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A Podcast Q+A with Kelly McGillis, much awkwardness and bizarre fawning to follow

By Adam Lippe

Here is a podcast q+a with Kelly McGillis (Witness, Top Gun), recorded during Philadelphia’s QFest (Queerfest), as Ms. McGillis was being given the artistic achievement award. Normally, this isn’t the sort of q+a I’d upload, but the whole thing was so strange, I figured I should share. To give some context, Ms. McGillis was considered […]

Predators

By Adam Lippe

After learning that I disliked his horror movie, a director at a film festival spent two days trying to confront me. I tried to be nice about it, complimenting the things I did enjoy such as the cinematography and how much he was able to get out of his obviously limited budget. He pestered me […]

A Schlock to the System: Film Festivals Part III

By Adam Lippe

“THIS GUY wrote Dr. Giggles!” “Sorry about that.” His producer clearly ignored what I said. “Have you seen it?” “Yeah, I have. The ending really stunk, smacked of studio interference… Was it?” This prestigious writer, Graeme Whifler, snapped to attention and addressed my question. “I had nothing to do with the ending.” “Good for you.”

Mediocrity Breeds Contempt: Film Festivals Part II

By Adam Lippe

As mentioned in part I of this series (which you can read here), there’s an eagerness for an audience to fall in love with some hidden gem at a film festival, especially a smaller one. This was hammered home with The Answer Man (also known as Arlen Faber), which got a featured spot in the […]

The Art of Respectable Anonymity: Film Festivals Part I

By Adam Lippe

Do filmmakers make movies for the accolades? The money? The challenge? The answer is entirely subjective, but those that do it for the accolades, how do they feel about the intimacy and vacuum of a film festival screening? The crowd has paid more than they would for a regular ticket, often to see a movie […]

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Roadracers

By Adam Lippe

Whenever there’s a genre parody or ode to a specific era of films, such as Black Dynamite’s mocking of Blaxploitation films or Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, the second half of Grindhouse, the danger is that the film might fall into the trap of either being condescending without any particular insight, or so faithful that it becomes the very flawed thing it is emulating.

Black Dynamite has nothing new to say about Blaxploitation films, it just does a decent job of copying what an inept [...]

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Featured Quote (written by me)

On Cold Fish:

Though the 16 year old me described the 1994 weepie Angie, starring Geena Davis as a Brooklyn mother raising her new baby alone, as “maudlin and melodramatic,” Roger Ebert, during his TV review, referring to the multitude of soap-operaish problems piling up on the titular character, suggested that it was only in Hollywood where Angie would get a happy ending. “If they made this movie in France, Angie would have shot herself.”

Well Cold Fish was made in Japan, where Angie would have shot herself and that would have been the happy ending.