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Film History’s Top Five Funny, Foolish, Freaky Aliens
The original Men in Black, released in 1997, was a pitch-perfect combination of action, comedy and sci-fi trappings, and audiences flocked to the genre mashup, which earned over $250 million domestically and spawned the 2002 sequel, which was poorly reviewed and didn't do as well at the box office as its predecessor but still managed to generate a profit. Now, 10 years later, Agents J and K are back for Men in Black III, in theaters this Friday. In honor of the film that brought sci-fi comedy into the mainstream, at least for a little while, we're taking a look back at five of cinema history's most hilarious aliens.
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Live from Cannes: Critic’s Notebook
Wes Anderson was dining with French friends when he got the call—three months after submitting his resplendent new feature, Moonrise Kingdom, to Cannes—that his eccentrically funny-sad, 1965-set charmer was chosen for opening night at the world's most prestigious film festival. Sharing such thrilling news with his dinner companions, they all offered up the same reaction: "Better to be in competition."
Fortunately for Anderson, as the director recalled during an intimate press conference more luxurious than your average hotel junket (the sound of raindrops bouncing softly off an open-air tent on the Riviera beach), Moonrise later rose to a competition slot, and remains this writer's first and favorite selection seen at this year's Cannes. It's for that reason that only now, while fruitlessly waiting for a second film to rank as highly, that MovieMaker checks in at the fest's midpoint. Which is not at all to say that this has been a "weak year," as some jaded critics have grumbled, but we haven't yet seen any cinematic pleasures to collectively knock us out of our chairs (or wildly polarize) à la 2011's Melancholia, Drive and Palme d'Or winner The Tree of Life.
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10 Great No-Entry Fee Film Festivals
Independent moviemakers are renowned for having tons of creativity, scads of grit and boatloads of determination, but there's one crucial element that most of them lack: Cash. If there’s one thing that's music to a moviemaker’s ears, it’s the simple four-word phrase “No entry fee required.” For a film entered in multiple film festivals, submission fees alone can run into the hundreds of dollars, and it's important to submit your film to a festival that won’t put you in the poorhouse. With that in mind, join us as we take a look at 10 diverse, cost-effective fests with zero dollar entry fees.
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Having Big Fun in the Big Town
26 years after it was filmed, Dutch director, journalist and rap aficionado Bram Van Splunteren's Big Fun in the Big Town is finally being released to worldwide audiences. A documentary on the origins of hip hop filmed in New York in 1986, just as the genre was getting noticed—but not, notes Van Splunteren, being taken seriously—on an international scale, Big Town features interviews with pioneers like Russell Simmons, Run-DMC, Grandmaster Flash, Doug E Fresh and LL Cool J from before they became household names.
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Battleship Sunk by The Avengers
It's three weeks of box office dominance and counting for The Avengers, which easily kept new release Battleship from the number one spot and became Disney's highest-grossing film ever in the process. The superhero extravaganza's $55 million weekend gross brings its domestic total so far $457 million; add in international receipts and its worldwide haul is now $1.18 billion, the fourth-highest ever.
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What The Dictator Learned from Borat
From Cannes to Hollywood, Sacha Baron Cohen is back in the news this week as his latest mash-up of humor and political commentary makes it way into theaters, courtesy of The Dictator. If the moviemaker learned anything from Borat, it just may be that sweeping a number of unsuspecting "actors" into your film without their permission can turn into a very big headache.
After the release of Borat, 27 claims were filed against the Hollywood funnyman that eventually resulted in 10 lawsuits. All but one of these suits were dismissed or defeated, while the remaining one resulted in a small settlement. How did the story turn out so well for Borat when you consider the hundreds of folks who never signed a release at all and the dozens who did sign a release but wish they had thought twice?
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Dark Shadows Can’t Bring Down The Avengers
The Avengers handily overpowered Tim Burton's Dark Shadows over the weekend, becoming the top film at the box office for the second week running and, incidentally, topping $1 billion at the worldwide box office after only 19 days of release. The superhero 'stravaganza's domestic box office gross of $103.1 million (that's only its weekend gross, by the way—total domestic is $373.1 million so far) is over three and a half times what poorly reviewed new release Dark Shadows was able to pull in.
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Telling the Story of Portrait of Wally
The history of Egon Schiele's Portrait of Wally seems too improbable to be true. Art theft. Prestigious cultural institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and NPR. A Jewish art collector who spent the last decades of her life trying to get a beloved painting, looted by Nazis, returned to her—and a seemingly unscrupulous fellow collector who refused to give it up. But truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction—and director Andrew Shea lays out the incredible tale of "The face that launched a thousand lawsuits" with his documentary Portrait of Wally, opening in New York City today.
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Meanest Movie Moms
This weekend, offspring young and old will buy flowers, send cards and pay tribute to the women who brought them into this world. Mother’s Day is a time of celebration and gratitude toward the lady dearest to our hearts. And while turbulent times with mom are a natural part of growing up, this year you should be extra sweet to your creator, because she could be a whole lot worse. Don't believe us? Then take a look at this list of cinema's meanest mothers. From the psychotic to the just plain nasty, these moms make us glad that making our beds and taking out the garbage were the most ever asked of us.
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“It’s Only Forever…”
Director Brian Crano on the pressures and triumphs of A Bag of Hammers
Making a film, you learn a lot of lessons—often contradictory lessons, but lessons nonetheless. These are a few of the thousand lessons I learned in the process of making my first feature, A Bag of Hammers. I’ll skip the really obvious ones, like “Write a great, compelling script” or “cast the best actors you can"...
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The Journey to The Cup
On New Year’s Day of 2003, a neatly handwritten note arrived on the fax machine: “I have a story idea I wanted to run past you. I am sure you are familiar with the subject matter and would welcome your thoughts and suggestions.” The intriguing note came from Eric O’Keefe, a Texas journalist I had met while directing the television western Crossfire Trail. “What do you know about the 2002 Melbourne Cup?,” it read.
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Avengers Assemble at the Box Office
So, you might have heard—The Avengers did pretty well at the box office this weekend. If by "pretty well" you mean it shattered the record for best three-day weekend with its $200.3 million haul. Add that to the $441.5 million it's earned internationally since it came out just over a week-and-a-half ago, and the superhero extravaganza has racked up $641.8 million in just 12 days. All very good news for distributor Disney, which definitely needed a post-John Carter morale boost.
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Documenting the Lost and Found Generation in Falling Uphill
As a Hitchcock enthusiast, for years I wanted to direct a dark, suspenseful thriller. So I spent a of couple years developing a film in this “Hitchcockian” vein while producing and managing other films. After working on Peter Bratt’s La Mission, which depicts San Francisco in a very intimate and non-traditional way, I began to observe my surroundings and reflect on my personal life. Although it sucked to set aside my high concept screenplay, I refocused my energies on a more personal project featuring San Francisco. The film that resulted is Falling Uphill, which tells a story about heartbreak, self-discovery and new beginnings.
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Super (and Not-So-Super) Hero Flicks
Superhero movies tend to come in just one of two flavors: Exceptional and terrible. They either work as visually breathtaking, escapist fun… or they don’t. This summer features a slew of upcoming superhero flicks, including The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises. The latest, Joss Whedon's highly anticipated The Avengers, hits theaters today.
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Water Takes Center Stage in Last Call at the Oasis
When we started Last Call at the Oasis, our goals were ambitious and the challenge was considerable. We wanted to illuminate the water crisis and its many facets... and there are many, many facets. Generally, when we hear “water crisis” we think “drought”—usually “drought happening somewhere else in the world.” But what’s going on is big, and it is crucial that we understand it. This is water—essential for all life. Could the stakes be any higher?
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Think Like a Man Continues to Dominate
New wide releases The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Five-Year Engagement, Safe and The Raven failed to snatch the number one spot out of the hands of last week's winner, Think Like a Man, which returned to the top of the box office for the second week running. Second place went to Pirates, while another holdover from last week, The Lucky One, claimed spot number three.
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