New Yorker Films is back in business!

(February 9, 2010)  Aladdin Distribution LLC, a Marina del Rey, CA-based company, has announced the acquisition of New Yorker Films’ library, which has amassed over 400 film titles.

Veteran film executives David Raphel, a former President of Twentieth Century Fox International, Christopher Harbonville, a producer formerly associated with the Cambridge Film Group; and Hani Musleh, a former investment banker, founded Aladdin Distribution LLC in late 2009, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aladdin Films Corporation, which is an international motion picture development, financing and production company. 

New Yorker Films was founded by Dan Talbot in 1965, and became one of the most influential distributors of foreign language and independent films in the US. The principals of Aladdin Distribution LLC announced that Jose Lopez, formerly Dan Talbot’s business partner and Vice-President of New Yorker Films, will remain with the company and has been named President.  Peter Marai has been hired as Acquisitions Consultant.

The company will operate out of New York City starting March 8, 2010, a year after New Yorker was forced to close its doors, the pioneer distributor of foreign language and independent films is back in business.

New Yorker Films is committed to continue releasing quality art and independent films from around the world. The company plans to acquire 6 to 8 titles each year for theatrical release. The Non-Theatrical and Home Video departments, both integral parts of the company, will continue acquiring and releasing numerous films.

New Yorker Films has a legendary legacy, boasting a long-standing track record in foreign film distribution, bringing a staggering number of international auteurs to American movie theaters for more than four decades. The company’s crucial role in establishing a lasting film culture in this country cannot be underestimated. An illustrious roster of directors whose films were released by New Yorker Films includes: Akerman, Alea, Bertolucci, Bresson, Chabrol, Fassbinder, Fellini, Godard, Herzog, Kieslowski, Kurosawa, Kusturica, Lanzmann, Malle, Ozu, Rivette, Rohmer, Rossellini, Sembene, Straub-Huillet, Tanner, Wenders, Errol Morris, Wayne Wang, and many others.

Forum Citoyen D' AfriScope

Frozen

"Frozen" is a suspense thriller that's better than it deserves to be, but still not as good as it should be. Jason (Kevin Zegers) and Parker (Emma Bell) are a soon-to-be-engaged couple on a weekend ski trip with Jason's best-friend-since-childhood Lynch (Shawn Ashmore). The trio get stuck on a closing Sunday night ski-lift ride that leaves them hanging forty-five feet above the ground in the midst of a fierce snow storm and below freezing temperatures. It's a simple yet imaginative device that bumps and grinds with palpable suspense and campy horror. The dialogue hits snags of sophomoric screenwriting tics that put a buzz-kill on the otherwise gripping tension on display. Less-than-polished performances from its young actors, work inadvertently to the film's advantage because we witness fresh discoveries of character levels in an intrinsically heightened natural atmosphere. The film's brilliant opening sequence--a series of close-up shots of the ski-lift's cables and gears--goes a long way to expressing the Hitchcock-style that writer/director Adam Green aspires to achieve. If only he had matched his material's verbal and thematic expression to his poetic eye.

Rated R. 93 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)

Alice In Wonderland

February 5th Episode

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Posted by Cole Smithey on February 6, 2010 in Film | Permalink
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Night of the Living Dead (Classic Film Pick)

In the context of a social revolution boiling around the ongoing war in Viet Nam, George A. Romero made an independent horror film that shocked audiences to their core. Filmed on a budget of $114,000, Romero used black-and-white film stock to create a verite masterpiece of revolutionary filmmaking. "Night of the Living Dead" introduced zombies as a literal metaphor for blood-hungry soldiers of every stripe. Romero's "zombie" device would become a narrative touchstone of universal appeal. Siblings Johnny (Russell Streiner) and Barbara (Judith O'Dea) visit their father's grave in Pennsylvania where they are attacked by a zombie in a textbook chase scene that bristles with fear and suspense. Barbara escapes to a farmhouse where she teams up with Ben (Duane Jones). A small group of refugees hiding in the home's cellar afford the film with its inner motor of conflict that must be turned against the zombies. Romero handles the violence with a Gothic sense of dread. Before it's over, family members will have to kill their one of their own who's been bitten by a zombie. Romero was inspired by Richard Matheson's 1954 sci-fi novel "I Am Legend," but expanded on the doomsday logic to combine commentary with satire in concrete terms of ideological conflict. George Romero went onto to expand on his original concept with a biting attack on consumerist culture ("Dawn of the Dead" - 1978) that once again flipped the horror genre on its head. Romero saw the enemy, and they are the zombie masses among us. There is nowhere safe to hide.

Posted by Cole Smithey on February 6, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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The Red Riding Trilogy

Precariously ambitious in its scope, the "Red Riding Trilogy" consists of three interconnected films--directed by three different directors--about a series of child abductions in Northern England over a nine-year period. The trio of films is based on David Peace's crime saga, loosely based on the true-life case of the Yorkshire Ripper (Peter Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women between 1975 and 1980). Director Julian Harold draws the long straw with "Red Riding - 1974" in which a young hotshot Yorkshire newspaper reporter named Eddie Dunford (well played by Andrew Garfield) sees a pattern in the disappearances of children in the area. A web of deception connects local business maverick John Dawson (Sean Bean) with the Yorkshire police department, who have no patience for Eddie's sixth sense about the murder of a young girl. "Red Riding - 1980" (directed by James Marsh) shifts narrative gears considerably to focus on a full-scale investigation into the Yorkshire Police Department's mishandling of the ongoing case. Paddy Considine gives his strongest performance to date as lead investigator Peter Hunter, whose personal life implodes under the corruption that he valiantly attempts to expose. Sadly, the triad ends with a whimper rather than the iconic bang promised by the gut-wrenching climax of the first film. Arnand Tucker ("Leap Year") draws the short straw with "Red Riding - 1983," a comparatively sloppy final chapter that tries too hard to put a bright bow on a determinedly downbeat story. A surprise protagonist, a surprise victim, and a surprisingly miscalculated narrative arc add up to a closing film that all but ruins the lasting effect of the previous two installments. If I had it to do over again, I'd see only the first two films and call it a day. One thing's for sure. You'll never want to go to Yorkshire after seeing this respectable but flawed experiment.

(IFC FIlms) Not Rated. 305 mins. (B-) (Three Stars - out of five/no halves)

Posted by Cole Smithey on February 6, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Dear John

Think of "Dear John" as post-911 America lite; very lite. Where a film like Kimberly Pierce's "Stop-Loss" (2008) drew you into an unaffected universe of American military oppression its own troops, "Dear John" wants to punish and blame its Special Forces soldier John (Channing Tatum) via his head, heart, and libido. For as much blame as Nicholas Sparks deserves for writing the soft soap novel that this heart-sleeve mockery is based on, it's Lasse Halstrom's lacking direction that perpetually pulls the audience out of the puffy romantic wartime equation onscreen. Certainly, Lasse Halstrom films beautiful sun kissed compositions that reek with the odorless endorphins of his love struck characters. But it's not a style that serves Sparks's already affected material. South Carolina's warm summer beaches provide the tiny waves that John surfs on while visiting his autistic father (thanklessly played by Richard Jenkins), whose coin collecting obsession substitutes for a thematic throughline. A beach pier meet-cute with rich girl Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) snowballs into a raging long distance romance that gets a major monkey wrench tossed in when the attacks of 9/11 spell an extended tour of duty for John, who was on the brink of getting out when the attacks occurred. John finds out the hard way that love won't wait forever, and the audience gets treated to the most bone-headed reaction shot of the decade, courtesy of Amanda Seyfried upon hearing about the death of a loved one. Even as weepy, "Dear John" fall short of turning on the waterworks.

Rated PG-13. 102 mins. (C-) (Two Stars - out of five/no halves)

Posted by Cole Smithey on February 5, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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The Losers

Posted by Cole Smithey on February 5, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Posted by Cole Smithey on February 4, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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"Inception" Poster

Posted by Cole Smithey on February 3, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Oscar Nominations for the Films of 2009

Best Picture:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'nique, Precious

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Foreign Film
Israel - Ajami
Argentina - El Secreto de sus Ojos
Peru - The Milk of Sorrow
France - Un Prophete
Germany - The White Ribbon

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, Up

Best Adapted Screenplay
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstron, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Best Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers'
Which Way Home

Best Original Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Best Original Song
Almost There from The Princess and the Frog, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname' from Paris 36, Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
Take It All from Nine, Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart, Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Posted by Cole Smithey on February 2, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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