AltWeeklies Wire
Two Documentaries Look at the Peculiar Nigerian Film Industrynew
The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, is the third largest in the world, and represents quite possibly the weirdest film culture ever. Jamie Meltzer's Welcome to Nollywood and Samir Mallal and Ben Addelman's Nollywood Babylon shine a light on the industry.
Montreal Mirror |
Matthew Fraser |
10-06-2008 |
Movies
Paul Newman, 1925-2008new
Paul Newman, who died last weekend at the age of 83, was that rarest of creatures, a movie star who turned himself into a great actor.
Boston Phoenix |
Steve Vineberg |
10-02-2008 |
Movies
Autumn Films Fall Where They Maynew
The fall movie season has been up for grabs since Warner Bros. abruptly postponed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from November to next summer, worried that its 2009 box office would otherwise look anemic compared to the combined take of a Batman/Rowling bonanza.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
10-01-2008 |
Movies
Finding Joy in the Little Things at the Toronto Film Festnew
Speaking strictly in percentage terms, film festivals are defined more by the movies you don't see than the movies you do. That went double for the just-ended Toronto International Film Festival, where the initial buzz was mainly concerned with the lack of putative Oscar contenders.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
09-23-2008 |
Movies
Movie Buzz: Is Dane Cook Box Office Poison?
Dane Cook gives the low-concept romantic comedy another try in My Best Friend's Girl, while Samuel L. Jackson scares the neighbors and Ricky Gervais sees dead people.
Metro Spirit |
Mariah Gardner |
09-15-2008 |
Movies
DIY Moviemaking Sensibility is Coming to a Cellphone Near Younew
The new genre of "mobile movies" is still fairly undeveloped, but signs are popping up that the scene is slowly gaining credibility with the mainstream film community.
NOW Magazine |
Joseph Wilson |
09-15-2008 |
Movies
Bros, Butts, and More at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festivalnew
As I write this, a little over halfway though this year's visit, I haven't yet had a defining Toronto fest moment. Sure, there was the moment I became aware of just how jaded I am -- when I passed by a mob of gawkers and flashbulbs and realized I didn't give a rat's ass about which celebrity had incited such a tizzy. But so far, I haven't seen a film that truly dazzled me.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Cheryl Eddy |
09-11-2008 |
Movies
The Road to Oscar Begins Herenew
Held midway between last year’s and next year’s Academy Awards, it's become the unofficial launching pad to Oscar glory. You want a little gold man for your mantle? Then debut your movie at Toronto International Film Festival.
NOW Magazine |
Barrett Hooper |
09-08-2008 |
Movies
Manny Farber, 1917-2008new
As a critic, Farber advocated more modest, elemental "termite art" — throwaway B movies, Westerns and, later on, important works of European and experimental cinema that he found sui generis, teeming with life, and more invested in individual moments than grandiose objectives
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-29-2008 |
Movies
So Long, Summer Movies -- Hello, Fall Filmsnew
Fall is the best time of year for film critics, because the award-oriented prestige films finally get trotted out for judgment. Here's a handy clip 'n' save list of movies I'm personally looking forward to.
San Diego CityBeat |
Anders Wright |
08-27-2008 |
Movies
Connecticut Tax Dollars Subsidize a Film Industry That Doesn't Need the Helpnew
The state is betting a small fortune on Connecticut becoming a viable home to the film industry, offering production companies the most generous tax breaks in the country and paying film union members upwards of half a million dollars to train a hundred or so people to do film jobs they may never get.
New Haven Advocate |
Andy Bromage |
08-26-2008 |
Movies
What's in a Skin Color? The Perils of Ethnic Impersonation in Moviesnew
Why is it that Robert Downey Jr. is celebrated for his clever meta-performance in Tropic Thunder, while Ben Stiller is attacked for denigrating a whole group of people in the same film? The line between respect and offense in cases like these is razor-thin, and it's not always easy to see where it should be drawn.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
08-22-2008 |
Movies
Does the Recent Surge of Stoner Movies Mean America is Going to Pot?new
Marijuana movies are a hot genre right now -- Knocked Up, Harold & Kumar (both Go to White Castle and Escape from Guantanamo Bay), and Superbad have made piles of green at the box office. Just this past week, Pineapple Express topped the box office at $12.5 million, a record for a Wednesday opening in August. And those are just the obvious offenders.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
08-14-2008 |
Movies
Eccentric Crispin Glover Wants to Show You His Taboo-filled Filmnew
Glover chooses to screen his films personally, instead of going through the normal distribution model of using movie theatres, because he wants to emphasize the interactive element of entertainment. Consider it a throwback to the days of vaudeville.
The Coast, Halifax's Weekly |
Michelle Kay |
08-08-2008 |
Movies
What We Demand from Our Movie Heroes Says as Much About Us as Themnew
As the villains move closer toward the state of amoral blank slates -- less monsters and more unknowable black holes of pure negativity -- they have opened the ground for heroes to step more squarely into the chasm the bad guys have left behind. That shift is why, of late, the heroes actually have the better roles; why, fittingly, Batman remains a more compelling character than the starkly one-dimensional Joker.
Las Vegas Weekly |
T.R. Witcher |
08-01-2008 |
Movies
