Another week, another Monday. So it’s time for the rundown of DVDs and Blu-rays hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s another packed week, with plenty of movies waiting to take you money, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, January 30th 2012.
Pick Of The Week
Rolling Thunder (Blu-ray)
After spending eight years in a Vietcong prison camp, Major Charles Rane (William Devane, 24) returns home to a small town in Texas to be greeted as a hero with a Cadillac convertible and couple thousand dollars in silver coins, one for each day of his imprisonment. Struggling to go back to his former life, Rane faces another ordeal as a gang of thugs set their sights on his cash prize… Now living only for vengeance, he heads to Mexico to exact his own brand of justice on the fleeing crooks.
Pick Of The Week
Rolling Thunder (Blu-ray)
After spending eight years in a Vietcong prison camp, Major Charles Rane (William Devane, 24) returns home to a small town in Texas to be greeted as a hero with a Cadillac convertible and couple thousand dollars in silver coins, one for each day of his imprisonment. Struggling to go back to his former life, Rane faces another ordeal as a gang of thugs set their sights on his cash prize… Now living only for vengeance, he heads to Mexico to exact his own brand of justice on the fleeing crooks.
- 1/30/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
To celebrate the January 30th release of Cane Toads: The Conquest on DVD and Blu-ray, we are giving away a copy of the film on DVD to 3 lucky winners.
Mark Lewis (Cane Toads: An Unnatural History) explores one of Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophes as he follows the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent. Despised by many, venerated by some, the toad has occupied a nation’s consciousness achieving both cult and criminal status. Despite its international origin the cane toad has become uniquely Australian – yet, for a world wrestling with the idea that we have irretrievably altered our own ecosystem, its story holds universal relevance.
Featuring a host of engaging characters as well as thousands of toads, Cane Toads: 3D is a humorous yet thought-provoking journey into the issue of invasive species. Order your copy of Cane Toads: The Conquest now on Amazon
To be...
Mark Lewis (Cane Toads: An Unnatural History) explores one of Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophes as he follows the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent. Despised by many, venerated by some, the toad has occupied a nation’s consciousness achieving both cult and criminal status. Despite its international origin the cane toad has become uniquely Australian – yet, for a world wrestling with the idea that we have irretrievably altered our own ecosystem, its story holds universal relevance.
Featuring a host of engaging characters as well as thousands of toads, Cane Toads: 3D is a humorous yet thought-provoking journey into the issue of invasive species. Order your copy of Cane Toads: The Conquest now on Amazon
To be...
- 1/29/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
To celebrate the January 30th release of Cane Toads: The Conquest on DVD and Blu-ray, we are giving away a copy of the film on DVD to 3 lucky winners.
Mark Lewis (Cane Toads: An Unnatural History) explores one of Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophes as he follows the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent. Despised by many, venerated by some, the toad has occupied a nation’s consciousness achieving both cult and criminal status. Despite its international origin the cane toad has become uniquely Australian – yet, for a world wrestling with the idea that we have irretrievably altered our own ecosystem, its story holds universal relevance.
Featuring a host of engaging characters as well as thousands of toads, Cane Toads: 3D is a humorous yet thought-provoking journey into the issue of invasive species.
Order your copy of Cane Toads: The Conquest now on Amazon.
Click next...
Mark Lewis (Cane Toads: An Unnatural History) explores one of Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophes as he follows the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent. Despised by many, venerated by some, the toad has occupied a nation’s consciousness achieving both cult and criminal status. Despite its international origin the cane toad has become uniquely Australian – yet, for a world wrestling with the idea that we have irretrievably altered our own ecosystem, its story holds universal relevance.
Featuring a host of engaging characters as well as thousands of toads, Cane Toads: 3D is a humorous yet thought-provoking journey into the issue of invasive species.
Order your copy of Cane Toads: The Conquest now on Amazon.
Click next...
- 1/27/2012
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
It’s not often that natural history documentaries become feature films but recently I have had the good fortune to cast my critical eye over two interesting but very different examples.
One Life is a BBC Earth production that plays like a slightly extended version of the acclaimed BBC One-David Attenborough television series, Life. The reason for this is that all of the footage comes from the 10,000 hours that were actually shot for the show. As such the film feels more like a highlights reel for the series albeit with narration by a Hollywood actor (Daniel Craig).
According to the press release, the film ‘offers an accessible narrative that children will love’, by which they mean a very loose narrative that revolves around the fact that just like humans, animals are born, they live and then they die – hardly a unique perspective for a wildlife documentary.
Children don’t...
One Life is a BBC Earth production that plays like a slightly extended version of the acclaimed BBC One-David Attenborough television series, Life. The reason for this is that all of the footage comes from the 10,000 hours that were actually shot for the show. As such the film feels more like a highlights reel for the series albeit with narration by a Hollywood actor (Daniel Craig).
According to the press release, the film ‘offers an accessible narrative that children will love’, by which they mean a very loose narrative that revolves around the fact that just like humans, animals are born, they live and then they die – hardly a unique perspective for a wildlife documentary.
Children don’t...
- 12/8/2011
- Shadowlocked
Alex Lloyd and Pigram Brothers, Jed Kurzel, David Hirschfelder, David McCormack and The Chaser’s Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor are among the nominees for the 2011 Screen Music Awards.
The 2011 Screen Music Awards are jointly presented by Apra (Australiasian Performing Rights Association) and Agsc (Australian Guild of Screen Composers).
In the category of the feature film score of the year, Alex Lloyd and Alan and Stephen Pigram are nominated for Mad Bastards alongside Jed Kurzel of rock band the Mess Hall, and brother of director Justin Kurzel is nominated for Snowtown. Past winner David Hirschfelder (Children of the Silk Road) is nominated for The Legend of the Guardians while Burkhard Dallwitz is nominated for The Way Back.
Dallwitz is also nominated for Underbelly Files: tell them Lucifer was here in the Best music for a mini-series or telemovie alongside Guy Gross for East West 101, Bryony Marks for Cloudstreet and...
The 2011 Screen Music Awards are jointly presented by Apra (Australiasian Performing Rights Association) and Agsc (Australian Guild of Screen Composers).
In the category of the feature film score of the year, Alex Lloyd and Alan and Stephen Pigram are nominated for Mad Bastards alongside Jed Kurzel of rock band the Mess Hall, and brother of director Justin Kurzel is nominated for Snowtown. Past winner David Hirschfelder (Children of the Silk Road) is nominated for The Legend of the Guardians while Burkhard Dallwitz is nominated for The Way Back.
Dallwitz is also nominated for Underbelly Files: tell them Lucifer was here in the Best music for a mini-series or telemovie alongside Guy Gross for East West 101, Bryony Marks for Cloudstreet and...
- 10/18/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Melancholia (15)
(Lars Von Trier, 2010, Den/Swe/Fra/Ger) Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård. 136 mins
Never have crippling depression and the end of the world looked so appealing. Personal and planetary orbits are fatalistically set on collision course in Von Trier's latest, as two sisters struggle with life, the universe and each other, but despite the grimness, its strange beauty stays with you.
The Debt (15)
(John Madden, 2010, Us) Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington. 113 mins
A trio of Israeli agents try to abduct a former Nazi, then deal with the fallout decades later in this structurally (over)ambitious spy epic.
Red State (18)
(Kevin Smith, 2011, Us) Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman. 88 mins
Smith takes aim at Christian fundamentalism in this cultish horror, which doesn't have the firepower it needs.
The Green Wave (Nc)
(Ali Samadi Ahadi, 2010, Ger) 80 mins
Documentary on Iran's 2009 democratic uprising, mixing reportage, animation and tweets and blogs.
(Lars Von Trier, 2010, Den/Swe/Fra/Ger) Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård. 136 mins
Never have crippling depression and the end of the world looked so appealing. Personal and planetary orbits are fatalistically set on collision course in Von Trier's latest, as two sisters struggle with life, the universe and each other, but despite the grimness, its strange beauty stays with you.
The Debt (15)
(John Madden, 2010, Us) Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington. 113 mins
A trio of Israeli agents try to abduct a former Nazi, then deal with the fallout decades later in this structurally (over)ambitious spy epic.
Red State (18)
(Kevin Smith, 2011, Us) Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, John Goodman. 88 mins
Smith takes aim at Christian fundamentalism in this cultish horror, which doesn't have the firepower it needs.
The Green Wave (Nc)
(Ali Samadi Ahadi, 2010, Ger) 80 mins
Documentary on Iran's 2009 democratic uprising, mixing reportage, animation and tweets and blogs.
- 9/30/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Sean Penn asked Hugo Chávez to push for the release of Us hikers Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer. But was he even more involved than that? ...
The big story
The Iranian night rushed against Penn's skin as he landed the base jump on the roof of the prison. The first guard heard nothing. The second too was fair game - quickly collapsing under a blow from a hand that had held Academy Awards twice over. It was sweet and lowdown work. War made easy.
The hostages greeted him with amazement: "I loved you in Mystic Ri-" "Shhhhhh." Penn hissed. "Follow me or you're a dead man walking."
None of which happened of course. But when you read headlines like "Sean Penn aided release of Us hikers" (and watch a lot of action movies) it's easy to let your imagination run wild.
In fact, Penn was in the news this week...
The big story
The Iranian night rushed against Penn's skin as he landed the base jump on the roof of the prison. The first guard heard nothing. The second too was fair game - quickly collapsing under a blow from a hand that had held Academy Awards twice over. It was sweet and lowdown work. War made easy.
The hostages greeted him with amazement: "I loved you in Mystic Ri-" "Shhhhhh." Penn hissed. "Follow me or you're a dead man walking."
None of which happened of course. But when you read headlines like "Sean Penn aided release of Us hikers" (and watch a lot of action movies) it's easy to let your imagination run wild.
In fact, Penn was in the news this week...
- 9/29/2011
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
They might seem unlikely stars for a 3D film, but for Cane Toads: The Conquest director Mark Lewis it was a natural choice. He tells Ed Gibbs about Australia's love-hate relationship with this unwanted intruder
They ran over them with cars, bashed them with cricket bats, took swings at them with golf clubs – and nothing made any difference. Their lethal toxic venom ensured that anything that ate them came off second best. Some people boiled them, others made pets of them, and at least one (musician Tim Finn) wrote a song about them. The cane toad, Australia's plague species, was immortalised in a 1987 documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History. Now, some 25 years on, the toads are back – bigger and badder than ever, in Cane Toads: The Conquest, Australia's first-ever 3D film.
At least part of the reason behind the unexpected success of Mark Lewis's original film – with a domestic...
They ran over them with cars, bashed them with cricket bats, took swings at them with golf clubs – and nothing made any difference. Their lethal toxic venom ensured that anything that ate them came off second best. Some people boiled them, others made pets of them, and at least one (musician Tim Finn) wrote a song about them. The cane toad, Australia's plague species, was immortalised in a 1987 documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History. Now, some 25 years on, the toads are back – bigger and badder than ever, in Cane Toads: The Conquest, Australia's first-ever 3D film.
At least part of the reason behind the unexpected success of Mark Lewis's original film – with a domestic...
- 9/20/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
With cameras on surfboards and jetskis, helicopters, boats, and even from behind the talent’s head – the new Storm Surfers 3D has every angle covered.
The Storm Surfers franchise, produced by 6ixty Foot Productions in association with Firelight Productions, was initially developed as an adventure series for the Discovery Network, following Australian surfing legends, Tom Carroll and Ross Clark Jones as they did battle with the biggest swells in the Southern Ocean.
First they surfed a ‘mythical’ never ridden before wave in the treacherous seas of Bass Strait simply called Dangerous Banks. In their second outing, they explored New Zealand’s rugged coast off the remote Fiordland. This time they cast a wider net. With help again from meteorologist and Swellnet.com.au’s webmaster, Ben Matson, they chase storms that rise from Antarctica to bombard our cold southern coast, and they do it all in 3D.
Storm Surfers 3D...
The Storm Surfers franchise, produced by 6ixty Foot Productions in association with Firelight Productions, was initially developed as an adventure series for the Discovery Network, following Australian surfing legends, Tom Carroll and Ross Clark Jones as they did battle with the biggest swells in the Southern Ocean.
First they surfed a ‘mythical’ never ridden before wave in the treacherous seas of Bass Strait simply called Dangerous Banks. In their second outing, they explored New Zealand’s rugged coast off the remote Fiordland. This time they cast a wider net. With help again from meteorologist and Swellnet.com.au’s webmaster, Ben Matson, they chase storms that rise from Antarctica to bombard our cold southern coast, and they do it all in 3D.
Storm Surfers 3D...
- 8/16/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Cane Toads: The Conquest, a new 3D film by Mark Lewis, tracks the unstoppable journey of the toad across the Australian continent and asks whether these invaders can ever gain respect
• Interactive: Australian cane toads meet their match
Reconciling with a long-standing enemy is hard, especially when they are venomous, decimate the local population and number more than 1.5 billion.
However, there is alternate take on the story of cane toads in Australia, as explored by Cane Toads: The Conquest, which featured at the Sundance Film Festival last year and is gearing up for a UK release following positive reception in Australia.
The documentary, which claims to be the first non-fiction film to be shown in 3D, is the creation of Mark Lewis, an ABC journalist turned director. It is a reboot, rather than a standard sequel, to Lewis's first treatise on the subject, 1988's cult hit Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.
• Interactive: Australian cane toads meet their match
Reconciling with a long-standing enemy is hard, especially when they are venomous, decimate the local population and number more than 1.5 billion.
However, there is alternate take on the story of cane toads in Australia, as explored by Cane Toads: The Conquest, which featured at the Sundance Film Festival last year and is gearing up for a UK release following positive reception in Australia.
The documentary, which claims to be the first non-fiction film to be shown in 3D, is the creation of Mark Lewis, an ABC journalist turned director. It is a reboot, rather than a standard sequel, to Lewis's first treatise on the subject, 1988's cult hit Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.
- 6/16/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Local films.Cane Toads: The Conquest and Here I Am have posted lacklustre results in their first weekend of release. Directed by Mark Lewis and distributed by Pinnacle Films, Cane Toads: The Conquest grossed $10,178 across 27 screens, with a screen average of just $377. Though only available on seven screens, Beck Cole's debut feature Here I Am earned $11,659. The Paramount/Transmission film about a young woman with a dark past had a screen average of $1,666 per screen. In the world of limited releases, crowd-pleaser Mrs Carey's Concert has seen a surprising twelve per cent boost after six weeks in cinemas - opening on 16 additional screens across the country with a screen average of $2099. Meanwhile, psychological horror Snowtown continues to perform strongly...
- 6/6/2011
- by Amanda Diaz
- IF.com.au
Amphibians don’t have the most prolific history in cinema. There was a croakingly bad (sorry) but equally quite enjoyable horror swamp roam called Frogs, which headlined a seventies serious Sam Elliott attempting to defend a family (aptly named, the Crockett’s) from a spread of malevolent lily pad hoppers. But apart from this brief foray into slimy froggy madness toads have been pretty quiet on the filmic waterfront.
That was until veteran Aussie documentarian Mark Lewis decided to release his 1988 doc Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, which looked into the botched 1930s attempt to introduce Hawaiian sugar-cane fed toads as counter pests in Oz.
Now Lewis is back with Cane Toads: The Conquest, the 23 years in the making follow up doco-horror that has just been released in Australia and which looks at the subsequent environmental ramifications of the titular unstoppable critters – who have spread over the Australian state of Queensland,...
That was until veteran Aussie documentarian Mark Lewis decided to release his 1988 doc Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, which looked into the botched 1930s attempt to introduce Hawaiian sugar-cane fed toads as counter pests in Oz.
Now Lewis is back with Cane Toads: The Conquest, the 23 years in the making follow up doco-horror that has just been released in Australia and which looks at the subsequent environmental ramifications of the titular unstoppable critters – who have spread over the Australian state of Queensland,...
- 6/2/2011
- by Oliver Pfeiffer
- Obsessed with Film
You can brand them as peddlers of Brad Pitt, as U.S based Inferno Entertainment have got some highly anticipated titles in their sales line-up and one matches Pitt with Andrew Dominik in Cogan's Trade (they worked together on Jesse James) and James Gray should be rolling out the cameras one of these days for The Lost City of Z with Pitt attached in the lead. Joe Carnahan's The Grey is on the map as well. Killer Elite by Gary McKendry - Post-Production The Grey by Joe Carnahan - Post-Production Cogan's Trade by Andrew Dominik - Post-Production The Entitled by Aaron Woodley - Completed Arabian Nights by Chuck Russell - Pre-Production Cane Toads: The Conquest by Mark Lewis - Completed Five Star Day by Danny Buday - Completed Hachiko: A Dog's Story by Lasse HALLSTRÖM - Completed Happy Tears by Mitchell Lichtenstein - Completed How To Make Love Like...
- 5/13/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Bob Ellis looks back at this year’s Sydney Film Festival.
We are forbidden urination after a three-hour film and herded bursting out into the rain and pushed in front of speeding traffic by big Tongan guardians of the Red Carpet while inside, in the ever-gorgeous art-deco foyer, barmen and pie vendors gazed on its lovely emptiness planning their bankruptcies and other careers and cursing, like all of us, the Clare Stewart Effect on world cinema.
Audiences entering successive sessions without hellish incident these last 113 years have not educated this woman; clamour, ticketless offices, caffeine deprivation, pissed trousers and lack of a chance to chat between sessions (or even sit on the marble steps) have characterised her Cromwellian rule for years now and several deaths, I calculate, from the pelting rain and it is wrong for her to preen her ghastly dress sense in golden spotlight just because certain films...
We are forbidden urination after a three-hour film and herded bursting out into the rain and pushed in front of speeding traffic by big Tongan guardians of the Red Carpet while inside, in the ever-gorgeous art-deco foyer, barmen and pie vendors gazed on its lovely emptiness planning their bankruptcies and other careers and cursing, like all of us, the Clare Stewart Effect on world cinema.
Audiences entering successive sessions without hellish incident these last 113 years have not educated this woman; clamour, ticketless offices, caffeine deprivation, pissed trousers and lack of a chance to chat between sessions (or even sit on the marble steps) have characterised her Cromwellian rule for years now and several deaths, I calculate, from the pelting rain and it is wrong for her to preen her ghastly dress sense in golden spotlight just because certain films...
- 6/23/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
The 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival is set to run June 17-27 in a brand new location. Oh, it’s still in L.A, but it’s moving across town, from Westwood — where it’s been held the past few years — all the way over to Downtown.
The main “hub” for the fest will be the new L.A. Live complex, but there will also be screenings at other locations, such as the Downtown Independent and Redcat theaters. The city is really trying to build downtown up into a major arts and culture hub, so the festival moving there fits in with that agenda. Film Independent, the organization that runs Laff, also runs the annual Independent Spirit Awards, an event that also moved downtown — from Santa Monica — this year.
On Bad Lit, I tend to like to put up festival lineups that include days and times of screenings. However, since I...
The main “hub” for the fest will be the new L.A. Live complex, but there will also be screenings at other locations, such as the Downtown Independent and Redcat theaters. The city is really trying to build downtown up into a major arts and culture hub, so the festival moving there fits in with that agenda. Film Independent, the organization that runs Laff, also runs the annual Independent Spirit Awards, an event that also moved downtown — from Santa Monica — this year.
On Bad Lit, I tend to like to put up festival lineups that include days and times of screenings. However, since I...
- 5/17/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Like the headline says, the complete lineup for the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival has been announced and it's a fascinating, eclectic mix. How happy am I to see music doc Separado! in there? Pretty damn happy, as it's one of my absolute favorites of the year and has been resoundingly overlooked. Read the complete announcement below!
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Los Angeles (May 4, 2010) - Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and year-round artist development programs and exhibition events, announced the official selections for the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times. The Festival will run from Thursday, June 17 to Sunday, June 27 in downtown Los Angeles, with its central hub at L.A. Live. Now in its sixteenth year, the Festival is recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American...
Normal 0 false false false En-ca X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Los Angeles (May 4, 2010) - Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and year-round artist development programs and exhibition events, announced the official selections for the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times. The Festival will run from Thursday, June 17 to Sunday, June 27 in downtown Los Angeles, with its central hub at L.A. Live. Now in its sixteenth year, the Festival is recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American...
- 5/4/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and year-round artist development programs and exhibition events, announced the official selections for the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times. The Festival will run from Thursday, June 17 to Sunday, June 27 in downtown Los Angeles, with its central hub at L.A. Live. Now in its sixteenth year, the Festival is recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema and providing the movie-loving public with access to critically acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals, and emerging talent from around the world.
The 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival will screen over 200 feature films, shorts, and music videos, representing more than 40 countries. This year, the Festival received more than 4,700 submissions from filmmakers around the world. The final selections represent 28 World, North American, and U.S. premieres, which more...
The 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival will screen over 200 feature films, shorts, and music videos, representing more than 40 countries. This year, the Festival received more than 4,700 submissions from filmmakers around the world. The final selections represent 28 World, North American, and U.S. premieres, which more...
- 5/4/2010
- by Staff
- Hollywoodnews.com
Normal.dotm 0 0 1 3258 18575 Film Independent 154 37 22811 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false
- Focus Features' The Kids Are All Right to Kick Off Festival -
- World Premiere of Universal Pictures' 3-D CGI Feature Despicable Me Selected for Closing Night -
- Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse to have World Premiere -
- Galas include Animal Kingdom, Cyrus, Mahler on the Couch, Revolución,& Waiting for Superman -
Los Angeles (May 4, 2010) - Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and year-round artist development programs and exhibition events, announced the official selections for the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times. The Festival will run from Thursday, June 17 to Sunday, June 27 in downtown Los Angeles, with its central hub at L.A. Live. Now in its sixteenth year, the Festival is recognized as a world-class event, showcasing...
- Focus Features' The Kids Are All Right to Kick Off Festival -
- World Premiere of Universal Pictures' 3-D CGI Feature Despicable Me Selected for Closing Night -
- Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse to have World Premiere -
- Galas include Animal Kingdom, Cyrus, Mahler on the Couch, Revolución,& Waiting for Superman -
Los Angeles (May 4, 2010) - Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and year-round artist development programs and exhibition events, announced the official selections for the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times. The Festival will run from Thursday, June 17 to Sunday, June 27 in downtown Los Angeles, with its central hub at L.A. Live. Now in its sixteenth year, the Festival is recognized as a world-class event, showcasing...
- 5/4/2010
- by maint
- Film Independent
I saw my final film of Sundance 2010 here in Chicago. It was my best Sundance experience, and I want to tell you why. The film was "Jack Goes Boating," the directorial debut of Philip Seymour Hoffman. It played here in the Music Box, as part of the "Sundance USA" outreach program, which has enlisted eight art theaters around the country to play Sundance entries while the festival is still underway.
The Music Box is the largest surviving first run movie palace in Chicago. It is deeper than it is wide, and has an arching ceiling where illusory clouds float and stars twinkle. Many shows are preceded by music on the organ.
That's all very nice, but doesn't explain why this particular screening was so enjoyable. Every one of the 750 seats was filled. These people were not festival goers, nor were they all critics, bloggers or distributors. They were movie lovers...
The Music Box is the largest surviving first run movie palace in Chicago. It is deeper than it is wide, and has an arching ceiling where illusory clouds float and stars twinkle. Many shows are preceded by music on the organ.
That's all very nice, but doesn't explain why this particular screening was so enjoyable. Every one of the 750 seats was filled. These people were not festival goers, nor were they all critics, bloggers or distributors. They were movie lovers...
- 1/31/2010
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Sundance's slogans proclaim a radical spirit, but gone are the eco-horror documentaries of the past, writes Nick Fraser
Sundance has become a reliable way of taking the pulse of liberal America. Last year, the festival coincided with the inauguration of America's first black president. People seemed poised between fear and euphoria. Now the ski lodges and posh cafes are filled with sober, uncertain voices. Blue state Americans don't know what to think about the numerous setbacks of the last months, such as the defeat of healthcare. They want to know how to survive a terrible, seemingly open-ended recession.
For its part, the festival has reacted to flagging corporate sponsorship by loudly affirming its desire to return to roots. "This Is The Renewed Rebellion," proclaim the slogans at the beginning of each screening. "The Recharged Fight Against The Establishment Of The Expected." But rebellion seems to be the wrong way of...
Sundance has become a reliable way of taking the pulse of liberal America. Last year, the festival coincided with the inauguration of America's first black president. People seemed poised between fear and euphoria. Now the ski lodges and posh cafes are filled with sober, uncertain voices. Blue state Americans don't know what to think about the numerous setbacks of the last months, such as the defeat of healthcare. They want to know how to survive a terrible, seemingly open-ended recession.
For its part, the festival has reacted to flagging corporate sponsorship by loudly affirming its desire to return to roots. "This Is The Renewed Rebellion," proclaim the slogans at the beginning of each screening. "The Recharged Fight Against The Establishment Of The Expected." But rebellion seems to be the wrong way of...
- 1/31/2010
- by Nick Fraser
- The Guardian - Film News
With 1988's Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, Australian documentary filmmaker Mark Lewis (The Natural History of the Chicken) introduced Sundance audiences to the cane toad--an amphibian imported Down Under in 1935 to control sugar cane larvae. Of course, the cane toad did nothing of the kind, and turned out to be a remarkably adaptable--and toxic--creature, capable of killing dogs and pets with its poison glands. This time with Cane Toads: The Conquest, Lewis celebrates the toad as he tries to restore the balance by suggesting it's not all the toad's fault. He takes us from the toad 16 million years ago, through Puerto Rico and Hawaii to Australia and the evolution of the new and improved 3- D "Ava-Toad." The movie is hilarious. Folks try to ...
- 1/30/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
By Agence France-Press
Toxic cane toads have taken the Sundance Film Festival by storm in an irreverent new 3D documentary exploring the warty amphibians' invasion of Australia.
Director Mark Lewis hopes his film -- "Cane Toads: The Conquest" -- will encourage the public to take a different view of the creatures, which are reviled as a pest and a threat to indigenous species in Australia.
It is the second time the Austalian film-maker has investigated the toads, which were introduced to the country in 1935 in a misguided attempt to control beetles ravaging sugar cane fields in the tropical...
Toxic cane toads have taken the Sundance Film Festival by storm in an irreverent new 3D documentary exploring the warty amphibians' invasion of Australia.
Director Mark Lewis hopes his film -- "Cane Toads: The Conquest" -- will encourage the public to take a different view of the creatures, which are reviled as a pest and a threat to indigenous species in Australia.
It is the second time the Austalian film-maker has investigated the toads, which were introduced to the country in 1935 in a misguided attempt to control beetles ravaging sugar cane fields in the tropical...
- 1/29/2010
- by Dylan Stableford
- The Wrap
I wish there was a trailer I could share with you to show off Cane Toads: The Conquest. This 3D documentary, which premiered last night at Sundance, is director Mark Lewis' return to the subject of his film Cane Toads: An Unnatural History. I'm a sucker for oddball nature docs, and with the exception of The Hellstrom Chronicle (which needs a DVD release, like, now) they don't come much more oddball than Cane Toads. In lieu of a trailer, here's a roundup of info and a few enthusiastic reactions to the film. Why do people like the movie so much? Perhaps because it features "the first 3-D dog acid trip sequence in cinema history." I'm not making that up. Read on! The basics: In 1935, 102 cane toads were imported from Hawaii to Australia. The idea was to control a beetle that decimates sugar cane crops. What no one considered at...
- 1/28/2010
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Over twenty years after Mark Lewis dazzled audiences with his "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History", the director is back with a 3D sequel of sorts entitled "Cane Toads: The Conquest" - or as Lewis put it prior to the world premiere screening - ‘Avatoads’.
This time around, Lewis takes a giant leap forward as he revs up the technology, once again tracking the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent, from lush north Queensland through to the Northern Territory and as far west as the outlying regions of Western Australia.
Loathed and detested by many, and even adored by some, the ingenious director takes the audience into both the early history [a very early history precedes the opening credits with a hilarious sequence] and a take on these pesky toads from various perspectives.
Lewis is not a dry documentarian by any means, as evidenced in a film that includes a hallucinatory dog with LSD-type visions to a wonder dog that returns from the dead.
This time around, Lewis takes a giant leap forward as he revs up the technology, once again tracking the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent, from lush north Queensland through to the Northern Territory and as far west as the outlying regions of Western Australia.
Loathed and detested by many, and even adored by some, the ingenious director takes the audience into both the early history [a very early history precedes the opening credits with a hilarious sequence] and a take on these pesky toads from various perspectives.
Lewis is not a dry documentarian by any means, as evidenced in a film that includes a hallucinatory dog with LSD-type visions to a wonder dog that returns from the dead.
- 1/27/2010
- by Paul Fischer
- Dark Horizons
Despite the fact that none of the 15 films on the Academy's documentary short list this year have grossed more than $5 million, four of the top documentary filmmakers working today remain optimistic about their future and the future of non-fiction filmmaking Alex Gibney, director of Casino Jack and the United States of Money, Lucy Walker, behind the new film Countdown to Zero, Mark Lewis who directed the first 3-D documentary Cane Toads: The Conquest, and Davis Guggenheim, whose latest film Waiting For Superman marked the first sale of the Sundance film festival, participated in a panel Sunday afternoon, hosted by Entertainment Weekly and Participant Media,...
- 1/25/2010
- by Nicole Sperling
- EW - Inside Movies
By Wrap Staff
Mark Lewis’ documentary "Cane Toads: The Conquest" will premiere in Dolby 3D Digital Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival, the company announced on Monday.
Lewis' film follows the ecological havoc wrecked by the cane toads after the species was introduced in Australia in a failed effort to reduce pests that were threatening the country's sugar cane fields.
“Working with Russell Allen of Dolby Production Services and the team from Barc...
Mark Lewis’ documentary "Cane Toads: The Conquest" will premiere in Dolby 3D Digital Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival, the company announced on Monday.
Lewis' film follows the ecological havoc wrecked by the cane toads after the species was introduced in Australia in a failed effort to reduce pests that were threatening the country's sugar cane fields.
“Working with Russell Allen of Dolby Production Services and the team from Barc...
- 1/25/2010
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
The world seems to be falling in love with 3-D films. With the 3-D renaissance really beginning on the back of animation films like Up! and Coraline and blockbusters such as Avatar, why not make an Australian documentary about our most famous pest in 3-D? Australia's first 3-D film, Cane Toads: The Conquest, will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month. Written and directed by unconventional filmmaker Mark Lewis, The Conquest is the follow up to his 1988 documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History. In America for the festival, Lewis said, "Here in Los Angeles there is an extraordinary heat on all aspects of 3-D and everyone seems excited by it.
- 1/21/2010
- FilmInk.com.au
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