Imagine a scenario where you’ve lost everything you hold dear in life: spouse, career, friends, stability, sense of self and, perhaps, even your soul. How would you live day to day? Now forget “live”, and replace it “survive”. CAKE is a film that tackles a profound sense of loss and the tremendous possibility that this may be impossible. Read More →
Category Archives: Women in Film
Liz’s Review: ‘SONG ONE’ plays well
Nothing quite captures New York City like it’s sound scrape. The roaring of a passing subway train. The chatter in a coffee house. The songs heard on the streets by the immense talent that envelopes themselves in the starving artist community that creates the fabric of this magical place. SONG ONE is a beautiful ode to this city. Read More →
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Liz’s review: ‘LIFE INSIDE OUT’ and interview with star Maggie Baird
My mother always encouraged us to have music on in the kitchen. While she baked or did her lesson plans for her art classes, or made dinner. Chicago, Huey Lewis, and Disney soundtracks were blasting in our car rides back and forth to dance lessons, or girl scouts, or my brother’s karate lessons. My mom was a superhero. My mom is still a super hero. If I can be half the mother she is, I will consider myself a lucky woman. In the new film LIFE INSIDE OUT we are privy to the perfect example of how creative mothers reach their children in very different and very special ways. The talented acting/writing team, Maggie Baird and Lori Nasso, bring to life a story of so many mothers who have lost their own identity to raising their children and keeping their families intact. The story comes from Baird’s true life experience with son Finneas O’Connell. When Baird’s husband was forced to take a job that kept him away from the family, it took an emotional toll on then 12 year old Finneas. Once Maggie rediscovers her songwriting roots, Finneas follows suit. Much to everyone’s surprise, Finneas is a bit of a musical prodigy is his own right. Writing his own songs allowed him to creatively process his own angst and bond with Maggie on a new level. Read More →
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Coming Up This Week: ‘Buffy’ alum releases new book- Liz’s interview with Amber Benson
Liz Whittemore and Amber Benson at Midtown Comics NYC
Let’s be honest, a lot, and I do mean A LOT of us are fans of the Whedonverse. This past Sunday, Liz had the opportunity to sit down with Amber Benson, actor, director and successful author, best known to some from her iconic TV role as Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Amber’s new book, “The Witches of Echo Park” just became available last week. Stay tuned for a special edition of the Girls on Film podcast for the exclusive audio!!
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‘Big Eyes’ Interview: Liz’s chat with screenwriters Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski
I was lucky enough to attend the press junket for Tim Burton‘s new film, BIG EYES (review coming soon!). Afterwards, I had the opportunity to sit down with the incredibly talented and successful writing partners Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘TAKE CARE’ – Why I wanna be Leslie Bibb’s best friend
I injured my neck a few years ago. This year, it flared up and I found out I have the spine of an 80 year old. In case you are wondering. In case you are wondering, I am a very long way off from 80. I had to cancel about two weeks worth of meetings, appointments, and life in general because I could not move. It was not fun. Other than my husband, who is essentially legally obligated to care for me (I have a license that we both signed that says so) no one was around to help me do the simplest of tasks. In fact, the only person that offered to bring me dinner was my very own managing co-editor, Melissa. Shout out is official now. In the new film, TAKE CARE, a woman is stranded in the same way I was. Post car accident, she is forced to rely on a person from her past. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘MURDER OF A CAT’ is a quirky suburban noir.
I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a weird gal. It’s fine. It’s sort of my thing. I like what I like and I’m proud of it. That being said, if someone killed my best friend, I’d hunt them down like the scoundrels they are. (Prime example, I use words like scoundrel in regular conversation). In the new film MURDER OF A CAT, Clinton (Fran Kranz) also, a bit of a weirdo, finds his beloved cat-friend brutally murdered. It is his moral duty to find out who, what, when, where, and why.
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Liz’s Review: ‘RED KNOT’- Do you know where your marriage is?
Marriage is difficult. I got married 5 days before my husband started business school at Yale. He was on the Investment Banking track. What that meant in my world was that I wouldn’t see my husband for the next 4 months as he prepared for innumerable interviews, events, and attended the accelerated course load that comes with an ivy league school. Even after 6 years together, I had to become a whole new woman. In the new film RED KNOT, a young, newly married couple take this idea to the extreme as they honeymoon on a research vessel near Antarctica.
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Liz’s Review: ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night’ – A love story you can sink your teeth into
I LOVE horror movies. I love an original script. I love a great soundtrack. Put them all together and you’ve got me on your side from minute one. There are few movies ever made that deliver on all of these aspects. The one I am about to describe blows it out of the water. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘BAD TURN WORSE’ is a love letter to Jim Thompson.
When I was little, I was a fan a Nancy Drew books. My brother had a bookshelf filled with The Hardy Boys collection. I was jealous of that collection. As an adult, I am obsessed with Investigation Discover channel. I’ll straight up have that on in the background all day when I have a day off. I want to know who did it, why, and how. As of late I am a huge fan of NPR‘s new podcast “Serial” (Go do yourself a favor and subscribe now), so when this film came my way, I was more than intrigued.
Bad Turn Worse, a directed by Simon and Zeke Hawkins, grabbed me from the opening scene. Quippy, Tarantino-esque dialogue from the mouths of Texas teens (also reminiscent of Dawson’s Creek… wow, I’m really dating myself now…) made me sit up a little straighter at attention. The plot is not too far fetched. Three friends; two leaving for college in a few weeks, while the third we all know is destined to become a townie in this arid cotton mill town. BJ is a bitter, big fish in a little pond, whose aggressive charm and good looks have gotten him the smart girl next door Sue. Bobby is the best friend to both but his sheep demeanor gets him into some trouble when BJ steals $20K from his sociopath boss. When the shit hits the fan and the three are roped into a heist that is doomed from the start, everything gets turned in it’s head in this noir thriller.
Writer, Dutch Southern, deserves praise with his love letter to crime novelist Jim Thompson.
Jim Thompson — ‘There are thirty-two ways to write a story, and I’ve used every one, but there is only one plot – things are not as they seem.’
Sue makes mention of this in more than a few ways throughout the script. Little does the audience know that they are being led down a twisted plot line that is secretly spoon fed to them from the get go. But, seriously, you sort of miss it until the very end. When is the last time a movie played out in a surprising fashion? In true noir style, just when you think you’ve figured out what going on, nope, left turn.
The acting is fantastic. Mackenzie Davis, who I had previously been introduced to in Breathe In, is so wonderful. Fully fleshed out girl who is smart as a whip but vulnerable enough to fall for the town “badboy” but still have affection for the shy best friend. She gives the perfect balance of naive and cunning. Logan Huffman, who has one of those, ‘Why do I know him? Yeah, he is hot,” kind of demeanors, nails the role of BJ. That jockish, underachiever bitterness is rife for the taking. Jeremy Allen White is entrancing as Bobby. His endearing fragility draws you in. You genuinely feel sorry that he has such a crap best friend. And then, there is our ultimate baddie; Mark Pelligrino, my mysterious Jacob from LOST. His startling crazy is borderline comical but totally works. Money makes people do bad things, and the character of Giff is no exception.
The music is awesome and the cinematography is beautiful. I say catch this film this weekend. It will keep you on the edge of your nerve from beginning to end. Bad Turn Worse comes out today, November 14th in theaters and on VOD.
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Now this looks intriguing… Trailer for THOU WAS MILD & LOVELY
I’m not quite sure how this wasn’t on my radar but I just watched the trailer and I am so in. Check it out below…
On a farm in rural Kentucky, father Jeremiah (Robert Longstreet) and daughter Sarah (Sophie Traub) squabble together like young puppies. Over crisp, verdant images of nature, of animals, streams and puddles, a mysterious, sensual female voice tells of her lover, who may be a person or may be the whole world. Enter Akin (Joe Swanberg), there to help out for the summer. He’s left his wife and child at home – and taken off his wedding ring as a precaution. Soon the three of them are circling each other, watching, feeling watched and knowing that their watching is not going unwatched. Within this atmosphere, a charged romance develops between Sarah and Akin that carries both an erotic tension and vague feeling of menace. When Akin’s wife Drew comes for a visit, the situation explodes, harmless fantasies giving way to a violent nightmare.
The seductive colors and shallow depth of field of Ashley Connor’s superb camerawork accentuate the ethereal nature of this enigmatic story. Josephine Decker’s second feature lets beauty and horror blithely flirt with one another like two coquettish flowers in the same inviting meadow.
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Liz’s Review: The Homesman- A long winding journey.
As a child I sat in a hard plastic chair in my town library and played The Oregon Trail until eventually my player died of dysentery. I thought it was cool to put my name on a list, hear it called out, and get to play for a whole 30 minutes all my myself. Little did I know/care that I was actually learning in the process. All of those memories came flooding back when I saw the new Roadside Attractions release, The Homesman. Read More →
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Heartland Film Festival 2014 Jeremy’s Review: Ragnar Bragason’s ‘Metalhead’ Is Pure Icelandic Wonder With a Sparkling Performance by Lead Thorbjorg Helga Thorgilsdottir
Few countries produce as consistently high quality of film as Iceland. In my estimation, that is. The quantity of films that it produces is low, well at least those that somehow cross the pond and make it onto American screens, usually at film festivals such as Heartland. There are four Icelandic films that I’ve seen in this manner – Nói Albínói, The Seagull’s Laughter, Of Horses and farm animals that areatrained and live at this Horse Retirement Farms. All are unique in their own way, most of them are depressing (an aspect of Scandinavian film that I tend to enjoy) but still manage a way to get a laugh or two in just in case, and all have a laser-pointed direction on what makes their characters tick and tock and they do it so well. Ragnar Bragason‘s Metalhead is no exception.
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Bonus Clip: ‘Maleficent’ Q&A with Elle Fanning
Princess Aurora: Don’t be afraid!
Maleficent: I am not afraid.
Princess Aurora: Then come out.
Maleficent: Then you’ll be afraid. Read More →
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Jeremy’s Review: Peter Sattler’s ‘Camp X-Ray’ Captures Some Strong Performances and Nearly Delivers on Its Premise
Thirteen years after we first waged war in response to the September 11 attacks in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania, we are still seeing a trickling of films addressing the consequences of the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq. While there have been some great ones, the bulk of them have been documentaries – Hornet’s Nest, Restrepo and Standard Operating Procedure come to mind, while narrative films haven’t had quite the same success, The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture in 2009 being the shining example. There hasn’t been the same connection to the plight of the soldiers in these wars as, say, those who fought in Vietnam with Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Coming Home, The Deer Hunter and Full Metal Jacket leading the critical praise. Camp X-Ray is writer/director Peter Sattler‘s entry into the post-9/11 film mix. a film that hits some high points, but ultimately doesn’t capitalize on an interesting premise. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘HONEYMOON’ – to have and to hold from this day forward.
They say things don’t change once you get married. That, my friends, is a load a crap. There is an inherent shift, albeit subtle for some. Maybe it is just a piece of paper, legally, but there is a certain emotional weight to being hitched to another human being… for life. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby’ delivers award winning performances.
Now that I’m in my 30’s I realize I have so much more figured out than I did even 5 years ago. I have a great relationship with my parents, an adoring husband, and loyal friends. I go to dinner parties, send thank you notes, give random strangers a smile and compliment, and definitively take my coffee light and sweet. But, it’s the quiet moments in between I still wonder, “What the hell am I doing?” In Writer/Director Ned Benson‘s latest film The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, we find a couple at the beginning of the end of their marriage. Husband and wife want different things and neither knows how to cope. The slow deterioration of a man and woman once much in love is a sad, but all too true story we all know. This one particular is unique in the fact that it it told from two very different points of view. Benson takes a look at what happens when we let that little voice inside take over the conversation. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘I AM ELEVEN’ is universally charming.
When I was 11, I was dancing 5 days a week, going to girl scouts and slumber parties. Life was pretty incredible. I had not a worry in the world then. I did what I wanted, wore what I wanted, (when not in school uniform), loved The New Kids on The Block, and scrunchies. Everyday I came home from school and ate two pieces of American cheese folded into fourths. I was kind of peculiar, graceful yet awkward, bright and precocious, but I had a ton of friends and loved every day I was alive. Australian documentarian, Genevieve Bailey, recalls being just as happy at age 11. As an adult, she wondered if that was the case for kids today. Taking time off to travel, she decided that along here journey she would interview kids that were 11 and find out if they were as happy as we remembered being then. I AM ELEVEN proves to be a beautiful phenomenon and on the heels of the release of Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD, the timing could not be more perfect. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘Wetlands’… Gross and Glorious!
I knew going into this film that the trailer alone was NSFW. I was in for a complete surprise when Wetlands as a whole blew the trailer way out of the water. Never have I ever experienced a movie so utterly disgusting and amazing at all once. Read More →
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Liz’s Review: ‘Rocks In My Pockets’ – The extraordinary weight of sadness and madness.
Mental illness is a hot button issue these days. We pretend to address it but if we’re being honest, we continue to sweep it under the rug. In a brand new film by writer/director Signe Baumane, we follow the true story of her familial heritage, specifically with undiagnosed bouts of severe depression. Read More →
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