Maternal instincts and emotions make for a strong foundation in horror movie narratives, and when paired with well-crafted religio-cultural subtext, they can give birth to timeless classics. Perhaps a common primal tone allows a seamless assimilation of themes of maternity and religion, as is seen in a number of acclaimed titles through the years. Bangladeshi-American director Asif Akbar’s latest venture, Skeletons in the Closet, tried to recreate that magic by drawing upon legends of Mexican folk Catholicism within the Latinidad familial heritage. Instead, an atrocious and convoluted plotline, non-existent characterization, and poor visual effects make this movie a horrible mess, which only serves to malign the late phases of the career of its prolific cast. The gulf between intention and application is so vast in the moviemaking effort with this one that even the most hard-core horror fans who have grown tolerant of the worst of B-movies will find it a tepid,...
- 2/11/2024
- by Siddhartha Das
- Film Fugitives
To celebrate the end of another great year in independent film, Film Independent is re-posting some of our favorite blogs of 2023. And here’s a reminder: there’s still time to make a tax-deductible donation to Film Independent in support of all the hard work our community does year-round. Not a Member yet? Become one by January 5 to watch the nominees for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards and vote for the winners. Happy New Year!
If you watched our livestream of the Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 4, then you very well know that this year’s ceremony was about way more than just making fun of the 2008 Will Ferrell vehicle Semi-Pro. The 2023 awards show kicked off a year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of our Artist Development efforts – known on these streets as #AD30. That’s right, ever since Project Involve debuted in 1993, Film Independent Artist Development has been...
If you watched our livestream of the Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 4, then you very well know that this year’s ceremony was about way more than just making fun of the 2008 Will Ferrell vehicle Semi-Pro. The 2023 awards show kicked off a year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of our Artist Development efforts – known on these streets as #AD30. That’s right, ever since Project Involve debuted in 1993, Film Independent Artist Development has been...
- 12/29/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Face to Face with Eta: Conversation with a Terrorist is a Netflix documentary directed by Marius Sanchez and Jordi Evole. The Netflix documentary deals with the sensitive and significant history of violence surrounding the Basquist separatist organization Eta, which was responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people in France and Spain. Now, a former member and leader of the organization, Josu Urrutikoetxea, stepped forward to discuss some of the most disturbing violent acts his organization had committed and apologized to the victims he and his group had caused harm to. But does this apology make his actions forgivable? Well, forgiveness for such crimes is subjective and completely up to the victims and their families. Let’s see if any victims of such horrible acts could forgive Josu Urrutikoetxea.
Spoilers Ahead
What Is This Documentary About?
Face to Face with Eta: Conversation with a Terrorist consists of two interviews, one...
Spoilers Ahead
What Is This Documentary About?
Face to Face with Eta: Conversation with a Terrorist consists of two interviews, one...
- 12/17/2023
- by Poulami Nanda
- Film Fugitives
As earning significant profile for shows in a packed marketplace has become one of Europe’s most pressing industry concerns, a new and ambitious TV series festival is launching in Cadiz, southern Spain, as an initiative of Mediaset España and backed by shows from other key players on the Spanish TV scene, such as The Mediapro Studio and Movistar Plus+.
Speakers from the Spanish-speaking world take in writer-director-producer Armando Bo (“El Presidente”), an Oscar winning scribe for “Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance,” and Daniel Écija, an executive producer on key hits in the last decade in Spain such as the multi-genre free-to-air series “Estoy Vivo,” and “Locked Up” “(Vis a vis,” a key into its lift-off into premium drama selling worldwide.
Some titles screening at Cadiz are already celebrated, such as Russell T. Davies’ “Nolly,” starring Helena Bonham-Carter.
Also in the Coming Next section is Norwegian political satire “Power Play,...
Speakers from the Spanish-speaking world take in writer-director-producer Armando Bo (“El Presidente”), an Oscar winning scribe for “Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance,” and Daniel Écija, an executive producer on key hits in the last decade in Spain such as the multi-genre free-to-air series “Estoy Vivo,” and “Locked Up” “(Vis a vis,” a key into its lift-off into premium drama selling worldwide.
Some titles screening at Cadiz are already celebrated, such as Russell T. Davies’ “Nolly,” starring Helena Bonham-Carter.
Also in the Coming Next section is Norwegian political satire “Power Play,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
This is a 2004 graphic novel – should I say bande dessinée? Roca is Spanish, but my sense is the term is used generally across Europe – that the creator’s afterword notes was tweaked a bit for subsequent publications, finalized in 2009. This English translation – which Roca might have kibitzed on, as his afterword talks a lot about kibitzing on the French and Spanish and other editions in the first years – was done by Jeff Whitman for a 2017 American publication.
So it’s older that it might look, but maybe not entirely so. The original work is about two decades ago now, but I’m not sure Roca didn’t touch it, one last time, before this edition.
The Lighthouse is one of Paco Roca’s earliest works, I think, but that picture is muddy. He’s been translated out of sequence here in North America, with The House from 2005 only arriving in...
So it’s older that it might look, but maybe not entirely so. The original work is about two decades ago now, but I’m not sure Roca didn’t touch it, one last time, before this edition.
The Lighthouse is one of Paco Roca’s earliest works, I think, but that picture is muddy. He’s been translated out of sequence here in North America, with The House from 2005 only arriving in...
- 9/29/2023
- by Andrew Wheeler
- Comicmix.com
Mumbai, May 5 (Ians) The six franchises of the Ultimate Table Tennis (Utt) on Friday picked their coaches for the upcoming edition of the league in the Coach Draft held here on Friday.
The fourth edition of the league is scheduled to take place from July 13 to 30 at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.
The draft began by determining the sequence or order for selection with each team picking up the numbered ball (1-6) from a pouch for Round 1. The order would be reversed for Round 2.
The league’s newest team, Bengaluru Smashers made the first pick in Round 1 to bring Sachin Shetty on board before adding Slovenia’s Vesna Ojstersek as their foreign coach in the Round 2.
“I think Vesna and Sachin were a combination for Delhi which ended up as runners-up in 2019. We had that at the back of our mind. Our team had done the homework and these were our first choices.
The fourth edition of the league is scheduled to take place from July 13 to 30 at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.
The draft began by determining the sequence or order for selection with each team picking up the numbered ball (1-6) from a pouch for Round 1. The order would be reversed for Round 2.
The league’s newest team, Bengaluru Smashers made the first pick in Round 1 to bring Sachin Shetty on board before adding Slovenia’s Vesna Ojstersek as their foreign coach in the Round 2.
“I think Vesna and Sachin were a combination for Delhi which ended up as runners-up in 2019. We had that at the back of our mind. Our team had done the homework and these were our first choices.
- 5/5/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos of the alt-rock outfit Y La Bamba starts out talking about rain. “I feel like I’ve been going through my Saturn return for ten years,” they confide early in our conversation. “I’m in the eye of the storm.”
In some ways, it’s the perfect place to begin: Storms and rains are central to Lucha, Y La Bamba’s sumptuous seventh album. The disarmingly gentle opening track “Eight” invokes light summer showers. Shortly thereafter, “La Lluvi de Guadalajara” plays out like an interlude with ambient rainfall in the background.
In some ways, it’s the perfect place to begin: Storms and rains are central to Lucha, Y La Bamba’s sumptuous seventh album. The disarmingly gentle opening track “Eight” invokes light summer showers. Shortly thereafter, “La Lluvi de Guadalajara” plays out like an interlude with ambient rainfall in the background.
- 5/2/2023
- by E.R. Pulgar
- Rollingstone.com
The goofy detective couple, Nick and Audrey Spitz, are back with the second installment of Jeremy Garelick’s “Murder Mystery” on Netflix, and it’s a lot more chaotic than the first one, with a whole lot of fun. Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston reprise their roles as the leading couple, and we also have the recurring characters of Maharajah Vikram and the Colonel from the first movie. The last we saw of the detective couple, they had solved the mystery of the death of an elderly billionaire in 2019, and now they’re faced with yet another case while attending a wedding on a private island. So, without any further ado, let’s breakdown the important events of “Murder Mystery 2” and see how it all ends.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘Murder Mystery 2’ Film?
Nick and Audrey Spitz, the detective couple whom we first saw in...
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘Murder Mystery 2’ Film?
Nick and Audrey Spitz, the detective couple whom we first saw in...
- 4/3/2023
- by Indrayudh Talukdar
- Film Fugitives
Madrid (Spain), March 20 (Ians) Struggling La Liga side Elche announced on Monday that they have fired Pablo Machin as first-team coach in the wake of their 2-0 defeat to Real Sociedad that leaves them on the verge of relegation.
Machin leaves his job after 12 games in charge which saw two wins, three draws and seven defeats, although the nine points the club earned over that period was a vast improvement on the four points that came from their first 14 matches of the season, reports Xinhua.
“Elche Club de Futbol announces that Pablo Machin will not continue as coach of the first team. The Club wants to thank the coach for his work and commitment during his time as a green-and-green player.”
“Elche Club de Futbol wants to wish Machin and his coaching staff all the good luck both on a personal level and in his professional career,” explained a brief statement on the club website.
Machin leaves his job after 12 games in charge which saw two wins, three draws and seven defeats, although the nine points the club earned over that period was a vast improvement on the four points that came from their first 14 matches of the season, reports Xinhua.
“Elche Club de Futbol announces that Pablo Machin will not continue as coach of the first team. The Club wants to thank the coach for his work and commitment during his time as a green-and-green player.”
“Elche Club de Futbol wants to wish Machin and his coaching staff all the good luck both on a personal level and in his professional career,” explained a brief statement on the club website.
- 3/20/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
Tiff 17 Little Girls Long to Be Princesitas
Marialy Rivas, whose previous feature Young & Wild won Sundance 2012's Director’s Biograpy World Cinema Screenwriting Award, returns to the festival circuit with Princesita an unpredictable and darker tale of a young girl on the edge of womanhood premiering in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Marialy Rivas, director of Princesita
A teenager in Young & Wild, and now a girl in Princesita, are both on their way to becoming women, and both are entrapped by external rules and impositions from society and from their families. Both must break away from what surrounds them in order to conquer themselves, and both set off towards an uncertain future, but which in the end, belongs to them alone.
Synopsis: In a distant land on the southernmost tip of the world lives Tamara, a twelve-year-old girl who has been raised in a cult led by the charismatic Miguel.
Marialy Rivas, whose previous feature Young & Wild won Sundance 2012's Director’s Biograpy World Cinema Screenwriting Award, returns to the festival circuit with Princesita an unpredictable and darker tale of a young girl on the edge of womanhood premiering in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Marialy Rivas, director of Princesita
A teenager in Young & Wild, and now a girl in Princesita, are both on their way to becoming women, and both are entrapped by external rules and impositions from society and from their families. Both must break away from what surrounds them in order to conquer themselves, and both set off towards an uncertain future, but which in the end, belongs to them alone.
Synopsis: In a distant land on the southernmost tip of the world lives Tamara, a twelve-year-old girl who has been raised in a cult led by the charismatic Miguel.
- 9/14/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
John Carpenter is releasing a new album containing music from his iconic films. Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 will be released on October 20. The Halloween filmmaker is also hitting the road on a U.S. tour, that kicks off October 29 in Las Vegas.
Anthology features newly recorded versions of 13 of Carpenter's movie themes, including The Thing, Escape from New York, Halloween, They Live, and the Sam Neill-starring In the Mouth of Madness. The album is now available to pre-order.
Anthology is the third album release from Carpenter, following 2015’s Lost Themes and 106’s Lost Themes II.
Here is a full list of Carpenter’s tour dates:
10/29/17 – Las Vegas, Nv @ The Joint at Hard Rock Casino
10/31/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
11/2/17 – Anaheim, CA @ City National Grove
11/4/17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
11/5/17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
11/7/17 – Maplewood, Mn @ Myth Live
11/9/17 – Chicago, Il @ Aragon Ballroom
11/10/17 – Detroit, Mi @ El Club
11/12/17 – Toronto, On @ The Danforth Music Hall
11/13/17 – Montreal,...
Anthology features newly recorded versions of 13 of Carpenter's movie themes, including The Thing, Escape from New York, Halloween, They Live, and the Sam Neill-starring In the Mouth of Madness. The album is now available to pre-order.
Anthology is the third album release from Carpenter, following 2015’s Lost Themes and 106’s Lost Themes II.
Here is a full list of Carpenter’s tour dates:
10/29/17 – Las Vegas, Nv @ The Joint at Hard Rock Casino
10/31/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
11/2/17 – Anaheim, CA @ City National Grove
11/4/17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
11/5/17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
11/7/17 – Maplewood, Mn @ Myth Live
11/9/17 – Chicago, Il @ Aragon Ballroom
11/10/17 – Detroit, Mi @ El Club
11/12/17 – Toronto, On @ The Danforth Music Hall
11/13/17 – Montreal,...
- 8/27/2017
- by Kristian Odland
- GeekTyrant
‘Stranger Things’ Composers S U R V I V E Debut New Song “Wardenclyffe” and Announce Fall Tour Dates
Austin-based S U R V I V E has come to wide attention in the last mont for featuring “Stranger Things” composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. The electronic quartet has just released a new single from its upcoming album “RR7349” and announced fall tour dates. Listen to “Wardenclyffe” and find those dates — which don’t include a stop in the show’s fictional setting of Hawkins, Indiana — below. NPR first debuted the track, which along with the full album will be available on September 30 via Relapse Records.
Read More: ‘Stranger Things’: How the Netflix Drama’s Sonic Environment Was Created
09-30 Austin, TX — Barracuda
10-04 Tucson, Az — Club Congress
10-05 San Diego, CA — Soda Bar
10-06 Los Angeles, CA — Echoplex
10-07 San Francisco, CA — Elbo Room
10-08 Sacramento, CA — Harlow’s
10-11 Portland, Or — Holoscene
10-12 Seattle, Wa — The Crocodile
10-14 Santa Cruz, CA — The Catalyst Atrium
10-16 Joshua Tree,...
Read More: ‘Stranger Things’: How the Netflix Drama’s Sonic Environment Was Created
09-30 Austin, TX — Barracuda
10-04 Tucson, Az — Club Congress
10-05 San Diego, CA — Soda Bar
10-06 Los Angeles, CA — Echoplex
10-07 San Francisco, CA — Elbo Room
10-08 Sacramento, CA — Harlow’s
10-11 Portland, Or — Holoscene
10-12 Seattle, Wa — The Crocodile
10-14 Santa Cruz, CA — The Catalyst Atrium
10-16 Joshua Tree,...
- 8/23/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
To win the hearts, minds, and dollars of the public, Google TV will have to pass two tests: the Mom Test and the Nerd Test. The Mom Test measures (in perfectly scientific ways, provided your definition of science includes "my opinion") whether the average non-techy person will be able to both easily use and see the value in a product. The iPhone passes the Mom Test. Ubuntu does not. The Nerd Test, on the other hand, measures whether those who are already familiar with tech will respect and appreciate this new effort. Boxee passes the Nerd Test. Apple TV does not.
The Mom Test is important because without the support of non-experts, the platform will never gain mainstream popularity and market share. We in the tech press have to remember that we are, in general, weirdo obsessives who take tech far too seriously, and that we don't represent the norm.
The Mom Test is important because without the support of non-experts, the platform will never gain mainstream popularity and market share. We in the tech press have to remember that we are, in general, weirdo obsessives who take tech far too seriously, and that we don't represent the norm.
- 5/21/2010
- by Dan Nosowitz
- Fast Company
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