It’s an exciting time of year at the Angelika, as we starting seeing some of the incredible independent films that have been playing at top international film festivals and are likely to be the most interesting Academy Awards candidates this winter. Among those is MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, a Sundance favorite that continues to impress critics and audiences alike. Adam Conway with the Angelika Blog sat down with writer/director Sean Durkin and actress Elizabeth Olsen to discuss their work on the film, including Durkin’s intensive research into women who have lived within cults which inspired the film.
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE opens today at the Angelika in Hawaii Kahala 8, and continues through the weekend at the Angelika New York.
ABOUT MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE:
One of the most talked about movies out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE is an intense psychological thriller starring Elizabeth Olsen as Martha, a damaged woman haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, who struggles to re–assimilate with her family after fleeing a cult and its charismatic leader (played by Oscar nominee John Hawkes (WINTER’S BONE). Already generating Oscar buzz, writer/Director Sean Durkin’s haunting and impressive debut was honored with the Best Dramatic Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
The critically acclaimed MARGIN CALL has been playing for a few weeks now, and continues to impress movie goers at our theaters. Teale at the Angelika New York recently had the opportunity to sit down with director JC Chandor to talk about his feature directorial debut — Chandor had been working in the industry for years, but his background in real estate and unique perspective on the 2008 financial collapse really inspired him to write this insider’s look at first days of what would turn into one of the largest financial crises this country has faced. Check out the interview below:
MARGIN CALL continues through this weekend at the Angelika New York, Dallas, and Plano, as well as the Angelika in Hawaii Consolidated Kahala 8. Tickets are available online at www.AngelikaFilmCenter.com.
ABOUT MARGIN CALL:
One of the most talked about films of the Sundance Film Festival, MARGIN CALL follows the staff of a high-powered brokerage firm on the eve of the 2008 stock market crash. This methodical, absorbing boardroom thriller unfolds over a tense 24 hour period as a looming real estate crisis threatens the company’s assets. Featuring an all-star cast including Stanley Tucci, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto (STAR TREK), Paul Bettany (MASTER AND COMMANDER), and Kevin Spacey, J.C. Chandor’s debut feature film is an engrossing, unconventional insider’s look the New York Times called “dazzling in its sweep and implication.”
Adam with the Angelika Blog sat down last week with director Nicolas Winding Refn, whose works include BRONSON and VALHALLA RISING, to talk to him about his new film DRIVE - which earned him the Best Director prize at Cannes this year . Check out the video below where they discuss his filmmaking influences, unique casting choices and even the score for the film.
ABOUT DRIVE:
Helmed by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn (BRONSON), DRIVE is a tense indie thriller about a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a getaway river in Los Angeles’ criminal underworld. Critics are raving about stunning, nuanced performances from Oscar nominees Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan in this stylish take on the car heist genre.
Adam Conway had the pleasure of talking to fascinating and adorable filmmaking duo Mike Cahill and Brit Marling about their Sundance Special Jury Prize Winning film ANOTHER EARTH, opening this weekend at the Angelikas Dallas and Plano. They discuss the short films that evolved into this one, their influences, and the complicated emotions inherent in the script. And then they turn the tables and ask Adam some questions. This interview is better than anything in commercial theaters this weekend, we promise.
THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE opens today at the Angelikas Dallas and Plano, and this over-the-top film has one obvious takeaway: Sadadm Hussein’s son Uday was a violent, gluttonous, unstable man who killed a lot of people with little cause and spent 90% of his time partying. Underneath that, however, is a complex snapshot of the intense situation in Iraq in the early 90s carried by Dominic Cooper’s portrayalf of both Uday and his body double, Latif Yahia. We sat down with Mr. Cooper last week to discuss the difficulties of his two roles, video below:
Catch this thoroughly entertaining gangster flick this weekend at Dallas or Plano — what better way to avoid the Iraq-desert-like Texas heat?
Michael Rapaport, director of engrossing new doc BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, sat down with Adam Conway from the Angelika Blog to discuss his new film. The film chronicles Tribe’s rise to one of the greatest rap groups of all time, their rocky relationship as they deal with the fame and pressure to please their fans, their label, and themselves as artists — all seen through the eyes of one of their biggest fans, Michael Rapaport himself. Check the interview, check the rhime, and check out the film at the Angelikas Dallas and Plano.
Buck Brannaman, the real life horse whisperer and star of Sundance Film Festival Audience Award Winner BUCK, visited the Angelikas Dallas and Plano opening last weekend to speak with Gwen Reyes of KSCS 96.3 Big Country and speak to audiences at the theaters. Check out the video below, then head over to our website to purchase tickets for this incredible documentary, playing at least through 7/14 at both Dallas and Plano.
ABOUT BUCK:
BUCK, a richly textured and visually stunning film, follows true American cowboy Buck Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real-life “horse-whisperer”, he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with their horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment. Winning the Audience Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, BUCK is about an ordinary man who has made an extraordinary life despite tremendous odds.
DALLAS International Film Festival hit SKATELAND opens this weekend at the Angelika Dallas - director Anthony Burns, actor Heath Freeman, writer/producer Brandon Freeman, and producer Justin Gilley will be in attendance at the 7:10PM show tomorrow evening, Saturday 5/21 for a Q&A following the show!
We sat down with Mr. Freeman last week to discuss the film - watch the interview below, then head over to Fandango to purchase tickets for the 7:10PM Saturday show before they sell out!
“I have seen pictures of Stan’s work and it is still incredible . . . but it doesn’t come close to the catharsis of seeing it on an epic scale. No one owns a tv big enough to truly experience this film. “
EARTHWORK is the true story of real life crop artist Stan Herd (played by Academy Award nominee John Hawkes) who leaves his native Kansas to risk it all, planting his unique, rural art form in New York City with the help of a group of homeless characters on a plot of land owned by Donald Trump.
Filmmaker Chris Ordal graciously answered our questions about his debut feature film and will be available with the real life Stan Herd for your questions at Q&A sessions following the 7:30PM shows on Friday and Saturday.
This is your debut feature film, how did you choose the subject?
It sounds crazy, but I knew the second I heard a friend casually mention Stan’s New York story that I was going to make a film about it - and not in a general sense - I had an immediate vision of a narrative feature exploring that single episode of Stan’s life, focused on his relationship with the homeless growing in concert with the art he was planting and exploring what that work of art did to those characters. It was a literal gut reaction; I just had a hunch and went with it.I had been wanting to make my debut feature something that set itself apart from other independent films, but I wanted to do so in a way that emphasized story and not style or shock value. I wasn’t interested in making a calling card, I was focused on making a film whose story would be as relevant many years from now as it was the moment I wrote it. When Stan’s story landed in my lap, it just fit. You only get one chance to make your first film, and EARTHWORK is the story that most inspired me.
None are bigger fans of How I Met Your Mother than the Angelika Blog team, so obviously we’re excited for Josh Radnor’s big screen writing and directing debut HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE to open at the Angelikas New York, Dallas, and Plano this month.
The film opens this weekend at the Angelika New York and Josh will be in attendance for a Q&A following the 8:00PM show Friday 3/4. Purchase advance tickets online.
If you can’t make it to the 8:00PM show, be one of the first 50 to attend the 11:00AM show Friday and receive a free HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE tote bag!
A favorite at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and helmed by first time feature writer/director Josh Radnor (HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER), HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE earned the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize nomination in the dramatic category. A sincere relationship comedy, HAPPY follows Sam (Radnor) as he grows attached to a young boy (Michael Algieri) he rescused from a perilous home situation, his friends Mary and Charlie (Tribeca Best Actress Award winner Zoe Kazan (THE EXPLODING GIRL) and Pablo Schreiber) - who are split between two coasts and his best friend Annie (Malin Akerman) - who chooses all the wrong men until she meets a friendly coworker (Tony Hale – ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT). The Hollywood Reporter calls HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE “the happy side of indie filmmaking…studio-level production values but thankfully without the gloss…”
HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE opens March 4 at the Angelika New York and March 11 at the Angelikas Dallas and Plano.
