Continue reading »]]> A key passage in Tom Wolfe’s blistering architectural critique, From Bauhaus to Our House, recounts a tumultuous public meeting attended by the residents St. Louis’ Pruitt-Igoe housing project, called by the city to get input on how to salvage the seriously deteriorating facility and notable for ending with the assembled tenants joining in on the chant, “Blow it… up! Blow it… up! Blow it… up!”

Wolfe’s description of the event is vivid (no surprise), but barely gets into the morass of Utopian ideals, modernist design, flawed social engineering, and unintended racism that, over two decades, doomed a project meant to raise the city’s poorest out of their poverty. Using extensive research, archival footage, and interviews with the people who lived and grew up in Pruitt-Igoe (some of whom still harbor fond memories of the place), filmmaker Chad Freidrichs fills in the blanks in his incisive documentary, THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH: AN URBAN HISTORY, which opens at New York’s IFC Center on January 20th.

Check out the trailer below.

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The Great Bird Has Landed: Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett in a candid moment from TREK NATION.

A son goes in search of the father he never quite knew, and the CFQ crew gets introspective enough to take a nostalgic trip back to explore one of the formative influences on their sense of wonder, Gene Roddenberry’s STAR TREK.

Come join our special guest, theofantastique.com’s John W. Morehead, as he joins Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons as they discuss TREK NATION, the documentary by Roddenberry’s son, Eugene, that delves not only into the landmark show, its follow-ups, and its eternal fandom, but also the man behind the trek, his strengths and his flaws. Lasting influences will be identified, favorite episodes will be discussed, lives will be lived long, and prosperity will be… uh… prospered.

Also: What’s coming in theaters.

Guaranteed: 100% “Keep on Trekkin’” Free.

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Nowhere Near a Gilded Cage: Mikhail Khodorkovsky in custody in KHODORKOVSKY.

“World’s richest political prisoner,” now there’s a term you don’t hear much. And while OWS can make a case that there are select representatives of the 1% that deserve to see the inside of jail cell, in the case of Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now serving time in his home country for charges of tax evasion and embezzlement (both trumped-up, in the opinion of many), the argument is not so clear.

In the new documentary, KHODORKOVSKY, filmmaker Cyril Tuschi incorporates interviews, stark, stylized animation, and his own personal journey to explore the story of a man who went from committed socialist to successful capitalist to political pariah. In the process, the film explores the paradoxes not just of Khodorkovsky’s own rise — a narrative that incorporates canny leveraging of a still-nascent financial system, a high-profile flaunting of his good fortune, and an ill-advised face-off with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin — but of a financial system that, in transitioning from communist to capitalist, wound up a Frankensteinian combination of both.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Tuschi.

KHODORKOVSKY
Trailer

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Official Website:
kinolorber.com/khodorkovsky

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Kids Strike Back: The cast of ATTACK THE BLOCK faces down an alien incursion.

You gotta love an alien invasion film where the aliens make the serious mistake of trying to invade some council estates (read, “projects”) in London and discover that the street-tough kids there are not going to yield the territory without racking up a body count. That’s the idea behind ATTACK THE BLOCK, Joe Cornish’s directorial debut that was exec produced by SHAUN OF THE DEAD’s Edgar Wright. It’s neatly pulled off with a surprising bit of depth, and worth checking out when it’s released on homevid on October 25th.

So a bunch of us were gathered in a room in New York Comic Con’s press warren, and got to throw questions indiscriminately (but incisively) at Joe. I managed to capture the session for this podcast.

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Cloudy with a Chance of Impending Doom: Michael Shannon tries to weather the storm in TAKE SHELTER.

Roland Emmerich can bite me. The guy’s been making disaster films since time can remember, yet for all his besetting humans with floods, fires, and earthquakes (and the occasional alien invasion), he’s never managed to make something as resonant, affecting, and powerful as TAKE SHELTER. A film that skirts the line between vivid fantasy and straight drama, it tells the tale of a loving, working-class husband and father (Michael Shannon) suddenly overwhelmed by visions of impending doom and torn between the compulsion to protect his wife (Jessica Chastain) and deaf daughter (Tova Stewart) from the onslaught and the fear that a family history of schizophrenia may be making itself manifest. This is director Jeff Nichols second feature (and his second with Shannon), and in weaving a scenario that balances vivid imagery with nuanced observation — and is highlighted by moving, vulnerable performances from Shannon and Chastain, among others –  the film speaks compellingly not only to the power of familial love, but to a sense of creeping helplessness that’s overtaking American society.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Nichols.

TAKE SHELTER
Trailer
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OFFICIAL WEBSITE
takeshelterfilm.com

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So Real, You Can Almost Smell the Lion Breath: THE LION KING makes his debut in 3D.

There were no new genre films in theaters this weekend, but there was one old one in a shiny new, 3D coat: THE LION KING 3D, which just so happened to top this week’s box-office. With a prescience befitting a Cinefantastique editor, Steve Biodrowski recognized the film for the hit it was going to be, and attended a screening. In this episode of the Spotlight, he gives his impression of the newly dimensional musical fantasy, after which Dan Persons joins in for a discussion of MST3K VS. GAMERA, the new home video box set that collects all of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000’s episodes devoted to Japan’s beloved, mammoth flying turtle.

Also in this episode: discussions of Harlan Ellison’s IN TIME lawsuit and of the impending Hannibal Lecter TV series.

Plus: Gamera is friend to all children!

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Turn Your Head, Cough, and Die: Jennifer Ehle battles the bio-apocalypse in CONTAGION.

Break out the Purell, Steven Soderbergh is in mainstream thriller mode and he’s decided to get under your skin — almost literally — with a tale about a virus that doesn’t know when to quit. CONTAGION follows Soderbergh’s TRAFFIC template, spinning a world-spanning drama of people trying to survive the ravages of a fast-acting and deadly disease. Caught up in the turmoil: everyday dad Matt Damon; asshole blogger Jude Law; CDC doctors Jennifer Ehle, Kate Winslet, Demetri Martin, and Marion Cotillard; and government officials Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston, and Enrico Colantoni.

Join Cinefantastique Online’s Lawrence French and Dan Persons as they examine Soderbergh’s skill at applying an indie film’s spontaneous production approach and incisive worldview to the dynamic momentum of a mainstream drama, debate whether the globe-hopping scenario does a disservice to the film’s characters, and consider whether it’s advisable for mature film critics to engage in a little social research by faking coughing fits during screenings (short answer: probably not).

Also: A celebration of the 45th anniversary of STAR TREK’s debut; plus what’s coming this week in theaters (spoiler: nothing) and home video.

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Hearts and Minds are the First Casualties: Joel Torre at the hands of the invading forces in AMIGO.

Director John Sayles is delving into history again, and this time it’s a little bit of American adventurism in the early twentieth century that’s frequently glossed over in the history books: the Philippine-American War. In AMIGO, Filipino actor Joel Torre plays Rafael, the mayor of a small village who’s forced to accommodate a troop of American soldiers, an act that puts him into deadly opposition with his brother (Ronnie Lazaro), the leader of a local guerrilla group fighting the invasion. As the Americans – prime amongst them an open-minded lieutenant (Garret Dillahunt) and a gung-ho colonel (Chris Cooper) – struggle both to attain tactical advantage in their battles while winning the civilian population over to their side, there are no few parallels to recent U.S. overseas history. In this case, though, we get to see the conflict through the eyes of the invaded, and learn how people trying just to live their lives can wind up in the center of a no-win situation.

Click on the player to hear my interview with John Sayles.

AMIGO
Trailer

amigomovie.com

Continue reading »]]> A post-show conversation between theofantastique.com’s John W. Morehead and Cinefantastique Online’s Lawrence French and Dan Persons about the PLANET OF THE APESfranchise in general, and RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES in specific.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
MoCap Comparison: “Revolution Begins”

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Meet the New Ape, Not at All Like the Old Ape: A MoCapped Andy Serkis takes command in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.

Startling the studios, startling the critics, and startling its delighted audiences, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES has arrived to prove that a reboot — in the hands of a skilled director and inspired writers, actors and effects artists — does not necessarily need to serve as Exhibit One in the case for the film industry’s creative bankruptcy. Join theofantastique.com’s John W. Morehead and Cinefantastique Online’s Lawrence French and Dan Persons as they explore how the latest retooling of a moribund franchise has become the most bracing film of the summer, discuss some emotional nuances director Rupert Wyatt uses to bring depth to the fantasy, celebrate Andy Serkis’ work as our new simian overlord, and sift over some notable glitches in the scenario.

Also: Some thoughts on the revelation that Steven Sodherbergh is directing second unit sequences for THE HUNGER GAMES; and what’s coming to theaters and home video.