All Things: Directors

'A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night' Director Ana Lily Amirpour & 'Cold In July' Helmer Jim Mickle Line Up New Projects

Annapurna Pictures and Vice are teaming up for "The Bad Batch," the latest effort from Ana Lily Amirpour. She's the breakout filmmaker behind the cult sensation "A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night" (our review), which earned serious buzz all through 2014 (and received a lot of shine in our Best of 2014 coverage), and her latest sounds like another promising take on genre tropes. The film is a dystopian love story set in a Texas wasteland, but beyond that, there are no plot details. Development is underway, but a start date hasn't yet been set.

Meanwhile, another filmmaker who also blew up the cult circuit last year is Jim Mickle, whose steamy, neon, Texas noir "Cold In July" earned a fair share of attention. Now, Deadline reports he'll direct "The Esperanza Fire," based on the book by John N. Maclean. Sean O’Keefe ("The Escapist," "Riders on the Storm," "The Paper Man") penned the script that follows the men who battle unpredictable forest wildfires. Hot. No word yet on when it will lens.
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Still got to buy Cold In July on Blu...
 
jerseydevil said:
I think you said you saw Stake Land by Mickle, but he made a flick before that call Mulberry Street, which was part of the original(now defunct)8 Films to Die For series. Low budge, but real effective.
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Indeed. Enjoyed Stake Land, so I will have to check Mulberry Street out. Thanks!
 
Watch: Stars Burn Out In New U.S. Trailer And Poster For David Cronenberg's 'Maps To The Stars'



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So I saw Kevin Smith's film "Tusk."

I can officially say that Kevin Smith has turned into George Lucas. I get that he is trying to pass this film off as a joke, or as if he didn't really try all that hard, but like George Lucas I think this is just a front for someone who can't come to grips with the fact that they suck at film making now. I'm pretty sure in his mind Smith thought he would be able to turn this ridiculous story into a decent movie, but when he saw that the finished product looked like a Sci Fi channel quality film Kevin did a good old Lucas. Just say you didn't care all that much, and maybe people won't crusify you.

It worked I guess because this film is very Razzie worthy, but it isn't even nominated.
 
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KingsFan1985 said:
So I saw Kevin Smith's film "Tusk."

I can officially say that Kevin Smith has turned into George Lucas. I get that he is trying to pass this film off as a joke, or as if he didn't really try all that hard, but like George Lucas I think this is just a front for someone who can't come to grips with the fact that they suck at film making now. I'm pretty sure in his mind Smith thought he would be able to turn this ridiculous story into a decent movie, but when he saw that the finished product looked like a Sci Fi channel quality film Kevin did a good old Lucas. Just say you didn't care all that much, and maybe people won't crusify you.

It worked I guess because this film is very Razzie worthy, but it isn't even nominated.
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I disagree with you...but I fully understand your opinion. It's definitely valid if you are not, like me, a huge fan of K. Smith. Also, the full walrus is something you either buy into, or don't. And that will make/break the movie. Did you scoff at the makeup? It's ok...I am actually asking not trying to change your mind...
 
Review: Michael Mann’s 'Blackhat' Starring Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis & Tang Wei

Mann’s tactile, bracing filmmaking is nevertheless engaging and as always polarizing. I'm not often prone to champion aesthetics and auteurial stamps over fundamentals such as character and story, but “Blackhat” is the rare film in which overall viscera trumps more comfortable virtues. As a precise and inflexible art thriller with a singularity of vision, I wouldn’t want anything less. [B+]
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Hrm. One of the rare positive reviews I've read of this, which makes me sad.
 
jerseydevil said:
I disagree with you...but I fully understand your opinion. It's definitely valid if you are not, like me, a huge fan of K. Smith. Also, the full walrus is something you either buy into, or don't. And that will make/break the movie. Did you scoff at the makeup? It's ok...I am actually asking not trying to change your mind...
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Actually I thought the Walrus scenes along with any scene that had Michael Parks in it were the only good parts of the movie. If there is anything the last two Kevin Smith movies have shown is that Smith can do creepy well, and Michael Parks makes for a great muse. The problem I had with the film was everything else. I usually love Kevin Smith humor, but the humor in this movie was down right flat and bad. I guess there is something inherently funny about Canadians and their love for hockey? Then there was the whole girlfriend story that was suppose to add emotional depth to a movie about a crazy guy who cuts people up into walruses?

If the film would have just focused on Justin Long and Michael Parks for the entire time I would have loved the film. As is Tusk to me was a total mess tone wise. Trying to add humor and emotional depth hurt the film greatly because to me it felt like the film wasn't self aware enough to realize this is a horror film about Justin Long being a walrus.

Oh, and then there were the Johnny Deep scenes. Everything after Johnny Deep came into the film made me hate this film with a passion.
 
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Fair enough. More than actually. I guess I was just so caught up in the wtf-ness, that I was more forgiving. You are right though, tonally inconsistent and definitely more a rough outline than a well crafted narrative. I agree with you entirely. And yet it was on my best of list.
 
The Huntsman Loses Frank Darabont but Keeps its Release Date for Now
http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/86025/huntsman-loses-frank-darabont-keeps-release-date-now/

The long MLK Day weekend kicked off with a bit of sour news for those looking forward to seeing what Frank Darabont (The Mist, “The Walking Dead”) might do with The Huntsman, the prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman that’s currently gearing up for production, but he and the project have parted ways over the usual “creative differences.
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difficult much?
 
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