beyond ( 2014 film )
movie news, screening invitations and reviews from the world of independent film and beyond .
the final part in my forced beyond trilogy (the beyond, beyond skyline), beyond actually predates both... and isn' t as fun. some interesting ideas at work, but a bit boring throughout and the ending left me a bit cold .
inspired by the true story of siseko ntondini and piers cruickshanks, who together won gold in the 2014 dusi, beyond the river delivers a nail - biting adventure story about the triumph of the human spirit .
reviewed at cartoon movie, lyon, france, march 5, 2014. (also in berlin film festival – generation kplus .) running time: 78 min. (original title: “johan und der federkonig” )
there are no critic reviews yet for beyond. keep checking rotten tomatoes for updates !
in partnership with berlin & beyond film festival of the goethe - institut san francisco, the honolulu museum of art presents the second berlin & beyond honolulu, a special selection of essential and award - winning new films from germany, austria and switzerland .
but the team behind star trek beyond had a simpler choice to make. yelchin & apos; s performance was finished, and nothing in the film directly recalls the circumstances of his death. in fact, star trek beyond is largely constructed as a tribute to another late star trek icon: leonard nimoy, who died several months before beyond entered production .
for the official page of the film on the festival website, click here .
, includes entry to seven film screenings (excluding the opening - night reception) .
star trek beyond is largely constructed as a tribute to another late star trek icon: leonard nimoy .
entry 5: critics and audiences loved beyond the lights. too bad no one can see it .
there are other ways into each other’s profound human experience beyond those provided by our longstanding tribal affiliations .
there are no featured audience reviews yet. click the link below to see what others say about beyond !
we wish it was. we’d have at least got some benefit from the sleep. beyond a joke .
you' ll walk away from this film lighthearted and wanting to hold someone' s hand .
organizers this honolulu series is organized and programmed by: the honolulu museum of art staff; sabine erlenwein, director of the goethe - institut san francisco and berlin & beyond’s board president; christina gerhardt, assistant professor of german, university of hawai‘i at mānoa; sophoan sorn, director of the berlin & beyond film festival .
he had just competed in the 2014 dusi canoe marathon with siseko ntondini, overcoming enormous obstacles along the way. it was a perfect story for the ngo heartlines which, like participant media, the american film production company founded in 2004 by jeffrey skoll, is dedicated to entertainment that inspires and compels social change .
“beyond the lights” is rated pg - 13 (parents strongly cautioned). language and sex, nasty and sweet .
with its talented writer - director and strong leads, beyond the lights should be a lot better than it is .
how does somebody market a film and when is the right time to release it? ...
lovato worked on the film with photographer and filmmaker shaul schwarz, and collaborated with sunovion pharmaceuticals and five leading mental health organizations, who nominated fink, burke, and hale to be in the film .
“beyond the lights” is an epic movie, crammed with comedy, drama, music and romance, yet it never feels overstuffed. it makes its important statements while being immensely entertaining. at the toronto film festival premiere i attended, the director stated she cut the film’s extremely hot sex scene down to obtain a pg - 13 because she wanted teenage girls to experience the film’s strong female empowerment vibe. the film has that, and it has two black people in a romance, but that doesn’t mean it’s just for women or african - americans. “beyond the lights” includes elements that speak to those groups within a much bigger scope that appeals to all viewers .
the showcase features seven narrative and documentary films, six of them hawai‘i premieres. among them are two official entries for consideration for the best foreign language film category of the 2015 academy awards and two “sneak peek” films that will later screen in the main berlin & beyond film festival’s soon - to - be revealed 2015 san francisco lineup .
danny glover and nate parker as father and son in the film, directed by gina prince - bythewood .
during the q & a after the film' s tiff screening, prince - bythewood talked about how difficult it was to get this film made. given her talent, one should find this hard to believe. hopefully, “beyond the lights” will draw the attention to her that “love and basketball” should have. that film has a permanent place in my heart, and while
beyond the lights
won’t replace it, there’s enough room in there for it to nest. i haven’t been able to shake this movie, or gugu mbatha - raw’s performance, since i saw it two months ago. this is a fantastic film. drop what you’re doing and go see it .
podcast | angelo acerbi interviews chris smith and jim carrey, director and protagonist of the film jim & andy: the great beyond – the story of jim carrey & andy kaufman with a very special, contractually obligated mention of tony clifton .
beyond baroque 681 n. venice blvd. venice, ca 90291 ph: 310 - 822 - 3006 fax: 310 - 821 - 0256
the movie was written by craig freimond and robbie thorpe, directed by freimond and produced by thorpe, harriet gavshon and ronnie apteker. the beautifully shot film showcases some of south africa’s spectacular kwazulu - natal landscapes and has been funded by the national lotteries commission, the department of trade and industry, the national film and video foundation and the kwazulu natal film commission .
every now and then a movie comes along that’s so beyond - the - pale sloppy, so disastrous in both conceit and execution, that it simply defies conventional analysis. it happened with the happening. there was something unspeakably wrong with the words. and broken city was utterly beyond repair .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
beyond the river ’s genesis was a powerpoint presentation that piers cruickshanks, academic head of the johannesburg school, kingsmead, gave at his school assembly .
there are no opening credits, making this the fourth consecutive star trek film that does not list its cast at the beginning .
( sweden - denmark) a noble entertainment (in sweden) / copenhagen bombay sales (in denmark) / lionsgate home entertainment (in u. s .) release of a cb sverige presentation in co - production with copenhagen bombay rights 1, co - financed by film i vast, with support from the swedish film institute, the danish film institute, nordisk film & tv fond. (international sales: copenhagen bombay sales aps, copenhagen .) produced by petter lindblad. executive producer, sarita christensen .
beyond the lights
is a faint shadow of 1992' s
the bodyguard ,
without the star power of whitney houston or kevin costner .
the movie is well shot and the music used fits well, however the pacing is slow and the film ends with no actual payoff .
as this year' s oscars host, chris rock wrote in a 2014 essay for the hollywood reporter ,
forget whether hollywood is black enough. a better question is: is hollywood mexican enough? you' re in l. a. , you' ve got to try not to hire mexicans .
beyond the divide is a documentary film directed and produced by jan selby. chris koza composed the original score for the film, which was edited by bill kersey. the film premiered at docutah and is continuing to elicit powerful emotional responses from viewers all over the world. the music begins with simple meditative guitar melodies and rhythms and slowly blossoms through a hybrid of woodsy and synthetic textures. the title track on the album is the only song with vocals, where koza channels his best mellow - mountaintop voice to carefully drift among the crags and crevices of a complicated and revealing facade .
a cross between the low - fi sci - fi of
monsters
, the non - linear romantic drama of
comet
and the guilt - ridden tragidrama of
rabbit hole
as well as a bit of
primer
and a tad of
memento
, this is an excellent film. loved it. also has a little something for post - apocalyptic film fans and alien invasion film fans as well .
writers and directors joseph baker and tom large’s beyond is particularly guilty of this sin. especially so as it does not have the good graces to provide even an entertaining inconsequence .
“it’s not just for canoeing people, it’s for everyone. everyone who goes to see it is going to have a really amazing film experience. ”
9a. a side note: when told about her unwanted surgery, lucy replies “i don’t care about the scar. ” attentive viewers may recall that johansson made light of a nearly identical injury / blemish in captain america: the winter soldier. is this a thing now? is 2014 the year of the scar - jo abdominal scar ?
at least, i thought the camera pivoted to chekov. in retrospect, i & apos; m almost 100 percent sure it was in my imagination. but for me, watching star trek beyond so soon after yelchin & apos; s sudden death cast his performance—and the film itself—in a different light. it & apos; s a resonance that the film & apos; s creative team never intended, but it & apos; s still there. when the film began, every time chekov appeared on screen, i felt a little jolt of grief. as it continued, this feeling gradually softened, but it never totally went away .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
in this world, though, we just have beyond the lights, a romantic drama that was once called blackbird and did at one point seem haloed in promise, but, alas, ultimately proves as bland as its new, generic title. beyond the lights still features appealing turns by mbatha - raw and parker, and scintillating sparks do fly between them. but so much of the film is haunted by the ghosts of what could have been, had a few creative decisions been made differently, or more carefully .
beyond is a self - consciously low - fi british sci - fi flick, pitching itself somewhere at the nexus between monsters and under the skin. those films had real visual and conceptual inventiveness and creativity, despite both being produced on a low budget. beyond can’t even boast that unfortunately, coming off as some kind of feeble district 9 in the english countryside .
in the spirit of brad barr, explosions in the sky, helios, and other pop - instrumentalists, the beyond the divide film soundtrack album is a delightful listen either under intense headphones scrutiny or as background textures drifting throughout the day. but i would be all the more grateful if you would have a listen and decide for yourself .
beyond the lights is a deft, gorgeous movie. for all its honesty, it’s never slow, and for all its criticism of the music industry, it’s never finger - wagging .
star trek beyond is hardly the first hollywood blockbuster to hit theaters under the shadow of a cast member & apos; s unexpected death. the harry potter franchise recast the role of dumbledore after the death of richard harris. last year, the final hunger games sequel was reworked to minimize the role of plutarch heavensbee, the supporting character played by philip seymour hoffman, who died in february 2014. earlier this summer, alice through the looking glass featured the final performance of alan rickman, whose unmistakable baritone classed up an otherwise forgettable movie .
richard lawson is a columnist for vanity fair' s hollywood, reviewing film and television and covering entertainment news and gossip. he lives in new york city .
if heaven is for humans only, then “beyond beyond” answers the mystery of where bunnies go instead, spinning a lavishly illustrated yet hard - to - follow animated fable in which a lapine lad travels to extraordinary lengths to reunite with his dead mother. drawing on aspects of the scandi folk - tale tradition, scribe - director esben toft jacobsen (“the great bear”) [ … ]
how does somebody market a film and when is the right time to release it? this is a question that calum waddell poses in the excellent bo ...
unfortunately for a film about the importance of keeping it real, the drama here is largely formulaic, and the finish line crosses into the realm of artistic fantasy .
a study by usc' s annenberg school for communication and journalism found that among the 100 top - grossing movies in 2014, 73% of all speaking or named characters were white, just more than 12% were black and 5% were asians. latinos, who make up more than 16% of the u. s. population, were just below asians .
“the film is quite different. i can’t think of too many films like it. it’s got a feel - good side to it, but it has also got a lot of depth. people who’ve seen it have responded to the story, the film itself, the actors, the landscapes. people will enjoy this movie. ”
, baker and large capture the haunting vastness of scotland; its otherness. the dreadful indie folk soundtrack lets the film down, though the repeating score packs a punch .
a separation director asghar farhadi confirms his place among cinema' s true grown - ups with a pressure cooker of a relationship drama. prepare yourself for post - film debate
experience an exclusive viewing of the film! make a block booking for your office, school, sports club, faith group, or for yourself and all your friends .
and yet, according to several studies, no group buys more movie tickets when compared with their proportion of the u. s. population than latinos. in the motion picture assn. of america' s 2014 theatrical market statistics report for u. s. and canadian moviegoers, latinos were 17% of the population but
oversampled
at 25% of north american frequent moviegoers .
kaleidoscope’s dvd presents the film very nicely indeed. the picture is crisp but retains the inherent muddiness of the shots of grey skies and weather - beaten scottish hills. it’s a shame the extras go no further than a trailer, as a little insight into the film’s conception could have been fascinating. perhaps kaleidoscope may unearth something for the dvd’s release .
british actor charlie hunnam was cast asmexican american cartel kingpin edgar
la barbie
valdez in the film
american drug lord .
( don kelsen / los angeles times )
documentary filmmaker bill morrison found a newsreel from the 1919 ‘‘black sox’’ world series tucked away in a canadian archive while researching his new film
dawson city: frozen time
.
beyond is a suspenseful sci - fi journey tracking the turbulent relationship of cole and maya as they struggle to survive in a world where the human population has been left decimated after an extra - terrestrial attack .
we have to entertain one or the other unless we’re to completely write off almost 50% of beyond ’s characters as absolute lunatics or the stupidest people that ever lived. pre - or post - annihilation .
if you enjoyed our review and want to watch beyond, please consider clicking through to our amazon affiliate links. if you do you’ll help keep the this is horror ship afloat with some very welcome remuneration .
johansson closes the movie with a voiceover echoing the one that opened the film: “life was given to us a billion years ago. now you know what to do with it. ”
none of this is to criticize the creative team behind star trek beyond, who have felt the loss of yelchin as both a colleague and friend, and who have been unfailingly thoughtful and gracious in their tributes to yelchin during the movie & apos; s promotional circuit. but the death of an actor changes the context in which you watch a movie, and for fans of yelchin & apos; s work, star trek beyond will be both a tribute and a fresh source of grief. and sitting in a movie theater, it & apos; s hard to reconcile those feelings with what star trek beyond wants to be: a fun, escapist summer popcorn blockbuster .
the past is a film that announces this director' s arrival in the rank of those film - makers like kiarostami, haneke and pt anderson, directors who are intent on the unfashionable business of making morally serious films for adults. very often, a certain type of movie is praised for being
immersive
, for providing the longed - for sensual pleasure of pure cinema. farhadi' s kind of film is quite different, but just as valuable. you are not immersed; on the contrary, you are challenged, alienated, compelled to pay fierce attention to every line, every cutaway, every scene change, and then to question what you think you have learned. having watched and rewatched the past, i wonder if it is a little contrived, but its severity and cerebral force are beyond question, a pressure cooker of passion and anguish. just as in his film a separation, it is the agony of splitting that reveals the truth of a relationship most clearly; literally an analysis, a taking - apart .
smart, inventive, genuinely creative and at times agonising to watch this is a great calling card for all involved. it' s a bold little film that deserves to be higher on the radar .
but boyd, who has read the script, is skeptical. “it seems as though the period of time that they picked — the late ’70s — is probably the least significant era of miles’ music, ” he says. “if this film actually does make it to the screen, there’s the likelihood that we won’t see any more miles davis biopics any time soon. and so the legacy of miles davis is resting thus far on this one film, and i don’t think based on what i’ve seen, this film serves the purpose of properly representing what miles davis represented to american music and american culture. ”
social media erupted recently with
whitewashing
accusations after the film
american drug lord
gave the starring role of mexican american cartel kingpin edgar
la barbie
valdez to the british actor charlie hunnam .
the first film from the 21st century added to the list, which is restricted to works at least 10 years old, is “decasia, ” a 2002 experimental collage piece by new york artist bill morrison .
fred’s chiara nicoletti meets jim carrey and chris smith at the 74th venice international film festival where they presented jim & andy: the great beyond – the story of jim carrey & andy kaufman with a very special, contractually obligated mention of tony clifton, a documentary - interview - confession the title of which only sums up the first intent of the film: to finally show the audience the behind the scenes documentary on the making of man on the moon (1999) by milos forman. the film starred jim carrey in the role of andy kaufmann and the actor somehow became so immersed in andy’s character and his alter ego tony clifton that he felt his presence by his side for a long time after they were done filming. while guiding us on this trip through that moment in his life, jim carrey talks about the beginning of his career, the films that made him famous from the mask to dumb and dumber and also talk to us about his father. thanks to the film, we long for andy kaufman but we finally meet the person hiding behind “the mask” of jim carrey .
it’s no accident the film and tv production industry got here first, carmean says. by their nature, tv and film sets are closed, tightly - controlled spaces where using drones is inherently less risky. all individuals present know that cameras are rolling, rendering privacy a non - issue. and the companies that work in the space already have years of experience flying their aerial hardware. one member of the consortium seeking the exemption, flying - cam inc. , even won an oscar for its technical achievements in shooting scenes for the james bond film “skyfall” (shot overseas, of course; remember that prolonged rooftop chase in istanbul ?) .
dvd review: beyond / cert: 15 / director: joseph baker, tom large / screenplay: joseph baker, tom large / starring: richard j. danum, gillian macgregor, paul brannigan, kristian hart / release date: january 12th, 2015
beyond the lights is a deft, gorgeous movie. for all its honesty, it’s never slow, and for all its criticism of the music industry, it’s never finger - wagging. prince - bythewood re - creates the hyperstylized imagery of music videos and awards shows, indulging in their pop absurdity while allowing an undercurrent of melancholy to course through. and she somehow does it all without ever letting the story get out of control, too ridiculous or fantastical. that may be beyond the lights ’ greatest accomplishment, and why, for a film so seemingly frivolous, it hits so hard: as we watch this dreamy, colorful piece of musical and romantic wish - fulfillment, we get the distinct sense we’re watching real life unfold .
sets and locations in cincinnati double for davis’ new york brownstone, the office of columbia records executive george butler, and for performance spaces in the flashback sequences that could make up as much as 40% of the film .
fellow canoeist brad fisher had alerted film makers robbie thorpe (producer of vaya (2016), tell me sweet something (2015) and material (2012) ) and craig freimond (writer / director of material (2012), jozi (2010) and gums & noses (2004) ) to the story, thinking initially it would make a good documentary, but freimond and robbie convinced him that it would be great material for a feature film .
this isn’t a terrible film by any means. in fact, it’s quite nice to a see an earnest, genuinely sexy romance that has nothing to do with that slinger of saccharine nicholas sparks. (let alone one that doesn’t look like sparks’s fantasia of wonder bread - white americana .) but given its pedigree, its roster of talent, beyond the lights is disappointing. a familiar story told with little invention, the film feels like an outline, a placeholder for a more sophisticated, attentively drawn movie. i think that prince - bythewood has that movie in her, and i know her two stars do. so maybe they should all go and try to make that movie now. they have the perfect title already .
out of synch numerically with each year it’s been in operation, this year sci - fi - london skipped (unlucky) no. 13 and used november 2012’s first stratford - based autumn festival to make up the numbers so that sci - fi - london 14 could take place in 2014. taking place at stratford east picturehouse and bfi southbank, and with notable events in other venues, the festival offered a rich array of films, taking on a wide range of topics from star wars to alien asteroid collision and subjugating frequencies .
the album is packaged in a full - color matte - finish eco - wallet, incorporating photography from the film and lyrics. the design elements can be seen below. full artwork will be added once the albums arrive from the manufacturer .
herbie hancock’s involvement in the film has been described as everything from serving as a consultant to a technical advisor, although he describes his role as non - specific. whatever original music is being done for the film is from jazz crossover artist robert glasper. “the only music i’ve heard so far is what robert has done, ” says hancock, who was drawn into the project in its very early stages. “it sampled some ideas that don had discussed with me earlier. ”
july 7 saturday 8: 00 pm noir in our age video, reading, and discussion with the marquess of noir, alan k. rode, and suzanne lummis, the dispossessed contrarian baroness of noir. alan rode is a writer, film scholar, and director - treasurer of the film noir foundation. suzanne lummis teaches a course through the ucla extension writers program, poetry goes to the movies, and hosts the web series they write by night. regular admission. members free
christopher orr is a senior editor and the principal film critic at the atlantic. he has written on movies for the new republic, la weekly, salon, and the new york sun, and has worked as an editor for numerous publications .
outrage
was a banquet of suffering. signature dishes included a slashed face, a half - bitten tongue, anesthesia - free dentistry, chopsticks through the ear, and severed fingers in noodle soup .
beyond outrage
doesn' t really go
beyond
in any sense except pushing the story a bit further. there are gruesome acts of violence, including a torture - by - drill, but for the most part kitano seems content to expand on one of his biggest hits by taking a page or two from francis coppola' s
godfather
trilogy .
beyond baroque offers a wide variety of workshops, readings, performances, art exhibits, and community events and meetings. click on one of the calendar links below to find something to enjoy. if you' d like to submit a proposal for an event, click here for more information .
chon noriega, a professor in the ucla department of film, television and digital media, points to the 1991 film
grand canyon ,
which was set in l. a. and dealt with issues of race and class but had no latino standouts. it was as if
only whites and african americans have a subconscious, only they dream ,
he said .
it just doesn' t look like l. a. where did the other half of the city go ?
at the center of “beyond the lights” is gugu mbatha - raw, who does her own singing and embodies noni so fiercely that she sears the screen. this is a star - making performance; noni is a complete 180 - degree turn from the titular character she played in “belle. . “beyond the lights” gives her complicated song and dance numbers, scenes of immense strength and overpowering weakness, and a romance that plays like a less tragic “a star is born” or “ mahogany, ” had “mahogany” been any good. this is an incredibly rich role and mbatha - raw commands every second she’s onscreen .
july 15 sunday 7: 00 pm will alexander & andrew joron andrew joron' s work shows a fascination with sound, with syntax, and other properties of language as a speculative substance. will alexander is the winner of the 2014 american book award and the 2016 jackson prize. the domain of his nervy curiosity ranges from the icy himalayas to the african savannahs, from physics, astronomy, and music, to alchemy, philosophy, and painting. orishas, angels and ghosts all sing to this poet, instructing him in their art of verbal flight. regular admission. members free
if heaven is for humans only, then “ beyond beyond ” answers the mystery of where bunnies go instead, spinning a lavishly illustrated yet hard - to - follow animated fable in which a lapine lad travels to extraordinary lengths to reunite with his dead mother. drawing on aspects of the scandi folk - tale tradition, scribe - director esben toft jacobsen (“the great bear”) and writing partner jannik tai mosholt invent an elaborate mythology around an impressive figure called the feather king, who guards the realm where johan, the rabbit boy, must venture, though the trip proves too dark and complicated for family crowds, limiting export prospects .
for its part, the davis family seems anything but displeased by what has transpired. “i want people to understand how complex he was, ” erin davis says about his expectations of the film, “and i want them to leave the movie wanting to know more. ”
july 28 saturday 8: 00 pm sonia greenfield, donna hilbert, & martin ott sonia greenfield' s book boy with a halo at the farmer' s market, won the 2014 codhill poetry prize, and her work has appeared in the 2018 and 2010 best american poetry. donna hilbert’s latest book is gravity: new & selected poems from tebot bach, and her work is widely anthologized, most recently in poetry of presence, grayson books. martin ott has published eight books of poetry and fiction, most recently lessons in camouflage, c & r; press, 2018. regular admission. members free
set and shot in the scottish countryside, beyond follows in this trend, using the backdrop of an alien attack to tell a human story about an obstacle - ridden relationship between two troubled souls. sprinkled in are elements of horror and the obvious sci - fi scenario, but these barely infiltrate the dystopian drama which lies at beyond’s core. directors joseph baker and tom large refuse to placate us with action beats and we never even see the aliens (though we are teased with a scene in which maya is invited to view photos, which we are not privy to), making clear that the two lead characters are to be our focus .
“beyond the lights, ” gina prince - bythewood’s occasionally silly, frequently stirring romantic melodrama, was originally going to be called “blackbird, ” after the nina simone song at its yearning heart. that song, a blunt, anguished, barely metaphorical reckoning with the intimate psychic violence of racism and sexism, is performed several times by noni, the film’s suffering pop star. the first time is as a young girl (played by india jean - jacques) at a south london talent show, where we are introduced to the two forces that will rule her destiny: a stunning vocal gift and a ruthless stage mother .
i was really prepared to go to bat for this film, its brilliant concept on a shoestring budget, but then the ending happened and that sort of messed things up for me. its not that its a bad ending, its just that it does away with the brilliant concept .
sombre and difficult this movie may be, but it is exhilarating to watch something that makes you come out of the cinema not sated or torpid, but wanting to talk – to talk about what the film meant, and meant to you personally. it' s a rare pleasure .
in much the same way the revisionist north pole of “the polar express” threatened to derail children’s mental image of christmas, “ beyond beyond ” presents a puzzling alternative to heaven, one that looks like a crumbling guatemalan village with all of its stacked houses. while toft jacobsen has created some striking visuals — including a frog - like captain who does charon’s ferryman duties and a strange multi - tentacled creature named mora that gives orders from a glowing pool of water — there’s little logic in their behavior, and even less poetry in this peculiar allegory he has created. (the original title, “johan and the feather king, ” literally does a better job of capturing the pic’s spirit. )
the original was a closed - off suspense picture about men in suits plotting death and disfigurement in rembrandt - lit boardrooms, restaurants and nightclubs. the gore was somewhat intertwined with a cop corruption subplot (represented by fumiyo kohinata' s detective kataoka, who did favors for one of the warring clans), but for the most part—as in
the godfather
—what happened in the underworld stayed in the underworld. in
beyond outrage ,
which is set five years after the bloody coup that ended the first film, the violence has spilled out in to the wider world, a la the second and third
godfather
pictures .
welcome to the main performances & readings calendar. note that the event schedule may change without prior notice. the best way to stay informed of listings is to sign up for our newsletter (link is on the front page), or join our beyond baroque facebook page. you can also follow us on twitter, youtube and instagram @ bblitarts .
i keep saying that science fiction is my favorite movie genre, and once a year there is something big and different - - like
gravity
( 2013) ,
interstellar
( 2014) ,
the martian
( 2015) or
arrival
( 2016) - - to keep me believing that preference. but honestly, there are so few sci - fi films being made now that really grab me. most of the
new
stuff is just ya dystopias or recycled time travel or live action graphic - novel superheroes, so i keep hoping that by trolling the latest indies i' ll come across something fresh and exciting, and occasionally i do .
i think the directors of this film achieved everything they intended to achieve, which is very impressive. however, what they intended to achieve was a portrait of a couple' s relationship falling apart in post - apocalyptic britain, and that is rather a hard watch. imagine being stuck on a bus when it' s raining and cold, and sitting behind two people having a really embarrassing public argument. that' s what this film is like. well - executed? yes. enjoyable and entertaining? no. it' s miserable and often boring, but by my own rules i can' t hate it .
many of these davis collectibles were offered as incentives to those who contributed to crowdfunding service indiegogo to help raise more than $ 343, 000 in gap financing for the film. according to indiegogo’s head of film, marc hofstatter, the 2, 000 - plus funders were driven by social media, with cheadle boasting some 240, 000 twitter followers, and the miles davis website claiming almost two million likes on facebook. cheadle invested his own money in the production, but wouldn’t reveal how much. the rest was covered via independent financing from bifrost pictures, with a favorable ohio tax rebate. im global handled foreign pre - sales .
though, it doesn’t take that much time. up until this point, the film has a textured, even personal feel to it; it’s intimate, specific, and prince - bythewood films with clarity and focus. but, unfortunately, as the movie’s pulse quickens and the romance starts to heat up, everything around it starts to warp, buckle, and melt. before too long, beyond the lights has reached near - lifetime original movie levels of easy schmaltz and stilted sex appeal. as perceptive a filmmaker as prince - bythewood is—her directorial debut was 2000’s smart, swoon - inducing love & basketball —she stumbles into a startling amount of cliches as noni and kaz’s relationship blooms and grows .
given the complex, metaphysical script, there’s plenty of different ways to interpret the film, especially its ending. leaving spoilers at the door, you’re going to file it away under different genres depending on how you interpret it. whether its sci - fi or a psychological drama is up to you. special features: trailer
kaz faces these choices, too, of course. but this is very much noni’s story, and ms. mbatha - raw’s film, and both mr. parker and his character seem to recognize that with gallantry and good humor. “beyond the lights” may be a fantasy — movies about love, like songs about love, tend to fall into that category — but it is an uncommonly smart and honest fantasy. what it wants us to believe, most of all, is that despite all the ugliness and exploitation in the world of entertainment, the bond between artist and audience is a real and sustaining form of love in its own right. and the movie is marvelous proof of its own argument .
with being on a run of watching good and enjoyable sci - fi movies i decided to opt for beyond. i do tend to like lo - fi sci - fci films and this appeared to have an interesting premise. an asteroid heading towards earth causing post - apocalyptic disaster. it should be something that i liked but unfortunately it was not. i expected so much more .
through a series of unexpected events, the two men find themselves attempting the three - day dusi canoe marathon as a doubles pair. but there are a few things they must overcome, not least of which are the completely different worlds they come from. they realise that the dream they both desperately desire requires them to work together, both in the boat and beyond the river .
of course, a movie faces a different challenge when a late actor & apos; s performance contains echoes of their death. one of the joker & apos; s final lines to batman in the dark knight —
i think you and i are destined to do this forever
—became unintentionally ghoulish after heath ledger died. and then, of course, there & apos; s furious 7 —the james wan - directed installment of a franchise largely defined by stark trek beyond director justin lin, who directed installments three, four, five, and six. when paul walker died during the production of furious 7 —in a car crash, no less—the film & apos; s producers faced a difficult decision: shut down production, or release a movie with some unsettling parallels to a real - life tragedy? in the end, they concluded that releasing the film was the right decision, and they managed to give walker & apos; s protagonist a relatively graceful exit, using previously shot footage, along with cgi and body doubles, to complete the performance .
bleak, involving and daring in its restraint, beyond is perhaps best served as a character - driven drama as opposed to an alien invasion flick. a small budget can go a long way in a film of this type, and the few effects scenes do not suffer, the alien’s floating cities looking substantial and scarily imposing behind dark clouds. the emotional wounds of the two leads are deeply felt, and become ever - more exposed as we journey to a finale which will leave you staring agape even as the credits roll. a more likeable and relatable cole would have made this one a real winner, but tolerate his po - faced gloom and apparent conservatism and you’ll be rewarded with a meditative and thoughtful piece of cinema .
july 21 saturday 4: 00 pm steve mcdonald & judith pacht steve mcdonald’s second full - length collection, credo, was a finalist in brick road’s poetry contest, and his chapbook golden fish / dark pond (2014) took first place in the comstock review chapbook contest. he has also published the full - length book house of mirrors and the chapbook where there was no pattern. judith pacht’s summer hunger, won the 2011 pen southwest book award for poetry. her chapbooks, user’s guide and st. louis suite were published in 2009 and 2010. her first collection, falcon, was published in 2004. judith reads new work from her manuscript the year of the heart (of the house), a collection of political and personal poems. regular admission. members free
at a key moment in star trek beyond, kirk leads the crew of the uss enterprise in a toast .
to absent friends ,
kirk says, as everyone raises a glass. and then the camera shifts, ever so slightly, to refocus on the man standing behind him: pavel chekov, the crew member played by anton yelchin, who died at age 27 in a freak automobile accident last month .
this timeline enabled screenwriters simon pegg and doug jung to weave nimoy & apos; s real - life death into the fabric of the film. as beyond begins, spock (zachary quinto) learns that ambassador spock (nimoy) —his older self from an alternate timeline, as seen in the previous two star trek movies—has died. this news sends the younger spock into a soul - searching grief that informs his entire arc in the movie, as he contemplates leaving both the federation and his girlfriend, nyota uhura (zoe saldana), to spend more time rebuilding his culture with the other surviving vulcans. the story crescendoes with a brief, poignant nod to ambassador spock and the rest of the original cast, offering a final love letter to both the character and leonard nimoy .
inspired by her own journey with mental health, lovato recently executive - produced a documentary called “ beyond silence, ” which follows three individuals — jeff fink, lauren burke, and lloyd hale — and their experiences with mental illnesses including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety. though each of them suffer from very different disorders, they have a common ground of dealing with the setbacks of mental illness, lovato said .
“ miles davis is a hugely significant figure, perhaps one of the most important musicians and cultural figures of the 20th century, ” says todd boyd, professor of critical studies at usc who specializes in the study of race and popular culture. “so attempting to reduce someone’s life like miles into a two - hour film is a challenge in and of itself. ”
“we’re practically babysitters, ” kaz’s police officer dad (danny glover) tells him. dad wants kaz to run for office, and we spend enough time with parker and his subplot to flesh out his character. this enriches his romance with noni, a romance that dad thinks is detrimental. it’s to prince - bythewood’s credit that kaz’s first run - in with noni is far from a meet cute. she’s on a balcony about to kill herself, and kaz is called upon to do his job. this scene is so delicately written that the slightest misstep would have made it collapse. parker’s old - school leading man charm is akin to billy dee williams ’ in “lady sings the blues”; coupled with mbatha - raw’s naked vulnerability, it helps turn some potentially ripe melodramatic dialogue into one of the most powerfully rendered two - hander scenes of 2014 .
13. so, to recap: a small amount of cph4 makes you giggle. somewhat more begins giving you all the powers noted above. does this not make mr. jang the most inept criminal mastermind of all time? why sell the stuff to junkies, when you could use it to create an army of super - soldiers, or to grant yourself god - like powers? and how can it be that no one else in the film, witnessing lucy’s remarkable paranormal abilities, thinks, “hey, maybe i should try a little of that cph4 myself! ” half the film is spent chasing down the packets stashed in the other mules, yet despite rampant opportunities no one other than lucy ever actually takes any of this all - powerful super - drug .
10. we’re somewhat sure a planet, and very sure a ship, and absolutely sure a person, can’t get as close to a black hole as they do in this film. unless we’re playing by the rules of disney’s the black hole. and if love is a powerful inter - dimensional force, do other emotions power other dimensions? like is there a sixth dimension fueled by shame ?
at the time of davis’ rock ’n’ roll hall of fame induction ceremony in 2006, his nephew, vince wilburn jr. , a producer on the movie, was asked if a miles davis film was in the works. and, as cheadle recalls now — adding that he didn’t know it then — wilburn had said, “ ‘yes, and don cheadle ’s going to play him. ’ ”
as far as i can tell, the only change that was definitively made to star trek beyond in the wake of yelchin & apos; s death happens several minutes after the movie itself has ended. in the middle of the credits, a warm title card appears that was presumably planned a long time ago :
in loving memory of leonard nimoy .
when those words fade away, they & apos; re replaced by a second, simpler dedication :
for anton .
there are marvelous satirical touches in kitano' s yakuza thrillers. they crystallize the idea that, as in the
godfather
films and martin scorsese' s gangster pictures, you' re seeing colorful metaphors for business in general, and for an old way of life being supplanted by a new one. the first half - hour of
beyond outrage
is an elegant and bleak comedy that finds murderous gangsters griping about workplace politics, and features some of kitano' s strongest filmmaking .
the police department orders the cop kataoka to come up with a plan to neuter the syndicate. it' s here that we start to notice the film' s narrative gears creaking a bit. we learn that kataoka was playing a
long con
back in the first film and was never truly corrupt (though he did get too chummy with the people he was fooling) and that kitano' s character, the haggard footsoldier otomo, wasn' t killed behind bars at the end, but survived his shanking .
you started a rumor that i was dead ,
otomo tells kataoka. this is a bit too much like comic book or bad - tv storytelling: declaring ,
pay no mind to what you thought you knew
because it' s the only way to tell the story you want to tell .
ostensibly science fiction, actually something much more complicated, beyond is one of the bleakest films you' ll see this year but there' s no denying it has power. visually, it achieves an amazing amount on its tiny budget, partly because directors baker and large know when to show us very little. narratively it struggles, in places, to bear up the weight of its own ambition, and the pacing sometimes falters, but there isn' t a weak performance in it and macgregor delivers a tour de force as the object of cole' s debatable affections. sharp, witty, sometimes deeply unpleasant but always compelling, she threatens to overwhelm the film, but this crushing presence is what makes the story convince. danum, by contrast, is understated even in his bursts of aggression, cole seeming perpetually out of his depth. they don' t need an alien invasion to find themselves in trouble .
star trek beyond features one of yelchin & apos; s final performances, which is both the simplest and most complete way to honor his work in the franchise—but his death also hangs over the movie, and the already - announced star trek 4 will need to address it. j. j. abrams has said that the role of chekov won & apos; t be recast, but that it & apos; s
too early
to decide how they & apos; ll resolve the character’s absence.
beyond is a 2014 british science fiction romantic drama written and directed by joseph baker and tom large . it stars richard j. danum and gillian macgregor as a married couple who attempt to make their relationship work during the approach of a potentially catastrophic asteroid . it premiered at the sci-fi-london film festival on 24 april 2014 . 
beyond is a 2014 british science fiction romantic drama written and directed by joseph baker and tom large. it stars richard j. danum and gillian macgregor as a married couple who attempt to make their relationship work during the approach of a potentially catastrophic asteroid. it premiered at the sci-fi-london film festival on 24 april 2014.
beyond is a 2014 british science fiction romantic drama written and directed by joseph baker and tom large. it stars richard j. danum and gillian macgregor as a married couple who attempt to make their relationship work during the approach of a potentially catastrophic asteroid. it premiered at the sci-fi-london film festival on 24 april 2014.