When a orphan named Jamal Malik, from the slums of Mumbai, makes it to the final question on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, his credibility is put into question. Did he cheat? The police arrest and torture the 18-year-old, hoping to uncover some kind of illegal motivation, but instead they get the heartwarming story of his life so far. And that’s why Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire is really clever. The film is not really about winning 10 or 20 million rupees on Millionaire, it’s a love story, told through flashbacks.
There are three different types of people: Those who know a little about everything, those who [...]

Flash of Genius is one of the surprise films that is being shown at this year’s Telluride Film Festival. Based on a true story, Flash of Genius follows Doctor Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear), a Detroit-based inventor and engineer professor, who decided to take on the automotive industry, and more specifically Ford Motor Company, who he claimed stole his patented idea for the intermittent windshield wiper.
Yeah, it doesn’t immediately sound like a compelling narrative for a feature film, but Philip Railsback’s screenplay brings the story home, resulting in a fascinating family drama. The battle over inventor-ship lasted many years and at what cost? His wife, his family, his job and [...]

It’s the weekend and a slow news day, so I thought I’d give you a brief tour of one of the theaters at the Telluride Film Festival. The Chuck Jones theater is dedicated to the famous artist responsible for the classic Looney Toons shorts. The whole place is themed around Chuck and the characters he has most famously worked with, down to the ticket passes that festival goers need for admittance. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed in the theater itself, which is lined with blow-ups of some of Jones’ parody sketches and paintings. The other 361 days a year, the theater is actually a convention center. While you’re waiting for [...]

Last night the Telluride Film Festival held a tribute for director David Fincher. After an introduction by festival sponsor documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, and a package of clips spanning Fincher’s career from Music videos, commercials, to Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room and Zodiac, Variety’s Todd McCarthy took the stage to do a 1:1 interview with the director. Here are some highlights from that conversation:
Fincher admitted that much of his early years discovering cinema consisted of Thrillers and scary movies. His favorites included Jaws, I Saw What You Did, and Rear Window.
When asked why he creates a lot of films under morbid ideas, Fincher said that he makes whatever [...]

Writer/director Lance Daly described his film Kisses as a story about “how to escape if you can’t escape”. More specifically, it’s about two kids who run away from home and spend a “night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.” Sprinkled with realistic improvisational moments, Kisses is Lost in Translation but with two irish 10-year-olds.
Daly cleverly uses the saturation and desaturation of color from the frame to visually convey the children’s emotions. A woman on the gondola ride home, also aptly compared the use of the technique with The Wizard of Oz. And I think many comparisons could be made between both of these stories.

Kelly O’Neill, who [...]

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I just got out of the David Fincher tribute (which I will write about at length later) but for now I want to share my first impressions on the 20 minutes of footage from Fincher’s new film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was screened at the event. First off, I want to say that I’m a die hard Fincher fan. I’ve loved everyone of his film, with the slight exception of Panic Room, which I still enjoyed. Fight Club is [...]

For all the people who have emailed, commented, and called… yes, we made it to our hotel okay. I probably should have posted an update. I figured that everyone would have realized this occurred when they saw that I had uploaded the videos in the late hours of the morning.
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The hotel we’re staying at is in the mountains, about 20 minutes away from the main street. When we finally checked in at 1:00am last night, we could see nothing but the stars [...]

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How much would you pay for a movie ticket? $10? $15? $20? I remember when a ticket to a matinee showing was under $4. The first stop on my 28 day journey is the Telluride Film Festival. The festival pass costs $680 for the full four days. If you see 4 movies a day, then you’re paying $40 a movie. Festival-goers buy this pass blindly, not knowing any of the films which have been selected to play the festival. In fact, [...]

The balloon of blind faith gifted the Coen Brothers after No Country For Old Men (and many other great films) by critics and bloggers is beginning to sputter across the Netz. The bros’ new CIA kneeslapper Burn After Reading starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt is receiving decidely mixed early word-of-mouth and reviews from the Venice Film Fest.
“Everything here, from the thesps’ heavy mugging to the uncustomarily overbearing score by Carter Burwell and the artificially augmented vulgarities in the dialogue, has been dialed up to an almost grotesquely exaggerated extent, making for a film that feels misjudged. …Nothing about the project’s execution inspires the feeling that this was ever intended [...]

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/Film editor Peter Sciretta is about to embark on a 28 day trip that will span three film festivals - Telluride, Toronto, and Fantastic Fest. This is the first of a series of video and photo blogs that will be filed over the course of the trip.
Don’t worry, /Film news coverage will not come to a grinding halt. Hunter Stephenson, David Chen and Devindra Hardawar will be filing updates through out the day. I will also post when time allows, so keep [...]

Before he was the director of the second biggest film in box office history, and even before he garnered acclaim by telling a story of memory loss in reverse, Christopher Nolan broke onto the scene with Following. The multi-layered black and white crime noir thriller tells the story of Bill (Jeremy Theobald), an unemployed aspiring writer turned burglar, who becomes interested in one of the woman house owners he robs. He begins following her, and eventually begins seeing her. But things are not as they seem.
Nolan’s debut film, which screened at Slamdance in 1999, is being included as part of Slamdance’s 15 year anniversary celebration. A special screening will be [...]

We’re in the midst of an industry preamble for a 3D revolution flush with cash, but there are countless doubters. Ebert’s hating, and while I liked Beowulf and eagerly anticipate Avatar, it’s easy to see 3D becoming the Reebok Pump of cinema (again?). Personally, I’m prone to believing the future holds a more participatory creative role for the viewer, one that would leave room for a 3D visceral experience if needed. With the popularity of Final Cut Pro, GTA IV, web video, Comic Con and movie sites which connect fans directly to the talent and vice versa, this seems like the more natural, obvious progression when compared to convertible 3D [...]

The Toronto International Film Festival has released their list of the 2008 festival’s slate of twenty special presentation films. You can check out the highlights below and the rest after the jump. We’ll be at the festival next month, so keep it tuned for our coverage.
The Brothers Bloom Rian Johnson, USA World PremiereThe brothers Bloom (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo) are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they’ve decided to take on one last con - showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz) the time of her life with a romantic adventure that carries them around the world. [...]

Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler makes it’s premiere next month, and we have the first batch of official promotional production photos. Aronofsky’s The Wrestler tells the story of a old professional wrestler (Mickey Rourke) barely making a living on the independent circuit, who is told by a doctor that he could die if he wrestles again. It’s a film which attempts to do for wrestling what Rocky did for boxing. Marisa Tomei plays a stripper friend named Cassidy and Evan Rachel Wood plays his estranged daughter Stephanie. We will be seeing the film at the Toronto International Film Festival next month, and will check back in with a review from the [...]

Sure, Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Wrestler is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5th, but I’m sadly not going to be there to see it. But I’m excited to report that the film will also be playing at the Toronto International Film Festival two days later. And yes, we will be there to file a report.
Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream) recorded his score for the film last week in Los Angeles. Apparently Slash, formerly from Guns and Roses provided some guitar work. Aronofsky writes “he really tore it up.” And apparently there is “another musical surprise” but we won’t find out until next week. [...]