John Carroll is hosting its first-ever student-run film festival to showcase and celebrate talent by student filmmakers. The festival will take place on March 26, 2010 in the John Carroll School Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.
Students in high school and college are eligible to submit a film for consideration by the festival judges. The film must be at least 30 seconds and no longer than 20 minutes in length. Objectionable content will not be accepted (keep the rating between G and PG-13!).
Long (10-20 minutes) and short (less than 10 minutes) films will be divided into three categories: comedy, drama, and animation.
All films must be submitted on a DVD along with a completed information sheet. You can download the information sheet HERE.
Mail or hand-deliver your film by March 16, 2010 to:
The John Carroll School
703 E. Churchville Rd.
Bel Air, MD 21014
Remember, submissions must be received by March 16th. All films ...Continue Reading
The Stab: Funnier than you might think with potentially good intentions and a duo of charming leads, but the humor is furiously forced and misses more than it hits, before the narrative concludes in complete disarray.
The film opens on a scrawny, squirmy guy speaking directly into the camera. He presents a silver heart-shaped box to an unknown party in a lame attempt to convey his affection. His plea is pathetic, his image slimy and sleazy, and the overall effect is uncomfortably repulsive. Sure, we feel sorry for him, but God save whoever is on the receiving end of this display. This is Kirk, our protagonist and the one whose causes we’re supposed to champion in this film. Thankfully, Kirk redeems himself on the nerdy charms of his awkwardness and good-natured demeanor, ...Continue Reading
Spoiler alert! There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq! Believe it or not, this bit of knowledge immediately dispels more than half of the intrigue found in Green Zone, a severely misguided excursion that ultimately delivers on none of its expected fronts.
Matt Damon plays Roy Miller, a U.S. Army officer on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in the wake of the U.S. invasion. After following verified intelligence to abandoned toilet factories and empty warehouses, he begins to suspect that something is not right—that our intelligence sources are, perhaps, not all they’re cracked out to be. Miller begins his own investigation of sorts, ignoring orders from his superiors and cooperating with competing intelligence officials on his quest for the truth.
But the “truth” he is searching for comes as no surprise ...Continue Reading
For a film that tackles such an emotionally weighty topic—namely, the rape and murder of an innocent girl—there is little genuine emotion to be found in The Lovely Bones. Director Peter Jackson, the master craftsman behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy (arguably the greatest filmmaking triumph of the aughts), fills every frame with visual splendor and an unmerited sense of gravitas, suffocating the story’s sensitive subject matter.
His interpretation of the “in-between,” the purgatorial world that victim and protagonist Susie Salmon inhabits through most of the film, is a frequently awe-inspiring amalgam of girlish fantasy, immortal bliss, and paranoid pipe-dream; though its immensity engulfs the accompanying tale of humanity and grief in the wake of inexplicable tragedy. Even the renderings of reality are delectably pungent, from rich lensing and lighting to vibrant character and set ...Continue Reading
During the movie-going doldrums of January, a teenage rom-com emerges a cut above the schlock. It’s not a prolonged stint of anarchy as you might be—as I was—expecting. Instead, it’s got a quirky pulse and, for awhile at least, a deliciously nerdy vibe.
Michael Cera is his typical pillow-pasty self—only this time there’s no will to conform or even, for awhile at least, to reform. Of course, he’s still not “getting any,” even as his screen mother (Jean Smart) beds a revolving door of greasy guys and her ex-husband (Cera’s screen father, played by Steve Buscemi) enjoys a busty young blonde.
When Cera’s love-starved Nick Twisp meets the wistful Sheeni Saunders, played by ravishing newcomer Portia Doubleday, a wonderful depiction of young love and a delirious celebration of geekdom commence. They share in high-brow hobbies and ...Continue Reading
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• An Education
• The Blind Side
• Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit)
The Stab: A satisfying second chapter to the Twilight saga, improving on its predecessor in every way possible. Even with a scant narrative, the film gushes with dark romance and flights of fancy.
New Moon brings a new beginning and a major upgrade to the Twilight franchise. Director Chris Weitz fills in the critical cracks of the first film created at the clumsy hands of Catherine Hardwicke.
The first entry’s restricted perspective and seasick framing are replaced by expansive lensing and an epic scope. Effects are sharper, clearer, and more convincing. Instead of cheesy baseball montages, we get chiseled boys transforming into massive wolves.
The writing is more rhythmic and intuitive, expunging the improvised ramblings of the first installment. The actors also prove more proficient. ...Continue Reading
The Stab: A poor excuse for filmmaking lacking in virtually every department. Even sequences of grandiose Earthly devastation are dim and dull. With a two-and-a-half hour runtime, this isn’t a movie: it’s torture.
2012 is just as the ancient Mayans predicted: an earth-shattering, cataclysmic event unleashing untold horror and agony upon the entire human race. I hope my creative license to use hyperbole is appreciated, even if I won’t be using it here.
In the year 2012, solar flare storms bombard the Earth. The core melts, and the Earth’s crust begins to shift. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis abound, destroying the world as we know it.
The film alternates its focus between diplomatic preparations before the coming crisis, and one family’s struggle to survive the global disaster. One perspective is just as stupid as the other.
As patriarch of the fleeing family, John Cusack wears his embarrassment over ...Continue Reading
The Stab: Visually spectacular, then some more—to the point of monotony. A scary story more than a Holiday moralistic tale, with emotional resonance suffocated by its showy display.
Stuffed fuller than a Christmas goose, Disney’s animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic tale is overlong, overstated, and overindulgent. We all know the story: the greedy and grouchy Ebenezer Scrooge learns the importance of benevolence while guided by spirits through his past, present, and future.
There are new interpretations to be found here, but I wouldn’t consider them all improvements. Scrooge is constructed on a foundation for his miserly ways. He was ostracized as a child. He hails from an abusive home. The animation efforts along with Jim Carrey’s voice work portray Scrooge not as a villain, but as the broken-down remains of a miserable life. We feel sympathy for Scrooge.
The Stab: Rich with style and substance. Moves slowly but holds strong. A must-see for serious filmgoers.
This darkly ironic comedy will make you go “huh” a lot more than “ha ha”—unless you are one to find humor in another’s misery. Larry Gopnik is steadily losing the reins on his life despite his own best intentions. He must care for his inert, socially stunted brother. His tenure hangs in the balance between weakening social stability and the bribes of a failing pupil. His wife Judith prepares to leave him for the pharisaical Sy Ableman, who continually assures Larry that he’s “going to be fine.” Sy echoes the urgings of Larry’s Jewish faith: that everything will work out and he should simply bide his time. But Larry feels imprisoned by inaction and uncertainty. The Coen Brothers hold back nothing as they simultaneously ...Continue Reading
This weekend, the Town of Bel Air Film Festival is being held at the Bel Air Reckord Armory on N. Main Street.
The festival opened on Friday with guest speaker Michael Sragow, film critic for the Baltimore Sun, and a screening of the 1937 Victor Fleming film Captains Courageous. Two films were screened on Saturday: first, the award-winning documentary Afghan Star, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and then, The English Surgeon, a documentary that depicts the dilemmas of a British neurosurgeon operating in the Ukraine.
But on Sunday, members of our own Harford County community will be in the spotlight.
The festival will be screening selected works by students from C. Milton Wright High School and the John Carroll School.
