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15 articles from 2008

17 July 2008 11:59 PM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news

The Wackness

Starring Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, and Olivia Thirlby

Directed by Jonathan Levine

Rated R

Sometimes it's the strangest relationships that can be the most rewarding. Felix and Oscar, Harold and Maude, Martin and Lewis, Laurel and Hardy, Gnarls Barkley. The Wackness provides us the most dysfunctional friendship of 2008, but it's one the characters and the audience are both the better for exploring.

Recent high school graduate Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) attends therapy sessions with Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley). At the end of each session, Luke pays his doctor with dime bags of pot. It's a win-win situation; Luke gets the help he seeks and gains a customer, and Dr. Squires gets the high he wants and, for 45 minutes, a friend he needs.

Squires lives a pretty vacant life. He's in a loveless marriage (to Famke Janssen) and he doesn't get along very well with his step-daughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby from Juno). Luke,

Colin Boyd

12 July 2008 7:14 AM, PDT | From Rope Of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck wheel around the marijuana cart posing as a snow cone cart

Photo: Sony Pictures Classics Fueled by not much more than online fanboy joy over a film they mildly connect with, The Wackness is impressive only as a piece of teenage "where do I fit in the world?" questioning, but outside of that it isn't all that interesting. This film just tends to sit there and go through the motions as each and every turn in the plot is foreshadowed prior to anything ever taking place. None of it is a mystery as you follow the slovenly open-mouthed protagonist on his daily jaunts selling weed while the world he inhabits is crumbling all around him. Josh Peck isn't a newcomer to films although it may seem that way considering he has never broken out and astounded audiences. Starring as Luke Shapiro, he has just graduated

Brad Brevet

4 July 2008 9:14 AM, PDT | From iconsoffright.com | See recent Icons of Fright news

Our staffer Beth caught a screening of the much-talked about All The Boys Love Mandy Lane at the recent Flashback Weekend convention and you can read her First Look review by clicking the image below! The film was written by Jacob Forman and directed by Jonathan Levine and stars Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Michael Welch, Aaron Himelstein, Edwin Hodge, Whitney Able and Luke Grimes. We're still waiting on word on distribution, but in the meantime, read Beth's review. The rest of us are looking forward to this one!

3 July 2008 10:04 AM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

It seems odd to wax nostalgic about the year 1994, not just because so little time has passed between then and now, but because the particulars of the period—the music, the fashions, the language, the politics—are so hazy and elusive. If nothing else, Jonathan Levine's coming-of-age film The Wackness evokes the summer of '94 with impressive particularity; it's one thing to get the look and sound of the time right, but Levine also captures the atmosphere of fear and loathing in Rudy Giuliani's New York, where the task of "cleaning up" the city swept too much under the rug. With such a rich backdrop in place, it's a shame that Levine brings so little of interest to the fore—instead, he centers on a mopey teenage drug pusher whose mind seems perpetually clouded in pot smoke. He's a bore, and the movie bores along with him. In the summer.

Scott Tobias

3 July 2008 9:07 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Matt Singer

Many movies wax nostalgic for the good old days; "The Wackness" is the only movie I can think of that's nostalgic for a time occupied by people who are themselves nostalgic about their own good old days. Though writer/director Jonathan Levine's wistful coming-of-age film wants us to miss New York City as we knew it in 1994, the characters are all pissed off: their marriages are falling apart or their high school careers (and, thus, their lives) are coming to an end, and the new mayor is cracking down on drug use.

I guess the grass . the grass, man . is always greener. Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) is an enterprising high school senior who makes up for his parents' employment fuckups by dealing pot around his Upper East Side neighborhood. His aesthetic, much like the movie itself, is pointedly old school: cassettes instead of CDs, Nintendo instead of Sega Genesis.

Matt Singer

1 July 2008 10:32 PM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Jonathan Levine will follow up his Los Angeles Film Festival success with indie drama The Wackness by taking on a romantic thriller and a spy film, says The Hollywood Reporter. Levine will write and direct love story Positive, set in Martha's Vineyard, for Occupant Films. He has also agreed to pen Echelon Vendetta, a spy thriller based on David Stone's novel, for (more)

By Simon Reynolds

1 July 2008 8:33 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Stephen Saito

Jonathan Levine calls "The Wackness" a "second first film." In a way, he's speaking for his whole cast. While Levine is making his debut as a writer after helming the much buzzed-about (but still unreleased) teen horror comedy hybrid, "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane," he hired an eclectic cast for his latest film that includes Nickelodeon staple Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby ("Juno"), Method Man, Famke Janssen, Sir Ben Kingsley, and in case you hadn't heard, Mary-Kate Olsen. It's an unusual ensemble for an unusual coming-of-age story of a teen (Peck) who forms an unlikely friendship with a psychologist (Kingsley) by trading marijuana for therapy in 1994 New York. It's clearly a personal story for Levine, but it's not an autobiographical one, though both he and Peck both sweated out sticky summers in Manhattan, listening to Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" a generation apart. Now, the two have

Stephen Saito

30 June 2008 12:05 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Jonathan Levine’s indie comedy “The Wackness” picked up the audience award for best narrative feature Sunday at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival. The film stars Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen and Olivia Thirlby, and focuses on a young drug dealer who falls for his psychiatrist’s daughter.

The audience award for best international feature went to James Marsh’s “Man on Wire,” a British documentary about tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s daring but often illegal stunts.

But “Man on Wire” failed to collect the audience award for best documentary feature, which went to Sacha Gervasi’s “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” a film about a Canadian rock band that never made the big time.

The festival also presented two awards sponsored by Target. Darius Marder’s “Loot” took home the best documentary award, while Sean Baker’s “Prince of Broadway” won best narrative feature.

Other winners included Jennifer Lawrence

Franck Tabouring

30 June 2008 7:46 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Neil Pedley

This 4th of July week finds Will Smith's belligerent man of steel sending the rest of the summer tentpole movies running scared, leaving only the indies to offer any alternative.

"Brutal Massacre"

Does the horror genre need its own "This Is Spinal Tap"? Ready or not, here comes "Brutal Massacre," a mockumentary comedy about a once-successful horror director (played by "An American Werewolf in London"'s David Naughton) attempting to make his big comeback film against increasingly insurmountable odds. Be on the lookout for appearances by Gunnar Hansen ("The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"'s Leatherface), Ellen Sandweiss ("The Evil Dead") and other horror movie stalwarts.

Opens in limited release.

"Diminished Capacity"

Terry Kinney made a name for himself as Tim McManus, the idealistic but world-weary warden of Emerald City in the hard-hitting prison drama "Oz." "Diminished Capacity," his debut as a director, also finds Matthew Broderick

Neil Pedley

30 June 2008 4:51 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Veteran actor Sir Ben Kingsley had to be shown how to smoke pot for his role in forthcoming film The Wackness.

The Oscar-winner stars as a marijuana-addicted therapist in the movie - and had to be given instruction on how to make his smoking look realistic.

The film's director Jonathan Levine tells the New York Daily News, "I had to teach him how to properly hit a bong.

"It's kind of like herbal tobacco. It doesn't taste great or smell great, either. I felt bad for everyone's lungs."

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27 June 2008 6:17 PM, PDT | From toxicshock.tv | See recent toxicshock news

Postergeek.com got their hands on the latest movie poster from the upcoming film “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” by director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) and starring Amber Heard (Pineapple Express), Anson Mount (Cook County) and Whitney Able (Pound of Flesh). Plot: An unattainable teenage beauty whose ethereal allure is so potent that it has drawn some men to their doom goes on a weekend trip with her popular new friends with tragic results in the feature debut of filmmaker Jonathan [...]

Brian Corder

26 June 2008 6:28 AM, PDT | From toxicshock.tv | See recent toxicshock news

Impawards.com got their hands on another very cool movie poster from the upcoming film “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” by director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) and starring Amber Heard (Pineapple Express), Anson Mount (Cook County) and Whitney Able (Pound of Flesh). Plot: An unattainable teenage beauty whose ethereal allure is so potent that it has drawn some men to their doom goes on a weekend trip with her popular new friends with tragic results in the feature debut of filmmaker [...]

Brian Corder

26 June 2008 3:30 AM, PDT | From PEOPLE.com | See recent PEOPLE.com news

He's a screen legend – heck, he's even been knighted! But Sir Ben Kingsley isn't above a little kiss-and-tell when it comes to his on-screen smooch with 22-year-old Mary-Kate Olsen in The Wackness. "She was completely in charge," the actor, 64, tells People of their enthusiastic make-out scene in a telephone booth. The former star of Gandhi and Schindler's List – who's currently shooting with Martin Scorsese in Boston – drove down to New York for the movie's Cinema Society and Sony Cierge-sponsored party at the Gramercy Roof Club. "I love watching the movie," his wife, Daniela, said of the coming-of-age stoner film. As for her real-life leading man,

Jeffrey Slonim

25 June 2008 1:11 PM, PDT | From toxicshock.tv | See recent toxicshock news

The studio has released the latest movie poster from the upcoming film “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” by director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) and starring Amber Heard (Pineapple Express), Anson Mount (Cook County) and Whitney Able (Pound of Flesh). Plot: An unattainable teenage beauty whose ethereal allure is so potent that it has drawn some men to their doom goes on a weekend trip with her popular new friends with tragic results in the feature debut of filmmaker Jonathan Levine. [...]

Brian Corder

9 March 2008 5:54 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Stephen Saito

With 4/20 only a little more than a month away, Sxsw kicked off an all-encompassing celebration of marijuana on Friday with the regional premiere of the Doug Benson doc "Super High Me" at the Paramount Theatre, shortly before other comedies about the herb made their premieres (officially: "Humboldt County"; unofficially: Jonathan Levine's Sundance hit "The Wackness," which played Saturday night as a secret screening). Part concert film culled from "Best Week Ever" regular Benson's stand-up act and part social documentary about the ongoing battle in California between the feds and the newly created legalized "dispensaries," which have been empowered by state law to sell medical marijuana, "Super High Me" sets its sights on being entertaining and informative and manages to do a little of both.

As Benson proves, it's not difficult to procure a doctor's note, and the film follows him as he detoxifies for 30 days from

Stephen Saito

15 articles from 2008