Tom Waits is coming to Texas in June.

Pumped.

Ang Lee casts Demetri Martin.

Strangest headline ever? Maybe…

Let the Right One In wins Tribeca.

In my new effort to make this blog all Let the Right One In all the time, here’s news that the film just won best narrative feature at Tribeca. Or, as my friend Leetal put it, “guess what won Best Narrative Film over Iraq and starving African Children.”

This is a truly moving and intense film. Everyone should see it as soon as possible.

40 years on…

On this May 1st, International Worker’s Day, also marks the 40th anniversary of May ‘68, the epochal uprising of the general strikes in Paris.

A good read:

The Spirit of ‘68 by AO Scott

This summer…

…might be the best summer ever. And this from the art film nerd. Some quick hits:

• Iron Man- Robert Downey, Jr instantly makes anything worth seeing
• Speed Racer- Watch the Wachowskis bring Japanese pop sensibility completely  to the mainstream
• Indiana Jones 4- Even the presence of my current most hated actor (Shia LeBeouf) can’t stop me from being excited for my favorite franchise ever.
• Get Smart- TV series was brilliant (Buck Henry and Mel Brooks are genius writers). I have hope for this.
• Wall E- the trailers for this new PIXAR are pure joy
• Hellboy II- Because Ron Perelman should be a big  star.
• The Dark Knight- the best comic book film series currently going
• Step Brothers- cause they still make me laugh
• The X Files 2- I love Mulder and Scully.
• Pineapple Express- new DGG!
• Tropic Thunder- see Iron Man

If half of those are good, its going to be a cool summer.

The best film I saw at Tribeca.

This film is quite brilliant, a fantastic mix of the sadness of a coming of age/first love drama and a chilling vampire film.

You know what?

I am pretty goddamn happy right now.

TriBeCa!

Headed to Tribeca this week, which comes at a time in my life when I really feel like having a few days away from everything, just as a breather. Watched my first Shane Meadows films last night, which really blew me away and catipulted Somers Town to the top of my list. I think I am going to try to watch a couple more tonight (This is England and another one maybe?).

So now, quick hits for my most anticipated films of Tribeca ‘08:

1. Somers Town
2. Quiet Chaos
3. My Winnipeg
4. A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy

Also very excited about Fermat’s Room, Let the Right One In, Fighter, and This is Not a Robbery.

Amongst the weirdness of this day…

I think of how films have been there for me, like friends or companions in my life. In an strange way they have always and forever been the great accompaniment to the oddities of living. I remember getting my heart broken in college and discovering Ghostbusters on television and feeling like it had been placed there for me to watch for the hundredth time. When less than ideal things have occurred in my life I have always been able to stumble across something in cinema to make me feel better.

Perhaps that is my crutch, my usage of an art form to stand in for friends I feel a remove from, to supply me with a distanced yet real reaction and comfort to the events of my life. But hey, if I can always turn to a moment in Godard, a joke by Bill Murray, a gesture from Hal Ashby, a sentence from Woody Allen I can know that what I have has been felt before and will be felt again. And in that comfort I find peace.

Hamlet 2 looks rad.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Trailer-Red-Band-Hamlet-2-8534.html