Interview

CHICAGO – The ‘mumblecore’ movement, an early post-millennium film style, is now termed more accurately as movies on a “micro budget.” These films take advantage of today’s cheaper and more accessible technology for creating projects, and then finance them for less money. A new source in underwriting filmmaking costs is “crowdfunding,” and director Kevin Hanna is using that technique to subsidize his new film, “Rose’s Colored Glasses.”

CHICAGO – Every film buff remembers the first time they laid eyes on director Stanley Kubrick’s memorable horror classic, “The Shining.” In the film, Scatman Crothers’ character warns young Danny, “There ain’t nothing in Room 237…so stay out.” Filmmaker Rodney Ascher has ignored that warning in his documentary, “Room 237,” and takes us inside one of the most analyzed films in cinema history.

CHICAGO – The “Soup Nazi” is in Chicago. Actor Larry Thomas – who memorably portrayed that character on two episodes of “Seinfeld” – has a role in the new Chicago-based independent film “You Don’t Say!” directed by local veteran filmmaker Robert Alaniz. “You Don’t Say!” premieres on Saturday, April 6th, at the historic Patio Theater in Chicago, with a red carpet and after-film Q&A.

CHICAGO – The mystery of Stanley Kubrick is one of his great attributes. He directed a scant 12 major films in a forty year career, each with its own genre-busting stamp. His work has inspired an overall passion for films, numerous analytical studies and a new documentary about the theories behind his 1980 masterpiece, “The Shining.” Rodney Ascher directs this strange and compelling film, “Room 237.”

CHICAGO – One of the characteristics of the expanded TV spectrum is new programming from unlikely sources. DIRECTV is debuting a new series for their subscribers, a street drama called “Rogue.” The series features Thandie Newton as a conflicted undercover cop, and co-stars Joshua Sasse and Leah Gibson.

CHICAGO – The first image that surfaced of Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines,” was that of a bleached blonde, tattooed Ryan Gosling seated on a motorcycle. For many viewers, that would be enough to earn their ticket, yet Cianfrance’s brooding epic is bound to give them far more than they bargained for. Some may feel betrayed, others will be hooked.

CHICAGO – If a “Mount Rushmore” of American film critics was ever considered, one of the men that would be a strong candidate is Leonard Maltin. An influential film essayist, critic and historian since the 1960s, Maltin also wrote the go-to directory for film buffs prior to the internet, “Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide.”

CHICAGO – In other countries and cultures, there are parallel moments going on that are interesting mirrors to U.S. history. In “The Sapphires,” a girl group from Australia entertains the troops in Viet Nam, with many of the same U.S. issues of war, peace and social discord. The film is directed by Wayne Blair and features Jessica Mauboy.

CHICAGO – The 1957 novel “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, was a missile across the bow of American social conventions, and a precursor to the radical 1960s. For over fifty years, it has eluded a film adaptation, until director Walter Salles (“The Motorcycle Diaries”) found the way to capture it.

CHICAGO – The fast, funny and brightly thematic “The Croods” is the latest animated epic to come out of DreamWorks Studios, and a couple of veterans in the cartoon game, Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders, are both the writers and directors of this vivid look into a prehistoric cave family and their evolutionary adventures.