The Alexa 35 is booming! As IndieWire released its camera survey, it seems that the new Super 35 flagship from Arri is among the most popular cameras chosen by Sundance 2024’s filmmakers. The Arri 35 causes the notable Super 35 format to go back to the game. Furthermore, the Arri Alexa Mini is the most popular camera five years in a row. Watch the segmentation.
Sundance 2024’s Narratives: Camera Manufacturers’ chart
As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the Arri 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the Arri 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) Alexa Mini, the Arri 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers.
Sundance 2024’s Narratives: Camera Manufacturers’ chart
As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the Arri 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the Arri 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) Alexa Mini, the Arri 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers.
- 1/29/2024
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
Riffing on the eponymous stock trope recognizable in so many American films, The American Society of Magical Negroes tells the story of Aren, the latest recruit to a secret society of magical Black people who use their powers to make the lives of white people easier. The Sundance 2024 premiere is the debut film for director Kobi Libii. The film’s cinematographer Doug Emmett has a number of recognizable credits under his belt, including The Edge of Seventeen and Sorry to Bother You. Below, he humorously recounts difficulties mounting a set three floors underground and details the inspirations behind the film’s look. See all responses to […]
The post “You Live and Die by Your Crew”: Dp Doug Emmett on The American Society of Magical Negroes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “You Live and Die by Your Crew”: Dp Doug Emmett on The American Society of Magical Negroes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/19/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Riffing on the eponymous stock trope recognizable in so many American films, The American Society of Magical Negroes tells the story of Aren, the latest recruit to a secret society of magical Black people who use their powers to make the lives of white people easier. The Sundance 2024 premiere is the debut film for director Kobi Libii. The film’s cinematographer Doug Emmett has a number of recognizable credits under his belt, including The Edge of Seventeen and Sorry to Bother You. Below, he humorously recounts difficulties mounting a set three floors underground and details the inspirations behind the film’s look. See all responses to […]
The post “You Live and Die by Your Crew”: Dp Doug Emmett on The American Society of Magical Negroes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “You Live and Die by Your Crew”: Dp Doug Emmett on The American Society of Magical Negroes first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/19/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
A small indie film flying low on our radar, production on Kobi Libii‘s feature debut would have taken place sometime this year. Among the projects selected for Sundance Institute’s 2019 January Screenwriters Lab, The American Society of Magical Negroes has been also supported by the Sundance Directors Lab and Sffilm’s Westridge Grant. Teaming with cinematographer Doug Emmett (I Care a Lot – 2020) we might have a cast comprised of Justice Smith and Nicole Byer – and the project looks to belong to Focus Features – but all this needs to be confirmed. Known for his work on Comedy Central’s The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, plus tons of acting creds, Libii actually studied comedy at Second City Chicago — so we expect this debut to have a legit funny-bone.…...
- 11/7/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Brian Brown-Easley, played by John Boyega, is not a very good bank robber. He isn’t trying to be. If anything, he goes out of his way not to seem like too much of a threat. When he hops over a desk and inadvertently frightens a kind bank teller, Rosa (Selenis Leyva), he apologizes. After scribbling down a note about having a bomb, he swiftly moves to allow every customer in the place to leave. Calls come in from frustrated bank customers and he takes down notes for the employees...
- 8/28/2022
- by K. Austin Collins
- Rollingstone.com
This film was originally reviewed at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival under its original title, “892.”
The mechanics of real life get in the way of the demands of drama in “Breaking,” although they do provide the opportunity for memorable performances and fluidly engaging filmmaking.
Telling the story of a pushed-to-the-brink Gulf War vet who takes two bank employees hostage over his frustrations with the Veterans Administration, it’s a film that hits some narrative bumps along the way without diminishing its tougher observations about race, the police, and the treatment of veterans..
Whatever storytelling shortcomings “Breaking” might have, however, it’s undeniably an impressive feature debut for co-writer and director Abi Damaris Corbin, who gets great work from a top-flight cast of performers, including the late Michael Kenneth Williams in one of his final roles.
Also Read:
Sundance’s 18 Buzziest Movies for Sale in 2022, From ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ to...
The mechanics of real life get in the way of the demands of drama in “Breaking,” although they do provide the opportunity for memorable performances and fluidly engaging filmmaking.
Telling the story of a pushed-to-the-brink Gulf War vet who takes two bank employees hostage over his frustrations with the Veterans Administration, it’s a film that hits some narrative bumps along the way without diminishing its tougher observations about race, the police, and the treatment of veterans..
Whatever storytelling shortcomings “Breaking” might have, however, it’s undeniably an impressive feature debut for co-writer and director Abi Damaris Corbin, who gets great work from a top-flight cast of performers, including the late Michael Kenneth Williams in one of his final roles.
Also Read:
Sundance’s 18 Buzziest Movies for Sale in 2022, From ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ to...
- 8/25/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Inspired by the true story of disgruntled former marine Brian Brown Easley (John Boyega), who takes to robbing a Wells Fargo bank branch so the world will finally hear him, “892” is While it features some stellar performances — including the final on-screen role of the late Michael K. Williams, as a semi-fictionalized hostage negotiator — its individual strengths all seem to work in isolation. Even its best elements clash wildly and often, as the film heads toward a befuddling conclusion that works neither as dramatization, nor as commentary on real events.
Based on the in-depth article by Aaron Gell, the screenplay by Kwame Kwei-Armah and director Abi Damaris Corbin quickly arrives at Easley’s fateful decision to take a pair of bank workers captive, with what appears to be a makeshift bomb, until his demands are met. Those demands turn out to be shockingly simple. They emanate from a place of deep betrayal,...
Based on the in-depth article by Aaron Gell, the screenplay by Kwame Kwei-Armah and director Abi Damaris Corbin quickly arrives at Easley’s fateful decision to take a pair of bank workers captive, with what appears to be a makeshift bomb, until his demands are met. Those demands turn out to be shockingly simple. They emanate from a place of deep betrayal,...
- 1/23/2022
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Indiewire
Here’s the thing about bank robbery movies: No one ever roots for the bank. The tellers rarely seem like real people; the institutions don’t need the money; the insurance companies take the hit. But even if our sympathies naturally gravitate toward the lawbreakers, seldom has the stick-up guy seemed more sympathetic than the one in director Abi Damaris Corbin’s Sundance-launched feature debut, “892,” based on a recent case in which the crime was really a cry for help.
On July 7, 2017, Brian Brown-Easley walked into a Wells Fargo in Marietta, Ga., and handed the clerk a note that said, “I have a bomb.” But what he meant was “I have a message.” Brown-Easley wasn’t looking to take the bank’s money. He demanded just $892.34 — the same amount that the Dept. of Veteran Affairs had withheld from his last disability check. But even more importantly, he wanted an audience,...
On July 7, 2017, Brian Brown-Easley walked into a Wells Fargo in Marietta, Ga., and handed the clerk a note that said, “I have a bomb.” But what he meant was “I have a message.” Brown-Easley wasn’t looking to take the bank’s money. He demanded just $892.34 — the same amount that the Dept. of Veteran Affairs had withheld from his last disability check. But even more importantly, he wanted an audience,...
- 1/21/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
It’s impossible to watch Haley Lu Richardson and not see that she’s a star in the making. She just has that “it factor” about her. In a fairly short period of time, she’s established herself as someone to really watch. Richardson is rarely given starring roles, so far at least, so the new release Unpregnant is a welcome tonic to that. Coming as one of the first original releases for streamer HBO Max, it’s a lovely mix of comedy and drama, utilizing some silly elements as a delivery system for an angry message about the state of female health in America. Unsurprisingly, it’s all very well done, anchored by Richardson in a role that should only increase her profile in Hollywood. The film is a road trip comedy, with a bit of a twist, based on the novel by Ted Caplan and Jenni Hendriks. A...
- 9/13/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
One of TV’s biggest potential selling points in its current state is Total Creative Freedom. The extent to which that’s a reality for anyone outside showrunner auteurs commanding nine-figure development deals is suspect, but there’s an ever-growing mythos around television as a place where creative ambitions face fewer speedbumps. Since its inception two years ago, the HBO anthology series “Room 104” has been one of the best-case scenarios of this lack of constraint.
Still, even as episodes flit around between genres and a bevy of different creative voices, the show is working within one of the wildest restrictions of any show on TV: staging every episode inside an unassuming motel room. In the show’s Season 3, debuting Friday night on HBO, “Room 104” goes to its greatest lengths yet to ensure that none of these dozen new episodes feel like what the show has done before.
Even as...
Still, even as episodes flit around between genres and a bevy of different creative voices, the show is working within one of the wildest restrictions of any show on TV: staging every episode inside an unassuming motel room. In the show’s Season 3, debuting Friday night on HBO, “Room 104” goes to its greatest lengths yet to ensure that none of these dozen new episodes feel like what the show has done before.
Even as...
- 9/13/2019
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
There’s a sea change of originality to be found within Sorry to Bother You, the best film of the year so far. Not only is it the class of 2018 so far, it’s arguably one of the very best movies of the last five years. The past half decade has had some real great works, and this stands tall alongside them. Boots Riley makes a debut here that is one for the ages. This weekend, when Sorry to Bother You begins its theatrical run, a magical experience is hitting cinemas. It may turn some people off, but if you’re anything like me, it’s going to blow you away. Describing this movie is almost impossible, and that’s part of its charm. The plot synopsis is perfectly vague on IMDb, as it simply states: “In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success,...
- 7/5/2018
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
HBO renewing “Room 104” was one of the biggest no-brainers in the network’s recent history. Even with the specific connective tissue of the show, this series has already proven that it can be nearly anything that it wants to be. As evidenced by the first five episodes of the series, these stories can span ages, life situations, and genres of storytelling. Episode 5 even transcended time, delivering with “The Internet” the story of a mother and son connecting in more ways than expected in a story set 20 years ago.
Even within the cozy confines of 1997, director Doug Emmett (making his TV directorial debut, no less) brings a different kind of energy to the opening of the episode. Those quick cuts not only signal a new kind of “Room 104” story, it gets the audience right in the mind of Anish, a young writer set to finish his debut novel before...
Even within the cozy confines of 1997, director Doug Emmett (making his TV directorial debut, no less) brings a different kind of energy to the opening of the episode. Those quick cuts not only signal a new kind of “Room 104” story, it gets the audience right in the mind of Anish, a young writer set to finish his debut novel before...
- 8/28/2017
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Editor’s Note: Cinematographer Doug Emmett shot 11 of the 12 episodes — and made his directorial debut (Episode Five) — on HBO’s new series “Room 104,” created by Mark and Jay Duplass. The anthology series is radically different than other HBO shows, which often feature big budgets and have a high production value. For “Room 104,” the creative team followed a road map that was far more akin to the Duplass brothers’ ultra-low budget indie films — confining themselves to one room, small crews, and other cost-saving limitations — than how they made their previous HBO show “Togetherness.”
IndieWire recently asked Emmett — who has worked with the Duplass Brothers on a number of their films, as well as “Togetherness” — how exactly do you make an ultra-low budget TV show for HBO?
Read More‘Room 104′ Review: The Duplass Brothers’ Low-Budget HBO Experiment is a Grand Success
We often joked that the craft services budget...
IndieWire recently asked Emmett — who has worked with the Duplass Brothers on a number of their films, as well as “Togetherness” — how exactly do you make an ultra-low budget TV show for HBO?
Read More‘Room 104′ Review: The Duplass Brothers’ Low-Budget HBO Experiment is a Grand Success
We often joked that the craft services budget...
- 8/4/2017
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
[Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with HBO in support of Room 104, which premieres onJuly 28 at 11:30 p.m. Et.]
“Room 104” isn’t like anything else you’ll see on television this year. The new half-hour, genre-bending HBO series features a number of unique facets, but they all relate back, in one way or another, to the creative minds of Mark and Jay Duplass.
The writers, producers, directors, and actors known for breakout independent films like “The Puffy Chair” and “Cyrus” as well as award-winning television like “Togetherness” and “Transparent” have come together to create the latest exciting original series on the Home Box Office network.
Set in a single room in your typical American motel chain, each week tells a different story and all 12 episodes of Season 1 were produced by the Duplass Brothers. The tone, characters, and era can all change week-to-week, and viewers should be ready for drama, comedy, horror, and at the start of each new entry. What unites each story is the common search for...
“Room 104” isn’t like anything else you’ll see on television this year. The new half-hour, genre-bending HBO series features a number of unique facets, but they all relate back, in one way or another, to the creative minds of Mark and Jay Duplass.
The writers, producers, directors, and actors known for breakout independent films like “The Puffy Chair” and “Cyrus” as well as award-winning television like “Togetherness” and “Transparent” have come together to create the latest exciting original series on the Home Box Office network.
Set in a single room in your typical American motel chain, each week tells a different story and all 12 episodes of Season 1 were produced by the Duplass Brothers. The tone, characters, and era can all change week-to-week, and viewers should be ready for drama, comedy, horror, and at the start of each new entry. What unites each story is the common search for...
- 7/28/2017
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Jay and Mark Duplass are creators who don’t like to be put in a box, even if they’re making six hours of television set within the same four walls.
“Room 104,” the new HBO anthology series from the Duplass brothers, tells individual, episodic stories in each of its 12 half-hour installments, and all 12 are set within the same cheap, dingy hotel room. The first episode, which premiered at the Atx TV Festival Saturday evening, is a lot closer to Mark Duplass’ work in indie films “Creep” and “The One I Love” than the brothers’ former HBO comedy.
During a panel discussion following the episode, Duplass said he felt inspired by the constraints of the premise.
“I have something like 218 ideas in a Word document on my computer,” Duplass said.
Noting how it felt like he was back making low-budget indie films, Duplass said he wrote seven of the 12 episodes...
“Room 104,” the new HBO anthology series from the Duplass brothers, tells individual, episodic stories in each of its 12 half-hour installments, and all 12 are set within the same cheap, dingy hotel room. The first episode, which premiered at the Atx TV Festival Saturday evening, is a lot closer to Mark Duplass’ work in indie films “Creep” and “The One I Love” than the brothers’ former HBO comedy.
During a panel discussion following the episode, Duplass said he felt inspired by the constraints of the premise.
“I have something like 218 ideas in a Word document on my computer,” Duplass said.
Noting how it felt like he was back making low-budget indie films, Duplass said he wrote seven of the 12 episodes...
- 6/11/2017
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
The Edge of Seventeen
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
2016 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date February 14, 2017 / 34.98
Starring – Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, Haley Lu Richardson, Blake Jenner, Hayden Szeto, Alexander Calvert.
Cinematography- Doug Emmett
Film Editor – Tracey Wadmore-Smith
Original Music – Atti Övarsson-
Produced by – James L. Brooks, Kelly Fremon Craig, Julie Ansell, Richard Sakai
Written and Directed by – Kelly Fremon Craig
Teen comedies can be annoying, but every year seems to bring a good one. What work nicely are thoughtful movies that acknowledge the modern problems of teens in such a highly sexualized world, and place the sexual aspects in a non-exploitative context. I have been entertained and moved by Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick in Election, Ellen Page in Juno and Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. This year’s The Edge of Seventeen is a bright writing-directing...
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
2016 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 105 min. / Street Date February 14, 2017 / 34.98
Starring – Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, Haley Lu Richardson, Blake Jenner, Hayden Szeto, Alexander Calvert.
Cinematography- Doug Emmett
Film Editor – Tracey Wadmore-Smith
Original Music – Atti Övarsson-
Produced by – James L. Brooks, Kelly Fremon Craig, Julie Ansell, Richard Sakai
Written and Directed by – Kelly Fremon Craig
Teen comedies can be annoying, but every year seems to bring a good one. What work nicely are thoughtful movies that acknowledge the modern problems of teens in such a highly sexualized world, and place the sexual aspects in a non-exploitative context. I have been entertained and moved by Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick in Election, Ellen Page in Juno and Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. This year’s The Edge of Seventeen is a bright writing-directing...
- 2/11/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Touch of Venice: Messina’s Understated, Observational Debut
There’s much to admire in actor Chris Messina’s assured, astutely observed directorial debut, Alex of Venice. Namely its central performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who carries this understated character study that rather uneventfully charts a workaholic woman’s mildly difficult navigation through the denial that her marriage is over. As written by its trio of writers (with Jessica Goldberg joined by first time screenwriters Katie Nehara and Justin Shilton), its dramatic possibilities are severely downplayed, instead attempting to reflect meaning off intertextual echoes borrowed from Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard (the play being staged within the film).
An attorney for an eco-advocacy group, Alex (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is left reeling when her high school sweetheart husband George (Messina) abruptly announces he’s unhappy with their marriage. A taken-for-granted stay-at-home dad, who cares for both their young son and Alex’s...
There’s much to admire in actor Chris Messina’s assured, astutely observed directorial debut, Alex of Venice. Namely its central performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who carries this understated character study that rather uneventfully charts a workaholic woman’s mildly difficult navigation through the denial that her marriage is over. As written by its trio of writers (with Jessica Goldberg joined by first time screenwriters Katie Nehara and Justin Shilton), its dramatic possibilities are severely downplayed, instead attempting to reflect meaning off intertextual echoes borrowed from Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard (the play being staged within the film).
An attorney for an eco-advocacy group, Alex (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is left reeling when her high school sweetheart husband George (Messina) abruptly announces he’s unhappy with their marriage. A taken-for-granted stay-at-home dad, who cares for both their young son and Alex’s...
- 4/17/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
In order to shed her uptight image before college, Valedictorian Brandy Klark creates a “to do list” of all the “activities” she missed out on in high school. Quickly realizing that she’s way out of her depth, Brandy solicits her two best friends, her older sister and her burnt-out boss for their help and advice. But even with the guidance of those closest to her, Brandy can’t foresee that emotions are not easily kept to the margins.
Featuring the hottest cast of the summer including Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover, with Connie Britton and Clark Gregg, The To Do List is a comedy set in 1993 about a Type A girl, her to do list, and all of the outrageous lessons she awkwardly learns over the summer between high school and college.
The film...
Featuring the hottest cast of the summer including Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover, with Connie Britton and Clark Gregg, The To Do List is a comedy set in 1993 about a Type A girl, her to do list, and all of the outrageous lessons she awkwardly learns over the summer between high school and college.
The film...
- 7/16/2013
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The first stills and wrap news for the latest spooker from Sony Pictures, The Remaining, have appeared on our desks so we thought we'd push out the goodies your way! Read on for details, and look for more soon!
From the Press Release
Affirm Films, a division of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (Spwa), and Cinematic wrapped principal photography of The Remaining on March 18th in Wilmington, Nc.
The horror thriller, based on biblical accounts of the end times, is written and directed by Casey La Scala (Donnie Darko). The film stars Alexa Vega (Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D), Shaun Sipos (Texas Chainsaw 3D), Johnny Pacar (Flight 29 Down), Italia Ricci (“Terminales”), Bryan Dechart (Step Up 3D) and newcomer Liz E. Morgan. The Remaining is produced by Brad Luff (Urban Legends), Marc Bienstock (Quarantine 2: Terminal) and La Scala.
The Remaining is an action-packed horror thriller...
From the Press Release
Affirm Films, a division of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (Spwa), and Cinematic wrapped principal photography of The Remaining on March 18th in Wilmington, Nc.
The horror thriller, based on biblical accounts of the end times, is written and directed by Casey La Scala (Donnie Darko). The film stars Alexa Vega (Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D), Shaun Sipos (Texas Chainsaw 3D), Johnny Pacar (Flight 29 Down), Italia Ricci (“Terminales”), Bryan Dechart (Step Up 3D) and newcomer Liz E. Morgan. The Remaining is produced by Brad Luff (Urban Legends), Marc Bienstock (Quarantine 2: Terminal) and La Scala.
The Remaining is an action-packed horror thriller...
- 3/20/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Matt Ross’s directorial debut is an inventive look at an affair between a married account (Marin Ireland) and a novelist (Chris Messina) that unfurls within the walls of 28 hotel rooms across the country. Dictated by checkout times and the call of the “real world,” their truncated encounters are marked by a growing sense of urgency, as their physical connection turns emotional. Ireland and Messina shoulder the challenge of being the sole recipients of Doug Emmett’s lens with magnetic grace, crafting their characters’ dimensions in varying increments of restraint and ebullition. 28 Hotel Rooms, currently streaming on iTunes and VOD, opens in La on November 9th, and New York on November 16th. Below, Matt Ross speaks about bridging the gap between vision and execution.
Filmmaker: This is very much an actors’ movie, which makes sense, because you are one. Did you know from the outset that you wanted these two...
Filmmaker: This is very much an actors’ movie, which makes sense, because you are one. Did you know from the outset that you wanted these two...
- 11/8/2012
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Sometimes all you need is two actors, one room and one camera. Do that 28 times over, and you have a gem of a film. Of course, this takes a great deal of confidence and talent from everyone involved, from the producer to the director to the actors to the crew.
Everyone, in this case, is completely up to the challenge. 28 Hotel Rooms, written and directed by longtime character actor Matt Ross, is that rare accomplishment: a near-perfect blend of comedy and drama. Even rarer, then, that the film’s two sole characters are engaging in a long-spanning affair with each other.
Opening with the couple in the middle of their first (and what they think is last) fling, we see little more than sexual desire. After it’s over, he gives her his number to which she quickly responds, “I’m not going to call you.”
But as the next...
Everyone, in this case, is completely up to the challenge. 28 Hotel Rooms, written and directed by longtime character actor Matt Ross, is that rare accomplishment: a near-perfect blend of comedy and drama. Even rarer, then, that the film’s two sole characters are engaging in a long-spanning affair with each other.
Opening with the couple in the middle of their first (and what they think is last) fling, we see little more than sexual desire. After it’s over, he gives her his number to which she quickly responds, “I’m not going to call you.”
But as the next...
- 1/30/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
In Contention's Guy Lodge was worrying a couple of days ago in Venice that the "unwritten rule of major festival programming that the closing film should be, if not shit, at least aggressively mediocre" might apply to Damsels in Distress, but "it gives me no small amount of pleasure to report that Stillman's latest is an unequivocal delight — a warmly off-kilter and wholly unique campus comedy that... has provided the purest shot of joy in the entire festival. That's not to say Stillman has gone cuddly in the lengthy hiatus that followed 1998's The Last Days of Disco: the director's many patient fans will find his skewed wit and dryly affectionate mockery of the East Coast upper classes pleasingly intact, even if the film surrounding these virtues is perhaps a shade broader and more heightened than his three previous features. Newcomers to his work might take a few scenes...
- 9/12/2011
- MUBI
Carrie MacLemore, Analeigh Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Greta Gerwig in Damsels in Distress
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress marks the writer/director's first film in 13 years following 1998's The Last Days of Disco. My anticipation here was high after seeing Stillman's Disco and Metropolitan for the first time back in 2009. In that sense, Damsels is easily recognizable as a Stillman feature with intelligent dialogue and characters with a gift for gab, but it takes on something of a fantastical edge I never quite became comfortable with. The story could have metaphorically been told in cardboard castles with the cast dressed in Renaissance garb and it would have played almost exactly the same, it's that kind of film.
It's not about princes and princesses, but the soft tones and wispy and whimsical line-delivery comes courtesy of modern day damsels Violet (Greta Gerwig), Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and...
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress marks the writer/director's first film in 13 years following 1998's The Last Days of Disco. My anticipation here was high after seeing Stillman's Disco and Metropolitan for the first time back in 2009. In that sense, Damsels is easily recognizable as a Stillman feature with intelligent dialogue and characters with a gift for gab, but it takes on something of a fantastical edge I never quite became comfortable with. The story could have metaphorically been told in cardboard castles with the cast dressed in Renaissance garb and it would have played almost exactly the same, it's that kind of film.
It's not about princes and princesses, but the soft tones and wispy and whimsical line-delivery comes courtesy of modern day damsels Violet (Greta Gerwig), Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and...
- 9/12/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Now up on the site are select stories from the Winter 2011 issue.
Michelle Williams talks about her upcoming film Meek’s Cutoff, as well as the challenges of trying to shake her Blue Valentine character to prepare. We chat with Apichatpong Weerasethakul about his Palme d’Or winner, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Dp Eric Lin (The Exploding Girl) talks shop with Monogamy cinematographer Doug Emmett. As well as interviews with Limitless director Neil Burger and Mike Ott‘s Gotham Awards’ Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You winner, Littlerock.
Lance Weiler also delves into his project, Pandemic, for his Culture Hacker column, which is at Sundance (see our video interview with Weiler); and we reveal a new column which will show up in the mag from time to time: Soapbox. Here Zachary Wigon writes about the cinema’s role in society.
Michelle Williams talks about her upcoming film Meek’s Cutoff, as well as the challenges of trying to shake her Blue Valentine character to prepare. We chat with Apichatpong Weerasethakul about his Palme d’Or winner, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Dp Eric Lin (The Exploding Girl) talks shop with Monogamy cinematographer Doug Emmett. As well as interviews with Limitless director Neil Burger and Mike Ott‘s Gotham Awards’ Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You winner, Littlerock.
Lance Weiler also delves into his project, Pandemic, for his Culture Hacker column, which is at Sundance (see our video interview with Weiler); and we reveal a new column which will show up in the mag from time to time: Soapbox. Here Zachary Wigon writes about the cinema’s role in society.
- 1/25/2011
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
By Scott Feinberg
On Saturday evening, “Monogamy” (video preview) — the feature debut of Dana Adam Shapiro, who won an Oscar for co-directing the great documentary “Murderball” (2005) — premiered at the Borough of Manhattan Community College as part of the ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival. Ironically, it followed a screening at the same location of a new documentary about New York’s disgraced ex-Governor Eliot Spitzer, but I digress…
The film stars Chris Messina, the oblivious bridegroom-to-be in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008) and neglected husband in “Julie & Julia” (2009), and Rashida Jones, the wife in “I Love You, Man” (2009) and regular on TV’s “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” as a hip, modern, engaged couple who learn some unsettling things about each other as their wedding day nears.
Messina’s Theo and Jones’s Nat live together in Brooklyn. He’s a frustrated artist, barely makes ends meet as a photographer who...
On Saturday evening, “Monogamy” (video preview) — the feature debut of Dana Adam Shapiro, who won an Oscar for co-directing the great documentary “Murderball” (2005) — premiered at the Borough of Manhattan Community College as part of the ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival. Ironically, it followed a screening at the same location of a new documentary about New York’s disgraced ex-Governor Eliot Spitzer, but I digress…
The film stars Chris Messina, the oblivious bridegroom-to-be in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008) and neglected husband in “Julie & Julia” (2009), and Rashida Jones, the wife in “I Love You, Man” (2009) and regular on TV’s “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” as a hip, modern, engaged couple who learn some unsettling things about each other as their wedding day nears.
Messina’s Theo and Jones’s Nat live together in Brooklyn. He’s a frustrated artist, barely makes ends meet as a photographer who...
- 4/26/2010
- by Scott Feinberg
- Hollywoodnews.com
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