Ain’t Them Bodies Saints premiered in January at Sundance 2013. The following Theatrical Premiere took place on Tuesday (August 13th) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The film stars Casey Affleck as Bob Muldoon and Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network) as Ruth Guthrie. These childhood sweethearts and partners-in-crime are on the lam, and just as the film begins, Ruth reveals that she is pregnant. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints does not follow a couple’s joyride; it begins as their crime spree comes to a screeching halt.
The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.
Batman will appear in Superman’s next big-screen adventure, you say? Does that mean everyone in Gotham gets a brand new origin story? If you can’t wait until 2015, whet your appetite with a new, full-length origin starring the Caped Crusader’s most infamous villain.
Fiend by Peter Stenson is, in over-simplified TV terms, Breaking Bad meets The Walking Dead. In St. Paul, Minnesota, two meth heads emerge from seclusion after at least a straight week of binging, and find that the Zombie Apocalypse has happened while they were busy getting high. Chase and his best friend Typewriter embark on a journey to score more drugs, save Chase’s ex-girlfriend, and, simply, survive.
Lovelace is an autobiographical film based on the life of Linda Susan Boreman (January 10, 1949-April 22, 2002), known to the public as Linda Lovelace. Linda Lovelace is most well-known for starring in one of the most successful porno films ever made: Deep Throat. In 1972, Deep Throat had a huge cultural impact, bringing porno films into the mainstream.
The East stars indie darling Brit Marling (Arbitrage, Another Earth) as Sarah, an operative for a private intelligence firm. The firm instructs her to infiltrate a group of eco-terrorists who target major corporations. She locates the group members, who live in an abandoned house in the woods, and she attempts to join them. Each cult member has their own reasons for turning into extremists, which includes Izzy (Ellen Page, Inception, Juno) and the group leader Benji (Alexander Skarsgard, True Blood).
A little over a year ago, I interviewed filmmaker Will Prescott as he set out on an ambitious Kickstarter campaign. He wanted to raise the majority of his budget through crowdfunding in order to produce and direct his first feature film . . . and that’s exactly what he did! Check out Fanboy Comics’ original interview with Will here.
The Way, Way, Back stars Liam James as Duncan, a young, quiet teen grappling with identity issues and lacking a strong sense of self. To his detriment, his mother Pam (Toni Collette) is in a semi-serious relationship with Trent (Steve Carell). Yes, this time around, Steve Carell basically plays a jerk. Trent lacks a strong sense of self, like Duncan, but as an adult, he uses his status to talk down to Duncan and pretty much everyone around him. Despite Duncan’s lack of enthusiasm on the matter, he, his mom, sister, and Trent head down to Trent’s beach house for a hopeful summer of relaxation and fun.
Mud is the latest film written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Nichols wrote and directed 2007’s Shotgun Stories and 2011’s Take Shelter (one of my favorite Sundance movies from that year). Nichols has proven that he understands character, and Mud, a true bildungsroman, is no exception. Two impressionable teenage boys living in the rural South discover a fugitive hiding out in marshland, and they agree to help reunite him with his true love.
The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.
The Punisher movie released in 2004 was a guilty pleasure of mine in college. It wasn’t a masterpiece. It was a guys’ matinee action movie that cost two dollars in the mall quinta-plex outside of my Ohio town. That’s exactly how I first saw it, and I’m pretty sure the only way I ever saw it. In my memory, it’s a hard-as-nails revenge movie fronted by the grimmest visage to play the character of Frank Castle, Thomas Jane.
In 2012 Jane returned to the Castle, and this time Jane don’t got a gun.
The Lifeguard is written and directed by Liz W. Garcia. Garcia has a background in television where she co-produced for Cold Case and executive produced for Memphis Beat. The Lifeguard is her directorial debut. The film stars Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Veronica Mars) as Leigh, a former valedictorian who quits her reporter job in New York City and returns to Connecticut to live with her parents.