// Category Archive for: Movies

Assemblog: January 11, 2013

Mads Mikkelsen in NBC’s Hannibal

New this week on Popshifter:
Chelsea profiles Boston band The Grownup Noise; Danny reveals his choice for best turntable; Lisa picks 13 genre films to see this year; Paul tackles wrasslin’ and the potential of a new Prince album in 2013; Cait shares the good news about the upcoming David Bowie album; Julie likes the new Crime & the City Solution compilation A History of Crime; Brad has good things to say about the Blu-Ray for Sleep Tight; Elizabeth is back with a new installment of “TV Is Dead, Long Live TV” with her picks for this new year; I recommend Lost Girl for fans of good television; and give some background on the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, which starts January 17.

The only concession I will make to the 2013 Oscars is that they exist. It’s become a ridiculous wankfest and one to which I do not wish to contribute. So I guess you could say that my Oscar snub is to snub the Oscars. Ha!

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Sundance 2013: What’s It All About?

By Less Lee Moore

Although the Sundance Film Festival has only been around since 1978, it’s become synonymous with both indie filmmaking and “the next big thing.” Originally it was called the Utah/US Film Festival; the awkward title reveals the festival’s initial goal: to bring more filmmakers to the US; show older, well-regarded American films; and provide a place for filmmakers operating outside of the Hollywood system to screen their films.

Initially held in Salt Lake City, the festival moved to Park City in the hopes of attracting more people. Who wouldn’t want to spend a few days at a ski resort in January watching good movies, right? Despite the festival’s popularity and success over the next few years, it remained in an astonishing amount of debt. Thus in 1985, Robert Redford’s still-newbie Sundance Institute took over sponsorship and financial backing and the awkward name was scuttled in favor of what we all know now as the Sundance Film Festival. (At one point it was known as the even-more-awkward title of The US Film and Video Festival.)

Sundance has premiered an incredibly diverse selection of independent films throughout its 35 years. If there’s an indie film you know and love from the past three decades, chances are it has premiered at Sundance: sex, lies, and videotape; Reservoir Dogs; El Mariachi; Clerks; The Blair Witch Project; and documentaries like Hoop Dreams, Super Size Me, and Man On Wire all premiered at Sundance and went on to critical acclaim, massive financial success, or both.

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Blu-Ray Review: Sleep Tight

By Brad Henderson

Jaume Balagueró has given us many great films both in his solo career and with his partner in crime, Paco Plaza. They are the ones responsible for the [REC] series and many other horror favorites. Balaguero’s solo films include Fragile, Darkness, The Nameless, and To Let. Now we have Sleep Tight, which is probably his greatest accomplishment to date. Balagueró is a director to keep an eye on.

Sleep Tight premiered at Fantastic Fest 2011. After the film was over, I looked around and saw smiles on everyone’s faces. It was a hit and was loved by many . . . including me. With its glamorous cinematography and quick dialogue, this film is tightly crafted. In Balagueró’s past films we were trapped with nowhere to go, and we find ourselves once again in this situation. He puts us in tight corners and small spaces, and we get a little claustrophobic.

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Movies: Thirteen In 2013

By Lisa Anderson

Much Ado About Nothing

So here we are, in 2013! The number thirteen has been considered both lucky and unlucky throughout history and across the world, but looking ahead it seems to be a lucky number for moviegoers. I thought it would be fun to make a list of the thirteen genre films (i.e., sci-fi, fantasy and horror, etc.) that interest me most this year. While not all the movies I want to see are genre films, the list was easy to make.

1. Guillermo del Toro presents: Mama (Jan. 18)
Horror master del Toro’s latest production, directed by Andrés Muschietti, tells the story of two orphaned little girls who may not be as alone as they seem. The film’s trailer is quite a hook, teasing and building up to the reveal of the titular horror. If the actual movie is half as creepy and atmospheric, it’ll be a thrill.

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Assemblog: January 4, 2013

The Place Beyond The Pines

New this week on Popshifter: We’ve got Best Of 2012 lists from me as well as Megashaun. You can also peruse all our Best Of 2012 lists, if you’re so inclined.

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Best Of 2012: Megashaun

These days it’s not uncommon to hear the reply “busy” when asking someone you’ve not seen for a while, “how are you?” Having attended numerous events throughout the year, I’ve come to realize just how universal and vague a reply this is, and have therefore stopped using it. While it is nice to relax every now and then, being occupied with work and various other projects keeps the mind healthy and the creativity flowing. Best of all it completely destroys boredom—and looking back at 2012 I can honestly say this has been the most exciting year I’ve experienced.

Given my “day job” as a host and reporter for EP Daily, I’m in a position to experience more than most people, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunities this job has afforded me. These include meeting and interviewing people behind some of my favorite games, TV shows, and movies. Some of my interview highlights this year include Mark Ruffalo and Cobie Smulders for The Avengers, Brad Bird for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, the incomparable Radioman, and super stylish game designer Suda51. I have a personal rule to not “fan out” over people I meet but I disregarded this entirely while interviewing Suda51 and even went so far as to ask for a photo (which turned out amazing as you can see).

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Best Of 2012: Less Lee Moore

Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander

2012 was the year of the woman. Women dominated the best of music, film, and TV.

The most significant figure for me in 2012 was Lisbeth Salander, the Steig Larsson-created character of the Millennium trilogy of novels, who also appears in the original Swedish film series and David Fincher’s newest film incarnation. Critics and fans may fight over who was better, Noomi Rapace or Rooney Mara, but both were outstanding at portraying my personal favorite female character of the last couple of decades. (Ms. Rapace had the added distinction of playing the more than worthy successor to Ellen Ripley when she inhabited the role of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Ridley Scott’s misunderstood but brilliant Prometheus.)

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Assemblog: December 21, 2012

Night Shift, 1982

New this week on Popshifter: Best Of 2012 lists from Danny, Emily, Paul, Jeffrey, and Chelsea; Jemiah reviews the Django Unchained soundtrack; and I come up with ten more holiday tunes that won’t make you sick.

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Best Of 2012: Jeffery X Martin

2012 was a better concept than an actual year. Perhaps that’s why the Mayans scheduled it to end early. It’s not the end of the world, but a sincere cry to get on with 2013. This year really was an “everything louder than everything else” year (Prometheus! Avengers! The Dark Knight Rises!) and that much noise makes me want to hide under my bed, which has no frame and sits squarely on the floor.

There were some things I really did enjoy, things that made sense and resonated, above all the yelling that permeated the year.

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Best Of 2012: Paul Casey

Another year, another apocalyptic prophecy. Unless 2012 ends with the biggest shock in human history, though—that conspiracy theorists are actually right about something—this year has been a pretty enjoyable one for creative media. The following list is simply a reflection of some of the good things that happened over the last twelve months.

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