With Brie Larson winning the Oscar this year for Best Actress, she’s catapulted herself into the rarified air of A-List Hollywood. Her leading role in the forthcoming King Kong should help seal the deal, but it’s Larson’s ability to leave a significant impact even in small supporting roles that makes it an easy bet that she will likely …
Day Two of Ebertfest began early (9 am), with a discussion panel titled “Challenging Stigma Through The Arts”, which focused on Short Term 12 and its depiction of struggling teens. The panelists, a combination of artists, critics, and social work professionals, explored the connection between trauma, expression, and the arts, as well as the progression …
As with any year, some people have begun arguing that 2013 was a bad year for film, because of the expected glut of effects-heavy blockbusters that litter the multiplexes each summer, or because there was a lack of auteur-driven storytelling for the majority of the year. Though it is indeed frustrating that studios hold their …
The life sacrificed for your fellow man is at the heart of Short Term 12, a new film focusing on a foster-care facility run by a group of passionate young people, many of whom come from broken homes of their own and are trying to offer safety and shelter where once there was none.
The most difficult part of making a movie about troubled teenagers is authenticity. With inferior films of this type, either the teenagers won’t seem particularly troubled, or the adults’ attempts to help them will seem insincere and ineffective. Destin Daniel Cretton’s new effort Short Term 12 developed sizable buzz at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year as a film which evades those traps and provides a convincing vision inside a group home. Sundance buzz is not always justified, but in this case the film more than exceeds whatever the Colorado audiences might have said about it.
Another year and another great festival wraps up deep in the heart of Texas. As the curtains draw to a close on the Paramount and the music fades, Friday marked the end of another great festival at South by Southwest. With over a hundred films screened, this year’s festival has introduced a plethora of great …