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James Rocchi

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James Rocchi is a film critic, journalist and raconteur. His freelance writing on movies, music and pop culture has appeared in publications including SF Weekly, the San Jose Metro and Mother Jones Magazine. He spent seven years as a writer and film critic for Netflix.com reviewing theatrical films and DVD releases as well as covering film festivals like Cannes, Toronto and Sundance. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Sundance Interview: 'Big Fan' Writer-Director Robert Siegel

by James Rocchi Jan 27th 2009 // 6:20PM

Filed under: Drama, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews



Robert Siegel made his directorial debut with Big Fan (reviewed by Erik Davis) at this year's Sundance Film Festival; comedian Patton Oswalt (interviewed here) stars as a lonely sports talk radio caller and New York Giants fanatic whose only love goes horribly wrong. Siegel spoke with Cinematical in Park City about his acclaimed script for The Wrestler, directing a comedian, why he's not worried about the wrath of the NFL, why Big Fan wouldn't have worked with George Clooney in the lead, and what he was hoping to explore with the film: "Sports radio can be very wonderful and joyous and spirited, but other times it can just be this forum for bitter ... it's a lot like the internet, you know? There are good blogs and bad blogs ... so in that way, (the world of sports radio) is kind of like the proto-blog, where you can just vent and take out all your frustrations ... but there's definitely this kind of angry White male hostile undercurrent to a lot of sports radio; it wouldn't be interesting to me if that was the only thing it had going for it, but that thing definitely gives it an extra layer. ... "

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

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Sundance Review: In the Loop

by James Rocchi Jan 26th 2009 // 11:03AM

Filed under: Comedy, Sundance, IFC, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Politics, Sundance Reviews 2009



In the Loop, which was picked up for U.S. release by IFC at Sundance, seemed tailor-made for easy summations: "It's The Office meets The West Wing," the early-screening set said, along with raving endorsements about how funny In the Loop actually was. And the latter part of that was proven right when I saw In the Loop at Sundance; it's achingly, wrenchingly, dizzyingly funny, with a bleak, bitter sense of humor that makes each laugh feel like the people behind In the Loop are not so much tickling your funny bone as they are going at it with an ice pick.

And yes, In the Loop has the handheld-yet-slightly-too-steady camerawork of The Office, where the comedy of uncomfortable silence builds and builds as the camera lingers and stays on, and it also has the petty rivalries and silly squabbles of The Office; it seems that whether you're selling paper or pushing it, work is work. And In the Loop also has the insider-y, rushed feeling of The West Wing, where many scenes are done as a walk-and-talk and we're reminded that they talk about the corridors of power because that's usually where the deals get cut.

But In the Loop also transcends those easy comparisons, and does so to great effect. The idea that government is as messy and petty and foolish as any other workplace is scary, and funny; the insider's view of politics in it isn't warm walk-and-talk idealism but the ugly, mean pragmatism of the stalk-and-talk, or even the prowl-and-growl. On the surface level, In the Loop is The Office meets The West Wing, sure; what it winds up feeling more like is as if John Cleese and George Orwell wrote Dr. Strangelove for our media-soaked age where wars are conducted in part through press releases and focus groups, or Catch-22 for the 24/7 news era.

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Sundance Review: An Education

by James Rocchi Jan 23rd 2009 // 9:32PM

Filed under: Drama, Romance, Sundance, Sony Classics, Theatrical Reviews, Sundance Reviews 2009



One of the audience and sales success stories at this year's Sundance Film Festival wound up on my screening schedule late in the week through the cruel editorial equations of film festival journalism: An Education became a film I should see because I should see it. There had been praise for Nick Hornby's screenplay adaptation of Lynn Barber's memoir, a coming-of-age-story set in 1961 London; there were raves for Carey Mulligan's performance in the lead role; there was the news that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up the North American distribution rights for $3 million. Late in the festival, buzz and business both assured, An Education became a film to see if only to see if the hum and thrum of the week prior was in fact right.

An Education opens with the sight of young girls balancing books atop their heads to improve their posture, learning ballroom dancing, and taking home economics; since we know that the '60s are coming, and the young women we see don't quite, yet, the vision is like seeing a dinosaur, back straight and eyes front, walk blithely into a tar pit. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is part of this world, but looking past it -- she's applying to Oxford, making sure her application looks good on paper. Told by her father (Alfred Molina) that she shouldn't be practicing her cello when she should be hitting the books, she's confused: "I thought we agreed cello was my interest or hobby. ..."

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Sundance Interview: Director Ondi Timoner and Josh Harris of 'We Live in Public'

by James Rocchi Jan 23rd 2009 // 3:20PM

Filed under: Documentary, Sundance, Podcasts, Tech Stuff, Interviews



Getting ready to interview director Ondi Timoner and subject Josh Harris about the documentary We Live in Public (reviewed here) at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, I sat with my recorder and got ready with my questions as Timoner offered me a T-shirt for the film. A nice gesture, and a casual one -- but the fact that Timoner, Harris and I were being filmed at the time by a camera capturing their Sundance experience for future use turned a gracious, friendly gesture into a curiously weighted proposition: What if I didn't take it? What if I didn't want it? And how long would my reaction endure?

Revolving around Harris' spectacularly failed internet art projects Quiet and We Live in Public, Timoner's film uses Harris as a case study in the perils of our over-broadcast age and offers an examination of the numbing, overwhelming possibilities the internet offers. Timoner and Harris spoke about the film, why the subject of the film refuses to watch it, information theory and the power behind pointing a camera, plus much more.

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

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Sundance Review: The Missing Person

by James Rocchi Jan 23rd 2009 // 10:02AM

Filed under: Drama, Sundance, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Oscar Watch, Sundance Reviews 2009



The Missing Person, playing at Sundance even as its star Michael Shannon earns an Oscar nomination for his work in Revolutionary Road, isn't merely a clever, cool spin on the classic private eye story, but it also works as a private eye story. It showcases a lurching, hunched, quietly lived-in performance by Shannon but offers more than just that performance. It has the knowing, humane touches of Paul Auster's brilliant urban fiction but still manages to rope in familiar crime genre characters like the rich widow, the collaborating cabbie, the wanted man, the ethical crimelord, the unethical businessman, the femme fatale and -- most importantly -- the sad-sack, mercenary-but-moral private eye.

John Rosow (Shannon) lives and works and drinks -- and does a far better job of the last thing in that list than the first two -- in a shabby office in Chicago. The phone rings. Get to the train station by 7, he's told. Board the Zephyr Express from Chicago to L.A.; there's a man to follow. An old friend in New York recommended him, and he's got the job if he wants it: "Five hundred dollars a day, plus expenses ... not including gin." After Miss Charlie (Amy Ryan) gives him the dossier of background and some cash, Rosow shaves, puts on a brown suit, goes to the train and takes the job. Because that's what a private eye does, as near as he can tell. And aside from the ringing phone being a cell, we could be in the 30's or the '40s or the '50s with the train and the gin and the cash and the job. But, of course, we're not.

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Sundance Interview: Kevin Spacey of 'Shrink'

by James Rocchi Jan 22nd 2009 // 7:02PM

Filed under: Drama, Independent, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews



In Shrink, screening in the Premiere section at the Sundance Film Festival, Kevin Spacey plays a psychiatrist whose boutique L.A. office, A-list clientele and best-selling pop psychology books form a thin layer of respectability over his ruined personal life, insurmountable grief, serious pot problem and a host of other crises. Spacey developed the film with his Trigger Street production company, with Jonas Pate directing Thomas Moffet's script, and Spacey part of an ensemble cast that includes Robin Williams, Saffron Burrows, Mark Webber, Dallas Roberts and Keke Palmer. I asked Spacey if doing so many scenes revolving on just two people talking is an actor's dream, or an actor's nightmare: "As compared to? Explosions, and cars flying through the air? I think it's an actor's dream, and I also think it's an audience's dream; there's noting quite like being able to go to to a play or the cinema and watch people exchange as human beings, I think."

Spacey spoke with Cinematical about smoking fake weed, how Sundance has changed the movies, how Hollywood eats its young, his voice-over role as the supercomputer GERTY opposite Sam Rockwell in the Sundance selection Moon, and much more.

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

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Sundance Review: We Live in Public

by James Rocchi Jan 22nd 2009 // 3:02PM

Filed under: Documentary, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Sundance Reviews 2009



"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates

"Night City was like a deranged experiment in social Darwinism, designed by a bored researcher who kept one thumb permanently on the fast-forward button." -- William Gibson, Neuromancer (1986)

We Live in Public, the newest documentary from director Ondi Timoner (Dig!, Join Us), looks at internet technology and how it's changing us, prying into these larger issues through looking at the life and times of Josh Harris, who the press notes call "The greatest internet pioneer you've never heard of ..." Harris made a fortune from the internet before you ever heard of it with his consulting and analysis firm Jupiter Communications, then launched a revolutionary web-based set of video programs called Pseudo and then descended into a series of ornate and risky multimedia art projects: First was Quiet, a constantly-broadcast bunker and residence in 1999 New York that offered participants comforts and privileges in exchange for certain rights and concessions. Then came We Live in Public, where Harris and his girlfriend Tanya Corrin lived in a loft with a 24/7 web broadcast of everything they did, said and were to each other.

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Sundance Interview: John Krasinski, Writer/Director/Actor, 'Brief Interviews With Hideous Men'

by James Rocchi Jan 22nd 2009 // 1:03PM

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews



Writer, director and actor John Krasinski isn't knocking himself out trying to be cool about the debut of his film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (which Scott Weinberg reviewed here) in the Dramatic Competition at Sundance: " Being at Sundance, I think, is the greatest honor I could ever have for this movie, truly. Sundance has always been -- before I got the show (The Office), before I came to Sundance -- it's always been to me, that place where film making is done for film lovers. There's a feeling here that people appreciate taking chances and doing bold things, and I think my cast and crew took big chances. ..." Krasinski spoke with Cinematical in Park City about adapting a seemingly unadaptable book, his respect for the late David Foster Wallace, casting Julianne Nicholson (Flannel Pyjamas) as the woman facing an army of Hideous Men, and much more.

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

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Sundance Interview: Patton Oswalt of 'Big Fan'

by James Rocchi Jan 21st 2009 // 10:02PM

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, Sundance, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews



As Paul Auferio, the title character in Robert Siegel's Big Fan (which Erik Davis reviews here), Patton Oswalt didn't have a chance to fall back on the skill set he's honed through the years as one of the best stand-up comics working today: "As a comedian, your instinct is you tag everything with a joke or a look or a take; this guy, this character ... this is not one of those movies where the writer and director is looking at the characters ironically or in a post-modern sense where it's implied You all know that we're better than that, we're way smarter than this, that we're all looking down on this character, aren't we? This is a character that has no irony about himself ... and just unabashedly loves what he loves, to the detriment of having a real life. ..."

Oswalt spoke with Cinematical about the challenges facing a movie and comics obsessive in the part of playing a sports obsessive, how he sees Paul as an 'imploding" character, some of his favorite independent films and how he sees Big Fan as a tribute to some of the classic 'lonely man' dramas of the 1970's, plus much more.

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

2 Comments

Sundance Review: The Girlfriend Experience

by James Rocchi Jan 21st 2009 // 12:17AM

Filed under: Drama, Independent, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Celebrities and Controversy, Cinematical Indie, Sundance Reviews 2009



The beige square on the Sundance schedule for today -- "Sneak Preview," 6:15 at the Eccles -- was, over the past few days, filled in with a thousand brushstrokes of rumor and intimation and heard-it-from-a-friend-who-heard-it-from-a-friend whisperings. The first murmuring I heard to make that "Sneak Preview" a must-see was that the presentation was going to be an evening with Steven Soderbergh, a night of clips and conversation -- until that proposition, exciting as it was, was supplanted by another rumor: That the Eccles Sneak was going to be Soderbergh showing The Girlfriend Experience, his new run-and-gun, shot-with-the-4K-Red-digital-camera, adult-actress-in-the-lead-role, largely-improvised drama about the life of a New York escort. The rumors, for once, were true.

Soderbergh introduced the film with, as he put it, "a few caveats" as a "work in progress" projecting a 1080p reduction of the 4K file. In 1989, Soderbergh gave Sundance, and then us, sex, lies and videotape; in 2009, he offers sex, truth, and digital video. Much fuss was made when Soderbergh announced this film, and even more was made when he cast adult actress (the polite euphemism for 'porn star,' and that itself a polite euphemism for 'someone who has sex on-camera for money') Sasha Grey in the lead role as a Manhattan call girl who offers not just rushed release but the more refined "girlfriend experience" -- a suite of services including, as we see in the opener, fine red wine and Marc Jacobs black dresses, soft kisses and small talk, and many more things, an experience that goes far beyond sex. And yet still includes it.

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