| The San Francisco 9th Annual Independent Film Festival | | Posted Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:55:57 PM by Blog57 Team | | January and February is typically a tough time for the ardent cinemaphile as multiplexes are crammed with typically heavy, dark Oscar frontrunners or garbage that didnt make the cut last year (Code Name: The Cleaner anyone?). Fortunately, our good friends at IndieFest have assembled a broad and eclectic mlange of films. Many of these films may never see the light of a multiplex and more than a handful of them are certainly worth the time and money. Listed below are few of the most notable "indies". Viva Writer/director Anna Biller has assembled a hilarious parody of 70s sexploitation films. Viva revolves around the radical transformation of the bored stiff housewife "Barbi" into the volatile, vampish sex-goddess, Viva. Biller clearly knows this genre QUITE well and it is reflected in every small detail of the film from vapid dialogue, shallow characters, ridiculous furnishings, and everything in between.... | |
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| | | The Top Ten Movies of 2006 | | Posted Wednesday, December 27, 2006 2:55:58 PM by Blog57 Team | | 26 Dec - The year 2006 saw many different types of movies hitting the silver screens. We have the usual summer and year-end blockbusters as well as a couple of underrated films that simply exceeded expectations. It is also a year of various low budget horror movies, animations and a guy named Borat, who sadly couldn't make it to our cinemas over here. This time around, it's not easy to come up with a top 10 list as there was not one film that truly emerged as the "best" of the year. In fact, movie critics and reviewers actually had a difficult time agreeing on things one person's favorite film is another one's most hated. There are a million or so moviegoers out there who might agree or disagree with my list below, but I am just one voice and do not exactly represent the opinion of the masses.... | |
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| | | Atlanta festival highlights independent films | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 3:07:34 PM by Blog57 Team | | During the next week, check out a variety of independent films at the Out on Film Festival in Atlanta. The gay and lesbian film festival, presented by IMAGE Film and Video Center, features movies that cover everything from the same-sex marriage debate to the revival of roller derby. Out on Film opens today and continues through Thursday at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta. Here are some highlights of the festival: "Puccini for Beginners" (opening night film) This comedy depicts a love triangle between Allegra and the man, Phillip (Justin Kirk) and the woman, Grace (Gretchen Mol), she likes. What Allegra doesn't realize, though, is that Phillip and Grace have a history together as well. The film was nominated for the grand jury prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.... | |
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| | | Writer examines horror films | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 1:02:25 PM by Blog57 Team | | What makes a good scary movie? That question spawns almost as much thought and debate as other great mystery such as "If a tree fall in the woods and no one is around to hear it. Does it make a sound," "What is the meaning of life?" or "Which came first: the chicken or the egg?" The answer to this long-debated question really depends on what kind of person you are. Each one of us is an individual, to some extent, and we are all drawn to different things, just as we each shy away from various others. The first question you have to ask yourself in the search for celluloid fright is, "Why do I like scary movies?" Some people watch these films because they enjoy being scared. As fun as this adrenaline fueled emotional rollercoaster ride can be, some of us who tend to hang out in the moral underbelly of the world are drawn to these films because they intrigue us.... | |
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| | | Let the holiday films begin | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 7:01:14 AM by Blog57 Team | | Oscar season began in September - unofficially. Every year like clockwork, when the big budget summer extravaganza ends, films are released that examine the human condition, the mafia or an important struggle, usually a war. All kidding aside, this year was no exception. Emotions have run high and the lists are already forming. There are still some to come in November and December, no doubt the last-minute surprises (2005's "Million Dollar Baby"), but there is another important genre during the fall season, one that makes the money (and usually garners some Golden Globe nominations, like "The Family Stone") - the holiday film. The definition is a loose one. "Santa Clause 3" is a holiday film, but then so is Nancy Meyer's "The Holiday," a romantic comedy following Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as they switch houses to get over break-ups.... | |
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| | | Halloween Horror Movies May Cause Emotional Problems In Young Children | | Posted Friday, November 03, 2006 3:04:45 AM by Blog57 Team | | Toddlers and young children who watch violent movies, including Halloween horror films, television shows or video games may be more likely to develop anxiety, sleep disorders, and aggressive and self-endangering behaviors. The Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center study, which was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), was presented on Oct. 28 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in San Diego. .... | |
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| | | TEN HORROR FILMS THAT MAKE THE CUT | | Posted Sunday, October 29, 2006 7:01:04 PM by Blog57 Team | | Despite the immense popularity of horror films, one problem with the genre is that the majority of releases are just plain bad. But, with more than 100 years' worth of movies to choose from, there have also been a number of classics. The following 10 movies make the short list for the best horror films of all time. 1) "Nosferatu" Director F.W. Murnau's silent adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is still creepy more than eight decades after its creation. If you can't stand the thought of a silent movie, Werner Herzog's 1979 remake is also exceptional. A nice companion piece to the 1922 original is the indie drama "Shadow of the Vampire," in which John Malkovich plays a fictionalized Murnau. Good, too, is Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck an actor with a taste for his co-stars.... | |
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| | | Pupils who watch violent films get poorer grades at school | | Posted Wednesday, October 25, 2006 2:58:55 PM by Blog57 Team | | London, Oct 23: A new study conducted in the US has shown that children who watch violent, horror and action films, get poorer grades at school. The study involved more than 4,500 school pupils, all in the age group of 10-14 years, who watched films intended for older audiences.It was found that those children were more likely to get lower school marks compared with their classmates who watched tamer movies.The researchers also found that children who watched more than four hours of television during a weekday scored on average lower grades than those who spent less time in front of the television.Child health experts at Dartmouth Children's Hospital and Montefiore Medical Centre in New York quizzed children at 15 schools across the country on their TV viewing habits, and comparing the information collected with their grades.They found that adolescents who had watched movies such as the vampire film 'Blade' and the slasher flick 'Friday the 13th' were 64 per cent more likely to perform badly in class.Lead researcher Dr James Sargent, a paediatrician at Dartmouth Medical School, believes that disturbing scenes in the films may provoke rebellious behaviour in children, besides disrupting their sleep, leaving them less likely to work hard in class."These are young adolescents who really should not be watching this type of adult material.... | |
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| | | Oh, the horror | | Posted Saturday, October 21, 2006 10:53:43 AM by Blog57 Team | | Everyone loves a good scare. At least if the movie industry is any indication. Horror films have been a staple since the 1920s, when director F.W. Murnau offered his creepy vision of the undead in "Nosferatu." With time, the ins and outs of spooky movies have changed. Through the 1950s, movies relied heavily on gothic horror and science fiction tales, and in the 1960s psychological horror stories, like "Psycho," were all the rage. In the old days, gore wasn't a major factor, but as cultural standards changed toward the end of the 1960s, movies became increasingly bloody. Today, decapitations and worse are standard fare. Changes over the years Regardless of changes to the genre, horror films like the monsters that populate them have refused to die. With Halloween drawing near, a new slate of films are on the horizon, including the gruesome "Saw III." Head to video stores and even more spooky movies are haunting the shelves.... | |
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| | | Exclusive: Ghost of Mae Nak's Mark Duffield | | Posted Thursday, October 19, 2006 12:56:52 PM by Blog57 Team | | If you watch the Thai horror film Ghost of Mae Nak, released last week as part of Tartan Films' Asia Extreme series, you might be surprised that the man behind the project was not born or raised in Thailand. He doesn't even speak Thai! British filmmaker Mark Duffield just happened to be in the right place at the right time, getting inspiration from a visit to the country to come up with a ghost story based on a well-known Thai tradition. ComingSoon.net talked with Duffield about how a Londoner ended up breaking into the Asian horror scene. ComingSoon.net: I know you started as a cinematographer first, but how did you end up in Thailand making movies? Mark Duffield: I originally went to Thailand as a cinematographer in 2001 to work on a British feature film called "Butterfly Man," so I spent like four months there.... | |
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