I was just thinking today, that I am a big fan of the current trend of young actors and actresses producing films. We young folks are not afraid to take risks, and these particular young folks are not afraid to take risks AND they have lots on money. A good combo. Christina Ricci produced Pumpkin, which was kick ass. Tobey Maguire co-produced 25th Hour, which was kick ass. I don't have other examples right now, but young people with money seems to equal good films so far.

Hey all,

The Big Muddy Film Festival kicks off its 25th year tonight! If you live near Carbondale, IL, you owe it to yourself to catch some of the events. Boyz N The Hood plays at Midnight at the Varsity Theatre.

Stevie will play at 10am tomorrow morning (also at the Varsity). The director, Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Prefontaine), will be in attendance, so you dont' want to miss it.

All you loyal readers can expect reviews of every feature shown as well as coverage of the Best of the Fest showcase which is held on March 2nd.

Attention all you shoppers out there; two great DVDs are being released tomorrow. Rush to the store and buy the Criterion Collection release of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the commentary filled release of The Rules Of Attraction. The Rules of Attraction disk even has a commentary by Carrot Top, who recorded it while watching the film for the first time. Should be mind blowing.

Talk to Her
***1/2
Where do I begin? Well let’s begin with a genre. A place to neatly fit Talk to Her into, so we can all understand what kind of film we are dealing with. How about romantic comedy, that sounds safe, right? Well, this is a story about a man’s helpless devotion to a woman. And there are certainly some funny moments in this well written script. So love and comedy, I think we have found that nice little place right? Wrong!
A chance meeting at a ballet brings together Benigno and Marco. There the two men sit next to each other unaware that their lives will one day cross paths. Marco is a reporter who has fallen for a beautiful female bullfighter, but is struggling to reveal his feelings towards her. Benigno, on the other hand, is a complicated man who has spent the majority of his life tending to the needs of his now deceased mother. He becomes infatuated with Alicia, a ballerina who is studying across the street from his apartment. After a brief encounter and a weird stalking incident, Benigno finds his way into Alicia’s life. Sadly it takes a car accident, a coma, and a new job as a nurse at Alicia’s hospital. Weird, we haven’t even started! On the other side of this little film is Marco, who meets up with Benigno again in that same hospital after his girlfriend suffers a terrible accident at the hands of an opposing bull. Together, they begin deep relationships with their unconscious girlfriends. As odd as this story must sound to the reader of this review, let me assure you that Talk to Her is as charming as it is disturbing.
Benigno is not your common psychotic pervert; he is actually likable. We never tap into his boyish demeanor or the reason behind his unchangeable devotion to the women he cares about. We see a man that is simply in love with the idea of loving someone. He adores Alicia more than he could possibly adore his own life. Through Alicia, Benigno has meaning for life; in his eyes their love is not only real, but also eternal. His love is derived from his psychosis, but for some reason you end up liking him for it, or at least pitying him for it. His friendship with Marco seems to be the only link to any sense of reality left in Benigno’s personal life. Their comatose girlfriends have forced the two to form a deep friendship. Unlike Benigno, Marco has to deal with the gnawing reality of their situation and he cannot be swept away by the idea of love, like his friend has. If Marco is the last thread of reality holding Benigno in this world, that thread is broken when his relationship with Alicia becomes erotic.
If somehow you can dig deeper than the obvious “nutcase in love with a coma patient” story, you can find a really intelligent look at communication between men and women. These two men are in love with these women, but it isn’t until they are in commas that they can open up and begin to have “healthy” communications. Maybe writer and director Pedro Almodovar is saying that men need to resolve their fears of rejection before they can open up, or that communication is the base of all good relationships even when people are half dead. Whatever he is saying, I’m glad I got to hear it.




Rabbit Proof Fence
***1/2
Three aboriginal children escape cultural genocide and walk 1,500 miles across the Australian outback to return to their homeland. It’s like the Wizard of Oz! Both films are long journeys with a couple of misfit friends trying to get back home. Well, it’s the same if you just replace the lovable little munchkins with bounty hunters and the wizard with a fascist government, then you have the exact same movie! Unfortunately Rabbit-Proof Fence is absolutely true and undeniably sad. Fortunately, out of this horrific story comes a pretty great movie.
It’s the 1930’s and the Australian government has plans to wipe out the Aboriginal people by a system of crossbreeding. An assimilation program is set up for young aboriginal children to learn the ways of their new white Christian value system. That system is shaken up when three girls named Molly, Daisy, and Gracie are brought to one of these fine establishments of evil. Molly, the oldest and leader of the group decides that assimilation is not for her and the trio take the dangerous trip home across the Australian outback. Sent on their path is an Aboriginal tracker hired by the government. Normally an excellent tracker, he not only has to deal with Molly’s cunning wits, but with the principles of his work itself. The tracker’s own daughter stays in the aboriginal camp in which he works for. He knows he must keep tracking the girls to keep his job and daughter, but can’t help but to root for Molly and the girls.
While this film sounds like an epic, it really doesn’t play like one. Some may feel that the quick-moving story and lack of real character depth may come off as a failure; I feel it works wonderfully in this film. We all know this assimilation program is wrong; we are all rooting for the girls. I was not looking forward to a 3-hour epic film beating me to death with morals I already have. Instead this story spent its 90 minutes giving human qualities to the “heroes” and “villains” and a real insight into this time in history. While Kenneth Branagh, who plays Mr. Neville, the leader of this aboriginal assimilation program, would seem like the star of this film, his screen time is limited. Under other direction, he could have made a great enemy to the small children and maybe have made a more appealing film to the masses; Rabbit-Proof Fence simply did not do that. No one was used as simple tools to move along the story. Instead, all characters seemed accurate and honorable. Mr. Neville, the tracker, and the girls were all victims of their circumstances and were simply attempting to improve their own lives. If that is not enough for the moviegoers out there hungry for more epic storytelling, than stick around for the last shot of this film. It is sure to be one of the most awe-inspiring things you’ll see on screen for a while.



Ok, now I admit I haven’t seen every film this year I probably should have, but here is my top ten list for 2002.
1. Fastrunner
2. Punch-Drunk Love
3. Adaptation
4. Frida
5. Talk to Her
6. Rabbit-Proof Fence
7. Spirited Away
8. The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys
9. Y Tu Mama Tambien
10. The Sunshine State

David Gordon Green, the director of George Washington, was being interviewed around the time of GW's release, and the interviewer was commenting on the fact that he was a white guy making a movie about black youth. Green said, "I don't necessarily think 26-year-old white guys are that interesting. So why would I want to make another movie about their coffee shops and romantic pratfalls?"

Green's new film, his follow-up to George Washington, is called All The Real Girls, and it's about a 26ish white guy and his romantic pratfalls and there are scenes with him and his friends in coffee shops.

Let this be a lesson. Don't get all high and mighty and pretend you are above things, because eventually it will bite you in the ass.

Who's ready for my top ten list?

Here they are (in particular order):
10. About a Boy
9. Gangs of New York
8. Adaptation
7. Jackass: The Movie
6. Punch-Drunk Love
5. Far From Heaven
4. Metropolis
3. Monsoon Wedding
2. The Good Girl
1. Y Tu Mama Tambien

There you have it. Last year, "Lord of the Rings" didn't make my list, because I hadn't seen it yet. This time, I didn't think it was good enough. Simple as that. Other Big name films that I didn't like as much as other critics: "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "Minority Report," "Bowling For Columbine," "Chicago," "About Schmidt."

Don't agree with me? Let me know. You know where to find me

The Oscar nominations have been announced, and I think some really great films are nominated and some really great films got skipped totally. Not a single nomination for Punch-Drunk Love. What's with that? It's a total bummer. Anyway, I don't really care about the Oscars or any other awards shows anymore. I will watch them, but I refuse to get emotional.