2009 September - Row Three

30 Sep

Category

General Ramblings

Diablo Cody + Sweet Valley High

3

A story safer than Gossip Girl and Clueless… and without the signature slang? What is she thinking? » Read the rest of the entry..

30 Sep

Posted by
Marina Antunes

Category

VIFF 09 Review: The Young Victoria

5

Though it wasn’t his first film, Candian director Jean-Marc Vallée emerged as a sort of Canadian superstar with C.R.A.Z.Y., his depiction of coming of age in the 1970s. For his follow up, Vallée hasn’t strayed far from the tree and has chosen another coming of age tale, this one a tale of a young woman in 19th century Britain.

The fictionalized account of Queen Victoria’s early years, The Young Victoria quickly sets up the Princess’ childhood before settling into her teen years. The real life story of Victoria is an interesting one but the film, written by Oscar winner Julian Fellowes, is more interested in the Queen’s personal life than any of the political goings on. This is the story of a woman thrust into a seat of power and how she copes with the pressure of not simply growing up in public but also having everyone around her, including the country itself, pressuring her to make choices she was unwilling to make.

» Read the rest of the entry..

30 Sep

Posted by
John Allison

Category

Dark Bridges Launch Party

4

You might not know this but Row Three is one of the sponsors for the Dark Bridges Film Festival and also for their launch party. Sure it probably is that way because one of their writers (me) is the Founder and Director of the festival but none the less I thought it was important to highlight the poster for their upcoming Launch Party.

Seriously though, I’m quite happy with the way things are working out. I came up with the idea of doing a Launch Party shortly after coming up with the idea for the festival and I tried to keep fairly quiet about it. This meant that there hasn’t been much news about what I’ve been doing to get the festival off the ground. First off the boring stuff like figuring out how to become incorporated, securing a name and all that stuff is underway. I’ve got some people here in Saskatoon who are willing to help out and I’ve contacted a few people who know a bit about running a festival and asked if they want to help out in an advisory role and pretty much every single one agreed. Either I’m just a really charming fun guy to chat with or else festival people are just good people who want to help out. I’m guessing it is the latter but I like to think the first. While this was all going on I started up the facebook group, set up a youtube channel and started the website which will go live around midnight Thursday.
» Read the rest of the entry..

30 Sep

Posted by
Andrew James

Category

Minneapolis Underground Film Fest Titles

0

The program titles for MUFF (yes, MUFF) were announced last night and while this is some pretty low budget stuff, there looks to be a couple of potentially interesting titles in here.

The Minneapolis Underground Film Festival gives voice to hidden filmmakers and their buried gems. Our mission is to exhibit artists, entertain our audiences and inspire filmmakers to create exiting original work.

Hey RowThree is pretty much on board with supporting anyone doing something new or at least attempting interesting things in cinema; even if there’s not much to work with. So if you’re in the area, take a quick look at the complete lineup of shorts, features and documentaries and see if there’s anything that strikes your fancy. If you’re into slightly more subversive film, this is a showcase that will likely deliver – just judging from the titles and poster art. I’ve highlighted a couple below, the rest are over at their fairly primitive site.
» Read the rest of the entry..

30 Sep

Posted by
Andrew James

Category

The Attic Door

6

Well, not much to go on here. But I get the feeling horror is involved. Horror in the 19th century starring two kids? It’s Joe Dante’s The Hole meets There Will Be Blood. Though the child acting looks like it may be on the shoddy side, this could be a nice little indie horror gem that catches some eyes int he festival circuit or maybe on DVD.

The trailer doesn’t give us much to go on, by the IMDb proclaims:

A young brother and sister are forgotten in the vast and lonely landscape of the 19th century American West. Trapped in an ominous house and nowhere to escape, two children must discover the truth behind the mysterious creature that has awakened and is haunting their lives. As much as they try to deny the truth, they must now face their greatest fear.

Sold.

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30 Sep

Posted by
Marina Antunes

Category

VIFF 09 Review: Prom Night in Mississippi

0

Racism is an ugly thing and something largely associated with a time long past. Once in a while, a film (The Order of Myths) or event (Katrina) happens which showcases just how little society has advanced over the decades. When we see racism, it’s easy enough to chalk it up to a “small group of people” but that’s never been a good response and it’s certainly not one that comes to mind after seeing a film like this one; especially when the issues at hand involve children.

Paul Saltzman’s documentary Prom Night in Mississippi raises a lot of questions, perhaps more than it answers but the questions are big ones (are there any small questions when we’re talking about racism?). Saltzman’s film follows a group of students who attend school in Charleston, Mississippi. On the outside it appears to be a typical high school. The school population is predominantly African American but students attend classes, eat lunch and play sports together but when it comes to prom, segregation is the order of business.

When Morgan Freeman caught wind of this, he saw the opportunity to usher in change. In 1997 he offered to pay for a mixed prom. At the time, he was turned away but not one to give up, he made a similar offer to the class of 2008 and overwhelmingly, the teens agreed (really, who would say no to Morgan Freeman?). That’s the set-up for Saltzman’s documentary which follows a number of the graduating teens through preparations for their first mixed prom. But all is not smiles and happiness in Charleston. Tough the majority of the teens are excited at the changing tide, parents aren’t as keen on the idea of a mixed prom and a few decide to follow “tradition” and organize an all white prom.

» Read the rest of the entry..

30 Sep

Posted by
John Allison

Category

General Ramblings

Pick a Movie… any Movie

35

New Frontier Poster It is lunch and I have two minutes while I eat so I figured I’d throw this post up which has been bouncing in my head over the past couple of days. Everyone should pick a movie and mention it in the comments and you have to say something “meaningful” about the movie. I don’t care if its a movie you love or one that you hate. I just want to see what movies everyone mentions and they have to say about them.

29 Sep

Posted by
John Allison

Category

Posters

Row Three Exclusive – What’s Up Lovely One Sheet

3

Back in March I reviewed a small but beautiful film directed by Gary King called New York Lately. That movie is still on my top 10 for this year and we are getting closer to King’s next movie, What’s Up Lovely. What’s Up Lovely tells the story of Luci a down on her luck insomniac who has lost her job and the unforgettable night she has wandering through the streets of New York. Andrew posted a teaser back in the spring that had me intrigued and now we have a new one sheet that is really quite stunning.

In the message from King where he passed along the the one sheet for your viewing he mentioned that he hopes to have a few more posters created over the next couple of months and then will hold voting to choose the one which will be used for the festivals and for a DVD cover. You can keep watch on this over at the What’s Up Lovely Website, Facebook and on Twitter.

I’m curious to see what the next few sheets look like as I really enjoy the style of this one and will be likely voting for it.

29 Sep

Posted by
Jonathan B.

Category

DiCaprio Goes Gumshoe

2

I‘ll watch anything that has Leonardo DiCaprio in it. In fact, I’ve watched every feature film in his filmography, because the guys rocks, I want to be him and get nominated for Oscars and date the most beautiful women in the world, and I still feel guilty that I hated him so much after Titanic. Plus, I respect him even more for shedding the teeny-bop image that was forced on him in its aftermath, something that has been the downfall to many actors of the years. The guy is just a great, intense actor all around and even after he’s proved to the world time and time again that he can act, I still feel much of the general public doesn’t give him to respect he deserves. I still get the occasional snicker when I say he’s one of my favorite working American actors, which boggles my mind.

I was pretty gleeful today when I read that DiCaprio was connected to a noir-ish adaptation of The Deep Blue Goodbye, a novel out of the Travis McGee mystery series by John D. MacDonald. Here’s the summation brought to you by Variety:

DiCaprio is in line to play Travis McGee, a self-described beach bum who lives aboard the 52-foot houseboat The Busted Flush, and alleviates his cash flow problems by hiring on as a ‘salvage consultant.’ He recovers property for clients, taking a hefty percentage and getting into a lot of danger and romance in sun-drenched Florida. ‘The Deep Blue Goodbye,’ the first of a 21 volume bestselling series, was originally published in 1964.

Apparently, McGee only will work when he runs out of money, he doesn’t trust the government, he won’t use credit cards, and he is wary of television. How cool is that?

With 21 books following this hardboiled Travis character, is it safe to say that they are thinking “big-budget franchise?” Which, interestingly enough, would be DiCaprio first time starring in a franchise series (although he has been connected to an adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s The Chancellor Manuscriptalso, which would undoubtedly be pushed by the studio as a franchise). Hey, all serious actors are doing it nowadays. Matt Damon has his Bourne flicks, Depp has his Pirates movies, Downey Jr. has his Iron Man (and soon Sherlock Holmes also), so why not DiCaprio? Plus, this sounds way cooler than all of those combined.

I think I’m going to have to purchase this novel and see what this McGee is all about. Has anyone out there ever read one of these 21 books?

On a side note, check out Leonardo’s IMDb page. Dude has nearly thirty upcoming movies that he is attached to. Whoa.

29 Sep

Posted by
Marina Antunes

Category

VIFF 09 Review: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

2

Life is full of adversity and for some, the hurtles can be too much to bear. So is the case for Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones, the title character in Lee Daniels’ poorly titled Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, but rather than take the easy way out and walk away from life and all of the problems that plague it, Precious takes the higher road and decides to tacked the problems which are continuously stacked in her way.

Precious is 16 and pregnant with her second child. She can’t read or write, she’s verbally and physically abused by her mother and continuously raped by her father. It’s a sad life and one too depressing to be believed and though the immediate thought is that there are simply too many issues piled onto the character, it’s the overwhelming amount of issues that render the book and to an extent the film, so successful. Both mediums provides the story of a girl broken far beyond repair (or so one would imagine) and yet here she is, surviving. But everyone has a breaking point and though Precious’ comes much later than anyone could image, when she finally reaches it she takes the high road and changes her life for good.

» Read the rest of the entry..

29 Sep

Posted by
Andrew James

Category

Pop Art by Dave Macdowell

0

I love anything to do with pop culture. When it’s movie pop culture or the culmination of movies and music I’m usually a pretty happy camper. Stumbling across these fun paintings this morning really brightened my day and thought I would share.

You should really get a kick out of these if you can pick out the references (a couple of them I don’t get) and especially if you’re a Samuel L. Jackson fan. I’ve posted a couple of my favorites below and a link to the full gambit of images (and the hi-res versions) is underneath the seats.

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» Read the rest of the entry..

29 Sep

Posted by
Marina Antunes

Category

Gross Me Out: The Human Centipede

3

Some things must be experienced a certain way to get the full effect. Take, for example, this one minute long video clip from The Human Centipede (First Sequence), a film which just recently played at Fantastic Fest: