'TOMBSTONE' AT THE LIGHTHOUSE CINEMA ON NEW YEARS' DAY COURTESY OF GRINDHOUSE DUBLIN!!! REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Film Review - Palo Alto (2013)

EEFF 2014 Film Review - Palo Alto (2013)

Gia Coppola's Directorial Debut Palo Alto To Get Summer 2014 Tribeca U.S Release

Tribeca Film today announced it has acquired North American rights to Gia Coppola’s acclaimed directorial debut Palo Alto, starring Emma Roberts (“American Horror Story,” We’re the Millers), Jack Kilmer (in his acting debut), James Franco (Spring Breakers), Nat Wolff (“The Naked Brothers Band”), Zoe Levin (The Way, Way Back), and Val Kilmer. Written and directed by Coppola, and based on Franco's short story collection of the same name, the film features an original soundtrack by Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange) and Robert Schwartzman. Following a prestigious festival run at the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival, a Spring 2014 theatrical release is planned.

Palo Alto weaves together three stories of teenage lust, boredom, and self-destruction: shy, sensitive April (Emma Roberts), torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach (James Franco) and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy (Jack Kilmer); Emily (Zoe Levin), who offers sexual favors to any boy to cross her path; and the increasingly dangerous exploits of Teddy and his best friend Fred (Nat Wolff), whose behavior may or may not be sociopathic. One of the strongest American directorial debuts of the past decade, Coppola's film has a palpable sense of time and place, but her characters — seeking cheap thrills and meaningful connections — could be teenagers from any generation.

“Gia Coppola’s auspicious filmmaking debut Palo Alto is an elegant depiction of generational angst and despair which resonates with realism and restraint. Fueled by a vibrant cast of young talent, Coppola’s artistic collaboration with James Franco results in a thoughtful and subtly intertwined coming of age story,” said Tribeca Film Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore.

“I'm very excited that Tribeca film will distribute my debut feature film, Palo Alto. It's a company that has been a pleasure to partner with and share creative ideas in this ever evolving film industry. I can't think of a better home for my film,” said Gia Coppola.

The deal was negotiated for Tribeca Film by Nick Savva, and Barry Hirsch and George Hayum of Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof + Fishman on behalf of the filmmakers.

Palo Alto is a James Franco and Rabbit Bandini Productions presentation, produced by Sebastian Pardo, Adriana Rotaru, Miles Levy, and Vince Jolivette.

No word yet on who will release Palo Alto in UK if and when that date will be too.

Source: Tribeca Press Release

Horror Channel brings winter chills

Deep and crisp and bloody! Get ready to be frozen to the bone this November with Horror Channel’s Winter Chills Weekend – featuring some truly snow-filled spine tingling premieres.

Fri Nov 9 @ 22:55

The hills are alive – with undead Nazis as the season kicks off with the premiere of DEAD SNOW (2009), a beautifully nasty horror comedy directed by Tom Wirkola (Hansel &Gretel Witch Hunters). With a car full of ski equipment and enough beer to fuel their escape from everyday life, eight medical students head out on their vacation.  Isolated in the snowy hills the group begin to realise they came to the wrong resort, as deep in the hills lay an unthinkable evil. 

Sat Nov 10 @ 22.55

The season continues with BLOOD RUNS COLD (2011). Swedish director Sonny Laguna gives the slasher genre a welcome Scandinavian make-over. Record-producer Winona heads to her hometown on the outskirts of Stockholm for a break... Shortly after settling in, she invites a former boyfriend and a couple to the house. But there is an unknown presence stirring within the house, one that has been waiting for the right moment to strike.

 

 

Sun Nov 11 @ 22.55

Wrapping up the season is sci-fi horror thriller THE THAW (2009) Directed by Mark A Lewis, it stars Val Kilmer as Dr. Krupien the head of a team of ecology students, who are examining a melting ice cap in the Arctic.  When Krupien unearths a prehistoric specimen the likes of which has never been seen, he summons four of his brightest students to take part in the excavation. But the melting polar ice-cap has released a deadly pre-historic parasite…

 

EIFF 2012: Fourth Dimension Review

★★☆☆☆

Three filmmakers, each with the same brief, construct three separate short films on the subject of the fourth dimension (4D). This being that there is a fourth spacial dimension in our world waiting to be accessed. Not that you are likely to pick any of this up from the disjointed and completely tedious, The Fourth Dimension. However, praise should go to The Fourth Dimensions' producers for attempting to create something unique.

The first segment entitled 'The Lotus Community Workshop' directed by Harmony Korine is by far the film's strongest asset. Val Kilmer stars as himself, with the actor now working as an inspirational self-help guru promising his followers the prospect of discovering "awesome secrets". The strength of the segment relies on Kilmers' wonderful screen-presence and outrageous improvisation - his performance lying somewhere between comedy genius and demented lunacy. Set in a red lit skating rink, complete with disco ball, Korine's segment captures the way people look to celebrity in almost a God-like fashion, searching for a way of higher being. This is captured through the audiences obsessive screams at any of Kilmer's statements, regardless of how implausible and ridiculous they are.

As we move on to the second segment, Alexey Fedorchenko’s Chronoeye things take a rather extreme turn for the worst. Despite being the closest thematically to an idea of a fourth dimension, an interesting concept is squandered by a repetitive narrative and dull characterisation. Chronoeye sees Russian scientist, Grigory Mikhailovich (Igor Sergeev) attempt to create a machine that can view the most important moments throughout history through eyewitness accounts. Whilst this concept does sound interesting, Fedorchenko’s segement is carried out in such a drab, repetitive fashion that it just becomes completely unengaging.

The final segment Jan Kwiecinski's Fawns sees four youths roam around an evacuated Polish town, as extreme floods approach. Kwiecinski's segment takes a more human approach to the fourth dimension as these boisterous characters soon find their humanity after saving a bedbound young girl from the floods. This statement about humanity does not really hold out too well though, as prior to saving the girl they shoot her father who was attempting to protect her. These characters are particularly unlikeable throughout and as a viewer it was a challenge to regard them with any compassion.

The Fourth Dimension is simply too disjointed to work thematically as one film. How teenagers roaming around an abandoned town relates to Val Kilmer shouting about candy floss and awesome secrets, is anyone's guess. It may make more sense when you see that The Fourth Dimension is from Grolsch Film Works as surely kegs of the stuff must have been downed in order to think this was ever a clever, feasible idea.

Andrew McArthur

Stars:Val Kilmer
Directors: Harmony Korine, Aleksei Fedorchenko, Jan Kwiecinski

Release: 27th June (EIFF)