Archive for World Film

Sundance Review: Red Hook Summer

Red Hook Summer

Spike Lee’s new film Red Hook Summer has been lauded a his  “return to his roots” film. Financed by the director and shot in under 25 days, the film was one of the most talked about at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

There have been pans by both critics and fans, some of them furious. Jordan Hoffman agrees that Red Hook Summer is a “difficult” film — but also doesn’t care.  “If you have a love for large, messy tapestry movies,” he writes,  “With high highs and low lows, Red Hook Summer is essential viewing. Read Jordan’s review.


Sundance Review: Red Hook Summer originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 14:14:24.

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Sundance 2012 Awards

Excision (Sundance Film Festival)

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival came to a close this weekend. Top winners at the awards ceremony were Beasts of the Southern Wild, which received the Grand Jury prize for drama,  and The House I Live In for documentary.

The complete list of winners at the fest.

Overlooked by the awards committee and the overall hype machine: Richard Bates, Jr.’s Excision. See why Jordan Hoffman fell “absolutely over-the-moon in love” with this indie film.

Sundance 2012 Awards originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 14:18:00.

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Review: Haywire

Gina Carano in Haywire

Jordan Hoffman has seen the first superhero movie of 2012 and it is Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire. It stars the Mixed Martial Arts champion/future household name Gina Carano. It’s the greatest belated Christmas gift in years.

Michael Douglas and Ewan McGregor co-star in the latest treat from our of our most versatile filmmakers. Haywire opens in theaters today. Read our review.

Review: Haywire originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 14:20:10.

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We Need To Talk About Kevin (Oscillope Pictures)

The mother of a teenage boy who went on a high-school killing spree tries to deal with her grief - and feelings of responsibility for her child’s actions. The remarkable Tilda Swinton stars in Scottish filmmmaker Lynne Ramsay’s adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s best-stelling novel We Need To Talk About Kevin.

We Need To Talk About Kevin is currently playing in theaters. Read Jordan’s review.

Review: We Need To Talk About Kevin originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 06:02:04.

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Review: Young Adult

Young Adult (Paramount Pictures)

Director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody hit it big in 2007 with Juno, the story of a pregnant teen and her unborn baby’s potential adoptive parents. Now, the two have teamed up again for Young Adult, the story of Mavis Gary, a ghostwriter for a young adult book series, who abandons her wrecked life in Minneapolis to travel back to her small hometown to win back her high school sweetheart, Billy Slade. Charlize Theron gives her all to portray the unlikable, failed seducer.

Now playing in theaters, Young Adult co-stars Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser, and Collette Wolfe. Read Beck Ireland’s review.

Review: Young Adult originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 07:28:53.

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Review: Pariah

Pariah

Dee Ree’s debut film Pariah tells the story of Alike, a seventeen-year-old African American teen in Brooklyn coming to terms with her identity.  There simply isn’t enough praise in the world for Adepero Oduye, writes Jordan Hoffman. The young actress was nominated for an Independent Spirit award.

Read Jordan’s review.

Review: Pariah originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Friday, December 30th, 2011 at 16:07:38.

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Review: A Separation

A Separation (Sony Pictures Classics)

Set in contemporary Iran, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation is a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage. Leta Leila Hatami stars as a middle class, educated woman who doesn’t wear her headscarf too tight and desperately wants to get out of Iran.

The film, which received the prestigious Golden Bear Award earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival, opens this week in theaters. Read Jordan Hoffman’s review.

Review: A Separation originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 08:50:15.

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Carnage (Sony Pictures Classics)

Based on Yasmina Reza’s celebrated play , Roman Polanksi’s Carnage takes place almost entirely in the gentrified Brooklyn living room of Michael and Penelope Longstreet. Shot in real time, the film, stars Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz as two sets of parents who meet up to talk after their children have been in a fight that day in the park.

Carnage is currently playing in theater. Read Jordan Hoffman’s review.

Review: Roman Polanksi’s Carnage originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Monday, December 19th, 2011 at 05:04:03.

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John Le Carre’s celebrated Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy flat-out fails in its efforts to grab ya in a breathless, page-turning spy thriller way. It achieves, however, something far more interesting - a striking look at what British intelligence really (okay, probably) was like in the early 1970s.

Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Strong star.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is currently playing in theaters. Read Jordan Hoffman’s review.

Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 17:48:08.

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Review: My Week With Marilyn

My Week With Marilyn (The Weinstein Company)

Based on the book by Colin Clark about his experiences with Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl, My Week with Marilyn could be this year’s The King’s Speech. The film boasts enchanting costume and set design, which set off the quaint storyline. However, it’s Michelle Williams‘ portrayal of the complicated Monroe clashing with Kenneth Branagh’s Sir Laurence that truly captivates and brings the film to the level of true art.

Williams’ Monroe is more than impersonation. Although too lanky to ever be really mistaken for the siren of the silver screen, Williams truly embodies the pathos of the late actress in both her flirtatious humor and soul-deep sadness. Eddie Redmayne, Zoe Wanamaker, Judi Dench and Emma Watson co-star.

My Week with Marilyn is now playing in theaters nationwide. Expect to see Williams’ name on the awards nominations lists this year. Read Beck Ireland’s review.




Based on the book by Colin Clark about his experiences with Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl, My Week with Marilyn could be this year’s The King’s Speech. The film boasts enchanting costume and

Based on the book by Colin Clark about his experiences with Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl, My Week with Marilyn could be this year’s The King’s Speech. The film boasts enchanting costume and set design, which set off the quaint storyline. However, it’s Michelle Williams’ portrayal of the complicated Monroe clashing with Kenneth Branagh’s Sir Laurence that truly captivates and brings the film to the level of true art.


Williams’ Monroe is more than impersonation. Although too lanky to ever be really mistaken for the siren of the silver screen, Williams truly embodies the pathos of the late actress in both her flirtatious humor and soul-deep sadness. Eddie Redmayne, Zoë Wanamaker, Judi Dench and Emma Watson co-star.


My Week with Marilyn is now playing in theaters nationwide. Expect to see Williams’ name on the awards nominations lists this year. Read Beck Ireland’s review.

set design, which set off the quaint storyline. However, it’s Michelle Williams’ portrayal of the complicated Monroe clashing with Kenneth Branagh’s Sir Laurence that truly captivates and brings the film to the level of true art.

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Williams’ Monroe is more than impersonation. Although too lanky to ever be really mistaken for the siren of the silver screen, Williams truly embodies the pathos of the late actress in both her flirtatious humor and soul-deep sadness. Eddie Redmayne, Zoë Wanamaker, Judi Dench and Emma Watson co-star.

My Week with Marilyn is now playing in theaters nationwide. Expect to see Williams’ name on the awards nominations lists this year. Read Beck Ireland’s review.

Review: My Week With Marilyn originally appeared on About.com World / Independent Film on Sunday, December 4th, 2011 at 10:48:38.

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