Friday, December 19, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1963

Oscar Buzz: What the Voters, Not the Prognosticators, Are Saying

Roger Friedman
-
0

I’ve spent the weekend amidst Oscar voters. They are everywhere, and they know everything. Forget the prognosticators who rate each movie’s chances based on critics’ perceptions. It’s all baloney. That’s how two years ago “The Social Network” seemed like the winner, when the ground game was being played by “The King’s Speech.” All the seers were wrong, wrong, wrong.

Between the Paramount Christmas party on Friday night, the Governor’s Ball last night, and a private pizza and screening party tonight for a non Oscar movie, “Killing them Softly,” I’ve heard everyone express an opinion.

Based on chatter alone, Daniel Day-Lewis has won Best Actor as “Lincoln.” There are those who think Hugh Jackman has a shot, and not enough people have seen “Les Miz” yet. But DDL is a passionate favorite.

So is Jennifer Lawrence, from “Silver Linings Playbook.” And “SLP” also has a strong grassroots following. People love it. They mention it the way they talked about “Argo” six weeks ago. And “Silver Linings” is still rolling out. One famous director of smart comedies told me at Paramount: “Silver Linings” will win Best Picture.

We’ll see. “Les Miserables” is a potential powerhouse. Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Eddie Redmayne are huge hits with screening audiences. So is Tom Hooper, and so is Samantha Barks. But Barks only has one song and not much to do, so she may be relegated to “beloved part of movie.”

“Skyfall” comes up in every conversation. Some people have said Judi Dench could be nominated in her swan song as M. I thought she’d have her shot from “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” Since Dame Dench runs no campaign and has no publicist on the case, anything could happen. I think she should be in Best Actress, along with Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, and Emmanuelle Riva.

Back to “Skyfall”: I’d list it at number 10 for the Oscars, the big commercial movie of the year. Let’s say we accept that the top 5 are Argo, Silver Linings, Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, and Les Miz. The next 4 could be: Flight, The Master, Best Exotic, Skyfall. And then you have a last spot that could be filled by The Hobbit, Django Unchained, Rust & Bone, or Beasts of the Southern Wild.

These are the titles voters mention when they’re asking, What have you seen? and What did you like?

I have my own supporting favorites this year: Jennifer Ehle in “Zero Dark Thirty.” Scoot McNairy in “Killing them Softly.” Nicole Kidman in “The Paperboy.” Amy Adams in “The Master.” I’m sorry but Robert DeNiro is exceptional in “Silver Linings.”

The Oscars are a ground game. The critics choices will start Monday with the New York Film Critics Circle. And they’re all great, but they won’t mean much in terms of Academy voters. Keep your

Senator Al Franken Surprise Presenter at Honorary Oscar Dinner

Roger Friedman
-
0
Senator Al Franken Surprise Presenter at Honorary Oscar Dinner

Senator Al Franken was the big surprise presenter last night at the Governor’s Ball for the honorary Oscars. Franken flew in from Washington to present famed documentary filmmaker DA Pennebaker with his lifetime achievement award. Pennebaker produced a film about Franken’s run for the US Senate, called “And God Spoke,” which was directed by Pennebaker’s filmmaker wife Chris Hegedus and Nick Doob.

Franken skipped the red carpet and did no press so that Pennebaker wouldn’t know he’d come in. He introduced a montage of clips from the 60 year Pennebaker career including The War Room, Don’t Look Back, Monterey Pop, Kings of Pastry, Crisis, Primary, Town Hall, Only the Strong Survive, and Company.

It was Michael Moore who did the actual presenting to Pennebaker. Moore fought for Pennebaker for two years, I’m told, as a governor of the Academy. Moore and his wife Kathleen were prominent at the Pennebaker table, and Moore delivered a beautiful speech delineating how Pennebaker came to influence not just documentaries but all of film with his creation of cinema verite– along with pals Al Maysles, Richard Leacock, and Bob Drew.

Pennebaker, who’s 87 and very active still making movies with Hegedus, told a lot of great stories about Bob Dylan especially and how they invented what has now become the famous “throwing cards’ scene that accompanies “Subterranean Homesick Blues” in Don’t Look Back. He also explained one of his many inventions–the handheld camera that could be hoisted on a camera man’s shoulder so Pennebaker could be a fly on the wall in the Kennedy White House during the Cuban missile crisis.

Moore, by the way, has not stopped making films himself. But after an exhausting run with Bowling for Columbine, Farenheit 911, and Sicko, he’s taking a well deserved break. He will be back. And we need him more than ever!

Helen Mirren, Colin Firth Will Join “Exotic Marigold” Sequel

Roger Friedman
-
0
Helen Mirren, Colin Firth Will Join “Exotic Marigold” Sequel

Exclusive: The most popular home run of a film this year before Oscar season got into full swing? John Madden’s “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” The film is certainly a contender for Best Picture in Oscar world, one that could easily be in the top ten. It made a fortune here and abroad with stars Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Dev Patel, and Bill Nighy leading an enchanting cast.

Now I’m told that a sequel is in the works. My sources say that both Helen Mirren and Colin Firth are likely additions to the cast. Also, they say that director John Madden and writer Ol Parker are looking for an American actress possibly to round out the cast. My vote is  for Jane Fonda, but no one asked me. The search is on!

What I do know is that the “Best Marigold” sequel will continue the adventures of Dench et al in India. There was discussion of taking the group somewhere else. But in the end it was decided they would stay in India afrer all. The magic of the movie, of course, was the characters more than the location. But don’t be surprised if, after the sequel, “Best Marigold” becomes a TV series. It’s a natural if done right by BBC for PBS. I’m just sayin’…

Sidney Poitier, 85, Hollywood Legend, Publishing His First Novel

Roger Friedman
-
1
Sidney Poitier, 85, Hollywood Legend, Publishing His First Novel

Sidney Poitier, real movie star, the legend, the Oscar winner, the author already, of two memoirs, is publishing his first novel next May. It’s called “Montaro Caine,” he and wife Joanna told me last night at the honorary Oscar gala at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Sidney Poitier is 85 years old, my friends. That should give us all hope.

Poitier was the biggest star in a room that was like the entire galaxy last night. When he went on stage to present an honorary Oscar to George Stevens, Jr.–who runs the Kennedy Center honors, has directed and acted in many important films and comes from a dynastic Hollywood family–it was Poitier who got a standing ovation.

So what’s “Montaro Caine” about? “It’s sci-fi,” Poitier told me. “Sort of like Indiana Jones, but better!”

And the name Montaro Caine? The spelling of the last name should tell us everything–Poitier’s bff is Michael Caine, a bit of a swashbuckler in his time.

Poitier was one of several speakers who made last night so memorable. Each person who spoke — from honorees Stevens, Pennebaker, Katzenberg, Needham–gave a history lesson about Hollywood.

So did their witnesses– like “Godfather” producer Al Ruddy who told a story about producing a film directed by Needham which entailed accidentally shooting a missile across the old MGM lot and getting them into a lot of trouble.

And through the whole evening, the audience was rapt. Not a sound from this gathering of heavyhitters, no talking in the back. Everyone listened to everything that was said. Every event should be like this. Quite an experience. And believe me they hung on Poitier’s every word as recalled working with both George Stevens Sr. and Jr.

Spielberg, Lucas, Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Bradley Cooper All At One Amazing Dinner

Roger Friedman
-
2
Spielberg, Lucas, Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Bradley Cooper All At One Amazing Dinner

The list of superstars and their promixity to each other was only part of what Saturday night’s Lifetime Achievement dinner for the Motion Picture Academy so special this year. It was also the vibe in the room. Without cameras and with little press, Hollywood’s superstars gathered for a festive and poignant dinner to celebrate this year’s Oscar Lifetime Achievement honorees–Jeffrey Katzenberg, D A Pennebaker, George Stevens Jr. and Hal Needham.

The honorees and their guests sat at four long tables perpendicular to the stage in the Dolby ballroom in the Hollywood and Highland center. So imagine if you will that the  Katzenberg table had Kirk and Ann Douglas, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Melody Hobson, Stacey Snider, and Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. And, oh yes, Will Smith.

Parallel to that group the Pennebaker throng, with mostly family and Michael Moore with Kathlyn Glynn, his lovely wife, and yours truly. On other side of us was George Stevens’s group, with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Elisabeth Shue and Davis Guggenheim, Quincy Jones, Tom and Meredith Brokaw, Mike Medavoy, and Sidney Poitier with wife Joanna. Just to name a few.

Hal Needham’s table featured famed “Godfather” producer Al Ruddy, his wife Wanda who’s the overseer of Armani everywhere.

And then, just mixed into the crowd were casts and directors from all the big hit movies of the moment, from “Les Miz” director Tom Hooper, battling a cold, to “Silver Linings Playbook” director David O. Russell and star Bradley Cooper. There was everyone from Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann to Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal. John Krasinski was there from “Promised Land” and Quentin Tarantino came to toast Hal Needham right after the first screening of “Django Unchained.”

Wait: Richard Gere was in the mix, as was Stefanie Powers, just back from England. And there was a table for all the people from “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” I ran into John Hawkes, a likely Best Actor nominee for “The Sessions.”

I know I saw “Flight” director Bob Zemeckis. And of course, Hawk Koch, new president of the academy, along with Dawn Hudson, who’s running the Oscars so brilliantly now. And new Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron were there with Seth McFarlane, next February’s host.

It’s always the most fun watching people mix and match. Warren Beatty nearly bowed to the ground when he met David O. Russell, who told him: “I’ve always wanted to meet you. I’ve taken a page or two from your book.” Spielberg and Lucas had the hottest aisle, and Spielberg went into deep confab with Pennebaker.

George Lucas did tell me that there is no director chosen for the new “Star Wars” films but that “they’re in the hands of Kathy Kennedy now.” Lucas really is concentrating on making small personal pictures now, like “American Graffiti.” He joked: “I’ll have to charge $3,000 a ticket.” No joke: if the Rolling Stones command such high prices, maybe small Lucas films will, too. But he was kidding of course.

More shortly on the dinner speeches, and what everyone said.

Big exclusive news from the night: “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” will have a sequel, set in India, with two new cast members said to be joining–Helen Mirren and Colin Firth. The producers are looking for one more addition, woman, probably American. Stay tuned…

 

 

 

James Badge Dale Will Play Lee Harvey Oswald’s Brother

Roger Friedman
-
7
James Badge Dale Will Play Lee Harvey Oswald’s Brother

James Badge Dale is going to play Lee Harvey Oswald’s brother in a new film called “Parkland.” It’s set between the time JFK was killed by Oswald and Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby in November 1963. Dale, the son of the late great star of “Nine” Anita Morris and choreographer Grover Dale, is hot as a pistol right now in “Flight” after starring in AMC’s “Rubicon.” Our PAULA SCHWARTZ caught  up with in New York:

James Badge Dale has seven minutes screen time tops in Robert Zemeckis’s “Flight.” He plays a dying cancer patient who bums a cigarette from Denzel Washington in a hospital stairwell and riffs on life, death, God, regrets. He’s spritzing words as fast as they materialize in his dying brain because he’s got maybe 24 to 48 hours of life left. The actor is so phenomenal that like me you were probably wondering, who is this guy? Turns out he’s been around a while, with parts in “Shame,” “The Grey” and the tv series “Rubicon,” but his role in “Flight” is something else, a game changer.

Dale was at a luncheon in honor of Zemeckis and screenwriter John Gatins at Circo restaurant in midtown. (They have a lot to celebrate; “Flight” is a big hit at the box office and has lots of Oscar talk.)

The handsome actor, who has red hair and a healthy build, is unrecognizable from the gaunt, sickly guy in the film. But looking healthy nearly cost him the part.

“I had to beg them to let me read that role,” said the 34-year-old actor. They also wanted someone younger. “They were going for early 20’s, and I understood that but I just fell in love with the role from the moment I read it.” He was persistent enough that they let him read the script and told him he could come back to read. Then they changed their mind.

“The morning of the reading we had this huge argument back and forth,” he said. “Just give me one take as the cancer patient,” he pleaded. After the reading, casting director Victoria Burrows told him, “Okay, now I get why you wanted to read that. Now I have to show this to Bob.”

Dale said he and Zemeckis talked for a long time. “I told Bob why I wanted to do this, that I have some very personal connections there and some reasons that I felt like I could understand what this is to the story.” The director gave him the part but told him to lose weight, “because you’re too healthy.” The already slender actor lost 20 pounds in six weeks.

I asked Dale about the personal connection he drew on for the role, and he told me that his mother died of cancer when he was 15 and that three to four days before her death, “there were moments when she became incredibly lucid and incredibly present even despite all the drugs and morphine and a lot of that was drawn from things that I witnessed.”

Dale’s mother was Anita Morris, the beautiful Tony-nominated actress who played Carla in the original production of “Nine,” and who died tragically at age 50 in 1994. (His father is dancer/actor Grover Dale.)

The actor is now on a roll with three big-budget action films coming out next summer. He plays “the dirty, older brother” of “The Lone Ranger” (Armie Hammer) in the Johnny Depp film. He’s also in Marc Forster’s “World War Z,” starring Brad Pitt, as a zombie ranger during a pandemic. Then there’s “Iron Man 3,” where he plays villain Eric Savin, who in the Marvel comic was a soldier who got fatally injured and then was resurrected.

“Ben Kingsley is the mouthpiece. Guy Pearce is the brain. I’m the muscle,” he said. Being in 200 million movies with CGI “is a weird departure” for him. “I’m more of a ‘put two guys in a room and we’ll just talk to each other’ style of actor. But I had a lot of fun. I learned to ride a horse. I got to beat up grown men in robot suits and shoot zombies with Brad Pitt.”

Barbra Streisand and Lainie Kazan In the Same Room at the Same Time

Roger Friedman
-
0
Barbra Streisand and Lainie Kazan In the Same Room at the Same Time

It was a Hollywood party at a Beverly Hills four star eatery, but it was a New York night in so many ways. Paramount Pictures tossed itself a little Christmas party for its various films and stars at Wolfgang Puck’s spectacularly renovated Spago. Famed pastry chef Sherry Yard put out chocolate chip cookies and her other mouth watering desserts that smelled like sin. There were also piles of sushi, smoked salmon pizza, and teeny tiny cheeseburgers that melted in your mouth.

Who was there? Well, Barbra Streisand and her manager of 50 years, Marty Erlichmann, commandeered the middle booth on the left wall of the main room and that was it. She did get up and take a brief stroll through the place, but it ended with her exit. She missed fellow New Yorker and great singer from the same era Lainie Kazan, who arrived with Connie Stevens, Connie’s actress daughter Joely Fisher, and Sally Kellerman. “It’s possible,” someone said to Lainie, “it would be too much to have you and Barbra Streisand in the same room at the same time.”

Indeed.

Streisand is about to open in Paramount’s comedy “Guilt Trip” with Seth Rogen. But there were plenty of other Paramount players in the room to console those who missed the legend. David Chase came with James Gandolfini, the pair formerly of “The Sopranos” and with the cool music film “Not Fade Away.” “Did you see David and Jim?” asked Brad Grey, head of Paramount and one of the great studio chiefs of this generation. “It’s like old times.” Grey produced “The Sopranos” for HBO.

The much buzzed about for Oscar “Flight” was represented by Denzel Washington, who arrived on the late side, and Melissa Leo. Director Robert Zemeckis came with beautiful wife Leslie, a documentary filmmaker. Famed actor Robert Forster turned up, and gave everyone in the group a Christmas present– a sterling silver letter opener that works like magic. It’s become one of Hollywood’s mythic gifts. Forster hands them out on special occassions. I asked him, Do you have a closet stacked high with these?

“I have cartons,” he said, refusing still to say where he gets them. Forster is on his way to New York to film a new indie movie with Michael Parks and Dan Hedaya.

There were plenty of Academy voters and just good Hollywood friends, from Colleen Camp and Candy Clark to director Charles Shyer, songwriter extraordinaire Diane Warren hanging with super agent Risa Shapiro, , publicist Nancy Ryder, and her talented actor client James Badge Dale. (We have a story running about him on Monday on this site.)

Still the best thing I saw all night was Sacha Baron Cohen, there for “The Dictator,” meeting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. All they want is a picture with a star. I was happy to see them since many were rumored deceased a long time ago.

“Some of them are,” joked one actor who winced as each one approached with a camera in hand.

Cohen shook each hand and listened attentively to their accents. He even spoke a little Egyptian to one member who didn’t care–he just wanted that photo.

This is Hollywood, kids.

Connie Steven is 74! She just directed her first movie, and it’s opening in New York and Los Angeles in the next couple of weeks. Joely Fisher is very funny. She and Carrie Fisher, half sisters, have very good senses of humor.

“We had good mothers,” Joely said. Their father was Eddie Fisher, who was featured in the Lindsay Lohan TV movie “Liz and Dick” this week.

“Did any of you see it?” I asked. There was a mixed response of yes, no, a little, and someone who said, “What happened to Lindsay Lohan’s face?”

Someone else said, “I liked it,” and there was a lot of guffawing.

PS Everyone is discussing going to screenings or watching their DVDs. It’s Hollywood’s annual homework assignment. Many mentioned Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln, and Sally Field. One well known successful director told me how much he loved David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook.” I don’t think it’s fair to give his name. He said, “It’s a great movie. It will win the Oscar.” Wow.

Stay tuned: tomorrow night is the Governor’s Ball for the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Oscars. Jeffrey Katzenberg, DA Pennebaker, George Stevens Jr, and Hal Needham are being honored. Everyone in town is going. It’s a hot ticket in Hollywood. Sherry Yard is making the desserts. Game on.

 

 

 

Review: “The Central Park Five” Paints a Legacy of Injustice

Roger Friedman
-
0
Review: “The Central Park Five” Paints a Legacy of Injustice

by LEAH SYDNEY for Showbiz411— “The Central Park Five” tells the story of the infamous Central Park jogger rape case in New York City on April 19, 1989.   The then unnamed jogger, a 28 year old investment banker, was viciously raped and left for dead just yards from the jogging loop around the Central Park reservoir.  The New York media dubbed it ‘the crime of the century,’ and the word ‘wilding’ came into the lexicon. This resulted in five young males– some were only fourteen–who were also black and Latino– being arrested in a modern day witch hunt and spending years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.

Sarah Burns, the daughter of famed filmmaker Ken Burns, wrote a best-selling book on the Central Park Five. Now she’s written, produced and directed the film along with her husband David McMahon and Ken Burns.  This film will infuriate you by the blatant arrogance of power and hubris shown by the NYPD, the district attorneys at the time including Linda Fairstein, the media’s under-reporting and disregard for the truth, and the horrific racism that weaves through this case and pollutes everyone and everything in its path. Adding to the nightmare are the actions of then Mayor Ed Koch and Governor Mario Cuomo.

The Central Park Five, on an Oscar qualifying run,  grips and infuriates you from the beginning. The five suspects– now grown men tell their stories and struggles– and they are truly heartbreaking. Told in a no-nonsense, straightforward way, the film is spellbinding in its narrative of an outrageous blatant miscarriage of justice.  This incident is a true dark stain in New York’s storied history.  Sadly for the men and for the city’s character, the civil suit brought by the Central Park Five against the city in 2003 is still unresolved.

PS On a similar note: “The Exonerated” ends it run at the Culture Project, 45 Bleecker Street, this Sunday. The final performance should be quite emotional, with many of the original, wrongfully convicted prisoners in attendance. Trudie Styler is coming back to reprise her role, as well, for just the last performance. Not to be missed.

 

More Sundance 2013 Entries Include James Franco’s Reimagining of Al Pacino’s 1981 “Cruising”

Roger Friedman
-
0
More Sundance 2013 Entries Include James Franco’s Reimagining of Al Pacino’s 1981 “Cruising”

More Sundance 2013 entries include James Franco’s re-imagining of the missing 40 minutes from Al Pacino’s 1981 “Cruising”, plus “Mud” by Jeff Nichols (financed by Lisa Marie Falcone, wife of the now disgraced Wall Streeter), and Sarah Polley’s “Stories We Tell,” which showed in Toronto this past fall.

SPOTLIGHT

Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love.

Fill the Void / Israel (Director and screenwriter: Rama Burshtein) — A devout 18-year-old Israeli is pressured to marry the husband of her late sister. Declaring her independence is not an option in Tel Aviv’s ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community, where religious law, tradition and the rabbi’s word are absolute. Cast: Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irit Sheleg, Chaim Sharir, Razia Israeli, Hila Feldman.

Gangs of Wasseypur / India (Director: Anurag Kashyap, Screenwriters: Anurag Kashyap, Zeishan Quadri) — Exiled and outcast for robbing British trains, Shahid Khan spurs a battle for revenge that passes down generations. Shahid’s son vows to get his father’s honor back, becoming the most feared man in the Indian town of Wasseypur. Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddique, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia. U.S. Premiere

The Gatekeepers (documentary) / Israel, Germany, Belgium, France (Director: Dror Moreh) — Since its stunning military victory in 1967, Israel has hoped to achieve a long-lasting peace. Forty-five years later, this has yet to happen. Six former heads of Israel’s Secret Service reflect on the successes and failures of the “peace process.”

Mud / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeff Nichols) — Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and reunite him with his true love. Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Reese Witherspoon. North American Premiere

No / Chile, U.S.A. (Director: Pablo Larraín, Screenwriter: Pedro Peirano) — When Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide his permanence in power, the opposition persuades a young advertising executive to head its campaign. With limited resources and under scrutiny, he conceives a plan to win the election. Cast: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco, Marcial Tagle, Néstor Cantillana.

Sightseers / United Kingdom (Director: Ben Wheatley, Screenwriters: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram) — Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but when events conspire against the couple, their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn. Cast: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram. U.S. Premiere

Stories We Tell (documentary) / Canada (Director: Sarah Polley) — Sarah Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving.

PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT

From horror flicks to comedies to works that defy any genre, these unruly films will keep you edge-seated and wide awake. Each is a world premiere.

Ass Backwards / U.S.A. (Director: Chris Nelson, Screenwriters: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson) — Loveable losers Kate and Chloe take a road trip back to their hometown to claim the beauty pageant crown that eluded them as children, only to discover what really counts: friendship. Cast: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alicia Silverstone, Jon Cryer, Brian Geraghty.

Hell Baby / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon) — An expectant couple moves into the most haunted fixer-upper in New Orleans – a house with a demonic curse. Things spiral out of control and soon only the Vatican’s elite exorcism team can save the pair – or can it? Cast: Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Keegan Michael Key, Riki Lindhome, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel.

In Fear / United Kingdom (Directed and story by: Jeremy Lovering) — Trapped in a maze of country roads with only their vehicle for protection, Tom and Lucy are terrorized by an unseen tormentor exploiting their worst fears. Eventually they realize they’ve let the evil in – it’s sitting in their car. Cast: Alice Englert, Iain De Caestecker, Allen Leech.

kink (documentary) / U.S.A. (Director: Christina Voros) — A story of sex, submission and big business is told through the eyes of the unlikely pornographers whose 9:00-to-5:00 work days are spent within the confines of the San Francisco Armory building, home to the sprawling porn production facilities of Kink.com.

The Rambler / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Calvin Lee Reeder) — After being released from prison, a man known as “The Rambler” stumbles upon a strange mystery as he attempts the treacherous journey through back roads and small towns en route to reconnecting with his long-lost brother. Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, Natasha Lyonne, James Cady, Scott Sharot.

S-VHS / U.S.A., Canada (Directors: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, Jason Eisener, Screenwriters: Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto & Gareth Huw Evans, John Davies) — Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his abandoned house and find another collection of mysterious VHS tapes. In viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be terrifying motives behind the student’s disappearance. Cast: Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, L.C Holt, Kelsy Abbott, Hannah Hughes.

Virtually Heroes / U.S.A. (Director: GJ Echternkamp, Screenwriter: Matt Yamashita) — Two self-aware characters in a Call of Duty-style video game struggle with their screwy, frustrating existence. To find answers, one abandons his partner and mission, seeking to unravel the cheat codes of life. Cast: Robert Baker, Brent Chase, Katie Savoy, Mark Hamill, Ben Messmer.

We Are What We Are / U.S.A. (Director: Jim Mickle, Screenwriters: Nick Damici, Jim Mickle) — A devastating storm washes up clues that lead authorities closer and closer to the cannibalistic Parker family. Cast: Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Michael Parks, Wyatt Russell, Kelly McGillis.

NEW FRONTIER

With media installations, multimedia performances, transmedia experiences, panels, films and more, New Frontier highlights work that celebrates experimentation and the expansion of cinema culture through the convergence of film, art, and new media technology.

FILMS

Charlie Victor Romeo / U.S.A. (Directors: Robert Berger, Karlyn Michelson, Screenwriters: Robert Berger, Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory) — An award-winning theatrical documentary derived entirely from ‘Black Box’ transcripts of six real-life major airline emergencies brought to the screen with cutting-edge stereoscopic 3D technology. Cast: Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory, Noel Dinneen, Sam Zuckerman, Debbie Troche, Nora Woolley.

Fat Shaker / Iran (Director and screenwriter: M Shirvani) — An obese father and his handsome, deaf son share extraordinary experiences in Tehran. Then a beautiful young woman upsets the balance of their relationship, forcing them to renegotiate their position with each other and the world around them. Cast: Levon Haftvan, Maryam Palizban, Hassan Rostami, Navid Mohammadzadeh.

Interior. Leather Bar. / U.S.A. (Directors: Travis Mathews, James Franco, Screenwriter: Travis Mathews) — To avoid an X rating, it was rumored that 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was cut from the controversial 1980 film, Cruising. Filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews re-imagine what was in the lost footage. Cast: Val Lauren, James Franco, Travis Mathews, Christian Patrick, Brenden Gregory.

Halley / Mexico (Director: Sebastian Hofmann, Screenwriters: Sebastian Hofmann, Julio Chavezmontes) — Alberto is dead and can no longer hide it. Before surrendering to his living death, he forms an unusual friendship with Luly, the manager of the 24-hour gym where he works as a night guard. Cast: Alberto Trujillo, Lourdes Trueba, Hugo Albores.

The Meteor / Canada (Director: François Delisle, Screenwriter: François Delisle) — Forty-something Pierre, his mother and his wife are linked by crime, guilt and loneliness. Like casualties of love and desire, they are dying to stick their heads above water and breathe the air of life. Cast: Noémie Godin Vigneau, François Delisle, Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Pogonat, François Papineau, Andrée Lachapelle.

INSTALLATIONS

Cityscape 2095

Artists: Yannick Jacquet, Mandril, Thomas Vaquié [AntiVJ]

AntiVJ artists Yannick Jacquet and Marc Ferrario blend painting with light projection to transform the walls of New Frontier into a luminous, three-dimensional cityscape that feels strangely familiar yet impossible to locate. With its disorienting sense of time and space, Cityscape 2095 places spectators on the observatory deck of a skyscraper, where they take in a sprawling, imaginary city as it glitters over the course of one day.

Coral: Rekindling Venus

Artist: Lynette Wallworth

Inspired by the first collaboration among the international science community to witness the celestial transit of Venus in 1761, Lynette Wallworth’s visually stunning Coral: Rekindling Venus is an augmented-reality and full-dome planetarium presentation designed to nurture an emotional connection between a global audience and the planet’s endangered coral reefs. This epic project features original deep-sea photography, augmented-reality artwork and music by Antony and the Johnsons. Presented at the New Frontier venue in Park City, Salt Lake City’s Clark Planetarium and other locations nationally. Details to be announced.

E.M-bed.de/d, Datamosh, Augmented Real

Artist: Yung Jake

Rap artist Yung Jake is Net art incarnate, flowing lyrics about tweet culture, data-moshing, hashtags, and memes as he blows up on Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, and Instagram in his HTML5 music video, E.M-bed.de/d. This MC drops unexpectedly into your browser sessions, streams into Festival screenings, Skype-bombs live DJ performances, and pops out of floors and magazines in augmented-reality music videos.

Eyjafjallalokull

Artist: Joanie Lemercier [AntiVJ]

Inspired by the 2010 Icelandic volcanic eruption that wreaked travel havoc across Europe, Eyjafjallalokull is a stunning, three-dimensional, audiovisual mapping installation that challenges audiences’ perception of space by creating an optical illusion that transforms the walls of New Frontier into a sweeping digital vista that artistically recreates the seismic event.

North of South, West of East

Artist: Meredith Danluck

North of South, West of East enhances narrative storytelling by wrapping the film around the entire room. Presented to an audience in swivel chairs, Meredith Danluck’s remarkable four-channel narrative feature deftly unspools a darkly humorous tale of small-town folks as they try to make sense of a posthope America. Shot on location in Detroit, Michigan, and Marfa, Texas, this unique film features fantastic performances by Ben Foster, Stella Schnabel, and Sue Galloway, and a soundtrack by Marfa local punk band Solid Waste.

Pulse Index

Artist: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s beautifully resonant, interactive media installation swaths the central lounge of New Frontier with images of the warm, breathing flesh of its visitors. Pulse Index records the heart rates and fingerprints of participants and exhibits them in a beautiful Fibonacci pattern. Place your finger into the custom-made sensor, and your fingerprint appears on the largest cell of the display, pulsating to your heartbeat. Your print then travels down the sequence to join those of all the others who have visited the room, immersing the community space with the radiant glow of the human touch.

What’s He Building in There?

Artists: Klip Collective

Ricardo Rivera and the Klip Collective transform the entire front of the New Frontier venue into an interactive, 3-D projection-mapped parable, inspired by the Tom Waits song. Sip a hot beverage in the outdoor lounge and watch the walls and windowpanes dissolve into a story about a man on a mysterious mission inside the building. Use the X-ray flashlight to peek at what he is up to.

Joseph Jackson May Have Had a Stroke, Randy Jackson Leaks the News to Gossip Site

Roger Friedman
-
5
Joseph Jackson May Have Had a Stroke, Randy Jackson Leaks the News to Gossip Site

What do you do when your father has a stroke? In the Jackson family, you call the gossip site you’re most connected to. There’s a “report” that Joseph Jackson, the, uh, patriarch of the Jackson family-Michael and Janet’s father, etc– has had a stroke in Las Vegas. How do we know? Why, a gossip item popped up in x17online.com. This is the site that Randy Jackson uses when he wants to get a story out. He used them last summer during the so called kidnapping of his mother Katherine. Now x17 is not only reporting that Joseph has had a stroke but reiterating a falsehood from last summer, that Katherine Jackson had had a mini stroke. We’ll see what develops. Despite Joseph Jackson’s spectacularly despicable behavior in almost any situation, we wish him well if he’s ill and a speedy recovery. I am told he was accompanied to the hospital by his pal, Majestyk the Magician. (No kidding, really.) Calls to his eldest daughter Rebbie are difficult because I am also told her landline has been shut off.

1...1,9621,9631,964...2,324Page 1,963 of 2,324

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com