Local film lovers got a major shock on Wednesday, when various media reports surfaced that the Maple Art Theatre in Bloomfield Hills would be going dark by the month’s end. The rumor, that the Maple’s owners, the indie-flick specialist Landmark chain, had lost its lease, was confirmed with a press release: “Unfortunately, we have...
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Now in it’s fifth year of operation; the Detroit Film Critics Society, of which I and my friend Jeff Meyers are proud members, have released their nominations. It’s an intriguing list, in what was a somewhat unusual year, with fewer obvious, big budget favorites than is often the case. Many smaller films garnered acclaim;...
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A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas Kal Penn, John Cho, Thomas Lennon, Neil Patrick Harris Rated: R Run Time: 90 min Grade B- The Harold and Kumar franchise is about as rude, outrageous and unrepentantly sacrilegious as mainstream American movies get, at least until Trey Parker and Matt Stone make another picture. Here’s...
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Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 Director: Goran Olsson Run time: 100 min Grade B- Just when you thought that we’ve explored every nook cranny and walk in closet of the chaotic, exhilarating cultural upheavals of mid-twentieth century America, there comes a fascinating scrapbook of odds and ends delivered from the unlikeliest of places; Sweden. Yes,...
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Talking Ibogaine with the Dimitri Mugianis the self-styled Bwiti shaman featured in the film "Dangerous With Love"
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There’s a hoary old legend, famous in fanboy circles, that sometime in the spring of 1961 Martin Goodman, publisher of tiny, struggling Marvel Comics played a friendly round of golf with some of his rivals over at DC. No one remembers who won on the links, but allegedly Goodman got a chapped ass from...
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Day 7 – Wednesday Morgan Spurlock’s “Comic-Con: Episode IV – A Fan’s Hope,” turns out to be better than I expected. Far from a snarky smackdown on the geeks and freaks who descend on this San Diego festival every year, Spurlock offers an affectionate look at those who attend. From a young geek who...
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Today started at 7:00am with profoundly good luck at the box office. Sometimes, additional tickets for a screening go on sale that morning, and I was hoping this would be the case for a screening of George Clooney’s The Ides of March and the gala premiere of David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method. Amazingly, I...
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Despite my plan to post summaries of every film every day I am now beginning to realize that sleep and the need to eat precludes my ability to deliver a daily report. So, I’ve decided to instead mention the highlights of my last four days at the festival. Day 5 – Monday Kicked things...
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Five films today and things start out strong. The first screening of the day is a 9AM showing of Sarah Polley’s sophomore effort “Take This Waltz.” Polley, better known as an actress (Dawn Of The Dead, Go, The Sweet Hereafter), made an impressive debut with the tender and affecting “Away From Her,” which starred...
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