Focus Features is releasing indie favorite Noah Baumbach’s new film “Greenberg,” starring Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Chris Messina, on March 26, and CinemaSpeak is giving away three sampler soundtracks featuring six songs by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.
If you’d like to be in the running to win a sampler soundtrack, just e-mail your name and mailing address to wcurry718@yahoo.com. Please put “Greenberg contest” in the subject heading. Three winners (U.S. residents only, please) will be randomly selected. And of course, go see “Greenberg” on May 26!
For more information visit http://www.seegreenberg.com/
Synopsis:
Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is at a crossroads in his life. Out of a job and none too interested in finding one, he agrees to housesit for his younger and more successful brother, thereby getting a free place to stay in Los Angeles . Once settled in, Greenberg sets out to reconnect with his old friend and former bandmate Ivan (Rhys Ifans). But times have changed, and old friends aren’t necessarily still best friends, so Greenberg finds himself spending more and more time instead with his brother’s personal assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig), an aspiring singer and herself something of a lost soul. As their relationship develops through a series of embarrassingly awkward romantic encounters, even someone as irascible as Greenberg might have at last found a reason to be happy.
Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwdliqOGTLw
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/greenberg
by Warren Curry
3/10/10
To provide some (perhaps unnecessary) context, I watched “Mother” after a particularly long, taxing day and, to be frank, sitting through a film that ran over two hours didn’t exactly sound like a remedy to help me unwind. However, it took Bong-Joon ho’s (”The Host”) new movie only one scene to snap me out of my malaise, as the image of an older woman walking to the camera and then breaking into a seemingly random dance immediately enthralled me. “Mother” turned out to be the perfect cure to chase the blues away.
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by Warren Curry
2/24/10
(Originally reviewed at 2009 AFI Fest. “Easier with Practice” is being released in New York City and Los Angeles on February 26, 2010).
A quiet, sensitive film that deftly balances comedy and drama, “Easier With Practice” basically typifies all that is good about 21st century American indie cinema. The debut movie from writer/director Kyle Patrick Alvarez exudes the loose spirit of a first time effort, but also contains the kind of patience filmmakers usually need a few films to develop. Alvarez displays unmistakable trust in his material, resulting in an exceptional payoff from such a simple concept.
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by Warren Curry
2/18/10
The Moshers, a poor, struggling family in New York’s Mohawk Valley, are reminiscent of a real life, extended version of Melissa Leo’s clan in “Frozen River.” The Moshers aren’t saving up to buy a doublewide trailer, nor do they have any involvement in human smuggling, but the grief, pain and desperation at the core of “Frozen River” are also key elements of “October Country,” a documentary that captures the hardships of one year in the life of the Mosher family.
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by Warren Curry
2/4/10
Difficult, dense, gritty and ambitious are just the first words that come to mind when pondering “The Red Riding Trilogy,” three rugged crime tales intended to be consumed as one whole entity. Adapted from British author David Peace’s series of novels, three of England’s top new(ish) directors each tackle one of the trilogy’s chapters and all manage to make an individual stylistic impression while keeping the overall piece cohesive. Taking in all three films in one sitting (as I did) probably isn’t the best way to absorb this material, not only because the flurry of details can tend to overwhelm, but also due to the films’ pitch black tone. In short, this is grim, humorless stuff.
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