𝔽𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔽𝕚𝕝𝕞𝕤

1959 Directed By Francois Truffaut Starring Jean-Pierre Leaud and Albert Remy This could easily be one of the most potent films about youth that I have ever seen. Supposedly based on Truffaut's own personal experiences, this is the story of a troubled young man who was never really given a chance. We are shown a trouble maker whose home life is terrible. Its not just the poverty but the lack of warmth and bleakness that fills our protagonists life that makes his at home experience so grim. When he acts out and runs head first into a life of crime we never hold him to task, instead we are left feeling empathy and understand why he makes the decisions he makes. Nothing in this film feels unnecessary or dispensable every shot is essential and pulls us in further. Unlike many films today this movie is tight and lean. We are shown a young man who is an after thought to most of the people in his life. While some people border on kind, it is readily apparent that no one in t

2012 Directed By Mark Christopher Covino Have you heard Death? Let me phrase that another way have you heard of three black teenagers from Detroit who were playing punk rock “two years before The Ramones?”  David, Dannis and Bobby Hackney formed a band in the early 1970’s that would eventually land on the name Death. They played fast, loud and with undeniable heart. After David saw The Who play in Detroit he knew how his band should sound. Friends and neighbors called it “white boy” music but David had been inspired and could not be discouraged when it came to his artistic vision. The same steadfast attitude applied to the bands’ name.  As you might imagine the name Death was a huge turnoff to record executives, producers, and pretty much everyone else. While by today’s standards the name Death probably wouldn’t cause anyone to bat an eye, by 1970’s standards it was dangerous. The name and music were ahead of their time. When you look back it might give you some

Charlie Rose  is one of the few television personalities in the US that consistently does long-form interviews for artists and entertainment figures. When someone shows up on Rose’s show, you can reliably expect an in-depth conversation that will offer ideas that go much deeper than sound byte level. So having the cast and creators of  Gone Girl  on the show — author/screenwriter  Gillian Flynn , director  David Fincher , and stars Rosamund Pike  and  Ben Affleck  — is a great thing. This Charlie Rose Gone Girl talk is a half hour of in-depth conversation about the film and the personalities that created it.

2013 Directed by Greg Mclean Starring John Jarrat Ryan Corr and Shannon Ashlyn One of the great things about Wolf Creek 2 is you should know pretty quickly if this is your kind of movie or not. This is a movie with no aspirations to be anything more than an over the top gore soaked good time.  The only question is what constitutes a good time to you?  Give it five minutes and I’m sure you will know. I for one was in right away. The opening scene was so good the movie could have completely gone off the rails and I would have been inclined to give it a mostly positive review. Thankfully that is not the case in Greg McLean’s follow up to 2005s Wolf Creek. Mclean seems to have learned how to make a sequel by watching James Cameron’s Aliens. While Wolf Creek 2 features the same lead in a similar set of circumstances everything is amplified and played much bigger. The gore, suspense and oddly enough comedy are all ratcheted up for this installment. A lot of sequels try

In 1968, George Romero created a film called “Night of the Living Dead.” A simple, yet terrifying story about a group of people who are trying to survive the night against a monster nobody had ever seen before. This 95 minute indie film would catapult a new monster into pop culture history and make them one of the most feared and popular creatures in cinema and pop culture. Now, almost 50 years later the Legacy continues. George Cameron Romero has taken it upon himself to carry on the Legacy that his father created... the definitive Origin story of a legend as told by a legacy. G. Cameron Romeo is announcing now his film "Origins", which will be be partially produced by his Father - The creator of the Modern Zombie.  Origins is the story in the Romero universe of how the first 'Zombie' strolled across that cemetery and into lives of those in the 'dead' series almost fifty years later.  This is a project that will re-define the genre… as well

1999 Directed By Antonia Birds Starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and David Arquette  What’s the best way to measure a film’s success? I’ve never really cared how a movie does at the box office or what the critics think but when a film fails to connect on both levels it’s a safe bet that the movie just did not work and that it was in fact a failure. If you make that assumption about Antonia Birds 1999 film Ravenous you would be flat out wrong. While the film only grossed $2,062,045 on a $12,000,000 budget and currently has a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes this film by my personal measurement is a resounding success.  In March 1999 I saw Ravenous in a nearly empty theater. After the movie was over my friend looked at me and said “that was brilliant, where is everybody?” Apparently they went to see Analyze This and Forces of Nature that weekend.   In the opening sequence of Ravenous we are introduced to Capt. John Boyd played by Guy Pearce. Boyd is a US soldier fighting

A documentary exploring the importance of revival cinema and 35mm exhibition - seen through the lens of the patrons of the New Beverly Cinema - a unique and independent revival cinema in Los Angeles Out Of Print from John T. Woods on Vimeo .