EDITORIALS
Always More Horror to Watch - 2024 Sitges Film Festival is Underway
It's October which means it's time to celebrate horror and all the magnificent genre cinema. Now underway in Spain is the 57th Sitges Film Festival, still regarded as THE best horror film festival in all of Europe. It's also the oldest horror festival in the world, with the very first festival taking place in 1968. This is my 6th year back to Sitges, and I'm glad to be in town. Sitges is a small beach town located just 30 minutes by train from Barcelona in Catalonia. The official Catalan name of this fest is Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, which just translates to Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Now that I'm based in Europe, it's much easier for me to attend Sitges instead of TIFF or Fantastic Fest or Fantasia or Beyond Fest or Telluride Horror Show (some of the best genre fests in North America). I'm glad Sitges usually plays the best films from these fests for everyone here in Europe to feast upon. And so now we begin, diving into horror and sci-fi and thrillers and action and everything fun from all corners of the world.
Stop Timing Standing Ovations at Film Festivals - It's Pointless Hype
When did this become a thing? The movie news industry is stuck in a remarkably stubborn, pointless trend of counting the standing ovation minutes at major film festivals. Year-after-year at the Cannes & Venice Film Festivals in Europe, Deadline and Variety and all the other trades post Breaking News headlines about the standing ovation each film received and how many minutes people stood and applauded the cast before they stopped. It's so incredibly dumb. This annoying trend is an example of the ridiculousness of clickbait culture, turning the most mundane and meaningless "news" into content that people just have to click and talk/tweet about. It needs to end. These ovations are really, truly meaningless (I'll explain this later). They don't mean anything, it's all for the celebrities. They're not a real measure of the quality of the film, they're irrelevant metrics within cinema, and the "news" has no correlation with box office or success or anything. Let's stop this. We need to collectively move on. It's a waste of everyone's time to continue reporting this as "news"... Editor's Note: this post received a 35 minute standing ovation at the No One Cares Film Festival.
› Posted September 11 in Discuss, Editorial, Venice 24 | Comments
New Discoveries & Innovative Cinema at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival
Another year, another Cannes Film Festival. The 77th Festival International du Film de Cannes has begun this week in the South of France in the lovely beach city of Cannes on the Mediterranean coast. We're back again, along with thousands (and thousands) of film critics, journalists, cinephiles, industry members, filmmakers, students, and more. Cannes remains the BIGGEST film festival in the world, not only with the most prestigious line-up and the most attendees. It's always an exciting time, just to be here in the midst of it all. In the weeks leading up to Cannes, it's particularity challenging to gauge whether everyone is actually excited about coming back, or if there's some other controversy or snag that will disrupt the festival... With its pandemic years now in the rear-view, Cannes is powering forward with another full-on, fireworks-filled two week celebration of the power of cinema. Artistic director Thierry Frémaux also stated during the announcement of the official selection that due to the strikes in Hollywood last year, there are not as many American films, but there are plenty of other new discoveries and surprises ready to shine on the big screen.
On the Philosophy of 'Dune: Part Two' - Power & Control, Fate & Love
"Consider what you are about to do, Paul Atreides..." Be wary of the path you are headed down, Muad'Dib... As with the two biggest movies of last year (Barbie & Oppenheimer), the biggest movie of 2024 so far is also an extremely dense, philosophically compelling, morally complex work of cinematic art. It's exhilarating and fascinating to ponder its epic story of control over the planet Arrakis, and even more exciting realizing that audiences are eating this up. Even if the philosophical ideas may not land as deeply with each viewer, it's proof that truly believing in moviegoers as smart people is actually the right path to take nowadays. Dune: Part Two is playing in theaters worldwide and after watching it three times at the cinema, I must dig into its philosophical side. The most obvious themes are power & control, along with fate & destiny. However, it also makes me wonder about a bigger quandary: what does it really take to overthrow an oppressor and is there actually a successful way to achieve peace & freedom for all? Or will it always lead to more oppression?
Hey Filmmakers - Stop Selling Your Audience Favorite Films to Netflix
Every month there's another headline: Netflix buys that great film that everyone loved watching together for an excessive amount of money. Everyone loves to grumble about the headline, and talk about the film when this news hits, but will they actually watch it whenever it's released on Netflix? Will Netflix even (properly) promote it? Will they even tell their ~260 million subscribers worldwide about the film when they debut it streaming on their platform? Why does Netflix love buying these great theatrical films and dumping them streaming without any fanfare or celebration or anything at all that connects with the audience experience? Why do care so little for the actual audience? I'm so tired of this routine. I'm not so foolish as to tell Netflix to change their ways – apparently they have no interest in this anyway. Instead, I think it's up to filmmakers to realize that it isn't a good idea to sell your movie to Netflix anymore - no matter how much money they want to throw at you. Choose a reputable theatrical distributor first, then let Netflix get the streaming rights later after it becomes an even bigger success. That is the best path to take when your film is a hit at festivals.
› Posted February 20 in Discuss, Editorial, Feat | Comments
Berlinale 2024 Begins - What Will the Big Discoveries Be This Year?
Wir sind wieder da für mehr Kino. The 2024 Berlin Film Festival, known locally as Berlinale celebrating its 74th year, kicks off today in the capital city of Germany. With every year, the festival continues to fade further & further into irrelevance (read my report from last year), with an unimpressive line-up and staunch refusal to make any changes to the way the festival runs. Most major film festivals nowadays need to evolve, adapt, update and improve in so many ways right now. Berlinale is one of the most defiant, standing firm in its badly positioned slot in February (right after Sundance, and just before SXSW & Cannes) focusing on so many bleak and boring films. Not much ever makes it out of his festival anymore... Much like Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, Berlinale is becoming a fest where films go to be forgotten, where they have one big premiere and then are never get talked about again. Many of my colleagues get really grumpy when they hear me say this, but it's how I feel about this festival and their film selection. But I am always watching new films anyway - hoping for a few discoveries. There's always a few surprises to be found in any fest's line-up.
› Posted February 15 in Berlinale, Editorial, Indies | Comments
Let's Dance Again - The 40th Sundance Film Festival Returns to Utah
As I settled into my first few screenings at Sundance, I'm overwhelmed by the emotions and memories and feelings I've had about this festival. I've been attending for 18 years – quite a long time considering I started this blog when I was only 20. It was a whole different festival back in 2007, my very first year, and much has changed since then. Sundance is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year – much has changed since it first started as well. Sundance was founded in 1978 as the United States Film Festival (aka Utah/US Film Fest), started by Robert Redford and his company. The title was switched to Sundance in 1984, and this is the date they've chosen to designate this as the 40th anniversary. While the festival has been evolving and adapting and updating, there is one thing that has stayed the same after all these years - the films. I spend money year after year to fly over to Utah and attend Sundance because it's really all about the films. Good or bad, big or small, there's always an amazing wealth of must see films at Sundance year after year after year.
› Posted January 21 in Editorial, Indies, Sundance 24 | Comments
A Quick Visit to the 2023 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia
Awooooo!! There's a charming festival up in the Baltic country of Estonia called the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Also known locally as PÖFF (which stands for Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival in Estonian) the festival just celebrate its 27th year with a 2 and 1/2 week cinema celebration. It kicked off on November 3rd and ran through November 19th in downtown Tallinn, with tons of screenings & premieres every single day. It's much longer than a regular festival because they like to let the films play and give locals a chance to come watch them in the evenings, with hundreds of films in the line-up to choose from. There's also a big industry event at the end of the fest, which is when I was in town for a visit. PÖFF flew me up to Tallinn this year (from Berlin) and offered me a hotel room so that I can experience the festival in person. It was a very nice trip and I'm glad I could visit to watch some more films, though I arrived a bit late and couldn't catch as many as I really hoped to watch. It's a well-run festival overall, with a great selection of the year's best films.
› Posted November 21 in Editorial, Feat, Indies | Comments
Why Can't the US Try Japan's Marketing for 'The Boy and The Heron'?
It's the year 2023 and for the first time in 10 years we're being graced with the presence of a new Hayao Miyazaki movie. The animation legend has directed his 12th feature, known in English as The Boy and the Heron, originally titled How Do You Live? (or 君たちはどう生きるか) in Japanese. The film already opened in Japan in July right in the middle of the summer, and it's set to open in US theaters nationwide in December this fall. Described as a "big fantastical film", it follows a boy named Mahito Maki, who discovers an abandoned tower in his new town and enters a fantastical world with a talking grey heron. The release in Japan was a fascinating experiment – because it opened without any marketing other than one poster and the title. Yet it did quite well - playing #1 at the Japanese box office for two weeks in a row in July. Though the initial reception in Japan was lukewarm with mostly positive reviews (no one called it a "masterpiece"), Western audiences are going crazy for it ever since its premiere at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival. But I've been wondering - why can't the US distributor also open it without any marketing? And why did they cave?
› Posted September 27 in Animation, Discuss, Editorial, Feat, Foreign Films | Comments
Making Sense of Life - On the Philosophy of 'Barbie' & 'Oppenheimer'
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes." –Proust. Two of the best movies of 2023 are now playing in theaters worldwide: Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie. Yep – they're both outstanding movies deserving of all the praise, both ambitious and unique and creative, both made by exceptionally talented filmmakers who understand the terrific power of visual storytelling. They may differ in many ways, especially in tone, but they're actually quite similar in many other ways. I am in awe and delighted that we have two of the most philosophical movies I've seen in years, both big budget studio projects, both intellectually stimulating, showing on big screens and drawing big crowds. This is an invigorating moment for cinema that we should relish. What I appreciate the most is how much each film relies on intellectual storytelling, with no desire to pander to audiences or be accessible to everyone. There is so much to discuss about each, and I want to dig into the philosophy present in both films. To borrow a quote on Twitter: "It's not Barbie and Oppenheimer. It's Barbie, and it's Oppenheimer."
Yep, The Karlovy Vary Film Festival is Still One of the Best in the World
If you know, you know... If you've been, you'll always want to go back... At least that's how I feel. There is a wonderful film festival in Czechia called the Karlovy Vary Film Festival – they're celebrating their 57th year, making it one of the oldest festivals in the world (it was originally founded in 1946). This is my fifth year attending KVIFF (as it's known - the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), returning to this lovely little spa town in the middle of the summer to watch more films and enjoy the full-on cinema lovers party ambience. Karlovy Vary is a famous town in the hills of west Czechia, right near the border of Germany. It's only 6 hours by train from Berlin, where I live, and even less if you go directly from Prague. They're an A-list event and the first major festival after Cannes in May to play the best of Cannes' selection, including all the awards winners - Anatomy of a Fall, Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, Perfect Days, and many others. I write about KVIFF every year nowadays, because this humble festival really is one of the best in the entire world.
› Posted July 7 in Editorial, Foreign Films, Indies, Karlovy Vary | Comments
The Evolution of Film Festivals - Back at the 76th Cannes Film Festival
Tonight in the lovely beach resort town of Cannes, France, the 76th Cannes Film Festival is kicking off with the world premiere screening of Maïwenn's Jeanne du Barry after the opening ceremony. This is my 13th year attending and covering Cannes, starting back in 2009, and I am always happy to return. I skipped the opening film because it's just not my jam, but I am excited to watch plenty more films over the next 11 days in France. I come to Cannes year after year, spending more than I have in my bank account to be here, because I am here for the films. For the love of cinema. For the spirit of discovery and for all the hours of watching and discussing new films with my friends and colleagues. This is why I always come back. Yes, it can be annoying and frustrating to deal with. Yes, it the festival has problems like EVERY festival does. But I come anyway and make the most of it. It makes me happy that we're ALL here together to celebrate cinema.
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