#I will be back to New Zealand Comedy Month tomorrow

[standupcomedyhistorian]

Today is the one-year anniversary of me seeing Kate with @backalleyninja in New York City! 🙌

It was my second time seeing Kate Berlant’s one-woman show and Jen’s first time. We both loved it (of course), and one element of that performance that I really appreciated was the introduction where letters slowly formed Kate’s name in the center of the screen.

It was just SO satisfying to watch the letters become the name of the play…and it definitely appealed to my #wordnerd self haha

If you’d like to learn more about our experience seeing Kate this time last year, you can check out our interviews here—

My self-interview (including a few poorly taken pics of director Bo Burnham that I managed to get lol):

Jen's interview:

And, as always, keep it here for more comedy fun! ✌🏼🐔

[ellieellieoxenfree]

52 weeks, 52 movies: march

LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

yeah this is super-late i know i know. i'll try to be more timely with april. :E

no rewatches this month; faves, as always, in bold.

new countries added to the cinematic world map: morocco, chad, and the philippines. i still have a pretty heavy reliance on american/uk films, but did fit 18 countries in. so i guess i kept a decent amount of variety in the diet.

the whaler boy (russia) — leshka (vladimir onokhov), a teenage boy in the remote village of chukchi, becomes enamored with a camgirl (kristina asmus) from detroit and plans to journey to america to meet her.

longtime mutuals know how much the movie nói albinói means to me — it’s my icon and has been for years, and was a livejournal fixture long before i joined tumblr. this movie recaptured the magic of watching that for the first time. they’re spiritual cousins of movies, both set in bleak, isolated landscapes stripped of all color; their teenage protagonists both ache with impossible want for the world beyond their small towns. their lives are monotonous and grim, livened only by the promise of women just out of reach. the black, deadpan comedy runs strong. leshka’s grandfather (nikolay tatato) speaks frankly of his plans for his own demise with the same energy one would use to discuss the weather, and i thought back to the bark of laughter i let out at nói’s dispassionate blood-splash scene.

it’s both violent — during a whale hunt, the men stand in a tide foaming with blood and viscera as they pull a carcass to shore — and hauntingly beautiful, such as in a scene where leshka and his friend (vladimir lyubimtsev) take a motorcycle ride through the endless, empty landscape. we see moments of gentle humanity juxtaposed with brutality. a power failure leads to some families bonding in soft candlelight, but sends leshka into a frenzy when he loses access to the girl who lives inside his computer screen. the dialogue goes from wryly funny (‘i’m busy today. i’ll definitely die tomorrow,’ muses leshka’s grandfather) to agonizingly painful, as during the retelling of a story about a chukchi resident who crossed the bering strait over to alaska and met a bad end as a result.

leshka is a tour de force performance from vladimir onokhov, relying less on dialogue and more on onokhov’s subtly expressive face. he conveys the universal yearning of frustrated adolescence without a word, while saving much of his speech for hushed one-way conversations with his dream girl in detroit. he has a quietly powerful magnetism that draws your attention whenever he appears.

it’s a strange, hazy film, rich with metaphor and dreamscape. lovely, profound, and absolutely one of the finest films i’ve seen all year.

millie lies low (new zealand) — thanks to an anxiety attack, architecture student millie (ana scotney) misses her flight from wellington to new york for her internship, but decides to pretend to her family and friends that she’s there and thriving.

there’s something particularly special about a movie that you forget as you’re watching. i struggled to stay focused on this, and had to rewind several times because i kept losing interest.

the problem is that the movie never quite commits to itself. it shies from letting its emotional beats land; nothing seems to carry much consequence. when millie learns she doesn’t have the cash to replace her ticket, it dips into farcical schemes — trying to take out a personal loan and stealing her own car as collateral; skulking in sweatshirt and sunglasses around family and friends’ usual haunts; camping in a tent she uses as the backdrop for crudely photoshopped images for social media. (how any adult with a functioning set of eyes would fall for millie’s low-effort ipad creations is beyond me, but i digress.) it makes half-hearted attempts at addressing things like massive time differences, but skirts the question of ‘wouldn’t the firm hosting the internship just get in touch with millie’s family when she failed to show up?’

there are tantalizing ideas that could be coaxed out of the material in the hands of a more focused director. it’s clear that millie is hamstrung by others’ expectations and her lack of faith in her own potential, but when her ruse is exposed, the landing is so soft that it renders all of millie’s hysterical schemes rather ridiculous. there was so little shock or betrayal or anger that the side characters ended up feeling like unfinished caricatures. even the great jillian nguyen, as millie’s best friend, is wasted — the movie nudges itself into something resembling energy when it exposes nguyen’s carolyn in flagrante delicto with millie’s boyfriend, but then fizzles out again. i found it impossible to care about anyone because the movie found it possible to try to make me care. i’d say it ends with a whimper, but i think a whimper would have taken more effort than this was willing to put in.

benny’s bathtub (denmark) — a bored little boy named benny (bo jakobsen) follows his pet tadpole down the drain of his bathtub and into a magical world of adventure.

danish kids in the ‘70s lucked out with this bite-sized animated gem, a lush, multi-media riot of bright color, jazzy music, and quirky characters. a pair of skeletons argue and end as piles of mismatched bones, while a mischievous color-changing octopus interferes with a nattily-dressed shrimp’s romantic designs on a trio of mermaids. a furious crab and his smaller underlings try to deal out despotic, but ultimately impotent, justice. it understands the blithe logic of childhood and merrily dips from vibrant set piece to vibrant set piece at a lively pace without ever overthinking or overexplaining. thick acrylic strokes pop against delicate watercolor backgrounds, and some of its more psychedelic moments, such as the rapid-fire color change benny’s octopus friend undergoes during his solo number, bring to mind the dizzying spectacle of the ‘lucy in the sky with diamonds’ scene in yellow submarine.

much of the pleasure of this movie is experiencing it for yourself, because it can’t quite adequately be explained. it’s such a wondrous feast for the eyes that descriptions can’t quite do it justice. it’s lovingly rendered in every frame. powerhouse danish jazz acts provided the score and a wealth of musical numbers — the squabbling skeletons argue about the virtues of their respective mothers, terrifying pirate queens. (‘she screamed with joy when she saw blood,’ one fondly notes.) a particularly inventive scene in the middle makes use of photorealistic silhouettes that splash in and out of frame like squirted ink.

it’s a beloved classic even now in denmark, and for good reason. it’s one of the most stunningly unique films i’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. i treasured every moment.

the tune (usa) — threatened with the loss of both his job and his girlfriend if he doesn’t deliver a pop hit by day’s end, a struggling songwriter (daniel neiden) finds himself journeying to the off-kilter world of flooby nooby, whose odd residents might help him find the perfect line.

i made this a double feature for a movie night pick, alongside benny’s bathtub. they make a good pair, as they each carry their own wacky, anarchic energies. rather than the jewel tones of benny’s, the tune opts for delicate colored pencil, which gives a fuzzy, twitchy energy to the proceedings — a perfect match for del’s frazzled mental state. the animation is utterly elastic — people, possessions, and places all distort with reckless abandon, twisting and contorting and folding in on themselves. alongside the dominant colored-pencil artwork, director bill plympton dabbles in a variety of styles, including thick-lined matte animation, pastels, and scratchy rotoscoped realism, so that each new scene carries with it endless, playful possibility. a man’s head transforms into a hand sprouting from his shoulders and fish swim out of his palm; a hot dog and bun have a romantic rendezvous in a field of flowers; a dog crooning elvis tunes wobbles under the weight of his massive pompadour. in an extended gag, two businessmen constantly up the ante of comical punishments for each other, such as one of them pouring plant feed on the other’s head, causing his head to turn to grass.

the storyline is admittedly secondary to plympton’s whimsical sensibilities. del does try to keep pushing forward in his mission to get to his boss’ (marty nelson) office, but his journey mostly exists to facilitate as many madcap escapades can fit into 69 minutes. composer maureen mcelheron (also the voice of del’s girlfriend, didi) packs the proceedings with a musical cornucopia of styles — the aforementioned elvis, tango, wistful country, rumbling blues, show tunes, and surf rock among them, on top of del’s jingly pop tune attempts. i still find myself humming ‘my love for you / is equal to…’ from time to time.

it’s something of a polarizing film, relying as heavily as it does on its music and its cheerful refusal to stick to its own stated narrative. much like its noodling animation, it meanders in and out of ideas, and either you submit to its chaos and let it lead you along, or you find the entire affair a bit insufferable and self-satisfied. i fell firmly into the former camp. i’m not familiar with plympton’s name offhand, but the whole affair felt so cozy and familiar to me — it came out in 1992 and somehow reminded me of every piece of oddball animation i saw as a child — that not being charmed by it was never an option.

march viewing: other titles

sequin in a blue room (australia)

this is me…now (usa)

lingui (france/chad)

a day at the races (usa)

fireworks (2018) (japan)

friends and strangers (australia)

butterflies are free (usa)

not of this earth (1988) (usa)

never steal anything small (usa)

return to oz (usa)

juha (finland)

the runner stumbles (usa)

taxi! (usa)

my year without sex (australia)

her highness and the bellboy (usa)

ellen is leaving (new zealand)

paris is burning (usa)

shin kamen rider (japan)

bed friend (thailand)

change of life (portugal)

beach rats (usa)

young rock s1 (usa)

police story (hong kong)

young rock s2 (usa)

you never know women (usa)

no direction home (2023) (japan)

leonor will never die (philippines)

young rock s3 (usa)

the county (iceland)

beautiful thing (uk)

the short history of the long road (usa)

quiet on set: the dark history of kids’ tv (usa)

did you wonder who fired the gun? (usa)

the big country (usa)

drunken birds (canada)

blue velvet (usa)

i hired a contract killer (finland)

ham on rye (usa)

my name is lisa (usa)

salvation army (morocco)

batman and robin (usa)

children of the mist (vietnam)

[thysurveys]

856.

Did you ever build furniture forts as a child? All of the time! What kind of dog is your favorite? Cocker Spaniels? I am not a massive dog fan. Are there any songs that inspire you? Not really? Mumford & Sons always inspire me, though. Is there anything on television worth watching at the moment? Good Doctor, if anything? Have you ever had an online meet-up? I mean, I met a girl from an online game once before, so. I guess?

What is bothering you as of now? Nothing right now. Do you prefer water or land? Land. I love the beach/sea/ocean though. Do you tend to make a lot of messes? Yeah, kind of? Are the majority of your friends male or female? Lol I barely have any friends, but I guess female? Have you ever considered dropping acid? Not about that. Would you consider yourself to be mature? Yeah. Describe your music style: I like different types of music. How does your hair currently look? It’s down and curly. I let it air dry. Are you close to any of your aunts / uncles? I was always close to my mum’s side.  Who did you last creep on? No one?

If you have a car, what color is it? White. Have you ever experienced delusions before? Minor. Have you ever had a seizure? Nope. When was the last time you were in a hospital? I was at the hospital for Kev the other week. For myself was maybe a month or two ago when I had a severe ear infection I was hospitalised for. What country would you most like to visit in the future? I want to go back to America, New Zealand, UK. Do you go on vacations a lot? Nope. Are you self-conscious around other people? Yes. At your workplace, are you required to wear a uniform? What is your favorite pair of shoes? Nike and my flats. What was the last piece of candy you ate? I don’t remember the last time I ate “candy”. Do you plan on losing weight any time soon? I want to! Is sarcasm like a second language to you? Nope. Have you ever been in a heated pool? Yeah What is the name of your hometown? Do you adjust to things easily or not so much? Not so much. Have you ever witnessed a physical fight in real life? Plenty of them. What do you think of people who get drunk every weekend? I was one of those people. I don’t recommend it. Are you looking forward to anything? Sort of tonight now, now that my anxiety has finally subsided. And tomorrow! What was the last bad news you heard? I can’t think of anything right now. What was your GPA in high school? We didn’t go by GPAs. Are you planning on kissing anyone tomorrow evening? Yes. What was the last basically worthless thing you bought? No idea? Do you require a lot of private time? I guess? When did you last shower? About an hour ago. Do you use a lot of hair products? Not a lot, no. What is the most amount of money you’ve spent at one time? I mean, 10k? When I bought my car? What do you plan on doing with the rest of your life? I hope to get to at least work in my “dream” career for a year. Then be a mum. What is the best pizza place out there? I am not a great pizza fan. Does Facebook annoy you quite often? Fucking lately yes. Would you consider yourself a smart person? My EQ is more than likely higher than my IQ. What was the last comedy movie you watched? It wasn’t a film, but a short series with Ricky Gervais.  Have you ever attempted to make anything crafty? Yeah. Do you use any medicines daily? I am supposed to. What was the last song you downloaded? I don’t download any songs. It’s all on my Spotify. Do you know how to play any odd instruments most people can’t play? I can’t think of anything? How long have you lived where you do know? Not even a year yet. Have you played on any sports teams in your lifetime? Only because I had to in Primary School/High School. Do you think you have a nice singing voice? Nope. Would you rather eat from a paper or glass plate? Idm? If you have a favorite television show, who’s your favorite character? I was really into The Fosters recently, but I finished it. I think my favourite character was Brendon and Lena. I related to them both more than the other characters. Callie fucking irked me so much a lot of the time lol. Do you curse a lot? LOL yes. Does it bother you when people copy your actions? Nah. Have you ever had to put up with a really annoying child? I mean yeah. Most children are annoying, yes? Lol What is your favorite way to fix your hair? Straighten it when I have time.

[orbemnews]

Amazon Moves From Film Industry’s Margins to the Mainstream Sacha Baron Cohen may have been going a little mad. It was August 2020, the pandemic was raging and his secret production had shut down. He was determined to reprise his role as Borat in a feature film designed to satirize the Trump administration ahead of the November election. But how? First he persuaded Universal Studios to allow him to shop his incomplete movie. Then he cobbled together an hour of footage. (The infamous scene with Rudolph W. Giuliani had yet to be filmed.) Hulu was interested. So was Netflix. But Amazon Studios was the one most committed to getting the movie out in time, no matter the cost. Amazon spent $80 million to acquire “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” a decision that incurred extra expenses because of Covid protocols, test screenings in New Zealand — one of the few places in the world at the time where the company could gather a group of people in a dark movie theater — and a last-minute dash to incorporate all the gonzo footage before the film’s release on Oct. 23. (Mr. Cohen was cutting it close, still shooting three weeks before he had to deliver the movie.) ���They broke every rule for us,” Mr. Cohen said in a phone interview. “There was a certain delivery schedule that they felt was necessary, and they halved that time. They realized the imperative of getting this out before the election. And they changed their procedures completely to help us do this. I’m really, really grateful.” Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, is also grateful. When the Golden Globes air on Sunday, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” will be competing for three awards: best comedy or musical, best actor and best supporting actress (Maria Bakalova). Other Amazon acquisitions, including Regina King’s directorial debut, “One Night in Miami,” and “Sound of Metal,” starring Riz Ahmed, are also contending for prizes. Those accolades, coupled with the cultural impact “Borat” has enjoyed across the globe, have significantly altered the perception of Amazon Studios’s film division in Hollywood and among Amazon’s more than 150 million Prime subscribers. (The studio, which does not disclose viewer numbers, will say only that tens of millions of subscribers watched “Borat.”) Once a home for indie darlings such as “Manchester by the Sea” and “The Big Sick,” Amazon Prime Video is transforming itself into a place for commercial films with broad appeal that can travel internationally. It’s all part of Ms. Salke’s plan to turn Prime into a service people subscribe to for more than free shipping for their paper towels. “We had seen firsthand when Amazon gets behind a piece of content, just how big the muscle is that they are capable of flexing,” said David Ellison, chief executive of Skydance Media and the producer of Amazon’s “Jack Ryan” series. He recently sold the films “Without Remorse” and “The Tomorrow War” to Amazon. “With ‘Borat,’ they showed they could do that with films, too,” he said. Amazon has thrived in the last year, with profits increasing some 200 percent since the pandemic began. That success has extended to its film business. Like other streaming services, it has been able to snatch up big-budget, star-driven films that studios have been forced to shelve in response to the closing of movie theaters. Netflix, Apple, Disney+ and Hulu have all benefited from the studios’ woes, but Amazon has been one of the most aggressive in acquiring new movies. In September, Ms. Salke acquired “Without Remorse” — starring Michael B. Jordan and based on a Tom Clancy series — for $105 million. It will debut at the end of April. The following month, it paid $125 million for the rights to “Coming 2 America,” which will premiere on March 5. Eddie Murphy was initially hesitant about taking the sequel to his much-beloved film to Amazon, but Ms. Salke and others say he was reassured by the performance of “Borat.” In January, the company made its biggest bet yet, paying $200 million to acquire the Chris Pratt-led action film “The Tomorrow War,” which Paramount was set to release. To date, it stands as Amazon’s largest financial commitment in acquiring a feature film. The company hopes to debut it on Prime Video this summer. “We don’t have a huge bench of big blockbuster movies in the works,” Ms. Salke said with a laugh. “So for us it was opportunistic to be able to lean into that.” With more players than ever joining the streaming fray (Paramount+, anyone?), the pace at which new content is delivered is an issue every service worries about. Netflix threw down the gauntlet in January when it announced its 2021 strategy of delivering one new movie per week, which followed WarnerMedia’s announcement that all of Warner Bros.’s 2021 theatrical films would debut in theaters and on its HBO Max streaming service at the same time. With so much volume being offered by those two companies, along with Disney’s recent announcement that at least 80 percent of its 100 new projects would be earmarked for Disney+, the only way to compete is to go big. “It’s going to be really interesting over the next three years,” said Roeg Sutherland, one of the heads of media finance for Creative Artists Agency. “With platforms programming one new movie a week, this is fueling a competitive marketplace for high-end, independently financed films.” At the Sundance Film Festival last month, Apple paid a record $25 million for rights to the independent film “Coda.” Ms. Salke pushes back on the idea that her plans to broaden her offerings is a reaction to her competitors. Rather, she said, it’s the culmination of a strategy that began at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, when as a newcomer to the film world, she spent $46 million to acquire four films, including “Late Night” with Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, and the feel-good movie “Brittany Runs a Marathon.” Before joining Amazon, Ms. Salke spent her career in television, shepherding hits like “Modern Family” and “Glee” at Fox and “This Is Us” at NBCUniversal. After her Sundance shopping spree, she was mocked by some film insiders as an out-of-touch television executive overspending to acquire niche movies. She was criticized for paying $13 million for “Late Night,” when it grossed $15.4 million at the box office. “Brittany Runs a Marathon” earned just $7 million. That commentary still seems to sting Ms. Salke, though she argues that she released the films theatrically only to appease the filmmakers. The movies’ real metric of success, she said, was how they played on the streaming service. “Those movies all kept coming out as No. 1,” said Ms. Salke, referencing the films’ performances on Amazon Prime. “Every time we launched one, the next one would eclipse the next one. We were training our audience to know that we would have big original films that were more commercial on Prime Video. It’s a little bit of an ‘If you build it, they will come’ strategy.” But what happens to that plan once the pandemic is over and studios are no longer willing to sell their movies to streaming platforms? Amazon has some 34 films in various stages of production around the world and Ms. Salke said the company was committed to spending upward of $100 million on a production if merited. (Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, is stepping down as the company’s chief executive later this year, but the studio isn’t expecting any big changes when Andy Jassy takes the reins.) The Culver City, Calif., complex is still being built and, if anything, investment has increased. Ms. Salke points to Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming film about Lucy and Desi Arnaz, starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, as a potential hit. There’s also George Clooney’s film “The Tender Bar,” starring Ben Affleck, and an LGBTQ romantic drama called “My Policeman,” featuring Harry Styles and Emma Corrin (“The Crown”). “The new news is that you will see us embrace some bigger projects going forward that are self-generated,” she said. In Ms. Salke’s mind, this was always the place where Amazon Film was going to land. And there is a newfound confidence to her outlook as she celebrates her third anniversary as the head of the studio. In addition to her recent acquisition spree, she’s made overall content deals with Mr. Jordan and the actor and musician Donald Glover, which she says will reinforce her mission to burnish Amazon’s reputation as a talent-friendly place. With its healthy subscription base, Amazon is attracting those in Hollywood who are interested in the company’s global reach but also curious about the company’s other businesses that have the potential to expand a star’s brand beyond film and television. Mr. Jordan, for one, said his overall content deal would allow him to explore areas other studios can’t offer: specifically fashion, music and podcasts. His portrayal of the physical incarnation of Amazon’s Alexa during a Super Bowl ad was an example. And Ms. King got a kick out of just how pervasive Amazon’s marketing of her film was whenever she logged into the company’s e-commerce site. “When I’m on Amazon, buying doggie bags, and my film pops up at the top, that’s pretty amazing,” she said. “That’s like, wow! Every single day I am getting a text from someone who saw the movie that probably wouldn’t have seen it if it didn’t pop up in their shopping queue.” Source link Orbem News #Amazon #Film #Industrys #mainstream #Margins #Moves

[nottooldforthisship]

Rules: Complete the survey and say who tagged you in the beginning. When you finished tag 5 people to do this survey. Have fun and enjoy!!!

Tagged by @so-i-like-1d​ :)

1: Are you named after someone? No, but my second and Third names are from my aunts.

2: When was the last time you cried? one month ago. Jay’s death and all the days after that.

3: Do you like your handwriting? Totally out of practice si it’s not at their best right now

4:What is your favorite lunch meat? idk ... some meat with roasted potatoes with salad?

5: Do you have kids? Roxane, 3yo.

6: If you were another person, would you be friends with you? Probably, I’m so nice ! :D

7: Do you use sarcasm? A lot. An I learned long time ago that’s sarcasm is not going well when it’s written, and some people (hello USA!) are totally irony-proof.

8: Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.  

9: Would you bungee jump? Yes ! I wanted to do it 4 years ago during my honeymoon in NZ but I figured-out 2 weeks before I was pregnant. So I didn’t do it.

10: What is your favorite kind of cereal? Chocolate muesli.

11: Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I have with my Converses.

12: Do you think you’re a strong person? Depending about what. I change my mind easily. But i’m also very stress-proof for example.

13: What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate and lemon.

14: What is the first thing you notice about people? Their positivity (or lack of)

15: Red or pink? Red.

16: What is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? These 25kgs I hate.

17: What color pants and shoes are you wearing now? Grey jeans and my sleepers (which are very colorful ! purple with pink dots)

18: What was the last thing you ate? pain au lait.

19: What are you listening to right now? nothing right now cause my daughter is watching a cartoon at the same time.

20: If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Black.

21: Favorite smell? cinnamon, Forest in fall, cake when it’s cooking

22: Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? my husband because he wanted to go the McDonalds drive-in when going back home at night yesterday

23: Favorite sport to watch? Rugby. And Olympics Games, all the sports ^^

24: Hair color? Chesnut for now. it’s gonna change tomorrow though ^^

25: Eye color? Green-brown, depending of the sky.

26: Do you wear contacts? nope.

27: Favorite food to eat? can’t tell.

28: Scary movies or comedy? comedy for sure.

29: Last movie you watched? in cinema it was Rogue One.

30: What color of shirt are you wearing? Green

31: Summer or winter? Winter when there’s snow. Summer if it’s not too hot.

32: Hugs or kisses? Both.

33: What book are you currently reading? Le Premier Eté, by Anne Percin. It’s a gift of my sister.

34: Who do you miss right now? I miss to see all my friends at the same place for a birthday.

35: What is on your mouse pad? laptop bitch.

36: What is the last TV program you watched? I don’t watch TV anymore :/

37: What is the best sound? Music (and Roxane’s laugh)

38: Rolling Stones or The Beatles?I l know many more Beatles songs, so I’d go for it. But tbh, the lyrics are really not that good, right?

39: What is the furthest you have ever traveled? New-Zealand. 23 hours of flight.

40: Do you have a special talent? not really ?

41: Where were you born? A small city near Lyon, in France.

42: People you expect to participate in this survey? I’m gonna tag @fullonlarrie​ @happilylouie​ @waytoomanypeopleintheaddisonlee​ @loveisalaserquest17​ @hellnrocksstuff​ @im-bex​ @believeinloveex​

[greensparty]

Stuff I’m Looking Forward to in June

June is a fun month! The Summer weather, Summer movies and pop culture galore! In addition to Flag Day (June 14), Father’s Day (June 18), and First Day of Summer (June 21) here is what’s on my radar:

Movies: 

IFFBoston’s Class of 2017!

This past Spring I attended the 2017 Independent Film Festival Boston (see my coverage here) and as always, I miss some of the films. Luckily some of those I missed are getting theatrical releases this month including Demitri Martin’s Dean (opening 6/2), Zoe Lister-Jones’ Band Aid (opening 6/2), and Brett Haley’s The Hero (opening 6/9)!

The Big Sick  

Former member of The State Michael Showalter is a comic genius and his newest film has been getting extensive praise at Sundance and SXSW. Limited opening 6/23.

The Beguiled

A Sofia Coppola movie is always a high priority for me. This one opens 6/23.

Baby Driver

I’ve dug all of Edgar Wright’s films, but his new full throttle action flick could be the sleeper hit of summer. Opens 6/28.

Music:

Matthew Sweet Tomorrow Forever

https://www.theconnextion.com/matthewsweet/matthewsweet_index.cfm?CatID=899&prodlist=1

Not counting his collaborations with Susanna Hoffs, Matthew Sweet hasn’t released a new album since 2011. For his newest album, he funded it via Kickstarter. I’m a huge fan and am hoping this new album is the burst of power pop I need to make me feel like its 1992 again! Album release 6/16.

Lorde Melodrama 

https://lorde.lnk.to/melodrama

Before he died, David Bowie said that Lorde was “the future of music”. After her 2013 debut and her impressive singing with the surviving members of Nirvana for their 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the 20-year-old New Zealander has the most highly anticipated album of the year! Album release 6/16.

TV:

Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)

http://www.amc.com/shows/fear-the-walking-dead

The spin-off of The Walking Dead began in 2015 about a month before the zombie outbreak in California. After a mixed season 2, I’m curious where season is going to go. Season premieres 6/4.

Orange is the New Black (Netflix)

https://www.netflix.com/title/70242311

After exploding with their first season in 2013, there’s been a few peaks and valleys, but last season ended with a cliffhanger I can’t wait to see how it plays out! Season 5 premieres 6/9

GLOW (Netflix)

https://www.netflix.com/title/80114988

Back in the 80s, I was a wrestling fanatic. For a while around 1987/88, after the Saturday Night Main Event, they would have a female wrestling show GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling). The characters were over-the-top, even by 80s wrestling standards! In this new comedy-drama series, they take a fictionalized look at the actors and athletes in GLOW. Alison Brie and Marc Maron star and OITNB’s Jenji Kohan produces! Premieres 6/23

[abroadwithbelle-blog]

Fri/June 21:

I’m so grateful that it’s Friday. I don’t know why but this week has been dragging so long. I feel like I’ve been more tired and overworked than usual. Maybe it’s because it’s near the end of the semester and I have so much more to do, but at the same time, not really. Summer camp has been taking up most of my time, and I have to prepare for my girls’ oral test starting on Monday. I hope they’re ready because we gave them questions beforehand to prepare and I really hope they all do well. They’re really nervous because I’m the one to test them and since I’m a foreign teacher, it makes them more afraid even though they really love me!! 

Today I hung out with Kristina and Liana. We went to a cafe in Jeonpo called Lovesome. It’s a cute little pink cafe which is literally my life. I LOVE pink! It’s really cute and it was nice to be able to hangout with them! It’s been a couple weeks since i’ve seen them because of the long weekend they all went away and Megan went to Bali so we just never had the chance or time to get together for a couple weeks. We took some time to catch up and Liana made us take pictures with the cute cafe. 

Kristina is going to Seoul in the morning so after she left, Liana and I went to Haeundae and met up with the gang for a little while. Sam’s friend from New Zealand is visiting so it was definitely a long night, especially because Same took a month off of going out. Aleks is really cool and he got along with everyone really quick. We went to Wolfhound and then Noriebang which is always a good time. We stayed out until 4am but I got too tired and had to go home while Sam went to the beach even though it was freezing at this hour. Luke and kiwi Ash stayed at my place but it’s always a good time with them. 

Sat/June 22:

Luke, Ash, and I got up to get some breakfast after being up forever and just having a chat. We were up for so long but we kept talking that we didn’t leave my apartment until 11. We went to grab some burgers because we were craving western food. We ended up at Burgers & Pasta. The burgers there are massive and delicious. After we had lunch, Ash went back to Ulsan and Luke went to meet up with other friends because he also had a date later today. I went to meet up with Sam and Aleks because Aleks was staying in an airbnb in Jeonpo! It’s very close to my place. We went to Hwamyeong which is where Sam lives and just hung out there waiting for Sara. Sam took us to this restaurant with Bibimbap which he’s never been to but always wanted to try. It was really delicious and the way that it was served was really cool. It was on a stone plate which I’ve never seen before. I’ve only been served bibimbap in a stone bowl. I guess it does the same thing but a plate is very different. 

After we finished eating, we headed down to Gwangali beach because there was a comedy show tonight at HQ. The comics came down from Seoul. The show was alright but I’ll say that there were 3 people who were extremely funny. Definitely got a good laugh out. Some of us called it an early night because of the night before and Aleks is leaving tomorrow so he headed home earlier. I wanted to catch the subway before the subway stopped running so I left around 11 to catch it. It was a fun night for sure and I love spending time on the beach. There’s honestly nothing better!

[theconservativebrief]

As fall TV enters October after a very busy September premiere week, you’d be mistaken for thinking it’s stopped to catch its breath.

But you’d be — well, not wrong, exactly. Things have gotten slower. But there’s still tons of stuff debuting, and we’ve been consuming all of it, the better to let you know what might best distract you from the chaos of life today.

This week, we’ve got two brand-new CBS sitcoms, both featuring lead actors of color, The Neighborhood and Happy Together (that’s unusual for a network that has had diversity problems in the past). Then there’s NBC’s new Amy Poehler-produced I Feel Bad, and Hulu’s brand new horror anthology Into the Dark, which will release one new episode per month, themed around a holiday that falls during that month. (Fittingly, the first three episodes are Halloween-, Thanksgiving-, and Christmas-themed.) And finally, the week comes to a rousing conclusion with a new HBO special from the inestimable comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.

Few of these shows are great, and as critics, we often have limited information on whether they’ll get better. (It’s rare to impossible for broadcast networks, especially, to send out many episodes for review beyond the first couple.) But there’s something in all of these shows worth checking out, especially if you’re a particular fan of their genres.

(A note: We’ve only given ratings to shows where we feel we’ve seen enough episodes to judge how successful they will be long-term. For right now that’s just the Conchords special, where we’ve, uh, seen the entire special and can assure you it’s good.)

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Based solely on the pilots of CBS’s new sitcoms The Neighborhood and Happy Together, many progressive young viewers might be more drawn to The Neighborhood. Its gentrification-driven premise — a white family from the Midwest moves into a historically black neighborhood in Los Angeles — holds promise for talking about social issues, while the crackerjack cast (led by Cedric the Entertainer and New Girl’s Max Greenfield) will presumably keep the laughs coming in between the weightier stuff.

Yet in the four episodes CBS made available to critics, The Neighborhood disappointingly doubles down on jokes about how crazy the differences between white and black people are, and even if the cast members are trying their hardest (and they are!), it’s all but impossible to improve upon jokes based on such a tired premise. And that’s before you get to some of the more questionable ideas contained therein.

That’s why Happy Together, which airs right after The Neighborhood, could prove so instructive. It, too, has a great cast, but its pilot is actively bad because the show’s premise barely provides enough fodder for a single half-hour episode, let alone an entire series: A married couple in their 30s (Damon Wayans, Jr. and Amber Stevens West) end up living with a major pop star (Felix Mallard), who employs the husband as his accountant. (It’s very loosely inspired by producer Ben Winston’s brief time with real pop star Harry Styles as his housemate.)

But once you get past the pilot and into the two additional episodes CBS made available for review, Happy Together shows a refreshing willingness to just leap past the awkward premise and do the thing it was born to do: Let funny people hang out together and give Wayans the chance to perform some brilliant slapstick gags.

Happy Together isn’t going to change your life, but its goofy, low-conflict stories about attractive people doing fun things together remind me just a bit of Wayans’s late, lamented sitcom Happy Endings. It’s not on Happy Endings’ level yet, but the idea that it could get there isn’t all that implausible. —Todd VanDerWerff

The Neighborhood airs Mondays at 8 pm Eastern on CBS, and Happy Together airs at 8:30 pm Eastern. The pilots of both shows are available on CBS’s website and CBS All Access, but you can really just skip straight to Happy Together episode two, which airs Monday, October 8.

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NBC’s new comedy I Feel Bad has plenty going for it — including Amy Poehler’s backing as executive producer, a multiracial family at its center, and Sarayu Blue’s (Blockers, No Tomorrow) long-overdue turn in a leading role — so it feels bad to root against it. But I Feel Bad, at least in its first three episodes, is … well, maybe not bad, but also not good just yet.

Broadly speaking, the single-camera comedy format sounds like a perfect fit for a show about an Indian-American mom trying to have it all. But it unfortunately flattens the show’s most interesting element — the fact that Blue’s character Emet is a first-generation immigrant who must negotiate cultural differences with her white husband (Paul Adelstein) and their mixed-race children, while maintaining her relationship with her mother and father (Madhur Jaffrey and Brian George). At the end of the day, I Feel Bad either needs sharper jokes, or to get a little more serious.

Additionally, the idea of career women “having it all” has been widely explored in film and TV, both before and after 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon memorably yelled, “I can have it all!” in the middle of an airport security line, in defiance of being forced to choose between love and a sandwich. And I Feel Bad doesn’t yet promise to revitalize the topic: The show’s writing is thin, as if it has only just discovered that particular conversation about female identity.

In part, this lack of focus isn’t surprising — Blue’s role was not originally written as Indian-American, so the show has clearly undergone some reworking since she was cast. But it either hasn’t been reworked enough, or it’s been subsequently sanitized in a way that seems to question what still is or isn’t considered “normal” on network TV in 2018. —Karen Han

I Feel Bad airs on Thursdays at 9:30 pm Eastern on NBC.

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The anthology format has long been making a comeback, with season-long stories like American Horror Story and more episodic offerings like Black Mirror becoming more common. And yet Hulu’s Into the Dark is singular in its plans to debut one episode every month, with each standalone installment of the Blumhouse-produced horror series revolving around a holiday that falls during the month in which it’s released.

October’s debut episode naturally takes place on Halloween. It’s a bit of a disappointment; despite a strong leading performance from Tom Bateman as a killer for hire, the story trips into unsurprising twists and boring tropes.

But that’s where the anthology format kicks in to the show’s advantage: If one episode falters, it has no bearing on what comes next.

Episode two, set on Thanksgiving, is a blast, in no small part thanks to a wild performance from Dermot Mulroney. And though it won’t air until November, it establishes Into the Dark as unlike its anthology peers in how disparate it feels from the first episode. The two installments feel more like individual movies that would be programmed together in a double feature — indeed, each clocks in at almost 90 minutes — than parts of the same TV show.

As a result, Into the Dark is difficult to recommend as a whole, because any given episode could be a hit or a miss, and the two episodes sent out for review suggest that even the type of horror will vary from episode to episode. But as things stand, the strength of the second episode — on top of how remarkable the series feels as a throwback to old-school anthology shows like The Twilight Zone — is enough to give the series a chance (or several). —KH

Into the Dark premieres October 5 on Hulu, with a new episode every month.

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The Biggest Band in New Zealand has returned, and they’re as small and unassuming as ever.

Thirteen years after Flight of the Conchords made their HBO debut on One-Night Stand, and nine years after their eponymous series wrapped, the aggressively modest musical-comedy duo returns to the network with Live in London, which splits the difference between comeback special and greatest-hits retrospective.

The Conchords haven’t been entirely absent from the comedy scene in the intervening years, though the band has gone relatively low-profile as Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie have found individual career success. But outside of some light bobbles and false starts in Live in London, the pair’s musical and comedic chemistry is as sharp as ever.

Over their 20-year history together, Clement and McKenzie have honed the personas of “Bret” and “Jemaine” to a fine point, and fall easily back into their roles as deadpan naifs, even as they play in front of a sold-out crowd at London’s Eventim Apollo. (The special was recorded this past July as part of a UK arena tour.) It’s apparent from the tiny smiles and stifled chuckles that punctuate their bone-dry banter that the pair is happy to return to the world of the Conchords, and feed off the energy of an appreciative audience.

As such, the Conchords devote a good chunk of Live in London to their most well-known songs, but also make room for new or lesser-known tunes that tend to sprawl and spiral in delightful ways. “Father & Son” and the hyper-meta “The Seagull” are slow builds with satirical premises that become more apparent — and more hilarious — as the songs go on. The “Devil Went Down To Georgia” riff “Ballad of Stana” and “Summer of 1353 (Woo a Lady),” meanwhile, are classic Conchords absurdity, right down to a climactic recorder breakdown in the latter.

That recorder breakdown doubles as a reminder that, for all their silliness, McKenzie and Clement have always been talented multi-instrumentalists with a keen ear for genre- and era-specific sounds. And that is at the heart of what makes Live in London such a pleasure: Watching the Conchords bound between sounds, instruments, and comedic reference points as easily and amiably as they ever did offers an uncomplicated, comforting sort of joy that feels even more special today than it did a decade ago. —Genevieve Koski

Flight of the Conchords: Live in London premieres on HBO at 9 pm Eastern on Saturday, October 6. It will be available on HBO’s streaming platforms beginning Sunday, October 7.

NBC’s Superstore (Thursday, 8 pm) returned Thursday, October 4, and if you’re not already watching this gem of a workplace sitcom, check out its intricately constructed season four premiere — which boasts a lovely twist at its end — to find out why you should be.

ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat (Friday, 8 pm) and Speechless (Friday, 8:30 pm) return to once again show that the network’s family comedy game is so strong it can slide two of its very best shows in that category off to Friday nights in an attempt to relaunch its TGIF brand. If you’ve never seen Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu play Jessica Huang on Fresh Off the Boat, the sitcom that brought her to fame, you owe it to yourself to check out one of the decade’s best comedic performances. And Speechless continues to tell fresh, funny stories about a family where one of the kids has cerebral palsy.

BBC America’s Doctor Who (Sunday, 1:45 pm Eastern/10:45 am Pacific) is celebrating the very first woman Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and a new showrunner (Chris Chibnall) with a premiere that will air live on both sides of the Atlantic, so those pesky Brits aren’t several hours ahead of all of us here in the US. But don’t worry — if you’d rather wait to watch in primetime, it will be rebroadcast throughout the day, including at 6 pm, 8 pm, and 10 pm. (We’ve seen it and can’t say much beyond — it’s really good!)

Finally, AMC’s The Walking Dead (Sunday, 9 pm) is back for its ninth season, which is going to see some major cast turnover. (Don’t click that link if you don’t want to know!) Having to build toward some upcoming departures has given the series a slight sense of renewed purpose — though if you’ve already fallen off the Walking Dead wagon, that renewed purpose probably won’t be quite enough to get you back on.

Original Source -> 4 new TV shows to try, from Halloween horror to the Flight of the Conchords

via The Conservative Brief

[sinceileftyoublog]

Live Picks: 10/5

Julian Lage; Photo by Nathan West

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Jazz. Folk. Pop. Soul. Indie rock. Comedy. You could see any of it tonight.

Julian Lage Trio, Lincoln Hall

Early on in the year, the Julian Lage Trio (Lage on guitar, Scott Colley on double bass and Kenny Wollesen on percussion) released Modern Lore, their second album. The more uptempo, the better. Opener “The Ramble” juxtaposes Latin rhythms with Lage’s proficient noodling, reminiscent of Battles. “General Thunder” is a slinky 4/4 track that could back a rock song. The wonderfully titled “Splendor Riot” embraces country funk melodies. And penultimate track “Earth Science” is a prog ripper, Lage’s dissonant arpeggio guitars leading the crumbling compositions. The album can get a little stale when subdued, as on “Revelry” or the barely nimble “Atlantic Limited”, but it mostly offers a diverse range of Lage’s skill set.

Joan Baez, Chicago Theatre

Even if you don’t like her or don’t care about folk, it’ll be worth it to see a legend say goodbye. Joan Baez is a true folk artist in that she’s a social justice activist and that she covers songs, elevating them from association with an artist to canonical status and public ownership. While she released a new album last year, it’s her self-titled debut, having been in the last decade reissued, elected to the Grammy® Hall of Fame, and selected to be preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, that stands tall.

Justin Timberlake, United Center

Man Of The Woods is a terrible album and may be the namesake of Justin Timberlake’s current tour. At least the multi-talented star is performing some of his more palatable-to-great older songs!

The Isley Brothers, The Venue at Horshoe Casino Hammond

We previewed The Isley Brothers’ set at a different casino in January:

“At this point, R&B institution The Isley Brothers are relegated to perform summer festivals and casinos, but that won’t take away from their live performance. The last album they released, last year’s Power of Peace R&B covers album with Santana, was never going to stack up to what they released during their first 20 or so years. They know it. Obviously not having Santana to play with them, their shows stick almost entirely to their best songs.”

R&B/soul singer Peabo Bryson opens.

Eleanor Friedberger, Empty Bottle

We previewed Eleanor Friedberger’s show at Lincoln Hall in May, when she just released her latest record Rebound:

“Fiery Furnace Eleanor Friedberger now has four albums to her name, and they keep getting better. While “My Mistakes” from her first solo album and its prominent sax solo is still perhaps her best song, 2016′s New View and Rebound...are her best cohesive efforts to date. Expect her to concentrate on Rebound while peppering in highlights from the other three.”

NYC bang Pill and Paid Time Off DJs (founders of Chicago’s Leisure Records) open.

The Beths, Beat Kitchen

New Zealand band The Beths bring their smart pop rock to Beat Kitchen tonight. Last month, we interviewed them about their debut album Future Me Hates Me as well as playing DIY venues and clubs. (They played Charm School in June.) “I do love a DIY show. I love to feel intimate. But you can’t really see the band in their best light,” guitarist Jonathan Pearce said. “There’s still a close connection,” said lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Elizabeth Stokes said about clubs. “They don’t really feel that different.” As for the music itself? “Nice and fast.”

Chicago bands Mother Evergreen and Special Death open.

Chi City Comedy Jam, Arie Crown Theatre

The news has been traumatic for so many lately. Go see something that will make you laugh. The Chi City Comedy Jam takes place tonight and tomorrow night at the Arie Crown Theatre. Tonight, see sets from Sheryl Underwood, Kountry Wayne, Tony Roberts, Lavell Crawford, Earthquake, Red Grant, & Just Nesh!

[mrmichaelchadler]

Fantasia International Film Festival 2018 Preview

Tomorrow marks the start of the 22nd Fantasia International Film Festival, Montreal’s genre fest that runs from July 12-August 2. In the past years, I’ve been following the coverage of Fantasia by the likes of Brian Tallerico, Justine Smith and Noel Murray. But as of tomorrow, it’s my turn. Your truly will be covering the films of opening weekend and beyond, while inhaling as much poutine as possible in the process. 

From my perspective as an onlooker, there is a heavy “midnight movie” vibe to Fantasia that I’ve gathered when seeing films that have gone through the fest, whether it’s the super fun Ugandan action movie “Who Killed Captain Alex?”, the Tarantino-heavy thriller “Lowlife,” the horror-comedy “Juan of the Dead,” the Polish mermaid musical “The Lure,” the horror omnibus “Tales of Halloween” and more. It's the freaky, the funny, the geeky, the all-out odd. The festival also has a history of dedication to Asian films and genre-bending material, so I’m very eager to see what kind of feast that creates for attendees in 2018. 

In anticipation of what will be playing during the entire festival, let’s start at the end: Fantasia very possibly could be saving its best for last, “Mandy,” starring Nicolas Cage. It's been months since I first saw the latest from Panos Cosmatos, a heaven-sent midnight movie masterpiece, and I’m just as hungry to see it again. If you’re not familiar with it, the movie stars Nicolas Cage at the center of a horror-action nightmare, as a mountain man who battles psychedelic Jesus freaks, while going full-throttle into the Cage-mode that viewers love him for. It’s destined to be a cult classic, if it isn't already, and looks like it will be just one thrilling gem within Fantasia's line-up. 

There are a few other major titles playing the festival that I’d like to recommend: the tech-thriller nail biter “Searching,” from debut director Aneesh Chaganty, who takes a Spielbergian sensibility for family adventure and crowd-thrilling, in a story about a father (John Cho) trying to find his high school-age daughter after she goes missing. It was one of the slickest, most fun movies I saw at Sundance, along with two other big titles that will soon stir up their own followings: Crystal Moselle’s “Skate Kitchen,” about a group of young women skateboarders in New York City doing what they do and kicking ass at it, and Josephine Decker’s abrasive, incredible narrative about the intense craft of acting, “Madeline’s Madeline.” An early glimpse at newcomer Helena Howard’s performance feels worth the price of a Fantasia badge alone (no adjust for inflation necessary). 

Outside of Sundance, I can recommend on behalf of Nelson Carvajal the new horror movie from Issa Lopez, “Tigers Are Not Afraid,” which played at the Chicago Latino Film Festival. Carvajal said the movie “defies categorization” and even better, that it’s the “children’s version of Annihilation.” Sold. (Read Nelson’s capsule review of the film here.) 

I also recommend people catch up with Joseph Kahn’s stunning “Bodied,” which takes on politically correct culture through the arena of rap battling. The movie is set to be released on YouTube, but it works best with an audience given how hilarious and offensive it becomes while showing the unlikely ascent of one battle rapper. I imagine that the Fantasia crowd would be an excellent audience to see it with. 

And by chance, I happened to see Park Hoon-Jung’s gruesome political thriller “V.I.P.” while abroad recently, and I highly recommend it. It’s a nasty epic about the current tensions between North Korean and South Korea, as centered around the bureaucratic handling of a nightmarish, smirking serial killer who’s so high up in society that he has a twisted sense of immunity. A movie that doesn’t skimp on its gruesomeness or on its political outrage, it recalls the post-Watergate thrillers that showed the unsettling nature of corruption on a massive and intimate scale, where a full sense of justice seemed only like a dream, and not a resolution. 

Now, let’s look at some of the dozens and dozens films playing Fantasia that myself and others at RogerEbert.com haven’t seen, especially the world premieres. Here are just a few titles that we’re excited to check out in the coming days, with plenty of surprises in store: 

To start with, there’s “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot,” starring Sam Elliott. Set to screen in the middle of the festival at July 20, it has a great amount of promise from that title alone. Be sure to check back for our review once the embargo drops. 

I’m also excited for Daniel Roby’s “Dans La Brume,” which will let having its North American premiere tomorrow night as Fantasia’s Opening Night film. It’s billed as “a full-fledged disaster movie taking place in a suddenly apocalyptic Paris,” and stars the compelling likes of Romain Duris and Olga Kurylenko. 

That same night, I’ll be checking out the World Premiere of “Nightmare Cinema,” a five-part anthology from five directors, many of them alumni from Fantasia installments of previous years: Alejandro Brugués, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Ryuhei Kitamura, David Slade. 

Speaking of horror anthologies, I’m excited to get a first peek at “Tales From the Hood 2,” a sequel anthology to the 1995 installment. Executive produced by Spike Lee, the film is directed by Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott, and bound to have a few things to say about race in America. 

On Saturday, I’m hoping to catch Kim Jin-mook’s dark comedy “True Fiction,” which comes with a heavy Fantasia seal of approval: the program description that it’s “a true screenwriting gem.” 

Sunday night, if all goes according to schedule, will feature the latest from Xavier Gens, “Cold Skin.” It’s reportedly got an H.P. Lovecraft influence, which aside from being intriguing on its own, should make for a wacky double feature with the movie I plan on checking out right after, the South Korean arm wrestling comedy, “Champion.” 

Aside from these titles, we’ll be covering Fantasia throughout its almost month-long run, with reviews to come of the lo-fi “Highlander” New Zealand comedy “Mega Time Squad,” the action bonanza “Buybust” from the Philippines, the death metal buddy movie “Heavy Trip” and so much more. 

The 22nd Fantasia International Film Festival runs from July 12 through August 2. For more information regarding showtimes and selected titles, click here.

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