5.7.12 - "Magic Mike" to Close LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL 2012!

On May 1st the Los Angeles Film Festival, in conjunction with Presenting Media Sponsor the Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. LIVE, announced the Closing Night film and official US and international selections for the 2012 Festival. Guest Director, Artists in Residence and Conversations with special guests will be announced later this month. The 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival will screen a diverse slate of nearly 200 feature films, short films, and music videos, representing more than 30 countries, along with signature programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat, Poolside Chats, Coffee Talks, music events and more. As previously announced, Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love will be Opening Night, sponsored by Virgin America, and Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild were selected for the Galas section.
   
Returning to downtown Los Angeles and headquartered at L.A. LIVE for a third year, the Festival will run from Thursday, June 14 to Sunday, June 24. Now in its eighteenth year, the Festival is widely recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema, and is produced by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that also produces the Spirit Awards.

“There is nothing more satisfying than shining a spotlight on so many unique films from both seasoned and emerging filmmakers. Come experience the wonder of Beasts of the Southern Wild, let Call Me Kuchu break your heart and call you to action, or simply be entertained by Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike,” said Festival Director Stephanie Allain. “These are just a few of the diverse stories that bring us into new worlds or put a fresh twist on familiar ones. ‘Exclusively for Everyone’ isn’t just a tag line. It’s an invitation to experience both the specific and the universal, and hopefully come away entertained and enlightened. Enjoy!”

"We've got a marvelous mix this year that reflects the incredible diversity of world cinema and of Los Angeles itself. I'm excited to have such giants as Woody Allen, Steven Soderbergh and André Téchiné alongside some amazing first-time filmmakers whose names you'll be hearing a lot in the future. We want to offer festival-goers stories and visions they haven't seen before and a chance to meet the most creative minds working in movies. It's going to be a fun and mind-expanding ten days,” said Festival Artistic Director David Ansen.

The Festival will end its festivities with the World Premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Magic Mike, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Reid Carolin and starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Cody Horn, Olivia Munn, Matt Bomer, Riley Keough, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez and Gabriel Iglesias. Set in the world of male strippers, the dramatic comedy follows Mike (Tatum) as he takes a young dancer called The Kid (Pettyfer) under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the film nationwide on June 29, 2012.

Dreamworks Pictures’ People Like Us will have its World Premiere amongst the Summer Showcase screenings. The film is directed by Alex Kurtzman, written by Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and Jody Lambert, and stars Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Michael Hall D’Addario, Philip Baker Hall, Mark Duplass and Michelle Pfeiffer. In a story inspired by true events, Sam (Pine), a twenty-something, fast-talking salesman, is tasked with fulfilling his estranged father’s last wishes—delivering an inheritance to a sister he never knew he had. Dreamworks Pictures will release the film on June 29, 2012.

As part of the Los Angeles Film Festival’s free outdoor programming, there will be a Dirty Dancing Dance-A-Long at California Plaza on June 22 at 7pm to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film. Produced in cooperation with Dance Camera West and Grand Performances, there will be free salsa lessons by Contra-Tiempo, a screening of the film with special guests and a shadow cast consisting of performers from local dance companies to dance on stage below the screening during key scenes. 

This year, the Festival received 5,283 submissions from filmmakers around the world, compared to 5,025 last year. The final selections represent 30 World, North American and US premieres, which includes premiere status for films previously announced. 19 of the premieres are in the Narrative and Documentary Competition sections. 

Passes are currently on sale to Film Independent members and the general public. In addition to screenings and events, Festival passes provide access to a series of networking receptions and entry to the Filmmaker Lounge, where Festival pass holders can interact with Festival filmmakers and professionals in the film community.  General admission tickets to individual films go on sale beginning May 29.  Contact the Ticket Office for passes, tickets and event information by calling 866.FILM.FEST (866.345.6337) or visit LAFilmFest.com.

For the seventh year, the Los Angeles Times will serve as the Festival’s Presenting Media Sponsor and will once again produce the Official Film Guide, the comprehensive source for all movie info, screenings, locations and related special events. The Film Guide will top the paper on Sunday, June 10 in Los Angeles and Orange County, and will be made available throughout downtown Los Angeles during the ten-day event.

5.3..12 - THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL MOVIE YOU WILL EVER SEE!

What is it about India that lends itself to big, classic storytelling. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE was just such a picture, on a grand scale, teaming with life, grappling with it's inequalities. THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is just such a film, stuffed full with life's drama, jumping off the screen with the sights and sounds of India.

At first glance, it doesn't seem the kind of film that will exhilerate, but it does. Centered around a group of aging, not very attractive, middle to upper class Brits as they face their retirement, the film sets off on a depressing note. It's not fun to get old, and especially not fun watching these old-timers. And old-timers they are. JUDY DENCH looks worn and tired as Evelyn(pronounced EE velyn), no doubt becasue she is, despite her accolades, her title from the Queen, and her remarkable acting chops. She is old, a widow, and without any money to boot. Sell the flat; live with your kids; life is over. Not fun.

MAGGIE SMITH lies on a hospital gurney, not even in a room. She is so wrinkled, I was left wondering, how in the world is this old thing going to muster the energy to illicit any comedy from this plight. After all, she was one of the reasons I decided to see the film. Who knows how many films she's got left in her, and by the looks of her as Muriel)pronounceds as you would think) waiting on her hip operation, in some run down English hospital, I would say not many. Perhaps not even this one.

Then there is TOM WILKINSON. Great actor to be sure, but as a gruff old judge, bitter, and on the verge of retirement, I'm not getting a good vibe watching him scoul at life as it begins to pass him by. Graham, the retiring judge, has got the best of all the circumstances in this decrepid bunch. He at least has money. But so what, not so much fun. Not at all.

The ultimate downers, in this calvalcade of depression, are BILL NIGHY and PENELOPE WILTON. Married and looking for a place to live out their golden years, it seems all they can afford is a dowdy old retirement flat, with railings on the walls and a built in buzzer, kind of clapper British style, in the event they fall down. It seems Douglas, played expertly by NIGHY, lent his reitrment wad to his daughter for an internet start-up. As you might expect, it didn't go so weel, and this is all they can afford. JEAN his wife is up in arms about their predicament. As is the audience, with this whole lot.

But things change when by quirk of fate they all converge on a retirement vacation value in India-THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, for the elderly and beautiful. Run by Sonny, son of the man who once owned this grand, but crumbling palace of a structure, the hotel sits in the center of Rajasthan, one of India's most romantic, and colorful states. It is here that the thrill ride begins.

Sonny, played by DEV PATEL of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE fame, has big dreams of resurrecting his inherited casdtle into the dream his father once had for the place. It just isn't there yet. But DEV certainly is. His time on the screen is so joyful, watching him hustle about trying to make good on the photo-shopped promises that lured the unsuspecting travelers to this farawy place, all the while juggling the demands of his mother's expectations for him and a romance with his true love, a call center beauty with whom he intends to marry. PATEL is like a cartoon, energizing the screen with his innocence and charm, in a similar role he played in SLUMDOG, save the agony and drama. It is all magic here.

There are tremendously emotional storylines to be played out, with remarkably drawn characters, that the viewer truly cares about. Rather than divulge any of the details, leave it be said that the doom and gloom of old age is quickly replaced with the hustle and bustle of finding your way in a strange land, with strange food, and even strager customs. And it is such fun.

The sights and sounds of India are gloriously captured by director JOHN MADDEN(SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE), and the emotional highs and lows are real and extremely effective. This film will make you smile all the way through, but for those times that you may be crying. There is the innocence of "young" love and new relationships, and the deep somber reality of life's lost love. It is quite special indeed.

JUDY DENCH best describes it, bot as EEEEVELYN, in her blogging of the experience in the film, and in interviews afterwards. In describing India, she says, "I find it a complete assault on the senses...The color, atmoshpere, difference between extreme wealth and abject poverty of India, the smell, the spices...Whatever anyone says about India, multiply it by 10 times."

Likewise regarding whatever reviews you might read about THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL. Whatever reviews you might read, multiply them by 10-and then go see this film!

5.3..12 - THE PERFECT FAMILY opens in Los Angeles this Friday, May 4 in theaters and On-Demand

In THE PERFECT FAMILY, suburban mother and devout Catholic Eileen Cleary (Kathleen Turner) has always kept up appearances. When she runs for the Catholic Woman of the Year title at her local parish—an award she has coveted for years—her final test is introducing her family to the board for the seal of approval. Now she must finally face the nonconformist family she has been glossing over for years. Her gay daughter, Shannon (Emily Deschanel), a successful lawyer, is about to marry her life partner Angela (Angelique Cabral). Her unhappily married son Frank Jr. (Jason Ritter) is cheating on his wife with the local manicurist. And Eileen's own marriage to a recovered alcoholic is pulling at the seams.

This heartfelt dysfunctional family comedy boasts a memorable performance from Academy Award nominee Turner as the conflicted and comical matriarch, alongside a bright ensemble cast including Richard Chamberlain and Michael McGrady. Newcomer director Anne Renton keeps the pacing taut and crafts an honest, modern family tale. Writers Claire V. Riley and Paula Goldberg infuse just the right amount of seriousness and levity into their script, reminding us that family is never truly perfect. The film celebrated its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.

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4.18.12 - 'CABARET"