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The Weinstein Company are masters of modern hype. Back when they were Miramax, they ran successful Oscar campaigns to get "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love" to be named Best Picture. As The Weinstein Company, they've wrangled the British production "The King's Speech" and French production "The Artist" into Best Picture wins.

Earlier this year, the magic Weinstein PR touch bestowed its blessings upon "Bully," a tiny documentary about the problem of bullying in U.S. schools that opens at Liberty Hall this weekend. There were some "f" words in the movie and the MPAA, being the naughty-word counting squares that they are, gave the film an "R" rating. Thereby, the kids in middle school and high school -- the ones that need to see the movie the most -- wouldn't be able to see it.

"South Park" was the first to latch on and poke fun at the argument. In an episode earlier this year, Stan makes an anti-bullying documentary and Kyle asks him "If this video needs to be seen by everyone, why don’t you put it on the Internet for free?" Stan had no answer.

As a film critic, I got what seemed like daily updates about the MPAA struggle from Weinstein. Petitions were formed, press releases were sent out, everyone was mobilized, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. The MPAA held strong that there were two or three too many f-bombs in the movie for it not to be "R." Weinstein released "Bully" unrated to six theaters for two weeks to the tune of $279,000. The hubbub was over, and so was the press cycle.

It was then that director Lee Hirsch and Weinstein decided to cut some of the language to get the PG-13 rating. They got it, and "Bully" was re-released in PG-13 form and greeted with relative indifference after all, grossing only $2.7 million in over a month.

Speaking of publicity stunts, how about that Sacha Baron Cohen? First, he dumps the "ashes of Kim Jong Il" on Ryan Seacrest at the Oscars, then he hits up Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live in character to promote his newest shock-satire "The Dictator."

Just this week at Cannes, Baron Cohen as Admiral General Aladeen took a camel on a stroll down the Croisette with two model bodyguards and put together an elaborate hoax for the paparazzi, fighting with a famous Italian model on a private boat and then throwing her "dead body" (wrapped in plastic) overboard.

So, how's the movie?

Uneven, but pretty damn funny, actually. "The Dictator" contains all the shock humor and cultural skewering you’ve come to expect from him, but wraps it all up in a very different package. Larry Charles is on board again as director, and Baron Cohen relentlessly parodies hypocrisy with another fish-out-of-water character, like Borat and Bruno.

The difference is that this movie is made in the style of the modern American romantic comedy. Does this shift in style mean its more conventional than the reality-based "Borat" and "Bruno"? Or is it more subversive because it follows the romcom format while betraying romantic comedy sensibilities with a vicious mean streak and some sublimely shocking moments?

I think that will depend on how you feel about Baron Cohen’s style of humor before you see The Dictator. Some of the jokes in the movie are designed to make you cringe more than they are to challenge you to think, but I still believe Baron Cohen is a fresh and unique comedic voice and an equal-opportunity offender.

Even though the jokes in The Dictator don’t hit as consistently as his previous films, they hit a lot. For every joke that lands with a thud, there are three howlers right around the corner. If you are wondering, by the way, whether Baron Cohen tops himself in the shock humor vein this time out, I would say that he has. Is there another comedian out there willing to mine jokes from such potential landmines as human rights abuses, global terrorism, and 9/11?

The parody may be a little less focused than his previous movies, and the timing and rhythm of the film is a little off sometimes, but its fast-paced and often laugh-out-loud hilarious. Aladeen’s speech at the end of The Dictator is the funniest, wide-ranging political jab I’ve heard in a long time, and it makes me wish there were more of that—but I’ll settle for an uneven film that’s still full of side-splitting moments.

Oh yeah, and then there's this: A movie based on a board game where people call out coordinates and say "hit" or "miss" that actually contains a scene where that takes place. Amidst an alien attack, of course.

Wow. That makes me so excited for "Risk," "Lego: The Movie," "Monopoly," "Ouija," and "Candy Land." I wish I were joking, but all these titles are currently in various stages of development.

I'll leave you with some quotes:

"This is pure desperation. Everyone in Hollywood knows how important it is that a film is a brand before it hits theaters. Battleship. This degrades cinema" – James Cameron

"There is no Hollywood any more, there's just a bunch of banks." – John Cusack

After "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Sweeney Todd," and "Alice in Wonderland," you'd think they would be tired of remakes and adaptations, but Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up for the eighth time in the new movie "Dark Shadows," based on the oddball gothic soap opera that ran in the late 60s and early 70s on ABC.

The results are less than stellar again.

Depp is Barnabas Collins, an 18th-century vampire freed from his coffin in 1972, and most of the film’s funny moments come from his extreme culture shock. Unfortunately for the nearly two-hour movie, most of those scenes appear in the two-minute trailer.

"Dark Shadows" has the talent behind and in front of the camera to be the lusty, campy drama it wants to be, but the movie has a lot of exposition to get out of the way first. When it finally does start moving forward, it lurches and sputters. Key characters disappear for long stretches of time, the pacing is awkward, and some scenes seem to exist in their own universe entirely, having no bearing on the rest of the plot.

Eva Green steals the show as a sexy and wicked witch who’s as cracked as her smile. As usual for Burton, the art direction is a treat and Depp does “weird” really well, but in order for soap operas to work, you have to want characters to get together and break apart. "Dark Shadows" doesn’t accomplish that.

In fact, it has almost no forward momentum at all. Now that’s really odd.

A better bet for this weekend would be the first annual Free State Film Festival, this Friday through Sunday at the Lawrence Arts Center. It's only the first year of the event, but he LAC is showing some of the best new short and feature-length films from prominent local filmmakers, as well as new movies from Sundance Film Festival and SXSW.

At 6 p.m. Friday, the festival’s opening film will be the world premiere of "Rhino," a new thriller-drama with some major acting talent that was shot here in Lawrence and also in Overland Park by KU graduate Patrick Rea.

The award-winning new documentary “Corporate FM,” directed by KU graduate Kevin McKinney is screening at 8 p.m. Friday. This movie took seven years to make and it mourns the death of community-oriented commercial radio at the hands of corporations. One of the radio station controversies at its center is Lawrence's 105.9 The Lazer, a commercial station with huge community ties in the mid-1990s that now is another in a long line of Kiss-FMs that litter the country.

Rea's new feature-length horror movie “Nailbiter,” which received top narrative honors in the Kansas City FilmFest last month, is closing the festival 7 p.m. Sunday. For more info about the Free State Film Festival and its music-based companion festival Spring Into Summer, check out these links.

Speaking of local, the 2012 Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund is accepting applications by local filmmakers for education grants from now until June 1. I talked with Altman Fund founder and director Justin Gardner about the details of a program that award 10 grant recipients.

2012 Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund by Eric_Melin

How did the Altman fund come about? In 2010, I was a Board member on the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City (still am) and I thought it would be great to figure out a way to do what ArtsKC and Charlotte Street Foundation do, but do it for filmmakers. So through a contact on the Board, I was able to make contact with the Altman family, pitch them the idea and they loved it. The fund’s goal is to be able to help filmmakers better realize their visions, and these classes are a great first step towards building the foundation to do exactly that.

What is the name of the workshop? Why is it important to have a project "ready to go"? The name of the workshop is the FastTrac NewVenture program and it’s designed to help you take a business idea, be it a film project, production business, post FX house or anything pertaining to the business of filmmaking or digital storytelling, and really help build a strong business foundation for that venture. So it’s important to have an idea in mind because you will literally be putting together a very comprehensive business plan for that exact idea.

What will winners of the grant learn how to do? First and foremost, grant winners will learn exactly how to run their business. That’s key because creative professionals never really get the nitty gritty of running a business day in and day out. Second, they’ll learn key business fundamentals, so if they want to start up a business unrelated to filmmaking, they have a great head start. Obviously we want these folks to apply this knowledge to the world of film, but we understand that sometimes film projects take years to accomplish. So these courses are a good way to just empower yourself, in general, to be a savvier business person. Often times, creative professionals may not get how to maximize certain opportunities or their business’s potential.

Is there grant money involved beyond the workshop? Yes there is, and the Fund recently gave $1,000 to filmmaker Tony Ladesich (also showing his short "Two Sisters" af FSFF.) as part of his prize for Best Heartland Short at the AMC Theatres Kansas City FilmFest. In the future, we hope to be able to offer more grants/prizes like this in much the same way that ArtsKC and Charlotte Street do, and we’re currently in fundraising mode to accomplish that. Actually, one of the goals for the application process is to raise funds for the other side of the Fund. That’s why we have an application fee of $10. So the more people apply, the quicker we’ll be able to provide funds for filmmakers to actually make their project. And we feel once we raise around $30K we can begin to do that.

Application deadline is 5pm CST, Friday, June 1, 2012.

This is the only movie anyone's going to be talking about this weekend, so here's my full-length review, along with a "review by committee" with me and some of my cohorts.

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Marvel’s "The Avengers" (in 3D or not--the 3D doesn't really enhance the experience) too much) straddles the line between an earnest, gung-ho, corny superhero flick and a cynical movie about surrendering individuality and whether or not power inevitably leads to fascism. What wins out, of course, are the classic superhero themes of fighting for the greater good and teamwork—and even if you know exactly how it’s going to get there, "The Avengers" believes wholeheartedly in its pure superhero aesthetic.

The bottom line? The feeling is infectious and almost impossible to resist.

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Better than any film since Sam Raimi’s excellent "Spider-Man 2," "The Avengers" gets what makes comic books a thrill for young readers—that feeling of fantasy and family.

"The Avengers" benefits from five Marvel movies before it that were full of backstory and origin. With that out of the way and certain character traits already firmly established, it puts extraordinary people in extraordinary situations and lets them play out in spectacularly entertaining fashion.

Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to fight off an alien invasion led by Thor’s spiteful adopted brother from Asgard, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who wants to “free the world from freedom.” S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), the star of many connect-the-dots sequences in the other Marvel films, is part gatekeeper and part “biggest fan.”

The Tesseract is the movie’s macguffin, a glowing energy cube from space that could either save our environment or destroy the planet, depending on whose hands it falls into. Things start out in a pretty ponderous fashion, with faceless alien voices full of doom explaining the film’s setup. But once the team is called together, they immediately clash and the verbal and physical fireworks start to fly.

In a shrewd move by writer/director Joss Whedon (no stranger to a directing an ensemble), each superhero is given his or her moment of inner turmoil, a moment of doubt and serious danger, and a moment to shine that spotlights their own unique talent.

"The Avengers" also makes the time-honored tradition of heroes trading quips as they fight seem fun and inspired. It isn’t surprising to find out that Whedon—the king of quirk and dramatic metaphor behind "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly/Serenity"—has excellent Hollywood instincts. Whedon can suggest a lot with a small moment—the trademark of a blockbuster movie director who knows he has little time before the next explosion, but is smart enough to fill it with character rather than plot.

Whedon displays his considerable knack for poking fun at characters while simultaneously taking their situation dead seriously. Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is the obvious example to trumpet here, but the fact that all the characters have a certain self-deprecating charm is essential in keeping the movie from being an all-out rah-rah cheesefest.

Keeping all the moving parts of the movie together is a balancing act that starts off a bit rough. Thankfully, this uncomfortable feeling is gradually overcome by the same giddy sentiment that turns adults into children again instantly. For good measure (there’s always a counter-balance in "The Avengers"–one of its strengths), some of the heroes question the motives of the government and work multiple angles even was they tow the company line. It’s not WWII after all; not even for Captain America.

That said, the film is pure formula. Besides the clunky opening, there are other too-familiar issues. Loki is a little too similar to Superman II’s General Zod at times but duller—without Terence Stamp’s mix of menace and oblivious humor. Scenes that allude to the painful past of Hawkeye and Black Widow are cut short in favor of more action. The giant snake aliens seem like they came out of a wormhole from "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," and Whedon even uses a 360-degree Michael Bay camera move.

But here’s the rub: The circular Bay camera trick works. It comes at a moment where the audience is clamoring for the group to unite as a team, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t well me up with emotion. It may be pure formula, but its formula done in a way that makes you remember why formulas were created in the first place: They were successful.

Whedon has the good sense to end the movie with one amazingly extended action sequence instead of the usual quick showdown where the hero faces his demons and wins through being clever or finding some sort of loophole. (Or worse—in the "Harry Potter" movies, it’s just point your wand and shoot until someone wins.)

No, this is an all-out, full-scale alien vs. superhero war with every teammate mustering courage they didn’t know they had and kicking ass the old-fashioned way against seemingly insurmountable odds.

When the X-Men fight, here are a couple of astounding moments. In "The Avengers"' final battle, there’s one every couple minutes. The action is spectacular and coherent, with Whedon utilizing long effects takes and a depth of field that is thrilling. Seeing all those superheroes in one shot fighting together is nothing short of remarkable.

For many comic fans, it will be the realization of their dreams.

This weekend isn't really a big one for new movie releases, so I thought I'd catch up with a movie that came out last week and been receiving a lot of media attention. It turns out, it's actually quite worthy of all the buzz it's been getting.

The first "Scream" movie in 1996 deconstructed the horror genre by having its characters talk about horror movie “rules” even as they were in one themselves. More than 15 years later, the new mind-bending horror flick "The Cabin in the Woods" takes horror satire to a whole new level.

The director of Marvel’s upcoming movie "The Avengers" (Joss Whedon) and a veteran of the hit TV series "Lost" (Drew Goddard) have teamed up for one of the most original horror movies in a long time.

It begins rather strangely. You may wonder whether you're in the correct theater or not: Two middle-aged men (character actors Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) walk to work in a high-security compound making idle office chatter. After a big title card comes up and assures you you ARE in the correct theater, the action abruptly shifts to something more familiar to horror audiences: a group of teenagers spending a weekend in a secluded cabin.

The teenagers fit the stereotypes of most slasher movies: The jock (Chris Hemsworth, "Thor"), the slut (Anna Hutchison), the brain (Jesse Williams), the stoner (Fran Kranz), and the virgin (Kristen Connolly). The strategic unfolding of how these two stories relate to each other is what makes "The Cabin in the Woods" such a refreshing surprise. If you’ve ever wondered why someone walks into a pitch-black basement all alone or does other really stupid things that usually wind up getting them killed in horror movies, "The Cabin in the Woods" has the answer.

The entire film works as a metaphor for horror filmmakers and horror audiences. At least for commercially successful horror films, the ones that make a ton of money usually follow some pretty established templates. "The Cabin in the Woods" certainly sends up the slasher movie template, but it also opens up to cast a much wider net, and the story actually supports that larger exploration.

Much has been written about the "twist" or "surprise" ending. Simply put: there isn't one. It would be a shame to spoil the bigger picture of "The Cabin in the Woods" before seeing it, but what's really happening is a slow trickling out of information that will gradually alter the perspective of what you're seeing.

All the meticulous buildup leads to a hugely satisfying payoff; the kind that doesn’t really exist in mainstream modern horror anymore. And—despite all its ironic detachment—"The Cabin in the Woods" has tons of laughs, some truly jaw-dropping moments and a couple scenes of unexpected poignancy that make it more than a parody movie. Whether you like horror movies or not, you owe it to yourself to see "The Cabin in the Woods."

At Liberty Hall this weekend is the action import "The Raid: Redemption," directed by Gareth Evans, who apparently has no time for things like character development or reflection. Who needs 'em in an action movie? This film is so packed with non-stop action and violence that it has raised the ire of no less than Roger Ebert, who gave the movie one star, and then wrote an entire other blog to explain himself.

He tweeted: Violence. All violence. Wall-to-wall violence. But who or what is redeemed? How? Why?" A quote from his blog that I found fascinating:

"When I began, I found the star rating system to be absurd. I still do. But I thought I'd found a way to work with it. I'd take a "generic approach." Instead of pretending a star rating reflected some kind of absolute truth, I'd give stars based on how well I thought a movie worked within its genre and for its intended audience. A four-star rating might indicate the movie transcended generic boundaries. For example, what genre does "The Tree of Life" or "Synecdoche, NY" belong to?

I can't take this much longer. I can't function like a butcher's scale. Is it enough to spend two hours determining if a film "achieves its generic purpose?" Shouldn't it do more than that? Perhaps provide some humor, humanity, romance, suspense, beauty, strategy, poetry."

Also, showing at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS is "Air Racers 3D," an IMAX documentary narrated by "Fast and Furious" star Paul Walker about the legendary Reno National Championship Air Races.The movie promises "spectacular aerial photography and unprecedented access granted to the course."

Check for showtimes here.

The buzz this week among horror and genre movie fans is "Cabin in the Woods," a self-aware slice of horror clichés from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator and "The Avengers" director Joss Whedon and "Lost" writer Drew Goddard. The early word is that its either too meta or just what the doctor ordered, depending on how you like your horror flick served up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXfc12BqFkc

In other words, if you worship at the altar of "Evil Dead 2," it may be just the ticket, but if you love the "Saw" series and thought it broke new ground, you may want to stay at home and watch "Wrong Turn 6" or whatever straight-to-video is calling your name at the Redbox.

Of course, I wouldn't know because Lionsgate decided not to screen the movie for Kansas City critics, opting instead to spend their marketing dollars bigger cities and a web campaign to capitalize on good word-of-mouth.

In its absence, you may want to head to Kansas City on Sunday to see "Nailbiter" at the AMC Ward Parkway 14. This movie, directed by KU film graduate Patrick Rea, opened the festival Wednesday night and is showing at 12:15 pm as part of the 2012 AMC Theatres Kansas City FilmFest. It was shot entirely in Kansas and Missouri.

Rea, whose award-winning short films have graced film festivals around the country for a decade with his imprint SenoReality Pictures, knows how to build suspense. There's a storm that is central to the story, and "Nailbiter" is at its best when it tells its story without the aid of too much dialogue. I’ve lived in Kansas all my life, and "Nailbiter" absolutely nails the unusual mix of casual bravado and creeping dread that accompany every tornado warning.

The movie’s cinematography from Hanuman Brown-Eagle switches perspectives often during the storm, and with the help of the sound design from Ryan S. Jones, it creates a swirling cacophony. These elements are the early stars of "Nailbiter," as well as the completely convincing digital special effects of Branit FX.

There are some subtle and effective scenes of character building between a recovering alcoholic Mom (Erin McGrane) and her daughters, played well by Emily Boresow, Meg Saricks, and Sally Spurgeon. What follows will test their relationships and some formerly hidden strengths and weaknesses will be brought into sharp focus.

This middle section, where the family is trapped in a cellar, is appropriately claustrophobic (and credit is due to the entire production for keeping continuity over several years of shooting), but mood-wise, it doesn’t have the feeling of abject terror that it should. From a plot standpoint, it feels overly familiar.

To his credit, though, Rea doesn’t use cheap jump-scares very often and shows only strategic shots of whatever it is that’s down in the cellar with the women. As a filmmaker, Rea has always shown a tendency towards Spielberg expressiveness, and the fine throwback score from Julian Bickford also steers away from shock-horror convention.

If you're looking for a family film to see this weekend, how weird is it that you might find yourself wandering into a theater that's showing Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Will Sasso doing their best Three Stooges impression?

The new "Three Stooges" movie has been a passion project for the Farrelly brothers for over a decade now. Since bringing us the memorable stupidity of "Dumb and Dumber" 18 years ago, the Farrellys have been pretty hit or miss, and "The Three Stooges" is no exception.

The difference this time out lies in the purity of their intentions. As big fans of Curly, Moe, and Larry, the Farrellys wanted to bring the Stooges’ inspired slapstick and dangerous stupidity to a family audience with a PG rating, and in that, they’ve succeeded. As the new Stooges go cross-country to raise money to save their orphanage, it's easy to see this is a movie that’s out of its time.

Is it strange watching three dimwits repeatedly engage in stunts that would give Johnny Knoxville pause? It sure is: A parent in 2012 isn’t likely to think it’s funny when a chainsaw gets applied to a man’s bald head for laughs. But "The Three Stooges" is so lighthearted and good-natured that it’s almost impossible to resist completely.

If the last reel would have taken the slapstick to dizzying idiotic heights, it would be a solid movie all around. As it is, it’s a fun breath of fresh air, straight from the 1930s.

Here's a funny story: I walked out of the press screening of "The Three Stooges" into a screening of the new sci-fi actioner "Lockout," starring Guy Pearce and produced by French b-movie film factory EuropaCorp. Guess what? "The Three Stooges" was smarter. At least it was for the first 45 minutes: I abandoned "Lockout" and its "Escape From New York"-in-space premise for greener pastures: a 45-minute drive home to Lawrence.

Lastly, "The Raid Redemption" and "Friends With Kids" are at Liberty Hall this weekend. Didn't see 'em. Click on the movie titles for some reviews of those.

This weekend AMC Theatres Kansas City Filmfest is back for its 16th and biggest year, expanding with more venues showing films and more filmmakers in attendance for their screenings.

From Wednesday April 11 through Sunday April 15, a wide variety of short films, documentaries, international films, and independent movies will screen at the AMC Mainstreet 6, the AMC Ward Parkway 14, and the Atkins Auditorium in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

In addition to the film screenings, there are plenty of film workshops and discussions covering subjects from screenwriting to distribution. These will be held throughout the weekend at StagePort, a sound stage complex in downtown Kansas City.

The program features some of the best local talent and narrative and documentary movies from all over the world. Besides the huge number of shorts that will be shown before feature-length films, there are also short film showcases from last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Here are some of the highlights from Kansas City Filmfest, the film categories each one is showing in, and the location and time of each screening. For more information and tickets to this year’s AMC Theatres Kansas City Filmfest, go to 2012.kcfilmfest.org.

“Andrew Bird: Fever Year,” Cinema Jazz Documentary

Xan Aranda’s concert documentary film catches up with one of rock’s most enigmatic multi-instrumentalists during the last months of his most rigorous year of touring. Andrew Bird is in bad health and on crutches from an onstage injury during the show, but “Andrew Bird: Fever Year” is sure to be alive with his infamous “unclassifiable” music. Live footage was captured during the last performance of the tour at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater, by Aranda (the musician's ex-girlfriend) and her crew. (Wednesday, April 11, 5:00pm at AMC Mainstreet 6, Saturday April 14, 8:15pm at AMC AMC Ward Parkway 14)

“Nailbiter,” Heartland Narrative

The official Kansas City FilmFest kickoff screening is Kansas University graduate Patrick Rea’s “Nailbiter,” a horror movie about a mother who is a recovering alcoholic and her three daughters. They take shelter in a cellar from a tornado—only to find out that what’s in the cellar may be a lot worse than what’s outside of it. The film has been making the film festival rounds and was shot entirely in Kansas and Missouri. (Wednesday April 11, 7:00pm at AMC Mainstreet 6; Sunday April 15, 12:15 pm at AMC Ward Parkway 14)

“The Intouchables,” Foreign Showcase

A cultural phenomenon in its home country of France already, “The Intouchables” tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two men. A young Senegalese man with a criminal record is hired as a caretaker for a wealthy aristocrat who has recently became a quadriplegic after a paragliding accident. It may not sound like it, but “The Intouchables” is a feel-good movie, and it’s become the second most-watched film of all time in France. (Thursday, April 12, 4:00 pm at AMC Mainstreet 6)

“Love Stalker,” Heartland Narrative

Although it had its official premiere in November at the St. Louis International Film Festival, “Love Stalker” screened during last year’s Marché du Film, a producer-oriented film market held in Cannes, France simultaneously with that city’s famous film festival. Billed as an “un-romantic comedy,” this St. Louis-shot film follows a guy who lives to pick up women (writer/director Matt Glasson) and has a goal of reaching his “golden number.” When he falls for a girl and she rejects him, he goes full-on stalker to get her back. (Thursday, April 12, 6:45pm at AMC Mainstreet 6, Sunday, April 15, 12:30pm at AMC Ward Parkway 14)

“The Gray Seasons,” Heartland Documentary

The sports movie is a tried-and-true Hollywood formula, but does real life always play out the way it does in the movies? “The Gray Seasons” chronicles the St. Louis University Lady Billikens, a women’s college basketball team who starts the season in last place. A new head coach enters the fray to turn the team around, and Robert T. Herrera’s documentary captures the drama as she tries to change the losing culture of the entire program. (Thursday, April 12, 4:45pm at AMC Mainstreet 6, Sunday, April 15, 2:45pm at AMC Ward Parkway 14)

“The Flowers of War,” AMC Showcase

Famed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “Hero,” “House Of Flying Daggers”) directs Christian Bale in an epic drama set against the “rape of Nanking.” The story of Japanese troops aiding the Chinese city is already one of the most shocking events of civilian casualties in modern history, but this drama adds in school children, courtesans, and an American posing as a priest. “The Flowers of War” is one of the largest undertakings in Chinese cinematic history. (Friday April 13, 5:30pm at AMC Mainstreet 6)

“Corporate FM,” Heartland Documentary

In his new documentary “Corporate FM,” University of Kansas graduate Kevin McKinney blows the lid off a seldom-talked about problem in the modern radio industry: Most local radio stations are owned by big conglomerates. McKinney characterizes it as a “financial shell game” that robs local communities of their voice. The documentary features stories and interviews from radio insiders on what happened in their areas and how this problem can be fixed. (Friday April 13, 8:30pm at AMC Mainstreet 6; Saturday April 14, 3:45pm at AMC Ward Parkway 14)

They say that movies in the summer are all remakes and sequels, but here we are just cracking April open and already we've got one of each. (Well, I guess taking a juggernaut box office smash like James Cameron's Best Picture winner "Titanic" and upgrading it post-post-production to 3D isn't exactly a remake, but whatever!)

Before we get to that behemoth, let's tackle a movie franchise that's been saddled with "National Lampoon syndrome," where the name before the movie title becomes the marketing hook for a whole slew of movies not really related to the one(s) you remember. The weird thing is, in the case of this "franchise," the title of the first movie became the brand.

Does anyone remember "American Pie Presents: Band Camp," "American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile," "American Pie Presents: Beta House," or "American Pie Presents: The Book of Love"? Hope not.

This weekend sees the release of "American Reunion," the fourth movie in the "American Pie" series — as long as you don’t count the four straight-to-video movies released with a similar logo and the "American Pie Presents" stamp of quality. Fourth movies in a franchise (much less eighth ones) rarely fare well.

Well, the good news about "American Reunion" is that its no "Batman and Robin" or "Jaws: The Revenge." The bad news is it's pretty uneven and awkward, and not always the way its supposed to be.

Jason Biggs, Sean William Scott, Chris Klein, and those two guys with three names we can't remember are all back together for another movie full of raunchy, gross-out humor and the pangs of sexual frustration. Writer/directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, the guys responsible for the "Harold & Kumar" series have a lot of obvious affection for these characters, whose 1999 movie brought back the teen sex comedy for a generation.

But these guys are in their mid-30s now so some of the laughs are pretty creepy and uncomfortable. All of the female parts are completely underwritten, but I suppose that's to be expected. What's too bad is that "American Reunion" thrives on creating and mining awkward moments for laughs, but a lot of those awkward moments are unintentionally created when some of its minor characters devolve into cheap sentimentality and dime-store psychology.

In other words, when the movie isn't going for straight-up laughs -- which is about half the time -- it's pretty tired stuff.

As I mentioned before, "Titanic" is back and its in 3D. James Cameron took 60 weeks and spent $18 million to make this version. It's the 15th anniversary of the movie and the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking, so why not?

Yes, the original is too long and pretty cheesy, but something about it -- I have to admit -- sticks with me. Maybe its because of its running time, (3 hours, 15 minutes) but it has the effect of actually making you feel like you are a part of that ship. I remember the experience of seeing it in the theater clearly in 1997: I actually felt cold by the end of the film. As Leonardo DiCaprio waded in the freezing water, I was shivering myself. There's something to be said for that, even if some of the dialogue might make you cringe.

By most accounts, though "Titanic" in 3D isn't the real reason to go check it out on the big screen again:

"Watching the new version also reveals just how unnecessary such technological gimmicks are when you have a perfectly good original in the first place," says Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday. "The added visual depth neither enhances nor detracts from the charm of revisiting the film’s young actors in their coltish prime."

Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman agrees, saying, "As scrupulous a job as Cameron has done, I can't really say that I recommend 'Titanic 3D' in order to experience this landmark movie with an added dimension. I recommend it, rather, for the opportunity to see, once again on the big screen." He calls the original movie a "work of art" and "one of the greatest movies ever made."

Peter Travers from Rolling Stone disagrees though: "'Titanic 3D' is revelatory, not just for scale it brings to the maritime disaster of an unsinkable ship hitting an iceberg and going down, but for the hushed closeness it brings to the interplay between the characters. The 3D intensifies 'Titanic.' You are there. Caught up like never before in an intimate epic that earns its place in the movie time capsule."

Also, acclaimed filmmaker Gary Hustwit will be in Lawrence Monday night to do a Q&A after the screening of his documentary "Urbanized," at 7:00 pm in Woodruff Auditorium.

The movie is the third in Hustwit's design film trilogy, and it's about the design of cities -- looking at the issues and strategies behind urban design. It features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers talking about the myriad challenges of urban growth.

The film is sponsored by the KU School of Architecture, Design, and Planning.

Usually this column is reserved for movies, but today I bring you a subject that is merely tangentially related:

AIR GUITAR.

Yes, a competitive version of this "sport" (I prefer to call it performance art) exists and tomorrow (Wednesday) night at The Bottleneck I will be hosting the Lawrence Air Guitar Championship 2012! It is seriously the most fun you can have with clothes on. I've been all over the country for these competitions and it's amazing. I watched 2,500 screaming fans in Washington D.C. cheering for a guy in awkward-fitting tights with no shirt (and no guitar) like he was Keith Richards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBGWVbUsjL8

How is this tangentially related to movies, you may ask? Well, ever since I saw the documentary “Air Guitar Nation” and realized there were shows/competitions for something I’d been doing in my bedroom since high school anyway, I’ve been obsessed with the underground world of competitive air guitar.

Through the USAirguitar.com blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account, I pieced together what I knew to be the brief history of organized air guitar competitions in America since the movie. (There are world championships too, but that’s another story.)

Since my recent entry into U.S. Air Guitar shows in 2009, I’ve competed nine times and made around a hundred friends. We all have one thing in common: an unhealthy obsession for a semi-obscure art form that most people laugh at. (We do too, by the way. We know its ridiculous — that’s part of the fun.)

We speak the same language. When I tell you, the newbie, that current US champ Nordic Thunder placed second in the world and was on George Lopez one week before its cancellation (a coincidence?), that means nothing to you. But when I tell my air guitar pals Lt. Facemelter (San Diego) or Dirty Airy (San Francisco) or the Lost Heartbreaker (Minneapolis), they understand immediately that this long-haired, skirted USAG hall-of-famer has helped USAG gain more exposure (ESPN, CNN) and continues to be a mighty “air” force to be reckoned with.

There's more absurd moments than that even where air guitar has played on the national stage. The strange character known as Magic Cyclops — who has been performing music and playing the US Air Guitar circuit for at least 10 years — began his 15 minutes of fame thanks to a memorable appearance on "American Idol."

Tomorrow night we are going to find Lawrence's best air guitarist. ANYONE can enter. At 8pm, we do free-form AIREOKE where people bring their own iPods and air whatever they want. At 10:30, celebrity judges Jason Barr (from A.D.D. Podcast), Martinez Hillard (from Cowboy Indian Bear) and Pfannenstiel (from AstroKitty Comics) make their way into The Bottleneck and the competition begins.

Lawrence air guitar obeys the rules set forth by the Air Guitar World Championships. I'll have 70 or so songs already edited down to their best one minute, or you can bring your own! Get warmed up early because liquid courage is a necessity. Here are just some of the area's best and most fearless airesses and aireographers who may be competing tomorrow night:

Suit-and-tie guy The CorpAIRation

The loathsome and frightening Pork Sword

The glam-punk Thunderball

The misleading Glory Wholesome

...and last, but not least, the Andy Kaufman of air guitar, Peter "Stiff" Dickens.

Opening at Liberty Hall tomorrow is one of the most controversial films of the year. Director Lynn Ramsey's "We Need to Talk About Kevin" earned its lead actress Tilda Swinton nominations in virtually every major film awards right up to and not including the Oscars.

It's easy to see why. Swinton plays the mother of a young boy (Ezra Miller) so awful, so uncompromisingly mean and nasty, that he is very hard to take seriously, except as some sort of horror cliche. She is the only thing holding "We Need to Talk About Kevin" together, as she first comes to grips with her own loss of freedom once she has the child, her lack of motherly instinct as he progressively gets worse, and her new lot in life, which seems to be to silently brave the rancor of an entire town that's angry with Kevin.

Swinton soldiers on, her face fixed into a permanent daze. The mental abuse heaped upon this woman will surely affect even the most jaded of viewers, and Ramsey's no fan of subtlety either, so the blood-red foreshadowing throughout the film (as well as Swinton's present-day dire straits) let you know that you've only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stomach-churning situations.

When it is all said and done, what was Ramsey going for? That's hard to tell. Kevin's behavior, it seems, may have been designed solely for an audience of one, but what culpability does Swinton's character have in all this? At its heart, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is really a horror story for every mother out there who doesn't think she's cut out for it.

As overwrought and self-conscious as "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is, at least it makes you feel something. That's more than I can say for this weekend's big cynical Hollywood moneymaker.

"Wrath of the Titans" is the sequel to the uninspired CGI-heavy remake "Clash of the Titans" from two years ago, and the best thing I can say about it is that it’s not quite as bad as its predecessor.

Sam Worthington is bland as ever as Perseus, the half-human son of Zeus who must rescue his father from the clutches of Hades and Ares before they release the evil imprisoned titan Kronos on the world.

Essentially, the talking scenes—where characters speak out loud about how much or little power they arbitrarily have over and over again—are nothing more than grade-school level setups for the action scenes, which just kind of blur together after a while.

Credit should go to the talented computer effects artists who make it all seem like the actors really share scenes with these creatures, but most of the design work—from the costumes to the sets—is actually pretty bland. "Immortals," out on DVD a couple weeks ago, also has a crummy plot and no respect for Greek mythology either, but at least it was interesting to look at.

"Wrath of the Titans" is fluff, for sure, but it’s not even lighthearted cotton candy. It’s more like a convenience store burrito—it just kind of drags you down after a while. All the thundering sound cues and bombastic music in the world couldn’t raise a pulse for this dull special effects showcase.

Even the 3D stinks.

Only four days remain for Kansas City filmmaker Gary Huggins to fund his newest feature film, "Kick Me." Huggins just announced that he's cast Josh Fadem, who plays Liz Lemon's pre-pubescent-looking agent on "30 Rock," in the movie -- and Fadem just filmed a challenge video to "Kick Me" star Santiago Vasquez to help boost contributions to the Kickstarter page.

Huggins is also planning two more fundraisers this weekend:

Friday night's benefit screening, Shorts and Inspirations, will be an program of Huggins' short films (including his Sundance short "First Date"), and the shorts that inspired them. Friday, March 30th, Tivoli Cinema, 9:30pm.

Saturday night, Home is Everywhere - startling 16mm Kodachrome home movies of "The World of the Future" in Osaka, Japan, 1970, with a live soundtrack by members of Mr. Marco's V7 and The Wilders. Saturday, March 31st, The Brick, 7pm.

The movie everybody will be talking about all weekend is "The Hunger Games." Adapted from the best-selling young-adult book series by Suzanne Collins, "The Hunger Games," about a state-sponsored fight to the death of 24 teenagers, is 142 minutes long and at times it feels every bit of it. I had a similar experience watching this as the ones I had watching the "Harry Potter" series, having not read those books either.

Sometimes it feels as if you are seeing The Cliff's Notes version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-5ANq4sAL0

Certainly Jennifer Lawrence, who plays a young girl from a poor coal-mining district somewhere in North America in the near future, is fleshed out, but nobody else is. Characters that figure majorly in the plot get barely any screen time and thus their motivations and they way they are portrayed (swinging wildly from boorish to sympathetic and understanding in the next scene) are harder to swallow.

"The Hunger Games" isn't a bad movie, but it's not as smart of a satire as it thinks it is. The art direction and costumes do a lot to tell the story, and Lawrence is very good as the tough-as-nails heroine, but for all of its life-or-death situations, the movie isn’t really all that tense. Some arbitrary rule changes at the end feel really forced. Maybe "The Hunger Games" series will deepen with further adaptations, but right now the series is off to a pretty pedestrian start.

Last week I wrote about Julia Ruddy, a Lawrence girl about to make her feature film debut in a crazy action comedy set in Kansas City, Kan. Well, this weekend is the beginning of three wild fundraiser benefit screenings for that movie, entitled simply "Kick Me."

The first is The Flesh and Blood Show, a marathon event featuring five of the most notoriously shocking exploitation films of all time, from director Gary Huggins' private collection. As described by Gary, this "is not a gore fest. Not a horror-thon. Just five of the most blatantly mind-abasing, soul-knifing exploitation films of all time. Films so wild they should be kept in cages! The "The Flesh and Blood Show" is the mechanical bull of movie marathons. We kick. You hang on."

Kick Me by Eric_Melin

That’s why it’s free to get in – but you have to pay to get out. And as an extra bonus, when it's all over, you get in free to a showing of "Battle Royale." Somebody is thinking of "The Hunger Games" this weekend! "The Flesh and Blood Show" is Sat. March 24, 12pm - 10pm at the Screenland Crossroads. More info here.

The 8th annual Stories 'N Motion American Indian Film Festival is coming up, and Wichita filmmaker Rod Pocowatchit will appear for a Q&A after a screening of his zombie movie "The Dead Can't Dance" on Friday March 30 at 6:15pm. The movie is a comedy/drama hybrid where three Native Americans discover that they are somehow immune to a virus that's turning everyone else into zombies. "The Dead Can't Dance" headlines the two-day festival, continuing Saturday March 31 at Haskell Indian Nations University.

Haskell student Joshua Woosypitti will also be screening his documentary film "What is Indigenous Success?" on 7:30pm Saturday March 31.The film showcases multiple contemporary viewpoints from urban, rural, traditional and non-traditional Native Americans and was filmed in Lawrence. For more info on the Stories N' Motion American Indian Film Festival, click here.