FRIDAY, NOV. 13 – Today may have been Friday the 13th, but ill omens were nowhere to be found on the streets of Asheville. Instead, filmmakers, film critics and film buffs were all in good spirits as downtown turned into a veritable treasure trove of independent cinema. (more…)
In the immortal words of Curly Howard of The Three Stooges: "I'm trying to blog but nothing happens!"
THURSDAY, NOV. 12 – Well, it wasn’t really Day One, since the Seventh Annual Asheville Film Festival didn’t even kick off until well after the sun had gone down. But you get the gist. (more…)
By Matt Brunson
2012
*1/2
DIRECTED BY Roland Emmerich
STARS John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor
The perfect follow-up for those moviegoers who were simply crushed when Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen wrapped up at a too-brief 142 minutes, 2012 contributes another 158 minutes to the cause of wham-bam-thank-you-man cinema. No effect is too preposterous, no sound too deafening, and no cliché too enormous to be left out of the latest end-of-the-world effort from director Roland Emmerich, who there but for the grace of God goes Michael Bay. (more…)
2012
Pirate Radio – Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh
2012 – John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor
By Matt Brunson
THE BOX
***
DIRECTED BY Richard Kelly
STARS Cameron Diaz, James Marsden
The Box is the latest picture from writer-director Richard Kelly, who with the cult fave Donnie Darko proved that he’s one filmmaker able to think outside the box (ouch). (more…)
By Matt Brunson
A SERIOUS MAN
***1/2
DIRECTED BY Joel & Ethan Coen
STARS Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind
Unpredictability is a constant in the Coen Brothers canon, but after the heavy lifting involved with the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, it wasn’t too surprising to see them tackle lighter fare with the quirky Burn After Reading. A Serious Man, however, defies all expectations. In many ways, it feels like a minor effort from Joel and Ethan (a sensation massaged by its modest production values and no-name cast), yet its subject matter is nothing less than man’s relationship with God. It’s a comedy through and through, yet it frequently carries the weight of a Biblical tragedy. In short, it’s unclassifiable — and also one of the best movies of the year. (more…)
An Education
By Matt Brunson
The seventh annual Asheville Film Festival will be held November 12-15, meaning that it’s time once again for Charlotteans not averse to road trips to get excited about seeing a wide range of potentially interesting movies. Over 90 features, documentaries, shorts and student films will be screened over a four-day stretch at various downtown venues.
A trio of possible award-season contenders will be shown out of competition: An Education, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan; Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, with Mo’Nique and newcomer Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe; and That Evening Sun, featuring Hal Holbrook. (more…)
Following is a list of some major DVD releases debuting today. For a complete list, go to www.amazon.com. (more…)
The Main Library’s fall film series, “The Master of Suspense: Alfred Hitchcock Classics,” continues tonight (Monday, Nov. 9) with a screening of another popular offering from the portly genius. 1951’s Strangers on a Train is certainly one of the director’s most diabolical films, a startling piece in which a tennis player (Farley Granger) meets a peculiar man (Robert Walker) during a fateful train ride and dismisses the stranger’s suggestion that they “exchange” murders. It’s only after the athlete’s loathsome wife turns up dead that he realizes the plan was no joke — and that he’s expected to live up to his end of the bargain by murdering the other man’s domineering father. Walker’s creepy performance ranks among the best found in any Hitchcock film, and several of the set pieces — Walker’s immobile presence among an animated tennis crowd; a murder reflected in the victim’s eyeglasses; the shocking merry-go-round finale — represent the filmmaker in top form.
Strangers on a Train will be screened at 7 p.m. this evening at ImaginOn, 300 E. 7th St. Admission is free. For more info, call 704-416-0252.
By Matt Brunson
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
*1/2
DIRECTED BY Robert Zemeckis
STARS Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman
Officially, the title is Disney’s A Christmas Carol, which is acceptable since it sure as hell isn’t Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. While it might be true that this animated version retains more of the literary classic than might reasonably be expected, it’s also accurate to state that a key ingredient of the novel — namely, its humanist spirit — is largely missing from this chilly interpretation. (more…)
