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Film & TV By Penny Patterson | Thu Nov 01, 2007 | 6:00am

S.B.’s Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Hits Metro 4 This Weekend

Secretly, I was nervous. Holding a stack of screeners for S.B.’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Film Festival, I prepared myself to watch some pretty bad movies. Don’t get me wrong-films with a gay theme have just as much potential to be good as they do to be bad, but in the same way that the initial years of talkies were rough or the first musicals weren’t the best productions, it can be rocky in the early years of any niche filmmaking.

Film & TV By Amy R. Ramos | Thu Nov 01, 2007 | 6:00am

Dan in Real Life

Here’s my theory about why Hollywood films about young widows (Jerry Maguire, Starman) tend to emphasize drama and sorrow, whereas movies about young widowers (Sleepless in Seattle, My Girl) are usually romantic comedies: A woman without a man is, by movie-industry definition, an object of pity, and a widow has a sadder backstory than most. A widower, on the other hand, is just another guy trying to win a girl-and we all know the silly lengths to which men will go in that quest.

Film & TV By Matt Kettmann | Thu Nov 01, 2007 | 6:00am

Vaquero Legacy in Hawai’i Unveiled

Think Hawai’i-surfing, sand, sun, hula, and pineapples, right? Better add cowboys to that island mix, because the 49th state is home to one of the proudest horse-riding and cattle-corralling cultures in the world, a ropin’ ‘n’ wranglin’ tradition that harkens back to the 1800s and persists today on some of the largest ranches in the United States.

Film & TV By Indy Staff | Thu Oct 25, 2007 | 6:00am

The Darjeeling Limited

When it comes to modern American films that find the delicate balance between being tart, smart, and oddly warm and fuzzy, Wes Anderson rules. He’s an aging wunderkind whose latest quirky delight, The Darjeeling Limited, affirms that the writer/director is thus far batting a thousand in his loveably idiosyncratic filmography.

Film & TV By Indy Staff | Thu Oct 25, 2007 | 6:00am

Director Craig Gillespie on Dolls, Ryan Gosling, and Lars and the Real Girl

After a painful childhood, Lars lives isolated in his brother’s garage. One day, he introduces Bianca, an anatomically correct polyurethane doll, as his girlfriend to his family and the people of his small town, turning their lives and his own upside down.

Film & TV By D.J. Palladino | Thu Oct 25, 2007 | 6:00am

Lust, Caution

Watching previews for Lust, Caution, you probably thought, “Hmm, Ang Lee does Wong Kar Wai.” Not bad, you little cineaste, but the actual film has a much different feeling. This political melodrama, with its controversially rough sex and spicy undercurrent of right-wing brutality (despite Tony Leung’s great performance as Mr. Yee), feels European somehow-more like a Lina Wertm¼ller film.

Film & TV By Charles Donelan | Thu Oct 18, 2007 | 6:00am

Resurrecting Charles Burnett’s Classic 1970s Film Killer of Sheep

The 1970s have long been regarded as the golden age of contemporary American cinema. Dozens of classics, from Annie Hall to Mean Streets, were produced by maverick directors both within and outside the studio system. Of all the great American films of the 1970s, none has earned a more exalted and esoteric reputation among fans of independent film than Charles Burnett’s debut, Killer of Sheep.

Film & TV By Indy Staff | Thu Oct 18, 2007 | 6:00am

We Own the Night

As with most contemporary Hollywood films, We Own the Night follows a simple enough premise to allow for a capsulated lowdown of a synopsis, suitable for a sound bite or marketing hook. Here, the plot is presumably about two brothers facing off from opposite sides of the law, coming to grips and to blows in the urban jungle of Brooklyn, while their stern-but-wise father tries to corral them toward the right path.

Film & TV By D.J. Palladino | Thu Oct 18, 2007 | 6:00am

Michael Clayton

Beginning with the obvious: Michael Clayton is a great movie. Its effect dawns immediately and never lets up until the last seconds of the movie. People clap at the end. Most spectators note the intelligence of the script-particularly in its elegantly rich dialogue, which is vulgar and revealing. Clooney’s paradoxically calm but desperation-driven cadences, the brittle insecurities mouthed by a haunted Tilda Swinton, the great Tom Wilkinson’s romantic insanity, and young Austin Williams (who’s unbelievably touching as Clooney’s son), all make the film’s long, sure character loops and detours work.

Film & TV By Felicia M. Tomasko | Thu Oct 18, 2007 | 6:00am

Sharkwater

Sharks are the last dragons, the last dinosaurs,” raves wildlife photographer, conservationist, and now filmmaker Rob Stewart. The species is often viewed as a monster, but in reality, sharks play an integral role in our oceans’ ecosystems-and they play the leading role in Sharkwater, Stewart’s first documentary feature. Since the film’s initial release in Canada, it has been playing the circuit of film festivals worldwide, garnering acclaim and collecting awards.

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