Quoted in the red band trailer for THE KINGS OF SUMMER, opening May 31st. Watch and go see it! http://bit.ly/KoSRedBand
Here. We. Go.
Dear friends: I start my new career at Cinedigm and Docurama tomorrow. How about you give them a Like and follow? Big things are happening.
Twitter: @Cinedigm, @Docuramafilms
Facebook: /Cinedigm, /DocuramaFilms
That’ll Do, Whale: Saying Goodbye to Film Criticism
My first film festival badge as press.
This is my last post as a film critic.
Seems like only yesterday two guys had a dream to make a fun movie website to belt out their affinity for all things cinema. Gordon and the Whale was born, and Rusty Gordon and I turned our passion into something great. We built a solid team and people started listened to our wit, charm, professionalism, and all around silliness. It was a wild ride of awesome.
Four and a half years later, I shut down GordonandtheWhale.com (read about it here). It was a the hardest decision I ever had to make, and months after, I questioned if it was the right decision. It was weird seeing my writers, who became family, disband and fade away in my life. It definitely wasn’t easy, but I’ve learned that people come and go in our lives. Change is hard, but each and every person I’ve come across on this now six-year journey has influenced me in one way or another.
As soon as GATW shut down, the founder and editor of this very site, Todd Brown, asked me to write for Twitch. Being a fan of the site since I can remember, this was intimidating and terrifying and wonderful all at the same time, but everyone welcomed me with open arms. Twitch is a family that has each other’s backs when things get hairy (unpleasant pun for you). I learned a lot about my writing through Twitch and the site really molded the film critic I’ve become today. Gordon and the Whale gave me a voice, but it was Twitch that shaped how I wanted to be heard.
“Upstream Color is a very rich and layered movie, but it’s also rich and beautiful.” - Quoted on the new poster with many of my favorite colleagues for Shane Carruth’s UPSTREAM COLOR.
Apple released the new trailer for THE KINGS OF SUMMER. For the first time in my career as a film critic, my name and quote made the front page for a film there. I’m also quoted in the trailer (same quote), which is still awesome. I love this film a whole, whole lot.
Watch: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/thekingsofsummer/
A quote from my SPRING BREAKERS review is used twice in the latest Dallas Observer print magazine. SPRANG BREAK 4EVA!
Finally. A pull-quote from one of my reviews has made it to the big screen. Very happy that it’s for THE KINGS OF SUMMER.
Quoted on the festival poster for THE KINGS OF SUMMER. Humbly honored - this movie is one of my favorites of the year.
Can’t wait for you to see this film. Go here: http://thekingsofsummermovie.com/
THE KINGS OF SUMMER Teaser (With A Pull-Quote From My Sundance Review)
THE KINGS OF SUMMER (formerly TOY’S HOUSE) just released a teaser, and you must watch it. It’s one of the best (and funniest) films to come out of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Also, that top quote is mine - if you squint really hard, you can see my name and TwitchFilm.com. #Neat
Watch the teaser here: http://youtu.be/rTJTKM04BoA
SXSW 2013 Review: SPRING BREAKERS
Bikinis. Boobs. Bongs. Booze. Blasphemy. Bullets. Bloodshed. Bad bitches.
Welcome to Harmony Korine’s vision of that great week of brainless college self-indulgence, Spring Breakers. By now, you’ve seen some kind of viral marketing – Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Selena Gomez with Rachel Korine (Harmony’s wife) in neon-colored bikinis, holding guns or wearing pink masks with the great tagline, “A coming-of-rage story.” Disney girls gone wild and batshit crazy, with a little help from mysterious James Franco and weirdo auteur filmmaker Korine. This group’s camaraderie is intoxicating.
James Wallace and I spoke to film students about Gordon and the Whale and film criticism at our alma mater yesterday, the University of North Texas. We managed to only put 99% to sleep.
Sundance 2013 Review: David Gordon Green’s PRINCE AVALANCHE
Breathe easy everyone, King David Gordon Green has returned to making good movies again. It’s been four films since the former indie auteur has made a solid one, and three of those were not under studio restraints. After The Sitter shit on everything Green worked so hard for, I worried we’d never get back the man so many of us movie geeks once adored for his Sundance hits All the Real Girls and Snow Angels, and the dystopian future we read about in the Bible was on its way.
Since science or logic will never be able to comprehend or understand what was going through Green’s mind when he made Your Highness and The Sitter, and he’ll probably never explain or defend these films, we’re going to pretend they never, ever happened. Pineapple Express was a wacky and humorous attempt at mixing comedians with hard violence and drugs, and though sub-par, it was at least enjoyable.
Sundance 2013 Review: THE RAMBLER Wanders Into Disorientation And Madness
If David Lynch and David Cronenberg teamed up with Werner Herzog early in their careers and made a movie together, it would have been Calvin Reeder’s The Rambler. Wherever you stand with these three auteurs, that’s either a big, big compliment, or it’s quite the opposite. I proudly stand on the former side of the fence, so this review is going to say some flattering things about The Rambler, a mixture of unhinged brilliance, idiocy, unsettling confusion, and a whole lot of chaos.
