Here are some of my Halloween viewing plans for today! October 31st 2014

Housebound, Animosity, Missionary, Summer of Blood, Rigor Mortis, The Maid's Room, LFO, Soulmate, Grow Up Tony Philips among movies I MAY watch for Halloween :)

 
 

Japefest 2014 Official Lineup

Japefest 2014 is a "film festival" that ran concurrently with most of Tiff 2014. It featured films available on Hulu and Netflix that are mostly obscure, foreign, classic or forgotten. It is a not for profit experiment run over social media.



Among the titles Jape and company plan to watch:


Broken Side of Time (Hulu)

The House of the Sun (Hulu)

Shame (2013 --- not the McQueen one, Hulu)

Getting Go (Netflix)

The Exhibitionists (Hulu)

Stranger by the Lake (Netflix)

So Young (Hulu)

Detonator (Hulu)

Satellite of Love (Hulu)

Transatlantic Coffee (Hulu)


.... Among others. Some titles may change. Participate your own way. Use the hashtag #japefest2014 on twitter! :)


 
 

The winners have been announced for The 1st Annual Podbody Awards. Congrats to all the winners!


Lifetime Achievement Award:

BillChete 


Best Podcast Hosts (Group)

Winner: Jason, Josh, Andy, Karl - Movie Podcast Weekly



Best Podcasting Duo (tie!)

Winner: William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold - The B Movies Podcast

Winner: Tyler Smith and David Bax - Battleship Pretension 

 


Best Podcast Guest (3-way tie)

Winner: "Wild Man " Willis Wheeler - Movie Podcast Weekly

Winner: Pat Healy - Battleship Pretension

Winner: Andrew James - Directors Club



Best Podcast Episode (tie!)

Winner: "The Bell Episode" - The B Movies Podcast

Winner: "Nanobot Jesus" - The Row Three Cinecast



Podcasting Superstar (tie!)

Winner: Kevin Rakestraw

Winner: Andy Howell


Best Podcast (voted on by the listeners)

Movie Podcast Weekly


See you next year!

 
 

"The 1st Annual Podbody Film & TV Podcasting Awards" nominations are here! The Podbodys are a new award ceremony strictly focused on film and tv podcasts with an emphasis on big personalities. The inaugural awards will include a lifetime achievement award to the legendary horror show host BillChete  and other cool categories like "Best Podcast Guest",  "Best Podcasting Duo"  and "Best Podcast Episode". Those categories are all voted on by the Podbody board, a prestigious group of 11 select anonymous podcast fans (including myself, the head of the board and the only non-anonymous one). Only one category is voted on by the general public/listeners and that is the best podcast category, which is of course a big one. Voting for that category will open June 29th and close July 20th. More info on that later. Anyway now on to the nominations!


Lifetime Achievement Award:

BillChete 


Best Podcast Hosts (Group)

Jason, Josh, Andy, Karl - Movie Podcast Weekly

Jay, Sean, Frank - FilmJunk

Ricardo, Jenny, Adam - The Film Podcast 

Andrew, Kurt, Matt - The Row Three Cinecast 

Jay of the Dead, Wolfman Josh, Dr. Shock - Horror Movie Podcast 

Adam, Kevin, Ryan - Filmpulse Presents: Ryan Watches a Movie



Best Podcasting Duo

William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold - The B Movies Podcast

Tyler Smith and David Bax - Battleship Pretension 

Dave White and Alonso Duralde - Linoleum Knife 

Paul Goebel and David Bax - Hey Watch This!

Joe DiCanio and Tom Normandy - The House of Horror Podcast 

Jim Laczkowski and Patrick Ripoll - Directors' Club

Adam Patterson and Kevin Rakestraw - Filmpulse Podcast 


Best Podcast Guest

Reed Farrington - FilmJunk

"Wild Man " Willis Wheeler - Movie Podcast Weekly

OneSickPuppy - Horror Movie Podcast 

Alonso Duralde - The B Movies Podcast

Pat Healy - Battleship Pretension

Ryan Turek - The B Movies Podcast

Andrew James - Directors Club

Josh Fadem - Battleship Pretension


Best Podcast Episode

"The Bell Episode" - The B Movies Podcast

"Nanobot Jesus" - The Row Three Cinecast

"Best of 2013 Part 1" - Directors Club

"Ghosts of Mars + Giallo" - Double Feature

"Season 3, Episode 2: Black Mirror/Bonnie & Clyde" - Hey, Watch This!

"Episode 100" - The House of Horror Podcast

"The Sleepaway Camp Retrospective" - The House of Horror Podcast

"Summer Movie Preview with Josh Fadem" - Battleship Pretension 


Podcasting Superstar

Kurt Halfyard

Matt Gamble

Jason Pyles

David Bax

Jay Cheel

Tom Normandy

Patrick Ripoll

Corey "Goon" Pierce 

Witney Seibold

Ryan Holes

Kevin Rakestraw

William Bibbiani

Dave White 

Andy Howell 

Simon Howell 

Ricky D

Kim Brown 

Jenny Coyle 

Katey Rich 


Best Podcast (voted on by the listeners)

Battleship Pretension

MAMO

Row Three Cinecast

The House of Horror Podcast

The B Movies Podcast 

Hey, Watch This! 

FilmJunk

Linoleum Knife 

The Matineecast 

Directors' Club

/filmcast 

Horror Etc 

22 Shots of Moodz and Horror 

Double Feature 

Movie Podcast Weekly

Horror Movie Podcast 

The Film Experience 

Subject: Cinema 


Congrats to all the nominees!!!! :)






 
 

Essentially "The Sunset Limited" for vegans, director Eric Shapiro's "Living Things" (which isn't currently in the Letterboxd database) is a propaganda film plain and simple but thankfully I happen to agree with the propaganda this PETA-supported film is peddling.


Focusing on a vegan woman named Rhona (played by the director's vegan wife Rhoda) who just found out she's pregnant, the film is about Rhona having to entertainment her meat-loving red-blooded American male father-in-law Leo who is visiting after suffering a heart attack. Leo's son (and Rhona's husband) is busy at work and will be late to dinner so Rhona is stuck having several arguments with Leo, mostly about how terrible it is to eat meat but so much more than that as well and eventually blooms into a full-blown violent attack. 


They touch on so many subjects and while the film is very-much one-sided towards Rhona (Leo is portrayed as an unlikable asshat most of the film), at least it is the side I agree with that is being portrayed as the "right" side.


This is a tense movie. Very tense in fact.


I highly recommend people see it but if they don't have similar views as Rhona (or myself, even though I'm not a full-blown vegan I love love love vegan food and think that's the best thing we can do for ourselves and the world) or are not even remotely open-minded, maybe they shouldn't because the movie will make them mad.


But not me.


A

4.5/5

 
 

I've been going to BAMcinemaFest for the last few years. It's a great little film fest that takes place every June in Brooklyn for the last 6 years. In this article I will be going over some of my predictions for this year's fest (we already know Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" will open the fest on June 18th). In addition to the narrative features and several docs [the films on this list are all narrative features], the fest usually features an old film and a kids film as well as a shorts program. They also have several films (including opener "Boyhood") screening at the BAM Harvey Theater. These movies are usually higher profile films (last year, "Crystal Fairy", "The Spectacular Now" and "Short Term 12" were among that crowd). Anyway, here is my list. Feel free to comment. They are numbered but in no particular order.


1. Dear White People (Director: Justin Simien)

This film is almost certainly a lock to play BAM this year. It's a satire set at an Ivy League college.


2. Clouds of Sils Maria (Director: Olivier Assayas)

The latest from the acclaimed French filmmaker, his first in English, could possibly play at the BAM Harvey shortly after premiering at Cannes. It is being distributed by IFC. The film, about an aging actress stars Juliette Binoche and Chloe Grace Moretz.


3. Listen Up Philip (Director: Alex Ross Perry)

BAM has previously played Alex Ross Perry's "The Color Wheel". This starrier film has Jason Scwartzman and Elisabeth Moss.



4. Thou  Wast Mild and Lovely (Director: Josephine Decker)

Starring Sophie Traub (who is supposed to be amazing in it) and festival favorite Joe Swanberg, the film is being distributed by Factory 25.


5. Young Bodies Heal Quickly (Director: Andrew T. Betzer)

This seems right up BAM's alley. It recently played Tribeca. It has Kate Lyn Shiel in it. Need I say more? BAM!


6. Memphis (Director: Tim Sutton)

BAM played Sutton's "Pavilion") a couple year's back, this is another easy lock.


7. Summer of Blood (Director: Onur Tukel)

A vampire comedy set in Brooklyn. Yep, it will play BAM. I'm almost certain.


8. Fort Tilden (Directors: Sarah Violet-Bliss and Charles Rogers)

A winner at SXSW this year is this comedy about female friendships set in Brooklyn, another lock.


9. Land Ho! (Directors: Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens)

Star Paul Eenhorn was in last year's BAM selection "This is Martin Bonner". 


10. Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Director: David Zellner)

The latest from The Zellner Brothers. This movie stars Rinko Kikuchi and is about a woman who believes The Coen Brothers' "Fargo" is a true story.


11. The One I Love (Director: Charlie McDowell)

Buzzy rom-com starring Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss.


12. Creep (Director: Patrick Brice)

Will genre fare return to BAM this year? (they played the original "V/H/S" way back) maybe. I hope so. This Mark Duplass-starrer might do the trick....


13. Love is Strange (Director: Ira Sachs)

Alfred Molina and John Lithgow play a married couple living apart. Sure to play at the BAM Harvey.


14. About Alex (Director: Jesse Zwick) 

Crowd pleaser with an all-star cast. BAM Harvey?


15. Faults (Director: Riley Stearns)

Movie about cults starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Directed by her husband. 


16. Match (Director: Stephen Belber)

Patrick Stewart and Carla Gugino star in this film based on a biting play. Played at Tribeca.


17. Low Down (Director: Jeff Preiss)

Elle Fanning and John Hawkes star in heroin addiction drama that played Sundance.


18. Whiplash (Director: Damien Chezelle)

It opened Sundance. It will close BAM. Mark my words. 


19. The Skeleton Twins (Director: Craig Johnson)

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig in a dark comedy about sibling bonds.


20. The Voices (Director: Marjane Satrapi)

Ryan Reynolds/Anna Kendrick film about... A guy who hears his dog and cat talking to him. I really hope this plays BAM.


21. Happy Christmas (Director: Joe Swanberg)

Another film with Anna Kendrick. Another lock, especially with Swanberg at the helm.


22. Honeymoon (Director: Leigh Jasniak)

It's genre but I hope they play this acclaimed SXSW offering anyway.


23. The Heart Machine (Director: Zachary Wigon) 

Kate Lyn Sheil alert! BAM will play this 


24. I Believe in Unicorns (Director: Leah Meyerhoff)

"Believe" star Johnny Sequoyah is in this film. Yes, I realize it's a small role but she's insanely popular right now.


25. Wild Canaries (Director: Lawrence Michael Levine)

Bam loves Sophia Takal. This reunites her with Lawrence amichael Levine.


26. Open Windows (Director: Nacho Vigalondo)

Again, it's genre but Wood and Grey and even Vigalondo have serious star power!


27. Buzzard (Director: Joel Potrykus)

From the director of "Ape".


If I had to narrow it down to 10 IMHO definites:

1. Dear White People

2. Thou Wast Mild and Lovely

3. Young Bodies Heal Quickly

4. Summer of Blood

5. Fort Tilden

6. Whiplash

7. Happy Christmas

8. The Heart Machibe

9. Wild Canaries

10. Buzzard


The festival's official announcement will hopefully be soon. Feel free to comment and share your own predictions! :)

 
 

October is officially upon us (ok it's halfway over I'm late to the game) so I know present to you Jape's Horror Daze, horror movie postings from now until Halloween..... I promise!


(Unless there's another superstorm)



 
 

Avant-Garde director Sally Potter ("Rage", "Yes", "Orlando") has made her most accessible film with "Ginger & Rosa".... But accessible doesn't always mean good and despite a fantastic lead performance from Elle Fanning as Ginger, the film feels stale, not to mention as aimless as it's characters.


Fanning and Jane Campion's daughter Alice Englert play Ginger and Rosa, respectively.


Ginger and Rosa are two teenage best friends growing up together in the 1960s.


Ginger is obsessed with the Cuban missile crisis and the possible impending "end of the world" but her world is heavy-handedly rocked by a bigger bomb: Rosa has been having an affair with Ginger's dad.


The cast is good and Fanning is as good as ever but as a film "Ginger & Rosa" is heavy-handed as well as both intentionally and unintentionally aimless and altogether rather blah.


I wish it were a better movie.


C

 
 

Rufus Norris' "Broken" is a movie I've been awaiting for quite a long time and now the movie, released overseas last year after playing the festival circuit, finally gets it's US release on today, July 19th.


As a fan of young actresses it's always great to discover a new one and "Broken" has a great new one.


Young Eloise Laurence gives a fantastic performance in the film as Skunk, a preteen diabetic who lives with her dad (Tim Roth), older brother and live-in nanny. 


Being a coming-of-age movie, it tracks the girl's... Well, coming-of-age as she falls for three guys: a slightly older boy, her teacher and the town's resident "pervert".


Cillian Murphy plays the teacher, Mr. Mike Kiernan, by the way. He's good but severely underused.


With a structure similar to a present day set version of "Atonement", all the drama in the film starts with a lie by another girl in the neighborhood. It seems as though all the drama in this town is caused by this one dysfunctional family but we see pretty much everything through Skunk's eyes.


Laurence's performance as skunk is revelatory but the problem with "Broken" is that it's a wholly predictable, cliched coming-of-age melodrama. 


There are some good moments (almost all come from Laurence) however which makes me give this a higher rating than I probably normally would.


I'm excited to see what Ms. Eloise Laurence does next....


B+


 
 

"Michael Cera is acting like a complete and utter little d--khead in this movie"

- My brother, while watching "Crystal Fairy"


There are four-quadrant films and then there's "Crystal Fairy", a movie that is very hard for most people to like and, yes, most people will probably hate Chilean director Sebastian Silva's first collaboration with Michael Cera, the droll and deadpan road trip stoner comedy "Crystal Fairy" (The other film they did together this year is the horror/thriller "Magic Magic" which stars Juno Temple and Emily Browning as well as Cera and is due for release in August). Thankfully I am not most people, as I really quite enjoyed the "so not funny that it's funny" droll sensibilities of this film.


Cera plays an American in Chile (not unlike Eli Roth in "Aftershock", only there are no earthquakes or tsunamis here and only the slightest mention of rape) who meets a hippie named Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffman, yes the "Field of Dreams" child star, all grown up) at a party. Cera's character is really mean to Crystal throughout much of the film (he dubs her "Crystal Hairy" because of her abundance of body hair. Thankfully Crystal takes it as a compliment). Yes, Crystal is weird but she is not particularly a bad person, unlike Cera's über a-hole.


The film meanders and meanders and meanders as Cera and Hoffman and The Silva Brothers (playing Spanish-speaking friends of Cera who seem utterly annoyed by him for much of the film) search for a cactus that will supposedly get them high if they drink it.


So, yeah, it meanders. If you don't like meandering road trip movies then don't watch "Crystal Fairy" but I really got a kick out of it, even though it meanders. Did I mention it meanders?


A+


"Michael Cera is, like, totally tripping balls"

- My brother, while watching "Crystal Fairy"