Though I have no idea what it’s like from the local perspective, to an outsiders eye it looks as though now is an interesting time to be making films in Australia.  Though several of the big, high profile genre films have failed to find the international traction they were expected to post-Wolf Creek the country has turned out a string of small, sharp thrillers and indie dramas that just look to be dead solid.  Films like Acolytes, Beautiful, Last Ride and Van Diemen’s Land.  And Van Diemen’s Land takes me to where I want to go - to the resurgence of the hard edged Australian period drama, the Aussie western if you will, post The Proposition.

It’s a genre pretty uniquely suited to Australia, a land with stark landscapes and an even starker history, and another very solid entry in the genre is just around the corner.  Kriv Stenders’ Lucky Country is due to hit Australian screens in mid-July.  The just-released trailer starts off looking like a period-set family drama but things quickly take a darker turn and it is obvious something is lurking below the surface.  Beautifully shot with a strong cast, this story of a failing farm and gold-seeking ramblers looks like a keeper.  Check the trailer below the break!

Continue Reading "Australia Goes Western In LUCKY COUNTRY"...

Seventy years later and 1939 is still hailed as a benchmark year for Hollywood cinema.  Celebrating that fact, this evening The Castro Theatre launches its 18-film tribute to 1939, including such classics as Son of Frankenstein and The Man They Could Not Hang, At the Circus and You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man, They Made Me A Criminal and Each Dawn I Die, The Women and Ninotchka, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Destry Rides Again, Wuthering Heights and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Tarzan Finds A Son and Another Thin Man, Gunga Din and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, wrapping up with Golden Boy and Only Angels Have Wings.

If you prefer your home entertainment system to a movie palace, at least 10 of those titles are likewise included in Turner Classic Movies’ 39-film tribute “1939—70th Anniversary of Hollywood’s Greatest Year.”  Each Thursday night through the month of July, TCM will shoot off 1939’s most celebrated fireworks, including all 10 Best Picture Oscar® Nominees (reminding—in the light of recent events—that everything old is new again).  Robert Osborne offers a preview of the festival at Now Playing: The Show and the full schedule can be found at TCM’s website.  TCM’s “39 From 1939” Film Festival also features the premiere of the new Warner Home Video documentary 1939 (2009), which recounts the astonishing accomplishments of Hollywood during this historic film year.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has, of course, been screening all 10 Best Picture Oscar® Nominees throughout the Summer, with only four screenings left to go.

Of related interest, at One Way Street Alan Rode angles in on 1939 by way of a sterling portrait of “the incredible twelve month run of film roles by the great character actor, Thomas Mitchell.”

And, of course, no survey of any given year in cinema history would be complete without a tip of the hat to Thom Ryan’s Film of the Year.  He chose Confessions of a Nazi Spy as his focus on 1939.

So, out of sheer curiosity, what is your favorite film from 1939?

Cross-published on The Evening Class.

[Our thanks to Pat Dahn for the following review.]

QUICK GUN MURUGAN is a blast. Based on a series of shorts made for MTV India in the early 90s, it successfully expands that colorful ‘attitude’ into a feature-length movie. Now, I never watched MTV India and my recollection of the US version is fuzzy at best, but I do remember those strange little animations and station spots were always the most interesting things they programmed.

Quick Gun Murugan is a vegetarian cowboy - a sweet, gentle man of values who shoots many people in the head. An outlandish figure, colorful beyond convention, he seems as out of place in 1982 as he does in modern Mumbai.

Continue Reading "NYAFF 09 Review: QUICK GUN MURUGAN"...

I never thought I would see that day when I would write an article and when it came to choosing categories for our search options I would click both Martial Arts and Western. But here we are…

I think the last movie I saw involving Asian swordsmen plying their trade in the Western landscape was… what? And I don’t mean something like Shanghai Noon. I mean honest to goodness swordsmen hacking it out against cowboys. Once Upon A Time in China and America? Or am I going back farther to Red Sun with Bronson and Mifune? But look at this! This is a martial arts western called The Warriors Way. It was once called Laundry Warrior and either that was deemed insensitive to all the Chinese immigrants who settled in the West at that time or the title itself wasn’t appealing. So what is really going on here?

The Warrior’s Way is an English language fantasy action film starring Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Huston, Tony Cox and Korean actor Jang Dong-gun. Helmed and written by Sngmoo Lee, pic has a $45 million budget through Sad Flutes, a company set up by Michael Peyser [Speed 2] and Lee Joo-ick [Seven Swords] and is being produced by Barrie Osborne who also produced Lord of the Rings The movie is scheduled for release sometime in August 2009. The story is about an Asian warrior played by Jang, who is forced to hide in a small town in the American badlands. He meets the town drunk played by Rush, and a circus knife thrower played by Bosworth, both of whom have powerful secrets. Wikipedia

Lee taught film in NYC for the past five years. This will be his debut film. Filming took place in New Zealand between November 2007 and February 2008 and Weta has been involved in a lot of the effects. “We draw on two great milieux, the Samurai movie and the Western,” Peyser said. “We will deliver a stylized, partly anime feel, with the techniques of ‘300,’ but a look that is brighter.”.

The film features the fight choreography of Japanese action director Yuji Shimomura, a protégé of Donnie Yen with AD credits that include VERSUS, ARAGAMI, SHINOBI: HEART UNDER BLADE, and motion capture for several action video games including DEVIL MAY CRY 4. Kensuke Sonomura is assistant fight choreographer and stunts have been overseen by Hollywood veteran Augie Davis (THE WATER HORSE). KungFuCinema

Word from 24FPS was that the trailer was up on YouTube but got taken down. It surfaced on RuTube and we have embedded it after the break. And because Twitchfilm readers are such an insightful bunch I’m sure you’re going to have your two cents worth to share with us after the break. Play nice.

Continue Reading "Get it while it’s hot! Promo reel for the Korean-Kiwi martial arts western ‘The Warriors Way’"...

No doubt about it, we’re smitten with director Cory McAbee around these parts and I’m anxiously awaiting my chance to catch his latest sci-fi / musical / western Stingray Sam.  I’ll have to wait a little longer myself but if you’re in New York City you only have to wait until Saturday, June 8th when the film will be screened by Rooftop Films in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.  Hit that link for details! And check the trailer below the break!

Continue Reading "Hey New York!  Cory McAbee’s STINGRAY SAM Screening On Saturday!"...

Color us intrigued by the prospects of Andrew Mackenzie’s Hired Guns, a rotoscoped Western. Though no plot details were released Andrew did share with us a mighty fine pedigree of actors and production talent he is lining up for his film. He has an in-talks cast of Will Patton, Jeff Fahey, Karl Urban, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini and Zoe Bell. The score will be provided by Andrea Morricone, the son of the legendary composer Ennio Morricone. Andrew also has Sergio Donati on board as an Executive producer, offering his insight and experience in Western films.

Andrew has shared with us some great news. His production has been given a few dollars more and they will now be going as a live action shoot in New Mexico moved back to mid-August. In the mean time he thought it would be neat to share a few words from Sergio and we have that clip as well as the pre-viz teaser to show what he’s got in mind for this project.

Continue Reading "Hired Guns: production update and a message from Sergio Donati."...

A film we’ve been tracking with great interest in these pages for a good long time now is the upcoming live action adaptation of the popular books by Morris and Goscinny, the latter of whom - of course - is also the creator of Asterix and Obelix.  It’s coming from director James Huth, who also helmed the woefully under-seen Hellphone, with French comedian Jean Dujardin in the lead and with an October release planned for France an extended promo is available for the first time from production outfit UGC.  The verdict?  Very kid friendly and very much in keeping with the spirit of the original creation.  Dujardin looks like an inspired casting choice and the rest of the cast - which also includes Sylvie Testud - looks equally strong.  And the production values on this look amazing, the film having been shot on location in Argentina with the natural landscapes there put to stellar use.  Given the general failure of the Asterix films to make a dent in North America I don’t expect this will travel widely, either - though it already has a home in French speaking Canada, at least - and that’s a shame.

Stop reading and watch.  Finally some footage from John Hillcoat’s long anticipated adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD.

Continue Reading "Trailer for THE ROAD"...

The Peter J. Owens Award—named after longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts and charitable organizations Peter J. Owens (1936-1991)—honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. This year’s recipient Robert Redford joins such previous honorees as Angelica Houston, Geena Davis, Danny Glover, Gérard Depardieu, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Annette Benning, Nicholas Cage, Sean Penn, Wynona Ryder, Stockard Channing, Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, Chris Cooper, Joan Allen, Ed Harris, Robin Williams and Maria Bello.

The onstage tribute to Redford included a clip reel, an onstage conversation with Phil Bronstein, and a spanking new print of Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Graham Leggat introduced Phil Bronstein as Vice President and Editor-at-Large of the San Francisco Chronicle. Phil began his career as film reviewer and Leggat mentioned that he once wrote a very long review in which he completely forgot to mention the title of the film. “It was all uphill from there. In his early twenties he was a reporter for KQED on public television’s first nightly news show called Newsreel. After KQED, he specialized in investigative projects and won several awards for his work on environmental and law enforcement abuses. He joined The Examiner as a reporter in 1980 … as a member of the investigative team. Beginning in 1983, he spent 10 years as a war correspondent and in 1986 was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his work in the Philippines. He went on to cover conflicts in other parts of Southeast Asia, as well as El Salvador, Peru and the Middle East. Phil was named Executive Editor of The Examiner in 1991 and—when The Examiner and The Chronicle merged in 2000—he was made an editor at The Chronicle. In February 2008, he was named to his current position as Executive Vice President and Editor-at-Large and in that capacity he oversees an investigative reporting group that spans several newspapers around the country and is deeply involved in issues of journalism’s digital future. Phil is on the board of the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley. He was a school drop-out, was expelled from several schools, but somehow paradoxically he has an honorary doctorate in public service from Notre Dame de Namur University. Phil also survived a recent appearance on the Stephen Colbert show.” (Frankly, his surviving an attack by a komodo dragon seemed of more import.)

After listing Robert Redford’s filmography, Leggat claimed, “Tonight’s honoree has no equal in post-war American cinema. He stands alone. He’s peerless. Not only as a brilliant, beautiful and talented actor; but, also, he has distinguished himself as an excellent director, as a tireless and selfless environmental and social activist, and as the creator and guiding light of the Sundance Institute, which for the last 28 years has been the most influential film organization in America and has been an inspiration for filmmakers and film culture around the world.”

Propelled by roaring applause and a standing ovation, Robert Redford took to the stage to converse with Phil Bronstein.

Continue Reading "SFIFF52: BUTCH CASSIDY & SUNDANCE KID—Onstage Conversation With Robert Redford & Phil Bronstein"...

Well now, here’s an intriguing fusion of the old and new.  Executive producer Sergio Donati (Once Upon A Time In The West) is backing Andrew McKenzie’s Hired Guns, a spaghetti western due to start shooting in July with an in-talks cast of Will Patton, Jeff Fahey, Karl Urban, Keith David, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini and Zoe Bell and the score provided by Andrea Morricone who, yes, is the son of Ennio.  This alone would be enough to catch the attention.  The cast fits, Donati obviously knows the score and speaking of the score ... well, it’s hard to argue with the Morricone heritage, now isn’t it?  But here’s where things get interesting:  The film is going to be shot digitally on the Red camera and then put through the same rotoscope animation technique pioneered on Waking Life and subsequently employed for A Scanner Darkly and others.  A rotoscoped western?  If they push this right out to the extremes it could be pretty spectacular.

For a taste of what’s coming, McKenzie has released a pre-viz teaser to show what he’s got in mind.  You’ll find it below the break.

Continue Reading "WAKING LIFE Goes Western In HIRED GUNS"...

Hi y’all! Time to get silly.
 
Having never seen Cory McAbee’s previous film “American Astronaut” I had no clue what to expect from his latest sci-fi non-epic “Stingray Sam”. So as I waited for the venue to open its doors, I checked out the scores so far for the Silver Scream Award, which is the Imagine Film Festival’s yearly award based on audience ratings. Guess what: “Let The Right One In” dominated the chart as expected. But to my surprise “Stingray Sam” was in second place with almost the same score!
This made me very curious to say the least, as on paper this title didn’t look like an audience pleaser.
 
For “Stingray Sam” is mostly shot in black & white and on a below-low budget. It’s also allegedly meant to be seen on mobile phones as a series of six ten-minute episodes, and its director Cory McAbee even gave a masterclass during the festival on how to make mobile phone movies. It also features (gasp) songs.
 
The version of “Stingray Sam” shown at the Imagine Film Festival had a razorsharp image and good sound, but still… this was the movie that had a good chance of dislodging Alfredson’s much-heralded vampire movie from its first place?!? In fact, it DID reach first spot (albeit for a single day only).
 
Now that the festival has ended, “Stingray Sam” ended in second place with an audience rating of 8.8 out of 10 which is freaking high. The reason for its success is quite simple: despite (or maybe because of) its humble origins, Cory McAbee’s film is almost insanely entertaining. When you see the audience clapping and singing along with the opening credits (which are replayed in front of every single episode) you know there is something special going on…
 
More after the break: Space Cowboys! Bikini-clad Nightclub Dancers! Male Pregnancy Doctors!

Continue Reading "Imagine this! STINGRAY SAM review"...

Being blindsided can be fun. All I knew of J. T. Petty was that his previous film “S-and-Man”, a documentary on voyeurism and media manipulation, hit with controversy when it turned out that there was a bit more manipulation in it than people initially thought. It was argued that the manipulation was an intentional part of the viewing experience, but it all started to sound a bit pretentious and apologetic to me.
 
So I wasn’t exactly going nuts when I heard Petty had a new project called “The Burrowers”, a horror western which seemed to be following the “Tremors” template. My curiosity went up when Todd gave it a favorable review last year, so I decided to see it at this year’s Imagine Festival in Amsterdam.
 
It allowed me to see this direct-to-DVD title in the cinema, ironically in the same week as its “official” premiere as a DVD-release, and I now truly feel privileged having done so.
Because, people, the sad truth is:
 
YOU WERE ROBBED!
 
Robbed from having a decent chance of seeing this in a cinema near you. For “The Burrowers” is one of the most cinematic films I’ve seen in quite a while, and so far my most pleasant surprise this year. I’ll go as far as to say that if this had been playing at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam, it would probably have been the only film to get a “5-out-of-5” from me. And I’m now an instant J. T. Petty fan.
 
So what made me like it THAT much?
Read on after the break…

Continue Reading "Imagine this! THE BURROWERS Review"...

Chon Noriega‘s curriculum vitae is intimidating. He exemplifies the adage that—if you want to get something done—find a busy person. Upon the occasion of his most recent gig as Robert Osborne’s co-host to TCM’s “Race and Hollywood: Latino Images in Film”, Noriega and I touched base by phone to preview the upcoming line-up.

Continue Reading "TCM: LATINO IMAGES IN FILM—Interview With Chon Noriega"...

Marking the fourth in an ongoing series of film festivals exploring Hollywood’s portrayal of different racial groups, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will turn its spotlight on the cinematic depiction of Latinos.  Throughout the month of May, TCM’s “Race and Hollywood: Latino Images In Film” will showcase 40 films, past and present, that show the progression of how Latino characters and culture are depicted in cinema.  Joining TCM’s Robert Osborne in hosting the festival will be UCLA professor Chon Noriega, author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema.

“As has been shown in our past ‘Race and Hollywood’ editions, the way in which Hollywood depicts different cultural groups can have a tremendous impact on how those groups are viewed in society as a whole,” said Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM.  “We’re proud that TCM has the library and resources to delve deeply into issues like racial and cultural identity in a way that no other network on television can.  We are also thrilled to welcome the participation of noted scholar Chon Noriega as co-host with Robert Osborne for this project.”

TCM’s “Race and Hollywood: Latino Images In Film” festival will take place Tuesday and Thursday nights in May, beginning at 5:00PM (PT).  Each night’s collection of films will be centered on a particular theme, such as a look at depictions from the silent era, views of border towns and small ethnic towns, musicals, stories featuring interracial relationships, explorations of social problems and Latino representations in past and current westerns.  Also included in the festival line-up will be several contemporary films making their first appearance on TCM, including The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), La Bamba (1987), The Mambo Kings (1992), Stand and Deliver (1988), The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) and Lone Star (1996).  In addition, each evening will feature a specially chosen film for late-night movie fans.

Chon A. Noriega, who will co-host the festival with TCM’s Robert Osborne, is professor of cinema and media studies at UCLA and director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.  He is author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema and editor of nine books, including Visible Nations: Latin American Cinema and Video and I, Carmelita Tropicana: Performing Between Cultures.  Since 1996, he has been editor of A Journal of Chicano Studies, the flagship journal for the field since its founding in 1970.  Noriega has curated numerous media and visual arts projects, including Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, which is currently traveling to venues in the U.S. and Mexico.  He has also helped recover and preserve independent films, including the first three Chicano-directed feature films, which have been restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.  Noriega has received the Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and the Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship.  He is co-founder of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (est. 1999) and served two terms on the Board of Directors of the Independent Television Service.  He is currently completing a book on Puerto Rican multimedia artist Raphael Montañez Ortiz.

Past editions of TCM’s “Race and Hollywood” festival series include explorations of how Hollywood has portrayed African-Americans in 2006 and Asians in 2008.  In addition, TCM looked at Hollywood’s depiction of gay images in film in 2007.

The following is a complete schedule of TCM’s “Race and Hollywood: Latino Images In Film” (PT).  An asterisk in parentheses designates which movies are making their TCM debut.  Please check TCM’s website for Eastern listings.

Continue Reading "TCM—RACE AND HOLLYWOOD: LATINO IMAGES IN FILM"...

Bay Area cinephiles will be obsessively checking their in-boxes this Friday, awaiting e-mail instructions on how to access the program for the 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF52).  The line-up won’t be officially announced until the March 31 press conference, but for the third year in a row, SF Film Society members get to peek (and start buying tickets) four days earlier.  Press releases have arrived at a steady clip over the past few weeks, and the festival has already revealed much of its hand.  Here’s a recap of what we know so far, followed by a bit of speculation and wishful thinking over what Friday might have in store.

Continue Reading "SFIFF52—Michael Hawley Anticipates the Line-up"...