Boycott Town

BY KIRK FAULKNER

Oh Internet, you give voice to the craziest of us. We appreciate that people are upset about Proposition 8, the recently passed ban on gay marriage in California. We also appreciate that people are upset with Mormons for donating upwards of 19 million dollars to help support the ... read more

Posted on 11/21/2008 by FCFeatures 06:47:PM

Voyage to Skopje

BY DAMON SMITH
The rise of national cinema in the Balkan region over the past decade should be heartening to serious film lovers and anyone with even a vague knowledge of the bloody conflicts that engulfed Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, and neighboring precincts after the breakup of Tito’s Yugoslavia in the ... read more

Posted on 11/21/2008 by FCFeatures 11:34:AM

A Discouraging Word: Tropic Thunder on DVD

BY SIMON AUGUSTINE
“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or in prison, and did not take care of you?”  Then he will answer, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of ... read more

Posted on 11/17/2008 by FCFeatures 06:25:PM

Manny Farber on Acting

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to pick a favorite moment in Negative Space, the collected writings on film by the late painter-critic Manny Farber (co-written from 1975 onward with his partner Patricia Patterson). Brash arguments, heavily allusive turns of phrase, and coruscating insights await a first-time (or repeat) reader almost ... read more

Posted on 11/14/2008 by FCFeatures 03:53:PM

Five Upcoming Remakes We Really Don’t Want to See

These days, the mania for (mostly foreign, mostly Asian) remakes in Hollywood is a zero-sum game that’s reaching a point of neuron-obliterating absurdity. While some director/film pairings make an addled kind of sense (Herzog goosing Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant), others are downright puzzling or just demoralizing to contemplate.

An ... read more

Posted on 11/12/2008 by FCFeatures 12:14:AM

NEWS: The Age of "Innocence"

The Sundance Institute today announced the finalists for its 2009 Sundance Institute/NHK International Filmmakers Award, which is given to four emerging indie-film talents who board members feel “will make a significant contribution to world cinema.” Heady stuff, so I was thrilled to see that one of the European nominees ... read more

Posted on 11/07/2008 by FCFeatures 02:50:PM

Surprisingly Spiritual Films: Bad Lieutenant

BY SIMON AUGUSTINE
Abel Ferrara may be the last person you would expect to make a serious-minded, even devout, Christian film. Like fellow filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Ferrara built his career with an oeuvre of gritty New York films centered on characters and lives that fluctuate between the polarities ... read more

Posted on 11/06/2008 by FCFeatures 11:10:AM

REVIEW: Dear Zachary

For most of us, the real-life horror of a close friend’s violent murder would leave us immobilized with grief, perhaps for a lifetime. For filmmaker Kurt Kuenne, it was just the beginning of a long, shocking, achingly personal odyssey that led him from California to Latrobe, PA, overseas to ... read more

Posted on 10/31/2008 by FCFeatures 03:07:PM

(Near) Great Horror Movies You've Probably Never Seen

BY SIMON AUGUSTINE

   Next Door (2005)  Obscure Norwegian mind-bender in which a twenty-something named John, distraught because he has just broken up with his girlfriend, finds himself invited over to the apartment of two new beautiful (but suspicious) neighbors who live in his building.  As he becomes seduced and fascinated ... read more

Posted on 10/28/2008 by FCFeatures 10:33:AM