Considering Night Catches Us is just her first feature film, odds are, you aren’t very familiar with writer-director Tanya Hamilton. Hamilton was always an artist, but made a natural transition from painting to filmmaking turning her ability to create a story on the canvas to creating one on the big screen and after over a decade of work, Hamilton brings us Night Catches Us.
The film stars Anthony Mackie as Marcus, an ex-Black Panther who mysteriously left town, leaving his family and friends behind without any explanation. Now it’s 1979 and Marcus is back. While everyone he’s ever known is eager to turn their backs on him, embarrass him and attempt to run him out of town, his best friend’s widow, Patricia (Kerry Washington), and her daughter, Iris (Jamara Griffin), welcome him into their home and lives with open arms.
Night Catches Us is a monumental accomplishment on a number of levels. Not only is it the result of a lengthy and trying process, especially in terms of financing, but Hamilton also captures the time period in an impressively sincere fashion. In honor of the film’s December 3rd release, Hamilton took the time to explain every step of her journey from changing artistic mediums to recruiting her top-notch leading duo and even a little about her next project. Check out all of that and much more in the video interview below.
Click here to watch the interview.
As a devoted fan of both the ‘Scream’ and ‘Final Destination’ franchises, the latest installments are two of the most highly anticipated releases of 2011. But, as much as I’m looking forward to ‘Scream 4′ on April 15th and to ‘Final Destination 5′ on August 26th, there’s no denying the fact that ‘Scream 3′ and ‘The Final Destination’ just weren’t very good. This is going to be a battle of redemption for each series and while our fingers are crossed both will exceed expectations, the horror film sequel odds are not in their favor.
It’s great to put your assets to good use, but if you want your film to offer an entire package, other elements need to be considered. In the case of Burlesque, writer-director Steve Antin has Christina Aguilera on the brain and nothing more. Clearly this tunnel vision works well when it come to vocals, but just about every other component is practically ignored. As good as her voice is, if you don’t have the proper camerawork to capture the action, adequate editing to make the visuals comprehensible or a well-developed story to engage viewers, you might as well have just made a CD, not a feature film.
There’s a lot to the world of Harry Potter. We’ve got all these spells with crazy names, people with crazy names, items with crazy names and for those who’ve never read the books or watched the films dozens of times, it’s impossible to remember them all. Having only seen the last film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, once, not knowing enough information to understand The Deathly Hallows: Part I was a major concern. Well, there’s no need to worry because as important as all of the details are, the quality of filmmaking is monumentally more important and that’s as evident as ever in this film. Director David Yates delivers such an entertaining, engaging and well-made film, you practically feel as though you’re part of the world yourself and it’s that sensation that not only clarifies nearly every detail, but it makes for an immensely powerful and all-consuming experience.
Life is good for Paul Haggis. Not only does he have two Oscars sitting pretty on his shelf, but he’s got three other nominations in the bag and his career continues to flourish. Ever since his shift from TV to film Haggis has almost only delivered critically acclaimed work. First was Million Dollar Baby and then Crash followed by The Last Kiss, Casino Royale, In the Valley of Elah, Quantum of Solace and now The Next Three Days.
It’s one thing to walk into a drama and get a little action, but when you opt to check out a thriller that winds up being more of a drama, it’s a bit too difficult to adjust. Making it harder to appreciate a drama with a thrilling twist is a lengthy presentation. There’s a lot that works inThe Next Three Days, if only director Paul Haggis had paid more attention to keeping a proper pace, perhaps that drama would have created more suspense and risen to the level of the film’s more exhilarating moments. Instead we’re left with something that isn’t quite dramatic or thrilling and doesn’t strike a chord as much as it could have.
Most would think you could never have too many good ideas, however, when you’re trying to pack all of those concepts into just one film, they’ll inevitably flounder. Luckily, writer-director Philip Ridley manages to keep just enough of his plot afloat to make Heartless a worthwhile film, but had he opted to just keep things simple, not only would Heartless be a far better film, but Ridley would still have some of those brilliant ideas to save for later.
Ten years is a very long time to be working on just one film, but that’s just how it goes for most up-and-coming filmmakers. However, in first time feature writer-direct Tanya Hamilton’s case, I’d imagine she looks back fondly on every minute she spent working on Night Catches Us, for the final product truly represents not only the time she put into the project, but her passion for it as well.
Good movies are overlooked all the time. It’s sad, but it happens. Perhaps the production just doesn’t secure the means to play on enough screens or maybe it’s the fault of the film’s PR team. No matter who or what is to blame, it’s a shame to see a good movie go unrewarded, but the absolute travesty is when a hunk of big studio garbage is rewarded when it fails to deliver anything of value.
Odds are, you know Kyle Gallner for one of the many high profile horror films he’s appeared in over the past few years. There was The Hunting in Connecticut, Jennifer’s Body and the highly anticipated reboot, Nightmare on Elm Street, but his success in the genre and the prominence of these films doesn’t mean these are the only types of films Gallner has to offer. In fact, he’s got quite a number of non-horror films on the way, one of which hits theaters this weekend, Cherry.