Posts Tagged ‘New York City’

Short Take: Funny and unique, yet the premise goes largely unexplored

Director: Adam McKay (Step Brothers, Anchorman)

Screenwriter: Adam McKay (Step Brothers), Chris Henchy (Land of the Lost (2009))

Cast: Will Ferrell (Step Brothers, Blades of Glory), Mark Wahlberg (The Lovely Bones), Steve Coogan (Hamlet 2), Michael Keaton (Toy Story 3)

Length: 1h 37m

Synopsis: Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) are New York City detectives who are stuck in the proverbial daily grind. Hoitz is always itching to escape the office and do some hardcore investigating, while Gamble is perfectly content with doing endless paperwork. Both partners, however, envy co-detectives Highsmith (Jackson) and Danson (Johnson), who continually create headlines and make the detective life look glamorous and movie-like. These two would-be celebrities end up meeting their maker sooner rather than later, though, which inspires Hoitz and Gamble to take more initiative and be more ambitious with their investigations. This newfound attitude steers them towards a possible grand-scale white collar crime not dissimilar to the Bernie Madoff fiasco, but because of a series of mishaps their Captain (Keaton) and even the District Attorney step in and order them to back off. Despite this order Hoitz and Gamble are unable to let go of the case, and wont stop until they’ve got their man. Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Tons of action and laughs, as well as surprisingly introspective

Director: Matthew Vaughn (Stardust)

Screenwriters: Matthew Vaught and Jane Goldman (Stardust); based on comic books by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Cast: Aaron Johnson (The Illusionist), Chloe Moretz (500 Days of Summer), Nicolas Cage (The Bad Lieutenant), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Role Models), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes)

Length: 1h 57m

Synopsis: Dave Lizewsky (Johnson) was a painfully average teenage boy growing up in New York City. One day, however, he asked himself a very serious question: why hasn’t anyone actually tried to be a super hero? Although it’s not the most realistic or feasible endeavor to pursue – or safest for that matter – he convinces himself that he should nevertheless give the idea a serious try because standing up to crime is the right thing to do. Through his efforts Lizewsky discovers the serious drawbacks to his idea by getting beaten half to death, but after recouping he dusts himself off and, after some hard-fought success with dishing out justice, is rewarded with praise and admiration from the city’s populous. Unbeknownst to him, however, his fame and actions become a thorn in the side of one of the city’s biggest crime lords, Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong). But is this teen, self-named Kick-Ass, the real nuisance, or is it someone else? Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: The story isn't bad, but unfortunately it's mismanaged

Director: Julio DePietro (Début)

Screenwriter: Julio DePietro (Début); Ford Madox Ford (novel, The Good Soldier)

Cast: Alexis Bledel (Post Grad, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants), Bryan Greenberg (Bride Wars, Prime), Scott Porter (Dear John, Bandslam)

Length: 1 hour 30 minutes

Synopsis: Narrated by slick Wall Street trader Tommy (Porter), the film shows how his life goes from perfect to depressing in a matter of six weeks.  During that time, Tommy works on his relationship with new girlfriend Beth (Bledel) who works as an urban conservationist and leads a book club with her friends.  Tommy also coaches his sensitive coworker Daniel (Greenberg), an ex-soldier, on both dating and trading. Read the rest of this entry »

A still from the newly found and restored "Crossroads of Youth"

The Korea Society would like you to join them for a special screening of Korea’s oldest surviving silent film that is going to be screened at New York Film Festival. It is a digitally restored historic film that is accompanied by live music and narration. We believe this could be a good study for Film and East Asia Studies both. This is a good opportunity to grasp the vivid look of Seoul in 1930s’s as well.

The Korea Society and the Film Society of Lincoln Center will take audiences to a bygone era when they present Korea’s oldest surviving silent film, Crossroads of Youth, accompanied by musicians and live narrators (byeonsa) of the type found in Korean theaters of the 1930s. This special screening event will take place at 11:00 AM on October 3, in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, as part of the 47th New York Film Festival. Read the rest of this entry »

New York, NY – The Second Annual Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York will be held at Tribeca Cinemas on September 18-20, 2009. This year the festival will include a varied program of new documentaries by filmmakers in Russia and the Russian diaspora in the US.

The festival’s opening film – “Marilyn Monroe, Anthony Quinn and others – Michael Chekhov’s Star System” tells of the life of Russian immigrant actor and pedagogue, Michael Chekhov, who created his own acting technique. Such prominent actors as Anthony Quinn, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, Yul Brynner and others were all students of Chekhov. His acting technique is still used by actors in Hollywood and on Broadway. The film will be introduced by his student, actress and casting director Joanna Merlin, president of the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA). Read the rest of this entry »