Under The Radar: JDIFF DAY 11 - Alice In Wonderland, and closing with I Am Love
Posted on Monday March 1, 2010, 08:59 by Sam Toy in Under The Radar
Our eleven days of film-related fun are at an end – for 2010, at least, and this year’s Jameson Dublin International Film Festival has now drawn to a close. For me, it went out in style with an early screening of Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. To say I’ve heard mixed reviews about this is putting it mildly, so I went in with serious reservations. But I’m not a purist for the books, so I suspect that both of these elements helped me to find it a a mostly enjoyable family film; the all-ages audience seemed to feel the same (and bless the munchkin who was audibly amazed by the 3Dification of the Walt Disney logo at the beginning, which really set things up nicely).
You'll probably go to see this regardless, so I’ll be brief. Things worth shelling out £10 for: Helena Bonham Carter, and one of the best ensemble voice casts ever (special amongst them, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Paul Whitehouse). Things to brace yourself for: Johnny Depp doing a cute, ... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopUnder The Radar: JDIFF DAY 10 - ...and we're back: Kenneth Anger and Savage
Posted on Sunday February 28, 2010, 09:35 by Sam Toy in Under The Radar
 I have to admit, the distraction of being hastily called away to shoot a short film was an enjoyable one, but I’m regretting how much great stuff I’ve missed out on since being away from Dublin this week. What, exactly? For starters, the chance to revisit my second favourite movie of 2010 thus far, I Love You Phillip Morris, an early peek at the much anticipated sequel to Todd Solondz’s Happiness that is Life In Wartime, a well-received documentary from ‘the Italian Michael Moore’ taking potshots at the Berlusconi administration with Videocracy, and the brilliant Lebanon, plus rare big screen airings of the likes of La Dolce Vita, one-take wonder (okay, not really, but you know what I mean) Russian Ark, and Eyes Without A Face. The thing I’m really kicking myself for missing, though? The concert celebrating the film music of Nino Rota, which played to a rapturous crowd at the National Concert Hall. Here’s hopi... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopUnder The Radar: JDIFF DAY 3 - Falling for Capitalism: A Love Story
Posted on Sunday February 21, 2010, 00:57 by Sam Toy in Under The Radar
 I was feeling like I was the only person in the world (or at least on the festival circuit) who hadn't seen Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, so Day 3 of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival was my chance to make amends. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting huge things from it - possibly because his style has become so familiar, or maybe because his profile is large enough for his opponents to see him coming these days; whatever the reason, it turns out I'd underestimated this one. I’m still evaluating it, but it may be Moore’s strongest film since Bowling For Columbine.
After the basically solid but ever-so-slightly underwhelming Sicko, and with his nemesis leaving the White House, Moore must have been nervously biting his nails in search of a target. A sane man would be President once again - tough times for a crusading domestic documentary maker. But then the financial crisis erupted. Oh, how that angry little part of his... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: JDIFF 2010 - DAY 2: back to 1981 with Salvador and L'Affaire Farewell
Posted on Saturday February 20, 2010, 00:33 by Sam Toy in Under The Radar
 Ask anyone who was there, even as a kid, and they’ll tell you the Reagan years were a particularly dark period in world politics; he was a reactionary old fool who most people were glad to see the back of. And yes, I’ve re-written that sentence to avoid being sued by his estate. Still, no matter how painful the memory, it’s always good to be reminded of past mistakes, and today I was delivered a double dose from the early years of the Decade Of Shame – two features, and by coincidence, both set in 1981.
The first was a bit of a surprise, which I had overlooked on my earlier perusal of the programme: Oliver Stone’s Salvador. I’m still not sure which stream of JDIFF this belongs to (my guess is it’s part of their ‘Out Of The Past’ section), but I’m certainly glad it was included, for a couple of reasons. First, it now serves as a testament to the theory of “the more things change...” - America playing with puppet dictato... Continue reading... Comment Now (4 comments)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: The Jameson Dublin Film Festival 2010: Opening Night
Posted on Friday February 19, 2010, 10:40 by Sam Toy in Under The Radar
 I landed in Dublin this afternoon to crisp, cool conditions – albeit one up on London for at least having intermittent blue sky and patches of sunshine - which helped get the Jameson DIFF (a good one for fans of acronyms) off to an enthusiastic start. The opening night film was Neil Jordan’s latest, Ondine, which played to a full house as excited as you would expect to see a film shot entirely just down the road (I noticed several people around me excitedly nudge their partners/family members when a certain extra made a fleeting appearance). After the introductory speeches and a tribute to late local festival hero and champion of Irish cinema Michael Dwyer, Jordan and his star Colin Farrell introduced their co-stars and the film.
Selkies, the seal people of Celtic folklore, seem to have an instant and obvious appeal for the family film – off the top of my head I can think of at least two other solid films within the genre to feature these mythological creatu... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: The Awards
Posted on Sunday January 31, 2010, 16:28 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
The awards were announced last night at an awards show that saw David Hyde Pierce rapping, and a film considered to be one of the most critically savaged in the competition – Mark Ruffalo's Sympathy For Delicious – getting a special award for its "fearlessness". The top two awards, which last year went to Precious and We Live In Public, surprised no one by going to Restrepo (pictured) and Winter's Bone. Surprisingly, the popular Michelle Wiliams/Ryan Gosling two-hander Blue Valentine went home empty-handed. It was quite a good night for the Brits and the Irish, however. Four Lions failed to explode, but a suprise winner was Lucy Walker, who was actually at the bar when the Audience Award for her inspirational documentary Waste Land was announced. Exec-produced by City Of God director Fernando Meirelles, Waste Land follows Brazilian artist Vik Munez as he puts together his latest art proje... Continue reading... Comment Now (1 comment)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Twelve Mini-Reviews
Posted on Saturday January 30, 2010, 01:00 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 ONE FESTIVAL DARLING
I wanted to like the much-hyped Howl (pictured), but though I was dazzled by James Franco's great and very plausible portrayal of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, I think this experimental docudrama went in a few too many different directions. Primarily, it's an account of the 1957 trial in which San Francisco bookshop owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti was taken to court for publishing and selling obscene material, namely Ginsberg's 1955 poem Howl, a semi-autobiographical tribute to his peers. The courtroom scenes were funny and quite insightful, but the filmmakers chose to weave in three extra elements: a faux 'interview', in which Ginsberg talks to an unseen journalist; a recreation of the poem's first ever public reading in 1955; and, most mystifying of all, some animated sections seeking to replicate the poem's jazzy, freeform imagery. Beat aficionados will find elements to enjoy, but, personally, I think this won't serve the experts and casual viewers may well find them... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Get Ready For Buried!
Posted on Thursday January 28, 2010, 19:20 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 Sundance has a habit of turning up a genuine oddity that either goes supernova or becomes a niche cult item for those who've heard of it. Into the former category I'd put The Blair Witch Project and Donnie Darko; into the latter, I'd put The Machinist, Fido and Primer. The thing about Buried is that I don't know which way it will go: at the screening I attended, director Rodrigo Cortes announced, “It's about a guy in a coffin. You're still here? I said, it's about a guy in a coffin!” He's right. But I think part of the appeal of this film is seeing how it's done. Because, although there is a surprisingly extensive cast list, Buried is a 90-minute movie about a single, solitary man that never once moves away from the situation it's showing.
And that situation is intense; Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), a contract lorry driver working in Iraq, wakes up to find himself in a wooden box, several feet under the ground. He struggles to get free, but the soil i... Continue reading... Comment Now (3 comments)
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: Is Cyrus this year's Juno?
Posted on Thursday January 28, 2010, 00:39 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 The Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay, first came to Sundance in 2005 with The Puffy Chair, a film that established them as leading lights of the emerging mumblecore scene, an ultra low-budget genre typified by extensive use of hand-held camera, semi-professional acting, lots of improvised action and even more talking, usually between people with relationship issues. With Cyrus they have technically sold out, since this Fox Searchlight production was not only bankrolled by The Man, it also boasts some serious mainstream stars in the central power trio of John C Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Superbad's Jonah Hill. If you've seen Lynn Shelton's rather awesome Humpday – wwhich featured Mark, the younger Duplass brother, in an acting capacity as a straight guy who sets out to make a gay porno movie with his best friend in order to make a “beautiful” art statement – you'll know what to expect. Though perhaps a little more sentimental than Shelton's f... Continue reading... Comment Now
Back To TopUnder The Radar: Sundance 2010: KStew Grows Up
Posted on Wednesday January 27, 2010, 16:57 by Damon Wise in Under The Radar
 Kristen Stewart had two films in Sundance this year, and anyone wondering if the role of Bella has made her more conservative in her choice of roles outside the Twilight franchise might be a bit shocked at how far she's prepared to go. I'll start with Welcome To The Rileys (pictured), in which James Gandolfini plays Doug Riley, a married man whose wife (Melissa Leo) has become a neurotic recluse since the death of their daughter. On a work trip to New Orleans, he stumbles into a strip club where he meets Mallory (Stewart), a grubby, bruised stripper who offers him sex, then freaks out, thinking he's a cop, and asks him to leave. Later, they meet by accident in a coffee bar; Doug takes her back to her sordid home and stays the night. The chance meeting inspires something in Doug, so he calls his wife, tells her he's staying put, and moves in with Mallory to explore a tentative father-daughter friendship.
It sounds kind of sweet, but in actual fact it's really rather dul... Continue reading... Comment Now
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| RECENT COMMENTS | JDIFF DAY 3 - Falling for Capitalism: A Love Story
"Sure Moore preaches to the converted, but I think that in this movie he goes beyond that. I mean tha" Pelle
Read comment JDIFF 2010 - DAY 2: back to 1981 with Salvador and L'Affaire Farewell
"Salvador was included in the festival line-up as a tribute to the late Michael Dwyer, as it was one " crimebusterofthesea
Read comment JDIFF 2010 - DAY 2: back to 1981 with Salvador and L'Affaire Farewell
"JDIFF is getting its own series of Empire blogs?! I am ridiculously proud of our festival! :) Sam, p" Acho
Read comment JDIFF 2010 - DAY 2: back to 1981 with Salvador and L'Affaire Farewell
"Yeah Empire, there are plenty of audiences like that in the UK and Ireland, they're called morons an" Mr Underhill
Read comment JDIFF 2010 - DAY 2: back to 1981 with Salvador and L'Affaire Farewell
""(particularly to American audiences, who let’s face it, generally like their messages in" benskelly
Read comment Sundance 2010: Get Ready For Buried!
"Damon, I presume you've seen Tarantino's similarly-themed CSI episode, hence my " Manfrendshensindshen
Read comment Sundance 2010: The Killer Inside Me causes outrage!
"I know that most often movies and their directors find other things to fixate on etc when they are t" Coldpie
Read comment Sundance 2010: Get Ready For Buried!
"if this film is anything to do with our british soldiers being his captors we dont care. making us l" LAURA.TALLEN
Read comment Sundance 2010: The Awards
"I love it...." Pav Basra
Read comment Sundance 2010: Get Ready For Buried!
"fortunately, a german distributor bought the rights for the german market a few days ago. i'm quite " Galli
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