Tag Archives: Human Interest

I’ll make this simple. My first theatrical viewing of Jurassic Park remains, without question, the best theatrical movie going experience of my life. It encapsulated pretty much everything good about the theatrical experience, including any number of elements that are perhaps non-replicable in today’s film culture.
The viewing was an unexpected advance-night screening, back before every movie opened on Thursday at 12:00 am, if not 10:00 pm or earlier. Jurassic Park had a whole slate of advance screenings on Thursday the 10th of June, starting at I believe 8:00 pm. I had presumed I would be seeing it sometime that weekend, but my mother informed me that my dad was coming home from a business trip and he was picking me up in time for a 10:00 pm screening.
Obviously excited, I hurriedly rushed to finish the original Michael Crichton novel that I had been blazing through. We got to the theater early enough and the auditorium, as well as the auditoriums around us, were absolutely jammed packed. Everyone was excited to be there, but nobody really knew what they were in for.
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Evil Dead is a surprisingly faithful yet reimagined retread of the legendary Sam Raimi film that pushes the limits of commercial theatrical wide release horror films. This is a horror film that isn’t afraid or ashamed to be one. With a intense, blood-drenched finale that should leave a packed theater cheering, Evil Dead falls on the side of good remakes.
The story of this iteration of Evil Dead surrounds a girl, Mia (Jane Levy), who is being taken out to an old abandoned secluded cabin, once owned by her family, to hopefully detox her current drug problem. Along the way to assist, are 2 of her friends and her brother with his girlfriend. Upon exploring a smell in the basement, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) and David (Shiloh Fernandez) find a ritualistic set of dead cats and the Book of the Dead. After reading some passages, wild things begin to happen to Mia. Should her friends believe the things she says or is it her trying to escape cold turkey detox?
By Brandon Peters
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The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by founding partner American Express, today announced a variety of programming that will allow domestic audiences to experience the Festival from across the country, including the lineup and programming for the Tribeca Online Festival, and Tribeca Film’s video-on-demand offerings during TFF. The 12th annual Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 17-28 in lower Manhattan.
“We are always looking for ways to expand our community and engage new audiences,” said Geoff Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer, Tribeca Enterprises. “For the past three years, viewers nationwide have been able to take in a selection of Festival films and activities, even if they aren’t able to make it to Tribeca. This year we have expanded the opportunity for the public to participate in the Festival not just as observers, but also as creators through our first ever Vine competition, which is open to anyone with an imagination and a Vine app.”
The Festival announced the program for the fourth annual Tribeca Online Festival, a digital initiative that offers front row access to exclusive Festival content and new storytelling opportunities. New this year is the launch of Tribeca Film Festival’s #6SECFILMS Vine Competition, an online juried competition using the six-second, micro-movie making app. Filmmakers can submit in one of four categories — #genre, #auteur, #animate and #series – using both the category hashtag and #6SECFILMS. Shortlists in each category will be viewable for the public on April 17 and will compete for cash prizes of $600. Submissions are now open through midnight on April 7. Winners will be announced by the Tribeca Online Festival on April 26.
As in years past, the Tribeca Online Festival (TOF) will provide free streaming of Festival films. Seven titles including features Alias Ruby Blade: A Story of Love and Revolution, Lil Bub & Friendz, and Farah Goes Bang (which will be streamed just after their Festival theatrical premieres), and short films RPG OKC, Delicacy, The Exit Room, and A Short Film About Guns will be accessible on tribecaonlinefestival.com . Via TribecaOnlineFestival.com audiences can vote on the best online feature and short, with the winners receiving a total of $16,000 in prize money.
The Tribeca Online Festival will stream a number of highly anticipated conversations during the Festival as well as the 2013 TFF awards show on Thursday April 25, 2013.
Tribeca Film will also release 2013 TFF selections What Richard Did, Greetings from Tim [...]

Still as groundbreaking as it was 30 years ago,Martin Scorcese’s newly restored “The King of Comedy” will close the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.
The Tribeca Festival (TFF), presented by American Express®, is thrilled have Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, restored in association with The Film Foundation, Regency Enterprises and Twentieth Century Fox, as the closing night film of the 12th annual Festival on Saturday, April 27 at Tribeca BMCC PAC.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul D. Zimmerman, produced by Arnon Milchan, and starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott and Sandra Bernhard, The King of Comedy was originally released in 1983. This darkly funny film was ahead of its time—most notably for its groundbreaking commentary on the reality TV culture and the fine line between fame and notoriety.
“I was a big fan of the script and was very excited to do it with Marty and happy that we finally made it. The fact that it’s been restored (hard to believe so many years have passed) is even all the better, and I can’t wait to see it on our closing night,” said Robert De Niro.
Photo by TFF
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This is the next entry of a reoccurring feature of sorts, spotlighting the movies that aren’t just my favorites, but films that I probably hold in higher esteem than anyone else out there in the critical community.
Next up is a film that celebrates its sixth-anniversary this Saturday. But I saw it six years ago today at a press screening. No, I’m not talking about Blades of Glory, but the inexplicably wonderful Meet the Robinsons.
I walked into said press screening for this one knowing almost nothing about it, save for a few pieces of promotional art and something about musical ‘wiseguy’ frogs. I distinctly remember walking out of the press screening, my eyes more than a little watery, and immediately calling my wife to inform her that I had just wasted a Wednesday afternoon. I had just seen something truly special and she was going to have to accompany me for a repeat viewing as soon as possible.
It was that kind of remarkable discovery, a completely unexpected masterpiece during a time when Disney animation of the non-Pixar variety had fallen into a bit of a rut. Six years later, it is perhaps my favorite film of the prior decade and in a just world would stand alongside the Katzenberg Waking Sleeping Beauty era as one of Disney’s modern crown jewels. At the time, what stood out about Meet the Robinsons was how unassuming it was. It was not a fairy-tale story, it was not a talking animal comedy, and it was not a would-be animated epic of any kind.
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For a 17th consecutive year, the Hollywood Film Awards® continues its mandate of celebrating Hollywood cinema and recognizing excellence in Hollywood, both in-front and behind the camera. This year the Hollywood Film Awards® Gala ceremony takes place on October 21, 2013, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in Beverly Hills.
In the last 10 years, a total of 96 Oscar® nominations and 34 Oscars® were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Film Awards®.
The “Los Angeles Times” recognized the Hollywood Film Awards® Gala Ceremony as a “pre-Oscar showcase,” and the “New York Times,” called it the “first mandatory stop in the awards season.”
“We are very excited to be having our seventeenth annual Hollywood Film Awards® Gala ceremony on October 21. Last year’s event was one of the best yet, with our presenters and honorees including Richard Gere, Bradley Cooper, Marion Cotillard, Robert De Niro, Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, John Hawkes, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David O. Russell, Dustin Hoffman, Quentin Tarantino, Quvenzhané Wallis, Chris Evans, Tom Ford, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Hillcoat, Helen Hunt, Melissa Leo, Ray Liotta, Christopher Nolan, Edward Norton, Eric Roth, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Shankman, Kerry Washington, Samantha Barks, Bella Heathcote, Tom Holland, John Magaro, Ezra Miller, and Kelly Reilly among many others,” Hollywood Film Awards’ founder, Carlos de Abreu, announced.
The first-ever Hollywood Film Awards® Gala ceremony took place in October 1997 in the historic Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, in Hollywood. Kirk Douglas took home the inaugural “Hollywood Career Achievement Award.”
The criteria for the recipients are based on their body of work and/or one or more films that are to be released within the calendar year.
Last year’s Hollywood Film Awards® total TV audience was over 42 million unique impressions, in addition to 300 million media impressions from both online and offline hits.

Further, through the “Hollywood Gives Back®” Project, the Hollywood Film Awards® continues highlighting and helping important local and national causes.
Over the years, the Hollywood Film Awards® have contributed to such organizations as: The Art of Elysium, Artists For Human Rights; Artists for Peace and Justice; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; the Enough Project; Matchingdonors.com, Scren Actors Guild Foundation, and the children’s charity Variety SoCal among others.
The Hollywood Film Awards® selects individuals to be recipients of their “Hollywood Humanitarian Awards®” in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large. Prior recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner and [...]

Well if you’re not going to make a great poster, you might as well go the other route and make a piece of marketing art so terrible that everyone will *still* be talking about it all day.
There isn’t much more to say other than to point and laugh. The trailer drops on Wednesday. Anyway, enjoy…

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network today announced the dates for the 86th and 87th Oscar® presentations. The 86th and 87th Academy Awards® will air live on ABC on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, and February 22, 2015, respectively.
Key dates for the Awards season are:
Saturday, November 16, 2013: The Governors Awards
Monday, December 2, 2013: Official Screen Credits due
Friday, December 27, 2013: Nominations voting begins
Wednesday, January 8, 2014: Nominations voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Thursday, January 16, 2014: Oscar nominations announced
Monday, February 10, 2014: Nominees Luncheon
Friday, February 14, 2014: Final voting begins
Saturday, February 15, 2014: Scientific and Technical Awards
Tuesday, February 25, 2014: Final voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014: 86th Academy Awards
Oscar Sunday, February 22, 2015: 87th Academy Awards
The 86th and 87th Academy Awards ceremonies will be held at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
# # #
ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards–in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners–Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.
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This year, with the appointment of Fest veteran Jon Fitzgerald as Executive Director of the 17th Annual Hollywood Film Festival, films that matter will have an opportunity to be showcased in the heart of Hollywood.
Fitzgerald will be working closely with festival founder Carlos de Abreu, and will be in charge of development, artistic direction, programming, marketing and overall Festival management, as well as the Hollywood Gives Back® Project.
Hollywood Gives Back® with CineCause, will be showcasing the other side of Hollywood, celebrating the Industry’s creative artists who have supported causes around the world. These efforts will be presented through the CineCause Spotlight section of the Festival, connecting social impact films with related causes.
The Hollywood Gives Back® mandate is to give a voice to the voiceless through the visual and new mediums, highlighting social and human conditions worldwide, and recognizing people and organizations that have contributed to the betterment of their communities or society at large by bestowing the Hollywood Gives Back Awards®.
In addition, through the Hollywood Gives Back® program, the Hollywood Gives Back Awards selects individuals to be recipients of the “Hollywood Humanitarian Awards®” in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large.
Prior recipients of the “Hollywood Gives Back Awards®” include Nobel Peace Prize winner and President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Father Rick Frechette and actor and activist Sean Penn.
Over the years, the Hollywood Film Festival® and Hollywood Gives Back® program have contributed to such organizations as: The Art of Elysium, Artists For Human Rights; Artists for Peace and Justice; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; the Enough Project; MatchingDonors.com; Screen Actors Guild Foundation; and the children’s charity Variety SoCal among others.

“We greatly appreciate all you have done for us through the Hollywood Gives Back Awards® and our “Everybody Can Save a Life!” video contest. Your efforts have saved many lives.” – Paul Dooley, CEO- MatchingDonors.com
“Because of the generosity of The Hollywood Gives Back Awards®, we have just opened our new building at the Academy for Peace and Justice, the first free secondary school serving the very poor in Port-au-Prince… It is because of YOU that we are able to help change the lives of the poorest children of Haiti — children whose names I would love you to get to know, and whose faces I would love you to see.” – Director Paul Haggis for [...]

In Columbia Pictures’ White House Down, Capitol Policeman John Cale (Channing Tatum) has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service of protecting President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx).
Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation’s government falling into chaos and time running out, it’s up to Cale to save his daughter, the president, and the country.
The film is directed by Roland Emmerich, written by James Vanderbilt, and produced by Bradley J. Fischer, Harald Kloser, James Vanderbilt, Larry Franco, and Laeta Kalogridis.

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