They run into an interesting cast of characters in town including the tough and beautiful pregnant woman who owns the hotel where they're staying, a beautiful drug-dealing young woman who catches Ray's eye, and a midget (sorry, dwarf) who has a taste for prostitu
So you've heard all the talk, accusations and screaming about the film Hounddog (or Moviefestivalhub.com as many spelling-impaired people are writing it: Houndog ) screening at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival starring Dakota Fanning but haven't seen the film. The big question on people's mind is "Just how outrageous or explicit was that rape sce
It turns out that the two fellows are British assassins just coming off a job, and have been ordered to go to Bruges to hide out for a couple of weeks. While older Ken enjoys the beauty and history of the town, Ken is completely and utterly uninterested. While Ken seems to be as much a mentor as a partner to Ray, the younger half of this duo reminded me of a pesky five year old boy - kind of like Dennis the Menace after too much su
Hounddog suffers from something I've noticed in some other indie films: It's boring and it's too long. Although it's filled with gorgeous scenery, the film just seems to go on and on and on. This was yet another hour and a half long movie that felt twice as long. The best thing about the film is Dakota Fanning's performance. She really is amazing at the range and subtlety of emotion she can convey at such a young age. I only hope that she is one of the very few child actors who survives the transition to adulthood unscat
At the time of the documentary was shot, the Olmsteads had sold more than $300,000 worth of Marla's paintings. Those in the art world compared her work to Kandinsky, Pollock and even Picasso. Due to her extremely young age, her work captured the imagination of the world. Art openings, limousines, and television appearances became part of the family's routine. Then, thanks to a 60 Minutes segment which aired and cast doubt on the authenticity of Marla's work, and the Olmsteads' world changed in an inst
From Melissa Leo's F-bomb, Kirk Douglas' never-ending jokes and womanizing to Hathaway's fun anti-Wolverine solo and Christian Bale actually shedding a tear, it was another long night at the Oscars defined by its little moments scattered through
Directed by Martin McDonagh, In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as Ray and Ken, two Irish hitmen sent to Belgium to carry out an assignment for their boss Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes. When a previous botched mission leads Harry to give Ken unexpected orders regarding Ray, the two find themselves at odds with each other and must decide how to proc
My Kid Could Paint That was the last film I saw at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and is a fascinating look at the story of four year old Marla Olmstead, who a couple of years ago took the art world by storm by rocketing from lower middle class obscurity to international fame through the sale of her paintings. This documentary by director Amir Bar-Lev is extremely well done and is about as close to neutral as I think one could
The film kind of rambles along and we meet Lewellan's grandmother (played by Piper Laurie), and some of the black folks in town including Charles, a (too?) wise old soul and fan of snakes, which he uses to create medicine. The very bad guy in the movie is a new milkman in his early 20's, who comes by Lewellan's house one day and happens to see her singing a bit of her favorite song with her trademark moves, except this time while lying on her bed. He is the one who eventually rapes Lewel
The other issue that some will raise is the bloated nature of the telecast. Beginning at 8:30 p.m. EST, Sean Penn didn't announce that Birdman had won Best Picture until 11:48 p.m. In between all the awards being handed out, viewers were expected to slog their way through comedy bits that arguably fell flat, musical performances, and several commercial breaks. In this day and age, fans can find out who wins in real time via social media and see any speeches they're interested in watching online shortly after the original telecast. The need to see the show live has decrea
As you may already be well aware of, the Academy made some very significant changes to the format of this year's Oscars event. In addition to the usual attempts at cutting back on the "thank you" speeches and quickening up of the program, the ceremony this year completely removed the performances of the best song nominees. Yet it was curious (read: it didn't belong) to see interpretive dance routines in the presentations for Best Original Sc
Some interesting notes: True Grit didn't get a single award despite ten (10!) nominations; Christopher Nolan didn't receive any awards despite Inception being entirely original and praised for its design, winning 4 other awards no less; Anne Hathaway, poking fun at the Academy's attempt at appealing to a younger demographic is the presentation's youngest host ever at 28 and last but not least, 8-time Oscars host Billy Crystal made a friendly and fun appearance making some wish he was back to host ag