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Activism and Terrorism Collide in If a Tree Falls
With the Oscar-nominated documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, co-directors Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman turned their camera on an issue that is at once historical and current: The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a '90s environmental activist group made up of once-peaceful protestors who took to committing acts of arson after the non-violent demonstrations they had been participating in were ignored by the government and often met with brutality by the police. Though the film resonates with the protest movements that have sprung up since its release, Curry didn't make the film with any particular agenda—environment, political or otherwise—in mind. Instead, he was intrigued by the story of Daniel McGowan, a former ELF member facing life in prison for his acts of what the government considers terrorism.
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Bringing Together Comedy, Politics and Economic Meltdown in Gnarr
In case you haven't heard, the economy hasn't been doing that well for the past few years. No country has felt the economic crisis so keenly as Iceland, where the collapse of a once-soaring economy left citizens feeling betrayed by their politicians. Against this backdrop rose an unlikely political hero: Jón Gnarr, the comedian who ran for mayor of Reykjavík as a joke… and won. His campaign—in which he promised to build a Disneyland in the city and refused to talk to his opponents if they hadn't watched "The Wire"—was filmed, from start to finish, by Gaukur Úlfarsson for his feature documentary Gnarr.
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Form Meets Function with Rampart
Something about procedural cop dramas makes them inherently powerful, and director Oren Moverman’s Rampart is no exception. Millenium Entertainment brings this intense feature film—about an arrogant, macho cop (played by Woody Harrelson) on an emotional downward spiral—to theaters this Friday, February 10th. Many of the reviews to have come out since the film’s premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival focus on Harrelson’s gritty performance as the corrupt cop Dave Brown. But much of the grittiness of the film itself comes from its visual style, which took Moverman and DP Bobby Bukowski a special creative approach to achieve.
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Into the Sunset: Cinema’s Greatest Swan Songs
There’s a circular pattern to the careers of many directors: Their early films tend toward rough experiments. Then they mature and develop their own distinct artistic voice. Finally, secure in their success, they drive off into the sunset of their career, all too often trading in the fame they had at their peak for something more like the obscurity they started with. The decline of a director’s work at the end of their career is an all-too-common trend, but it's one that Hungarian director Bèla Tarr, with his final film The Turin Horse, has managed to avoid. With The Turin Horse coming out on Friday, we're taking a look at three other directors who refused to leave their legacy poorly wrapped.
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Annie ♥s Rango
Rango, Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Adventures of Tintin pick up multiple awards at this year's Annies
It's not time for the Oscars yet, but the Annies have already rolled into town. Last Saturday saw the Annie Awards, which honors the year's highest achievements in (you guessed it) animation, take place in UCLA's Royce Hall in a ceremony hosted by actor Patton Oswalt. The night's big award—Best Animated Feature—went to Rango, which is regarded as the frontrunner for that same award at this year's Oscars.
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Celebrating the Flavors of Filmmaking at Slamdance
Last month, Josh Gibson went to the Slamdance Film Festival with his short film Kudzu Vine… and came back with his very own Panasonic AG-AF100, a full HD camcorder that retails for $4,995.00. Gotta say, not too shabby. For Gibson, an associate director and instructor of film at Duke University, the boon came courtesy of Panasonic's Five Flavors of Filmmaking contest, held in cooperation with Slamdance. The contest called upon five teams to use the AF100, the official camera of the festival, to create a one-minute film based on a flavor. Gibson chose to interpret the flavor he was assigned—watermelon—with an experimental film that brought to life three haiku poems by the 17th century Japanese poet Basho.
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Chronicle and The Woman in Black Duke it Out at the Box Office
New releases Chronicle and The Woman in Black each took in a higher-than-expected haul over Super Bowl weekend, though it was the former film that managed to climb to the top with a weekend gross of $22 million. Still, The Woman in Black wasn't that far behind, pulling in $21 million over the weekend. Last week's surprise box office victor, The Grey, slid to number three, while new release Big Miracle's weekend take of $8.4 million was only enough to land it at spot number four. Rounding out the top five was Underworld: Awakening.
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Don’t Go in There! Cinema’s Scariest Haunted House Movies
Creaky floorboards. Rattling window shutters. Creepy noises in the attic. What could be scarier than a lonely old house on a dark and stormy night? The haunted house subgenre has been around for a long time and has proven to be endlessly fascinating to moviemakers and audiences alike. With the two newest entries in this enduring subgenre—The Woman in Black and The Innkeepers—hitting theaters today, MM is taking a look back at some of the scariest haunted house movies of all time.
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Get Connected with Scriptapalooza
Now in its 14th year, Scriptapalooza remains unlike any other screenplay competition. When you submit your script to Scriptapalooza, it will be read by the elite of the film industry: Over 90 producers, managers and agents with the power to turn your script into a feature film. With the next deadline—March 5th—looming on the horizon, MM recently caught up with Scriptapalooza president/co-founder Mark Andrushko to find out more about this year’s competition.
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The Challenges (and Rewards) of Big Miracle
Director Ken Kwapis: "It was brutal, but I loved every minute of it."
Let's not beat around the bush: Directing a movie with ten major characters sounds pretty tough. Directing a movie with ten major characters, a bunch of non-professional actors and three massive animatronic whales that can only be reached for repairs by diving into some pretty chilly water? Even tougher. Shooting in Alaska, where one of the only weather conditions that stays consistent from day to day is the freezing cold? Was Big Miracle director Ken Kwapis nuts?!
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Who Needs HD When You’ve Got 4K?
Techies rejoice! A new toy is hitting the market. Of course, JVC's GY-HMQ10, the world's first handheld 4K camcorder, isn't a toy, per se; the high-tech wonder captures, records and plays video at a resolution that trumps the 1080p image quality of high-definition television four times over.
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Supporting Global Film, One Director at a Time
A hefty check of $10,000 and year-round support from one of indie film’s leading role models? This fantastic prize has been awarded to four moviemakers courtesy of the Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, presented by India-based conglomerate the Mahindra Group in cooperation with the Sundance Institute. Designed to recognize and support moviemakers from around the globe, the award provides its winners with financial support, mentoring from creative advisers, participation in a Sundance Institute Directors or Screenwriters Lab, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival and additional support over the course of the year.
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Say Hello to the Happy Couple
One in three films at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival were helped to the screen by NYU alumni
The Sundance Film Festival ♥s New York. At the 2012 edition of the celebrated festival, which wrapped up its ten days of indie mayhem yesterday, one in three of the films screened was impacted in some way by a graduate of New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts in the form of a director, producer, writer, editor, set designer, cinematographer or actor who graduated from the world-renowned film school.
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Box Office Goes to the Wolves with The Grey
The box office went to the wolves this weekend, with Joe Carnahan's The Grey beating out last week's reigning champ Underworld: Awakening to land at the number one spot. The man vs. nature actioner did better than expected, earning $20 million in its first weekend; meanwhile, the latter film's weekend haul of $12.5 million brings its total gross to $45.1 million.
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Where the Wild Things Are: The Best Man vs. Nature Movies
It's like a bad nightmare: Being stranded in the wild with scant resources and no guarantee of survival, your very existence hanging in the balance. What can you eat? How do you make it out alive? How do you manage to hang on to your humanity? This harrowing scenario has provided grist for many movies over the years. The latest of these is The Grey, in which Liam Neeson plays a man stranded in the Alaskan wilderness and hunted by a pack of hungry wolves. With the film hitting theaters today, it seems a perfect time to take a look back at some of the most thrilling man vs. nature movies from the past 40 years.
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Distribution in the Year 2012
Distribution is the sole source by which film revenue is earned, but between the advent of digital theatrical distribution, the rise of Netflix and VOD and the collapse of the DVD market, recent years have seen some radical changes in how films are distributed. It makes sense that independent moviemakers, always been on the cutting edge themselves, should be the ones to race to exploit emerging distribution methods.
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