One, Two, TRI times the fun! 3

One of the movies getting a lot of buzz at Tribeca is Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience. I first heard about it from this little snip on New York Magazine titled, "Porn Stars Gone Legit". Great title, no?
It reminded me about this blog I used to read called Confessions of a College Callgirl, which chronicled the life and mind of, well, a College Callgirl. She was sometimes vulgar, sometimes insightful and many times bared her soul to her readers. An eloquent writer, she gained quite a following documenting her adventures in Callhood, searching for answers as to how it became her life, and struggling to leave it behind. Now she's a writer for a paper somewhere (and veyr anonymous). I guess Soderbergh caught wind of her-- it seems obvious that she was a source of inspiration.
The star of the film is an actual Porn Star-turned-serious-actress, Sasha Grey, who, judging from reviews, gives a surprisingly good performance (insert joke here).

I'm excited to check it out.

One, Two, TRI times the fun! 2

Tribeca is also hosting a slew of free movie screenings to go with the ongoing talks this week. "The Tribeca Drive-In," They're calling it. I love this festival! I would go to these, but FINALS MESS EVERYTHING UP.

Click here to check out more screenings and to download a free invitation.

I was looking through Tribeca's site and watched a few trailers of some the festival's movies. This one looks fun

One, Two, TRI times the fun!

            Courtesy of Tribeca film festival, I guess.

The Tribeca Film festival kicked off this week with 80 new feature length films playing in theatres all around downtown. I'm lucky to have some lucky friends who have vip passes for screenings and talks, so I'm hoping to tag along to a few of those.

What's really awesome, though, is this year the festival is holding a series of free events all about independent filmmaking and screenwriting for the NYC community. Today, there's this:

PLANET EARTH IN MOVIE FORM!

I'm a big, big fan of Discovery Channel's Planet Earth series (in HD thankyouverymuch). I spent a whole winter break engrossed in moments of the Shallow Seas and Mountains and Great Plains never before seen by human eyes. From what I'm told, Disney decided to take the groundbreaking footage and make a family film out of it, naturally. We'll see if this actually works. I mean, are there going to be voiceovers for the animals? Creepy. James Earl Jones is narrating, which should be fun. I hope I don't keep thinking of him as Mufasa or Darth Vader--that would just kill the mood.

tip from tom

A few days ago, the incredibly talented Tom Chiarella (pronounced KEY-uh-rella) graciously spent nearly an hour on the phone to talk to me about his work. He's one of the writers at Esquire that I've loved to read ever since I was a 17-year-old sneaking issues from the mailbox to my bedroom. 

Chiarella does a lot of great profiles on movie stars-- like Charlize Theron, Halle Berry, and, most recently, Ben Affleck-- which can be tough when you might be dealing with notsogreat subjects. So, for inspiration, before meeting a subject, he reads a book that is somehow related to them. Before meeting Charlize for lunch, he read Out of Africa (because he knew she was from South Africa). Before Halle, Invisible Man (because Berry and Baldwin are both black, i guess). The point is, he reads these amazing classics and then goes in with a brilliant voice already in his head. That way no matter how much THEY suck, his words won't suffer for it.

I want to try this out, but maybe expand it...I don't know if I'll be meeting up with so many movie stars any time soon. 

If i had a nichol for every time...

If you're in NYC, or planning to be in the next two weeks, the Museum of Modern Art (one of my favorites) is going to be putting on a Mike Nichols retrospective exhibit, showing his films every day. I'll definitely be checking that out, especially some must-sees-- Wit, The Graduate, Angels in America. 

He's made some pretty freaking beautiful movies in his career. I can't wait. 

watch.

times, they are a-changin'

More proof that the end of print is going to really affect other industries...like the movie business (I'll elaborate later). the Daily Variety has become obsolete with the rise of film bloggers and online critics...

Here's the obituary. it's a good piece about the publication, has some good commentary on the nature of change

'tis this season ...

...for film festivals! now that the independent spirit awards and oscars are done and gone, it's time for a fresh round of moviessss
with that:
Dun dun dun dun!


The Crossroads Film Festival has begun!

Based in Jackson, Mississippi, Crossroads is an amazing festival that encourages multi-cultural, international filmmaking. The films are risky, beautiful, and generally awesome. Some of them are not what you'd normally expect from the depths of the bible belt.

The festival's kicking off tonight with reception for filmmakers and filmwatchers alike, with musical guests including Sanders Bohlke, one of my personal favorites. Movies are only 8$ a pop. You can't go wrong.

If you're down south, check it out!