Don't forget to join us after work!
THE PREMIERE OF THE 3 O'CLOCK AT REEL ARTS 6 IS TONIGHT, APRIL 6 AT 6PM.
Tucson's own Coyote Moon Films has taken the next step toward feature film production in southern Arizona with our hilarious new comedy.
Come see the first screening of The 3 O'Clock, written by Phoenix writer and nationally known playwright Michael Grady and starring Tucson talents: Mike Yarema, Betsy Kruse Craig and Bill Hubbard.
Reel Arts 6 is located at the Crossroads Cinema on 4811 E. Grant Rd. Tucson.
Visit www.CoyoteMoonFilms.com for more information on The 3 O'Clock and other Coyote Moon productions.
4.06.2012
3.30.2012
Review: The Good German
By: LR Simon
The Artist is not the only film in recent history to try to replicate an early style of film while attempting to maintain some relevance to current times. In 2006, Steven Soderbergh directed The Good German, starring George Clooney as Jacob Geismer, a reporter covering the peace process after World War II in Potsdam, Tobey Maguire as his driver, Tully, and Cate Blanchett as the mysterious Lena, who has a hold on both men.
Stylistically, the movie looks very much like a throwback to the movies of the 1940s: it’s black and white, with a reliance on light and shadow to convey mood; the actors did an excellent job of performing the way film actors did in those days; the score, by Thomas Newman, was reminiscent of some of Bernard Herrmann’s film scores. There’s even a scene that’s visually very similar to a scene in Casablanca, even though the content was vastly different.
The Good German makes some concessions to the 21st century. Specifically, it does away with much of the Hays Code. The language is much grittier and more realistic than would have been allowed 60 years ago, and while the sex scenes are hardly explicit, they would not have passed muster with the Code.
Paul Attanasio’s script (from the Joseph Kanon novel) is a maze of secrets and reversals that will keep you guessing about specifics, but the final reveal is easily anticipated. That said, it still packs an emotional punch, which is not attributable solely to the performances. Attanasio has a good deal of experience writing scripts with convoluted plots for Homicide: Life on the Street (television) and Donnie Brasco.
The Good German is not an easy movie to recommend. It maintains high production values throughout, but it suffers for its attempt to revive a bygone film style. It will have some interest for fans of older movies, but it doesn't have broad appeal.
The Artist is not the only film in recent history to try to replicate an early style of film while attempting to maintain some relevance to current times. In 2006, Steven Soderbergh directed The Good German, starring George Clooney as Jacob Geismer, a reporter covering the peace process after World War II in Potsdam, Tobey Maguire as his driver, Tully, and Cate Blanchett as the mysterious Lena, who has a hold on both men.
Stylistically, the movie looks very much like a throwback to the movies of the 1940s: it’s black and white, with a reliance on light and shadow to convey mood; the actors did an excellent job of performing the way film actors did in those days; the score, by Thomas Newman, was reminiscent of some of Bernard Herrmann’s film scores. There’s even a scene that’s visually very similar to a scene in Casablanca, even though the content was vastly different.
The Good German makes some concessions to the 21st century. Specifically, it does away with much of the Hays Code. The language is much grittier and more realistic than would have been allowed 60 years ago, and while the sex scenes are hardly explicit, they would not have passed muster with the Code.
Paul Attanasio’s script (from the Joseph Kanon novel) is a maze of secrets and reversals that will keep you guessing about specifics, but the final reveal is easily anticipated. That said, it still packs an emotional punch, which is not attributable solely to the performances. Attanasio has a good deal of experience writing scripts with convoluted plots for Homicide: Life on the Street (television) and Donnie Brasco.
The Good German is not an easy movie to recommend. It maintains high production values throughout, but it suffers for its attempt to revive a bygone film style. It will have some interest for fans of older movies, but it doesn't have broad appeal.
3.28.2012
Academy Awards: The Artist
Of all the films nominated for Best Picture (2012), The Artist was the only one filmed entirely in Hollywood. It's also the only (mostly) silent film to win the Best Picture Oscar since Wings in 1927. The Artist is essentially director Michel Hazanvicius's love letter to the movies, and it draws on a wide variety of sources. We recommend some of the film's influences:
42nd Street (1933): Romance and show business
The Jazz Singer: Al Jolson makes the transition from silent to talkie
Singin' in the Rain: Gene Kelly makes the transition from silent to talkie
Some Like It Hot (1959): Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in drag, with Marilyn Monroe; Directed by Billy Wilder
City Lights: Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece
A Star Is Born (1954): A movie star helps a young actress launch her career, even as his declines.
Michel Hazanavicius listed these directors as influences on The Artist: Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, John Ford, Ernst Lubitsch, F.W. Murnau and Billy Wilder.
This post was written by LR Simon and Howard Allen as part of our ongoing series on the 84th Academy Awards.
42nd Street (1933): Romance and show business
The Jazz Singer: Al Jolson makes the transition from silent to talkie
Singin' in the Rain: Gene Kelly makes the transition from silent to talkie
Some Like It Hot (1959): Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in drag, with Marilyn Monroe; Directed by Billy Wilder
City Lights: Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece
A Star Is Born (1954): A movie star helps a young actress launch her career, even as his declines.
Michel Hazanavicius listed these directors as influences on The Artist: Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, John Ford, Ernst Lubitsch, F.W. Murnau and Billy Wilder.
This post was written by LR Simon and Howard Allen as part of our ongoing series on the 84th Academy Awards.
3.27.2012
Premiere: The 3 O'Clock
PRESS RELEASE
PREMIERE OF THE 3 O’CLOCK AT REEL ARTS 6 ON APRIL 6 AT 6PM
CoyoteMoon Films has taken the next step toward feature film production in southern Arizona with this new comedy. All of Tucson is invited.
Come see the first screening of The 3 O’Clock, written by Phoenix writer and nationally known playwright Michael Grady and starring Tucson talents: Mike Yarema, Betsy Kruse Craig and Bill Hubbard.
This 30 minute comedy follows the release of our valentine to Tucson, the short film Se Habla Espanol, still available on our website with fun DVD extras like “Even a Gringa Can Make A Tamale.” See www.CoyoteMoonFilms.com
PREMIERE OF THE 3 O’CLOCK AT REEL ARTS 6 ON APRIL 6 AT 6PM
CoyoteMoon Films has taken the next step toward feature film production in southern Arizona with this new comedy. All of Tucson is invited.
Come see the first screening of The 3 O’Clock, written by Phoenix writer and nationally known playwright Michael Grady and starring Tucson talents: Mike Yarema, Betsy Kruse Craig and Bill Hubbard.
This 30 minute comedy follows the release of our valentine to Tucson, the short film Se Habla Espanol, still available on our website with fun DVD extras like “Even a Gringa Can Make A Tamale.” See www.CoyoteMoonFilms.com
Lyrical Lifestyle
Lyrical Lifestyle interviews Tracy Lawrence, who talks about his career and performs three songs. Lawrence likes the interview enough that he links to it on his own website.
Also, read the interview with country duo Thompson Square, who will be performing at Country Thunder in Florence, AZ in April.
Coming up on Lyrical Lifestyle are interviews with Jason Aldean and Christian Kane.
Also, read the interview with country duo Thompson Square, who will be performing at Country Thunder in Florence, AZ in April.
Coming up on Lyrical Lifestyle are interviews with Jason Aldean and Christian Kane.
3.15.2012
Roger Ebert: Bully and the MPAA
Roger Ebert has written a piece on the new documentary "Bully" and the challenges it's facing regarding its rating. Bullies like to use the word "fuck" and the documentary shows teenagers using the word repeatedly, earning it an R rating from the MPAA. PG-13 films are not supposed to use the word more than four times. The film's director and producer are making the case that this documentary is important for teenagers, and the R rating makes it more difficult for the target audience (which includes the teenagers shown in the film) to see it.
There was some discussion of possibly removing some of the objectionable language, but that tends to diminish the severity of the problem:
Go to Ebert's blog and read the whole piece. This should be interesting to watch.
There was some discussion of possibly removing some of the objectionable language, but that tends to diminish the severity of the problem:
If a director wants to make a film against bullying, it is not for a committee of MPAA bean-counters to tell him what words he can use. Not many years ago, the word rape was not used in newspapers, on television--or in the movies, for that matter. But there is a crime, and the name of the crime is rape, and if you remove the word you help make the crime invisible.
Go to Ebert's blog and read the whole piece. This should be interesting to watch.
Academy Awards: Jean DuJardin
Jean DuJardin won the Academy Award for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of a silent film star who struggles to make the transition to the talkies. Lead Actor was a strong category this year, and a strong case could be made for any of the nominees to have won. (I personally would have preferred Gary Oldman to win, but that's no reflection on DuJardin.)
DuJardin's George Valentin starts out as a major film star in Hollywood, leading what appears to be a charmed life, with the exception of his marital situation. His fame seems to have gone to his head, and his wife seems disillusioned. Valentin's fortunes change dramatically when he bets that talkies won't last. DuJardin takes his character from the top of Hollywood to the lowest depths of despair; finally, he returns to form with the help of a starlet whose career he helped launch. Their relationship is complicated and touching.
Most of DuJardin's films are French; most of my experience with non-English-language films is with German and Japanese films, so I am going to rely on rottentomatoes.com for recommendations of other films starring DuJardin:
The Clink of Ice (Le Bruit Des Glacons)
OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (Lost in Rio)
OSS 117: Le Caire Nid d'Espions (OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies)
Little White Lies
Upcoming films:
Les Infidèles
Le petit joueur (pre-production)
Möbius (pre-production)
Read an interview with DuJardin here.
This post was written by LR Simon as part of our ongoing series on the 84th Academy Awards.
DuJardin's George Valentin starts out as a major film star in Hollywood, leading what appears to be a charmed life, with the exception of his marital situation. His fame seems to have gone to his head, and his wife seems disillusioned. Valentin's fortunes change dramatically when he bets that talkies won't last. DuJardin takes his character from the top of Hollywood to the lowest depths of despair; finally, he returns to form with the help of a starlet whose career he helped launch. Their relationship is complicated and touching.
Most of DuJardin's films are French; most of my experience with non-English-language films is with German and Japanese films, so I am going to rely on rottentomatoes.com for recommendations of other films starring DuJardin:
The Clink of Ice (Le Bruit Des Glacons)
OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (Lost in Rio)
OSS 117: Le Caire Nid d'Espions (OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies)
Little White Lies
Upcoming films:
Les Infidèles
Le petit joueur (pre-production)
Möbius (pre-production)
Read an interview with DuJardin here.
This post was written by LR Simon as part of our ongoing series on the 84th Academy Awards.
3.13.2012
Academy Awards: Christopher Plummer
At age 82, Christopher Plummer won his first Academy Award (Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role) for his portrayal of Hal Fields, the elderly father of Oliver Fields (Ewan McGregor) in Beginners. After spending the majority of his life married to a woman, Hal comes out as gay and starts to have the time of his life. This late beginning inspires his son to try to change his ways. It's a simple idea for a story that's complicated as much by the characters themselves as by any plot twist. Beginners could have been sentimentally saccharine or cloying, but the cast keeps the audience interested, and Plummer is responsible for most of what's best about this small, lovely film.
Plummer has been a busy actor for his entire career, and some of his films have become classics (even if his opinion of a given film is lower than the audience's). Here are some of his films:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Last Station
Up
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Syriana
Nicholas Nickleby
A Beautiful Mind
Twelve Monkeys
Malcolm X
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Somewhere in Time
The Man Who Would Be King
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Sound of Music
According to imdb.com, Plummer has two films in pre-production:
Muhammed Ali's Greatest Fight
Five Good Years
This post was written by LR Simon as part of our ongoing series on the 84th Academy Awards.
Plummer has been a busy actor for his entire career, and some of his films have become classics (even if his opinion of a given film is lower than the audience's). Here are some of his films:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Last Station
Up
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Syriana
Nicholas Nickleby
A Beautiful Mind
Twelve Monkeys
Malcolm X
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Somewhere in Time
The Man Who Would Be King
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Sound of Music
According to imdb.com, Plummer has two films in pre-production:
Muhammed Ali's Greatest Fight
Five Good Years
This post was written by LR Simon as part of our ongoing series on the 84th Academy Awards.
Academy Awards: Octavia Spencer
Octavia Spencer was awarded the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Minny Jackson in The Help. Playing Minny gave Spencer challenges faced by any actor in a role that includes characteristics bordering on stereotype—finding the humanity where archetype seems prominent. It could have been easy to lose that sense of humanity, especially in the main storyline involving the writing of the tell-all book. The subplot involving Jessica Chastain’s character, Celia, who hires Minny as her maid, is where the humanity in both of those characters shines through.
Spencer also won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role of Minny.
She has been working in the film industry for years, sometimes as a casting director for extras, and sometimes in small parts in television and movies. You have likely seen her before, possibly in one of the following films:
A Time to Kill (1996)
Seven Pounds (2008)
The Nines (2007)
Bad Santa (2003) (See our review.)
Spider-Man (2002)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
She also made the most of her brief role in Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005), starring Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, and John Goodman.
Spencer has several projects in the works for this year:
Smashed (2012)
The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife (2012) (post-production)
Lost on Purpose (2012) (post-production)
Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818055/bio
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Spencer
Spencer also won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role of Minny.
She has been working in the film industry for years, sometimes as a casting director for extras, and sometimes in small parts in television and movies. You have likely seen her before, possibly in one of the following films:
A Time to Kill (1996)
Seven Pounds (2008)
The Nines (2007)
Bad Santa (2003) (See our review.)
Spider-Man (2002)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
She also made the most of her brief role in Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005), starring Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, and John Goodman.
Spencer has several projects in the works for this year:
Smashed (2012)
The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife (2012) (post-production)
Lost on Purpose (2012) (post-production)
Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818055/bio
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_Spencer
Se Habla Español in Film Festival
CoyoteMoon Films' first short film, Se Habla Español, has been selected to screen at the 2012 Arizona International Film Festival (April 13-29).
We will update when we know the screening times.
We will update when we know the screening times.
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