles of the Judd Apatow School of Lewdness are taking his beloved romantic comedy, here comes Zack and Miri Make a Porno adhering to Apatow’s formula with such obvious admiration that its creator might as well get on his knees and start fellating right now.
If this metaphor sounds lewd, it’s apt for this movie, which basks in every slimy four letter utterance. But lewdness does not equal freshness, and unfortunately there’s little fresh to be found in Zack and Miri. It’s that same hip combo of crude male-centric slapstick with a sensitive heart—of Seth Rogen as the doughy, ambitionless slacker growing up to snag the improbably gorgeous blonde, in this case the sharp-tongued yet lovely Elizabeth Banks.
The whole concept—Zack and Miri as grown-up childhood friends producing a porno to relieve their mounting debts—is a secondhand vehicle for the type of sex-inflected romantic comedy pioneered by Apatow and his buddies in movies like Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin. Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, November 4, 2008 6:45 - 4 Comments
When Will We See “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”?
Is anyone else completely beside themselves that we won’t be seeing this film during the month of November? Is no release date sacred? Continue…
Entertainment - Monday, November 3, 2008 13:02 - 0 Comments
Are You Really Happy (Go-Lucky)?
Poppy Cross is thirty years old. She is hopelessly single, sexually confused, and plain-looking. She is a mere schoolteacher and she doesn’t have her driver’s license. But Poppy is a hell of a lot happier than most NYU students, and she’s determined to keep it that way.
Such is the set-up of Mike Leigh’s latest film, Happy Go-Lucky. The film has a softcore Todd Solondz humor to it, featuring seemingly insignificant slices of Poppy’s mundane life, asking the audience, Should you be laughing?
Predictably, Poppy’s character is initially really annoying. But her persevering happiness becomes absurd and endearing—and thereby, funny. Thus, Happy Go-Lucky’s philosophical dialogue: what really makes us happy? And Happy Go-Lucky’s conflict: how long can she keep this up? Continue…
Entertainment - Thursday, October 30, 2008 16:23 - 8 Comments
“Synecdoche, New York” Reviews Are As Confusing As the Movie Itself
I’d say I’m an average moviegoer. I’m no film student, but I know who Charlie Kaufman is and that I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (and not just because Jim Carrey and that guy who played Frodo are in it). So where do I turn to find out whether it’s worth blowing my twelve bucks on Synecdoche, New York, Charlie’s latest mindfuck of a movie and first voyage as captain of his own ship? Rotten Tomatoes, of course. But now things get really confusing, and the movie hasn’t even started yet.
Here’s Manohla Dargis, that trusted backbone of the New York Times movies section, claiming that “Synecdoche, New York is one of the best films of the year.” Great. Let’s see it. But wait—right next to her is Rex Reed of the New York Observer warning that “no matter how bad you think the worst movie ever made ever was, you have not seen Synecdoche, New York.” What the hell? Continue…
Entertainment - Friday, September 26, 2008 3:44 - 3 Comments
Oliver Stone’s ‘W.’ Gets A Second Trailer—Slo-Mo Pretzel Shot, FTW
This will be stunning—actually great or amazingly bad. Either way, we win.
Entertainment - Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:54 - 2 Comments
Biggie Smalls Biopic “Notorious” Trailer
Entertainment - Friday, September 5, 2008 11:16 - 1 Comment
Why ‘Hamlet 2′ Has the Potential to Be the Next Cult Favorite
The Plot: Washed up “actor” (I write “actor” in quotes for a reason) turned high school drama “teacher” (I write “teacher” in quotes for the same reason) Dana Marschz—played by Steve Coogan—reacts to the principal’s threat to shut down their high school’s drama program by vowing to write and perform the best musical that has ever been. The result is Hamlet 2, which is exactly what it sounds like: a sequel to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”—you know, the one where everybody dies. Continue…
