New South New Wave

"Something, Anything"     ★★★

A Review by Kevin Powers

Last week, I had the great fortune, thanks to Mr. Ken Leinart and Mr. Allen Handley, to attend this year’s Knoxville Film Festival.

Organized by local documentary filmmaker, Keith McDaniel (2005’s “Secret City: The Oak Ridge Story” and 2006’s “The Clinton 12”), Knoxville’s contribution to American independent cinema is only in its second year, but the overwhelming support was evident on opening night last Thursday as Regal Downtown West filled up to the brim with local film buffs.

           

The event kicked off with a few words from Mr. McDaniel himself and the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Ross Bagwell, Sr. If you haven’t heard of Mr. Bagwell, I urge you to start Googling. He is known as one of the pioneers of cable lifestyle programming and had a big hand in getting HGTV and its affiliates to take up a home base in Knoxville. He is no doubt an important figure from right here in our back yard.

I was also impressed by an ad that played before the opening feature from “Visit Knoxville” that was all about bringing movie and TV productions to East Tennessee. It is apparent that our neighboring “big city” is on its way up.

The first taste of cinema came by way of a feature film produced right here in Knoxville and the surrounding areas called “Something, Anything.” As the Opening Night Selection, Mr. McDaniel and the KFF crew couldn’t have found better timing.

Knoxville filmmaker, Paul Harrill’s feature film debut has been floating around at quite a few smaller film festivals this year. It is a stellar achievement for a young, local writer/director, who I’m sure we will see more from in the coming years.

Coming This Fall: Part II

by Kevin Powers

Fall is here. How about some of the weather we had this past week?

In related news (sort of), two of the movies I’m most excited about in the coming final months of 2014 are getting some play and good buzz at the New York Film Festival (happening right now). They are David Fincher’s adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel “Gone Girl” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel “Inherent Vice.”

“Gone Girl” has already gained much praise for its being completely faithful to the source material and for Fincher’s direction drawing comparisons to his best work, 2007’s “Zodiac,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey, Jr.

          

“Inherent Vice” is set to play this Saturday, October 4^th, its World Premiere. I’ll have some news on that in the coming weeks.

           

To continue my list of new releases coming soon, here are five more that have me reeling (see what I did there?):

“Fury” (October 17^th) – By now, you’ve most likely seen a new TV spot for this Brad Pitt vehicle about a group of American soldiers in the final days of WWII. Pitt leads a crew of war-hardened young men in a Sherman tank under heavy fire in Germany. Directed by David Ayer (screenwriter of 2001’s “Training Day”) and starring Shia LeBeouf and Logan Lerman, “Fury” is sure to be an action-packed war epic for the ages.

“Men, Women & Children” (October 17^th) – After his Kate Winslet/Josh Brolin melodrama “Labor Day” bombed earlier this year, filmmaker Jason Reitman (“Juno” and “Up in the Air”) is coming back to form with “Men, Women & Children,” a look at the lives of a group of teenagers and their parents as they navigate the age of social media and the Internet. Adam Sandler (always great in more dramatic roles) and Jennifer Garner star alongside up-and-comers Ansel Elgort (“The Fault in Our Stars”) and Kaitlyn Dever (“Short Term 12”).

“Foxcatcher” (November 14^th) – The team of writer Dan Futterman (“Capote”) and director Bennett Miller (“Capote”, “Moneyball”) can seemingly do no wrong. As a duo, they have countless Oscar nominations in just a few films. “Foxcatcher” is the true crime story of John Du Pont (Steve Carrell) and Olympic wrestler brothers David and Mark Shultz (Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum). Du Pont is the wealthy coach and Mark is his newest charge. The relationship turns bad…really bad. Funnyman Carrell and lady killer Tatum are poised to win Oscar nominations. This movie has garnered nothing but good buzz since in premiered earlier this year in France at the Cannes Film Festival. 

“Dumb and Dumber To” (November 14^th) – Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are back as dynamic dumb duo Lloyd and Harry in Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s sequel to the 1994 smash. This has been 20 years in the making and will no doubt have us grossed out and rolling in the aisles.  

“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part I” (November 21^st) – The stunning Jennifer Lawrence is back as the most successful action heroine of our time, Katniss Everdeen in the first part of the final installment of the trilogy. I found 2013’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” to be even better than the original and with the same filmmakers at the helm, this one is sure to deliver on the IMAX screen. 

Ceaselessly Into the Past

"The Giver"     ★★★ 1/2

A Review by Kevin Powers

The Ritz Theater in Historic Downtown Clinton, TN - 9/9/2014

When you walk into the historic Ritz Theater in downtown Clinton, Tennessee, you become washed over with a cool blast of nostalgia. It has a smell to it, a look long forgotten.

The smell is of an old, city building, delightfully musty (a great thing), mixed with a fresh batch of popcorn. The look is like so many other Main Street, USA, one-screen movie houses, save one important detail:  this one is not only still standing but operating.

I’m not sure we pay enough attention. Do we realize, as citizens of this fine town, how good we have it?

Mr. and Mrs. Brock, owners and operators of The Ritz, have found themselves as purveyors of both new and old schools. An old theater it is, but it features, as I recently saw with my own eyes, a flawless show on a huge screen.

             

One of the more recent features at The Ritz was Philip Noyce’s adaptation of Lois Lowry’s classic young adult science fiction novel, “The Giver.