ARTHOUSE FILM NEWS - Cosmic Disco Detective Rene at Facets, Chicago 11/29/23

From a New York mag Stanley Tucci interview re: the Sundance '08 film Blind Date: "And you really shot it all in one room? Yes, we shot the film in seven days, all in one room. It was at once a blessing and a curse. After a while you really have to figure out ways to make the room feel interesting without getting tricky or hokey. But it was so exciting. We would shoot fourteen pages a day! It was definitely grueling, but once you’ve written something, you know it so well that you really save a lot of time. You don’t even have to look at the script." Read the rest of the interview here . Thanks GreenCine Daily for the link. Blind Date trailer at YouTube:

From Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo :

Amir Motlagh 's short knock.knock is gonna play at Smogdance , the Pomona Valley's 10th annual film festival. More info. here , and here , and here . The official word from Amir's blog: "Come and watch. knock. knock. play at the 10th annual Smogdance Film Festival. When: Friday Jan 25, 2007 @ 7PM Where: Galileo Hall @ Harvey Mudd College, 260 E Foothill Blvd. Claremont, CA 91711 Link to schedule: http://smogdance.com/2008.html Link to knock. knock. page: http://smogdance.com/2008/motlagh.html" - Sujewa

Yes, another "my immigrant parents don't want me to marry so and so..." story, but then again, just because a story seems familiar does not mean the movie is going to suck. Have not seen Henna, but here's some info. on it for any who are interested: " Night of Henna (The Wedding Night) is a feature film written and directed by Hassan Zee, shot primarily in the San Francisco Bay area. In the film, Hava (Pooja Kumar), a beautiful Pakistani-American girl, returns fully grown to America after a traditional upbringing in Pakistan where her parents felt she would be untainted by American culture. Finding herself in an exciting new environment, Hava's eyes open to life's possibilities. She thinks her dream of going to the University will come true, but her marriage has already been arranged by her parents. As a result, Hava finds herself engaged in not just a clash of cultures, but a battle for her very survival as an individual." Find out more about the fi

If Obama & Clinton do not work out, perhaps El Vez, The Mexican Elvis might. This video is from '04 & '01, but I bet he might still be interested. - Sujewa

This article at Gizmodo says much of Cloverfield was not shot on a cheap, tiny consumer camera as they show in the movie, but the very expensive & top of the line pro camera Sony CineAlta F23 . - Sujewa

Check it out at Hollywood Is Talking . 3 people are made to look like thousands of soldiers landing at a beach, under fire. - Sujewa

At LAist . - Sujewa

Nice conversation with Woody Allen at IFC's site . - Sujewa

Saw it tonight. Loved it (as much as you can love a movie that reminds you of Godzilla). Camera work & editing awesome. If you were personally & deeply affected by the 9/11 attacks, you might not enjoy this movie. If a friend or someone you love died in those attacks, you probably will not enjoy this movie. Cloverfield is a monster movie, but it is also about something like a surprise attack from terrorists hell-bent on carnage & destruction. If Cloverfield is on one level a 9/11 story, is it in favor of the War on Terror? I think so. Yeah, it's a pro-war movie, specifically the War on Terror. See it in the theater, with a big audience if possible, for the full monster movie effect. And don't believe anything that you hear about the ending until you see it for yourself. If you are sensitive to motion sickness, you probably need to skip this movie. It's shakier than Blair Witch. Clips from the movie could also work as a good ad for the army or the national