Washington Jewish Film Festival

Posted on November 29, 2011 at 4:49 pm

One of the highlights of the movie-going year is the Washington Jewish Film Festival and this year’s line-up is spectacular. As usual, the range of subjects and genres and countries is astonishingly varied and this year that also includes gender, with 19 of the film directed by women and a special award for DC-based filmmaker Aviva Kempner (Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg and The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg).

Some of this year’s highlights include:

“The Kissinger Sage: Walter and Henry, Two Brothers from Fuerth” For the first time the former Secretary of State and his “younger, richer brother” agreed to talk about their lives as Jewish children in Germany, their flight from the Nazis, and their experiences in America. They return to the town that was their home and share personal mementos and photographs.

“Dolphin Boy” A teenager from an Arab village is traumatized by a brutal attack by his classmates and can no longer speak. This documentary covers his therapy with dolphins and his struggle for healing.

“Reuniting the Rubins” British actor Timothy Spall (“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”) is an uptight lawyer whose mother (onetime Bond girl Honor Blackman) blackmails him into a reunion with his estranged children, including a hard-charging capitalist, an environmental activist, and a rabbi.

“Standing Silent” This timely story of a courageous Orthodox man who insisted on going public with evidence of sexual abuse in the Orthodox community demonstrates that victims can become survivors if they are given a voice.

“Mahler on the Couch” Tom Lehrer famously and hilariously sang of Alma Mahler and her romances with three of the most important men of the early 20th century. This is a drama about Alma’s affair with architect Walter Gropius while she was married to composer Gustav Mahler and her treatment by Sigmund Freud.

Check out the WJFF schedule!

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Comic-Con: Final Round-Up and Coming Attractions

Posted on July 28, 2011 at 12:55 pm

“We have to realize that something important has happened,” one of the presenters said at Comic-Con. “We won. All around us in movies, television and books there are vampires, zombies, superheroes, magic, and aliens.” He was exaggerating, of course, but he was also right. Comic-Con describes itself as honoring “the popular arts.” There were banks of booths with comic books, of course, and movies, games, and television about zombies, vampires, superheroes, magic, and aliens, but Comic-Con attendees lines up for hours to see shows like “Glee” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” The upcoming series about 1960’s Pan Am flight attendants (or, as they were called then, stewardesses) had a booth and a bunch of very pretty young ladies in Pam Am uniforms giving out flight bags. As Washington Post “Celebritology” blogger Jen Chaney noted, the television shows were more buzz-worthy than the movies this year. They had longer lines and more enthusiastic crowds. What you don’t see at Comic-Con is anything about real housewives or cupcakes or bachelors with rose ceremonies. Comic-Con attendees love strong stories filled with imagination, excitement, and wit. And of course they like dressing up!

I heard about some upcoming projects still in the very early stages that sound like they could fill the legendary 6000-seat Hall H at future Comic-Cons. The ones I am most excited about are:

The movie adaptation of Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel. Last year, this amazing book was my favorite Comic-Con discovery, and since then it has been announced that J.J. Abrams will be directing a film based on this amazing story of an early 20th century robot, expected in 2013.

“Paranorman.” I was thrilled to get a sneak peek at the next movie from the brilliant stop-motion folks at LAIKA, the people behind “Coraline.” I spoke with writer-director Chris Butler about this story of a boy who can communicate with zombies. I was enthralled with the concept drawings and molded figures and sets they showed us (but sadly not allowed to take any photos to share with you) and delighted to hear that Jon Brion will be providing the soundtrack. Voice talent includes Kodi Smit-McPhee (“Let Me In”), Broadway star Elaine Stritch, John Goodman, Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air”), and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (“Superbad”).

And three young authors whose books are being made into movies talked to a small group of reporters.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is the story of two rival illusionists in an enchanted Victorian-era circus.

Divergent by Veronica Roth, is the first in a Hunger Games-style trilogy about a dystopic future where civilization is divided into five factions. The sixteen-year-old heroine has to undergo a brutal initiation when she leaves her family to join a rival group. Roth told us the idea came from a vision she imagined of “a step into nothingness.” She wrote the book instead of doing her homework in an MA program at Northwestern.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion is the story of a zombie with a soul — and the memories of the teenage boy whose brains he consumed. He ends up pursuing the boy’s girlfriend — romantically, not carnivorously. The talented Jonathan Levine (“The Wackness”) is directing the film, starring Nicholas Hoult (“About a Boy,” “A Single Man”). He was thrilled to be invited to have dinner to “talk shop” with Stephanie Meyer, whose blurb is on the top of the book cover. When asked about the appeal of zombies he said, “They’re cool and we like to see things get eaten.”

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Comic-Con: Catching Up with the Winner Twins

Posted on July 26, 2011 at 5:58 pm

One of my favorite moments at Comic-Con each year is my chance to catch up with the brilliant and beautiful Winner twins, Brianna and Brittney, whose astonishing mastery of story and vocabulary has produced an extraordinary body of work. The mirror image identical twins published the first volume of their science fiction series at age 11 and now travel to schools to encourage other young writers. This year, they conducted a panel for would-be writers and I was very impressed with their advice on everything from getting started (it works best if you start from the end!), working with a partner (they use a pen as a “speaking stick” to make sure they both get a chance to talk), overcoming writer’s block, and finding an objective but constructive third party to provide feedback. I especially liked their emphasis on the fun of writing, which is, as they reminded the group, the reason to do it. I highly recommend their booklet on how to write. And their Strand series is a great book for tweens and teens, and even for adults.

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Comic-Con: Big News from Riverdale and Archie Comics

Posted on July 24, 2011 at 3:39 pm

I had a blast at the Archie Comic panel. Everyone there was a nice and friendly and enthusiastic as you would hope to find in the idyllic environs of Riverdale. But there is very big news. In its own nice and friendly and enthusiastic way, Archie Comics is one of the most innovative companies at Comic-Con or anywhere else, on every level from distribution to story.

I was delighted to hear that Kevin, Archie’s first gay character, is so successful he will have his own comic. I love the way that in the first issue, they show that Kevin was not always the handsome, confident kid who becomes class president at Riverdale High. We get to meet some of his close friends from middle school and see that he had his awkward stage, too. Even more amazingly, Archie’s future stories will include visits from Sarah Palin and Barack Obama — who will share a soda at the malt shop — and NY Giant Michael Strahan and even KISS in a four-part miniseries! With separate series for Archie as a tot, a child, a teen, and a married man, they say they have “a metaverse as rich and plentiful as anything at Marvel and DC,” with “a flowchart from that wall to that wall.”

The Archie folks are very proud that they were the first to have “day and date” availability of their comics online and they are dedicated to making them accessible on every platform from iPhone app to Android and Windows 7 to Nook and Kindle, with 3 million downloads of their app so far. Their long-time partnership with Ronald MacDonald House will be supported with the 75th anniversary issue, with all proceeds going to help sick kids and their families.

Comic-Con: The Director Mash-Ups

Posted on July 24, 2011 at 11:45 am

One of the great pleasures of Comic-Con is hearing film-makers talk to us about their movies. But it gets exponentially better when we get to listen in to them talk to each other. The infinitely generous Guillermo Del Toro (he gave out his email address and invited fans to write to ask to visit him on set) shared the stage at Comic-Con’s largest venue in two separate events, one with Jon Favreau and one with protege Nicolas Winding Refn.

Del Toro co-wrote and produced a remake of the cult classic “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” The original, a 1973 made-for-television movie starring Kim Darby and Jim Hutton was about a young wife who discovers scary creatures in a house she has inherited. In the new version, it is a little girl living with her father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) who hears the creepy rasp, “Saaaaaally, Saaaaaaally….” In the first-ever Comic-Con event from impressive new studio Film District, he appeared to discuss the film with Danish director Refn, of “Drive,” also produced by Del Toro. “It is our duty to produce first-time film-makers,” Del Toro, told the crowd. He spoke about the power of fantasy. His background was in special effects and creature fabrication and he speaks lovingly of the monsters he creates and the importance of details. “Context is everything in a fable because every story has already been told.” Refn said that “tracking is good, but still imprints on our brains.” He loves the images where what matters is what is behind, when what is in the background engulfs the image.

Later, Del Toro appeared with Favreau to compare and appreciate each other’s approach. Favreau, as shown in “Iron Man,” likes mechanical effects. Del Toro (“Hellboy”) takes advantage of whatever illusions technology can provide. “There was not a single real thing in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth.'” Favreau called in Del Toro for advice on some of the action scenes in “Cowboys & Aliens.” And he urged us all to be on the lookout for a new book about Del Toro’s “Bleak House,” his very own haunted mansion. Speaking of which, one thing these two directors have in common is forthcoming films based on Disney theme park attractions. Favreau is working with Michael Chabon on “The Magic Kingdom,” and Del Toro will direct “The Haunted Mansion,” which will do its job if it erases the memory of the Eddie Murphy version. Del Toro assured us that this one will not be a comedy.

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