Monday, April 21, 2008

FILM: My Tribeca Film Festival 2008 Picks


I tend to recommend all documentaries--like Gloria Estefan's 90 Miles, Chevolution, Madonna's Malawi doc I Am Because We Are, and the Colin Farrell-narrated soccer doc Kicking It--and bi-pass shorts because I'm not rich and I can't afford to pay-up for 10-min of plot. So here are feature films I'd recommend:

STAR-STUDDED
Ball Don't Lie (dramatic adaptation)
"An urban coming-of-age story that follows Sticky, a talented streetballer (Grayson Boucher) who overcomes his troubled past through his passion for the game."
Starring: Ludacris, Rosanna Arquette (What About Brian?), and Nick Cannon.

Boy A (drama)
"A former juvenile offender released from prison after 14 years reenters society with the help of his counselor. Newcomer Andrew Garfield gives a stunning performance as the hesitant 24-year-old who must catch up with his peers while keeping his past a secret."
Starring: Andrew Garfield (Lions for Lambs)

The Caller (neo-noir thriller)
"An energy executive...tries to expose his corporation's corrupt practices...He hires a private investigator to forward his efforts, but who is investigating whom?"
Starring: Frank Langella (Good Night, Good Luck), Elliott Gould (Ocean's Thirteen)

From Within (thriller)
"Evil comes from within in this smart, supernatural thriller, set in a small extremist evangelical town that is mysteriously afflicted with serial suicides."
Starring: Thomas Dekker ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"), Laura Allen ("Dirt"), and Rumer Willis.

Tennessee (drama)
"In this intimate road movie, two brothers travel to the hometown they fled as teenagers to find their estranged father. When they are joined by a spirited woman running from her abusive husband, they begin to grow closer, and the truth of their journey comes to light."
Starring:
Mariah Carey

Trucker (drama)
"A tough-talking, devil-may-care truck driver...is faced with raising her estranged 11-year-old son after his father is hospitalized."
Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Benjamin Bratt, Nathan Fillio (Waitress), Joey Lauren Adams (Big Daddy)


BLACK COMEDY
Finding Amanda
"In Peter Tolan's (co-creator, "Rescue Me") hysterical feature directing debut, a successful TV writer struggles with his addiction to gambling, drugs, and alcohol, making it that much harder to travel to Las Vegas and convince his troubled niece to go to rehab.
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Brittany Snow (Prom Night)

Killer Movie - Trailer available"A reality TV director copes with a spoiled celebutante and a show gone haywire when a masked killer starts bumping off the crew in this slasher-movie satire from a director who did time working on 'The Simple Life' and 'The Real World/Road Rules Challenge.'"

War, Inc.
"A hit man is sent to a fictional war-torn Middle Eastern country where the United States is waging the first fully outsourced war."
Starring: John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff, and Sir Ben Kingsley


COMEDY
Bart Got a Room
"It’s ticktock ticktock for Danny as the prom approaches, and he still doesn’t have a date. With the help of his plain-Jane best friend and likable but wacky parents, his hopes for that 'special' night may come true in this colorful and quirky comedy."
Starring: William H. Macy, Alia Shawkat ("Arrested Development")


DRAMA
Elite Squad
"Fresh from its Golden Bear win at Berlin, and one of Brazil's most controversial films, Elite Squad is a searing look at the corruption of the special police force in the volatile slums of Rio. As one cop desperately tries to get out, two naive recruits see if they have what it takes to get in."

Strangers - Trailer available
"In Berlin, an Israeli man and a Palestinian woman accidentally swap backpacks on their way to the World Cup. Meeting again, they discover an instant connection, but can two people from the same land but different worlds transcend the larger struggle between their communities?"


THRILLER
Fermat's Room - Trailer available
"The walls are closing in-literally-on four brainiac mathematicians with shadowy pasts in this über tense debut. These strangers have all been brought together by the mysterious Fermat to solve their most profound equation yet: Why is someone trying to kill them?"


ANIMATION
Terra - Trailer available
"When the last remaining humans exhaust Earth's resources, an alien girl on the idyllic planet Terra must fight the earthlings who want to inhabit her planet!"
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox, James Garner, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, David Cross, and Luke Wilson.


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