Monthly Archives: June 2011

Another Earth might be the best sci-fi film of the year.

Posted on June 29, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 1 comment

“This is a story about a girl who does something unforgivable.” So utters Rhoda Williams a couple of minutes into the mind-blowing trailer for Another Earth, which may be the best science-fiction film of the year. And the best part? Unlike most sci-fi films, this one delves deeply into the emotions of its characters; it sees how they interact, as well as how they react to the discovery of the titular Macguffin. It tackles questions worthy of a bigger budget, but with an honesty only possible with a shoestring. In short, while it will fall completely under the radar, this is one of the best films of the year, and should be sought after. Travel to a bigger city if you must, but see this film. Continue reading →

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Posted in Reviews

Tagged Another Earth, Drama, Low Budget, Sci-Fi

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop being a jerk

Posted on June 27, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 9 comments

Backstage during Conan O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour,” Jack McBrayer has just stopped by. Before he’s even through the door, Conan is launching into a cavalcade of country bumpkin jokes. McBrayer’s Southern accent, familiar to fans of his character Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock, turns out to be genuine, and O’Brien’s verbal jabs continue to slap his visitor like he just caught him screwing grandma on the kitchen table on Christmas day. Of all the people we see passive-aggressively maligned by O’Brien’s sarcasm in the documentary Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, McBrayer is the only one not on his paid staff and is therefore the only one who can properly express slack-jawed dismay that Conan O’Brien is a dick.

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9 Comments

Posted in Reviews

Tagged Comedy, Conan O'Brien, controversy, Documentary, Jay Leno, The Late Show, The Tonight Show, TV

Knowing maturely conveys the tragic nature of disaster

Posted on June 24, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 3 comments

Alex Proyas has probably directed some of your favorite films, yet you don’t know his name. His filmography is confounding: The cult-hit The Crow (1994), Dark City (1998, the visual forerunner to The Matrix), and the Will Smith blockbuster I, Robot (2004). Proyas also directed Knowing (2009), the Nicolas Cage prophecy/disaster film at which you likely laughed. “Great, another Nicolas Cage feature on the heels of such beloved films as Bangkok Dangerous and that National Treasure sequel.” Yet Cage and Proyas deliver a grounded sci-fi disaster movie unlike anything we’ve seen, and though it isn’t perfect, it’s a refreshing sci-fi narrative. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Filmsmith Faves, Reviews

Tagged Disaster, Knowing, Nicolas Cage, prophecy, Roland Emmerich, Sci-Fi

First 3D documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, is great cinema

Posted on June 22, 2011 by The Filmsmith | Leave a comment

Werner Herzog has made a career of taking bold steps forward in the world of filmmaking. He famously stole his first film camera from the Munich Film School, using it to make Aguirre, The Wrath of God; he is the only director to shoot a film on every continent; and when his friend Errol Morris finally made his debut film, Herzog kept to his word and ate his own shoe. Werner Herzog, is in short, a little unhinged. But this hasn’t stopped him from being brilliant. In his newest documentary, Caves of Forgotten Dreams, he visits the Chauvet Cave, the location of mankind’s earliest works of art, and asks rather large questions about our place in history, our place in the world, and our place within nature. Continue reading →

Meek’s Cutoff – The Bleakest Western you’ll ever see.

Posted on June 20, 2011 by The Filmsmith | Leave a comment

A vast, desolate wasteland with no shelter on the horizon. A man at the end of his wits carving one word, his worst fear, into a stray log: Lost. A trickling creek breaking up the hopeless landscape. The camera pans up, and all we can see are a few women gathering water in slow motion-except then we realize there is no camera gimmickry going on here; the women are simply burdened by the weight of their own weariness. These are the shots that open Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, and they set the pace, tone and themes of the film in motion without ever uttering a word. Meek’s Cutoff is as difficult to watch as the terrain its characters traverse, its painstaking journey is incredibly rewarding. Continue reading →

Kung Fu Panda 2 a great 3D sequel

Posted on June 19, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 1 comment

Running too late to catch the 2D screening of Kung Fu Panda 2, I reluctantly accepted the 3D glasses from the usher, anxious about the eye strain that was soon to be mine. To my surprise, despite a bloody 3D Friskies commercial jammed between film trailers, I was able to enjoy Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D. In fact, it was the best 3D film I have seen (yep, even better than Avatar) and it 3D actually added to the film experience. Did I also mention this was a genuine sequel, setting out to develop characters and their story beyond the initial volley? Kung Fu Panda 2 is full of surprises. Continue reading →

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Posted in Reviews

Tagged Animated, Comedy, Dreamworks, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jack Black, Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 2

Sci-Fi Channel’s most expensive film, Green Lantern

Posted on June 19, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 2 comments

A studio head chomps on a cartoonishly oversized cigar, flipping through pages in a binder. The cover reads “Green Lantern” and he parts with his cigar for the occasional guffaw over certain passages. The man is so delighted he bellows for his assistant to write a check for $300,000,000 to make this amazing, amusing work of cinematic genius. I spin this fictional yarn because it would be great if someone actually loved the film they were making instead of packaging a soulless product – and ultimately I’m getting tired of this shit. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Reviews

Tagged Comic book movie, DC, Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds

Fun Film Fact #1: You speak Swedish in the edit

Posted on June 17, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 1 comment

I’m working two different film production jobs and spend quite a bit of time editing various programs. I once remarked to someone that whenever you’re rewinding footage, everyone sounds like they’re speaking Swedish – and then I watched the delightful 80’s spoof film Top Secret! and one scene in particular had me cracking up… Continue reading →

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Posted in Filmmaking, News

Tagged 80's, Comedy, Filmmaking, Swedish, Top Secret!, Val Kilmer

Midnight in Paris – A Journey through Nostalgia.

Posted on June 15, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 3 comments

Nostalgia. Once upon a time it referred to a certain kind of mental illness, describing someone unable to live in his or her time. Now the word has been relegated to the cute, adorable, kitschy part of our lexicon. We think of nostalgia as a kind of benign obsession–only that’s not quite the word either, for nostalgia tends to describe something far more tame. Gil Pender, played brilliantly by Owen Wilson, suffers from a strange nostalgic notion that the 1920’s in Paris were far better than the present day. Through Gil’s adventures in the half-darkened streets of the City of Lights, Woody Allen weaves a fantastical tale completely unlike anything he has ever done. Midnight in Paris is simultaneously a fascinating portrait of a city, and a study of that particular kind of nostalgia that drives us to live in a past we never had and to forget a present that is passing us by. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Reviews

Tagged Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson, Woody Allen

Hobo with a Shotgun lives up to its name and then some

Posted on June 12, 2011 by The Filmsmith | 5 comments

There’s been a spat of high-concept, low-brow send-ups to terrible exploitation films over the last several years (Drive Angry 3D, Black Dynamite) and we owe a debt of gratitude to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, the masterminds behind Grindhouse, which started it all. Rodriguez failed to live up to his faux-trailer for Machete in the actual feature-length format, but Hobo with a Shotgun (which was a faux-trailer shown with Grindhouse in Canada) lives up to the insanity of its initial trailer draft thanks in part to Rutger Hauer, inventive kills, and actors who know they’re in a depraved, cackling, over-the-top, fucked up movie. Continue reading →