Bridesmaids is a high-profile test case. Directed by Paul Feig (a sitcom journeyman most lovingly known as the creator of Freaks and Geeks), it’s the first female-fronted comedy produced by Hollywood kingpin Judd Apatow, who has weathered criticism in the past for his brand’s dude-centric point of view. It’s also…
Jake Lipson, Danny Miller, James Harkins, Yihyun Jeong, Josh Kanter, and Myles Kramer have more on their schedules than semester finals and summer vacations. This week, they’re screening the result of a year’s worth of interviews and documentary footage in The Border. The project began in Paul Hoeprich’s film/news production…
Besides doing fun relationship stuff like arguing about how to discipline their dog, New Times blogger Tyler Hughes and his girlfriend, Jackie Cronin, go to the movies. Tyler: Seeing THOR just made me more excited to see The Avengers movie coming out next year. There were so many references to the…
Something Borrowed is based on a 2005 work of chick literature by Emily Giffin. It was directed with extraordinary impersonality by Luke Greenfield (Rob Schneider’s The Animal), and produced by Hilary Swank in collaboration, apparently, with the restaurant Shake Shack — one of the lifestyle brands prominently featured in this…
After more than a decade of high-profile Hollywood reboots, the shelves at Marvel and DC are starting to look empty. First came the obvious candidates: comic book vigilantes like Batman and Daredevil transformed seamlessly into action/crime anti-heroes. Then came teen idol Spider-Man, social-pariah super-group the X-Men, righteous rageaholic Hulk, and…
Perhaps the only day when you can watch Star Wars Lego animations, drink a Hairy Wookiee, and quote cheesy, punned movie lines, like “May the fourth be with you.”…
Garfield tells the true story of one of downtown Phoenix’s first neighborhoods banding together to reclaim a historic neighborhood from crime and city abandonment. Members of the Garfield community, including Garfield Organization founder Lupe Sisneros, reached out to ASU students to make a film that would educate others about the deep-rooted…
Nothing goes better with a movie than dinner (and perhaps vise versa), which Chow Bella has all figured out.Dinner and a Movie pairs all sorts of films with themed recipes each week.Today features Pedro Almodovar’s Volver starring Penelope Cruz, who takes over a village restaurant and cooks for a visiting…
“This one perfect moment.” “That soul-crushing mistress.” “Our forever night.” These and other understated definitions are obsessively applied to a certain dreaded/anticipated ritual throughout Prom, a timely pop product set in a suburban high school during the last weeks before summer break and destined for the immortality of Vitamin C’s…
Hiking a mountain trail might sound like a fun weekend activity, but when the trail’s longer than 800 miles and you have to worry about bringing hiking and camera gear, you might want to take a break from your day job. Aspiring filmmaker Trevor Arwood is on a mission to…
The opening scenes of I Saw the Devil, the latest drama/horror from Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) with director Jee-woon Kim (A Tale of Two Sisters), are enough to make you wince, gasp, and shrink in your seat. It’s no ordinary cop/bad guy film; a police detective (Byung-hun Lee) becomes borderline insane in…
A U.N. première! A Vanessa Redgrave cameo! Zionist hoodlums! Distributors the Weinstein Company and director Julian Schnabel overcome their well-documented aversion to media attention to address the Israel-Palestine question, pleading peace, compromise, and the creation of a self-governing Palestinian state. While Jewish advocacy groups swarm to Schnabel’s bait, it bears…
Anthropomorphizing its animal stars to a borderline-dubious degree, Disneynature’s nonfiction African Cats situates itself in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve, where two four-legged mothers valiantly struggle to provide for and protect their young. On the northern side of the river that divides this gorgeous but pitiless land lives aging lioness…
Note: Since this post has been published, the Director of Communications at Bravo has denied that the show is coming to Arizona, as reported by the Republic. While Drybar may have been quick to hint of the cast members’ appearances at the DryBar opening and/or the show’s potential, we’re waiting…
In two days (on 4/20), Charles Band’s latest marijuana sci-fi movie, Evil Bong 3D: The Wrath of Bong, opens nationwide. The film is presented in 3D and “Smell-O-Vision,” which is basically a scratch and sniff card with eight different scents.We got a peek at The Wrath of Bong on Saturday…
Twenty top short films and videos from around the world will be up on the silver screen, and all you have to do to see them for free is bring something to sit on. This Saturday’s ASU Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival will showcase a batch of shorts…
ABC announced this morning that it will be canceling long-running series All My Children and One Life To Live (1968-2011). Condolences to all of the (living) AMC, OLTL, and other cheesy soap opera fans alike — you’ve officially been trumped by those damn young people who’d rather watch food television…
Set in the months after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, The Conspirator follows the consequences of the fatal shot at Ford’s Theater — specifically, the trial of Mary Surratt, Catholic, 42, and the owner of a Washington, D.C., boarding house who was presented before a military tribunal as the den mother…
Mortal Kombat is back in the film world and this time it’s coming out swinging. The murderously fun and violent fighting game is known better for its fatalities and worse for its movies, TV shows, and other manner of crappy self-promotion. Director Kevin Tancharoen (Fame) however, has attempted to shake…
An unlimited supply of LEGO blocks, loneliness, and the ability to have whatever you build become real in Daddy Warblocks, a story about one man’s attempt to literally build himself a new life. Written and directed by Arizona State University student Chris Nash, Daddy Warblocks is a short film that…
The Phoenix Film Festival wrapped up this week and we have the winners in each of the feature length categories.1. The Dan Harkins Breakthough Filmmaker Award: Travis Betz for The Dead Inside2. Best Ensemble and Best Screenwriting:…
In Black Death, a monk travels to a remote village with a band of murderous Christians during the bubonic plague to investigate rumors of a necromancer who protects the village from disease and brings the dead back to life.That’s a pretty cool plot, and there’s plenty for horror fans to…
