Another Earth presents an interesting experiment; a second Earth suddenly appears in the sky. The mysterious planet is actually another copy of Earth, perhaps one in another universe. Why it suddenly became visible is left unexplained. However for a movie called Another Earth this film has very little to do with this said other Earth and more to do with what this second Earth means to a few individuals in our Earth. No surprise that a second Earth means a second chance to the protagonist Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling).
Te Presento a Laura is a likable, and quippy story from beginning to end. It is a simple feel good movie; like its main character, Laura, the movie seems to spend its days holding up a sign that reads “free hugs”. It is certainly a been-there-done-that type of film; neither profound nor elaborate it offers a little bit more of what we enjoy seeing in most films of its type. It doesn’t need to be anything more than that.
There is nothing particularly bad about Ceremony, but there is also nothing that makes it stand out above anything in particular. It is simply a quirky cinematic experience that might or might not produce a few laughs. That being said, it is also far beyond an average film; almost as if writer/filmmaker Max Winkler would have tried to walk away from average in all directions at the same time, only to come full circle at the opposite end of OKness. Yes it is an odd thing, but if you ever get to see the movie you’ll understand.
You might have heard about Iron Sky, but I just discovered it. And I have to say it looks like 110% of pulp awesomeness. I am already excited and it will probably not be released until next year, despite the fact that principal photography has warped. Why so long then? Well, Iron Sky is being financed through fan donations. So the filmmakers work at the rate the money pours in, which is very slow.
So as you probably already know, I am a giant fan of the late Arrested Development, and the good people over at the Independent Arrested Development Documentary have released the final trailer to their project.
I have been emailing with the guys back and forth for almost a year now, and they are just great. Just a couple of fans, just like me, and they want nothing more than to spread the joy that the show was, and raise some education about it. It's also important to note that the entire thing is self-funded, and completely out of their own pockets.
So here's the final trailer to their project. Be sure to check their website (in our affiliates bar) and check the film out when it's released.
Following the distributor, Yari Film Group's bankruptcy the film Assassination of a High School President may not get a true theatric run but rather a release direct-to-DVD. While I can't directly speak on the quality of the film, as I haven't seen it the reviews and buzz from critics and bloggers alike have been overwhelmingly positive and there's no reason this film does not deserve to see the proper light of day when rubbish like Miss March is released every week (sorry Ezra).
So what's a film geek to do? Become a fan of the film on Facebook and add the title to your Netflix queue. Pass the word along on your blog, Twitter, Tumblr, whatever to let the studio know your interested. Also check out the teaser trailer below.
Many times we have given too much importance to this adjective, an importance it doesn’t necessarily deserve. We strive to make indie films, indie music, or just to be indie; in a way this is due to the attractiveness of doing your own thing. Taking your pure vision and transplanting it on to the screen with no modifications, and working with only a close creative team that has a vision similar to yours is rewarding. So strong the taste for indieness has become that the line between indie and studio has been blurred, to the point where indie can be used as a marketing ploy.
Just last year a film promising all the originality of an indie film was released. The film had a budget of over 7 million dollars for its production, and twice that money for advertisement. Judging from this budget, we can safely guess that Juno was within no definition of an indie film. Nevertheless the film tried and attempted to look and feel indie, and was released under the standard of Fox Searchlight.
Has anyone noticed how each major studio has an “indie” or “artsy” film distribution logo? We have mentioned Fox Searchlight, there’s also Warner Independent, Paramount Vantage, and Sony Picture Classics amongst others. Many of these are actual subsidiary companies dedicated to the promotion of the so called “indie” films, although others are simply a branding name used to market a film. Babel was originally going to be released under the Paramount Pictures banner but was finally marketed as a Paramount Vantage product due to its artsy and somewhat progressive nature. The following year No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood were released under the same banner, all with academy award nominations.
Juno was a direct response to the success of Little Miss Sunshine, an actual independent film with half of Juno’s budget. Marc Turtletaub himself covered all the expenses, finally gaining back his investment after Fox bought the distribution rights for ten million dollars. A few weeks ago, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist was released as a second follow-up to this trend. Indie is more and more looking like a genre rather than a definition of the films origins. Originally this genre involved lots of gore and sex, a fact that is referenced in Juno when Juno and Mark watch the Wizard of Gore an old school indie film, or B-movie as they used to be called.
It is strange to think however, that if we take the indie definition as a hard rule a film, then Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace or any of the new Star Wars trilogy can be considered indie. They were all written by George Lucas, directed by George Lucas and produced by George Lucas under his own studio and funding. There were no middlemen at any point during the creative process. How is that for an “indie” film? The only indie quality within it is the small romance between a nine year old boy and a galactic queen, surely something too much of a taboo for mainstream Hollywood.
Okay, that title was a lie. Kind of. The Foot Fist Way is not available on DVD until tomorrow. But it is on Itunes movie store now.... so maybe you should check it out.
Now I'll tell you what 'The Foot Fist Way' is. (Spoilers May Occur - Not Major Ones Though)
'Foot Fist' is the delightfully indy tale of a guy named Fred 'King of the Demo' Simmons (Danny McBride - Pineapple Express/ Tropic Thunder). Fred runs a Tae Kwon Do school, where he spends 60% of his life teaching children the fighting art of Tae Kwon Do. He's cocky, but sure of himself, and when it comes down to it, the school is just like any other Tae Kwon Do school that you may or may not have attended. On the weekends they set up a tent in a parking lot and Fred demonstrates Tae Kwon Do to potential new classmates (Hence: King of the Demo), and during the weekdays, they practice Tae Kwon Do in the classroom. The class is full of a whole assortment of characters. Usually Fred wanders away from class to attend to his own business and leaves one of the younger students, Julio (Spencer Moreno), in charge.
At home, Fred has his problems too. His wife Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic) is cheating on him, and he wants to figure out how to get his Tae Kwon Do hero Chuck 'The Truck' Wallace (Ben Best) to come to his class for the final testing. Naturally, this is a lot more action than Fred is used to handling, and soon he has to figure out how to be 'the bigger man' and handle it all to prove he really is 'King of the Demo'.
After Pineapple Express came out this summer many people sad 'Where did Danny McBride come from, and how did he land a role like this?" Well the answer is simply 'The Foot Fist Way". McBride's character of Fred is never really like-able, but you can't hate him either, just because he is so innocent. With most likely 90% improvised dialogue, McBride does well with making the viewer laugh with almost all of his lines. Chuck 'The Truck' is played by Ben Best almost as if Chuck Norris, and Willie Nelson were fused together into an epic Tae Kwon Do master. He's kind of a jerk and Chuck 'The Truck' is in no way a hero, at least in the way that Fred looks up to him. Jody Hill has a fun, but small role as well as Mike McAlister, a Tae Kwon Do maven, who is pretty quiet, but dresses pretty much like Draco Malfoy, from the Harry Potter franchise.
Also, watching Fred sign up students is a pretty good laugh as well, because Fred is so cocky that he does not seem to care if students join his school or not. Jonathan Ewart has a quick but funny spot as a guy who just wants to take Tae Kwon Do, but is literally berated out of the office by Fred. Collette Wolfe (Semi Pro) is a girl who does join the class, much to her disappointment when Fred falls in love with her and talks as if she is the one having relationship problems with him, instead of the other way around.
Written by Ben Best, Jody Hill, and Danny McBride, and shot in 2005 (Directed by Jody Hill) on a $70,000 budget, this is the true epitome of an indy comedy. A totally independent film, not like the kind of 'indy movie' you see today that were backed by big studios from day one. After premiering at the LA Film Festival in 2006, it was picked up by the Sundance Film Festival and subsequently picked up by Will Ferrell and Adam Mckay... who loved the movie and wanted to to gain cult status, but it seems they did not promote their new baby as much as they should have.
I don't know what the behind the scenes are, but I hear there may be an alternate ending, and probably interviews with the cast and a line-o-rama or something like that.
Pick up your copy of THE FOOT FIST WAY tomorrow!
Here's a trailer. It's pretty NSFW (Not Safe For Work - Language wise) so if you are in an office, standing next to grumpy elderly people, or substitute teaching at a nursery school - you may wish to turn your sound down a bit.
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