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Posted on 02.25.08 by Administrator @ 5:52 pm
In honor of the Oscars, each of us here at Cinema Strikes Back has assembled their “Top 10 of 2007″ lists. Then, using a fairly stupid formula, we combined the individual lists to come up with our collective “Top 5 of 2007″ list for Cinema Strikes Back. We each had slightly different criteria, but did not limit ourselves to films with a US theatrical release in 2007, since we tend to watch a lot of advance DVDs and festival screenings. Normally none of our top picks are nominated for any Oscars, so needless to say, the fact that our collective favorite film of this year actually won “Best Picture” at the Academy Awards last night has us all in shock right now. In any case, without further ado…. Top 5 of 2007
1. No Country for Old Men Our individual picks continue below: Filed under: General and Movie News and Contributors: Pete and Contributors: David and Contributors: Charlie and People: Takashi Miike and Contributors: Jeff and Movie News: Best of the Year Comments: 1 Comment |
Posted on 08.19.06 by Pete @ 10:16 am
 The SciFi Channel has TV gold in their hands and hopefully they will realize it. The Amazing Screw-On Head is based on the Mike Mignola comic of the same name and bosts some serious star power with Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon and Patton Oswalt providing voices. Giamatti and Hyde Pierce stand out as Screw-On and Emperor Zombie respectively. They blend the silliness of their characters perfectly into what should be some gruesome subject matter. It’s basically the Mignola comic come to life in an animated show that will hopefully become a long running series. The premise: In the Civil War era, Lincoln’s number one secret agent is a disembodied head, named Screw On Head, that screws on to different robot bodies to fight different occult problems, mostly caused by Emperor Zombie, Screw On’s former manservant turned evil undead mastermind. Helping Screw On are his current manservant Mr. Groin and a talking, taxidermied dog named Mr. Dog. Also, Screw On’s only true love was turned into a vampire 197 years ago. (Thanks to my brother Lane for the description.) Filed under: General and Movie News and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Great ★★★★ and TV and Cable News: US and International Comments: None |
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Posted on 04.29.06 by Pete @ 11:59 pm
 World Premier 2006. USA 86 min. Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen  Sam’s Lake is the first feature film effort of Andrew Christopher Erin and is not the most impressive of debuts. The opening of the film is promising enough with the requisite city slickers heading out to the boonies for some relaxation and moral support for mutual friend Sam. Sam’s father has recently died in a hunting accident and her friends who have formed a sort of family want to help her through her difficult time. But Sam seems to be fine. In fact she is the most enthusiastic of the group about the trip. Sam grew up at the lake and it has special meaning to her and her family. Her father loved the lake so much that he named his only daughter after it. Sam is genuinely excited to show her tight-knit group the idyllic wilderness of her formative years. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Average ★★ and Film Festivals: News and Movie News: Czech and Movie Reviews: Canada and Film Festivals: Tribeca Film Festival 2006 Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 04.29.06 by Pete @ 2:42 pm
World Premier 2006, USA, 82 min. Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen  Hatchet is director Adam Green’s homage to the slasher movies of the early 1980s. The tagline is Old School American Horror and the movie lives up to this statement in spades even to the point of not using any digital effects. The gore is all lovingly handmade. Green is no poseur. He’s got a true love and appreciation for horror/gore movies going back to his childhood. Green was at the World Premier of his film at the TriBeCa festival and told the enthusiastic crowd how he came up with the basic story for Hatchet as a youngster at summer camp. Apparently the counselors were telling the kids that “Hatchet Face” would get them if they didn’t behave. Green’s reaction was, “Cool, what’s he going to do to me?” at which point the counselors told him to shut up. Later when the kids were back in their cabins young Adam came up with the story of Victor Crowly to fill in the blanks left by the camp counselors. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Tribeca Film Festival 2006 Comments: 19 Comments |
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Posted on 09.29.05 by Pete @ 1:50 pm
Runtime: 91 minutes Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen Barry Dingle is directed by Barry Shurchin who was at the screening for a Q & A at the Rome International Film Festival. The Barry in the movie is a complete schmuck and so is the real life Barry. I found out from my brother that Shurchin was caught stuffing the ballot boxes in order to win the audience choice award and was disqualified from competition. This is not at all surprising seeing as how he kept telling us that he just wanted to win so that when the distributor (he’s sold the movie and it will get a 2006 theatrical release) makes promotion posters they can put “Winner of the Audience Choice Award: Rome International Film Festival.” He was quick to point out that, “nobody will think it’s Rome, Georgia! I mean, c’mon, they’ll totally think it’s Rome, Italy and that will look awesome!” Shurchin didn’t seem to notice that he was insulting the home town of most of his audience. In his defense, they didn’t seem to mind. Of course the crowd was mostly people he had pulled out of the bars near the venue, so they were too drunk to care. So you’d think I hated this movie right? Well I loved it. I really don’t even think Shurchin would mind being called a complete bastard. He made a point of telling everyone that he was well aware that his film is unredeemably offensive and that if we hated him he didn’t mind if we told him so. He was 100% ready to defend his film, if not his morality. I kind of admired his, “I’m an a$$hole, that’s just kinda my style” approach to things. Also, I was ready to see some trash after all the art films I’d taken in over the weekend. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Rome International Film Festival 2005 Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.23.05 by Pete @ 11:14 am
Rome International Film Festival Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen Fall to Grace is another one of those movies that, to me at least, should be a major drag to sit through, one of those “eat your vegetables” kind of films. The RIFF’s description makes it sound like the film is about a bunch of Russian immigrant girls and their various hang-ups. Add this to the whole living in poverty thing the parents are dealing with and you would not expect fun from your movie-going experience. Luckily RIFF is not very accurate in their descriptions. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Rome International Film Festival 2005 Comments: 3 Comments |
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Posted on 09.22.05 by Pete @ 1:32 pm
Probably one of the biggest highlights of the festival is the Alabama Theatre which is the main venue for the films. The Theatre was built for the express purpose of showing films by Paramount back in the 1920’s and now has live entertainment as well. It’s a beautiful old building that has been restored to its original glory. Probably the coolest thing about it is the built in pipe organ The Mighty Wurlitzer. This is not some electric organ put in as an afterthought. The whole auditorium is built around the pipes that run up above the balconies. If you didn’t know better you would think that the Theatre had taken over an old church. The Alabama Theatre is the tangible manifestation of the feeling that the cinema is a sacred place. Also the organist is raised on a platform from beneath the stage while he plays. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in a movie theatre. I will hopefully be able to get some photos of it. Please visit The Alabama’s website, to see all the details on this one of a kind theatre. I’ve got wingmen for this festival (another of my countless brothers and his wife so wingpersons is more appropriate I guess) so I should be able to max out on movie viewing this weekend. I’ll be posting full reviews of everything I see at some point as well as general festival coverage over this weekend. Email me at pete@cinemastrikesback.com if there are any particular films you’d like to see reviewed. Filed under: Movie News and Contributors: Pete and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival 2005 Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.21.05 by Pete @ 8:06 pm
Rome International Film Festival Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen
Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Poor ★ and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Rome International Film Festival 2005 Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.20.05 by Pete @ 4:52 pm
a.k.a. Shinjuuereji Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen
Double Suicide Elegy (www.fullmedia.co.jp/elegy) was easily one of the best films shown at the Rome International Film Festival. On our way to the screening I was trying to explain to my brother what I thought the movie would be like based on the short synopsis in the RIFF program. I mean the name of the movie is Double Suicide Elegy! It has to be a total bummer right? Well this is a Japanese movie. They tend to look at death and suicide a bit differently from us. I still thought it was going to be painful to watch. But I could not have been more wrong. I really thoroughly enjoyed this film. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Rome International Film Festival 2005 Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.15.05 by Pete @ 4:30 pm
Runtime 57 min. Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen
The story starts out with D and Anjo in a restaurant. Anjo is pitching him on the Friendship Insurance her company specializes in. Friendship Insurance makes it possible to name any of your friends as the beneficiary if you die suddenly. Suicide is covered under the policy so you can easily see the mischief that this can cause. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: Japan and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Rome International Film Festival 2005 Comments: None |
With [D] I finally got into the good stuff at the Rome International Film Festival. This short (57 minutes) feature crams so many plot twists and whodunit turns that you need to take notes to keep track of who is who and what everyone is doing to everyone else. I did and it still got too twisted to know for sure. The great thing about the film is that it’s such a fun ride and everyone is so bizarre that you can just let it wash over you and somehow you still pretty much know what’s going on. |
Posted on 09.15.05 by Pete @ 8:45 am
Runtime 28 min. Reviewed by: Peter C. Bowen
Apparently able bodied men are all subject to the military summons unless they have a degree. As Pawel’s friend Jan explains this we learn that Pawel has actually dropped out of school in the US, he says, because he misses his girl Agata. In a double whammy for Pawel, Agata has moved on and doesn’t really have time for him. Pawel doesn’t really spend anytime worrying over Agata though because he is being pursued by government agents to make sure he reports for duty. Pawel’s solution to this problem is to burn his identity papers. End of story. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Contributors: Pete and Movie Reviews: Europe and Rating: Average ★★ and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Rome International Film Festival 2005 Comments: None |
Holiday was the first film I attended at the |
Posted on 09.13.05 by Pete @ 3:19 pm
Rome is a small city (around 35,000 people) but there are three colleges so the hipster quotient is fairly high. I had the bad luck to live in nearby Dalton during high school and have some fond memories of escaping down to Rome to see cool bands and be around people other than the yokels back home. Downtown Rome is home to several bars and a classic old style theater, The DeSoto, which also happens to be the headquarters of the Rome International Film Festival. The festival’s title is no joke there are movies from all over the world from Japan, Poland, Switzerland, Belarus, Sweden, New Zealand, Nepal and others . One gets the impression that the founders of this festival got tired of driving to Atlanta to see out of the way movies and decided, “Hey, we’ve got tons of college students and faculty! Let’s put on a film festival so we can see some cools stuff!” It’s worked out pretty well. This is the second year of the festival and judging from the support from the city of Rome and the state of Georgia it should survive well into the future. It doesn’t hurt that the festival has found quality films. Also the directors, actors and producers of many of them traveled to Rome to promote their work and schmooze with other film makers and obscure internet journalists like yours truly. [Editor’s Note: If you check the RIFF film listings you’ll see that I barely made a dent in the programming. There were three different screenings going on simultaneously throughout the weekend so I tried to focus on the narrative features. The films I actually did see were as follows: Holiday, [D], Double Suicide Elegy, Mirage, Fall to Grace, Barry Dingle. I will be posting full reviews of these movies over the next couple of days. ] Filed under: Movie News and Contributors: Pete and Film Festivals: News and Film Festivals: Rome International Film Festival 2005 Comments: None |
No this is not Rome, Italy unfortunately for me. But fortunately for you and me both Rome, Georgia has put on a very respectable festival. Visit their website |
Posted on 07.27.05 by Pete @ 5:28 pm
Criterion Collection DVD: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou by Peter C. Bowen Director: Wes Anderson
Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and DVD Reviews and DVD Reviews: USA and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and DVD Companies: Criterion Collection and People: Wes Anderson and Movies: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 06.13.05 by Pete @ 12:08 pm
Rating 3 out of 4 stars (good) Playing June 19, 6:30 pm and June 24, 11:15 pm Arahan jangpung daejakjeon is playing in New York as part of the New York Asian Film Festival 2005 and is well worth checking out. The film borrows a few tricks from Stephen Chow with the idea of everyday people being Tao masters in their own little workaday ways and they have tremendous fun with it. A hapless cop named Sang-hwan inadvertently gets hit with a palm blast by an incredibly attractive crime fighting clerk. Eu-jin, played by the lovely Yoon So-yi, is actually the daughter of one of the Seven Tao Masters. She takes Sang-hwan home where her father and the other four “Seven Masters” discover that Sang-hwan has tremendous chi that has been released by the palm blast administered by Eu-jin. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: South Korea and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2005 and People: Ryoo Seung-wan and Studios: Cinema Service Comments: None |
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Posted on 06.13.05 by Pete @ 10:57 am
Rating 3 out of 4 stars (good)
Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and Contributors: Pete and Rating: Good ★★★ and Studios: Columbia Pictures Comments: 2 Comments |
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