Snow White leads a soft weekend

After a disappointing Memorial day  Weekend, Snow White hopes to overtake Men in Black 3 and The Avengers. Along with Snow White, For Greater Glory opens in a limited wide release while Piranha 3DD opens in both theaters and Video on Demand. Click here to continue reading.

Q & A with "Hush Hush" Director Byron Gatt

At the Sunscreen Film Festival, we had the pleasure of watching "Hush Hush" a story told entirely without dialogue relating sexual repression and isolation. The film was one of our favorite films at the festival, which prompted us to ask Byron Gatt, the film's writer/director to a few questions about his experience and inspirations for the project. 

Amour wins the Palme D'Or

Michael Haneke has taken home his second Palme d'Or since 2009's The White Ribbon with his new Frecnh language film Amour. Matteo Garrone's Reality took home his second Grand Prix award. For the full story click here.

Men in Black may overthrow "The Avengers"

After three consecutive weekends "Men in Black" is looking to overthrow the record breaking Comic based movie "The Avengers." For the whole story click here.

Weinstein Company preps for the Oscar Season

In anticipation for the Oscar season, Harvey Weinstein previewed his fall slate at the Cannes Film Festival. Django Unchained, The Master and The Silver Linings Playbook showed clips of their films leaving critics wanting more. Weinstein stated that the films are some of the best he has ever been in involved with if not the best. For more information continue reading.

The Avenger's wins the Box offfice

For the third straight weekend the Avengers has won the box office with an estimated $55.06 million. The film beat out three new releases which failed to catch fire. For the full story click here

Review: Wagner's Dream

During the course of the next few weeks, the Met will rescreen is famous (or infamous for those who have read my reviews) new Ring Cycle in movie theaters around the world. To kick off the cycle, the new making-of documentary "Wagner's Dream" saw its first major screening around the world (the film had made a debut screening at the Tribeca Film Festival).

The documentary in many ways succeeds where the actual production that it details fails. It is riveting, multifaceted, and rich in its content, scope, and the story that it sets out to tell. Whereas the production tends to be a rigid, flat, and consistently lacking in personality, this documentary more than makes up for it with wit and insight. After watching the film, I felt something that I hadn't felt while watching the actual production at the Met: I was rooting for the production to succeed. And I actually had some affinity for Met Manager Peter Gelb and Director Robert LePage. 

We watch as the planks take form from tiny models to the 90,000 pound monster it eventually becomes. We get a look at the original plans for the planks and then watch as LePage and crew learn of its limitations. The production team's frustrations become our frustrations. 

Moments of peril and wit ensue as first bass Hans-Peter Konig complains about a loose plank and the team rushes to reassure him. The scene is capped by Konig's witty "there are not many good basses left in the world, so you have to protect me." Later on, soprano Deborah Voigt falls off the set as she attempts to mount it (I was actually at the performance). 

When the production malfunctions, director Susan Froemke captures the frustration of LePage, Met General Manager Peter Gelb, and the rest of the technical crew that we have witnessed working hard to put the entire process together. My original response back in October 2010 to the news of the malfunction was laughter; watching this documentary, I was utterly saddened. 

One can only imagine the depth of footage that Froemke might have accumulated during this two year process  and it certainly comes to no surprise that a great wealth of major players in the Ring Cycle (most notably conductors James Levine and Fabio Luisi) get little to no screen time. However, the detailed coverage of soprano Deborah Voight's journey through her first Brunhilde was greatly appreciated. Voight has recently taken up the role of hostess for many of the Met's Live in HD broadcasts with her jovial  and warm personality. There should be no dout that she gained some new supporters and fans with this documentary. Same goes for Jay Hunter Morris in his limited exposure. It would  certainly have been nice to see other casts members, but there might be a reason (aside from obvious time constraints) that they may have been omitted. 

The end of the film felt a tad bit rushed as the filmmakers closed out the cycle with lessening insight, but it was nice to see an intricate examination of the pain-staking process that could be opera. This is definitely a journey that both Wagnerites, opera lovers, and even Anti-Wagnerians, and non-opera folk should watch. For the uninitiated, it certainly will whet your appetite to see this production and for those who have seen it and have their fully formed opinions, it will certainly endear you in the slightest to the figures behind it.

Conciliation/Messenger Updates

Nothing major to report, but why not some self-promotion. Our latest posters for our two films Conciliation and Messenger.

Remember that Conciliation premieres at the Long Island International Film Expo at 12 PM on July 17 while June 3rd will provide Messenger with its second screening at the Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival.

Let us know what you thought of our posters!