Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Most Anticipated Films of the 2014 Dallas International Film Festival- Jonesy's Take



We are revving up for our coverage of The 2014 Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) this week. One of the best aspects of this festival is how it's (mostly) contained at one location, The Angelika in Mockingbird Station, which makes it easy to jump from film to film and be able to mingle with festival goers between movies. Even though I pick out a few films which I am looking forward to, I'm always excited for the films that I'll see which will completely surprise me.

One set of films I did not list were the shorts. Last year I ended up seeing the documentary shorts for the first time, and I plan on making that a yearly occurrence. Plus, you can never go wrong with the midnight shorts block. But for my anticipated films, I have two features and (of course) mostly documentaries.

Keep checking back here all week and next for our coverage of films and interviews with filmmakers!

Not onto my most anticipated films.




Through various circumstances, I missed this film during Fantastic Fest last year. Ti West is very hit or miss for me because his slow-burn style of filmmaking can get a little wearisome, but all the buzz from this film states this is his best one to date. Even my cohort, who shares my sentiments about West, thoroughly enjoyed this film. It's playing in the later half of the festival, but I'm glad I'll be able to catch this one in theatres.
Friday 4/11 at 10:30 pm at the Angelika 6
Saturday 4/12 at 10:00 pm at the Angelika 4


The Prop 8 overturn got the ball rolling on marriage equality in America. There's been a play produced which covered the trail itself. I remember watching it live on YouTube and being sucked into the ins and outs of all of the arguments. You can watch the staged reading in its entirety here (and it's totally worth it for Martin Sheen's closing arguments). This film is a documentary covering all the aspects of the case over a course of five years.
Wednesday 4/9 at 7:00 pm at the Angelika 4
Thursday 4/10 at 9:30 pm at the Angelika 7



Throwing a no-hitter is not an easy task. There have only been 282 thrown between 1876 and 2013. One of the most infamous no-hitters was made by Dock Ellis...while he was tripping on acid. I've heard about this story growing up, but I've never seen anything about the details of it. Seriously, how in the world can you pitch a no no without being able to feel the ball or even see home plate clearly?
Sunday 4/6 at 8:00 pm at the Angelika 4
Monday 4/7 at 4:00 pm at the Angelika 4


It's almost a given that I'll see almost any film in which the subject matter is dance. But add in the history of dance culture in Dallas? I'm there, no question. I hope the documentary shows the current state of dance in Dallas because that would be an area of this city I would love to explore.
Tuesday 4/8 at 7:30 pm at the Angelika 6
Saturday 4/12 at 10:15 pm at the Angelika 6 


I have a soft spot for movies about troubled kids. Maybe it's the teacher side of me, but it's easy to find these kind of films in film festivals. This is one of the Texas films I am looking forward to seeing. The premise sounds interesting, and it has the added bonus of starring Aaron Paul.
Wednesday 4/9 at 7:30 pm at the Angelika 6
Thursday 4/10 at 4:00 pm at the Angelika 4  




This documentary has got some decent buzz out of Sundance, but when my cohort told me that it was recently picked up by Drafthouse Films, I had to put it on my list based on that simple fact alone. Drafthouse Films has a knack for picking up unique films, and I've also loved all the documentaries they've acquired.
Monday 4/7 at 7:45 at the Angelika 8
Tuesday 4/8 at 4:45 at the Angelika 8


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