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About Alex Review

Writer/Director Jesse Zwick’s About Alex involves suicide and a group of friends hanging around a house, so there’s no way to avoid comparisons to The Big Chill, but I’m reminded far more of any number of indie films, especially 2010′s Helena from the Wedding, which doesn’t involve suicide, but focuses on a rather similar group of friends hanging around a house. On the other hand, most everything I would say in reviewing The Big Chill, I would also say about About Alex, and that’s a hell of an endorsement already.

Before even getting to the film, there’s a danger with this effort such that audiences may be prone to finding the cast the most interesting thing about it. The titular Alex is played by Jason Ritter, and his college friends who rally around him after he attempts suicide are: Aubrey Plaza,...

Today’s film is the 2013 short Crush. The film is written by Rachel Antonoff, who also co-directs the short with Bianca Giaever, and stars Jack Antonoff, Mae Whitman, Jenny Slate, and Gillian Jacobs. Jacobs rose to prominence in the role of Britta Perry in the NBC series Community, and has also been seen in movies such as Helena from the Wedding, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and Bad Milo. Her newest feature, titled Walk of Shame, opens in limited release in American theatres this weekend.

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The post Saturday Shorts: ‘Crush’, starring Gillian Jacobs appeared first on Sound On Sight.

Film Movement announced that they've acquired Joseph Infantolino’s dramedy Helena from the Wedding. The film, which features Gillian Jacobs (Clark Gregg's Choke), Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures, Up in the Air) and Dominic Fumusa (James DeMonaco's Little New York), will receive a limited theatrical release starting November 12th followed by the usual VOD premiere and DVD club release the following month. Part of this year's SXSW Film Festival, this is the portrait of marriage and anxiety in the late blooming professional class revolves around one dark night of the soul of Alex Javal (Lee Tergesen), who is feeling so out of sorts that he fails to appreciate his new wife, Alice (Melanie Lynskey), and the new life she represents and enables. The story takes place over the course of a weekend long New Year’s Eve party that the Javals host for their closest friends and one unexpected guest,...

Film Movement announced that they've acquired Joseph Infantolino’s dramedy Helena from the Wedding. The film, which features Gillian Jacobs (Clark Gregg's Choke), Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures, Up in the Air) and Dominic Fumusa (James DeMonaco's Little New York), will receive a limited theatrical release starting November 12th followed by the usual VOD premiere and DVD club release the following month. Part of this year's SXSW Film Festival, this is the portrait of marriage and anxiety in the late blooming professional class revolves around one dark night of the soul of Alex Javal (Lee Tergesen), who is feeling so out of sorts that he fails to appreciate his new wife, Alice (Melanie Lynskey), and the new life she represents and enables. The story takes place over the course of a weekend long New Year’s Eve party that the Javals host for their closest friends and one unexpected guest,...

The film, Helena From The Wedding, is writer/director Joseph Infantolino’s feature film debut. It stars Lee Tergensen, Paul Fitzgerald, Gillian Jacobs (from NBC’s Community) and the always incredible Melanie Lynskey.

I got a chance to talk to Joseph and stars Lee and Paul at this years SXSW.

Both Lee and Paul have resumes a mile long. You’ve seen Lee in everything from Point Break, Waynes World to HBO’s Oz and Generation Kill. Paul has been a guest star on shows like The Mentalist, Fringe and Medium.

The film is about newlyweds (Lee and Melanie Lynskey) as they begin to question their relationship at the same time they host their friends in a remote cabin over New Year’s weekend.

For a first time director, Joseph has done a remarkable job. The acting is so natural that it looks like someone from the cast shot it...

It’s no secret that I immensely enjoyed Helena From The Wedding (you can read my review of the film here) at this year’s SXSW festival. So you can imagine it was a real treat for me to be able to sit down with two of the male leads from the film, Lee Tergesen (HBO’S Oz) and Paul Fitzgerald (Forgiven).

Read more on SXSW 2010 Interview: Actors Lee Tergesen and Paul Fitzgerald (Helena From The Wedding)…...

Rating: 9/10

Director, Writer: Joseph Infantolino

Cast: Lee Tergesen, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Fitzgerald, Dominic Fumusa, Dagmara Dominczyk

I’m going to try to say this without coming off completely hokey, but I’d like to consider myself a sensitive soul. I study English Literature, read Shakespeare, have a cat, and can be seen crying at commercials. Despite this wonderful feature of my personality (I promise I’m cool), I always like to maintain a critical distance while watching films I’m reviewing so I can fully appreciate what’s on the screen, and analyze everything it’s trying to say. But every once in a while, there comes a film that completely sweeps me off my feet and makes me dive head first into its plot and characters. Helena From The Wedding is one of those films.

Read more on SXSW 2010 Review: Helena From The Wedding…...

Director: Joseph Infantolino Writer: Joseph Infantolino Starring: Lee Tergesen, Melanie Lynskey, Gillian Jacobs, Dagmara Dominczyk, Paul Fitzgerald, Dominic Fumusa, Jessica Hecht, Corey Stoll Alice (Melanie Lynskey) and Alex (Lee Turgesen) have invited a few of their closest friends to a snowy upstate New York cabin to celebrate New Year’s Eve with them. Even before their friends arrive, Alice and Alex seem to be forcing a facade of perfection upon their relationship. When Don (Dominic Fumusa) and his wife Lynn (Jessica Hecht) arrive, we quickly realize that Alice and Alex are not the only couple experiencing some trouble. Actually, Don and Lynn are the most outwardly dysfunctional of the couples. Lynn, an incessant nag, always expecting Don to pick up wine and cigarettes at her beckoning call; and Don just goes along with it all. The other couple – Eve (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Steven (Corey Stoll) – is also on the rocks.

Featuring a terrific ensemble cast led by Lee Tergesen, Melanye Linsky and Gillian Jacobs Helena From the Wedding is a straightforward and simple story well told about a group of friends gathered at a house in the mountains for New Years Eve. Naturally, none of the relationships among these people are exactly what they seem on the surface and as the film progresses you learn more about their darker, hidden sides and their flaws and insecurities.

When you have a great cast and give them interesting things to do you end with a good film that doesn’t rely on any sort of effects, CGI, explosions or any of the crutches many of the big time directors making big budget movies rely on these days. It’s the mark of a skilled filmmmaker who can take a simple film where people interact and talk about things and still manage to make it interesting.

Austin, Texas -- Distribution deals were never the point of the SXSW Film Festival, and that's still true at its 17th edition, which began this weekend.

But for filmmakers, actors, independent film aficionados and yes, sales executives, it's a laid-back Lone Star love-in.

"Audiences are more relaxed here," says Ron Yerxa, who with Albert Berger executive produced Jacob Hatley's "Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm," which held its world premiere Saturday afternoon. "Screenings at the Alamo Draft House have almost a party atmosphere, which is what I always thought festival screenings should be."

  Wedged as it is between Sundance and Tribeca, SXSW has continued to grow and draw a wider spectrum of North American and world premieres. (The sublime mid-March Texas weather may have something to do with that.) Though this has contributed to greater attendance, the festival remains a less pressurized destination for...

Earlier last month I posted some photos and information on Helena From The Wedding, which is making its world premiere at SXSW in just a few days. Written and directed by Joseph Infantolino, Hftw follows Alex (Lee Tergesen), a man who can’t hold down a steady job. To his hesitation, Alex and his new bride Alice (Melanie Lynskey) host a New Year’s Eve party in a cabin on the mountains for some of his pals, who all happen to be successful people. But when guest Helena (Gillian Jacobs) shows up, things – and love – get complicated.

Read more on SXSW 2010: Trailer and screening dates/times for Helena From The Wedding…...

Yesterday, writer/director Joseph Infantolino emailed me to talk about his first feature length film, Helena From The Wedding, which features one of the most underused actresses of our time, Melanie Lynskey. The reason why Joe emailed me information about his film is because it’s making its world premiere debut at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, which Gatw is no doubt attending. A little background on Joe, he wrote/directed Jimmy Blue which was one of the official selections at the 2006 New York Film Festival. Joe also was a producer on David Schwimmer’s directorial debut, Run, Fatboy, Run, and Jim McKay’s Our Song.

Read more on SXSW 2010: First look at Helena From The Wedding…...

The South by Southwest Film Festival announced its 2010 feature line-up Wednesday night, and I couldn’t be more excited. The nine day event starts March 12, 2010 here in Austin, Texas, and I’ll be covering as much as I can from start to finish. Though, if it’s anything like last year, I’ll be asleep on my feet by the end of it.

The 2010 list includes 119 films (55 world premieres), but here are a few notables: The previously announced Kick-Ass will start the festivities. Elektra Luxx, the sequel to the underseen comedy Women in Trouble, starring Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and too many more to name. Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass in which Edward Norton plays identical twins. A documentary titled People vs. George Lucas that I will be seeing. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs. Plus the “SNL” spin-off movie MacGruber in its world premiere, possibly before the MacGyver creator shuts it down.

Not all of the great film festivals are outside of the U.S. Even if you can’t book a ticket to Cannes or Berlin, you should be able to afford a flight out to Austin, Texas for SXSW, which is a festival for not only movies, but music and video games as well. Like the years before, the line-up for the 2010 SXSW Film Festival is the goods. Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass will open up the fest and then there will be other great-looking films throughout including The Duplass Brothers’ Cyrus, SNL’s hard-r adaptation of MacGruber, Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, and Floria Sigismondi’s The Runaways, just to name a few. If you’re going to this year’s SXSW, let me know so I can steal your identity and go in your place.

The 2010 SXSW Film Festival will run from March 12-20. Check out the...

Less than a week worth of recovering from the Sundance Film Festival, and we are already looking forward to our next, big film fest coverage. That would be the South by Southwest Film Festival held annually in Austin, Texas. Last year, Scott and I brought you all kinds of coverage from the Lone Star State, and this year doesn’t look to be much different.

With that, the announcement came last night of the feature films that will be playing at the SXSW Film Festival. Previous announcement were already made about films like Cold Weather, Electra Luxx, Hubble 3D, Lemmy, Saturday Night, and The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights making their debut. Kick-ass was recently announced as the opening night film, as well.

Among the other films being presented this year are some Sundance darlings, a few, highly anticipated premieres, and MacGruber.

Check out the full list...

I was so excited at seeing the SXSW line up last night that I completely forgot to post it and started searching the interwebs for cool content to go with it. Oops. Yes, I wish I was there but alas, it wasn’t mean to be (though don’t despair. We’ll be bringing you wicked awesome coverage).

But enough rambling, you want to know what’s all playing. Well, for a start there’s the much anticipated McGruber (trailer), the Duplass’ semi-mainstream comedy Cyrus, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs (trailer, review), Daniel Stamm’s horror flick Cotton and that’s on top of the previously announced titles which include Electra Luxx (Carla Gugino as a pregnant porn star? Bring. It. On.) and Kick-Ass (trailer). That’s already a great line-up but dear me, some of the other titles are pretty awesome too.

There’s Clay Liford scifi drama Earthling (trailer...

Late yesterday the SXSW Fim Festival, which runs from March 12-20 in Austin, TX, announced the full lineup of films that will be screening at this year’s event. And baby, it’s quite a list. Mixing big name films with intimate indie gems, the sheer number of films and the vast array of talented filmmakers is sure to be a hit with attendees and critics alike.

This lineup includes premieres of studio films such as Universal’s MacGruber, Lionsgate’s teen superhero actioneer Kick-Ass and smaller films like Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Michel Gondry’s The Thorn in the Heart and Steven Soderbergh’s And Everything Is Going Fine. With so many films to watch, it will be very difficult to find time to seem them all during the events nine days. But hell, we’re going to try.

For more on...

The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival unveiled its feature film program Wednesday night, highlighted by the world premieres of action spoof "MacGruber" and "Mr. Nice," a real-life tale of an infamous British drug smuggler starring Rhys Ifans.

Features from the Duplass brothers ("Cyrus"), Steven Soderbergh ("And Everything Is Going Fine"), Michel Gondry ("The Thorn in the Heart") and Tim Blake Nelson ("Leaves of Grass") also have spots on the program.

The March 12-20 festival will showcase 119 features and 55 world premieres, including pervasively announced opening-night film "Kick-Ass." Selections were chosen from 1,572 submissions (1,206 U.S., 366 international).

"We want discovery," said conference and fest producer Janet Pierson, now in her second year. "We want a real range of films across the board."

Eight narrative and eight documentary features comprise the main competition categories.

The narrative selections are "Brotherhood," directed by Will Canon; "Dance With the One" (Mike Dolan); "Earthling" (Clay Liford...