Category / Movies

by Michael Janairo

Twilight, true love and the potential audience

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With the final installment of Twilight opening Friday in theaters, I have theory. I may be wrong, and I’m open to other points of view, but here goes:

Girls who grew up reading the books (they were published between 2005-2008) won’t be as into seeing the final movie as younger girls (ones who are still tweens) or older women (such as women in their 20s and 30s and the tween’s  mothers).

The attraction of the Twilight series is the romance of true love, love that breaks taboos (forget the family squabbles of Romeo and Juliet, in Twilight, she’s just a regular gal, he’s a 104-year-old vampire), love that is full of risks (does she dare let him bite her, and forever change her?) and love that has permanent consequences (if you’re undead forever, that’s one way to make sure the love truly lasts forever).

But that kind of romantic notion of love, I’d argue, appeals to the tween and  young teen set — call them the pre-heartbreak set — and the older, 20-and 30-somethings and mom-age set (aka, the post-heartbreak set) and not the older teens, who may be somewhere in the middle of their own first romances, filled with the kind of drama and tumult that is so real they don’t need a vampire fairy tale to get in touch with a certain depth of their emotions.

For the pre-heartbreak set, the film can be an emotional foreshadowing — a way to feel something deep and romantic because they have yet to experience it in their lives. For the post-heartbreak set, the film can be a reminder — a way to feel something deep and romantic that they have have felt once before but that is no longer part of their daily lives.

Does my theory make sense? What do you think?

by Michael Janairo

Blurb fame (or infamy) for Capital Region arts editors

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It’s not everyday that a trailer for a new film comes out with blurbs from not only Metroland’s arts editor Shawn Stone, but also the Times Union arts editor Michael Janairo. The film? It is now called Addicted to Fame, but when it was screened in October of 2011 at the Spectrum 8 Theatres in Albany it was called Craptastic.

The documentary uses the making of and aftermath of Anna Nicole Smith’s final film, the low-budget sci-fi spoof “Illegal Aliens,” as a kind of cautionary tale about the mindless destructiveness of the media.

Here’s the trailer for the killer.

Congrats, Shawn!

by Michael Janairo

‘Hobbit’ tickets go on sale noon Wednesday, Nov. 7

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“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” doesn’t hit theaters until Dec. 14, but tickets go on sale, online and in theaters at noon Wednesday, Nov. 7.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who joins the Wizard Gandalf and 13 Dwarves, led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield, on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

Also going on sale at noon that day are tickets to big screen marathons of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy in its extended cut editions on Dec. 8-9.

by Michael Janairo

Green Day + Twilight = new video

Green Day may be on hiatus, but here’s its video, related to the upcoming Twilight movie (and the thankfully final Twilight movie).

by Michael Janairo

The Donald vs. the Scots in documentary ‘You’ve Been Trumped’ at Proctors

“You’ve Been Trumped,” an award-winning documentary about a group of Scottish residents who take on real estate mogul Donald Trump when he tries to build on their land, has its second U.S. theatrical showing at Proctors in Schenectady on Friday and Saturday, and the film’s producer, Richard Phinney, will be on hand to introduce both night’s 7:30 p.m. screenings and hold Q&As afterward.

The full schedule of showings is: 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Friday; and 3:30, 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Scotland is the fabled homeland of modern golf and has more courses per capita than any other country, but that didn’t stop Trump from trying to build two more, as well as a 450-room hotel and 1,500 luxury homes. But the land he chose was one of Scotland’s last remaining wilderness areas, a stretch of coastland that locals didn’t want destroyed.

Tickets to the screenings are $5. For more information, call 346-6204 or visit http://www.proctors.org.

by Michael Janairo

‘Hulk, smash’ and the iconic movie line

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Among the many pleasures of ‘The Avengers’ is its sharp writing, which includes such lines as “Hulk, smash,” said by Captain America to the Hulk, or when Hulk says of Loki, “Puny god.”

Only time will tell if any of the lines from ‘The Avengers’ will enter into the realm of popular culture in the way that “Hasta la vista” (from 1991’s “Terminator 2”) or “Show me the money!” (from 1996 “Jerry Maguire”) did. The mega hits in recent years haven’t produced many memorable lines. Do you remember any from “The Dark Knight” or any of the “Transformer” films? How about any of the “Harry Potter” films, or even any of the “Lord of the Rings” films, let alone anything from the “Twilight” series.

What are some of the more iconic movie lines out there?

In the photo gallery above are some of the more iconic movie lines of all time.

What’s missing? Add your own in the comments below.

by Michael Janairo

Pricele$$ screening at Spectrum Wednesday night for free

Citizen Action NY (a group looking to introduce publicly funded elections in New York) will be hosting a free screening of PRICELE$$ in Albany, NY at the Spectrum 8 Theaters on May 2nd, 7:00pm.

Director Steve Cowan will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A with Rep. Paul Tonko.

PRICELE$$ is a 60-minute documentary produced and directed by Steve Cowan of Habitat Media.

RSVP Required: http://fairelectionsny.org/pricelessalbany

by Michael Janairo

New film initiative to launch with panel discussion

So I just wrote that headline, and though it is about making movies and money, it sounds like a boring way to begin.

My apologies to the panelists and the moderator, who happens to be my boss, Rex Smith.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, May 3, at the UAlbany’s Performing Arts Center (on the campus at 1400 Washington Ave.) Craig M. Hatkoff, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, will speak at a Town Hall meeting about expanding film production opportunities in the Capital Region.

The panelist will be
• Deborah Goedeke, Albany County Film Commissioner
• Pat Swinney Kaufman, Executive Director of the Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development
• Philip Morris, CEO of Proctors
• Heidi Philipsen, writer/actor/director

Here’s how the PR for the free event describes what’s happening:

The event will also launch UPSTATE.N.Y.SCREENS, an initiative joining together humanities, cinema arts, and economic development in the Capital Region. The University at Albany Foundation in partnership with the Center for Humanities, Arts, and TechnoSciences (CHATS), the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Albany Convention and Tourism Bureau are incubating the UPSTATE.N.Y.SCREENS initiative.

The launch announcement will provide details regarding a regional cinematic exposition offering master classes and workshops, screenings, and a celebration/retrospective of an iconic filmmaker whose work will be the centerpiece and focus of the events.

UPSTATE.N.Y.SCREENS is currently developing a documentary film, “The Albany Mummies: Unraveling an Ancient Mystery” by UAlbany Associate Professor of English Mary Valentis and retired English professor William Rainbolt. The film is expected to make its debut in late 2012.

To register for the May 3 Town Hall, please RSVP to events@albany.edu or call (518) 442-5373.

by Michael Janairo

Equiano’s story on film, sort of

I saw a preview of the movie Amazing Grace over the weekend and am not sure what to expect. A lot of white British guys talking about the need to end slavery, and then a black man says, “I was a prince in my country, like you,” I thought — Could this character possibly be Olaudah Equiano? Could this movie be telling his tale, but through the point of view of white people, including the guy the wrote the song Amazing Grace? Maybe the movie will be fine, after all it is directed by Michael Apted, but it does seem Equiano could use his own film.

By the way, Equiano is played by Youssou N’Dour,
 a musician the New York Times has called “West Africa’s cultural ambassador to the world,” who will be making his feature film debut.

Here’s the movie trailer:

Here’s the write up from the film’s Web site.

Amazing Grace, based on the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce, is directed by Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough, Coal Miner’s Daughter) from an original screenplay written by Academy Award® nominee Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things).

The film stars Ioan Gruffudd (Black Hawk Down), Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich), Romola Garai (Vanity Fair), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Benedict Cumberbatch (Hawking), Rufus Sewell (Legend of Zorro), Ciaran Hinds (Rome) and introduces Youssou N’Dour.

Executive Producer is Jeanney Kim, with Mark Cooper as co-producer. Producers on the film are Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line) and Ed Pressman under their Sunflower Productions banner, Patricia Heaton and David Hunt for FourBoys Films, and Ken Wales.

Gruffudd plays Wilberforce, who, as a Member of Parliament, navigated the world of 18th Century backroom politics to end the slave trade in the British Empire. Albert Finney plays John Newton, a confidante of Wilberforce who inspires him to pursue a life of service to humanity. Benedict Cumberbatch is William Pitt the Younger, England’s youngest ever Prime Minister at the age of 24, who encourages his friend Wilberforce to take up the fight to outlaw slavery and supports him in his struggles in Parliament.

Elected to the House of Commons at the age of 21, and on his way to a successful political career, Wilberforce, over the course of two decades, took on the English establishment and persuaded those in power to end the inhumane trade of slavery.

Romola Garai plays Barbara Spooner, a beautiful and headstrong young woman who shares Wilberforce’s passion for reform, and who becomes his wife after a whirlwind courtship. Youssou N’Dour is Olaudah Equiano. Born in Africa and sent as a slave to the Colonies, Equiano bought his freedom and made his home in London, where he wrote a best-selling account of his life and became a leading figure in the fight to end the slavery of his fellow countrymen.

Here’s a video from Youssou N’Dour in concert at an Amnesty International event in 1999: