Whip It (c) 2009 Fox Searchlight

Fox Searchlight – 2009
Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis (and let’s not forget Zoe Bell)
Director: Drew Barrymore

Roller derby.  Never have two words instilled within me so much excitement and nervous anxiety.  The first time I saw a bout, I was hooked.  I even went so far as to buy a pair of Riedell skates a few years back and I started frequenting Skateland – a indoor skate track I’d gone to as a kid growing up in Olympia.  I was so into derby that I bought myself a few t-shirts for my favorite teams (the Holy Roller royal blue shirt with the mudflap girl, in particular, garnered lots of attention), and was called “trailer trash” by a colleague at work.

Ah, derby.  You can’t top it.  You can’t even match it.

I was lucky enough to score a couple of passes to an advance screening of Whip It which was shown tonight at the Uptown in lower Queen Anne.  We stand in line for an hour (it’s wet and cold – Autumn has definitely arrived in Seattle) and I’m struck by the wide range of people the film is drawing.  Everyone leaves the theater smiling, excited about what they’ve just seen.

Whip It is sharp, witty, relevant, poignant and exciting.  Yes…I just described a movie that is, at its heart, about derby.

Read the rest: flixsation.com’s Whip It review.

(photo copyright © 2006-2008 amber sharp, a.sharp productions. all rights reserved)

I’m becoming increasingly disturbed by the lack of new, lesbian-centric film as 2009 drags on through Summer. With news hitting my inbox that Le Jupon Rouge is finally releasing on dvd, I’m reminded of a sad fact – when you get excited about the dvd release of a film made over twenty years ago, something’s wrong, people.

Thankfully, with the advent of the Internet, we can also get to films from the UK, Romania, Italy, Japan, and anywhere else you can imagine. But, as for films that accurately reflect the trials, joys, and love lives (or lack thereof) of the American dyke, the selection is slimmer. Unfortunately, it seems like those in the lesbian community (and others who, for some reason, enjoy lesbian cinema without themselves being queer) have about one, high quality, solidly produced, American film to look forward to a year…if we’re lucky. Compare this to our queer brothers – who, by my count, have significantly more financial backing (due to, perhaps, greater interest) and in turn have significantly more celluloid to show for it.

With filming wrapped on the new Dreya Weber/Ned Farr project A Marine Story, and filming drawing to a close on the Joan Jett biopic The Runaways/Cherry Bomb, I’m left wondering if we’ll see either before year’s end – either at the Fall/Winter festivals or in cinemas. Doubtful…sigh.

Which leads me to another question – Guinevere Turner, where the hell have you gone off to? I’m sorry, but short films and little cameo appearances aside, you’ve all but disappeared from the landscape. I realize your latest ventures, Feed & Don’t Go are both in (post)production – but again – it’s strictly an episodic affair, and we could really use your voice/vision in broader strokes…after all, if we’re not careful, we’ll see the bed-death of lesbian cinema sooner, rather than later (and I’ll blame you).

Joan Jett & Kristen Stewart - "Runaways"

Filed Under:

“…what a crappy week, but wait – there is something to be excited about!”

Production on the Joan Jett biopic “The Runaways” got underway recently.  And as if you couldn’t possibly already know this – Kristen Stewart (of Twilight fame) has been cast as the teenage Jett and Dakota Fanning (who is also costarring in New Moon) will be playing Cherie Currie.  Yes, it’s true, and unless it ends up on the cutting room floor, Stewart and  Fanning will share some pretty intense scenes in the film…put “love” in front of “scenes” and perhaps you’ll catch my drift.

Rumors started circling late last year that Stewart would be playing Jett in a project about the all-girl 70s band “The Runaways” when the two spent time together New Year’s Eve at a concert Jett was giving here in the PNW.  Over the last several months, Stewart has been spotted at Sunset Studios in NoHo where she and Jett have been laying down tracks for the film.

The film, written and directed by Floria Sigismondi and executively produced by Jett herself,  follows the rise and eventual fall (disillusionment) of 1970s seminal rock band “The Runaways” who were a driving presence in the LA punk scene.  Of her role in The Runaways (which may also be titled Cherry Bomb), Stewart says “[this is] an incredibly triumphant feminist story, really. She is an incredibly distinct personality, and so many people love and admire her, and so many people know her as just being one of the coolest people ever to live — and that, in itself, has been one of the most intimidating things that I have ever had to confront.“

Set for release sometime in 2010, we’ll just have to continue holding our breath and listening to our Runaways vinyl in the meantime.

A Marine Story (c) 2009 Last Battlefield, LLC

Years ago, before I became attached at the hip with a twitterberry enabled Blackberry, I kept myself apprised of upcoming films whilst they were still in production by reading industry publications like Premiere magazine and Variety.  It was nearly impossible to find any information about independent films until they were already in theatres or available for rental.  Forget about finding anything relevant to the LGBT community – those films were rare, and unless you were lucky enough to live near a city with an annual film festival, you usually found out about these films years after they’d been released.

Over the years, it’s become easier to find great independent films, thanks largely to the Internet and, in recent months, tools like Twitter.  It was during one of my morning Twitter breaks that I ran across a reference to a new Dreya Weber (The Gymnast/Everything Relative) project: A Marine Story which was scheduled to go into production that week.  The film, which tackles the military’s “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy, also stars the dishy Paris Pickard and was written by Weber’s husband, Ned Farr, who directs.

The blog itself is absolutely teeming with information that is both interesting and trivial, making it a relative smorgasboard for indie film nuts like myself.  It offers a rare glimpse into what it takes to get an indie film off the ground and onto the screen while making you feel as though you are along for the ride.

You can also follow the production of the film on Twitter (here).

Land of the Lost (c) 2009 Relativity Media

Predictable.  Juvenile.  Unimaginative.  Yes.  I’m talking about Will Ferrell’s performance in the big screen adaptation of the beloved 70′s television show Land of the Lost. I know I may be stepping on a few toes, and I have nothing against Will Ferrell (especially after his turn as doomed IRS agent Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction), but I have to side with those who are now questioning whether or not our love affair with Ferrell has come to an end.

Ferrell stars as Dr. Rick Marshall whose theories on quantum paleontology and time warping make him the laughing stock of the scientific community.  After a humiliating appearance on the Today show, when Matt Lauer rips him to shreds, Dr. Marshall finds himself giving presentations to field tripping school kids at the La Brea tar pits.  When a beautiful, young doctoral candidate named Holly (played by Anna Friel) throws a fossil onto his desk with the imprint of a Zippo, everything changes.  Following Holly to the middle of the desert, where she found the fossil, Marshall uses his recently completed tacyon-locating-device  to open a portal to another dimension where the past, present, and future all collide.

What Land of the Lost gets right: The film’s production is pitch perfect for a Summer blockbuster – especially the natural juxtaposition of 50s Americana (ie: the neon motel sign near the pool) and other well known iconographic architectural landmarks against the stark desert landscape.  Compare the film to the kitsch of the 70s television show, however, and you’ll see a film taking itself far too seriously.

What Land of the Lost gets wrong: Everything else.

Read the rest: flixsation.com’s Land of the Lost review.

Drag Me to Hell (c) 2009 Buckaroo Entertainment / Ghost House Pictures

Okay.  Let’s get this out of the way right now.  I’ve often abhored parents who take their children to see so-called horror films.  I’m not talking about their teenaged children, here.  I’m talking about infants, toddlers, kids that are barely in kindergarten yet.  So, this morning when I took my normal spot just below the projector in the back row and a family with three young children sat beside me I was a bit taken aback.  I left my coat in my seat, thinking perhaps I’d wandered into the wrong theatre.  Hey, it happens.  But the readerboard read “12 – Drag Me to Hell – Now Seating.”  So, I climbed the stairs up to the back row and took my seat.  Still, as their infant child began to cry, I had to wonder if maybe they’d made a mistake too.  After all, Night at the Museum was showing next door.  I should have left it alone, but I kept thinking, “Do they realize they’re taking their kids to see a film called Drag Me to Hell?”  

That brings me to my next point.  Can anything Sam Raimi do be considered horror in the way we’ve become familiar with calling certain films horror films?  I’m thinking now of the Saw and Hostel franchises, bloody, gruesome films hellbent on making you terrified by showing you, in every graphic detail, the mutilation of the human body both pre- and post-mortem.  And the answer is, no.  Sam Raimi, who by all rights is in his own league, cannot make a “horror” film.  No, he manages to take audiences to a completely altogether different place.  A place in which you can feel free to get comfortable, laugh, cringe a little, be mortified by the pervasiveness of oozing bodily fluids, and yes, sometimes be scared. 

Read the rest: flixsation.com’s Drag Me to Hell review.

In preparing myself to see Angels & Demons, I did something I don’t normally do when heading off to see a film – my research.  By which, I mean, I actually read a few reviews of the film.  Some of the reviews, like one from The Carlile Independent in Arkansas (”there’s such a thing as a happy medium, and once again Howard hasn’t managed to find it.”) tauted Angels & Demons succeeds where The Da Vinci Code failed.  What?  Really?  Interesting.  While I am not a big religious action film buff, I did enjoy parts of The Da Vinci Code, and yes, I’ve read the book by Dan Brown.  So, with varying and contradictory information whirling in my brain, I headed into the darkened theatre with 10 minutes to go before showtime.

I waited.  And I waited.  It took a half an hour of previews to get to the actual film (whose running time is more on par with 125 minutes than the 150 minutes posted at some film sites from the beginning of the film to the beginning of the credits).  This is typical, and I never mind watching previews, but what I didn’t know and should have was that this would be indicative of my Angels & Demons experience…waiting for something to happen and then rolling my eyes when it did.

Read the rest:  flixsation.com’s Angels & Demons review

Taken, 2008 (c) Twentieth Century Fox

Prepare yourself for a mature, International ass-whooping in this action film starring Liam Neeson.  Neeson, who plays ex-Secret Service Agent turned retiree Brian Mills, is not unlike any other middle-aged man living in Los Angeles – tired, divorced, and struggling to gain the respect of his teenage daughter, Kim (played by Maggie Grace), whom he practically ignored during his career years as a Government-sanctioned “preventer.”  This is never explained in the film, but I’m guessing Brian was responsible for the “prevention” of bad things…very bad things.

The film begins with Brian buying a cheap GPX karoake machine for his daughter at what looks like a pawn shop before showing up moments later at his daughter’s birthday party – a party that’s being held at her stepfather’s super richie mansion.  His ex-wife, Lenny, or “Lenore” as she prefers now (played by the ever-gorgeous Famke Janssen), is one cold queen and you won’t find it hard to disslike her general attitude as she scoffs at Brian’s present.

Read the rest:  flixsation.com’s Taken review

Terminator Salvation (c) 2009, Warner Bros.

Wow.  If you haven’t seen Terminator Salvation yet, and you know who you are, prepare to be blown away.  Terminator Salvation gets across the board marks for action, story, character development, and faithfulness to the franchise.  Quite simply, it is the blockbuster of the summer.

For those of you in my approximate age group (late 20s – late 30s), the Terminator franchise is a part of our cinematic and cultural history.  It gave rise to a new type of sci fi horror film – one in which blended aspects of science fiction and action gave us a stark and sobering look into one potential future.  The relentlessness of Arnold Schwazenegger’s “character” in James Cameron’s 1984 Terminator taught audiences that a predator needs neither to be fast or cunning in order to hunt you down and kill you.

Read the rest:  flixsation.com’s Terminator Salvation review

Marley & Me (2008)

Meet the Grogans: Aniston is delightful as she and Owen Wilson sit toes dipped in a warm bath, snow falling outside, says “Oh, honey. You were part of the plan. My plan. Step one: meet an incredibly sweet, smart, sexy man. Step two: marry you instead.”

The pair have just gotten married and there is a freak blizzard. In spring. They decide to move some place warmer – how about Florida? I love that in the movies, this sort of thing happens all the time – you find someone gorgeous. They’re funny. They’re smart. You live in a dump. After you get together, everything is wonderful and you just up and move to Florida where everyone and everything is beautiful, and you get a dream job at a paper. Even though your wife is the more talented of the two of you (she’s a serious reporter who lands a job at a more “serious” paper and writes features that actually contain…well, news).

Read the rest: http://www.flixsation.com/?p=558