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Friday, May 22, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) Re-views of Tomorrowland; Good Kill; Poltergeist!

Walt Disney Pictures

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Tomorrowland

Rating: PG
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

Imaginative Tomorrowland Reawakens the Inner Child!

IFC Films

Good Kill

Rating: R
Distributor: IFC Films

Drone Drama Good Kill Searches for Truth!

More After the Jump!

Saturday, May 16, 2015

(SIFF 2015) INTER-view: Fetters' Exclusive with Tab Hunter, subject of "Tab Hunter Confidential"!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Of all the visitors, filmmakers and dignitaries scheduled to appear during the SIFF festival, it's quite likely the one that gets me most excited is Hollywood icon Tab Hunter. At one point he was considered a studio golden boy, appearing in big budget musical productions like Damn Yankees and seeing his shirtless image plastered on posters around the globe while also having a number one single with the release of 'Young Love' in 1957. But by the 1960s the worm had turned, the days of the 'Studio System' on their way out, leading to the actor being outed by paparazzi and in many ways ending what had been a successful career as leading man and romantic lead.

He worked off and on for the next 20 years appearing mostly on television and in a series of lower budgeted B-movies, never again rising to the same iconic heights of his youth. It was meeting and working with legendary gonzo filmmaker John Waters on the 1980 underground classic Polyester that ultimately brought Hunter back into the limelight, however; the film giving him a first opportunity to truly be himself in front of the camera like no production before ever had. In 2005 he penned the eye-opening memoir Tab Hunter Confidential, the autobiography a beautifully well-written and intimately raw account of his life and times in Hollywood working as a closeted actor.

It took a little convincing, but celebrated director Jeffrey Schwarz (Vito, I Am Divine) was able to convince the actor that now was the time for a documentary based on his memoir. Sharing the title of the autobiography, the film, playing as a part of SIFF, is a revelation, digging even deeper into Hunter's story while also sharing fascinating interviews - both archival and new - with notable filmmakers and celebrities including Clint Eastwood, Debbie Reynolds, Connie Stevens, George Takei, Noah Wyle, Rock Hudson, John Waters and celebrated Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne. It's magnificent, Schwarz composing a fascinating historical journey that's almost impossible not to be mesmerized by.

A week before his scheduled arrival at the film festival, I had a chance to speak with Hunter via phone. Here are some of the highlights from that conversation:

More After the Jump!

Friday, May 15, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Pitch Perfect 2; Mad Max: Fury Road; Hot Pursuit!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Pitch Perfect 2

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Pitch Perfect 2 Sings a Happy Tune!

Mad Max: Fury Road

Rating: R
Distributor: Warner Bros

Max Returns with Furiously Brilliant Savagery!

Hot Pursuit

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Warner Bros / New Line

Energetic Witherspoon Enlivens an Otherwise Leaden Pursuit!

Friday, April 17, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Furious 7; Unfriended; Ex Machina; 5 to 7!

Universal Pictures

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Furious 7

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Energetic Furious 7 a Suitably Wild Ride!

Universal Pictures

Unfriended

Rating: R
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Generic Unfriended Afraid to Take Risks!

More After the Jump!

Friday, April 10, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of While We're Young and Backcountry!

A24

by Sara Michelle Fetters

While We're Young

Rating: R
Distributor: A24

Charming Young a Middle-Aged Coming of Age Adventure!

IFC Midnight

Backcountry

Rating: NR
Distributor: IFC Midnight

Deep Woods Thriller Backcountry a Terrifying Trip!

Friday, April 3, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Furious 7; Woman in Gold; Ejecta!

Universal Pictures

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Furious 7

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Energetic Furious 7 a Suitably Wild Ride!

The Weinstein Company

Woman in Gold

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Woman in Gold a Beautiful if Aloof History Lesson!

IFC Midnight

Ejecta

Rating: NR
Distributor: IFC Midnight

Thriller Ejecta Ponderously Hackneyed Sci-Fi Gibberish!

Friday, March 13, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Cinderella; Run All Night; It Follows!

Walt Disney Pictures

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Cinderella

Rating: PG
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

Disney’s New Cinderella a Bibbity Bobbity Beauty!

Warner Bros

Run All Night

Rating: R
Distributor: Warner Bros

Heavy-Handed Run a Melodramatic Insult!

Radius TWC

It Follows

Rating: R

Distributor: Radius TWC

Insightful It Follows an Elegantly Disquieting Terror!

Friday, March 6, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Chappie, Salvation, and Everly!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Chappie

Rating: R
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Ambitious Chappie a Robotic Misfire!

The Salvation

Rating: R
Distributor: IFC Films

Salvation a Powerfully Austere Western!

Everly

Rating: R
Distributor: Radius TWC

Messy Everly Expertly Crafted Exploitation Cinema!

Saturday, February 28, 2015

(OSCARS 2015) Academy Awards - Recap!

PHOTO: Mark Suban / ©A.M.P.A.S.

by Sara Michelle Fetters

During last Sunday’s 87th annual Academy Awards telecast, Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Broadway-set dramatic comedy Birdman starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis proved to be the night’s big winner. The film was an obvious favorite of the Academy, nominated in nine categories and taking home Oscars in four of them for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and for Emmanuel Lubezki’s memorable cinematography (his second in row, winning last year for Gravity as well).

“All the people that were behind this film was really heroes because the idea was really crazy,” said an obviously emotional Iñárritu. “A script that started with a middle-aged man, interior dressing room, cross-legged, floating, can go anywhere, and we are here. I don’t know how that happened but it happened. And, anyway, I just really want to thank everybody.”

More After the Jump!

Friday, February 27, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Focus and Lazarus Effect!

Warner Bros

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Focus

Rating: R
Distributor: Warner Bros

Dispiriting Focus Lacking Its Titular Trait!

Relativity Media

The Lazarus Effect

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Relativity Media

Deathly Bland Lazarus Beyond Resuscitation!

Saturday, February 21, 2015

(MOVIE FREAK) Special OSCAR Preview!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

The 87th annual Academy Awards will be handed out this Sunday evening, and if all goes as expected then director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Broadway comedy-drama hybrid Birdman will likely walk away with the majority of the awards. Based on recent victories with the Producers Guild (PGA), the Directors Guild (DGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), it’s hard to imagine a scenario where it doesn’t emerge victorious, at least as far as Best Picture is concerned, the other seven nominees more or less along for the ride and little else.

Or are they? There are some interesting and intriguing wrinkles which could throw the evening into chaos. Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making Boyhood has won the majority of the awards up to this point, dominating with critics groups, taking home the BAFTA [British Academy of Film and Television Arts] and coming out on top as far the Golden Globes were concerned. Then there is Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. With over $300-million in ticket sales it’s easily the box office titan as far as this awards season is concerned. While Hollywood likes to talk about how money isn’t the end all-be all that kind of cash can lead voters to take a second look at the picture, and if that’s the case the chances for it to pull an upset aren’t as extreme as some might think.

As for the remainder of the nominees, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash and Selma, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where any of them could sneak their way to victory. But with the Academy’s preferential voting system, anything, I guess, is possible, and if Birdman and Boyhood split votes down the middle, and any one of those titles is listed third on a majority of ballots, then be prepared for a shock. If this scenario were to come comes to pass, what then? My money would be on quiet, lonely two-nomination Selma, because imagining a typical Academy member ballot where it was listed any lower than third is incredibly difficult to do.

More After the Jump!