Category: Cinevegas 2009

Cinevegas 2009 Preview: ‘It Came From Kuchar’

it-came-from-kuchar

CineVegas 2009 is right around the corner (next week to be precise), and We Are Movie Geeks are going to be there in full force. Throughout the festival, which runs from June 10th through the 15th, we are going to be bringing you all the coverage you need including reviews, interviews, party breakdowns, and red carpet premiere coverage.

George and Mike Kuchar are twin brothers who, throughout the ’60s and ’70s, made 15 films that became cornerstones of the underground film movement.   Jennifer Kroot’s documentary ‘It Came From Kuchar’ documents the filmography of this influential, directing duo.   The film incorporates interviews with such indie filmmakers as John Waters, Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan, and Buck Henry.

Here’s the synopsis:

If you’re looking to track the birth of independent cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, when the “underground movie” was born, the atomic nucleus of the creative explosion might have been the Kuchar Brothers.

In the public’s eyes, only so-called professionals and famous studios with lots of money made the movies. But George and Mike Kuchar didn’t care. Pulling together friends and the tiniest of shoestring budgets, the Kuchar Brothers made hundreds of films of all lengths on their 8mm cameras, dubbing the dialogue and adding in wild soundtracks. Working together and individually, they spiked sexual anxiety with flying saucers, forbidden desires with booming orchestras — somehow bridging the burgeoning pop art world with the melodramatic Technicolor of Hollywood. The films of the Kuchars are constantly funny, often heart-tugging, and always original.

Director Jennifer Kroot takes us on the roller coaster trip that has been the brothers’ lives from the 50’s to today, from the early days of borrowing their Aunt’s camera through making big feature films, chasing tornadoes and teaching students on video. Kuchar devotees like Buck Henry and John Waters help guide us through the lurid journey, which will send you into the streets wanting to be a star. Whatever indie cinema is today owes a huge debt to the Kuchars.

‘It Came From Kuchar’ screens on Friday, June 12th at 3:45 pm and Saturday, June 13th at   1:15 pm.   Check out the film’s official site.

CineVegas 2009 Preview: ‘The Revenant’

the-revenant

CineVegas 2009 is right around the corner (next week to be precise), and We Are Movie Geeks are going to be there in full force. Throughout the festival, which runs from June 10th through the 15th, we are going to be bringing you all the coverage you need including reviews, interviews, party breakdowns, and red carpet premiere coverage.

One of the awesome things about film festivals, of which there are several, are all the great genre flicks we get to check out long before they are ever even thought about for release.  A lot of the time, a filmmaker will inject ample amounts of story and character into their horror/sci-fi/thriller movies to make up for the lack of budget.  At this year’s Cinevegas, ‘The Revenant’ is one film I am hoping follows that pattern.

Here’s the synopsis:

The Revenant is a story about an ancient pestilence recurring to infect modern society.

Officer First Class Bart Gregory is killed while fighting in Middle East. His body is shipped back to the United States and laid to rest, but before the lid can be put on his tomb, Bart inexplicably awakens in his coffin and climbs from his grave; confused, horrified–a moldy, putrefying living corpse–a Revenant.

Bart desperately enlists the help of his best friend, Joey Leubner, in an attempt to ease his nausea and agony. Joey is shocked–and disgusted–by his putrescent pal’s return, but he rises to the occasion and tries to find a solution. When a panicked emergency room forces the confused corpse to flee, the two friends discover that there is only one cure for Bart’s condition: Human blood.

In their quest to keep Bart from decomposing Bart and Joey stumble into a solution—a way to obtain blood without taking innocent lives, becoming “The Vigilante Gun-Slingers”. But as their macabre crusade continues, they become entwined in an ever escalating cycle of violence, mayhem and ghoulism . . . all while cruising in a 1979 Camaro.

Looks very cool.

‘The Revenant’ screens on Thursday, June 11th at 11:30 pm and Saturday, June 13th at 11:00 pm.  Also, be sure to check out the film’s official site.

CineVegas 2009 Preview: ‘Black Dynamite’

black-dynamite

“This movie features some of the greatest, over the top fight scenes to ever be recorded, along with a soundtrack that leaves you to get funky fresh in your seat.”

“The film has the gritty 70s vibe nailed perfectly.”

Those are just a couple of excerpts from reviews found on this, very site about ‘Black  Dynamite.’  As one of the early films showing at Cinevegas this year, this film is near the top of the list of anticipated films.  Michael Jai White looks badass.  Scott Sanders directions looks equally so.  I’m sure this film is going to get a pretty favorable review from Cinevegas as it did from Sundance and Tribeca.

Here’s the synopsis:

When “the man” kills his brother, pumps heroin into the local orphanage, and floods the ghetto with a secret weapon disguised as Anaconda Malt Liquor, there is only one brother bad enough, strong enough, and brave enough to take them on: the legendary Black Dynamite. BLACK DYNAMITE is a throwback with an attitude. Hilarious, campy, hot, and sexy, it plays with every cliché from 1970s film and television, with a few new ones thrown in for color. Director Scott Sanders doesn’t need to show his hand to get his point across, making it even more fun to watch. He has miraculously assembled a huge cast that all perfectly tread the line between satire and spoof. Crazy kudos need to go to our leading man, played by Michael Jai White, who offers a pitch-perfect performance in every take. Sanders does the near impossible: he sustains the comedy while taking a nice big sucker punch at the underlying politics of our time.

Check out this red-band trailer:

‘Black Dynamite’ will screen on Thursday, June 11th at 10:00 pm.

CineVegas 2009 Preview: ‘The Square’

thesquaremovie

CineVegas 2009 is right around the corner (next week to be precise), and We Are Movie Geeks are going to be there in full force. Throughout the festival, which runs from June 10th through the 15th, we are going to be bringing you all the coverage you need including reviews, interviews, party breakdowns, and red carpet premiere coverage.

‘The Square’ is the feature film debut of Nash Edgerton as director and looks to be filled with drama, suspense and action enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. You really don’t want to miss this powerhouse of down under cinema, which is already being called one of the best of it’s kind to come out of the country in recent years.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

Already an established stuntman and having made a slew of acclaimed short films as a director, Nash Edgerton transitions into the feature realm with perhaps the most gripping thriller to come from Australia in recent memory.

Ray, a married construction supervisor, is having an affair with Carla, who’s also married. One fateful day Carla discovers a bag of money brought home by her criminal husband and sees it as her ticket to a fresh start on life with Ray by her side, so she proposes they take the money and run. Ray, reluctant at first, soon comes around and hatches an elaborate plan. But as is the case with plans driven by lust and greed, it seems destined to crash and burn…The fun, and the horror, comes in watching it unfold.

Co-written by Nash’s brother Joel Edgerton, who also acts in the film, THE SQUARE has roots in classic noir but is imbued with a vividly distinct sensibility that is all Edgerton. Utilizing their trademark stunts to full effect, the Edgertons have fashioned an intense thriller with equally impactful dramatic elements thanks to fully realized performances by the full ensemble. THE SQUARE is as stylish as it is unsettling. The film’s ever-building momentum will grip you and leave you breathless—as much from the film as from knowing that you’re witnessing the emergence of directorial force coming up from Down Under.

The trailer for the Australian film shows nothing less than a film likely capable of making a big splash   just under the radar. I was looking forward to seeing this already, but seeing what I have from the trailer I am thoroughly pumped. ‘The Square’ is clearly benefiting from an accomplished stuntman behind the camera, who clearly also appears to be a natural director as well.

‘The Square’ will screen on Thursday, June 11 at 7:00 pm.

CineVegas 2009 Preview: ‘Redland’

cinevegas-redland

CineVegas 2009 is right around the corner (next week to be precise), and We Are Movie Geeks are going to be there in full force. Throughout the festival, which runs from June 10th through the 15th, we are going to be bringing you all the coverage you need including reviews, interviews, party breakdowns, and red carpet premiere coverage.

This week, we are going to break down some of the more anticipated films of the fest   ‘Redland,’ for example, is the feature film debut of writer/director Asiel Norton, and it looks incredibly audacious.

Here’s the film’s synopsis:

A family on the brink of starvation struggles for survival in Depression-era rural America. While the fervently spiritual patriarch of the family tries in vain to provide for his family, his daughter goes to extremes to hide an affair from him. Yet as their way of life erodes and they run out of money and food, the family’s moral rectitude intensifies. One saving grace may be the beautiful forest that surrounds the family’s homestead, providing a fairytale backdrop into which the family hopes it can escape. Yet this scenario isn’t nearly that harmonious — this struggle is man vs. nature. Only after complete dissolution can the family be reborn.

First-time director Asiel Norton’s similar background to what is portrayed in the film provides a tone that makes REDLAND pure. The desolate American morality play is reminiscent of early John Sayles, with vivid characters bringing to life a fascinating history lesson. The characters succumb to the hallucinations of their hunger, both for food and for love. It all adds to REDLAND’s dreamy style, which also features the most luscious widescreen cinematography you may see all year.

The cinematography from Zoran Popovic and production design by Thomas William Hallbauer look to make this one, visceral motion picture.   With a story, acting, and direction to back them up, ‘Redland’ looks to be one of the most promising films of the festival.

‘Redland’ will screen on Thursday, June 11th at 6:00 pm and Friday, June 12th at 1:00 pm.

CineVegas 2009 Preview: ‘Moon’

rockwellmoon

CineVegas 2009 is right around the corner (next week to be precise), and We Are Movie Geeks are going to be there in full force. Throughout the festival, which runs from June 10th through the 15th, we are going to be bringing you all the coverage you need including reviews, interviews, party breakdowns, and red carpet premiere coverage.

Having already screened to ecstatic audiences at the Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca Film Festivals, ‘Moon’ is still going strong as one of the absolute must-see movies of the year and one of the most original and powerful science-fiction films in many years.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

Nearing the end of a three-year contract with Lunar Industries, Sam Bell will soon be returning to Earth. The lone occupant of a lunar mining base, Sam monitors the moon’s harvest for helium energy. Buoyed by transmissions from his wife and young daughter, he combats isolation by interacting with the station’s robotic computer. But Sam is beginning to unravel. After a hallucination causes his lunar rover to crash, Sam realizes that his life here is not what it seems.

MOON is a philosophical and touching inflection on a genre that often loses sight of story amid the special effects. Director Duncan Jones creates an intimate and insightful character piece anchored by Sam Rockwell’s performance; his perceptivity contains the emotional heartache and existential terror of a man gradually stripped of his core identity. So even the visual design and technology, MOON is less about outer than it is about inner space.

After seeing this trailer, you should be on a flight already to Las Vegas and in line at the CineVegas box office to purchase your tickets to the one and only screening of ‘Moon’ during the festival. A great dramatic story, an Oscar-worthy performance from Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey as Robot… it’s a winning combination!

‘Moon’ will screen on Thursday, June 11 at 2:00 pm.

CineVegas 2009 Preview: ‘In The Loop’

cinevegas_intheloop

CineVegas 2009 is right around the corner (next week to be precise), and We Are Movie Geeks are going to be there in full force. Throughout the festival, which runs from June 10th through the 15th, we are going to be bringing you all the coverage you need including reviews, interviews, party breakdowns, and red carpet premiere coverage.

This week, we are going to break down some of the more anticipated films of the fest. One of the early film’s to screen at CineVegas is from the UK called ‘In the Loop.’ It’s a satirical political comedy about the events and dialogue leading up to war, with the unpredictable flair of ‘The Office’.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

If Armando Iannucci’s political farce about the road to war through the corridors of power weren’t so funny, it would be utterly terrifying. When a British cabinet minister, Simon Foster, comments publicly that he thinks war is “unforeseeable,” the result is an immediate bollocking from Malcolm Tucker, the prime minister’s testy bulldog pushing for war. Unable to clarify his position, Simon is sent to Washington, where, trying desperately to be important, he meets Karen Clark, a U.S. State Department official, and General Miller, who see him as a transatlantic partner in building a consensus against war. They search for a secret war committee, led by Karen’s hawkish colleague, Linton Barwick. And as farce demands, all parties eventually converge for a climactic shuffle between rooms, in this case at the United Nations. Wickedly sardonic and filled with secrets, lies, leaks, plugs, and faulty intelligence and walls, IN THE LOOP leads us behind closed doors to reveal bungling bureaucrats entangled in petty rivalries, obsequious aides jockeying for favor, and the Keystone Cops of government, including a minister who hopes there’s no war because it’s bad enough coping with the Olympics.

The movie looks to be both a revealing and terrifying interpretation of the behind-the-scenes goings on leading to war as well as a comedic farce that will have us laughing out loud while trembling on the inside. One thing for sure, I can already picture James Gandolfini as a General… good times!

‘In the Loop’ will screen on Thursday, June 11 at 11:30 am.

CineVegas 2009 Preview: ‘Saint John of Las Vegas’

saint-john-las-vegas

CineVegas 2009 is right around the corner (next week to be precise), and We Are Movie Geeks are going to be there in full force.   Throughout the festival, which runs from June 10th through the 15th, we are going to be bringing you all the coverage you need including reviews, interviews, party breakdowns, and red carpet premiere coverage.

This week, we are going to break down some of the more anticipated films of the fest.   We start you off with the festival’s opening night film, ‘Saint John of Las Vegas.’   It’s a strange, surrealist look at an ex-gambler who is just trying to make it in life.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

Divinely inspired by Dante’s Inferno, SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS, features a gambler, a wheelchair-bound stripper, a human torch, an armed nudist colony and a pitch-perfect performance by one of our finest actors: Steve Buscemi….what a perfect way to open the 2009 CineVegas Film Festival. John (Buscemi) has finally gotten his life back on track. The ex-gambler whose only luck is bad ran away from Las Vegas, ending up in Albuquerque with a dull but stable job in insurance. He even has a budding romance with a sexy co-worker. But fate leads him back towards temptation: When John gets a promotion to fraud investigating, he must return to Las Vegas for his first case. Paired with a savvy veteran who prides himself on preventing scams, his journey leads him down a precarious path checkered with a bizarre cast of characters. Will his luck change or is fate in his own hands after all?

Hue Rhodes’ feature directorial debut is a modern, picaresque journey through the literal and figurative desert and into the mind of a gambler. As John searches for answers he fluctuates intoxicatingly between reality and surreality. Rhodes’ creative talent is invigorating and engaging as he crafts a tale that is at times comedic, at others poignant. Along with the extraordinary performance by Buscemi, the film is blessed with an outstanding supporting cast, including Sarah Silverman, Peter Dinklage, Romany Malco, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Tim Blake Nelson and John Cho. Expertly crafted in every way, from the rich cinematography to the astute editing, SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS bursts with creativity and is laced with a deliciously dark sense of humor that is sure to bring a smile to your face as you head out of the theater and back into the casino.

Sounds very cool, and the mere fact that this film includes Mr. Pink, the new Sulu, and the Dink himself make it all the more anticipated.

‘Saint John of Las Vegas’ premieres on Wednesday, June 10th at 7:30 PM.