Check Out the Trailer

Based on a BBC miniseries, which starred Bill Nighy and James McAvoy, Kevin Macdonald’s American feature version brings back the hero journalist to the big screen before they are blogged out of existence. I am aware of the irony in that statement for I am blogging right now. The director of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND mixes journalism and politics and murder in a film well aware of how all three are changing in modern society.

Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe, THE INSIDER) is a veteran reporter for the Washington Globe, a top newspaper that has been bought by a bigger corporation that’s demanding profits. His editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN) feels the pressure the most, valuing Cal’s journalistic integrity, but salivating over cheaper, faster blog-style reporters like the young Della Frye (Rachel McAdams, THE NOTEBOOK). A big story breaks involving Cal’s friend, congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck, HOLLYWOODLAND). Turns out, he was having an affair with his researcher, who has been murdered. It also turns out that their friendship has been on the rocks ever since Cal slept with Collins’ wife Anne (Robin Wright Penn, FORREST GUMP). How does the young woman’s death relate to the murder of a purse-snatcher? Is the military contractor that Collins is fighting against involved? Cal digs for the truth anyway he can, which doesn’t make for fast headlines, while Della can turn out copy fast based solely on knee-jerk speculation.
Read the rest of this entry »

Kate Winslet is among the upper echelon of living actors. Looking at her resume, she has given one stellar performance after another in some of the best and most successful films of the past decade and a half. Upon the home entertainment release of her Oscar-winning performance in THE READER, This Weekend’s Film Festival celebrates this new legendary performer. The lineup not only captures some of her best work, but also the wide range and undeniable passion she brings to each role. Whether playing a fantasy drunk teen or an impulsive outsider or a disgruntled wife or a provocative writer or a secretive reader, she proves time and time again why Kate is great.

Read the rest of this entry »

Will Moon send Sam Rockwell’s career to the moon?

This week’s Getting Buzzed list has three films that have made appearances here before and will certainly be at the top of my Most Anticipated Summer Films list coming next week. With some of these new trailers, I’m getting excited about the summer season starting up. How about you?
Read the rest of this entry »

With DOUBT now on DVD, This Weekend’s Film Festival takes a look at nuns behaving in ways not becoming of religious women. Conflicted nuns, sexualized nuns, sadistic nuns — they all make appearances. Along with these stories of poor behavior comes religious conflict. Filmmakers have used nuns to deal with hypocrisy and doubt for many decades. Several of the films featured this week were banned upon their original release. Prepare yourself for this week’s provocative lineup.
Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Pedro Almodovar has always been a filmmaker of grand ambition, which is evident in this early film that mixes surrealism with nunsploitation films. Religion and gay themes have been a signature of his work and they’re used here to provoke. THE TIME OF LONDON named it one of the 50 most controversial films. It was rejected by the Cannes Film Festival for being anti-Catholic. His two previous films before this one dealt with drugs, sex, violence and religion, but this is the one that made people sit up and notice.

Yolanda Bel (Cristina Sanchez Pascual, PEPI, LUCI, BOM) is a singer who deals drugs on the side. When her boyfriend kills himself via an overdose, she goes on the lam, and seeks refuge from Mother Superior Julia (Julieta Serrano, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN), a fan she met at a concert. The nun’s parish is in dire economic straits, but she will put all other concerns aside to impress Yolanda. Mother Superior is not only obsessed with the sexy singer, but a drug addict as well. Making matters worse, the church’s biggest backer, the Marquise (Mary Carrillo), pulls her financial support, wanting to know what happened to her daughter Virginia, who went on a mission to Africa and hasn’t been heard from since.
Read the rest of this entry »

Sin Nombre is getting great buzz in its opening weekend.

This week we look at nine films a lot of them are indie flicks. One is a big summer release. Why toy around, let’s get to the flicks.
Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

ADVENTURELAND isn’t as funny as I thought it would be. That’s because it’s not really a comedy — a dramedy at best. Ads have played up the humor and that it’s written and directed by SUPERBAD’s Greg Mottola, who used what power he earned on the Judd Apatow-produced comedy to revisit this story, which he had written years before. It’s a personal ’80s coming-of-age story that feels authentic due to its keen feel for setting and tone. While many of the characters could be described in a few words, it wouldn’t tell you all there is to tell about them. Just like life.

James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE) has just graduated college and is looking forward to a summer trip cavorting around Europe with his friends before starting grad school at Columbia. However, his parents give him surprise news on his graduation day — his father has been demoted and they don’t have the money to send him to Europe or pay for his apartment in NYC. So he has to go back home to Pittsburgh and find a job. The only work he can get is at the old school amusement park Adventureland.
Read the rest of this entry »

With Oscar-winning Best Picture SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE now on DVD, This Weekend’s Film Festival looks at the increasing influence of Indian culture on international cinema. Danny Boyle brings an outsider’s point of view to an Indian set tale, but Gurinder Chandha and Mira Nair have been bringing a strong Indian point of view to English-language films, as well as stories similar to SLUMDOG. Cook up some sag aloo and naan, pour a cup of chai or some bangers & mash and a pint (Boyle is British so you have to follow through with all the cultural stereotypes) and enjoy a collection of films that have a bit of humor, a bit of drama, a bit of song, a whole lot of excitement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out this Clip

Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award in 1988 after winning the Audience Award at the Cannes Film Festival, director Mira Nair’s breakthrough feature debut has a storied history. Nair and Sooni Taraporevala interviewed Bombay (now Mumbai) street kids about their experiences and developed a screenplay from their stories. They opened an acting school where they trained the kids to perform naturally, casting from the best of group. Following the production, they set up a foundation to support the children in the film, which still exists, providing aide for street kids in several cities in India.

As a result, SALAAM BOMBAY! is a harrowing tale of children finding the means to survive on the streets. Krishna (Shafiq Syed) works for the circus, and one day, he is left behind after running an errand. He travels to Bombay where he holds out hope that if he can earn 500 rupees, he can go back to his home village and reunite with his family. But whether his mother sent him or sold him to the circus is unclear. In Bombay, Krishna is known as Chaipau, or “Tea and Bread,” which is screamed from top floors of apartments when someone wants something from the food stand where he works. While the street life is harsh, there are moments of levity. The prostitute Rekha (Anita Kanwar) is kind to him, giving him money from time to time. Krishna befriends her daughter Manju (Hansa Vithal), who gets quite jealous when he becomes smitten by Sweet Sixteen (Chanda Sharma), a beautiful girl who has been either kidnapped or sold into prostitution where men will bid on her virginity.
Read the rest of this entry »