I’m Still Here

Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Directed by Casey Affleck; Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Ben Stiller, Edward James Olmos, Sean Combs

Sep 10, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

A lot of hay is being made over whether or not Joaquin Phoenix really did have a mental breakdown, retire from acting, and attempt a new career as a rapper. On the surface, I’m Still Here(directed by Casey Affleck) attempts to chronicle Phoenix’s transition from clean-cut Hollywood pretty boy to a bearded hipster hip-hop artist. More

Get Low

Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Aug 10, 2010 Cinema Issue #32 - Summer 2010 - Wasted on the Youth

Get Low features an unusually dramatic opening scene: As a fire in a Southern country home reaches flashpoint, a figure stumbles out of a second-story window and flees into the shroud of night, his clothes flaming like an afterburner. More

Kisses

Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Written and directed by Lance Daly; Starring: Kelly O’Neill and Shane Curry

Jul 15, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

The 400 Blows and Stand by Me come to mind, but few films tap into the twilight of innocence as adroitly as writer/director Lance Daly's Kisses. More

Whiz Kids

Studio: Shadow Distribution
Directed by Tom Shepard; Starring Ana Cisnero, Kelydra Welcker and Harmain Khan

Jun 01, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

A documentary about ultra-smart teens and the competition that could catapult them to genius stardomand send them to collegesounds fascinating. Unfortunately, director Tom Shepard and co-director Tina DeFeliciantonio don't get to the heart of their protagonists or the competition. More

The Good, the Bad, the Weird

Studio: IFC Films
Directed by Kim Jee-Woon; Starring: Song Kang-Ho, Lee Byung-Hun and Jung Woo-Sung

May 26, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

Director Kim Jee-Woon combines the best parts of the Spaghetti Western and adventure films like Indiana Jones and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with modern flair and acrobatic camerawork. The result is awesome fun. More

Best Worst Movie

Studio: Magic Stone Productions
Directed by Michael Paul Stephenson

May 24, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

Troll 2 is known by film junkies as one of the biggest cinematic disasters this side of Ed Wood. But, much like Wood's Plan 9, the sheer off-the-wall audacity and amateurish enthusiasm of the movie has fostered a cult audience that has grown exponentially in recent years. But what is it about Troll 2 that engenders this rabid enthusiasm? Best Worst Movie, the documentary debut of Michael Paul Stephenson (who was the unfortunate child star of Troll 2) takes an interesting approach in sussing this out. More

Holy Rollers

Studio: First Independent Pictures
Directed by Kevin Asch; Starring: Jessie Eisenberg, Jason Fuchs and Justin Bartha

May 24, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

When it comes to film premises, few can grab you quite like that of Holy Rollers: Hassdic teens build ecstasy smuggling empire. On top of that, it's "based on true events." How could you go wrong? As it turns out, a lot of ways. More

Harry Brown

Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Directed by Daniel Barber; Starring: Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer

May 21, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

Harry Brown (Michael Caine) is an ex-Royal Marine octogenarian living in "the estates" of South London, where the local youths' idea of a fun time is smoking crack and dropping bags of flaming dog crap through people's letterboxes. After a feeble attempt at self-defense ends the life of his only friend, Brown decides to take matters into his own hands. More

Looking for Eric

Studio: IFC Films
Directed by Ken Loach; Starring: Steve Evets and Eric Cantona

May 13, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

Director Ken Loach has made a film that fuses his own mastery of the British kitchen-sink drama with the whimsy of Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam and the underdog sentimentality of '80s John Hughes teen films. It's the kind of odball amalgamation of styles that SCTV used to imagine. More