Vera Farmiga's Higher Ground "admirably tries, on a minuscule budget, to evoke the spirit of American cinema from 35 years ago: the age of Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall, an era much more hospitable to serious roles for women than the current one." Melissa Anderson in the Voice: "As reported in a New York Times Magazine cover story on the actress in 2006 (three years before her Oscar-nominated performance in Up in the Air), Farmiga has expressed her disgust with the roles offered her by setting scripts on fire: 'I stack up all those crass female characters, all those utterly ordinary women, all those hundreds and hundreds of parts that have no substance or meaning and turn them into a blazing pyre.' It's a shame, then, that Higher Ground never really ignites."
Farmiga plays "Corinne, a Midwest rural woman who embraces a hippie-inflected but paternalistic evangelical community with her high...
Farmiga plays "Corinne, a Midwest rural woman who embraces a hippie-inflected but paternalistic evangelical community with her high...
- 8/26/2011
- MUBI
First, a quick reminder that entries on several films playing here or there have been updated through today: Film Socialisme, Agrarian Utopia, Road to Nowhere and The Tree of Life. Alright, on with the weekend...
"Jj Abrams imitates to flatter with Super 8, an homage to the seminal science fiction films of Steven Spielberg that succumbs to empty nostalgic pandering," argues Nick Schager in Slant. "As with his Star Trek, Abrams's latest puts a modern spin on classical material, though here reinvention isn't the goal so much as slavish duplication embellished with muscular CG effects. It's akin to returning to a cinematic womb of Spielbergian father-son issues, suburban households under extraterrestrial strain, and teen romance, friendship, and maturation via out-of-this-world circumstances. The effect of such a modus operandi is initial coziness quickly giving way to disheartening familiarity, with Abrams's own preoccupations (if he had any to begin with) becoming subsumed beneath the root themes,...
"Jj Abrams imitates to flatter with Super 8, an homage to the seminal science fiction films of Steven Spielberg that succumbs to empty nostalgic pandering," argues Nick Schager in Slant. "As with his Star Trek, Abrams's latest puts a modern spin on classical material, though here reinvention isn't the goal so much as slavish duplication embellished with muscular CG effects. It's akin to returning to a cinematic womb of Spielbergian father-son issues, suburban households under extraterrestrial strain, and teen romance, friendship, and maturation via out-of-this-world circumstances. The effect of such a modus operandi is initial coziness quickly giving way to disheartening familiarity, with Abrams's own preoccupations (if he had any to begin with) becoming subsumed beneath the root themes,...
- 6/12/2011
- MUBI
Have a couple hot nights on the town when the Cinekink Film Festival shakes its groove thing on March 1-6 in NYC. With the exception of the opening and closing night galas, the fest will turn the venerable Anthology Film Archives into a red light district with sexy feature films, documentaries, shorts and more.
The feature films screening tell wicked tales of telepathic peeping toms (Sexual Radar), swingers (Open Invitation) and naive hedonists (Caged). Meanwhile, the documentaries chronicle the history of gay leather (Kink Crusaders) and porn addiction (Run, Run, It’s Him). And there’s all kinds of naughty offerings hidden in the short film collections.
While Cinekink is traditionally all about sex, the main film Bad Lit wants to recommend is all about not getting in: Robert G. Putka‘s hilarious and discomforting Hooka Face and the Virgin Boy. The fest also includes new short films by Bad...
The feature films screening tell wicked tales of telepathic peeping toms (Sexual Radar), swingers (Open Invitation) and naive hedonists (Caged). Meanwhile, the documentaries chronicle the history of gay leather (Kink Crusaders) and porn addiction (Run, Run, It’s Him). And there’s all kinds of naughty offerings hidden in the short film collections.
While Cinekink is traditionally all about sex, the main film Bad Lit wants to recommend is all about not getting in: Robert G. Putka‘s hilarious and discomforting Hooka Face and the Virgin Boy. The fest also includes new short films by Bad...
- 2/24/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.