“Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” and “The Overnighters”: Cream of the crop at Sundance Film Festival 2014

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PARK CITY, UTAH – The first few days of the Sundance Film Festival had the makings of one the better years I have attended and with only a few days left, right when I was hitting my stride, I got hit with a really nasty combination of altitude sickness, dehydration, exhaustion and hunger pains which derailed me for close to 24 hours. Cancelling plans and screenings are often difficult, especially when you only see some of the other festival programmers, journalists and distributors once a year at Sundance. But when your health is in question, taking some time off from screenings can do the mind and body some good. Surprisingly, the 2014 Sundance experience was, in fact, one of the best years I attended, even with being out sick for a day; there was always something that presented itself as either completely daring, original, mind-numbing or just plain entertaining.Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter may not have been as high on other festival-goers’ radar, but it was one of my must-sees. The movie by Austin, Texas-filmmaking brothers David and Nathan Zellner (Goliath, Kid-Thing), filmed Japan and Minnesota, did not disappoint. Continue Reading

Sundance Film Festival 2014: A monumental film experience in “Boyhood” and more

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PARK CITY, UTAH – As soon as I hit the road toward the majestic Park City, Utah, time slowed down and it was starting to feel like “go time” again. The hustle and bustle of the Sundance Film Festival, celebrating thirty years, was again in full-swing. There would be plenty of movies to choose from, emails exchanged with publicists for tickets and times to sit down with talent, and making time to find an adequate amount of food to shovel in my mouth. During the opening weekend, I managed to squeeze in 14 films, leaving me exhausted but also thrilled to see one of the most spectacular movie moments in my life. I did get shut-out of one film over the weekend, the Michael Fassbender music drama, Frank, but I slid into another movie at that time and saw one of the worst films I’ve seen at Sundance, so that was terrible and exciting at the same time. Continue Reading

Finding the treasures at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival

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Another tour of duty (going on seven years) covering the 2014 Sundance Film Festival for Twin Cities Daily Planet starts Thursday, January 16 through Sunday, January 26. The biggest and flashiest United States film festival, located in the beautiful mountain scope of Park City, Utah, is celebrating its 30th anniversary and seems to be bursting at the seams this year. The festival has blindsided me more than other years with the announcements of films premiering four days before opening night, the latest surprise entry being a new feature from the iconic American independent director Richard Linklater (The Before trilogy, Waking Life, Dazed and Confused) Boyhood. Linklater filmed the growth of a boy from childhood to young adulthood every year from 2002 to 2013. Boyhood stars Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as the boy’s divorced parents. Continue Reading

MOVIE REVIEWS | “Her,” “Lone Survivor,” and “The Truth About Emanuel”

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“You’re dating your computer?”Yes, that is a snippet of spoken dialogue in writer/director Spike Jonze’ fourth feature Her, opening in Twin Cities theaters on Friday, January 10. The film does take place in Los Angeles in the near future, but how far into the future? I would probably say probably closer to 2024, but it could very well be 2015 too. Regardless of the year it takes place, we are becoming more and more attached to our own operating systems each and every day. How long can we go without checking our phone awaiting that text message? Continue Reading

Top 10 movies of 2013

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I was speaking with a friend—one who also writes on film—a few weeks ago about the 2013 film calendar and said, “I’m not sure it has been that impressive this year. There are some great films, but I think it was somewhat of a let down.” My friend looked at me like I had just stomped on his feet and said, “Really…I think you’re the only person who has said that to me.” Looking back on that conversation and having since had the opportunity to catch some twenty more films, I completely misspoke at the time and regret saying it. 2013 has been quite a banner year for our viewing pleasure at the movies.      Part of the reason at the time I said what I did was because I was weighing this year’s movies against how strong of a year it was for American cable television, in which the programming was outstanding and in some cases, surpassed expectations. I could write a full column on how terrific cable programming, including Netflix streaming, were in 2013. I have written on TV occasionally for TCDP and since this is a look back at the year of films, I figure this is the only opportunity to highlight some of my favorite TV viewing of 2013. Continue Reading

“American Hustle” and “Inside Llewyn Davis” bring 2013 to a strong close

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The 2013 film calendar is close to wrapping up and after all that wading through the clearance section of the year, we have finally been rewarded with two early Christmas presents in the form of two films opening this Friday, December 20 from some of the best American directors working today. David O. Russell’s 1970s semi-nonfictional NYC con story American Hustle is opening at various theaters around the Twin Cities and Minneapolis-born directors Ethan and Joel Coen’s 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene Inside Llewyn Davis is opening exclusively at Landmark’s Uptown theater. Coming off the success of his two previous films, The Fighter (2010) and last year’s Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Russell should receive a third straight Best Director Oscar nomination with his latest quasi dramedy American Hustle. The movie opens with the title card “Some of this actually happened,” and immediately we find ourselves transported to a time where leisure suits, oversized aviator glasses, rotary phones and awful perms were present. From the get-go, Russell’s merry band of pirates, or actors, find themselves included in on the joke, scam, drama, and aura.Watching Irving Rosenfeld (a dynamic Christian Bale) fixing his comb-over in the opening frame sets up a “shifting” device as Russell’s narrative begins and ends with Rosenfeld, a dry cleaner shop owner and a reasonably successful con man who may not look the part. Bale added a significant amount of weight for the role, but talks a good game. Along with Rosenfeld along for the ride is his partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), a part that serves her as the worm on the hook, especially when she gives herself the moniker of “Lady Edith Greensly” accompanied with a faux-British accent and showing plenty of skin  in almost every scene; how could any heterosexual male resist? Continue Reading

Felix Van Groeningen enjoys the ride to possible Oscar nomination with “The Broken Circle Breakdown”

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We are still close to four months away from the 86th Academy Awards on March 2nd but for 76 different countries, January 16, 2014 is a bigger day. Those 76 countries will find out which final five countries will be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 86th annual Oscar ceremony.  The most prolific foreign language film from last year, Michael Haneke’s, Austrian feature Amour, won the Oscar, but this year is looking like a more competitive race with no clear favorite emerging. There are a few that have been mentioned as favorites: Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong; Haifaa al-Mansour Wadjda from Saudi Arabia (a first time Saudi Arabia has ever submitted a film directed by a woman); Ashgar Farhadi’s (who won the Oscar two years ago for A Separation) upcoming Iranian film, The Past; Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty from Italy. Surprisingly, Abdellatif Kechiche’s, Blue is the Warmest Color did not meet the release date eligibility requirements, so France submitted Gilles Bourdos’ Renoir, which came and went in the Twin Cities theaters earlier this fall.Another one of those potential five spots for foreign language films could go to the Belgium film, The Broken Circle Breakdown, directed by Felix Van Groeningen, whose fourth feature opened to a solid weekend at the Lagoon theater. It will be playing at the Lagoon over the Thanksgiving holiday after originally being scheduled to play one week. The Broken Circle Breakdown stars Johan Heidenbergh as Didier, a bluegrass banjo musician, and rising star Veerie Baetens as Elise, owner of a tattoo shop in a little Belgium town. Continue Reading

A guide to the 2013 holiday film season

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Wednesday November 27 marks another day on the movie calendar where (big and small) distributors start making plans on unleashing a few counterprogramming films, along with some big serious films that studios have been carefully hanging onto for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season in hopes of vying for Oscar gold.Last year around this time films like Silver Linings Playbook and Life of Pi were released and both went on to win Oscars and racked up big dollars at the box office. This time around, studios are lining up their prestigious titles and Oscar hopefuls. This year is somewhat of a murky picture since some of the bigger releases this holiday season have been pushed back into 2014, or as close to the end of 2013. It makes you wonder if they are even worthy of seeing at all. Director Bennett Miller’s follow-up to Capote and Moneyball (both Best Picture Oscar nominated) was to be Foxcatcher—starring Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell about Olympic wrestling champ whose brother was killed by paranoid schizophrenic. The movie was supposed to be given a limited release around Christmas in New York and Los Angeles and slowly expand its release in mid-January, but completely came off the books and is now scheduled for 2014. Continue Reading

The Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul ‘s “Images of Africa: An African Film Series” features 27 films and exceptional filmmaking

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After a few successful years of exploring different countries (2010’s “In Search of Asia” and 2011 with “Latin Festival”) the Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul has turned their attention to Africa bringing us, “Images of Africa,” which features 27 films. The screenings started on Friday, November 15 and run through Thursday, November 21 at St. Anthony Main Theatre and also Mixed Blood Theater.This new African film series focuses on the exceptional filmmaking covering many areas across Africa and highlights films made by Minnesotans of African descent. The series will be a great way for audiences to discover/rediscover some of the established and emerging filmmakers who cover important cultural issues and topics like Nigerian filmmaking, street dancers, personal accounts recounting the Egyptian revolution and singer Miriam Makeba.Opening the festival is award winner Jahane Noujaim’s The Square on Friday, November 15 at 7 p.m. at St. Anthony Main Theatre. Continue Reading

Sound Unseen 2013 has the Twin Cities covered

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The first question that people have asked me about this year’s 14th annual Sound Unseen music/film/art festival, starting Wednesday, November 13 through Sunday, November 17, is: Why the move to St. Paul? My answer is easy: I grew up in St. Paul and I have been wanting to see a film festival there. 2013 seemed like the right time for Sound Unseen to make the move. Continue Reading