A “favorites list” of 2013 movies at the halfway point

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As we head into July we have once again reached the halfway point of 2013 meaning many film critics and journalists have compiled a “best of” list of what has been released at the midway point, thus far. Many of their choices I noticed were films that were seen at top tier film festivals (Sundance, SXSW, Berlin, Cannes, etc.) and have yet to be released in the states or will not be opening until the fall or even in December for Oscar bait purposes. I have noticed a lack of commercial films on these lists too. (I doubt anyone has Broken City, Oz the Great and Powerful or Gangster Squad on their list, at least I would hope not, as these are on the bottom of my list of 2013 film entries I have seen.)Many of my favorite choices would fall into the category of “seen at Sundance” too, but in the 140+ films I have watched in the first half of 2013, I have not seen too many commercial releases in 2013 either. It is also somewhat difficult to choose some favorite films now, as there are still so many more to be released including this week’s 4th of July holiday big releases, The Lone Ranger and Despicable Me 2. Continue Reading

“Dirty Wars” star Jeremy Scahill: “It shouldn’t be just military families that have to think about the implications of our policies”

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Opening this Friday, June 21 at the Edina Cinema (and currently available via video-on-demand) is director Richard Rowley’s captivating documentary Dirty Wars, one of the most talked-about documentary films at the halfway point of 2013. Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, who also serves as producer, co-writer, and the subject of Dirty Wars, is a National Security Correspondent for The Nation magazine and is the author of two books, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army in 2007 and more recently, Dirty Wars, which was released in April, 2013.In Dirty Wars, Scahill follows the beginnings of American night raids and drone attacks that were happening in Afghanistan, which then led him to the discovery of the Joint Special Operations Command or “JSOC,” our country’s most secret fighting force, comprising men who are virtually unknown in the government and will never appear before Congress. In the production notes, Scahill says, “When we started working on this film, almost no one had heard of JSOC or the now-famous SEAL Team 6. After the bin Laden raid, their names were everywhere,” said Scahill. “Looking back at everything Rick and I witnessed over the years of filming this movie, it is amazing how much of the actual story of JSOC—and the covert wars they fight, in secret, across the globe—remains totally hidden from the public.”Dirty Wars premiered at the 2013 Sundance film festival in January, winning an award for best cinematography, before opening two weeks ago in New York and Washington D.C. to sell-out crowds. Continue Reading

Minnesota filmmaker Karl Jacob makes a splash in L.A. with “Pollywogs”

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The Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF) starts this Thursday, June 13; while I won’t be out in Los Angeles covering the festival, there is reason for the Twin Cities film community to be interested in the festival. Minnesota-born filmmaker/actor Karl Jacob will have his directional debut, Pollywogs, competing in the Narrative Competition at LAFF, with Friday’s world premiere screening already sold out. (There are tickets available for a second screening taking place on June 17.)According to the LAFF summary of Pollywogs, “Left reeling by his latest catastrophic breakup, Dylan (Jacob) returns to Minnesota for a family reunion featuring firearms, heavy metal and unwelcome questions. Amongst the throng of relatives, he discovers Sarah (Kate Lyn Sheil), the childhood crush he hasn’t seen since her family decamped to a religious compound.  Could she prove to be the perpetually heartbroken Dylan’s salvation or will their emotional scars fall to align?  Making great use of Arone Dyer’s woozy score, Pollywogs offers an equally amusing and insightful look at directionless thirty-something’s lurching towards adulthood.  Well attuned to the dynamics of relationships be they romantic, familiar or otherwise, Jacob pens a cautionary tale about the demands you can make of both fate and someone who doesn’t owe you a damn thing.”Jacob grew up in Hibbing and currently splits his time between New York and Minnesota; he makes plenty of references to Hibbing in Pollywogs. He moved to Minneapolis after high school to pursue a career in music and attended McNally-Smith College of Music, known back in the mid-90s as Music Tech, before finally making his way out to New York to pursue acting. Continue Reading

OUT Twin Cities Film Festival 2013: Reaping well-deserved national acclaim

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Around a year ago, I wrote an article about the third annual OUT Twin Cities Film Festival. Right around that time, Minnesota was one of four states where voters would decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriages. Less than three weeks ago, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill legalizing gay marriage. Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill, and as of August 1, gay couples will be able to marry in Minnesota.There were two documentaries in OUT last year that explored the same-sex marriage discussion, both taking different sides of the topic; eventually, there will be a documentary focusing on Minnesota’s recent victory on legalizing gay marriage. This year’s lineup does not feature any films about same-sex marriage; however, it will feature one of the most notable figures who spoke about and supported same sex marriage, former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. Kluwe will be one of the keynote speakers kicking off, via Skype, the OUT Twin Cities Film Festival this Wednesday, May 29; Kluwe was released by the Vikings and signed by the Oakland Raiders on May 15. The opening night of OUT, entitled “Ally Appreciation and Visibility in Media,” takes place at the Graves Hotel and will feature comedian Ian Harvie, WCCO news anchor Edward Moody, and Twin Cities DJ favorite Shannon Blowtorch, along with the film screening of Break Through with the director and cast members present. Continue Reading

Noah Baumbach on “Frances Ha,” Greta Gerwig, and Roger Ebert

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Last month, the Walker Art Center wrapped up a retrospective of the work of New York filmmaker and screenwriter Noah Baumbach, ending the series with his latest film Frances Ha, which opens theatrically in the Twin Cities this Friday, May 24 at the Uptown Theatre.The film stars and was co-written by the wonderfully zippy Greta Gerwig, the female lead from Baumbach’s previous directorial effort, Greenberg. She’s front and center in this black-and-white, Brooklyn-shot feature where Frances (Gerwig) is an aspiring dancer (and wannabe dance teacher) who loves hanging out with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner, daughter of musician/actor Sting). When Sophie tells Frances that she has started hanging out with a guy and wants to move out of their place together, Frances is unsure what to do next. So begins the tale of Frances looking for meaning, purpose and fun activities to do in life, without her Sophie.Baumbach visited the Walker for the final piece of his retrospective (Noah Baumbach: Visibly Human) to take part in a dialogue with chief Variety film critic Scott Foundas. The screening of Frances Ha took place the night before, on a very sad day in film culture—not only in America, but also worldwide. Continue Reading

Summer blockbusters: The movies that will be hits, and the movies that should be

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It appears our winter has finally ended in the Twin Cities. This marks the start of the summer movie extravaganza with the monstrous opening of Robert Downey Jr. mega-hit franchise installment Iron Man 3, to the tune of $175 million over its opening weekend. That’s the second highest opening weekend ever, after a little action film from last year, The Avengers, also starring Robert Downey Jr. Since Iron Man 3 opened overseas a week ahead of its U.S. release date, the film in 12 days has amassed an eye-opening $500 million. That makes it a bona-fide blockbuster, and the total will only continue to grow.It is exciting to catch the first glimpse of many of these films; usually many first appear around the Super Bowl, during highly publicized promotion and well-timed 30-second spots. Hollywood is hoping that for those mere seconds, you will put down your food and drink and be mesmerized by the action-packed images, then remember to drop everything when these films are released. Continue Reading

2013 Newport Beach Film Festival: What it’s like to be a juror

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The 14th annual Newport Beach Film Festival started April 25 and ends this Thursday, May 2. After the extravagant weeklong festival ends, they will have screened over 350 films, screening at five different venues and at times occupying 12 screens at once. I knew very little about this festival, other than a few key programmers—Max Naylor, Amanda Salazar, Adam Gentry, Jay Winterstein, and executive director Gregg Schwenk—whom I had met in previous years attending Sundance standing in lines, sitting near one another at screenings, and meeting up at parties. (On opening night, I was blown away by the fact there were some announced 500 volunteers that would work over 50,000+ hours, year-round and during the festival to make this event happen!) This past January at Sundance, I was asked to participate at the festival as a jury member and there was no way I was going to say no.While I knew what it meant to be on a festival jury, I had no idea what to prepare for in the weeks leading up to the festival, until a gigantic stack of DVDs showed up one day in the mail. Looking over the titles I was excited to see some that I had heard of and others that were completely new to me. When I got all the DVDs, I counted up how many minutes, or better yet, how many hours it was going to take me to watch everything over the course of sixteen days, in order to turn in my results a day before the festival started. Continue Reading

2013 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival: Highlights of the first weekend, hot prospects for the second

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When I reported a few weeks ago that spring was on its way and the temperatures were on the rise and we could start expecting seeing green grass, I was way off. There was further proof that winter was sticking around a little longer for the opening night of the 2013 annual Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. It was snowing.It felt a lot like one last winter blast in late February instead of early April. I have attended opening night of the festival since 2002 and after the screening of the opening night film, The Angel’s Share, at the party that followed the screening, I asked Senior Programmer and the Film Society Board of Director’s chair, Tim Grady, if he could ever remember it snowing on opening night of the festival and he replied, “Never.”Nevertheless, at the theater over the festival’s opening weekend, the crowds were lining up waiting patiently for films to start, grabbing concessions, talking with another about what they had seen, and herding into different theaters looking for a new discovery with a film from Mexico, Germany, Spain, France, or the U.S.: the festival was in full stride and ready for its close-up.After skipping the opening night film, my festival did not start until the following day at one of its first matinee screenings; it was a thrilling encounter. Continue Reading

“The Sapphires” director Wayne Blair: “You can walk out of the theater feeling a little more human”

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The new musical dramedy The Sapphires has been a huge hit in its native Australia for close to a year now. It surprised audiences at the 2012 Cannes (where it was picked up by the Weinstein Company, and after its first screening had a standing ovation) and Toronto International Film Festivals, and even made a brief appearance in Minnesota, last October at the Twin Cities Film Festival. The Sapphires opens Friday, April 5, at the Lagoon Cinema, and its director, Wayne Blair, was in the Twin Cities last month to discuss this true story of four Aboriginal women who traveled from Australia to Vietnam and in other countries to perform for American soldiers.Blair, 41, acted in the original Sapphires stage show written by Tony Briggs, whose mother and three aunts were the real-life Sapphires; the group was Australia’s answer to the Supremes and other Motown artists. The Sapphires originally sang country-western tunes, until an Irish talent scout and manager named Dave (played by Bridesmaids’s Chris O’Dowd) convinces Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Jessica Mauboy), Kay (Shari Sebbens), and Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) to turn their music styles into R&B and the Motown sound. The film is not only about the love for great Motown tunes, but delivers a little unseen history lesson in the way that Aboriginal population were treated by their fellow Australians until 1967, when Aboriginals were finally given full citizenship.Blair and I started off the conversation by talking about Prince and Blair’s love of sports, and how he has slowly been getting into American sports like NFL football and NBA basketball. When he was younger, he played cricket and rugby; he describes cricket as “similar to hockey, but less contact,” and is surprised to know that Maya Rudolph’s Prince tribune band Princess was playing at First Avenue the next evening. Continue Reading

2013 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival: Don’t miss these hidden gems

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The sun is now staying out longer and temperatures are on the rise, which only means that, the dirty snow will begin to melt, the flowers will begin to bloom, and right around the corner is the biggest film event in the state of Minnesota.This week the Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul announced their entire lineup for the 2013 Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF), running Thursday, April 11 through Sunday, April 28. (Though it’s a gigantic program, it’s actually four days shorter than the festival last year.) Tickets will go on sale for Film Society members on Monday, April 1; and tickets for general public will go on sale Thursday, April 4. You can download a pdf of the entire catalog here.Over the next few weeks, along with other Daily Planet writers I’ll be covering the events, parties, film screenings, and guests. Continue Reading