My current spate of reviews come from the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where I believe I just encountered my first dreaded “festival film” which one writer described as:
“the submerged nine-tenths of the film production world that gets only one or two screenings in its lifetime, in a near-empty cinema in downtown Gdansk or wherever.”
I say this because watching Police, Adjective was more dull than spending three hours in hospital waiting room.*
Posted in Edinburgh International Film Festival, Reviews
Tagged Banal, Boring, Children of Men, Death Proof, Draconian, Drama, Drugs, Edinburgh International Film Festival, EIFF, festival film, Inglourious Basterds, Law, Lumiere, Police, Police Adjective, Procedural, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Romanian, Slacker, Slow, Unbreakable
* I visited a hilarious HIGH School
* Winter’s Bone has a chilly, but warm sentiment
* Wasn’t Lucky enough to win the jackpot
other news
The director of Winter’s Bone spoke briefly about the film after the screening. The lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence, is a Kentucky native and it made shooting in the Ozarks an accessible transition from one mountainous region to another. I’ll have video up in a few days.
reviews to come
Au Revoir Taipei, an evening with Sir Patrick Stewart
There is an oft-lamented dearth of strong female characters in cinema. Lt. Ripley and Sarah Connor are the characters that receive the most citation, but I’ll be damned if we can’t add Ree Dolly to the roster – this is not a girl to be trifled with. Continue reading
Posted in Edinburgh International Film Festival, Filmsmith Faves, Reviews
Tagged Appalachia, Cinema, Debra Granik, Documentary, Drama, Edinburgh International Film Festival, EIFF, female, feminism, Film, Jennifer Lawrence, Kentucky, Movie, patriarchy, poor, poverty, Ree Dolly, strong, strong female character, Sundance, Winter's Bone
Sir Patrick Stewart sits down to talk about growing up, Shakespeare, Star Trek, film vs. theatre, reality television, with open and earnest commentary.
When you start watching films for a living, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” becomes the haunting muzak filling the background of your consciousness. Films quickly pile up in the mediocre category, with few hitting genius, or even atrocious levels. When Monsters finished, however, I was covered with goose bumps and wanted nothing more than to sit quietly in the dark to mull it over. It is a film so powerful, fascinating and personal that it is a celluloid definition of why we go to the cinema.
Posted in Edinburgh International Film Festival, Reviews
Tagged Action, Aliens, CGI, Cinema, Cloverfield, District 9, Drama, drug violence, Drug War, Edinburgh International Film Festival, EIFF, Film, Firestarter, Gareth Edwards, Half Nelson, Horror, Mexico, Mia Wallace, Military, Monsters, Movie, NASA, Night of the Living Dead, photographer, Pulp Fiction, Romance, Sci-Fi, Spoiler Free, Stephen King, U.S., United States, Vertigo Films, Y Tu Mama Tambien
:you can read part 1 here:
Trying to compare Ginger Snaps to Ginger Snaps Unleashed (released in the U.S. as Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed) is like trying to decide between Alien or Aliens: they are both good, but different. Ginger Snaps Unleashed picks up where the first left off. And no, there are no silly gimmicks, there really is continuity between the two (even the same actresses return). Continue reading
Posted in Articles, Filmsmith Faves, Reviews
Tagged canada, Cinema, Comedy, Drama, Drugs, Emily Perkins, Evil Dead 2, feminism, feminist, Fright Night 2, Ginger Snaps, Ginger Snaps 2, Ginger Snaps 2 Unleashed, Ginger Snaps II, Girls, Hollywood, Horror, Katharine Isabelle, menstruation, Monkshood, Sex, Trilogy, violence, Werewolf, werewolves
Teenage girls battling werewolves. Nope, it’s not Twilight: it’s another horror gem like The Descent and Carriers.
Katharine Isabelle as Ginger (left) and Emily Perkins as Brigitte (right)
While I was working at a video store, Ginger Snaps was just another straight to DVD horror film: attractive girl, catchy title, some ominous background music, BOOM, you have a cover just like all the other straight to DVD features (right next to Lord of the G-Strings and Santa’s Slay). But as I’ve been working on my dissertation detailing “unsafe” horrors, Ginger Snaps came up enough times to merit a screening. Results? The best werewolf film since Landis’ An American Werewolf in London. Continue reading
Posted in Articles, Filmsmith Faves, Reviews
Tagged An American Werewolf in London, canada, Carriers, Cinema, Comedy, Drama, Emily Perkins, feminism, feminist, Ginger Snaps, Girls, Hollywood, Horror, John Fawcett, John Landis, Katharine Isabelle, menstruation, Sex, Teeth, The Descent, Trilogy, vagina teeth, violence, Werewolf, werewolves
Given this weekend’s U.S. release of Iron Man 2 I wanted to bring to attention another Robert Downey Jr. film you’ll love and two others.
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)
Posted in Filmsmith Faves, Reviews
Tagged Alfonso Cuaron, Bringing Out the Dead, Comedy, Darren Aronofsky, Detroit Rock City, Drama, EMT, Gay Perry, Iron Man 2, KISS, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Lethal Weapon, Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Cage, Raging Bull, Shane Black, Taxi Driver, The Monster Squad, Val Kilmer
Here’s a trailer for my latest film, Dawn of the Living. You can buy it for $5 and you’ll also get a DVD with Neighborhood Watch (zombie patrol units find themselves in bad situations) and Hank vs Ninjas, Nazis, and a Chupacabra, which is self-explanatory.
Posted in Filmmaking, News
Tagged Cinema, Dawn of the Living, Drama, Film, Horror, Independent, Movie, short film, Zombies
The Filmsmith
The Filmsmith 
I Am Now an Award Winning Filmmaker
My latest short film, Dawn of the Living, just earned two awards at the Golden Video Awards here in Edinburgh:
Best Actor: Andy Edwards, Dawn of the Living
Best Film: Dawn of the Living
In case you missed it, here’s a trailer for the short, Dawn of the Living
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zUL-vywTAE
I’ve made three short films (4 if you include a small youtube video) and this is the first time I’ve won an award for my filmmaking, so it was quite an honor to receive this award.
Next filmmaking item is to finish editing my documentary for a class (it’s so nice to get a grade for making a film). Despite the fact that this is my first foray into documentary filmmaking, it should be pretty good.
3 Comments
Posted in Filmmaking, News
Tagged award, Cinema, Dawn of the Dead, Dawn of the Living, Drama, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Movie Production Society, Filmmaking, Golden Video Awards, homemade, Horror, independent filmmaking, Movie, short, short film, University of Edinburgh, Zombie