In celebration of the reopening of Little Havana’s beloved art house, Tower Theater, the Miami International Film Festival has announced a four-day mini-film festival featuring exclusive premieres, an opening night party, guests, and a seminar. The festival’s director Jaie Laplante has dubbed the little festival MIFFecito in the spirit of…
Think back to summer 2005, when the notion of tattoo reality television was a novelty with the smash hit Miami Ink. Since then, artist and reality stars like Kat Von D have emerged and spin offs like LA Ink, London Ink, and Madrid Ink have emerged from virgin TV viewing…
Most of us would agree that there’s only one Al Pacino. But this year in Venice, there are actually two: Pacino appears in two films at the festival this year, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, about a lonely Texas locksmith stuck in a romantic dream, and, playing out of competition, Barry…
“I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so, I’m so… scared!” Jessie Spano immortalized those words on Saved by the Bell. It also perfectly summed up how most felt before the premiere of last night’s Lifetime docudrama The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story. Unlike the more scandalous and indulgent Beverly Hills 90210, Saved…
For everyone patiently awaiting the next edition of the Miami International Film Festival like we are, there’s finally a way to get a bit of a taste before the time comes around next March. That’s right; this coming October 16 through 19, there’s a mini-festival for audiences that will provide…
In 2012, documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer made a splash with The Act of Killing, in which he sought out members of Indonesian killing squads, individuals who murdered thousands of innocent citizens accused of being communists after a military takeover in 1965, and invited them to re-enact their crimes in the…
The gent at the Delta check-in counter back in New York sighed when he saw where I was headed. “Romantic Venezia!” he said, and the comment stopped me short, because film festivals located in the most beautiful settings in the world have a way of making you forget – almost…
Only a few days ago a panhandler in a wheelchair was shot and killed not too far north of downtown Miami. The motive of the suspected shooter — who was taken into custody after a police chase — remains unknown, but it’s doubtful the deceased, 58-year-old Israel Zequra, had enemies…
Genius is hell, both for the blessed and those stuck in the shadows, cursed to spend a lifetime of smashing their heads against the glass. In its presence we find ourselves dwarfed and dumb, like moths. We know we’re before brilliance we can’t comprehend — and we know we’ll never…
Weep at another whiff of an Elmore Leonard adaptation, one that nails down neither the peppery laughs nor the street-crime desperation that are key to the writer’s work. Instead, the comedy is too broad to take the characters seriously, and the vibe is breezily aimless, a mistake in a story…
Jean-Paul Belmondo in a white dinner jacket. There. That should be enough to sell you on Philippe de Broca’s 1964 crime caper/spoof That Man From Rio, but if for some reason it’s not, let’s throw in Jean-Paul Belmondo on a motorcycle, Jean-Paul Belmondo elbowing his way onto a flight from…
After The Princess Bride made Robin Wright a star, she shocked Hollywood by saying no. No to The Firm and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. No to Jurassic Park, Dirty Dancing, Born on the Fourth of July, and Batman Forever. She even said no to the cover of Vanity Fair…
Here’s what an R rating gets you these days: a few splattery headshots, some glimpses of cable TV-style background nudity, a couple kids and families popped by assassins, a brace of fucks, in dialogue, and one un-bracing fuck, in bed, mostly clothed. During its longueurs, this engagingly grim spy-versus-spymasters time-passer…
There has been a lot of talk, Tweets, and Instagrams since Beyonce’s powerhouse performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday and Sofia Vergara’s spinning skit at the Emmys Monday night. The stark contrast between the two showings has caused a stir, with “feminism” and “sexist” hashtag-storming social media…
Why did so few people see Sin City: A Dame to Kill For over the weekend? That and other topics are discussed in this week’s edition of the Voice Film Club podcast with the Village Voice’s Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek, joined as always by Amy Nicholson of the L.A…
It’s only been a couple of years since the great filmmaker Sidney Lumet passed away and seven since his final feature graced our screens, but many of his works still influence modern works and are incredibly reflective of today’s society. This is why it’s not surprising that he’s one of…
You’re nobody until you own your own yacht. Or charter one. Or maybe just work on one, because yacht rides are hard to come across these days. That’s how Kate Chastain and Kat Held scored cabins on the Ohana, not to mention starring roles on the second season of Bravo’s…
The world has had its attention on Ferguson, Mo., and the shooting death case of Michael Brown, a young, unarmed black man who was killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Because of the nature of the case, it’s only natural that many would think back to the shooting of Trayvon…
Photo by Phil Bray – © 2014 – LionsgateWell, who was it? Find out in this week’s pod.On this week’s Voice Film Club podcast, Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice and Amy Nicholson of L.A. Weekly sift through the smoldering pile of action movie that is the…
Sin City, population unknown but dropping every minute, is a gorgeous place, but you wouldn’t want to live there. Even the shadows and broken glass are beautiful in this black-and-white world. Only the women — all gorgeous — give the streets a pop of color. That is, only the women…
In a year full of film adaptations of fantastical young-adult novels (Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, Vampire Academy, The Giver), If I Stay confronts the audience with stark reality. Adapted from the book by Gayle Forman, the film finds its main character, Mia Hall, in a coma after a…
Should grownups be spending their time reading young-adult novels, at the risk of missing the supposed riches of fiction written for actual grownups? A recent essay in Slate groused about the legions of adults who long ago graduated from the 12th grade but still devour YA fiction at the expense…
