by The Great White Gypsy

Death and Cremation - Directed by Justin Steele, Written by Justin Steele and Alecc Bracero
Brad Dourif shows up in some weird-ass places. His resume includes One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Child’s Play, LOTR: The Two Towers, and Rob Zombie’s Halloween. He’s the most recognizable secondary character I know, and I’m always interested in his projects. In this one, he plays a loner in a small town who offers cremation services out of his basement. Using this as a front, he goes through town murdering bullies and assholes and burning their bodies. When he comes across a disturbed orphan, he takes him under his wing for the legal side of his business. When the kid starts having trouble at school, Dourif thinks he’s found a protege for his crimes. I won’t pay to see it, but I’m sure I will see it.
Brad Dourif, Jeremy Sumpter, Daniel Baldwin
June 4

Ondine - Written and Directed by Neil Jordan
Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) is probably the most prolific Irish director working today, with an impressively versatile filmography. In this project, he tackles Irish myth and fairytale with the story of a fisherman (Colin Farrell) who catches a woman in his net, and thinks she is a mermaid. If anyone but Jordan was directing, I probably wouldn’t be interested, but I’ve been a fan for a while, and I’m a fan of Irish folklore. I’ll be seeing this at SIFF next week, so look out for the review.
Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Stephen Rea
June 4

Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema - Written and Directed by Ralph Ziman
After the fantastic, gritty realism of City of God, I’m always down for a story like this. The story follows a small time criminal in post-apartheid Johannesburg as he rises through the ranks to become top dog. It looks a little more stylized and flashy than other films, but I feel safe saying it’ll probably be more realistic than Dangerous Ground (unfortunately, no sexy, dirty Elizabeth Hurley in this one).
Ronnie Nyakale, Rapulana Seiphemo, Daniel Buckland, Robert Hobbs
June 11

Winter’s Bone - Directed by Debra Granik, Written by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini
A girl in the Ozarks must find her drug-dealing, bail-jumping father in order to keep her family home. It’s like someone took a film noir screenplay, tossed it out the window going over the mountains, and John Hawkes happened upon it. Granik directed Down to the Bone (she’s got a thing for bones..teehee), which was a raw, honest tale of drug addiction that brought Vera Farmiga new respect. This has been getting a lot of good press at all of the festivals, so definitely check it out.
Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes
June 11

Cyrus - Written and Directed by Mark and Jay Duplass
The Duplass brothers are finally going big time with their first mainstream film. By mainstream, of course, I mean an all-star cast and big name producers. The feel of this film is still in line with their Mumblecore origins, and it won’t get any “#1 Romantic Comedy in the World” promos, but it’s a really solid film that everyone should check out. About a lonely, depressed man who, in the wake of his ex-wife’s wedding announcement, meets a free spirited woman. Things are fine until he finds out she has a 21-year-old son who still lives at home and will stop at nothing to keep his mother to himself. For my full review, click here.
John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener
June 18

Jonah Hex - Directed by Jimmy Hayward, Written by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor
Two questions:
1. Who the hell goes from directing their debut Horton Hears a Who! to a violent, obscure comic adaptation?
2. How the hell do Neveldine and Taylor (writers, Crank, Crank 2, Gamer) keep getting work?
The answers are “Jimmy Hayward”, and “I have no fucking idea”. Summer is already looking sparse for big budget blockbusters, but I was actually looking forward to this comic adaptation of a bounty hunter in the “Old West” who must stop a megalomaniac from destroying civilization. Then I saw who was involved behind the scenes. Cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen (Transporter 2, Transformers, G.I. Joe is actually good at what he does, but he gets stuck with shit projects. I’ll see it if I have nothing better to do, but I don’t think even the cast can save this one.
Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon, Aidan Quinn
June 18

The Killer Inside Me - Directed by Michael Winterbottom, Written by John Curran
I’ve been looking forward to this film for almost a year now, since I watched the red band trailer that ruins the entire film. sexy gypsy favorite Michael Winterbottom takes on Jim Thompson’s controversial novel about a serial killer hiding behind a badge (basically the original Dexter) in the midwest. Festival screenings of the film had people walking out, and Winterbottom was actually chastised by a female viewer at Sundance for his portrayal of violence against women. Despite the 3+ minute shot of Casey Affleck beating Jessica Alba’s beautiful face to a bloody pulp, there’s enough controversy, star power, and solid source material for me to want tickets opening night.
Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Ned Beatty, Elias Koteas, Bill Pullman, Simon Baker
June 18

Restrepo - Directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Sebastian Junger (author, A Perfect Storm) digs into the trenches of Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley with the Second Platoon of the 173rd Airborne brigade for this honest, non-partisan documentary. Following the same events depicted in his latest book, War, this unapologetic yet sympathetic project will most likely spark a lot of debate, if not controversy and divisiveness. But that’s the point of all the good ones, right?
June 25

Wild Grass - Directed by Alain Resnais, Written by Alex Reval and Laurent Herbiet
We all worry about losing our wallets or purses, mainly because all of our personal information is in them. So when a woman loses her wallet, and a man finds it, is it more likely that he’ll stalk her, or that they’ll meet and fall in love? That is the line this film appears to walk. The characters experience a curiosity, but nothing is black and white at first. With all the good press this film has been getting, I’m curious myself, I’m just hoping the limited release happens somewhere near me.
Andre Dussollier, Sabine Azema
June 25

Love Ranch - Directed by Taylor Hackford, Written by Mark Jacobson
Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren open Nevada’s first legal brothel in Taylor Hackford’s (Ray, The Devil’s Advocate, An Officer and a Gentleman) new film, written by the same guy who wrote The Believer and the article that spawned American Gangster. Need I say more?
Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci , Gina Gershon, Taryn Manning, Bryan Cranston, Ling Bai, Scout Taylor-Compton
June 30

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

Long Pigs - Written and Directed by Nathan Hynes and Chris Power
Usually, I’m not a fan of the nausea-inducing cinema verite (The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield). However, this really reminds me of Man Bites Dog, which for 1992 was way ahead of it’s time, and it’s now classic enough to have a spot in the Criterion Collection. The story of Long Pigs is very similar: two novice filmmakers are desperate for subject matter. They stumble upon a 33-year-old loner who turns out to be a cannibalistic serial killer, and he agrees to let them film his life and crimes. As they get to know their subject, they begin to identify with and understand him, but that doesn’t really sit well with the killer, especially when they start calling him out on his conflicting stories. This could either be really interesting fuel for discussion, or an awful abomination of cinema. Lucky for us it’s coming to DVD this month, so it’s probably already available for download.
Nathan Hynes, Chris Power, Anthony Alviano
June 8 (DVD)

Outrage - Written and Directed by Takeshi Kitano
The new film from the director of The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, Autoreiji takes a look at competing yakuza families from the perspective of an old yakuza boss who has watched his family go from underground, violent, and loyal to a bunch of suits checking their stocks, drinking sake, and stabbing each other in the back to get ahead. Kitano is a great director, and usually does well acting in his own films. I’m a huge fan of yakuza films, as long as there’s substance to the story, and this looks like it fits the bill. Of course, if you can’t find this online yet, don’t expect to hear bout it again until it’s the “new film” coming out in 2016.
Takeshi Kitano, Ryo Kase, Renji Ishibashi
June 12 (Japan)

I Am Love - Written and Directed by Luca Guadagnino
There’s something passionate, beautiful, and sexy about the majority of Italian cinema. Especially in a relationship piece such as this. I’m not sure what Tilda Swinton is doing in a tale of complicated love in late ‘90’s Milan, but I’m intrigued. Add to that the fact that Pulitzer-Prize winning opera composer John Adams is making his first foray into feature films, and this has the potential to put Guadagnino on the map with a pantheon of epic Italian directors.
Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini
June 18 (Limited)

Wild Target - Directed by Jonathan Lynn, Written by Lucinda Coxon
The only reason I’m including this film is because Killers and Knight and Day are both coming out this month (who’s bright fucking idea was that?) and this is a great example of how British cinema can be better than Hollywood without even trying. Emily Blunt plays a con artist who takes things a bit too far, and gets a hit put out on her. Luckily, the hitman’s (Bill Nighy) heart grew three sizes that day, and the two go on the run. Sure, it’ll be retarded, but nowhere near as bad as the stillborn cinema Hollywood starts cranking out in June. God, I hate summer.
Emily Blunt, Bill Nighy, Rupert Everett
June 18 (UK)

Dog Pound - Directed by Kim Chapiron, Written by Kim Chapiron and Jeremie Delon
This film confuses me. A French director, English dialog, and a French-Canadian cast. I dunno, but the preview looks crazy. It’s about three adolescent boys who are placed in a juvenile detention facility following their individual crimes. While inside, the experienced guards attempt to keep everything docile, and it works for a while. Sounds boring, lucky for us violence erupts and shit hits the proverbial fan. This film has been getting great reviews, and it looks raw and violent with an underlying social commentary. Can’t wait till it comes here.
Adam Butcher, Shane Kippel, Mateo Morales
June 23 (France)

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