MMP at the 2010 Spirit Awards
ell, “next to” the Spirit Awards might be more accurate. We weren’t actually at the ceremonies, but over the past year we’ve been fortunate enough to cover a fair number of the 2010 winners.
So if the acceptance speeches didn’t get anywhere close enough to satisfying your curiosity about how these films came about, [...]
Scott Cooper on CRAZY HEART
And so here we are at the last MMP episode of 2009, unless, of course, a there’s an emergency, late-breaking filmmaker interview (Mr. Scorsese, my calendar’s open). Barring that, we’re going out with a good ‘un: Scott Cooper’s finely crafted, astutely observed CRAZY HEART.
This is Cooper’s directorial debut — not even a short film to [...]
Kevin Heffernan on THE SLAMMIN’ SALMON
To put it bluntly, the holidays bum me out. I don’t think it really has anything to do with the occasion — y’know, all that stuff about how we instinctively reject the incessant pressure towards merriment and good will (aka Holly Jolly Complex) — I think it’s more physical. The extended darkness and the plummeting [...]
Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell on UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not all that obsessive over metal, heavy or otherwise. Don’t hate it — in fact, I like the beat and the aggression and the flights into epic, audio assault — it just doesn’t take priority when I’m programming my Pandora stations. Nevertheless, I’m happy when one year brings us two [...]
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Michael Aimette and John G. Hofmann on TURNING GREEN
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the poster for TURNING GREEN lies. It showcases Tim Hutton, Colm Meaney, and Allesandro Nivola, but while they’re prominent figures in the film, it ain’t about them. Off in the lower right, with his back turned towards the camera, there’s your protagonist: A teenage boy, [...]
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Anthony Fabian on SKIN
You could probably forge a good, absurdist, dark comedy out of a government where racial identity can be declared and reversed by official decree, and white parents whose child’s skin is, because of a genetic quirk, darker than theirs struggle to get their kid designated Caucasian. I can imagine Terry Gilliam going to town on [...]
9 Opens in UK on October 28th
Hey, lookee here: Focus Features’ 9, which opens in the UK at the end of October, is willing to throw a little financial support our way. (Thanks, guys!) So, in honor of all our brothers and sisters across the pond, I figured it’d be a good idea to re-offer the Tim Burton roundtable ep, and [...]
Tim Burton on 9
So… more li’l doll people. Been a good year for that kinda thing — CORALINE, $9.99. And now there’s 9, in which a group of burlapy, goggle-eyed humanoids struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic waste heap. Would it surprise you that Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov were co-producers on this project? Would it further surprise [...]
Glenn McQuaid on I SELL THE DEAD
Thank you, Glenn McQuaid, for letting us laugh at the desecration of holy ground again.
Shot on a tight budget, with New York City — mostly Staten Island — standing in for the British Isles in the nineteenth century, I SELL THE DEAD has pretty much nothing going for it except a neat cast, plus the [...]
Neal Brennan on THE GOODS
So here’s my tale: On Monday, we finally had to put our cat, Boris, to sleep. He had been a good friend for nineteen years, but in the last few weeks in particular it had become evident he had reached the end of the line. Didn’t make the decision any easier.
At the same time, Paramount [...]
