Jonesy's Anticipated Fantastic Fest 2014 Films

Starting tomorrow, movie buffs from all over Texas, and the world, will descend upon Austin for the magnificent festival that is Fantastic Fest. It's a wonderful week of movies, beer, and more movies all in the confines of The Alamo Drafthouse. This year I will be covering the first half of the festival, while Javi will be at the second half. So, you can expect tons of coverage all over this site this week.

Now, onto my most anticipated films for Fantastic Fest 2014!

The Local Haps: Oak Cliff Film Festival 2014

The Oak Cliff Film Festival is small little festival that is steadily growing each year. This will be the third year for the festival and will screen 22 feature films and six short blocks. This festival will be located in the Oak Cliff area at the Texas Theatre, Kessler Theatre, Bishop Arts District, and other various Oak Cliff venues.

Having gone to this festival in the past, it's always worth catching a few films. They usually have a few movies that have frequent other major festivals, like SXSW or Sundance, so you can catch them locally without waiting in lines all day. Plus, the Oak Cliff area is slowly reviving, and any traffic that brings people to the Texas Theatre is a plus.

This year's festival will honor both past and present filmmaking:

Led by the Aviation Cinemas team, who took over operations at the Texas Theatre in December of 2010, and backed by the 501 3(c) Oak Cliff Foundation, the Oak Cliff Film Festival will feature the very best of Oak Cliff’s theater venues, highlight the popular restaurants and bars of the area, and seek to showcase the best of independent and brave filmmaking of all stripes from Oak Cliff, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, and Austin, as well as the rest of the country and the world.

This year the Festival is celebrating the legacy of Eadweard Muybridge, the pioneering photographer. Muybridge’s photographic innovations in pursuit of the answer to questions about animal motion, including the zoopraxiscope, led to the development of the first motion pictures. OCFF hopes to highlight the craft, as well as the artistry, of film, honoring the tradition of work going back to Muybridge.

If the $175 VIP badge is beyond your budget, you can purchase tickets for most films for $10 at the Texas Theatre or the Oak Cliff Film Festival website.

And as always, keep checking back here because we will be covering as much as we can!

Tweet

Dallas VideoFest 26: Satellite Locations, Events, Programs

Now that Fantastic Fest is winding down, we wanted to highlight the upcoming events that the festival will be having before, and during its run at the Alamo Drafthouse. I know I'll be personally attending a lot of these, especially that NoiseFold performance. For information on the movies being showcased, you can check out our post here. 

Fantastic Fest Announces Second Wave of Programming!

It's getting to be that glorious time of the year when movie nerds descend upon Austin to watch amazing genre movies, sing kareoke, and drink lots of beer. Jonesy reported on the first wave of films announced here, and I have the second wave of films! A few anticipated movies for me will be Ben Wheatley's A FIELD IN ENGLAND, Eugenio Mira's GRAND PIANO and Alejandro De La Iglesia's WITCHING AND BITCHING.

Check out the full list after the break.

Fantastic Fest 2013 Announces First Wave of Films To Get Excited About!

The most wonderful time of the year is almost here! In less than two months, a cavalcade of film and genre nerds will descend upon Austin, Texas at the beacon that is The Alamo Drafthouse. Fantastic Fest is a one of the largest genre festivals in the United States, and it's the greatest combination of food, film, beer, and meeting like minded people you can find.

We thoroughly enjoy this festival every year and are always surprised at the films we discover and the the people we meet. We will bring you news and updates leading up to the festival, including our most anticipated films.  Fantastic Fest has announced their first wave of programming.

Check it out!

Dallas International Film Festival Unofficial Survival Guide

When it's your first time going to a film festival, it can be a tad overwhelming. What movies do I see? How do I get from location to location? Where can I find some delicious food? Why is this random person in line talking to me? Reading guides created by locals has helped us in the past with the ins and outs of festing, especially when you're coming from out of town. So, here's our personal guide to making the most out of this years Dallas International Film Festival. 

Jonesy's Most Anticipated DIFF 2013 Films

We're just a couple days away from the 2013 Dallas International Film Festival. This festival is getting bigger every year, and as always, the programmers offer up a plethora of new and classic film screenings. One aspect I always enjoy about this specific festival is that it is a work-friendly festival. Most of the screenings during the week happen after the work day ends, so you don't have to worry about taking vacation days. I'm ready to be surprised by the films I will see, and here are five that I'm most looking forward to.

If you click on the links of the films, they will take you to their DIFF site where you can find information on screening times, locations, and tickets.

Post DIFF thoughts- He said/She said

Jonesy:  It's been about a week since The Dallas International Film Festival has come to a close, and I feel I still haven't fully recovered from that ten day of complete movie fun and madness.  With this being our second time around, I felt more confident going into the festival knowing more of "the ropes". 


What I learned and did differently this time around:

Tickets: Last year, I thought I had to stand in line to get a ticket for every movie I wanted to see.  Nope!  Pass holders get into a special line and enter the movie first!  (Yes, this seems common sense, but hey, I was a rookie back then.) 

Parking: I also learned where NOT to park when seeing movies at The Magnolia in Dallas.  Did you know they have a parking garage?  I didn't last year.  I parked in a random parking lot during the day and didn't have a problem.  However, when I returned for a 10pm show, I parked in the same area, and when I came out at midnight, low and behold, no car!  Now, no one would steal my car because it looks like it has leprosy, so I knew it had been towed.  I called the cops and was given the address of the impound.  Then, my phone died, so I went into Blockbuster, sobbing, and they let me charge my phone.  I called a cab to go to the towing company, which ended up being a 20 minute drive away in a what can only be described as a glorified alley, paid too much to get my car out, and got home at 3:30am.  Lesson learned.  This year have a charger, which I do, and park in the correct area, which I did. 

Utilizing the Lounge: Also, last year the festival lounge was within walking distance from the Angelika Dallas theatre.  We didn't realize last year that it was open to press the whole festival (we thought it was just open to filmmakers), so we never frequented the lounge to hang out between showings.  So, we were dead set on taking full advantage this year.  However, they switched the location to the Joule Hotel in downtown Dallas, which was gorgeous but a pretty inconvenient location not anywhere close to any of the theatres.  Unfortunately, we only made it down there once. 

The movies:
Favorites:
1) GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
2) MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS
3) MIDNIGHT SHORTS

Disappointments:
1) WUSS
2) BURKE AND HARE
3) SOUL SURFER

Things I wish I had seen:
1) Parked
2) Five Time Champion
3) Wild Horse, Wild Ride

What I plan on doing different next year:

Hydration:  The first Saturday of the festival is the busiest.  If the schedule works out, you could see up to five movies that day.  I saw four, which was fantastic; however, I forgot an important aspect that I needed while traveling from venue to venue living off popcorn...water.  For most of the day, I forgot to drink water.  I didn't realize how dehydrated I was until Javi and I were in line for WUSS, and I felt lightheaded.  Thankfully, he had a bottle of water with him that he kept refilling all day and that woke me up.

Snacks:  Between gas, drinks, and food, a festival can get expensive.  Next year I am planning on keeping snacks with me so I can cut costs wherever I can.  Plus an apple or trail mix is a whole lot better than junior mints or popcorn.

Networking:  Talking to random people I sit next to in the theater or in line isn't particularly easy for me, yet I know, in this field, networking is key.  I plan to step out of my comfort zone more next year and meet more people.  Also, always find out if people have a twitter because if anything, you two at least have the festival in common. 

Final Thoughts:
The overall experience of the festival is something I wouldn't trade for the world.  Sure, I was exhausted by the end of it, but that's all part of festing.  There are always tweaks needing to be worked out in a big event like this, but I have a feeling the DIFF crew will work out the bugs from this year, which means there will be new bugs that'll show up next year. 

The experience of seeing a movie with people who love movies as much as we do is always the best part.  My favorite moment is when the audience irrupted in applause in the middle of GREATEST MOVIE because we were so engrossed at what was happening on screen.  Seriously...who cheers at a documentary except movie fanatics??

I just got to work on somehow making time for a normal sleep schedule next year.




Javi: This was a big deal, as I'm sure everyone who follows us on Twitter and Facebook knows, because it was the first time we were in a festival as press. Plus, we got totally awesome and stylish T-shirts made thanks to the beautifully talented Julie Fitzgerald! I'd say I can't wait for the next super long and draining festival.  Hopefully you guys enjoyed our rather speedy reviews!

What I learned and did differently this time around:


Food: As ridiculous as it sounds, I made sure to pack various snacks and bought an aluminum water bottle to keep me going. I packed raw almonds, Clif bars, some dried fruits water, and a 5 Hour Energy that I never used. You'd be amazed how draining it is to watch 5 movies in one day. All of the snacks I had were high on protein and were meant to keep your energy up. Oh...and some delicious chocolate covered almonds ;-)



Notes: I have always heard of people taking notes during movies. I never understood this because I can usually remember most of the things that happened. Given that my schedule was going to be pretty packed before I got around to writing reviews, I took to taking notes in my Moleskine Movie Journal. It was such a life saver, and considering how the days started to blend together, I was forgetting details like crazy. Thank goodness for all of my notes.



Breaks: Since it would just be Jonesy and I, we worked it to have some days off. I had a Monday and Tuesday off, and she had a Wednesday and Thursday off. This was good for a few reasons. First, to get our minds together and to get a chance to catch up on our writing. Second, since we're not comfortable enough doing interviews yet, our focus was solely on movie reviews, so we tried to get as many as we could out. This is also good so our lives didn't get too messy. We're not as lucky as some and have day jobs (unfortunately).


 

The movies:

Faves:

1) THE LAST CIRCUS

2) BEING ELMO

3) DAYDREAM NATION

4) PARKED/ THE RUNWAY (they're both Irish, it's OK) 

Dissapointments:

1) DE DIA Y DE NOCHE: BY DAY AND BY NIGHT

2) WUSS

3) IRONCLAD (I walked out of this movie out of sheer boredom)

Regrets(didn't see):

1) SURROGATE VALENTINE

2) ANIMATION SHORTS

3) PAGE ONE: A YEAR INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES

What I plan on doing different next year:

Plan enough time between screenings: This year I made the mistake of scheduling a movie at NorthPark mall, then the Magnolia, and then the Angelika.  Considering there were scheduling problems that delayed things across the board, it was not as bad as it could have been, but 30 minutes between very popular venues with bars and shopping surrounding them sure makes for a stressful time.

Make time for interviews:  This goes along with getting more exposure, but I would have liked to do interviews, but lack of preparation, nerves, and a packed schedule prevented me from doing so.  Trust me, I'll do some next year.

Final Thoughts:


First, I'd like to thank the press office of the Dallas International Film Festival for letting us cover this festival.  Tanya Wright and Emily Hardgrove were of amazing help, and I can't thank them enough for putting up with my ridiculously naive questions. I loved the variety of the venues, from Highland Park Village, to the Texas Theatre, and the Plano Angelika.

Now for the bad(sorry!). Vittorio Verre. I'm not sure what happened with this year's bumpers, but they were not of the same quality as the ones from last year.  I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to put a pompous, moronic, and self-centered character such as Vittorio in front of the movies, but it was completely off putting.  What I don't understand is what the message of the bumper was.  I figured you'd want to promote the magic and greatness of film, not some guy that personifies "style over substance".  At least last year there were two different bumpers which made for good variety.  Kudos to the You Plus Media crew for their bumper involving Metro Diner (RIP) and the Texas Theatre.  That bumper actually made more sense to put in a film festival as it showed the simple, and almost literal, love for movies that was endearing.

Another huge complain I had, which probably has a lot of political and logistic reasons behind it, but man what a drag to go downtown to get passes and screeners and just to be able to try to connect and network with other festival goers.  The Palomar was such a great central location, and I just couldn't imagine how they could have topped it.  This year... they did not.  The lounge was actually great to look at it, and it had a really cool and modern feel for it.  But we could only really enjoy it once.  The location also kept us from getting screeners at the Press Suite which closed at 4 PM, and neither of us could get to because of work.
For the first weekend, there was something wrong where all of the movies were starting late.  Add in Q&A's and there seemed to be a complete mess trying to follow a set schedule.  Apparently, when the schedule was made, the bumpers, which took about 15 minutes, were not taken into account which was the cause for some of these delays.  I just know that the people running this festival know how to rock it, so I'm confused as to how this happened.

Regardless, the experience became a rather enjoyable one, and apart from the time where we tried going to the Lounge one last time and got turned away because it was a VIP event (which we were unaware of), it was such a good time, and we hope to come back again.  Seeing the amount of people out of town coming in to cover this, and the talent involved gave me something which I never get often, which is a bit of pride being from Dallas.

Tweet

DIFF review MAMAS AND PAPAS- She said

Directed by Alice Nellis

Starring: Zuzana Bydzovska, Zuana Kronerova, Filip Capka, and Ivan Shvedoff

DIFF review BURKE AND HARE- She said

Directed by John Landis

Written by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft

Starring: Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry and Isla Fisher

DIFF review WUSS- He said/She said

WUSS

Directed by Clay Liford

Written by Clay Liford

Starring: Nathan Rubin and Alicia Anthony

DIFF review PROSECUTOR- She said

Directed by Barry Stevens

Featuring: Luis Moreno-Ocampo

The International Criminal Court has only been in existence for about ten years.  It's charged with bringing people to justice who commit genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and/or crimes of aggression when the country's national court is unable or unwilling to prosecute, just as it's predecessor, The Nuremberg Trials, did.   Currently, there are three separate trials underway; all having to do with crimes committed in Africa.  Behind these investigations is Luis Moreno-Ocampo, head prosecutor for the ICC.

At the heart of the ICC is Moreno-Ocampo who wholeheartedly believes in justice and the rule of law.  However, the problem he is facing with the nations is the ICC doesn't have an army, so when a leader or criminal is indited by the ICC, they have to rely on neighboring countries to arrest the criminal.  Like the United Nations, the idea of the ICC is appears more idyllic than the actual process.  For the ICC to work, the nations of the world would have to give up some sovereignty, so when crimes against humanity are committed, the perpetrators go straight to trial.  However, asking the big wigs like China, Russia, India and the United States to give that kind of power to a court they don't control will probably never happen.  Also, the prosecutor has to convince the people that bringing this criminal to trial is the right decision.  The three individuals who are standing trial right now all come from war-torn African countries where many citizens are pleased justice is being brought, but many still support these individuals, and usually the supporters have weapons and take out their frustration on the people. All in a day's work for Moreno-Ocampo.

So, his job isn't easy, yet his persistence for justice is astounding.  Even though he is defending humanity, he is met with criticism after criticism.  There are leaders who say the ICC is targeting African countries because they're not western enough, and this is the international community's way of making them fall into step.  Others want him to investigate the Gaza Strip area where hundreds of Palestinians were killed by Israelis because of a Hamas attack on Israel.  One problem though, Palestine isn't considered a state as far as the world is labeled, but the atrocity happened.  So, now there's international pressure to bring Israel to trial, and international pressure, especially from the United States, to leave them alone.  Then, there's the criticism that the ICC would never go after the bigger countries, such as the United States because the ICC is scared of them.  Moreno-Ocampo has stated that it doesn't matter what country; the ICC would investigate anybody.


Director Barry Stevens is given incredible glimpses of remote areas of the world.  We following Moreno-Ocampo to the Congo where he talks to tribe about an upcoming trial gathering their support.  We also follow Mike, a former ICC employee who left because he felt that he needed to make a difference and the ICC wasn't powerful enough, as he tries to free military personnel (from the good side of the Congo war) from the rebels in the jungle.  Mike, who is now employed through the UN, is the symbol of being able to take action to make a difference. 

If you were to ask someone about the idea of having an international court of law, I would predict many would agree with the idea.  Then, if you were going to go into detail about what that would mean to their country, such as giving up part of their sovereignty, then people become hesitant.  The idea of the ICC, on the surface, is one of striving of equality, justice, and standing up for the voiceless victims.  However, the road to such an idyllic court is arduous and a political nightmare.  PROSECUTOR shows us the other side, with faces beyond all the politics and policies. 


Tweet

DIFF review THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MCKINLEY NOLAN- She said

Directed by Henry Corra

In the most haunting documentary I've seen in a while, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MCKINLEY NOLAN follows McKinley Nolan's family as they search for answers about his disappearance during the Vietnam War.  There's mystery surrounding his disappearance, from possible sightings of him in 2005 to classified government documents. 

His family lives in a little town just outside of Houston.  Nothing fancy; very simple life.  His brother talks about how they all grew up working in the cotton fields to make a living, and after 20 years of that, you get sick of it.  So, McKinley joined the army.  He goes to Vietnam, leaving his wife and kids at home, and realizes he was fighting a war that he didn't really believe in.  That's when the letters home stopped...in 1967.  Ever since then, his family has wanted to know something or anything about what happened to him.

Then, in 2005, Lt. Dan Smith, who was revisiting the battlefields of his Vietnam days, ran into an African American man who said he was from Texas.  After some research, Smith thinks this could be McKinley Nolan.  He visits the family, tells him his story, which becomes the catalyst for the McKinley's brother, Michael, to travel to Vietnam and find answers.  As they travel, they're met with some dead ends and some glimpses of hope.  Michael meets McKinley's other son.  Together they begin to unravel some clues as to the whereabouts of McKinley and his second wife. 

The story goes that McKinley was a deserter and joined the Viet Cong, or was an American operative, or he killed two guards and then joined the other side.  Many different stories surrounding his life.  During which he met his Vietnam wife, had a son, and decided to stay, that part is true.  However, when Vietnam's infrastructure began to crumble, McKinley and his wife escaped to Cambodia.  Soon after, the Khmer Rouge began their mass genocide against its own people.  At this point, many of us would have given up hope and assumed him dead, but not Michael.  Michael's love and determination keeps him going until he finds solid proof of what happened. 

Throughout their investigation, the filmmakers were able to get unprecedented interviews with old members of the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge.  (Most of the Khmer Rouge members, who are still alive, are on trial for crimes against humanity).  Even though these seem like breaks in their case, many of the men wouldn't divulge too much information because it puts their own livelihood at risk.  No real answers, just more questions.

In the end, the movie becomes less about McKinley, and more about Michael's spirit, love and determination.  It seems that after McKinley disappeared and the family wasn't getting much help from the government, they gave up trying.  Then when Smith showed up, all those feelings got swirled back to the surface.  A new determination was sparked, and answers were needed.  The documentary will leave you talking and discussing what really happened, what would you do, and how far you would go for answers. 

Tweet

DIFF review MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS- She said

Directed by Matthew D. Kallis

Written by Christopher Lockhart

What REMEMBER THE TITANS did for sports movies, MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS does for musical theatre.  The story goes that director Matthew Kallis was surfing YouTube one day, when he stumbled upon some clips from "The Freddy Awards", a local awards show in Pennsylvania which honors local high school musical theatre productions (think The Tony's for high school).  He's so captivated by these clips that he takes a trip out there and, spurred some by his own musical theatre background, decides to document three high schools as they rehearse their big show, wait for the nominations, and culminating at The Freddy's. 

Kallis takes us into a world that not many are aware of.  Musical theatre is hard, demanding, and exhausting.  It takes hours upon hours of memorization, learning routines, blocking, and endless repetition just to pull off a show for three nights.  And that doesn't even include all the technical designs that go into a production.  Just like sports, theatre is a team effort.  You have to depend on your cast mates to get you through, not only onstage but handling the pressures offstage as well.  Oh yea, plus you have to go to school. 

We follow each of the three schools through their successful productions with one putting on Bye, Bye Birdie, while the other two tackle the challenge of Les Miserables.  The joy the kids experience when performing is absolutely infectious.  They know theatre isn't the most highly respected path in the high school world, but it doesn't matter.  Even though they're theatre geeks through and through, at least they're theatre geeks together.  They can lose themselves onstage and make people happy.  It's refreshing to see so many kids come to the realization at a young age to do something because you really love it. 

As the looming nominations of the Freddy's approaches, the directors remind their cast that a nomination would be nice, but in the end, it's about performing for yourselves, so don't be disappointed if the results aren't what you want.  The kids agree, though you can see it in their eyes, like sports team, that they want that nomination/win.  The highlight of the movie is watching the kids react when their respective schools and some of them get nominations.  The excitement and euphoria on their faces is so infectious, I found myself excited for them.  A lot of these kids have been ostracized by their peers at some point in their lives, and to finally be recognized and accepted by the community is the ultimate highlight in their high school careers. 

In a time when education is in crisis around the United States and when budgets get cut, the arts is the first on the list.  For one of the schools, the cost of the production is $16,000, and the students raised all the money all on their own.  Such dedication.  Also, the camaraderie and teamwork shown from all the students is the equivalent to any sports team out there today.  Kallis's documentary is the ultimate love letter to the musical theatre world.

Tweet

DIFF review SOUL SURFER- She said

Directed by Sean McNamara

Written by Sean McNamara and Deborah Schwartz

Starring: AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, and Carrie Underwood.

SOUL SURFER is the true story about Bethany Hamilton, an up-and-coming amateur surfer in Hawaii who had her arm bit off by a shark.  She was on the verge of breaking into the big time with surfing and just landed a sponsor before her accident.  Even though she's determined to get back on her board, she struggles and gives up.  Then after an inspirational mission trip to Thailand, she finds the courage again and gets back on in time for the big championship.

The film lends itself not as an inspirational sports movie, but more of a glorified Lifetime movie.  Yes, the story itself is very inspirational and uplifting.  I cannot imagine the internal strength it took the real Bethany to get back into the water.  However, the acting from most of the cast, with the exception of AnnaSophia Robb, seemed cheesy and forced.  Before the incident, the family would regularly have sand fights, surfing competitions, and did almost everything together just short of breaking out into songs.  And even if you've never heard of this story before watching the movie, you know exactly where the plot is going. Almost every cliche action and phrase from an overcoming adversity movie is explored, and honestly, gets tiresome. Robb ends up being the stand out performer.  This young actress is charming as Bethany, and develops a wonderful arc taking us through the ups and downs as Bethany struggles.

Rather than completely focus on the determination and hard work it took Bethany to get back in competition mode, the film curves into a more Christian themed focus.  The real-life Bethany is very religious, so there would be a fine line for the filmmakers to tell her story.  So, it tends to lean more about how her faith pushed her, including some Bible quotes, and will detour some who would otherwise see it.

Despite it's lack-luster story telling, SOUL SURFER is a gorgeous movie.  The cinematography of the surfing competitions brings a unique and beautiful perspective from the water.  Hence the comment of a glorified Lifetime movie.  The surfing sequences are user friendly and exciting, and the girls make it look easy.  Though I'm going to try my hand at it anytime in the near future. 

There's an audience for this movie.  It's very family friendly, even with the intense attack.  The message is one of faith and courage to overcome adversity.  It doesn't hold ranks with sports movies like REMEMBER THE TITANS, but the young tween crowd will enjoy it.  Plus it's very pretty to look at. 



SOUL SURFER opens nationwide April 8, 2011.


Tweet

DIFF review THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD- She said

Directed and Written by Morgan Spurlock

As Ralph Nader puts it, the only time we, the American people, are not being advertised to is in our sleep.  Everywhere we look there are advertisements for the next latest and greatest phone, food, vacation, clothing, make up, toy, car, drink...you name it.  Director Morgan Spurlock takes a look at the inside of world of advertising, or product placement, in movies.  Most of the time we probably don't notice it, but any name brand we see in a movie has paid millions to be there.  It's a multi-billion dollar business with so many ins and outs it's hard to even wrap your mind around if you're an outsider.  Spurlock takes on that challenge to show us that world.


The basis of his documentary is to make a documentary about getting advertisers to finance the documentary he's making.  Very cyclical and very Inception-like.  He's filming the movie while getting the money from companies to film the movie.  Nothing is off-limits to him.  When he eventually meets with potential advertisers, which in the Q&A after he said they called over 600 companies and only 15 called back (by the way, those are all in the movie), he's completely honest and open about what he's trying to do.  He's very tongue and cheek to his potential advertisers, but what's wonderful about the people he meets with is they totally get it.  They're not offended as long as they're not portrayed in a bad light, which if they sponsor the movie, of course, he assures them, they won't be. 


After he gets his 15 sponsors, the internal struggle begins within Spurlock.  He receives all of his contracts which have very specific stipulations: can't be seen wearing anything but our shoe/clothing, must be drinking this drink, and he can't ever bad mouth Germany (true statement).  He wonders how can he make the movie and stay true to himself without essentially pissing off his financiers.  If he follows everything they say and compromises what his original intention was, does that make him a sell-out?  And if he becomes a sell-out, doesn't that negate his whole purpose of making the documentary in the first place?  How do you make a movie like this without selling-out yourself?


At one point, Spurlock explores the world of just advertising outside the realm of movies.  He takes a trip to San Paulo where advertising has been outlawed (can you imagine New York City with no advertising?) and explores how shop owners get business.  He travels to a school district who is using banners on their sports fields and buses to help finance their district in the ever troubling world of education.  And, which is the most interesting aspect to me, he gets insight into a new way of making commercials.  Companies now have test subjects in MRI machines and flash different commercials for them to view, then records their sub-conscious brain activity, and uses that information for future spots.  So, if a majority of the test subjects sub-consciously really enjoyed sexual images, guess what the next wave of commercials feature?


Overall, GREATEST MOVIE is laugh out loud funny, smart, and engaging.  I don't think Spurlock means for us to think of advertising as evil; however, he means for us to become more aware of how much of it we see everyday everywhere we go.  However, there is a new trend he creates within the movie of showing commercials from his sponsers, which works with what his goal is, but if this trend starts with mainstream movies, and it's bad enough we suffer through commercials beforehand, I blame him. 

Tweet

DIFF review THE FUTURE- She said

Directed by Miranda July

Written by Miranda July

Starring: Miranda July and Hamish Linklater

THE FUTURE is a story about love and a semi-midlife crisis. We meet our couple, Sophie (Miranda July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater), at a very pivotal moment in their lives. They’re adopting a cat. However, they’re not allowed to pick up the cat for a month because Paw-Paw needs a little more time to heal his broken leg. They treat this adoption almost as if they’re adopting a child because once the cat comes home, their lives will change forever and pretty much stop. So, they decide to live out the next 30 days as if it’s their last. During these 30 days, they realize something. They’re 35 with no real life prospects, and this cat will be the biggest event for them in who knows how long.



Sophie, a failed, toddler dance teacher, decides to perform “30 dances in 30 days” and post them on YouTube. She’s convinced they’ll be a success. When she struggles to stay committed, she complains to her boyfriend, to which he bluntly responds, “No one really cares anyway.” Hurtful, but deep down she knows it. Jason, on the other hand, loathes his job as a help desk agent. So during the 30 days, he does something he’s probably never done before, he quits. He then has a semi-existential moment where he believes to keep his mind open and clear because an opportunity/job will come to him. Sure enough it does, in the form of a grassroots worker for working on getting L.A. more green. (Pause for the situational irony).

Throughout Sophie and James’ deterioration of their relationship and this specific chapter of their lives, we’re treated with commentary from Paw-Paw the cat. That’s right…a talking cat. Sound cheesy? It is, but somehow it works, and the cat becomes the most sympathetic and endearing character within the film. He juxtaposes their tragic ending with his bright-eyed beginning. His hope is so heart-warming. He has this optimistic view of starting a new life, while their new “life” ends very pessimistically.


The movie flips between being a bit pretentious yet somehow sweet. There are moments, both real and (extremely) symbolic, that pop up within the movie. Sophie’s quiet, dry, yet somehow funny personality is the driving force behind the movie. She’s captivating in an odd sort of way. You find her annoying at times, but in the end, she ends up being a tragic figure. She represents a generation that once had high aspirations, but got stuck in a bad job, boring relationship, and now wants to try and do something with what time they have left.


In the later half of the movie, time literally stops for Jason, and even though he doesn’t notice, the world keeps moving without him. At this point, the movie desperately tries to build symbol upon symbol as a commentary for a deteriorating relationship. It got old and a little too odd very quickly.
Overall the movie was neither here or there. I can see where it was trying to be poignant, but it just came off exactly that…trying. It always felt like it was on the verge of something new and fantastic, but unfortunately, it never was achieved.

Tweet