Category Archives: Coming Soon

Films that are to be released in the upcoming months

Comedy, Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Final Cut – Ladies and Gentlemen

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

Screening: Monday, October 1, 9pm

Venue: Francesca Beale Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Cinema Reflected

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy and girl get married. Girl gets pregnant. Boy and girl split up. Etc. Etc. It’s a rather simple tale, but this reviewer can guarantee you’ve never seen it done quite like this. In Final Cut – Ladies and Gentlemen, Hungarian filmmaker Pálfi György uses brief scenes from nearly 500 films (and some TV shows) to tell this plain story. It’s a remarkable achievement and is the greatest celebration of cinema to hit the big screen in a long time. This is the ultimate movie about movies.

Employing a hodgepodge of scenes from films ranging from The Birth of a Nation (1915) to Avatar (2009), from live-action to animation, from comedy to drama—and everything in between—Final Cutamazingly tells a cohesive narrative from start to finish—one that could have been easily ruined in the hands of a less-skilled filmmaker. The amount of visual and auditory texture in this “epic” is staggering, and yet this visual collage does not strain the eye and is not distracting. Recognizing that so much of what makes a great movie great are the little moments on screen—waking up in bed, a loving stare, an expression of joy—György embroidered a fine tapestry that highlights these singular moments, and in doing so he tells a story of love and loss, of happiness and sorrow—a simple story with great depth, as told through the voice of cinema through the ages.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Pálfi György

Genres: Experimental, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Country: Hungary

Language: Mostly silent with some lines in English

Runtime: 85 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Narrative, Oscars, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Beyond the Hills

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiJRGbCKCu0]

Screenings:

Monday, October 1, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Sunday, October 7, 2:30pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Thursday, October 11, 3:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

Voichita and Alina, childhood friends who were raised in the same orphanage, are reunited in the hills of Romania after years of separation. Voichita is a nun in training, living in a pious monastery in the hills without electricity or any other conveniences of modern life. Alina is returning from Germany, where she’s spent the last several years. Feeling anxious and alone, Alina is determined to convince her best friend to return to Germany with her, but Voichita is not the same girl. She’s found God and is under the watchful eye of the resident priest and patriarch of the monastery, simply known as Papa. Alina decides to stay, in hopes that she will be able to persuade her friend to leave the monastery. Things go awry for everyone there once Alina begins to display erratic behaviors, threatening the resident nuns and priest and forcing them to take action.

Continue reading New York Film Festival Preview: Beyond the Hills →

Comedy, Coming Soon, Film Festival, Independent Film, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Frances Ha

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

Screenings:

Sunday, September 30, 6:30pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Thursday, October 4, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Wednesday, October 10, 4pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

She breaks up with her boyfriend and begins to lose her newly engaged best friend. Things are not looking up for Frances, a struggling dancer in her late 20s who finds herself practically couch surfing throughout New York City. Her life didn’t turn out quite the way she expected, and as a result, she’s forced to face the challenges of just plain living. In his directorial follow-up to 2010′s Greenberg, Noah Baumbach once again collaborates with lead actress Greta Gerwig (who also wrote the script with Baumbach) in Frances Ha. Where this coming-of-age tale falls flat on story, it more than makes up for in character. No doubt, the film’s black-and-white cinematography adds a touch of quirkiness to complement the dynamic characters of Frances and her best friend Sophie (played by Mickey Sumner). Frances’s hopes, dreams, and disappointments play out in a relatable fashion that isn’t too heavy. It is easy to see ourselves in her position, struggling to reconcile our dreams with our reality. The film is heavy on dialogue with little quiet time, setting off the pace at which Frances’s life unravels—and it does so to the point where she finds herself working and living at her old college for a summer, illustrating a very clear regression. Frances Ha is a delightful movie with memorable performances by both Gerwig and Sumner. Following Baumbach’s terrific showing with Oscar-nominated The Squid and the Whale (2005), the writer/director lost his footing a bit with Margot at the Wedding (2007) and to a lesser degree with Greenberg. Thankfully, he’s back in peak form with Frances Ha.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Noah Baumbach

Genres: Narrative, Comedy

Country: USA

Language: English

Runtime: 86 min.

Note: Greta Gerwig and Mickey Sumner will be participating in a free conversation, courtesy of NYFF Live on Monday, October 1 at 7pm in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater, located in Lincoln Center at 144 W. 65th St., NYC.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Life of Pi

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZEZ35Fhvuc]

Screenings:

Friday, September 28, 6pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Friday, September 28, 6:15pm (Walter Reade Theater)

Friday, September 28, 6:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)

Friday, September 28, 6:45pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Friday, September 28, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Friday, September 28, 9:15pm (Walter Reade Theater)

Friday, September 28, 9:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)

Friday, September 28, 9:45pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Gala Tributes

*WORLD PREMIERE*

Based on the best-selling book of the same title, Life of Pi tells the story of young Pi, a spirited Indian teenager whose faith and endurance are put to the ultimate test when he must fight for survival in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only a lifeboat and a ferocious Bengal tiger to keep him company. Pi’s father must sell his family-owned zoo and plans to relocate his family to Canada by way of a Japanese ship. There, he will sell the many exotic animals he’s taken into his custody. After the ship sinks during a terrible storm, Pi is the lone (human) survivor and must find a way to survive on the mighty Pacific for more than 200 days.

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Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Independent Film, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Passion

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaSVR4pCKT4]

Screenings:

Saturday, September 29, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Saturday, October 6, 9pm (Walter Reade Theater)

Thursday, October 11, 3:15pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

In the highly competitive world of advertising, Christine (Rachel McAdams) takes credit for an idea had by her underling Isabelle (Noomi Rapace), which results in a downward (and deadly) spiral for all involved. Passion is adapted from the 2010 French film Love Crime (dir. Alain Corneau). Directed by Brian De Palma—the same man who birthed such gritty and violent films as Carrie (1976), Scarface (1983), and The Untouchables (1987)—this movie will not live up to the “classic” status of its siblings. Upon watching Passion, one immediate question comes to mind: Mr. De Palma, what the hell were you thinking?

In a film that is perhaps best described as a sleazy late-night “skinemax” movie with less skin, the opening close-up shot of the Apple logo is as sordid and egregious as the lingerie, cheesy saxophone music, posh locales, lipstick, backstabbing, and sex that permeate this poorly written and badly acted movie. McAdams reprises some of the same manipulative and tawdry traits as her character in Mean Girls (2004), but they are less appealing to watch here. And given the setting of an ad agency (the advertising industry is grossly misrepresented, by the way), the Apple logo, which makes a second appearance later in the movie, reveals a film that is all-too aware of itself. This “meta” device, which could have been used cleverly falls flat instantly. Additional miscues in the film’s story include some nonsensical character motivations; some moments of “really?? are you serious??”; and a sloppy, head-scratching error regarding a very important item towards the end of the film. If the purpose of this movie is to be really, really bad, then this movie is really, really good.

Limité Rating: 1/5

Director: Brian De Palma

Genres: Narrative, Drama, Thriller

Countries: France/Germany

Language: English

Runtime: 100 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Coming Soon, Drama, In Theatres, Independent Film, Narrative, New Release, Oscars, Preview, Trailer

2013 Oscar Guide: Parade of Trailers

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If you’re anything like me, you’re sure to watch most (if not all) of the major Oscar-contending films before nominations are even announced (this year on January 10, 2013). Here are trailers and release dates for just some of this year’s major contenders in various categories.

Past Releases

THE AVENGERS

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIR8Ar-Z4hw]

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDY89LYxK0w]

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Actors, Awards, Coming Soon, Drama, Narrative, Oscars, Preview

Live Singing in LES MISÉRABLES

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In Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper’s upcoming Les Misérables, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway, the filmmaker made the choice to have the actors sing live on set, rather than the customary approach of having them record an album earlier and lip sync to the pre-recorded songs during filming. It’s a risky move, but appears to be one that gave the actors a certain freedom and the ability to express their characters in a very real and raw way. Check out this brief featurette for a behind-the-scenes look.

Les Misérables opens in theatres this Christmas and is primed for a major Oscar push. (Check out my previous post on “5 Reasons Why Anne Hathaway Will be Oscar Nominated for Les Misérables.”)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVxfyBumtm4]
Awards, Coming Soon, Drama, Filmmakers, Independent Film, Narrative, News, Oscars, Preview

Why Searchlight Slipped HITCHCOCK into This Year’s Oscar Race (Analysis)

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(Re-posted from The Hollywood Reporter)

by Scott Feinberg

September 20, 2012

The drama about the making of “Psycho” joins “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “The Sessions” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” on the Searchlight slate.

Hitchcock Movie Poster - P 2012

Fox Searchlight just shook up this year’s awards race by announcing that Hitchcock, which had been looking like a 2013 release, will now open on Nov. 23.

First of all, the facts: Hitchcock is a dramedy about the relationship between kinky master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and his trusted wife, Alma Reville, during the making of his seminal 1960 film Psycho.

The film was adapted by Black Swan co-screenwriter John McLaughlin from film historian/Playboy contributing editor Stephen Rebello’s book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. It marks the feature directorial debut of Sacha Gervasi, who is best known for his 2008 hit doc Anvil: The Story of Anvil, and was produced by Tom Pollock and Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Picture Co., which also handled 2009 best picture Oscar nominee Up in the Air.

Continue reading Why Searchlight Slipped HITCHCOCK into This Year’s Oscar Race (Analysis) →

Coming Soon, Documentary, Film Festival, Independent Film, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Casting By

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1EHFoE9uB0]

Screening: Friday, October 12, 6:30pm

Venue: Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Cinema Reflected

Much credit is given to the actors, directors, and writers of feature films and TV series, but little is known about the casting directors and their creative contributions to the successes (and failures) of these visual arts. Casting By is a terrific documentary that pulls back the curtain on the little-thought-about art of casting, with a particular emphasis placed on legendary casting director Marion Dougherty (Midnight Cowboy, 1969; The World According to Garp, 1982) for whom the film is dedicated. The documentary explores the early days of casting, when the discipline was more of a “clerical” role, organizing and filing actors’ headshots, to a more substantial practice that includes, in part, understanding the psychology of characters and the talents and qualities different actors bring to a part. The modern-day bureaucracy of the capitalist film industry and the casting director’s detractors (such as Ray director Taylor Hackford) are prominently explored, as well as the fact that the casting director position is the only main title credit on a film not to have its own Oscar category. The film’s greatest achievement is in its elevation of these unsung heroes of film and TV, proving their worth and showing how the guts and instincts of some of Hollywood’s greatest casting directors helped create some films and characters that will forever be etched in our minds as “classics.” In addition to Dougherty and other prominent casting directors, the documentary features some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters, including Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Jeff Bridges, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Jon Voight, John Travolta, and others.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Tom Donahue

Genre: Documentary

Country: USA

Runtime: 89 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Actors, Awards, Coming Soon, Drama, Narrative, Oscars, Preview

5 Reasons Why Anne Hathaway Will be Oscar Nominated for LES MISÉRABLES

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Sure, it’s probably a bit early to be making such claims, particularly since Les Misérables hasn’t even hit theatres yet. (It opens on December 14th.) However, I’m an Oscar buff and I can’t help but be thinking year-round about which films and performances will be honored come February. And so I’m going on record to state that I believe Anne Hathaway will receive an Oscar nomination next year for her supporting role as Fantine in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. (Whether Hathaway’s part is considered a lead or supporting role will depend on the adaptation. Those familiar with the stage version know that despite Fantine’s importance to the plot, she has limited stage time. So like Catherine Zeta-Jones’s role in Chicago [2002] and Kate Winslet’s role in The Reader [2008], Hathaway’s role in Les Mis could put her in either the lead or supporting races, depending on voters’ whims.)

Continue reading 5 Reasons Why Anne Hathaway Will be Oscar Nominated for LES MISÉRABLES →