Film reviews, interviews, Red Carpets, Sessions. US, Booksmart, The Highwaymen, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Human Nature, Vai, Jump Shot, Well Groomed and more.
US – You might have to be peeled off the ceiling watching Jordan Peele’s scariest foray yet into the horror genre. His goal? To scare the living daylights out of you and start a conversation. He deals with a whole lot of issues in this one. After the success of Get Out, Peele took a year to flesh this one out on a $20 mil budget, five times more than he had for his first horror film.
Dopplegangers wreak terror on a Black family on a family vacation and he says that’s what makes his film different. But there is also a lot of Peele comedy throughout. You’ll be screaming one minute and laughing the next. Full Review
Booksmart – Olivia Wilde in her directorial debut with a big cast. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever star as Molly and Amy who realize on the last day before graduating high school that they didn’t live it up enough. Welcome to Female Superbad meets an updated The Breakfast Club where these gals make up for lost time with all kinds of raunchy bedlam. But when all is said and done, it’s friendship above all. Billie Lourde is kooky, Diana Silvers is somebody’s love interest, Jason Sudeikis is the weird principal, Will Forte and Lisa Kudrow are cartoonish parents, Skyler Gisondo is the misunderstood rich kid, Jessica Williams is a too cool teacher. Plenty of personalities to play with.
The Art of Self Defense – Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola, and Imogen Poots talked to us on the Red Carpet about starring in Director Riley Stearns brutal dark comedy that is surprisingly funny. Eisenberg plays a meek office worker who gets brutally beaten and mugged by a strange motorcycle gang. He decides to find a way to defend himself by signing up for karate lessons with a school that’s more than he bargained for. Eisenberg told us it was a challenge both mentally and physically in the kind of an acting role he loves. Nivola had only 3 days to train doing choreography he likened to doing a Charley Chaplin routine while spouting long monologues. Highly entertaining.
The Highwaymen -Director John Lee Hancock told us at the Austin Film Society Texas Film Awards kicking off SXSW about directing this film. Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner play the most unlikable, likable characters in this film using old school techniques to catch the legendary Bonnie and Clyde, the most popular bank robbers to ever grace the South. Director John Lee Hancock brings them back to life showing how they were captured from the law’s point of view. Harrelson and Costner play Maney Gault and Frank Hamer, retired, paunchy and out-of-shape Texas Rangers who were put back into service by feisty Governor Ma Ferguson (Kathy Bates) in 1934. Hancock (The Blind Side, The Founder) originally hoped to put Paul Newman and Robert Redford together for the third time when he got the script 13 years ago and talks about why it took so long to bring his passion project to the screen. Full Review
The Peanut Butter Falcon – Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz were very animated on the Red Carpet talking about writing and producing this film. The all-star cast includes Shia LaBoeuf, Dakota Johnson, Bruce Dern, John Hawkes, Jon Bernthal and Thomas Haden Church. The real star of this film is Zachary (Zack”) Gottsagen, who the filmmakers met at a summer camp. Zack has Downs Syndrome and wanted to be an actor since he was 3. This film shines a light on ability vs. disability. Zack plays a young man who escapes from a group home. He wants to be a wrestler. Shia LaBeouf plays a fisherman down on his luck who befriends Zack and takes him under his wing to make Zack’s dream come true. Shia was shy at the Red Carpet, not doing interviews, but there to support his buddy. Zack talks about his friendship with LaBoeuf. He also talked about Dakota Johnson and showed us how he got to dance with her in the film. The message comes through, that if you set your mind to it and have friends to help you, anyone can live their dream.
Jump Shot: The Kenny Sailors Story – Jacob Hamilton and Russell Groves told us why they decided to make a feature which finally pays tribute to the player who left the floor to score in 1934. Find out why Sailors invented the controversial shot that changed the game. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzky talk about use of the jumpshot, it’s significance and how important Sailors’ inventing it was, and still is to basketball today, in this documentary. You’ll also learn learn why Sailors stopped playing, how he served his country and lived a long happy life with the woman he loved. Was he ever properly recognized? The filmmakers let Sailors tell all about it in his own words. Watch our Red Carpet interview with Hamilton and Groves.
Human Nature– Can DNA be modified to eliminate bad genes and add good ones? Director Adam Bolt ( Inside Job) and Executive Producer Dan Rather tackle the scientific breakthrough called CRISPR. This highly technical documentary includes interviews with scientists and results of research studies showing animated images to further explain this phenomenon which could have dramatic effects on curing disease, both mental and physical, and significantly change how we age. See attached trailer. Review soon.
Well Groomed – We interviewed Director Rebecca Stern and covered the colorful Red Carpet of these creatively groomed dogs. Stern followed professional groomers over a year as they prepped and pampered their pooches to enter a number of competitions leading up to the World Competition in Hershey, Pa. The film shows Nicole Beckman, Angela Kumpe, Catherine Opson, Adriane Pope and their canine creations. They use the dogs as their canvas for incredibly detailed images cut out of their colorfully dyed coats to create themes. Director Stern’s filmmaking shows the amount of work as well as artistry and commitment these groomers have for their craft.
VAI – We interviewed 6 of the 9 producer/directors who created a film following one woman through 6 stages of life, from childhood to the age of 86 showing the cultural traditions practiced on 6 different Pacific Islands. They talk about how they all met and plotted out who would direct each segment with just one day to rehearse and one day to shoot working with non-actors. Their directing captures remarkable images, sometimes following the actors in well directed 10-minute-long-scenes shot with hand held cameras. It is a remarkable study of culture and filmmaking.
