indieWIRE’s Weekend Recap: Top Stories That You May Have Missed
In case you were away from your computer this weekend, here’s a tidy package of our weekend coverage that includes new reviews and interviews straight from the Locarno Film Festival, clips from Herzog’s latest and a full report on the surprising weekend success of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” Also among the highlights is the weekly specialty box office and a feature listing the top b.o. directorial debuts, as well as iW’s 25 new faces to track in independent film for 2011, and Toronto programmer Thom Powers’ insight about this year’s Doc Lineup…
iW Sees the Futures: The Top 25 Filmmaker & Actors (So Far) in 2011
Unimaginable, but with fall—and the onset of Awards Season—edging closer, it’s a good time to look back at this year’s fresh faces in independent film that we’ve featured in our Futures column in 2011.
The Top Grossing Directorial Debuts of All-Time
indieWIRE has a new weekend feature: A retrospective box office chart, based on one of the top indie titles opening this weekend.
Watch: Three Powerful Clips from Werner Herzog’s TIFF Death Row Documentary “Into the Abyss”
“Into the Abyss” finds the veteran documentary filmmaker delving into the legacy of a triple homicide in Texas.
My Top 5 Slightly Illegal Tips For No-Budget Filmmakers
Let’s face it, making films is always better when you’re breaking rules, dodging bullets, and narrowly avoiding the police.
IN HIS OWN WORDS: Scott Rosenbaum Shares a Scene from “The Perfect Age of Rock ‘N Roll”
Rookie feature filmmaker Scott Rosenbaum shares a scene for his passion project “The Perfect Age of Rock ‘N Roll,” starring Kevin Zegers, Jason Rutter, Taryn Manning and Peter Fonda.
Toronto Cheat Sheet! Programmer Thom Powers on This Year’s Doc Lineup
For one of the Toronto Film Festival’s most-anticipated elements—the documentaries—there’s enough for TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers to give indieWIRE a heads up on what he sees as some of the most outstanding titles.
indieWIRE’s Bigger Project of the Day: Andrew Bujalski Explores the 1980’s “Computer Chess” World
Here’s Friday’s daily dose of an indie film in progress; every Friday, we’ll be spotlighting a bigger project, usually from an established filmmaker or affiliated with a bigger production company.
“Winnebago Man” Among the Free Titles in SnagFilms’ 3rd Annual SummerFest Lineup
Every summer, SnagFilms offers up SummerFest, a slate of online world premiere documentaries for free, on-demand streaming. For every Friday in August (starting today), a new film will be available for two weeks on SnagFilms.com and the Snagfilms iPad app as well as on the company’s distribution network, including Hulu.
What to See, What to Skip: New Reviews This Week
There’s a lot opening this week. That said, not everyone is going to want to see monkeys battle it out with James Franco.
LOCARNO REVIEW | Mia Hansen-Love’s Smart “Goodbye First Love” Critiques the Clichés of Teen Romance
Director Mia Hansen-Love is only 30 years old, but her three films already contain textures sharply attuned to the experiences of a long life.
LOCARNO REVIEW | Despite Fix to Formula, Comic Misadventure “Headhunters” Recalls “The Fugitive”
Adapted from Jo Nesbo’s novel by screenwriters Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg from the novel, “Headhunters” announces itself as a routine heist movie by letting Roger, the daring art thief anti-hero’s perspective dominate.
LOCARNO INTERVIEW | Abel Ferrara: Download Torrents of My Undistributed Movies
Ferrara’s appeal is defined by wisecracks, self-deprecation and an unmistakable blend of sleaziness and charm – just like his best movies.
LOCARNO INTERVIEW | Joe Cornish on “Attack the Block” vs. “Cowboys and Aliens”
Produced by his colleague Edgar Wright, “Attack the Block” follows a group of lower class South London teens fending off a horde of carnivorous alien invaders.
Box Office: “Gun Hill Road,” “Bellflower” Top Debuts; “Sarah’s Key” Continues To Impress (UPDATED)
Two directorial debuts out of Sundance – Rashaad Ernesto Green’s “Gun Hill Road” and Evan Glodell’s “Bellflower” – led specialty box office debuts this weekend, each taking quite respectable numbers.
Weekend Box Office: Good Word Propels Rise of the Planet of the Apes to $54 Million, Change-Up Soft
Truth is, Fox did not know what a powerful box office contender it had in prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes, waiting to screen the film until the last minute when the film’s astonishing VFX were final.
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
A movie that opens as well as this one does—and draws you in so effectively—ought to have a finale that doesn’t remind you of cheesy monster movies from years past.
Oscar Watch: How Weta Gives Rise to the Planet of the Apes; Andy Serkis as Lon Chaney
One of the debates on Twitter Friday morning was which movie will be the one to the beat for this year’s VFX Oscar? Michael Bay’s 3-D Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which set out to challenge James Cameron’s 3-D Avatar, or Terrence Malick’s spacey The Tree of Life? Now a new summer movie has entered the Oscar fray: Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
iPOP | This Week on the Scene: “Bellflower,” “Senna” and More!
iPOP has kept busy this week, running into some huge stars as well as capturing an intimate moment for a group of rising filmmakers.
Watch: 3 Clips From Sarah Polley’s ‘Take This Waltz’ With Michelle Williams & Seth Rogen
Take This Waltz” rounds up a great cast and tells the story of a young Toronto married couple, played by Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, who struggle with monogamy and fidelity, as the former is torn between her husband and a new man.
Can Rachel Weisz Save “The Whistleblower”?
In “The Whistleblower” Weisz is so perfectly cast as a woman who stumbles across high-level sex-trafficking that she almost single-handedly carries this disjointed movie and its weighty theme.
Watch: Roland Emmerich Drops Trailer for TIFF Premiere “Anonymous”
A director like Roland Emmerich rarely registers as a blip of indieWIRE’s radar, but we couldn’t ignore the new trailer for “Anonymous,” which promises to be something of a departure for the undisputed king of the apocalyptical blockbuster (“Independence Day,” “2012”).
ARC Entertainment and XLrator Media Snag “Killing Bono”
“Killing Bono,” Nick Hamm’s film adaptation of Neil McCormick’s memoir of his school days with young members of U2, has been snagged for North American distribution by ARC Entertainment and XLrator Media.
