20 articles
SXSW Review: 'Angie Tribeca' Delivers Crazy Gags and Great Guest Stars -- Who Needs Depth?
1 hour ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
Read More: Indiewire's 17 Most Anticipated New TV Shows of 2015 "It's really, really stupid," is one of the first things comedy icon Steve Carell said today about "Angie Tribeca," the series he co-created with wife Nancy Walls Carell. But for everyone involved with the TBS comedy, which world-premiered at SXSW and will air this fall, that's seen as a good thing. "Angie Tribeca" stars Rashida Jones as a hard-as-nails Lapd detective assigned yet another partner (Hayes MacArthur) to help her with her beat. In the first two episodes screened today at the Vimeo Theater, Angie and Jay Geils work together to stop a blackmailer and bust up a drug ring -- all while keeping a straight face during the most absurd of situations, from strapping on a crossbow to greet the day to performing some truly unnecessary parkour to capture a suspect. In the current age of relatively grounded comedies, "Angie Tribeca »
- Liz Shannon Miller
SXSW Review: Taissa Farmiga and Ben Rosenfield Anchor Hannah Fidell's Dramatic '6 Years'
2 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
Writer-director Hannah Fidell's 2013 debut "A Teacher" captured the intimacy of a forbidden romance — between a high school instructor and one of her students — with an impressive degree of precision. The movie pared down the premise to its bare essence. Her follow-up, "6 Years," similarly provides a basic snapshot of a troubled relationship, albeit a far more conventional one: The movie follows a young couple facing the titular anniversary as their future prospects are challenged by various spats and infidelities. To this end, "6 Years" offers little in the way of new material. Yet Fidell, working with executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass, effectively broadens her range by borrowing the sibling directors' improvisatory style and ceding control to her two leads, whose heartbreaking performances imbue this familiar Austin-set narrative with a fiery edge. Read More: The 2015 Indiewire SXSW Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run »
- Eric Kohn
SXSW Springboard: The Promising Newcomer Behind Gay Muslim Drama 'Naz and Maalik'
3 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
[Indiewire's Springboard column profiles up-and-comers who are deserving of your attention.] For his directorial debut, writer-director Jay Dockendorf tackles explosive material sure to draw attention when it premieres in the Visions section today at this year's SXSW Film Festival. Set during a single hectic day in Brooklyn, "Naz and Maalik" centers on two closeted Muslim teens (newcomer Kerwin Johnson, Jr. and Curtis Cook, Jr.) being surveilled by the FBI due to their religion, while engaging in two-bit schemes around town. Dockendorf, who won Tribeca Film Institute's Iwc Filmmaker Award for the project, was inspired to make his debut feature after hearing about (and being appalled by) the FBI's program of secret spying on mosques in Brooklyn. His story emerged from interviewing Muslims about their real-life experiences with surveillance, including some closeted men. A former Project of the Week winner on Indiewire, "Naz and Maalik" strikes a timely note and »
- Nigel M Smith
SXSW Review: 'Creative Control' is a Fresh and Exciting Sci-Fi Cautionary Tale
4 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
With its crisp black-and-white photography and snazzy effects, Benjamin Dickinson's mesmerizing science fiction thriller "Creative Control" cleverly envisions a technology-dominated society that's right around the corner. But the particulars of the plot, in which the Brooklyn-based developer of new augmented reality glasses loses touch with the world around him, imbues the target of its critique with a sharp contemporary edge. It's at once otherworldly and familiar. Read More: The 2015 Indiewire SXSW Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival The actual product overseen by intense workaholic David (Dickinson), a pair of augmented reality glasses called Augmenta, contains features only a few degrees removed from the devices being imagined today (and already in limited circulation thanks to Google Glass). Dickinson populates the movie with a number of similar recognizable ingredients: In need of "a creative genius" to test out their »
- Eric Kohn
SXSW Exclusive: Poster For 'Submarine' Star Craig Roberts' Directorial Debut 'Just Jim' Starring Emile Hirsch
5 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Some actors wait years before trying their hand at directing, accumulating on set experience with as many filmmakers as possible, but not so for Craig Roberts. Just five years after breaking out in Richard Ayoade's "Submarine," he has written, directed, and co-starred in his first feature, "Just Jim." Emile Hirsch joins Roberts to lead the movie about the friendship that forms between a lonely teenager and the older American who moves in next door. Here's the official synopsis: This is the story of a loner. Jim, 16, has no friends and is a bit weird. His childhood friend, Michael, has left him for the cooler crowd and Jim is pushed to the edge when his dog dies. Jim’s life changes dramatically when Dean moves next door. Dean is older, American and on the run. He has movie star good looks and is everything Jim would like to be. Dean offers Jim friendship, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Meet the 2015 SXSW Filmmakers #8: Timothy Wheeler Exposes the Strange, Serious Problem of Egg Theft in 'Poached'
5 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
With "Poached," Timothy Wheeler wanted to tackle a problem as unusual and underreported as it is serious and fascinating. In this informative, detailed and surprisingly illuminative documentary, egg thieves -- yes, people who steal eggs -- are identified, profiled and then examined. Taking inspiration from such character-focused filmmakers as Alexander Payne and the Coen Brothers, Wheeler explores this ostensibly-unusual behavior by way of fashioning profound and affecting character studies. The trick of "Poached," pulled off by Wheeler with a delicate hand, is that it allows its subjects to adequately share their side of the story, while also maintaining a focus on the truth, and on what lurks underneath such peculiar motivations. What's your film about in 140 characters or less?"Poached" exposes an obsession that can wipe out a species of birds: illegal egg collecting. Now what's it Really about?Egg thieves rob the nests of rare »
- David Canfield
Meet the 2015 SXSW Filmmakers #7: Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari Went Intimate and Ambiguous for 'T-Rex'
5 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
As they describe themselves, Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari are "documentary storytellers." For years, the filmmaking team has been exploring real-life stories, taking inspiration from classic documentaries such as "Baraka" and exploring a range of hard-hitting subjects. On the surface, their latest collaboration, "T-Rex," is a mere coming-of-age story. But in documentary form, as we watch aspiring Olympic boxer Claressa Shields grow from a young girl to a young woman in real-time, the intimacy and specificity evoked is quietly extraordinary and especially distinct. And in centering a film on a subject such as Claressa -- about whom, as the co-directors say, "no one is going to leave the film without having strong feelings" -- the film also attains a surprising level of subjectivity. What's your film about in 140 characters or less? "T-Rex" is the story of 17-year old Claressa "T-Rex" Shields from Flint, Michigan, »
- David Canfield
Meet the 2015 SXSW Filmmakers #6: Lewis Bennet Shines a Spotlight on Former Escort and Musician Salam Kahil
5 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
Deli owner Salam Kahil is an art collector, a former male escort, an amateur musician, and a sandwich maker to the homeless in Vancouver's poorest neighbourhood but his true passion is talking about blowjobs. [Synopsis courtesy SXSW] What's your film about in 140 characters or less? It’s a documentary about a Lebanese-Canadian former male escort deli owner (and philanthropist) who really likes to talk about his penis. Now what's it Really about? It’s about finding a new family when the one you’re born with doesn’t work out. Our documentary subject, Salam Kahil, has suffered considerably at the hands of his family and when you combine that with the taxing relationships in which he may have engaged as a male escort, you would think that he would be driven to misanthropy. Yet, in something of a surprise twist, the man he has become loves people very deeply. He says it over and over. »
- Elizabeth Logan
SXSW Exclusive: Follow The Finger In This Hilarious Clip From Todd Rohal's 'Uncle Kent 2'
5 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
We live in an era of sequels and franchises, but even we have to admit that we never expectedJoe Swanberg's little 2011 indie flick, "Uncle Kent," would ever get a followup. While it has, don't expect anything straightforward from director Todd Rohal ("The Catechism Cataclysm," "The Guatamelan Handshake"), who takes the reins from Swanberg and leads the narrative into wild, unexpected places. Kent Osborne returns from the first film, playing himself, as he pitches Swanberg on an idea for a sequel for "Uncle Kent." The director turns it down and Osborne soon tumbles into a surreal journey of his own mad mind. In this exclusive clip, a doctor, played by Steve Little, tries to help with his own curious, hilarious examination. And if you like this scene, check out Eric Kohn's review at Indiewire, where he calls it "a defiantly unconventional crowdpleaser." Check the schedule — "Uncle Kent 2" has two more screenings at. »
- Kevin Jagernauth
SXSW Exclusive: Pretend To Be Stanley Kubrick In Clip From 'Moonwalkers' Starring Rupert Grint
6 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
There are some conspiracy theorists who believe that Apollo 11 never made it the moon, and that legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick was part of a secret government team who staged the entire event in a studio. For anyone who has seen the documentary "Room 237," there are some who think the director left clues about his involvement throughout "The Shining." No matter what you believe, it's a good yarn, and the basis for the upcoming "Moonwalkers." Today we have an exclusive clip from the film. Directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, and starring Ron Perlman, Rupert Grint, and Robert Sheehan, the action-comedy presents the wild story of the con that fooled the entire world. Here's the official synopsis: What if Apollo 11 never actually made it? What if, in reality, Stanley Kubrick secretly shot the famous images of the moon landing in a studio, working for the Us administration? This is the »
- Kevin Jagernauth
SXSW Exclusive: Meet A Weird Little Girl In Clip From 'Nina Forever'
6 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
The pull of love and the desire for connection can sometimes blind us to bad decisions, and in "Nina Forever," that's taken to some rather provocative extremes. Today we have an exclusive clip from the movie that mixes horror, comedy, and romance into one unique blend. Directed by Chris and Ben Blaine, and starring Abigail Hardingham, Cian Barry, Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Elizabeth Elvin, and David Troughton, the story follows Holly, who has fallen for the damaged Rob. The problem? He still obsesses over his dead girlfriend Nina. While a romance blossoms between Holly and Rob, when she first sleeps with him, she discovers she also has to share the bed with the dead Nina, bloody limbs and all. In this scene from the film, you get an understanding of what compels Holly to try and make things work. "Nina Forever" has its World Premiere tonight at SXSW. Watch below. Browse through »
- Kevin Jagernauth
SXSW Review: Supernatural Cyber Thriller 'Unfriended' Goes Online For A Familiar Tale
7 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Towards the end of "Shock Value," a lively and detailed account of the '60s and '70s horror renaissance in America cinema, author Jason Zinoman bemoans the fact that there has yet to be a great horror movie made about social media. This is something that permeates our daily lives and, more importantly, if this had been an issue during the volatile, highly politicized period that the book documents, one of those daring filmmakers would have stepped up and used our culture's reliance on Facebook, Instagram, and more, to craft a genuinely blood-curdling chiller. While the final product may grate and befuddle as often as it spooks, "Unfriended" is, at the very least, an attempt to create that horror film that turns our daily addiction to social media into the stuff of uncanny nightmares. It might not totally succeed, but it might be worth "liking" for the attempt. "Unfriended »
- Drew Taylor
How Matt LeBlanc & 'Episodes' Got Us One More Season of 'Friends'
7 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
When “Episodes” began, the very meta Showtime comedy leaned heavily on its references to “Friends.” It wasn't trying to imitate the last great multi-cam sitcom by using one of its stars to launch a spinoff, but creators David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik were manipulating public perception of Matt "Joey" LeBlanc to their advantage. Laughs were culled from how un-"Friend"-ly the alt-universe Leblanc was, mainly to our main characters, writers Beverly and Sean Lincoln -- how low he could sink into selfishness and how much sex he could have with anyone willing. (Okay, so that aspect of Joey didn’t change). Yet somehow, while it was busy busting the myth that LeBlanc was a one-trick pony — and cleverly so — it somehow became the trick itself. “Episodes,” in quite the ironic twist, has become the new “Friends.” Over the years, the show hasn't been shy about its connection to “Friends, »
- Ben Travers
SXSW Exclusive: Austin Is Cool In Clip From 'Petting Zoo'
8 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Teen pregnancy in film is nothing new, but for filmmaker Micah Magee, she approaches the subject in her debut feature, "Petting Zoo," from a personal and observational place that's without judgment, and based on her own experiences as a young mother. The story follows Layla, who, on the cusp of high school graduation, becomes unexpectedly pregnant. She faces the expectations thrust upon her from her family and friends in small-town Texas, set against a brewing romance and desire for more. Magee understands how much it is to handle. "Like how present are your parents, and how present you need to be, when do you need to start working, when is it financially necessary for you to start working, do you pay rent to your parents to live there because they need you to? Stuff like that which I think varies a lot from family to family and income level to income level, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
SXSW: Ryan Gosling Talks The “Neon-Colored Fairy Tale” Of ‘Lost River’ With Guillermo Del Toro
8 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
“A Dark ‘Goonies.’ Cool, I’m in.” That was the reaction given in text message by Chromatics member/composer Johnny Jewel to Ryan Gosling, when the actor gave him the script for his first directorial project, “Lost River” (previously titled “How To Catch A Monster”). An apt summation for Gosling to hear, it proved a worthy touchpoint for the “Blue Valentine” actor to focus the swarm of ideas in his writing and directing debut, a self-described “neon-colored fairy tale” that stars Ian De Caestecker, Saoirse Ronan, Christina Hendricks, and Matt Smith as citizens of a bizarro urban wasteland. Held under strict secrecy during its production, the film finally premiered at Cannes last year to a particularly scathing reaction — it fell prey to the most exaggerated dismissals available, while others like us saw it as a greatly flawed but ambitious venture worth a look. It’s been mostly silence from Gosling in the year that followed, »
- Charlie Schmidlin
SXSW Review: Foodie Documentary 'For Grace' Serves Up A Culinary Treat That Goes Beyond The Stove
9 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
The face of the modern chef is a familiar one: worn, determined, driven, and unhinged. Entering the kitchen of high class restaurants around the world means dealing with personalities that are ruthless and demand nothing short of perfection, no matter what the cost. Climbing the rungs means long hours and little pay in an environment that breeds its share of vices, and leaves little opportunity to sustain successful relationships with those who don't understand the world of haute cuisine. Reality television and documentary films have certainly played into that narrative, and "For Grace" also underscores some of those same tropes you might've seen before. What elevates the film from directors Kevin Pang and Mark Helenowski into something unique in the food doc genre is a broader narrative that isn't just about professional success, but a journey of personal growth that goes beyond the meticulously crafted meals at Chicago's celebrated Grace. »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Trailer Watch: Josh and Benny Safdie’s Heaven Knows What
15 hours ago | Filmmaker Magazine - Blog | See recent Filmmaker Magazine news »
Timed to the SXSW debut of Josh and Benny Safdie’s Heaven Knows What is the film’s latest trailer from Radius. With stark, declarative titles attesting to the authenticity of the film’s storyline — Heaven Knows What is based on a memoir by the film’s star, Arielle Holmes, detailing her life on the streets while addicted to heroin — the trailer is a bold edit capturing the movie’s beguiling blend of underground romance and urban nightmare. Heaven Knows What opens later this Spring. »
- Scott Macaulay
SXSW Review: Russell Brand Needs to Make Peace With Ondi Timoner's 'Brand: A Second Coming'
19 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
Few American audiences know much about comedian-turned-activist Russell Brand beyond his roles in a handful of studio comedies, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Get Him to the Greek" chief among them, but documentarian Ondi Timoner's engrossing portrait "Brand: A Second Coming" does a considerable job of bringing the uninitiated up to speed. The extensive two-hour running time only slightly hinders a simultaneously amusing and powerful encapsulation of Brand's journey from outrageous provocateur to enlightened zealot preaching for social change. Read More: Russell Brand Cancels SXSW Appearance The paradox of Brand's apparent sensitivity toward the reception of his message-mongering, which emerges as a fascinating centerpiece of the movie, extended beyond the screen when the subject pulled out of a scheduled appearance at its SXSW premiere and an accompanying keynote lecture. "Brand" makes a strong case for the comedian to reconsider his »
- Eric Kohn
SXSW Review: 'Uncle Kent 2' is the Craziest Movie Sequel Ever
20 hours ago | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
At first, "Uncle Kent 2" presents itself as a prolonged inside joke on the microbudget American film scene — the kind of referential conceit with the capacity to please the same limited crowd familiar with the movies in question. But that barely gets to the essence of this deliriously strange and hilarious stoner comedy, which delivers one innovative dose of absurdity after another with a liberating energy that never slows down. In its relentless silliness, "Uncle Kent 2" provides the ultimate rebuke to formulaic storytelling, but it's less heady than pure head trip. The title refers back to Joe Swanberg's 2011 portrait of animator and perennial indie actor Kent Osborne (whose other credits include Swanberg's "Hannah Takes the Stairs"), a genial look at the fortysomething bachelor, pot-smoker and animator as he lazily surfs the internet for companionship. "Uncle Kent 2" begins with Osborne, lonely and perpetually stoned as ever, pitching »
- Eric Kohn
Watch: Explore The Power Of The Mind In Red Band Trailer For 'Heaven Knows What' With Caleb Landry-Jones
21 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Winner of the Grand Prix of the Tokyo International Film Festival and the C.I.C.A.E. Award at the Venice Film Festival for directors Josh and Benny Safdie, "Heaven Knows What" earned some solid street cred on the festival circuit last year. Now the gritty tale of drug addiction is coming to cinemas, but it's one that has an interesting twist. It's based on the experiences of Arielle Holmes, who struggled on the streets of New York City with her own heroin addiction just months before filming starting. The filmmakers encouraged her write her memoirs as she got clean, and they serve as the foundation for the movie. So yes, this has a degree of authenticity you won't find elsewhere, but it didn't phase Holmes, even with the added of pressure of acting in her first film role. "I had fun doing it and it felt all very natural and it was exciting, »
- Kevin Jagernauth
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