Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
So many fests, so little time. I love it when you guys send us your wrap-ups for festivals we’ll never be able to attend. It’s a way to remind readers that you should always be on the lookout for events in your own area. Coolness is happening all around you, all the time, and you have to take full advantage of it:
Hey Harry and Mori – wasn’t sure who to send this too but I spent the past weekend and the Woodstock Film Festival and saw some amazing movies. Don’t think you guys have ever covered this fest, nor some of these awesome movies, but it’s a pretty big deal here in Upstate New York. I saw like 13 movies over the course of the weekend. Here’s my top ten… Call me Cru Jones.
1. “Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story” – why haven’t we heard more about this movie? Please, tell me. Starring Rob Corddry of The Daily Show, Dukes is a Hudson Valley Paintball champion who is forced out of the sport and this is a mockumentary about what happens ten years later, when he tries to regain his former glory.
I had an idea this film was going to be great when it tells Bobby's story over the opening credits, with He Man toys. And not the stupid old new ones, the originals. The cast of characters features a bunch of guys from the Upright Citizens Brigade including Paul Scheer ( the gap toothed guy from Best Week Ever) Ed Helms also of The Daily Show, and Rob Huebel (better known as Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man.) Shot entirely in the Hudson Valley, mostly in the Liberty and Pawling areas, the film is hilarious, the paintball scenes are fast and furious and I have no idea why this film doesn’t have distribution yet. It's a great film and one destined for cult status. Seek it out.
2. “Double Dare” - a documentary about stuntwomen - specifically the girl who doubled Xena and the lady would doubled Wonder Woman in the 60s. It's a great doc that shows a side of movies you rarely see. Also, without giving anything away, you know how alot of Docs have a semi unsatisfying ending ala "Hoop Dreams?" The filmmakers follow these people around for years and they fail? Well Double Dare has an amazing ending. Harry might know about it being that he was on a certain film set about 2 years ago, but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else. It won the Best Documentary Award at the fest.
3. “Speak” stars Kristen Stewart (Catch that Kid and Panic Room) as a freshman in high school harboring such a dark secret that she hardly speaks. After 12 hours of watching movies, this movie had to be pretty good to keep me awake. It delivered. In spades. The film has a lot of emotional ups and downs, is well executed, well paced and features just a remarkable performance by Stewart. If Woodstock had acting awards, she would’ve been my vote. "Speak" also reminded me how much high school could suck. Incredible movie, it will either be released next year or run on Showtime. It won the Audience Award at the Fest.
4. “The World According to Bush” - yet another anti-Bush doc but this one out of France. This film, while nowhere near as well made or entertaining as Fahrenheit 9/11, is far, FAR more disturbing. The filmmaker uses all taking heads, some quite impressive, to make some truly haunting and eye popping points. For example - 1. President Bush, such a huge foreign policy guy, didn't get a passport until he was President. 2. The film links W's grandfather with the Nazi party. Read that again. There's plenty more where that came from too. To put this film in perspective, the some of Michael Moore's big points in F9/11 (Bush and the Bin Ladens, etc.) are merely asides here. No surprise, this film has yet to find US distribution.
5. “Ong Bak” - It's been out for almost 2 years in Thailand, opens in the US next month, and just flat out rocks. It stars up and comer Tony Jaa as a man trying to recover a stolen relic from his native village and has some of the most amazing action I've ever seen. When "Rumble in the Bronx" was released in the US, it was the first time many people got to see Jackie Chan. This is like that - but a much better movie, and just much better action. I highly recommend it.
6. “The Woodsman” – Starring Kevin Bacon as a sex offender trying to get back into society, I haven't been that uncomfortable in a movie theater in a long long time. The movie is extremely well acted, directed and affecting. A great film that I'm sure we will see come Oscar time.
7. “The League of Ordinary Gentleman” - chronicles the death and resurrection of the Pro Bowling Association. Imagine if after Baseball went down the tubes post strike, a documentary crew got full access to Sosa and McGuire and the film ended with their home run war. That's basically this movie, except it’s about bowling. The access is amazing, the characters interesting and the subject fascinating. Hope this movie makes it out there
8. “p.s.” directed by Dylan Kidd (of “Roger Dodger” fame) tells the story of Louise (Laura Linney), a Art School admissions officer at Columbia who stumbles, quite literally, upon the MFA application of F. Scott (Topher Grace), a young man who eerily resembles a love from her past. The film features stellar performances all around, particular from the two leads, and gives a nice, fresh spin on the relationship drama. I liked it a lot and being, you should try and check it out.
9. “Soldier’s Pay” - documentary by three directors including David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) that was made to be included on a new Three Kings DVD but at the last moment, Warner Brothers dropped it because of objection by the Federal Election Commission. Apparently it had some strong anti-war messages. Does it ever. The short film tells the stories of a few soliders who went to war in Iraq and were forced out. It details their day to day dealings, problems they had and more. It would have been a powerful addition to the DVD but thankfully, it's been playing in limited release across the country and will probably make it on television before the election.
10.“Undertow” - starring Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell, sorry) and Josh Lucas (Sweet Home Alabama) which opens Oct. 22. The story is basically about a rural family that goes through some very violent events and how two boys deal with it. The film is GORGEOUS and the performances are spot on, but in the end, the film didn't really say much to me. It was slow, but it kept my interest, then sort of blew it at the end. I'd give it a marginal recommendation.
The Narrative Feature award went to Down to the Bone, which was pretty well done, and would have come in at #11. And the other two movies I saw that I didn’t like were “The Machinist” (Fight Club ripoff) and “Pizza” (Ethan Embry crap)
But the real highlights are those top 3 and for the AICN crowd, the top 2 are destined to be classics.
Cru Jones.
Excellent work, man. Thanks!
"Moriarty" out.
