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Monday, February 27, 2012
Film / Film News CL goes to the Oscars
Posted By Matt Brunson on Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 4:44 PM
- Michael Yada / ©A.M.P.A.S.
- Jim Rash (middle) as Angelina Jolie
By Matt Brunson
The Academy of Harvey Weinstein Arts & Sciences — for those who didn’t hear, the organization’s name was officially changed this morning — handed out their Oscars last night. Here are our thoughts on the evening.
Highlights:
- Michael Yada / ©A.M.P.A.S.
- Chris Rock
* Chris Rock. He was hilarious in his introduction to Best Animated Feature, and he gets my vote to serve as next year’s host.
- Michael Yada / ©A.M.P.A.S.
- Ben Stiller and Emma Stone
* Emma Stone. She was a comic delight as she and Ben Stiller introduced the Visual Effects category, with Stiller and Jonah Hill serving as wonderful foils.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Film / Film Reviews Friday Film Reviews: The Vow; The Innkeepers; plus, Oscar picks
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 3:40 PM
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Film / Film News Opening Friday
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 10:00 AM
- Relativity Media
- Act of Valor
Act of Valor - Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sanchez
Gone - Amanda Seyfried, Nick Searcy
Tyler Perry's Good Deeds - Tyler Perry, Thandie Newton
Wanderlust - Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd
Film / Arts Charlotte Jewish Film Festival kicks off
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 9:48 AM
The eighth annual Charlotte Jewish Film Festival kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 25 with a reception and screening for La Rafle (The Round Up), a film that focuses on the 1942 roundup of 13,000 Parisian Jews through the lens of a child. The festival will continue with other Jewish-related feature films such as Anita(see picture above) — a film about a young Jewish Argentine woman with Down syndrome, whose world is turned upside down when a terrorist bomb destroys her towns Jewish Community Center — and the documentary Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness, among others like David: The Movie, Eichmann's End and The Human Resources Manager.
Also scheduled is the award-winning documentary, Nicky’s Family, a moving picture about the heroic efforts taken by 102-year old Sir Nicholas Winton to save a massive amount of Jewish children at the outbreak of WWII. Watch the trailer below.
For a detailed schedule of films with times and venues, visit www.charlottejewishfilm.org.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Film / Music / Film News Songs for a Re:Generation
Posted By Matt Brunson on Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 5:49 PM
Consider it a musical mash-up. Renowned documentary filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story, My Kid Could Paint That) tasked five prominent DJs/producers from hip-hop and electronica — Mark Ronson, DJ Premier, Skrillex, Pretty Lights, and The Crystal Method — to create new tracks in unfamiliar genres alongside such luminaries as Mos Def, LeAnn Rimes, Ralph Stanley and The Funk Brothers. The experiment is examined in Re:Generation, a documentary that will be screened at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at AMC Carolina Pavilion, 9541 South Blvd. The showing will include giveaways of movie posters and CDs.
For tickets and other info, call 888-262-4386. To check out the Facebook page for this local screening, go here. Watch the trailer below.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Film / Film Reviews Carolina kids feel the need for speed in Racing Dreams
Posted By Matt Brunson on Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 3:23 PM
By Matt Brunson
RACING DREAMS (2010)
***
DIRECTED BY Marshall Curry
STARS Brandon Warren, Annabeth Barnes
A Spellbound or Mad Hot Ballroom for the NASCAR set, Racing Dreams ends up speeding past its niche market and working its magic on anyone with a rooting interest in the dreams and ambitions of this country's youth.
Like the aforementioned pair of documentaries, this one also corrals a group of kids and tracks their endeavors to become the best in their field of interest. In this case, it's the world of racing, with all three subjects top contenders in the World Karting Association's championship series. Twelve-year-old Josh Hobson of Birch Run, Michigan, is a brainy boy whose methodical, sensible approach to the sport repeatedly wins races. Eleven-year-old Annabeth Barnes of Hiddenite, N.C., is a spunky, charismatic girl who dreams of becoming the first female to win a major NASCAR race.
Both kids are interesting to follow, yet the movie belongs to the third focal point. Thirteen-year-old Brandon Warren of Creedmoor, N.C., initially seems the least complicated, a good-ole-boy-in-training whose reckless nature (on and off the track) might prove to be his undoing. Yet as we get to learn more about Brandon and his family — specifically, the grandparents who lovingly raise him and the deadbeat dad who turns up like an unwelcome wart whenever he's not behind bars — we come to realize that this story is the most involving, and most poignant, one in the movie.
The racing footage shot and edited by Marshall Curry and his team is exemplary (the first competition takes place at Charlotte Motor Speedway) and should thrill even those who aren't fans of the sport. Yet even these sequences take a back seat to the sagas of the children, all of whom retain pole position throughout this engaging picture.
(Racing Dreams will be screening on PBS at various times beginning this Thursday, Feb. 23. Go here for local programming details. The film is also available on DVD.)
Monday, February 20, 2012
Film / Film News Charlotte Talks ... about the Oscars
Posted By Web Editor on Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 11:43 AM
The 84th Annual Academy Awards will be held Feb. 26, and as always, local film reviewers will appear opposite host Mike Collins on Charlotte Talks to offer their predictions in the major races. Creative Loafing film critic Matt Brunson (pictured above; wait, sorry, that’s Moneyball Oscar nominee Brad Pitt), AMCFilmCritic.com’s Sean O’Connell and Arts a la Mode’s Ann Marie Oliva will discuss the various contenders, including Hugo, The Artist and The Descendants.
This edition of Charlotte Talks will air at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, on WFAE 90.7 FM. The broadcast will then be archived at www.wfae.org.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Film / Film Reviews Friday Film Reviews: This Means War; The Secret World of Arrietty
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 2:44 PM
- Fox
- This Means War
Click on the title to be taken directly to the review.
Film / Arts Hunger strikes
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 8:05 AM
The Charlotte Film Society's Saturday Night Cine Club screens award-winning (and usually foreign films) that are thought-provoking enough to spawn group dialogue afterwards. This month's screening, Hunger is based on a true story about the 1981 Irish hunger strikes and protests by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Watch a trailer for the film below. $5-$8. Sat., Feb. 18, 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. Theatre Charlotte, 501 Queens Road. For more information, visit www.charlottefilmsociety.com.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Film / Arts Le Havre screens at The Light Factory
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 10:55 AM
Finnish writer-director Aki Kaurismaki may not exactly be a household name in the U.S. — his most famous film on this side of the Atlantic is still 1989's Leningrad Cowboys Go America — but they sure do love him at Cannes. Last year, Kaurismaki picked up his fourth career award from the judges at the prestigious film festival, this time for the modest charmer Le Havre. Set in the titular port city in France, the film focuses on the relationship between an African refugee, a young boy named Idrissa (Blondin Miguel), and a kindly shoe-shiner, an elderly man named Marcel (Andre Wilms). As the authorities search for Idrissa with the intent of deporting him, Marcel rallies his friends and neighbors to help him protect the boy from an unfeeling bureaucracy. - Matt Brunson $7. Fri., Feb. 17-Sat., Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m. The Light Factory, 345 N. College St. 704-333-9755. www.lightfactory.org.
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Question the Queen City: The haunting of Love’s Pass
The railroad pass has claimed at least 14 lives
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Lunch Break (9/1/16): Organizers unveil "People, Not Polluters" platform in Charlotte as McCrory officials testify in Raleigh
The morning already passed us by. What the hell happened?
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Question the Queen City: The Disappearance of Denise Porch 6
She quite literally vanished.
