Columns Videos

Director Claire Denis -- who was born in France but raised in colonial Africa -- enjoyed a measure of art-house buzz when she leapt onto the scene in 1989 with her film Chocolat (not to be confused with the awful 2000 Johnny Depp/Juliette Binoche movie of the same name). Siskel these tend to cause people to think, thus making them very uncomfortable. Some of her movies couldn't get distribution and remain difficult to see. Others received only the tiniest distribution and even most critics didn't notice them. Such is the case with her wonderful new 35 Shots of Rum (2 screens), which is one of the year's best films. Filed under: Columns, 400 Screens, 400 BlowsContinue reading 400 Screens, 400 Blows - 'Rum' Diary Permalink | Email this | Comments

Here's a quick look at what's opening in limited release this weekend. If they're not playing where you live, keep an eye out as they make the rounds. And if all else fails, there's always DVD.... Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (pictured) is something of a prequel to Ong Bak, the Thai sensation from a few years ago. Tony Jaa, whose multi-discipline fighting skills are beyond impressive, plays a guy who fights a lot. Cinematical's Todd Gilchrist sums up the way many of us felt when we first caught the film at South By Southwest: The fight scenes are spectacular; unfortunately, the plot that holds them together is incomprehensible and takes itself too seriously. At Rotten Tomatoes, the critics are almost evenly split between yea and nay, with the only question being whether the awesomeness of the fights is enough to compensate for the dullness of the rest of it. Playing on 10 screens in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Washington D.C. Antichrist is an art-house horror film from Lars Von Trier, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a grieving couple to whom some supernatural and terrible things happen. It's been appalling audiences since it premiered at Cannes this spring. The critics all seem to agree that it's repellent, grisly, unsettling, and hard to watch. Where they part company -- about evenly down the middle, so far -- is whether that's good or bad. Playing on one screen each in L.A., New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. It will also be available through some Video On Demand systems starting Oct. 28.Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, New Releases, Columns, Indie SpotlightContinue reading Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Oct. 23 Permalink | Email this | Comments

It's quick and easy to use columns in your Word documents. A Internet tutorial by butterscotch.com.

This has been one amazing year for animated films. At least four of them are contenders for my list of the year's best films, and a few others are good enough to warrant a second viewing. But despite that, the majority of them are in 3D, and rated PG, neither of which appeals much to my 3-1/2 year old son who is beginning to ask to come to the movies with me. There's one exception, still in theaters, that stands apart from all the rest of the competition: Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo (163 screens). Ponyo is hand-drawn (rather than computer-animated), not in 3D, and so far is the only G-rated movie of the year. (I'm not counting two others: Hannah Montana: The Movie, or Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, about which the less said, the better.) Yet Ponyo hasn't exactly been lighting its United States audience on fire. Or maybe it just feels like we have already forgotten about it, despite some good voice work by Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson and others. It doesn't seem to be on the cinematic radar anymore, even though it did well in its home of Japan. Perhaps audiences were turned off by the fact that Disney-sanctioned Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas were cast to perform the two lead children, or that they recorded a truly insufferable song for the closing credits. Or perhaps the movie is too simple and too gentle. When Miyazaki's gorgeous, dark Spirited Away opened here in 2002, the time seemed right, and enthusiasm for his work ran high; the movie was ushered in as a major event in the history of animation. Filed under: Columns, 400 Screens, 400 BlowsContinue reading 400 Screens 400 Blows - Hello Ponyo, Hello Permalink | Email this | Comments

Here's a quick look at what's opening in limited release this weekend. If they're not playing where you live, keep an eye out as they make the rounds. And if all else fails, there's always DVD.... More Than a Game (pictured) is a documentary about basketball phenom LeBron James and four of his Akron, Ohio, high school teammates. Reviews are about evenly split so far, though none are terribly negative. I get the feeling that fans of James and/or basketball will love it while those with a more casual interest might find it lacking. Playing in L.A., New York, and several theaters in the Akron area (nice touch!). The official website has a schedule of when it's opening in other cities. Afterschool premiered at Cannes last year and has subsequently played at several other festivals, including South By Southwest. It's a drama about students at a New England prep school in the aftermath of a tragedy involving some of their classmates, and how they retreat into YouTube and the Internet to deal with their feelings. About three-fourths of the reviews so far are positive, with critics calling it a sobering, honest look at 21st-century youth. Playing in New York City now. A Beautiful Life is about a runaway teenage girl and an illegal-immigrant teenage boy whose paths cross in Los Angeles. It's based on a play called Jersey City. Bad news, though: All six of the reviews posted so far are negative: melodramatic, heavy-handed, poorly acted, etc., etc. Playing in New York, L.A., Chicago, and San Francisco. Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, New Releases, Columns, Indie SpotlightContinue reading Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Oct. 2 Permalink | Email this | Comments

An exercise in face watching. A profile, maybe too much. Compare to Portrait at 60 short a year ago. Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Crew of freeborders take over a street to create a real-life Tetris.

Author: EPSFoamPro Keywords: insulated concrete forms faswall installing foam board insulation custom letters cut from core shapes decorative columns Added: September 30, 2009

Crew of Freeborders take over an SF street to create a real life video game. http://www.freebord.com.Music: Copy, You cannot believe it . Remixed by e*rock Author: Freebord Tags: Freebord Freeboard video game puzzle skateboard neon tetris Mario columns erock oldschool 80s night amazing trippy cool Posted: 24 September 2009 Rating: 4.4 Votes: 114

Crew of Freeborders take over an SF street to create a real life video game. http://www.freebord.com. Music: Copy, You cannot believe it . Remixed by e*rock