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Review: A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III Offers Only Fleeting Pleasures

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Review: A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III Offers Only Fleeting Pleasures

Review: A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III Offers Only Fleeting Pleasures

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 09:02 PM PST

Any film with a title as obnoxious as A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III seems resolutely unconcerned with actually getting wide audience acceptance. I've watched the film, and even interviewed the director, and still have a hell of a time keeping the title straight. That said, it does give you a sense of the film, a warped, manic, sometimes offensive and sometimes surprisingly effective tale of a resolute prick coming to terms with the breakup of his relationship with a younger, more attractive girl. The Swan in question is played by a real life Charlie, this being Charlie Sheen's first big-screen role since his infamous "winning" phase and very public meltdown. The script and direction is handled by the Coppola scion Roman, whose...

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Review: SIDE EFFECTS May Include Whiplash From Jarring Change In Tone

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 08:00 PM PST

The important thing to know about Side Effects -- which Steven Soderbergh says will be his last theatrical film for a while, maybe forever -- is that whatever you're thinking it's going to be, it probably is not that. Pardon my vagueness as I avoid ruining any surprises, but what begins as a shrewd, piercing story about the pharmaceutical industry turns into something else, a different kind of story altogether. That's Soderbergh: always keeping us on our toes, even in "ordinary" genre films. We begin with bloody footprints (an ominous sign), then jump back three months. High-finance guy Martin Taylor (Channing Tatum) is just being paroled after doing time for insider trading, and is glad to be reunited with his wife, Emily (Rooney Mara), who...

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Review: LORE Finds The Awful Truth In Pretty Pictures

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 07:00 PM PST

After her well-received debut feature Summersault (2004), a small indie film about a young woman's sexual awakening that launched the careers of Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington, directing a WWII drama in Germany with all German cast is a curious choice for Aussie director Cate Shortland. But It's Shortland's knack for portraying a budding female's physical and mental struggle that connects the two films. Newcomer Saskia Rosendahl plays the red-lipped perfect Nazi youth whose world is shaken after finding out her parents' roles in the death of millions.It's 1945. Hitler's dead. Hannalore (Rosendahl) and her four young siblings are left to fend for themselves after their Nazi parents are imprisoned. Having been informed that there is a relative living in Hamburg, the children set out...

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Review: IDENTITY THIEF Steals from Better Films, Comes Up Short

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 06:00 PM PST

You have to admit, it takes some guts to rip off a hundred other movies and then call the result Identity Thief. That sort of brazenness would be admired by the scoundrel at the center of this wearying, derivative comedy, if she were capable of higher thought, which she isn't, because she is merely a machine of destruction. What a waste this is! Jason Bateman, an immensely likable actor with impeccable comic timing and apparently the worst agent in Hollywood, plays Sandy Patterson, a meek Denver family man whose identity is stolen by a Florida woman called Diana. She's played by Melissa McCarthy, another affable and talented comedian, but one who is unfortunately at the point in her stardom where she's probably going to make...

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TIFF Next Wave Film Festival Presents Second Edition February 15-17

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 05:30 PM PST

Hey Toronto! The second edition of the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival begins next Friday, February 15 and runs through the weekend at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The festival is "steered by the TIFF Next Wave Committee," according to a prepared statement, "an advisory committee made up of 12 youths dedicated to bringing quality film programming and film-related events to youth across the city."During the weekend, you can catch screenings of 5-25-77; Bushido Sixteen; the first ever fully Canadian film to be shot in Stereoscopic 3D Dead By Dawn 3D; Ireland's Earthbound; a documentary about a fine arts high school in L.A., Fame High; a U.S. comedy about a young girl who takes her parents hostage after they miss her jump-rope competition Family Weekend; Spanish ghost comedy Ghost Graduation; Canadian drama Molly Maxwell;...

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Tom Hardy Cast In Real-Time Thriller LOCKE

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 05:00 PM PST

Tom Hardy has just signed onto a thriller called Locke, which will find him racing against the clock in real time as his life falls to pieces. I know -- you saw the title and thought that he'd be waxing philosophical about government as the 16th century English thinker John Locke. But alas, we'll have to keep hoping for that one. This movie, which is set in the 21st century, is written and will be directed by Steven Knight, who has already proven his writing chops with the screenplays for Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises. His directorial debut Hummingbird will be released later this year. Here's the synopsis for Locke from the Hollywood Reporter:Locke tells the story of one man's life unraveling in a...

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Wong Kar Wai's THE GRANDMASTER Is Coming To The U.S.A. and Canada

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 03:30 PM PST

On the eve of its European premiere as the opening film of Berlinale, Wong Kar Wai's much-anticipated retelling of the Ip Man saga, The Grandmaster, has been picked up for distribution in the U.S. and English-Speaking Canada by The Weinstein Company. They also have the rights to the UK, Australia and New Zealand. So, if you live in an English-speaking country, you'll probably be getting The Grandmaster!The Weinstein Co. will presumably be releasing the version that screened in Berlin, which is reportedly around fifteen minutes shorter and somewhat restructured in comparison to the version released in China. Speaking from the ground at the festival, I can tell you that while some have praised the film, many critics have been far less kind to it than...

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Kurosawa's A PERFECT DAY FOR PLESIOSAUR Retitled REAL, Set For June Release

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST

Fans of Kurosawa Kiyoshi, take note. The acclaimed Japanese director's next has landed itself a far more straightforward international title - switching from the cumbersome A Perfect Day For Plesiosaur to Real - and a June 1, 2013 release date in Japan.Koichi and Atsumi are lovers who have known each other all their lives. A year ago, however, a suicide attempt by Atsumi left her in a coma. Through 'sensing', a type of neurosurgical procedure allowing contact with the intentional aspect of a comatose patient's mind, Koishi tries to find out why Atsumi tried to kill herself, and to bring her back to consciousness. He enters her subconscious, and is told to find a picture of a plesiosaur she drew when she was a child....

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Watch It Big. Watch It Loud. Anthony Scott Burns, Chris Bahry And Tendril Tease The STYLE FRAMES Conference.

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 02:30 PM PST

If you cast your mind back a little ways you may recall Twitch raving about a scifi experiment titled Epoch, the footage all repurposed by director Anthony Scott Burns from elements he had shot for Paul Van Dyk's album Evolution. The footage was quite simply stunning, so much so that it raised the possibility that in Burns my cold Canadian home may have a fledgling new scifi visionary to call its own. Time will tell if he can tell a story but, good lord, the man can make a pretty picture.And he's at it again.Burns recently teamed up with co-director Chris Bahry and Toronto's Tendril to create a promo spot for the upcoming Style Frames design conference in New York. And, following the teaser we...

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Watch Four Clips From Alex De La Iglesia's AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 01:35 PM PST

We are unabashed fans of Alex de la Iglesia here at Twitch. The director of The Last Circus, Ferpect Crime and The Day of the Beast is hard at work on his next feature, Witching & Bitching. While we wait for that, his previous effort As Luck Would Have It has now begun a small theatrical run and, more importantly, can be found on Cable VOD, SundanceNOW and other digital outlets -- iTunes, Amazon Streaming, PS3 Playstation Unlimited, XBOX Zune, Google PLAY and YouTube -- thanks to IFC. To whet your whistle, IFC has given us four clips you can watch below the synopsis. Roberto (famed Spanish comic José Mota) once had a promising career in advertising. But now out of work during the economic downturn, he struggles to keep his family...

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Ben Wheatley And Jim Hosking Join Forces For Gothic Horror WHITAKER

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 12:24 PM PST

If you have roamed the pages of Twitch for any length of time then you should be well aware of my personal, deep, and abiding love for the work of one Mr Jim Hosking. Sundance selected for his short film Renegades, Hosking is - to be blunt - a weird one. But weird in the best possible way. Hosking's short films and commercial work positively ooze with his unique sensibilities and often bizarre, always absurd humor. I'm fond of enough of the man's work, in fact, that I once declared an entire week dedicated to Hosking and his work here at Twitch - posting a new piece every day - which is the only time we have ever done this for any filmmaker, period.Regular readers...

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Tobias Santelmann Will Be Hunted By Vikings In NORTHMEN - A VIKING SAGA

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST

Tobias Santelmann, star of the Academy Award-nominated Kon-Tiki and Roar Uthaug's (Cold Prey) apres-Black Plague chase film, Escape, will take the lead in the upcoming Viking action film Northmen - A Viking Saga. Here's the synopsis from the press release: Tobias Santelmann ... will play Viking leader Asbjörn, stranded behind enemy lines on the coast of Alba with his band of Vikings. Their only chance of survival is to find a path to the Viking settlement, Danelag, traversing an unfamiliar and hostile land. The journey becomes a race for their lives when the King of Alba sends his most feared mercenaries after them. But when the Vikings meet a Christian Monk who also preaches with his sword, the hunters become the hunted as the Vikings...

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Charlize Theron Investigates A Family Massacre In DARK PLACES Adaptation

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST

Charlize Theron will star in and produce the film adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel, Dark Places. The book will be adapted for the screen and directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner. Theron will play the role of the novel's narrator and antagonist, Libby Day. Libby is the sole survivor of a massacre in the fictional town of Kinnakee, Kansas. She witnesses the murder of her sisters and mother in what appears to be a Satanic cult ritual. Libby escaped through a window and would later testify against her teen-aged brother. Twenty-five years after the massacre, Libby meets with a group of amateur investigators who believe that her brother is innocent of the crime. She begins an investigation of the events of the massacre. Paquet-Brenner directed and...

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Short Film, Short Review: LATE LUNCH Offers Up A Charming Picnic Basket Of Dark Comedic Delights

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:30 AM PST

Often in film, whether short or feature, we're presented with a moral fable, a lesson and a warning to show us just how wrong humanity can be, just how vile and terrible someone can get. The naughty mustn't go unpunished as it were.Well, that's not the case with Late Lunch, the first production from a twisted duo of upstarts calling themselves Hobbes Hedley and Hedley Harlan (working under the aptly named Hedley Productions). Clearly the directing duo suckle at the teet of the lowliest of C-movies, pulp horror, underground comedy and ancient TV schlock.The plot reads like a classic Twilight Zone scenario. Consider if you will, the life of Malcolm Barrow (Charlie Sloin), a successful criminal defense lawyer whose one dream is to retire with...

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Moving Picture: A Close-Up Of Abbas Kiarostami at FSLC

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:00 AM PST

Coinciding with the North American release of his new film, Like Someone In Love, The Film Society of Lincoln Center presents A Close-Up of Abbas Kiarostami: a 9 day retrospective (February 8th - 17th) featuring the Iranian master filmmaker's documentaries, shorts and selective narratives. This retro is a rare opportunity to witness the evolution of one of the most prominent filmmakers working today. In 1997, Kiarostami's Taste Of Cherry won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, putting the Iranian New Wave on the map, shedding a light on many other deserving Persian filmmakers including Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Jafar Panahi and Amir Naderi. Disarmingly simple yet highly sophisticated, blurring the line between documentary and fiction and defying easy categorization, AK's films are regarded as prime examples of post-modern...

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SXSW 2013: First Trailer For BIG ASS SPIDER Does What It Says On The Tin

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 09:13 AM PST

Mike Mendez is one of the great underrated directors of low budget splattery horror. I first came to notice him with The Convent back in 2000, a fun little haunted house/possession film starring the great Adrienne Barbeau. In the years since then he hasn't done much feature directing, but managed to pop out one of the best films in the After Dark Horrorfest series, Gravedancers. He has kept himself busy in the editing bay on any number of unrelated projects, but I'm glad to see him returning to features with his latest, Big Ass Spider, premiering as part of the Midnighters series at SXSW 2013. Here's the synopsis and trailer:When a giant alien spider escapes from a military lab and rampages across the city of...

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Opening: LOST IN THAILAND Searches For Audience In U.S.

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST

China's record-smashing Lost in Thailand opens in limited release in the United States tomorrow, February 8, searching for an audience that may respond to a comic road trip that "talks about the struggles of the middle class and the grassroots, their happiness or sorrow." That description comes from Zhou Tiedong, president of China Film Promotion International, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last month. Twitch's Asian Editor, James Marsh, saw the film in Hong Kong last week, and had a muted reaction, concluding: "Lost in Thailand makes an exciting case for Chinese film financiers to not shy away from contemporary themes and break away from martial arts dramas and period epics. Clearly, local audiences are ready for something more relevant. That said, if China...

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Berlin Film Festival 2013: Twitch Previews the Panorama And Forum Programs

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 07:30 AM PST

If there was one thing that our Berlin Competition Preview lacked, it was smiles. I mean, just get a load of all the glum, tortured faces from stills! The only character who's not miserable is the girl in the Hong Sangsoo movie -- and she's asleep!So, for the preview of the Panorama and Forum programs, I did a bit of active searching for more uplifting material, just to shake things up a bit. It was not easy. In fact, reading the synopsis of every film is probably as good of a way to catch up on cultural and economic woes as any newspaper. Maybe some of the films are more uplifting than they sound, or perhaps Prozac is a festival sponsor this year. Regardless, since...

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Dr. Who Joins Ryan Gosling's MONSTER Movie

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 07:01 AM PST

Matt Smith has nabbed the male lead in Ryan Gosling's How to Catch a Monster, according to Variety. Smith joins Christina Hendricks, Eva Mendes, and Ben Mendelsohn. The film will mark Gosling's directorial debut. The story follows a single mother (Hendricks) who is "swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town." This will also be Smith's first role in a U.S. production. Recently he completed filming his third season of Dr. Who, so it's a good time for him to branch out, and this is an indie film that will definitely receive considerable attention. Shooting on How to Catch a Monster is expected to begin this spring....

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New Trailer For THE LAST DAYS Intensifies Apocalyptic Chaos And Fear

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST

David and Alex Pastor's first feature film, Carriers, was a creepy film set in a deserted America where a plague was slowly killing the population. In their second feature,The Last Days, they're taking the apocalypse back to their native Spain. This time, the epidemic is psychological: agoraphobia. It's quite a frightening thought, as food sources would dwindle pretty rapidly, so the chaos is not hard to imagine. Deserted cities always look creepy, but even more so in such an architecturally beautiful and usually very busy place such as Barcelona. In this second trailer, more of the story is revealed, as well as some incredible shots of the underground/interior fortresses the remains of humanity have built themselves.In 2013, humanity is suddenly plagued by an intense fear of...

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In Memoriam: Makeup Artist Extraordinaire Stuart Freeborn (1914-2013)

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 05:30 AM PST

The film world has lost one of the giants of movie makeup and creature design. Stuart Freeborn, whose credits go back to the 1930s, died earlier this week from a combination of ailments due to his age, according to The Guardian. He was 98. He worked for David Lean on 1948's Oliver Twist, setting up Alec Guinness with his prosthetic teeth, and later worked with Guinness and Lean on The Bridge on the River Kwai.Freeborn was brought to my attention thanks to another series of films starring Guinness. As the principal artist behind the creature shop on the first Star Wars film, Freeborn was responsible for the team that created Chewbacca. The costume was designed based upon designs that had been created for Stanley Kubrick's earlier...

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FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY Is Spreading Over The Globe

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST

For those of you who wanted to see Richard Raaphorst's Nazi zombie cyborg feature Frankenstein's Army, but were not able to catch one of the screenings at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), here is some good news: Variety just confirmed that distribution deals have been made for several regions all over the world. To be a bit more specific, here's the breakdown: "Entertainment One has taken Army for France, Scandinavia, Benelux, South Africa, the U.K. and Canada. Australian rights were sold to Madman; rights in Japan were sold to Transformer; and in Germany to Ascot Elite." As I wrote in my review from IFFR, where the film enjoyed its world premiere: "With its found-footage look and scary monsters showing up aplenty, Frankenstein's Army resembles...

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