Movies/TV/Streaming

Dear PoPville,

I thought you might be interested in our film Mysterious Prison, which is a docu-drama that looks at homelessness in DC through the stories of six characters. Below is a link to the official trailer. The film has had a couple screenings at the E Street Cinema and the new Angelika Film Center Mosaic in Fairfax, VA. We are planning more local screenings in collaboration with non-profits and organizations that deal with homelessness. We also are taking the film to festivals around the country. If you or your readers are interested in the film they can check out the film’s Facebook page.

Dog Days Trailer from Kasey Kirby on Vimeo.

Dear PoPville,

My newest documentary is called DOG DAYS. Filmed as a labor-of-love project over the past 4 years, the film tells the story of an unemployed dreamer and a 20-year veteran hotdog vendor as they tackle DC’s broken vending industry in pursuit of the American Dream. It’s a film with strong themes of entrepreneurship, perseverance and hope, and it showcases the hometown culture of DC that so few films ever reflect.

We premiered the film’s trailer via our Kickstarter campaign page, as we’re in the midst of trying to fund the last phase of post-production in the hopes of premiering at Silverdocs in June.

Photo via wikipedia by David Shankbone

From a press release:

Martin Scorsese, Academy Award winning American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian and preservationist, will deliver the 2013 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The annual lecture, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.

Scorsese will present the 42nd Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on Monday, April 1, 2013, at 7:30 PM at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., where he will discuss the evolution of his films, the art of storytelling, and the inspiration he draws from the humanities.

The acclaimed director and producer of some 50 films, Scorsese has directed such landmark works as Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and The Departed (2006). His singular vision has helped define modern American film. Drawing inspiration from such wide-ranging sources as Fellini, Powell and Pressburger, Hitchcock, Dante, and Dostoyevsky, Scorsese is renowned for having expanded the boundaries of his art. His films, though incredibly diverse in subject and style, are reputed for their incorporation of camera and editing techniques from different genres and distinctive treatment of signature themes of isolation and tribal identity, violence and loss, guilt and redemption, faith and spirituality.

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Mark writes:

“I’m a local filmmaker and had tapped residents to submit 10 second videos of their day during inauguration (the most mundane details). This is the result. A nice time capsule of January 21, 2013.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

Going to the Movies is written by Mount Vernon Triangle resident Catherine Taegel.

This week I saw “Warm Bodies” starring Nicholas Hoult as R, the zombie with a heart. This is Hoult’s first stab at the starring role in a film. (You can see him later this year as Jack in “Jack the Giant Slayer”as well.) The story is a of world post zombie apocalypse, but with a twist. R, the young zombie, falls in love with a much alive young female human, and begins to feel again. A friend referred to it as the best both worlds for a date night – zombies for the guys and romance for the ladies. I can get down with that, but I did relatively enjoy both sides.

The film opens with R aimlessly wondering (stumbling) around an abandoned airport with other zombies. His internal dialogue shows us that unlike most zombies we’ve encountered before, there is something in him. He has habits, a personality, and his sarcastic voiceover guiding each scene exposes the utter ridiculousness that is zombies. Since the sole purpose of zombies is to eat humans, it’s befitting that R discovers his one true love on a quest for a meal.

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

Going to the Movies is written by Mount Vernon Triangle resident Catherine Taegel.

Last evening I saw a screening of “Parker” starring Jason Statham (“The Italian Job” &“The Transporter” trilogies) and Jennifer Lopez.  The movie was exactly what I expected it to be – it is starring Jason Statham after all – but I was actually alright with that. Jason Statham has created a nice little action star niche and he is in his groove in Parker.

With all of the heavy hitter movies out there these days – Lincoln, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo – we all need a little mindless entertainment. And I mean that in a good way. Parker is not going to win any awards. It’s no cinematic feat with a carefully crafted script. It’s a typical action film that doesn’t quite stand up to “Bad Boys” but is at least better than “Public Enemies”.

Jason Statham stars as Parker, a thief who would like to think he has a moral compass, but let’s face it – he’s about kicking ass and taking names. Again, it is Jason Statham. The plot is surface level –  he gets wronged and wants to get even. It really is that simple. The movie opens at the Ohio State Fair and while the entire encounter maybe lasts around ten minutes, it’s probably the longest scene in one place in the entire movie. That’s an action movie for you though – continuously moving with the guide of a revolving door of stolen cars.

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

Last night I watched “The Impossible” with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. The film is about the true story of the Belon family who miraculously survived the deadly tsunami that hit Thailand on December 26, 2004 and killed 230,000 people. Watching “The Impossible” I already knew the ending. It’s no spoiler alert. You know the family survives, but that clearly wasn’t the intention of the film. The journey of a family played a supporting role to the real story of sheer devastation that happened in an instant, with no notice at all. This film was about impact.

“The Impossible” opens in darkness. A thunderous sound, that you assume is the tsunami, grows louder and louder. Seconds later the screen comes alight and the sound climaxes as a plan soars overhead. We are introduced to the Bennett family – Maria, Henry, Lucas, Thomas, and Simon (10, 8, and 5, respectively) – on a plane coming into Thailand to spend Christmas at a beautiful resort right on the Indian Ocean. The first twenty or so minutes of the film are a purposeful build-up. The family relaxes, enjoys a beautiful Christmas day, and expects the next days to be as perfect as the last. The scenes show peace, comfort, and blissful ignorance. However, the audience knows what’s coming and my heart raced as I waited for the impending moment.

Director Juan Antonio Boyana (The Orphanage) did respect to the experience of going through this disaster. He wanted you to feel the terror, pain, and anguish that undoubtedly surrounded the moments just before, during, and after the tsunami. Mission accomplished. You watch the sea rise up, people freeze and brace for the impact, and then you’re at Maria. She’s clinging for dear life to a palm tree and shrieks with terror. It’s real. This is happening. She hears the screams of her oldest son, Lucas (Tom Holland), and watches as he is whisked away by the sea. You feel her maternal instincts as she lunges into the wave, leaving the seeming safety of the palm tree, to get to him. Another wall of water comes rushing to shore and the terror occurs all over again. It is truly unbelievable.

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