Author: Anna Agadjanyan

Space Station 76 is directed by Jack Plotnick, who is also a co-writer and whose intimacy with the material is quite evident. The  film is going to quickly become a festival favorite.  Elegantly combining 70’s style, Science Fiction and Comedy, the film entertains from start to finish. 

Space Station 76 is a refueling satellite in a distant galaxy and with the arrival of the newly appointed lieutenant, the crews secrets begin to surface.  The creative team does a beautiful job setting this story in a believable 70’s interpretation of all things space, and this setting is certainly a big part of the comedic angle of this film.  Plotnick said that he has been contemplating on this idea for many many years, he wanted to explore 1970’s suburbia – but in space, and certainly many of the struggles of the characters resonate as familiar troubles of everyday life – just in a very exaggerated way.

The other contributor to the success of the film is the standout acting of the cast including Matt Bomer as a sincerely mechanic, Ted, whose wife Misty played by Marisa Coughlan is self-centered and distant.  Liv Tyler, does wonders as the sweet, warm and lovely new lieutenant/co-pilot, Jessica and Patrick Wilson as Captain Glenn, who has some deeply closeted struggles of his own. Jerry O’Connell cameos and quickly steals almost all of his scenes as a philandering playboy. Also a highlight are several robots who function among the crew.

Plotnick captures the right tone and stays true to it throughout the film, a tone that while making you laugh also allows you moments to reflect. It certainly feel like a movie that the cast and crew enjoyed making, it is quirky, slow and times, and completely delightful.

4 out of 5 Stars 

Directed by Jack Plotnick

Produced by Rival Pictures

Written by Jack Plotnick
Jennifer Elise Cox
Sam Pancake
Kali Rocha
Michael Stoyanov

Starring Patrick Wilson
Liv Tyler
Matt Bomer
Marisa Coughlan
Kylie Rogers
Kali Rocha
Jerry O’Connell
Keir Dullea

Running time: 93 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English

Red Lights is a movie that I really, really wanted to love: great cinematography, strong visuals, and lovely moody color correction, all keep the viewer tense throughout the film.  Written and directed by Rodrigo Cortes, this is a joint U.S./Spain production.  There are wonderful performances, especially from Sigourney Weaver, who stole the scene every time she was on screen.  Cillian Murphy and Robert De Niro were equally compelling, and a well-placed Elizabeth Olsen in a supporting role.

Weaver plays Dr. Matheson, a college professor bent on investigating and exposing paranormal hoaxes.  She is a researcher who has yet to encounter paranormal activity that was not fraudulent.  Her assistant Tom Buckley (Murphy) is by her side and has learned a great deal from his teacher.  As he pushes Matheson to investigate the biggest name among modern psychics, Simon Silver (De Niro), who has just come out of retirement, all hell breaks loose.  Compelling and thought through, with just the right number of twists for this type of thriller (albeit, some twists may be predicted by a discerning viewer), this film is a wonderfully entertaining experience.  Not surprisingly, Millennium Entertainment has already purchased it for around $4 million dollars.  The original budget was sufficient and allowed the film to fully execute its premise.

Where the film failed to deliver, in my opinion, was at the end – and not in the ideas behind the end premise, but rather in their over-the top execution.  It really did not need to go as big as it did, and it did not need to do a future fast forward segment – that caused chuckles in a theater full of journalists.  The bottom line is that I loved the first 2/3 of the film and heavily disliked the last 1/3.  That being said, I would still call this a film worth watching, but not to find out “what really happens”, but rather just to enjoy the ride, and if one does not expect anything, there is a chance to come out of this film pleased.  Of note, despite my dislike of the end product, this is the one film from this festival that I immediately had a strong desire to see again.

Teddy Bear is a darling Danish movie that is based on a short film called Dennis – a film school project of director Mads Matthiese that garnered over 3,200,000 views on YouTube*.  Teddy Bear is a well-acted, well-conceived film and takes the viewer on a gentle journey through the private, dysfunctional life of a single body builder, who is still living at home with his mother in Denmark.  Dennis, who is completely awkward with women, tries for his luck in Thailand, after his uncle comes back from his trip with a loving wife.  Unlike most foreign men who are interested in sex tourism, Dennis really wants to find a wife, and to begin living his own life separate from his incredibly controlling mother.

This is sort of a “quiet,” “paced” storytelling and is not for those who like quick paced American style films with lots of action and confrontations.  The beauty of this film is precisely in the gentle, non-confrontational, well-mannered nature of the main character Dennis Petersen, (incredibly played by real-life bodybuilder Kim Kold): a huge man, who eats a large protein breakfast and bench presses hunderds of kilos daily, yet has a kid-like kindness in his eyes when he smiles.  His mother, ½ his height and 1/3 his weight is masterfully played by Elsebeth Steentoft.  She is simultaneously able to project a frail persona, while being a painfully rude, un-supporting, and selfish mother, whose only object is to keep her son under her thumb, to avoid being lonely.  Their unhealthy relationship is evident in all the ways she tries to control him on a daily basis.

And so we follow Dennis to Thailand, as he tries to maintain his integrity and honor, and overcome his shy awkwardness while thrown into the midst of one of the craziest party towns on the planet.

Teddy Bear won the Best Director award for the World Dramatic Competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Bachelorette is awesome!!!  This festival favorite, written and directed by Leslye Headland, has the potential to be the breakout comedy of 2012.  The film is essentially Hangover meets Bridesmaids; it’s centered on the events of the evening before the wedding of the first of four best friends to get married.  However, there are some important distinctions.  Bachelorette should skew younger than Bridesmaids due to the type of jokes and drug use, and the humor is less physical than Bridesmaids.  Centered on one night, much like Hangover, and based on an off-Broadway play, the writing is really what makes it shine.

Wittier than Bridesmaids, and delivered in pitch perfect performances by every single one of the actors, this film should be able to land with an audience that will appreciate it.  The comedic timing is perfectly paced and the film does not slow down at any point.  Thus, Bachelorrette is yet another film to add to the collection of beautifully executed and universally appealing female driven casts.  The comedy will appeal equally to men and women.

Kirsten Dunst delivers a wonderfully dramatic “straight performance” as Regan, the one who did everything right and yet still finds herself frustrated at not having that ring on her finger.  Lizzy Caplan shines as Jenna, the “bad girl” and gets to deliver a plethora of quotable zingers, such as “We gave up strip clubs for lent”. Isla Fisher plays a delightfully sweet and ditzy Katie, whom everyone in the audience finds themselves rooting for.  And Rebel Wilson shines in the supporting part of the best friend (formerly known as “pig face”) who is getting married, and whose wedding is a big surprise to her gang of friends.  Adam Scott, Kyle Bornheimer and James Marsden do a great job as the groomsmen, out on a night of last hurrah for their friend.  Ready to party up, and drown their disappointments and underachievement in an evening of cocaine and booze, the ladies soon find themselves on an emotional all-nighter. There are too many funny moments to list and saying anything else about the plot would definitely spoil it. Check this one out in theaters!

Celeste and Jesse Forever, is a movie that had been set-up to go about a half dozen times according to the filmmakers.  Lucky, for us, the audience, the 7th time was a charm and the green light was on.  Well written by the very talented and witty Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, it a completely non-formulaic, unexpected take on friendship, marriage, love, happiness and the apparent inability to reconcile them. The result is an incredibly refreshing story that taps into the nuanced truth about the lack of clear-cut answers when it comes to life in general.  This idea that life is going to go one way, and it completely doesn’t, is relatable to many, often figuring out what is actually going on is the hardest part.  In fact, the process of the discovery of the storyline was such a good experience, that I do not want to give away much else from the plot.

Besides co-writing the story, Jones shines as a leading lady, commanding attention on screen.  Her portrayal of the often nuanced emotions of Celeste are phenomenal, and it would not be surprising to see her as a leading lady in a feature film again very soon.  Andy Samberg, the SNL favorite, leaves many of his goofy antics aside and delivers as a Jesse, Celeste’s love of her life.  Samberg commented that he had to consciously work to curb his funny side in order to deliver a balanced end product – he would worry on set “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything funny in this scene…”.  Alas, the result is a movie that is both funny and sad at times, with just the right amount of each. Jones and Samberg have incredible chemistry, and you really immerse yourselves into their lives.  Interestingly, Jones first tapped Samberg as a writer.  He was a friend and she wanted him to take a look at the script.  He loved it, and despite not having done anything like this part before, he saw himself as Jesse.  Though the cast largely stayed on-script, Samberg did admittedly add a few zingy jokes during the shoot.

Elijah Wood does a great job in his surprising appearance in a small supporting role as Celeste’s business partner and friend.  McCormack is fantastic in his small part and sprinkles tidbits of clever gems throughout the film, such as: “I was thinking of opening a meth lab. … Or teach pre-school, I always wanted to do that.”  In addition Emma Roberts cameos as an aspiring pop star.  These supporting parts are played well and make the film well rounded on all levels.

You would not notice that the film was shot in 22 days on a very small budget.  It has all the elements of a well-financed feature.  The director, Lee Toland Krieger (his 2nd Sundance film), the cast and the writers all did a phenomenal job collaborating and pouring all of themselves into this film.  Their camaraderie really shows in the end product.  Interestingly, Krieger commented that they were still working on editing the film one week ago, and that the version we saw is likely not the final iteration of the movie – it watched however, as a completely polished film that is ready to go in its current version.  I would hate to categorize this film single handedly as a romantic comedy, more of a dramatic romantic comedy.  Celeste and Jesse forever will certainly appeal to a broad audience, male and female alike, so do give it a thought when it comes out near you, which it un-doubtfully will.

For Star Trek fans:  In a scene where the guys are watching a cheerleaders practice there is a random 4th friend that no one knows. It’s a “did you bring this guy?”… “I thought you knew him” kind of thing.  Well, “that guy” is actually a special Chris Pine cameo.  Rashida Jones asked him the day before to stop by set if he had free time, and they put him in the movie.