Voynaristic By Kim VoynarVoynar@moviecitynews.com
It’s Beginning to Look at Lot Like Sundance
Each December, in addition to the flurry of screeners that come whirling down the chimney for the consideration of film critics far and wide, comes the announcement of the lineup of the Sundance Film Festival. Some years the fest is pretty awesome, other years it’s mundane, but there’s always that hope, that sense of anticipation when the press releases…
Read the full article »O Christmas Tree
Published under 1,000 Monkeys. I love everything about the Christmas season, from the decorations to the Christmas music piped in to all the stores to the lights brightening up all the houses. I love planning what to get each of the kids, baking Christmas cookies, and listening non-stop to Christmas music on the radio until…
Read the full article »Of Indie Film and Insularity
This Thanksgiving weekend, as I ponder my abundant blessings, one of the things I’m most thankful for is having a job that allows me not only to watch a lot of movies, but to see many of them at film festivals far and wide. As I write this, over the past couple years we’ve seen…
Read the full article »Home is Where My Heart Is
Published under 1,000 Monkeys. Why 1,000 Monkeys? David and I spent a lot of time talking back and forth about a new name for this more philosophical, life-stuff column. One day in frustration, I said to David, “If you put 1,000 monkeys at 1,000 typewriters, they could never write the craziness that is my life…
Read the full article »Memory Lane
Published under 1,000 Monkeys. Why 1,000 Monkeys? David and I spent a lot of time talking back and forth about a new name for this more philosophical, life-stuff column. One day in frustration, I said to David, “If you put 1,000 monkeys at 1,000 typewriters, they could never write the craziness that is my life…
Read the full article »Precious Things
Back at Sundance last year, when Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire was first unveiled for critics with little fanfare but high hopes, quite a few folks thought it would never see the light of day off the fest circuit. Too dark, too depressing, too tragic … with little redemption or justice to buoy…
Read the full article »The Vampire as Moral Compass
These days, it seems vampires are the new black — but they aren’t quite as black as they used to be. Today’s vampires have more than just gloomy good looks and great fashion sense; they come complete with a moral compass. If art and literature reflect the world in which they are created, what does…
Read the full article »For Better, For Worse
Published under Voices. It’s a very curious and lonely thing, facing a pancreatic tumor and a divorce at the same time. You know intellectually that your marriage is over, that the person you’d always imagined would be by your side holding your hand if you ever had to face something scary like this isn’t there…
Read the full article »Paging Polanski
Finally, a film about hot, tattooed roller derby chicks. Whip It!, Drew Barrymore‘s directorial debut, is not just a good time at the movies, but a smart film about female empowerment and what it means to be a tough chick, even if you’re not the biggest, meanest bitch on the wheels. It’s exactly the kind of…
Read the full article »A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Film Festival
On September 9, along with many of my fellow film journalists, I packed my bags and boarded a plane to Toronto for one of the most challenging (and occasionally rewarding) film festivals we film fest junkies work all year: the Toronto International Film Festival. I’d just come off a long, hard month of helping my…
Read the full article »Defending Jennifer’s Body
Spoiler Warning: This column contains spoilers about the film Jennifer’s Body. Consider yourself forewarned and forearmed. Is Jennifer’s Body really as bad as some critics say, or are some folks just lime-green Jell-O over anything that has Diablo Cody‘s name attached? I thoroughly enjoyed this film from start to finish, in part because I thought I was…
Read the full article »Cloudy with a Chance of Mediocrity
I realize I’m in the critical minority on this, but I wasn’t all that crazy about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Yes, yes, the animation was bright! And colorful! And the cheeseburgers and scoops of ice cream and giant pancakes and meatballs practically popped off the screen. It was all very exciting, I suppose. I…
Read the full article »To Absent Friends
Today I’m thinking a lot about 1984 — the year, not the Orwell novel. September 8, 1984 was a life-altering day that altered the course of my life; on September 8, 1984, my best friend, Monica, committed suicide at the age of 16. I can still recall, with achingly perfect clarity, where I was when…
Read the full article »Of Love, Life and Loss
What’s the meaning of a life, and a loss? Earlier today, MCN Headlines Editor Ray Pride posted a particularly tragic headline to the front page of MCN about the murders of Filipino-Canadian film critic Alexis Tioseco and his partner, Slovenian critic and programmer Nika Bohinc, in what seems to be a random house robbery. The murders have hit…
Read the full article »Life, the Movies and Everything
Movies are entertainment, not life. But sometimes when life delivers a solid sucker punch, you need a little something to see you through, and for me, the movies are great medicine for, well, the melancholy. I’ve been in Oklahoma City for almost two weeks now, since I got a call from my uncle letting me…
Read the full article »Feminism and Horror: Beyond the Final Girl
I’m not what most horror buffs would consider a “horror buff,” but lately I’ve been warming up to the genre. While I don’t think I’ll ever enamored of ultra-gory fare like the Saw films, I’ve grown more open to experiencing the pleasures of watching horror films over the past few years. I realized recently that…
Read the full article »Coming of Age at the Movies: Where’s the Brat Pack for Today’s Teens?
My own coming-of-age years were defined by Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (seasoned with a generous sprinkle of Purple Rain and a dash of Desperately Seeking Susan). If you were a couple years behind me in high school, it was probably Say Anything and Some Kind of Wonderful. The 1980s teen flicks were great…
Read the full article »Until the Credits Do Us Part: Marriage and the Movies
If you judged marriage based on the recent history of Hollywood’s depiction of adult relationships, you might think most people spend the majority of their lives either starting new relationships or ending old ones, and very little time in the period in between. Perhaps it’s partly the influence of Hollywood, where celebrity marriages might last…
Read the full article »The Slippery Slope of Truth in Non-Fiction Films
Rich, successful Latino-American lawyer takes on a big corporation on behalf of downtrodden, third-world workers and wins. It makes for a great “David versus Goliath” story of melodramatic Erin Brockovich proportions — but what if the David of the story ends up being accused of fraud, causing not only that case but others to be thrown…
Read the full article »The Fame and Misfortune of Michael Jackson
People who live and make their living in Hollywood are quick to tell you that Hollywood is an awful, soul-sucking, backstabbing hell of a town, and they’re largely right. Fame is, in its way, as evil a societal monster as alcoholism and drug addiction, and it’s not particularly surprising that many people who achieve fame…
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