Maximum Conviction
Stars: Steven Seagal, Steve Austin, Bren Foster, Steph Song, Aliyah O’Brien, Michael Pare | Written by Richard Beattie | Directed by Keoni Waxman
Yes, you read that cast list right, two of the biggest straight to DVD action stars, ex-cniematic hard man Steven Seagal and former WWE wrestler ”Stone Cold” Steve Austin have teamed up under the auspices of director Keoni Waxman, who previously directed Austin in the better than average Hunt to Kill and eight episodes of Seagal’s TV series True Justice, for a film that sees the duo star as former black ops turned partners Steele (Seagal) and Manning (Austin) who are assigned to decommission an old prison and oversee the arrival of two mysterious female prisoners… However before long, an elite force of mercenaries assault the prison in search of the new arrivals. As the true identities of the women are revealed, Steele realizes he...
Stars: Steven Seagal, Steve Austin, Bren Foster, Steph Song, Aliyah O’Brien, Michael Pare | Written by Richard Beattie | Directed by Keoni Waxman
Yes, you read that cast list right, two of the biggest straight to DVD action stars, ex-cniematic hard man Steven Seagal and former WWE wrestler ”Stone Cold” Steve Austin have teamed up under the auspices of director Keoni Waxman, who previously directed Austin in the better than average Hunt to Kill and eight episodes of Seagal’s TV series True Justice, for a film that sees the duo star as former black ops turned partners Steele (Seagal) and Manning (Austin) who are assigned to decommission an old prison and oversee the arrival of two mysterious female prisoners… However before long, an elite force of mercenaries assault the prison in search of the new arrivals. As the true identities of the women are revealed, Steele realizes he...
- 10/26/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Two months ago, Japan experienced a massive 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed. In response to this tragedy, actor Ken Watanabe launched www.uniteforjapan.org to rally people to donate funds for Japan’s relief effort through key organizations like the American Red Cross, Japan Society & Global Giving.
The impact of this natural disaster continues to be felt today by the people of Japan. Unite for Japan has launched two PSA videos featuring a special group of celebrities that came together to convey a very simple message: Unite for Japan.
Some of the stars who are featured in the PSAs are Paula Abdul, Ben Affleck, Zac Brown, Jamie Lee Curtis, Matt Damon, Ellen DeGeneres, Johnny Depp, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Ayako Fujutani, Mikael Hafstrom, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Muramasa Kudo, Sharon Lawrence, John Legend, Richard Lewis, Rob Marshall, Hideki Matsui, Julian McMahon, Jennifer Morrison, Cillian Murphy,...
The impact of this natural disaster continues to be felt today by the people of Japan. Unite for Japan has launched two PSA videos featuring a special group of celebrities that came together to convey a very simple message: Unite for Japan.
Some of the stars who are featured in the PSAs are Paula Abdul, Ben Affleck, Zac Brown, Jamie Lee Curtis, Matt Damon, Ellen DeGeneres, Johnny Depp, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Ayako Fujutani, Mikael Hafstrom, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Muramasa Kudo, Sharon Lawrence, John Legend, Richard Lewis, Rob Marshall, Hideki Matsui, Julian McMahon, Jennifer Morrison, Cillian Murphy,...
- 5/13/2011
- Look to the Stars
Kevin Sorbo leads the cast of this Canadian sci-fi film.
For the moment, no release date has been announced for this film, which is based on a comic book by Canadian writer Christos N. Gage.
The story is about a detective, Sean Nault (Kevin Sorbo), who investigates on a series of weird murders that were committed with the help of science. Because he lives on a parallel Earth, Nault only knows what magic is. In his investigation, he's helped by Leonore (Steph Song), a person who believes that science has its place in society. During their mission, both will be led to another dimension and they must hurry before both Earths get destroyed.
The film also stars Christopher Judge, Alan C. Peterson, Alisen Down, Jerry Wasserman, Michael St. John Smith, David Richmond-Peck, Vladmir Moskovchenko, Kanji Nimet, Keith Dallas, Adrian Holmes, Jeny Cassady, Sean Tyson and Gerry Durand.
For the moment, no release date has been announced for this film, which is based on a comic book by Canadian writer Christos N. Gage.
The story is about a detective, Sean Nault (Kevin Sorbo), who investigates on a series of weird murders that were committed with the help of science. Because he lives on a parallel Earth, Nault only knows what magic is. In his investigation, he's helped by Leonore (Steph Song), a person who believes that science has its place in society. During their mission, both will be led to another dimension and they must hurry before both Earths get destroyed.
The film also stars Christopher Judge, Alan C. Peterson, Alisen Down, Jerry Wasserman, Michael St. John Smith, David Richmond-Peck, Vladmir Moskovchenko, Kanji Nimet, Keith Dallas, Adrian Holmes, Jeny Cassady, Sean Tyson and Gerry Durand.
- 11/9/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
While Xavier Dolan's Les amours imaginaires and Noah Pink's ZedCrew are competing at the Cannes Film Festival, other Canadian films will be looking for distributors. Now, let's have a look at the Canadian presence at the 2010 Cannes Film Market.
2 fois une femme
Director: François Deslile
Starring: Evelyne Rompré, Marc Béland, Étienne Laforge, David Boutin, Michelle Rossignol, Marie Brassard, Alexandre Goyette, Catherine de Léan and Brigitte Pogonat
After having her life threatened by her violent husband one night, Catherine heads for northern Quebec with her son under another identity. Slowly, she rebuilds her confidence and rediscovers who she is while trying to win over her son’s affection.
Stained
Director: Karen Lam
Starring: Tinsel Korey, Sonja Bennett, Steph Song, Anna Mae Routledge and Stephen Lobo
When Isabelle’s former lover suddenly appears at her shabby bookstore, she is elated and they resume their relationship. Her protective foster sister, Jennifer,...
2 fois une femme
Director: François Deslile
Starring: Evelyne Rompré, Marc Béland, Étienne Laforge, David Boutin, Michelle Rossignol, Marie Brassard, Alexandre Goyette, Catherine de Léan and Brigitte Pogonat
After having her life threatened by her violent husband one night, Catherine heads for northern Quebec with her son under another identity. Slowly, she rebuilds her confidence and rediscovers who she is while trying to win over her son’s affection.
Stained
Director: Karen Lam
Starring: Tinsel Korey, Sonja Bennett, Steph Song, Anna Mae Routledge and Stephen Lobo
When Isabelle’s former lover suddenly appears at her shabby bookstore, she is elated and they resume their relationship. Her protective foster sister, Jennifer,...
- 5/12/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Yesterday, the nominees for the 2010 Leo Awards were announced. The objective of this award is to celebrate all the things that have been done in the film and television industry of the Prairies and the province British Columbia along with people who are based in these regions. Furthermore, foreign TV series and films that are produced in Canada's West are also included in the party. Obviously, this is not the full list of nominees. In fact, this is the presentation of the nominees for dramatic TV series, feature films, comedy series and web series.
Feature Length Drama
Best Feature Length Drama:
* A Shine Of Rainbows
* Alice
* Cole
* Excited
* The Thaw
Best Direction in a Feature Length Drama:
* Vic Sarin - A Shine Of Rainbows
* Carl Bessai - Cole
* Bruce Sweeney - Excited
* Mark A. Lewis - The Thaw
Best Screenwriting in a Feature Length Drama:
* Vic Sarin, Chatherine Spear and...
Feature Length Drama
Best Feature Length Drama:
* A Shine Of Rainbows
* Alice
* Cole
* Excited
* The Thaw
Best Direction in a Feature Length Drama:
* Vic Sarin - A Shine Of Rainbows
* Carl Bessai - Cole
* Bruce Sweeney - Excited
* Mark A. Lewis - The Thaw
Best Screenwriting in a Feature Length Drama:
* Vic Sarin, Chatherine Spear and...
- 5/4/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Have you ever heard of the author Douglas Coupland? He writes novels with a comical nod to pop culture, though the main plot might be gravely serious. In the case of jPod, it was just another book about that generation of young professionals who graduated in an era when computer science was the hottest destination under the sun. Coupland wrote a few books about this generation (they’re all worth checking out), but only jPod found its way as a television show. Guess what? You probably never heard of it. But you really ought to seek it out.
The series’ single season aired in 2008, ran for 13 episodes and ended with a cliffhanger. Basically, Ethan (David Kopp) can’t keep his work life and his private life separate. It’s not his fault though. His mother Carol (Sherry Miller), has a pot farm in her basement (a damned good one too...
The series’ single season aired in 2008, ran for 13 episodes and ended with a cliffhanger. Basically, Ethan (David Kopp) can’t keep his work life and his private life separate. It’s not his fault though. His mother Carol (Sherry Miller), has a pot farm in her basement (a damned good one too...
- 1/21/2010
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
We're getting more Oliver (Justin Hartley) on this season of Smallville, but on tonight's episode the guy is suddenly kidnapped. On "Roulette," he's drugged and brought somewhere by this mysterious woman referred to in the title. She's masquerading herself as Victoria (guest star Steph Song) and her target tonight is Oliver.
However, Victoria isn't as bad as she seems. Though she looks capable of cutting someone's throat with a well-manicured nail, she's there to warn Oliver about something. She tells him that he's gotten involved in a dangerous game that might cost him his life. Of course, he's not giving up that easily.
However, Victoria isn't as bad as she seems. Though she looks capable of cutting someone's throat with a well-manicured nail, she's there to warn Oliver about something. She tells him that he's gotten involved in a dangerous game that might cost him his life. Of course, he's not giving up that easily.
- 10/23/2009
- by editor@buddytv.com
- buddytv.com
On Friday's new episode of Smallville, guest star Steph Song focrces Oliver to play in a dangerous game... and subsequently winds up dead. The cops think Oliver is responsible.
Meanwhile, Lois confronts Clark over what he knows regarding Oliver's suicide attempt.
Watch a clip from "Roulette" below:
Clip from Roulette
TV Fanatic will update our Smallville quotes section soon after the episode concludes.
For now, take a look at these scenes from it. Click on each photo to enlarge it:...
Meanwhile, Lois confronts Clark over what he knows regarding Oliver's suicide attempt.
Watch a clip from "Roulette" below:
Clip from Roulette
TV Fanatic will update our Smallville quotes section soon after the episode concludes.
For now, take a look at these scenes from it. Click on each photo to enlarge it:...
- 10/20/2009
- by matt@iscribelimited.com (M.L. House)
- TVfanatic
Warners continues to showcase their DC comic book characters on the Vancouver-lensed "Superman" TV series Smallville. 'Speedy', the former 'junkie' sidekick of 'emerald archer' 'Green Arrow' will debut in the show this month, alongside female super-villain 'Roulette' (Steph Song). DC Comics' "Justice Society Of America" members set to appear in a January 2010 episode include 'Hawkman' (played by BC-based actor Michael "Stargate: Atlantis" Shanks), 'Atom', 'Spectre', 'Stargirl' (Britt "V" Irvin) and 'Doctor Fate' (Brent Stait). Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1, published by All-American Publications in 1940. Several incarnations of Hawkman have appeared in DC Comics, all of them characterized by the use of archaic weaponry and large, artificial wings, attached to a harness made from the special 'Nth metal' that allows flight. 'Spectre' first appeared in 1940, created by Jerry "Superman" Siegel and Bernard Baily. Noted as one of the...
- 10/20/2009
- HollywoodNorthReport.com
Oliver gets drugged and kidnapped to play a dangerous game in "Smallville" episode 5 of season 9. The episode is entitled, "Roulette," and we've got a couple more spoilers for the show,along with a promo,after the jump. In "Roulette," Oliver will get drugged and kidnapped by a woman named Victoria aka Roulette (guest star Steph Song). She will tell Oliver that he's involved in a dangerous game and must fight for his life.
- 10/18/2009
- by Chris
- OnTheFlix
A new DC Comics character is coming to life on "Smallville". Roulette, the "supervillainess" of the DC universe, will be making appearance on episode named after her on Friday, October 23. The CW show is taking a U-turn from the comic version by presenting the character as Asian.
Oliver is drugged and kidnapped by a woman named Victoria aka Roulette who tells Oliver that he's involved in a dangerous game and must fight for his life. After Victoria shows up dead and Oliver is arrested by the police, he turns to Chloe for help. Meanwhile, Lois berates Clark for not telling her about Oliver's suicide attempt.
Roulette, which according to the comic has no superpower but the genius, will be played by guest star Steph Song. She is quite popular in the East, being voted #1 Sexiest Woman in the World 2006 by FHM readers in Asia. She has also guest starred on...
Oliver is drugged and kidnapped by a woman named Victoria aka Roulette who tells Oliver that he's involved in a dangerous game and must fight for his life. After Victoria shows up dead and Oliver is arrested by the police, he turns to Chloe for help. Meanwhile, Lois berates Clark for not telling her about Oliver's suicide attempt.
Roulette, which according to the comic has no superpower but the genius, will be played by guest star Steph Song. She is quite popular in the East, being voted #1 Sexiest Woman in the World 2006 by FHM readers in Asia. She has also guest starred on...
- 10/17/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Chicago – It’s always nice to see world-famous filmmakers raising awareness about work from their lesser known peers. Where would Eli Roth be without Quentin Tarantino, or Neill Blomkamp be without Peter Jackson, or Danny McBride and Jody Hill be without the better half of Hollywood’s comedy titans? That’s why it’s nice to see “Evil Dead” creators Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert “hand pick” the indie horror films they admire, and then assist in their distribution.
Overall Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0
Raimi and Tapert’s “Ghost House Underground” series began last year with a collection of eight features that included the exuberant zombie satire “Dance of the Dead.” This year’s collection has shrunk to four features, none of which are as fun or memorable as last year’s “Dance.” Only one film manages to satisfy, while the other three vary in their degrees of mediocrity and failure. Let...
Overall Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0
Raimi and Tapert’s “Ghost House Underground” series began last year with a collection of eight features that included the exuberant zombie satire “Dance of the Dead.” This year’s collection has shrunk to four features, none of which are as fun or memorable as last year’s “Dance.” Only one film manages to satisfy, while the other three vary in their degrees of mediocrity and failure. Let...
- 10/13/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A group of students are traveling to an arctic mission to study with a renowned scientist. What they find is an abandoned base of operations and the warmer temperatures have thawed out prehistoric critters that want to multiply. Dr. Kruipen (Val Kilmer) is up at the arctic leading an expedition to study climate change. A group of students, Atom (Aaron Ashmore), Fredrico (Kyle Schmid), and Ling (Steph Song), will be flying up to Kruipen.s camp to help in his studies. His daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIssac) is supposed to be flying up with the students, but he cryptically calls her and tells her not to come. She isn.t on good terms with her father and decides to go with...
- 10/12/2009
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
The Geek Files recently posted some fan art offering a glimpse of how the new prototype Superman costume would look in Season 9 of Smallville - and you can see that here.
Well, we now have a look at the real thing, with a set picture included here that shows Tom Welling's young Clark Kent in a black top with a silver S emblem (his Kryptonian family crest) and a black trenchcoat.
Reactions online are mixed to say the least, with some saying it's too much like a Matrix outfit and nothing like Superman and others welcoming the show taking another step on the journey towards turning the character into a fully-fledged costumed superhero.
It's worth noting that there was a version of Superman wearing a similar suit in the comics and also in the Superman: Doomsday animated film, as well as in one story in the 80s series Lois...
Well, we now have a look at the real thing, with a set picture included here that shows Tom Welling's young Clark Kent in a black top with a silver S emblem (his Kryptonian family crest) and a black trenchcoat.
Reactions online are mixed to say the least, with some saying it's too much like a Matrix outfit and nothing like Superman and others welcoming the show taking another step on the journey towards turning the character into a fully-fledged costumed superhero.
It's worth noting that there was a version of Superman wearing a similar suit in the comics and also in the Superman: Doomsday animated film, as well as in one story in the 80s series Lois...
- 9/8/2009
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is on record as saying season nine of Smallville will feature"full tilt Clois."
Based on a new interview with producer Kelly Souders, it doesn't sound like the TV columnist is kidding.
Speaking to E! News, Souders has an important message for fans of Clark and Lois: watch the season premiere on September 25!
"We see hints of it in the first episode, so any Clark-Lois fans should not miss the first episode. Here's my hint: Watch to the very last second of the show."
Here's what else the producer had to say about ninth season developments on Smallville:
Lowdown on Lois: "Episode nine will reveal what's been haunting Lois since the premiere episode and will give Clark insight to what he'll need to do this season to defeat Zod."
A New Clark: "You will see a new look for Clark and a new side to Clark in the opener,...
Based on a new interview with producer Kelly Souders, it doesn't sound like the TV columnist is kidding.
Speaking to E! News, Souders has an important message for fans of Clark and Lois: watch the season premiere on September 25!
"We see hints of it in the first episode, so any Clark-Lois fans should not miss the first episode. Here's my hint: Watch to the very last second of the show."
Here's what else the producer had to say about ninth season developments on Smallville:
Lowdown on Lois: "Episode nine will reveal what's been haunting Lois since the premiere episode and will give Clark insight to what he'll need to do this season to defeat Zod."
A New Clark: "You will see a new look for Clark and a new side to Clark in the opener,...
- 8/27/2009
- by matt@iscribelimited.com (M.L. House)
- TVfanatic
Chinese-born actress Bai Ling gets around, and that's not meant to sound as filthy as you gutter-minds might interpret. Sure, she's a ubiquitous social butterfly as caught by paparazzi at various premieres and events in the States, but just look at her lengthy résumé, and you'll find roles in countless indies ("Southland Tales," "Edmond"), multiplex fare ("Anna and the King," "Crank: High Voltage"), popular TV shows ("Lost," "Entourage") and foreign films (the woefully underseen "Dumplings"). If she's as crazy as the media often depicts her, how come she's been hired for at least nine upcoming features -- including "Confidante," in which she's a male, black gangster? (Okay, maybe that's actually crazy.)
This week, Bai can be seen in director Anna Chi's new dramedy "Dim Sum Funeral," about estranged Chinese-American siblings who reunite after the death of their overbearing but misunderstood mother. Bai plays Deedee, a martial arts coordinator and...
This week, Bai can be seen in director Anna Chi's new dramedy "Dim Sum Funeral," about estranged Chinese-American siblings who reunite after the death of their overbearing but misunderstood mother. Bai plays Deedee, a martial arts coordinator and...
- 6/10/2009
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
This week sees a couple of golden oldies trotted out alongside the customary summertime family fun, docs on science both good and bad, and another lesson from the Tony Scott school of flash-bang filmmaking.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 9:09 minutes, 12.6 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"Betty Blue: The Director's Cut"
Having inspired everything from ardent film student party chatter to the pure cinematic showmanship of Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1986 Oscar-nominated romantic drama has a legacy that reaches far and wide. This new print of Beineix's definitive 1991 cut of his oh so artsy tale of an aspiring writer Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade), his wild, volatile muse Betty (Béatrice Dalle) and her gradual descent into self-destruction contains more than an hour of additional footage that stretches out Betty's madness and embellishes it with such antics as Zorg's cross-dressing crime spree. In French with subtitles.
Opens in New York.
Download this in audio form (MP3: 9:09 minutes, 12.6 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]
"Betty Blue: The Director's Cut"
Having inspired everything from ardent film student party chatter to the pure cinematic showmanship of Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1986 Oscar-nominated romantic drama has a legacy that reaches far and wide. This new print of Beineix's definitive 1991 cut of his oh so artsy tale of an aspiring writer Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade), his wild, volatile muse Betty (Béatrice Dalle) and her gradual descent into self-destruction contains more than an hour of additional footage that stretches out Betty's madness and embellishes it with such antics as Zorg's cross-dressing crime spree. In French with subtitles.
Opens in New York.
- 6/8/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
Update: Last night Mark Lewis, director of The Thaw, contacted us to let us know that the original trailer for the film that was circulating was actually a temp version. He was kind enough to pass along the real trailer so check it out.
Last night, Voltage Pictures released the first promo trailer for Romero's new ... Of The Dead film which was all good but, lo and behold, after poking around a bit more, I noticed that they've also released the first trailer for another horror flick I've been waiting to see more from, The Thaw.
A deadly prehistoric parasite is released when a Woolly Mammoth is discovered in a melting ice cap. Faced with a potentially global epidemic, four ecology students must destroy the parasite before it reaches the rest of civilization. One-by-one they are infected and one-by-one they turn on each other. Soon the survivors are left with...
Last night, Voltage Pictures released the first promo trailer for Romero's new ... Of The Dead film which was all good but, lo and behold, after poking around a bit more, I noticed that they've also released the first trailer for another horror flick I've been waiting to see more from, The Thaw.
A deadly prehistoric parasite is released when a Woolly Mammoth is discovered in a melting ice cap. Faced with a potentially global epidemic, four ecology students must destroy the parasite before it reaches the rest of civilization. One-by-one they are infected and one-by-one they turn on each other. Soon the survivors are left with...
- 1/8/2009
- QuietEarth.us
We got word today from Anagram Pictures regarding some late additions to the cast of the Mark A. Lewis eco-thriller The Thaw.
Joining Val Kilmer and Martha MacIsaac on their journey to the Arctic will be Joy Ride: End of the Road and A History of Violence hunk Kyle Schmidt. The second to sign up for this adventure is the beautiful Steph Song, whom any fan of the show "jPod" will recognize.
The Thaw started production just ten days ago and tells us the story of "Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac), a young woman who travels with a group of students on a research mission to the Sub-Arctic, headed by her father, Dr. Kruipen (Val Kilmer). When the students discover that a melting polar icecap has released a deadly prehistoric parasite on the world, they must come to terms with their part in this potentially global epidemic and somehow destroy the parasite...
Joining Val Kilmer and Martha MacIsaac on their journey to the Arctic will be Joy Ride: End of the Road and A History of Violence hunk Kyle Schmidt. The second to sign up for this adventure is the beautiful Steph Song, whom any fan of the show "jPod" will recognize.
The Thaw started production just ten days ago and tells us the story of "Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac), a young woman who travels with a group of students on a research mission to the Sub-Arctic, headed by her father, Dr. Kruipen (Val Kilmer). When the students discover that a melting polar icecap has released a deadly prehistoric parasite on the world, they must come to terms with their part in this potentially global epidemic and somehow destroy the parasite...
- 6/26/2008
- by Kryten Syxx
- DreadCentral.com
This review was written for the festival screening of "Everything's Gone Green."South by Southwest
AUSTIN -- Hard as it is to believe, "Everything's Gone Green" is the first feature produced from a screenplay by Douglas Coupland, the "Generation X" author whose zeitgeist-surfing career is so soaked in pop culture one might expect him to have blazed through movies and TV by now and started penning serialized dramas for YouTube.
Not so. As "Green" suggests, the author still is comfortable with old media. He has no burning desire to stretch its form as he did the novel's in "Generation X". The result is a likable if low-key finding-yourself outing that will win admirers on the festival circuit and could sustain a small theatrical release.
The film is surprisingly light on pop-culture references with the most noticeable being its title. The New Order song "Everything's Gone Green," whose confused narrator doesn't know where he is or which way to go, could be a theme song for Paulo Costanzo's Ryan, a Brillo-headed Vancouverite who in one day loses his apartment, girlfriend and job.
He also loses something he never had -- a slice of the lottery winnings his father mistakenly believed were coming his way. As compensation, Ryan lands a job at the lottery division, interviewing new winners for a promotional magazine. As his new acquaintance Bryce (JR Bourne), boyfriend of Ryan's budding crush Ming, (Steph Song), notes, the job entails access to information that an unscrupulous man could exploit to make lots of cash with minimal effort. Ryan decides to try that lifestyle on for a while. He can only hope the change doesn't ruin his chances to steal Ming away from Bryce.
The script's themes aren't easy to miss, though Coupland seasons each with a dash of ambiguity: working for the man is a soul-killing drag (but many alternatives involve self-delusion or danger); the movie industry, in which Ming routinely dresses Vancouver up to resemble various U.S. locations, is ubiquitous but hollow (yet a prop palm tree triggers a flash of last-act transcendence); and, as with a beached whale our heroes are drawn to touch, interesting people long to connect with something larger than themselves --though with business suit-clad squares hobbling down to the beach alongside Ryan and Ming, can the spiritually hungry youths really believe they're special?
Coupland and director Paul Fox aren't aiming for grandiosity though, which is helpful. The performances and production values are modest, in line with the stunted ambition of "Green's" protagonists. Intentionally or not, the comedy generally earns chuckles instead of laughs, even when its script takes an outlandish turn or detours into brief sendups of contemporary self-help psychobabble. (The latter suggests that the filmmakers might have flirted with broad satire at one point, then rejected it in favor of a more personal story.)
If the picture secretly hopes to supply viewers with the kind of epiphany its characters seek, it falls short, staying instead on turf tread in many other good-hearted festival films before it. Within that arena though, it holds its own.
EVERYTHING'S GONE GREEN
First Independent Pictures
Radke Films /True West Films
Credits:
Director: Paul Fox
Screenwriter: Douglas Coupland
Producers: Chris Nanos, Elizabeth Yake, Henrik Meyer
Executive producers: Scott Mackenzie
Dan Lyon, Michael Baker, Morris Ruskin
Director of photography: David Frazee
Production designer: Peter Andringa
Costume designer: Sheila White
Editor: Gareth C. Scales
Cast:
Ryan: Paulo Costanzo
Ming: Steph Song
Bryce: JR Bourne
Alan: Aidan Devine
Ryan's Mom: Susan Hogan
Ryan's Dad: Tom Butler
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
AUSTIN -- Hard as it is to believe, "Everything's Gone Green" is the first feature produced from a screenplay by Douglas Coupland, the "Generation X" author whose zeitgeist-surfing career is so soaked in pop culture one might expect him to have blazed through movies and TV by now and started penning serialized dramas for YouTube.
Not so. As "Green" suggests, the author still is comfortable with old media. He has no burning desire to stretch its form as he did the novel's in "Generation X". The result is a likable if low-key finding-yourself outing that will win admirers on the festival circuit and could sustain a small theatrical release.
The film is surprisingly light on pop-culture references with the most noticeable being its title. The New Order song "Everything's Gone Green," whose confused narrator doesn't know where he is or which way to go, could be a theme song for Paulo Costanzo's Ryan, a Brillo-headed Vancouverite who in one day loses his apartment, girlfriend and job.
He also loses something he never had -- a slice of the lottery winnings his father mistakenly believed were coming his way. As compensation, Ryan lands a job at the lottery division, interviewing new winners for a promotional magazine. As his new acquaintance Bryce (JR Bourne), boyfriend of Ryan's budding crush Ming, (Steph Song), notes, the job entails access to information that an unscrupulous man could exploit to make lots of cash with minimal effort. Ryan decides to try that lifestyle on for a while. He can only hope the change doesn't ruin his chances to steal Ming away from Bryce.
The script's themes aren't easy to miss, though Coupland seasons each with a dash of ambiguity: working for the man is a soul-killing drag (but many alternatives involve self-delusion or danger); the movie industry, in which Ming routinely dresses Vancouver up to resemble various U.S. locations, is ubiquitous but hollow (yet a prop palm tree triggers a flash of last-act transcendence); and, as with a beached whale our heroes are drawn to touch, interesting people long to connect with something larger than themselves --though with business suit-clad squares hobbling down to the beach alongside Ryan and Ming, can the spiritually hungry youths really believe they're special?
Coupland and director Paul Fox aren't aiming for grandiosity though, which is helpful. The performances and production values are modest, in line with the stunted ambition of "Green's" protagonists. Intentionally or not, the comedy generally earns chuckles instead of laughs, even when its script takes an outlandish turn or detours into brief sendups of contemporary self-help psychobabble. (The latter suggests that the filmmakers might have flirted with broad satire at one point, then rejected it in favor of a more personal story.)
If the picture secretly hopes to supply viewers with the kind of epiphany its characters seek, it falls short, staying instead on turf tread in many other good-hearted festival films before it. Within that arena though, it holds its own.
EVERYTHING'S GONE GREEN
First Independent Pictures
Radke Films /True West Films
Credits:
Director: Paul Fox
Screenwriter: Douglas Coupland
Producers: Chris Nanos, Elizabeth Yake, Henrik Meyer
Executive producers: Scott Mackenzie
Dan Lyon, Michael Baker, Morris Ruskin
Director of photography: David Frazee
Production designer: Peter Andringa
Costume designer: Sheila White
Editor: Gareth C. Scales
Cast:
Ryan: Paulo Costanzo
Ming: Steph Song
Bryce: JR Bourne
Alan: Aidan Devine
Ryan's Mom: Susan Hogan
Ryan's Dad: Tom Butler
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/19/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
South by Southwest
AUSTIN -- Hard as it is to believe, "Everything's Gone Green" is the first feature produced from a screenplay by Douglas Coupland, the "Generation X" author whose zeitgeist-surfing career is so soaked in pop culture one might expect him to have blazed through movies and TV by now and started penning serialized dramas for YouTube.
Not so. As "Green" suggests, the author still is comfortable with old media. He has no burning desire to stretch its form as he did the novel's in "Generation X". The result is a likable if low-key finding-yourself outing that will win admirers on the festival circuit and could sustain a small theatrical release.
The film is surprisingly light on pop-culture references with the most noticeable being its title. The New Order song "Everything's Gone Green," whose confused narrator doesn't know where he is or which way to go, could be a theme song for Paulo Costanzo's Ryan, a Brillo-headed Vancouverite who in one day loses his apartment, girlfriend and job.
He also loses something he never had -- a slice of the lottery winnings his father mistakenly believed were coming his way. As compensation, Ryan lands a job at the lottery division, interviewing new winners for a promotional magazine. As his new acquaintance Bryce (JR Bourne), boyfriend of Ryan's budding crush Ming, (Steph Song), notes, the job entails access to information that an unscrupulous man could exploit to make lots of cash with minimal effort. Ryan decides to try that lifestyle on for a while. He can only hope the change doesn't ruin his chances to steal Ming away from Bryce.
The script's themes aren't easy to miss, though Coupland seasons each with a dash of ambiguity: working for the man is a soul-killing drag (but many alternatives involve self-delusion or danger); the movie industry, in which Ming routinely dresses Vancouver up to resemble various U.S. locations, is ubiquitous but hollow (yet a prop palm tree triggers a flash of last-act transcendence); and, as with a beached whale our heroes are drawn to touch, interesting people long to connect with something larger than themselves --though with business suit-clad squares hobbling down to the beach alongside Ryan and Ming, can the spiritually hungry youths really believe they're special?
Coupland and director Paul Fox aren't aiming for grandiosity though, which is helpful. The performances and production values are modest, in line with the stunted ambition of "Green's" protagonists. Intentionally or not, the comedy generally earns chuckles instead of laughs, even when its script takes an outlandish turn or detours into brief sendups of contemporary self-help psychobabble. (The latter suggests that the filmmakers might have flirted with broad satire at one point, then rejected it in favor of a more personal story.)
If the picture secretly hopes to supply viewers with the kind of epiphany its characters seek, it falls short, staying instead on turf tread in many other good-hearted festival films before it. Within that arena though, it holds its own.
EVERYTHING'S GONE GREEN
First Independent Pictures
Radke Films /True West Films
Credits:
Director: Paul Fox
Screenwriter: Douglas Coupland
Producers: Chris Nanos, Elizabeth Yake, Henrik Meyer
Executive producers: Scott Mackenzie
Dan Lyon, Michael Baker, Morris Ruskin
Director of photography: David Frazee
Production designer: Peter Andringa
Costume designer: Sheila White
Editor: Gareth C. Scales
Cast:
Ryan: Paulo Costanzo
Ming: Steph Song
Bryce: JR Bourne
Alan: Aidan Devine
Ryan's Mom: Susan Hogan
Ryan's Dad: Tom Butler
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
AUSTIN -- Hard as it is to believe, "Everything's Gone Green" is the first feature produced from a screenplay by Douglas Coupland, the "Generation X" author whose zeitgeist-surfing career is so soaked in pop culture one might expect him to have blazed through movies and TV by now and started penning serialized dramas for YouTube.
Not so. As "Green" suggests, the author still is comfortable with old media. He has no burning desire to stretch its form as he did the novel's in "Generation X". The result is a likable if low-key finding-yourself outing that will win admirers on the festival circuit and could sustain a small theatrical release.
The film is surprisingly light on pop-culture references with the most noticeable being its title. The New Order song "Everything's Gone Green," whose confused narrator doesn't know where he is or which way to go, could be a theme song for Paulo Costanzo's Ryan, a Brillo-headed Vancouverite who in one day loses his apartment, girlfriend and job.
He also loses something he never had -- a slice of the lottery winnings his father mistakenly believed were coming his way. As compensation, Ryan lands a job at the lottery division, interviewing new winners for a promotional magazine. As his new acquaintance Bryce (JR Bourne), boyfriend of Ryan's budding crush Ming, (Steph Song), notes, the job entails access to information that an unscrupulous man could exploit to make lots of cash with minimal effort. Ryan decides to try that lifestyle on for a while. He can only hope the change doesn't ruin his chances to steal Ming away from Bryce.
The script's themes aren't easy to miss, though Coupland seasons each with a dash of ambiguity: working for the man is a soul-killing drag (but many alternatives involve self-delusion or danger); the movie industry, in which Ming routinely dresses Vancouver up to resemble various U.S. locations, is ubiquitous but hollow (yet a prop palm tree triggers a flash of last-act transcendence); and, as with a beached whale our heroes are drawn to touch, interesting people long to connect with something larger than themselves --though with business suit-clad squares hobbling down to the beach alongside Ryan and Ming, can the spiritually hungry youths really believe they're special?
Coupland and director Paul Fox aren't aiming for grandiosity though, which is helpful. The performances and production values are modest, in line with the stunted ambition of "Green's" protagonists. Intentionally or not, the comedy generally earns chuckles instead of laughs, even when its script takes an outlandish turn or detours into brief sendups of contemporary self-help psychobabble. (The latter suggests that the filmmakers might have flirted with broad satire at one point, then rejected it in favor of a more personal story.)
If the picture secretly hopes to supply viewers with the kind of epiphany its characters seek, it falls short, staying instead on turf tread in many other good-hearted festival films before it. Within that arena though, it holds its own.
EVERYTHING'S GONE GREEN
First Independent Pictures
Radke Films /True West Films
Credits:
Director: Paul Fox
Screenwriter: Douglas Coupland
Producers: Chris Nanos, Elizabeth Yake, Henrik Meyer
Executive producers: Scott Mackenzie
Dan Lyon, Michael Baker, Morris Ruskin
Director of photography: David Frazee
Production designer: Peter Andringa
Costume designer: Sheila White
Editor: Gareth C. Scales
Cast:
Ryan: Paulo Costanzo
Ming: Steph Song
Bryce: JR Bourne
Alan: Aidan Devine
Ryan's Mom: Susan Hogan
Ryan's Dad: Tom Butler
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/19/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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