Top Movies of 2007

My favorite films of the year thus far:





























And there are still many more I have to see... Things may change after voting for this year's Independent Spirit Awards begins.

Here's this year's NYC Screening Room dates

Watch Four Eye Monsters for Free!

Four Eyed Monsters was one of last year's best and most innovative films, and now you can watch the whole thing for FREE on Youtube! I highly suggest checking it out, it's only 71 minutes and well worth the time and admission. But catch it soon, it's only gonna be available for one week. Also, be a good sport and sign up for Spout.com. It's free and for each person who signs up, Arin and Susan each get $1 towards paying off their debt. So help these guys out!

Revisit: Dark Days

A Picture Farm film 2000

Written and Directed by Marc Singer

Near Penn Station, next to the Amtrak tracks, squatters have been living for years.



This Sundance and Indie Spirit award-winning documentary follows the lives of several squatters as they deal with life in the New York subways. Shot in stunning 16mm black and white, director Marc Singer actually lived with these people for a short time, using them as his crew and his subject matter. The result is an amazing, honest portrait of the hardships homeless people face, a strong representation their tenacity and stubbornness. My only problem with the film is that it ends on such an overtly positive note - each of the characters recieves an apartment through a NYC works programs, but what happens next? I find it hard to believe that each person in the film managed to maintain a working lifestyle. This is one film that is begging for a sequel.

Curtains Close on The Carpetbagger

This week I sat down for a quick chat with David Carr of the New York Times for We Want Media. Here's the article:



With Hollywood shifting its focus back to big-budget blockbusters, the few of us still shaking our heads at The Departed’s win for Best Picture may have to buckle down and admit defeat. Awards season is most definitely over, as David Carr recently lowered the curtain on his annual NY Times-based Oscar blog The Carpetbagger. “The Bagger could pretend that he is leaving the season with regrets, but he has none,” Carr wrote. “Happy to have played, happy to have met all the people he met and glad it’s over.”

Carr, who is a regular in the Times Monday Business and Culture sections, started The Carpetbagger in 2005 as a noble attempt to accurately cover Hollywood’s most frenzied and ferociously competitive traditions. Since then, the blog has become the go-to spot for in-depth, interesting awards coverage, with Carr’s unique, singular voice leading the way. Adding quirky videos of Carr on the red carpet in 2006 also helped make the site a splash – and sparked many debates about a major publications crossover appeal.

“People begin to see us in a different way – one that doesn’t reshape the organization, but shows that we have muscles in any platform,” Carr says. “That the Times provides high quality media in print, video, even in the blogsphere.”

Carr feels the blog really opened The Times to its audience, as well, displaying “a level of friendliness and engagement we’re not known for.” He credits the blog’s success to its active readers.

“The whole kind of network intelligence thing was really surprising to me,” he says. “Sometimes I’d just flick at a topic, something I don’t have ferocious knowledge of and I’d get a band of comments. Lots of stuff people knew would outstrip what I had said.”

Of course open communication doesn’t always mean intelligent conversation. “You always get your trolls and your idiots too,” Carr says with a laugh, “But certain people know a lot, and their willingness to take the time to add or correct something I write, it makes me wonder, what do they do for a living?”

As for whether The Bagger will be back on the red carpet again next year, Carr won’t say. But one thing is for certain - the Oscars aren't going away any time soon, and we need someone like The Carpetbagger to shine some unbiased light on the subject.

2007 Indie Spirit Awards Winners

Well the Spirit Awards aired tonight on IFC and the results are in.

Best Feature: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Female Lead: Shareeka Epps (Half Nelson)
Best Male Lead: Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Best Female Supporting: Frances McDormand (Friends with Money)
Best Male Supporting: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Best Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine)
Best Screenplay: Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking)
Best First Screenplay: Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine)
Best Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro (Pans Labyrinth)
Best First Feature: Sweet Land
Best Documentary: The Road to Guantanamo
Best Foriegn Film: The Lives of Others
John Cassavettes Award: Quinceañera
Truer Than Fiction Award: P.O.V.: The Tailenders (#19.5)

I'm glad to see that many of the films I voted for won awards, although I am disappointed at Little Miss Sunshine's semi-sweep. Sarah Silverman hosted again this year, and the vibe was pretty much the same - a bit dirty, a bit sexy, and a lot more informal than most other award shows. Here's a clip from last year, to give you an idea.

Review: Little Miss Sunshine

A Fox Searchlight release 2006

Directed by
Jonathan Dayton
Valerie Faris

Written by Michael Arndt

A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.



I avoided this film when it came out in theaters because it was hyped as the indie movie of the year and everyone told me I would love it. My friends told me I would love it. My parents told me I would love it. My grandparents told me I would love it, even though they didn't understand it and we never like the same movies anyway, unless they were made before 1965. So, I decided not to see it; nary a dissenting word makes nervous.

Little Miss Sunshine is the product of a post-Napoleon Dynamite world, a world with a pastel colors and where Sufjan Stevens is the soundtrack to our lives. Even though it took five years to make, the film seems like a pretty safe bet; the characters are likeable despite their nasty tics, and the script is critical of our success driven society while remaining supportive of the core American values of family and togetherness. The performances here are what really sell it. Nearly everyone in this film is film is on target, delivering top-notch characterizations that are effectingly real. All in all, it's a likeable film despite its somewhat heavy tone and is certainly refreshing compared to typical Hollywood fare.

But there are a few things about Little Miss Sunshine that bother me and I really wished they'd go away. Take a look at this clip:



Notice anything? Let your eyes focus on the right hand side of the screen. Nearly every single shot features the exact same composition: a horizonal plane somewhere in the middle with a vertical line split at the center off to the right. That vertical line drives me nuts. It's comes in the form of telephone poles, trees, stoplights, character placement, you name it. It was either a conscious decision by the directors or is simply a sign of poor visual construction, but it's always there. And such a limited visual vocabulary is extremely detrimental not only to a film, but future films as well. The static shots somewhat work here but I forsee many knock-offs of this in the future, and that is not good.

Also, why can't anyone make a dark indie comedy that doesn't have an ironic dance sequence at the end?



This movie is going to win a ton of awards and that is fine, if people take it's screenwriting and performances as serious examples and not the limited visual scope or kitchy direction. While certainly enjoyable, it's probably not something I would want to sit through again, but I may be alone on that. Either way, it's refreshing when a film from outside of Hollywood that at least does something right gets a little recognition. Hopefully it will result in the mainstream's realization that characters - not special effects or crazy storylines - make a movie.

Independent Spirit Awards Ballots Due

Voters for the Independent Spirit Awards have to send in their ballots by this Saturday, Feb 10th. I just finished filling mine out, plan on dropping it in the mail tomorrow. You can vote online, as well, but I think the ballot is more fun. It's interesting - you only have to vote for the movies you've seen, they expect you to leave all others blank. Thanks to those screenings and the free netflix I got, I've managed to see a good majority of them. I think Half Nelson will be the big winner this year; expect a review/Q&A with director Ryan Fleck posted soon. Overall it's been a fun experience. I look forward to doing it again next year.

Check out all the Spirit nominees here.

You can catch the Independent Spirit Awards live on IFC or Bravo February 24th @ 5PM ET/2PM PT

Review: The Dead Girl

A Lakeshore Entertainment/Pitbull Pictures/First Look International release 2006
Written & Directed by Karen Moncrieff

The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated people begin to intersect.

Karen Moncrieff's second feature film (following 2002's Blue Car, which I've never seen but hear is pretty good) attempts to piece together the tragic story of a murdered hooker (played with ease by Brittany Murphy) through seven separate mini-shorts. Each short follows a different character who is somehow connected to the dead girl - the woman who discovers the body, the coroner, the dead girl's mother, etc. Running about twenty minutes each, the stories are contained in terms of their protagonists, but each reveal something new about the girl who was murdered. That is, until the end, when we are given the dead girls story in it's revealed glory.

It's very difficult to make a movie that has seven different protagonists. First, you have to make sure each character is believable, or you'll lose the audience right away. Then you have to give them each a story purpose, and that also has to be believable or once again you'll find yourself without an audience. In the case of The Dead Girl, Moncrieff and her actors treat the subject with such emotional flair that it's hard not to feel empathy for her characters. However, the seriousness of Moncrieff's tone and tendancy towards exploiting the emotional punch makes the film strangely unpalatable. Some of the stories follow such obvious tracks that it turns the premise into something almost laughable - take, for example, the story of the coronary student (Rose Byrne) who, upon examining the body, imagines that it's her long lost sister who's disappearance has caused her and her family grief for over a decade. Others simply lack focus or any clear direction - the story of the recluse (Toni Collette) with the abusive mother (Piper Laurie), who has to confront death up close before she can 'really live' (which apparently means having rape-like sex). While these short sections certainly work to give small clues to piece together the story of the dead girl, they don't exactly work as their own contained storylines. They're boring, and the movie suffers for it.

That said, the middle section following the wife of the murderer features a stellar performance by Mary Beth Hurt and is easily the most interesting. It runs on the idea that sometimes the things we love most are also the things we hate (pretty obvious), but the way the characters interact is covered in layers, and it works suprisingly well. From a technical end, the film is quite pretty. Nothing too impressive, but well handled and visually compelling. Likewise, it features performances by some of today's best actresses, including Mary Beth Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, and Mary Steenburgen.

All in all, The Dead Girl comes across as a high concept Lifetime movie of the week with a slightly larger budget. Mostly it's because the mini-narratives are simply unfufilling. I don't know what Moncrieff could have done differently, because the film is anchored in the individual stories, but I guess she could have been more adventurous in her writing, instead of relying on usual murder-aftermath story cliches. See it on video for the performances.

The Dead Girl is nominated for three Indie Spirit Awards, including Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Supporting Female for Mary Beth Hurt.

Review: Brothers of the Head

An IFC Films/Film Four release 2006

Directed by:
Keith Fulton
Louis Pepe

Writing credits:
Brian Aldiss (novel)
Tony Grisoni (screenplay)

In the 1970s a music promoter plucks Siamese twins from obscurity and grooms them into a freakish rock'n'roll act. A dark tale of sex, strangeness and rock music.



Some movies are made simply to look cool; I think Brothers of the Head is one of those films. Set up as a sort of emphatic mockumentary about a band fronted by Siamese twins, the film has a rich visual aesthetic, full of warped colors, gothic imagery, and slick editing. It's a well assembled piece of cinema, but it lacks one thing - purpose. At the end of the day, the Howe brothers story isn't one that is particularly too enlightening or original; the film follows the typical rocker rise and fall story we've seen and heard a hundred times before, sex/drugs included. Of course the narrative is complicated by the fact that we're watching conjoined twins, but it doesn't really explore that idea in a way that couldn't have been done with a single character. For example, one brother is presented as the quiet, artistic type while the other is aggressive, and in your face. If the brothers are supposed to represent a personality split in two, why not keep them a single character? In the end, their condition comes off more as a strange quirk than story tool, and the film suffers for it. The real question here is how much of the source text is accurately represented; I've never read Brian Aldiss's novel, so I can't really make a comparison.

Directors Fulton & Pepe's previous feature was Lost in La Mancha, an actual documentary following the trials and tribulations surrounding Terry Gilliam's failed production of Don Quixote. Likewise, screenwriter Grisoni drafted Gilliam's version of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Gilliam's quirky influence and interest in the bizarre seems to have rubbed off on these filmmakers, but it takes more than strange imagery and sadistic humor to make a great movie. I have faith that they will one day make a great picture - they certainly have the visual editing chops - but Brothers of the Head is too innocuous to be the one.

The film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography.

Review: Bubble

An HDNet Films release 2006
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Written by Coleman Hough

Set against the backdrop of a decaying Midwestern town, a murder becomes the focal point of three people who work in a doll factory.



Soderbergh found his roots in independent cinema, producing a decade's worth of low-budget, high-concept films before settling into the studio system with star-riddled affairs like Erin Brokovitch, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven. Bubble, billed as the latest "Soderbergh experience", is a bi-product of his studio works; a pet project that was funded by his big budget efforts. It is of some note because it was the first film to employ the simultaneous multiple distribution platform, a unique way of mass-releasing a film through theatrical, DVD, and cable on-demand all on the same date. Whether that business tactic has paid off is yet to be seen; only a handful of other films (including Caveh Zahedi's autobiographical I Am A Sex Addict and Winterbottom's docu-drama The Road to Guantanamo) have followed suit, and frankly I don't know too many people who have seen (or heard of) any of them. However, as a film, Bubble is an experiment that falls short of the mark in many ways.

Set in a decrepit West Virginia town, the film follows three dirt poor employees of a doll factory who become involved in a murder. The story is simple, and handled in a simple way - shot on DV, the film has this average, everyday life aesthetic. Following with that aesthetic, Soderbergh decided to cast non-actors in the roles, adding a (somewhat) refreshing sense of realism. The actors are fine, and actually give pretty solid performances, however one can't but feel that Soderbergh spent a lot of his time worrying about their chops than about his camera. For DV, the film looks great, but the camera work is insipid and uninspired. There are many flat, stoic shots, and some minor attempts at Godardian style pans that don't really work.

The title, Bubble, has many implications that go unrecognized throughout the film. A bubble, of course, is an enclosure, and the story presents multiple layers of contextualized 'bubbles', from the settings to the characters states of being. Soderbergh recognizes the themes, but refuses to work with them, focusing rather on the simplicity of the story and it's averageness. This is fine, but it makes for a very average movie. The main point of conflict doesn't come until near the end, and it's hard to take it seriously because the characters are presently so flatly.

Soderbergh is nominated for a Spirit Award in the category of Best Director for this film. Frankly, I think Soderbergh is the reason this film doesn't work. I have to commend him for his inspiring business tactics and indie aesthetic, but over-simplification can be a bad thing. Ultimately, the film has some fleeting moments of greatness (when Martha is inside the large home, for example) but over all it is a dulled down affair.

2007 Indepedent Spirit Awards

As a volunteer at IFP (Indepedent Feature Project, a non-profit org that helps struggling filmmakers), I get the privilege of voting for this years Independent Spirit Awards. For those of you have never heard of the Spirit Awards, it was the first awards event to exclusively honor independent film. Trophies are presented for the years' best achievements in independent film, with statues awarded for Best Feature, Best First Feature, Best Feature Made for Under $500,000 (the John Cassavetes Award), and many more. It's a celebration of the spirited pioneers who bring a unique vision to filmmaking - says the Film Independent website.

I think I've already made my stance on award season pretty clear - it's bullshit - and the Spirit Awards aren't much different. However, they do feature films that often fall under the radar of major audiences or simply don't get proper release, and, as a supporter of indie filmmaking, this is something that I approve.

This is my first year as a voter, and it's come with a lot of benefits, including free netflix and free screenings of all the nominated films, many with Q&A's. I'm going to try to chronicle the experience here as much as I can, but for those of you in New York who are interested in catching some free flicks, the screenings dates are posted below. They haven't been checking for membership cards, so basically anyone can just walk in and enjoy the films. I'm trying to attend as many as I can (I've been to about 5 or 6 so far), so if anyone would like to join me, feel free!


Tribeca Cinemas
54 Varick Street @ Laight Street
New York, NY 10013

Tuesday, January 16
7:00 pm, Steel City, running time: 1 hr 35 m
9:00 pm, Thank You For Smoking, running time: 1 hr 32 m

Thursday, January 18
7:00 pm, Stephanie Daley, running time: 1 hr 31 m
9:00 pm, Day Night Day Night, running time: 1 hr 34 m

Friday, January 26
7:00 pm, Sweet Land, running time: 1 hr 50 m; Q&A to follow with director Ali Selim
9:30 pm, Pan's Labyrinth, running time: 1 hr 52 m

Saturday, January 27
4:00 pm, A Lion in the House (with intermission), running time: 3 hr 50 m
8:30 pm, Chalk, running time: 1 hr 24 m

Monday, January 29
7:00 pm, The Painted Veil, running time: 2 hr 5 m
9:30 pm, Half Nelson, running time: 1 hr 47 m

Tuesday, January 30
6:30 pm, The Illusionist, running time: 1 hr 48 m
9:00 pm, Brothers of the Head, running time: 1 hr 30 m

Wednesday, January 31
7:00 pm, Wristcutters: A Love Story, running time: 1 hr 31 m
9:00 pm, Chronicle of an Escape, running time: 1 hr 46 m

Thursday, February 1
6:30 pm, The Lives of Others, running time: 2 hr 17 m
9:15 pm, Quinceañera, running time: 1 hr 30 m

Friday, February 2
7:00 pm, The Dead Girl, running time: 1 hr 33 m
9:00 pm, Infamous, running time: 1 hr 58 m

Saturday, February 3
2:00 pm, Man Push Cart, running time: 1 hr 27 m; Q&A to follow with director Ramin Bahrani
4:00 pm, Friends With Money, running time: 1 hr 28 m
6:00 pm, American Gun, running time: 1 hr 35 m

Monday, February 5
7:00 pm, Twelve and Holding, running time: 1 hr 30 m
9:00 pm, For Your Consideration, running time: 1 hr 26 m

Tuesday, February 6
7:00 pm, The Motel, running time: 1 hr 16 m; Q&A to follow with producer Karin Chien
8:45 pm, A Prairie Home Companion, running time: 1 hr 45 m

Wednesday, February 7
6:30 pm, Days of Glory, running time: 1 hr 59 m
9:00 pm, Conversations With Other Women, running time: 1 hr 24 m

Friday, February 9
7:00 pm, Sorry, Haters, running time: 1 hr 23 m; Q&A with cinematographer Mauricio Rubenstein
and producer Karen Jaroneski to follow
9:00 pm, Little Miss Sunshine, running time: 1 hr 42 m