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REVIEW: The Runaways

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

This movie will span many generations. Memories will be relit for those who lived through the golden age of Rock and Roll and for the younger viewers; it will give a glimpse into a true story that should be told for future generations so it’s great that this movie was made. The Runaways takes us through the journey of a group of young girls who become one of the first all girl rock bands when the industry was almost completely male dominated. The plot focuses mainly on the relationship between Joan Jett and Cherie Currie played by Kristin Stewart and Dakota Fanning, respectively. Managed by Kim Fowley, this mishmash of girls are brought together to be trained into rock stars. All together, it was an entertaining well-paced movie. In most rock docs, they concentrate too much on one aspect of the rock band; usually the early years or after they finally make it. The Runaways has good balance through the whole story taking us from the beginning to the eventual end of the band.

However, some of the movie felt rushed. When the artists came up with new songs, they just recited lines rather than giving us the feeling as if they were really coming up with brand new lyrics before our very own eyes for the first time. Also, the movie made it seem like it was really simple to make an international rock band and rock stars. All you need to have is a hot front girl, catchy chorus, and sexy pictures. Maybe, that’s how it went down in real life, but it would’ve been nice to see more emphasis on the music. This was also a theme of the movie which ultimately broke up the band, the fight all bands eventually have between the promotion and the music. In the case of this movie, music lost and it highlighted all of the excess that comes along with the rock and roll lifestyle which was still interesting to watch.

You forget how young these girls are and the serious situations they went through: drugs, sex, and rock and roll. It’s always interesting to see how movies film drug scenes. For something that’s almost indescribable with words, audio and video helps, but it’s still hard to capture the feelings. The Runaways has its fair share of these types of scenes and does a decent job. If you’re a Joan Jett, Cherie Currie or The Runaways fan, then you definitely need to check out this movie. If you’re interested in the rock and roll lifestyle or an alternative coming of age story, then this is worth the watch. And finally, if you’re into Girl Power, then this is another flick to add to your collection since it shows how a group of girls penetrate the world of boys and their guitars while having a “we don’t care” rock star attitude towards sexism. If you don’t belong to any of those categories, then this movie probably isn’t for you since it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, just tell a story that needed to be told.

This post is part of our SXSW Film Festival coverage
The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW® is the premier destination for discovery. The internationally acclaimed, nine-day Film Festival celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent, with a truly diverse program ranging from provocative documentaries to subversive Hollywood comedies.Visit South by Southwest’s Official Website

Tags: Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, South By Southwest, SXSW, The Runaways
Posted in Film Festivals and Conventions, Reviews, South By Southwest 2010 | 2 Comments »

South By Southwest: Recap (2nd Half)

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

To see the first half of my recap, click here.

And that’s a wrap! The South By Southwest 2010 Film Festival is over and wow, what an experience it was. In total, I got to see 22 films in 7 days mixed with 2 other conferences! It was quite intense but really fun and informative. Here’s the 2nd half of my film journey:

Day 6: Wednesday, March 17th.
I started off the day with finally getting into the Ritz on 6th Street. Earlier, with all the crowds from the weekend, I was turned away from seeing Mars. But luckily, today, I got a seat to see Cherry and I was really happy afterwards, because it was a great film. I’ll definitely be writing a full review for this one because it’s either my 2nd or 3rd favorite film of the festival, I’m still trying to decide. (Funny enough I’m trying to decide between this and the film I missed at the same theater earlier, Mars) After, I moved back to the Paramount where I saw Get Low starring the incredible cast of Bill Murray, Robert Duvall, and Sissy Spacek. Following that, I saw a Swiss Sci-Fi film called Cargo and the super secret midnight screening of Centurion.

Day 7: Thursday, March 18th.
Today I ventured off and saw some of the Music from SXSW. The only movie I caught was The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. I should have a full review of it later today (since it came out this weekend).

Day 8: Friday, March 19th.
Last day of SXSW Film (for me .. I did Music again for the full day on Saturday). I decided to stick to one theater and just watch movie after movie there. I started with Canal Street Madam, a documentary on the life of Jeanette Maier as she continues her life after an FBI raid on her family-run brother in New Orleans. Next was One Night in Vegas, an ESPN documentary about the tragic night where Mike Tyson won the heavyweight belt but Tupac Shakur lost his life. Finally, I got to see the animated film Mars which was well worth the wait and either my 2nd or 3rd favorite film of the whole festival (read above for more about that). I finished off the night by singing karaoke with other film festival peeps right next door at the High Ball – a great way to end a great festival.

More in depth reviews for many of these films will be coming later on in the week. There were a few films I didn’t get to see which I’ll have to run down now but all together, I had a great festival experience seeing great movies and meeting great people. See you next year South By Southwest!

Tags: Bill Murray, Canal Street Madam, Cargo, Centurion, Cherry, Dakota Fanning, Get Low, Kristen Stewart, Mars, One Night in Vegas, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, South By Southwest, SXSW, The Runaways
Posted in Film Festivals and Conventions, South By Southwest 2010 | No Comments »

My South By Southwest Film Plan

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Right now I’m on my flight from San Francisco to Austin, TX. It was delayed an hour which gave me even more time to finally read through the films that will be screened at South By Southwest and try to plot a plan of which films I’ll be watching. I love film festivals, you can jump from film to film and see a month’s worth of movies in a week (sometimes even 2 months!). I love figuring out the logistics of which movies are must see, which ones are only being shown once or twice, and which films I should skip to catch up with old friends or catch some of the music shows at this festival. Needless to say, it’ll be intense!

Day 1
Totally missed. I flew into Austin on the first day of the festival so I’ll be missing the opening film which was my most anticipated film…Kick-Ass. I’ll just have to catch it with everyone else or hopefully catch an advance screening in San Francisco (wink wink Lionsgate Films).

Day 2
If I wake up early enough, I’ll try and catch The Freebie, a film about a young couple who gives each other a free night with someone else.

Mars – an animated romantic comedy about astronauts and robots travelling towards the red planet. I want to know if the astronauts and robots fall in love with each other or stick to their own.

Cyrus The Duplass brothers comedy starring John C. Reily, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill. John C. Reily’s character hooks up with the ridiculously hot Molly (Marisa Tomei) who has an adult son (Johnah Hill). Kind of sounds like a sequel to Stepbrothers..we’ll see.

There’s also a Super Secret screening…we’ll see if it’s worth going to.

Day 3
I think I’ll take the beginning of the day to attend panels and hang out with my interactive festival friends (I am a developer at heart). Also, Facebook is having a developer’s garage so I’ll attend that and hopefully code some great stuff for the facebook users of advancescreenings.com.

The movies of the day will either be Mr. Nice, a true story about Britain’s most wanted man, or Pelada, the other side of soccer and either Futurestates, which seems to be a collection of short stories about different economic scenarios, or The Parking Lot Movie – the title is exactly what it sounds like. So many options!

Day 4
If I didn’t get to catch Pelada (the soccer movie) I could catch it this morning. Followed by Tiny Furniture and Canal Street Madam or American: Bill Hicks. Tiny Furniture is a tragicomedy about a 22-year-old who comes home from college just as she went in – with no skills, no love life, and a lot of free time. Canal Street Madam is about Jeanette Maier trying to re-invent herself after her infamous family-run brothel is raided by the FBI. American: Bill Hicks is an animated film about the true life story of the outlaw comic who tried to save the world. The highlight of this night is MacGruber, yes a full length movie of the SNL sketch staring Will Forte.

Day 5
One of the movies that I missed on the first day is showing again today. It’s called Erasing David and sounds very interesting and very fitting for this interactive/film festival. Filmmaker David Bond disappears for a month and hires two of the world’s top private investigators to track him down using only publicly available data. Sad to say, it conflicts with a film called Like a Pascha about the largest brothel in Europe…Canal Street Madam is playing again and then the highlight is Harry Brown starring Michael Caine.

Day 6
I’ll start off this film with another one I missed on the first day, World’s Largest. It’s about all those weird roadside attractions you see in tiny towns while driving cross country. If I can squeeze it in, I’ll see Cherry, a film about a virgin who drops out of college and encounters an older woman and her underage daughter, before the film of the night, Get Low starring Robert Duvall and Bill Murray.

Day 7
To be honest, I’m excited to check out Austin Carniville which is March 18, 19, and 20 (Day 7, 8, and 9). Luckily, the films during the day don’t intrigue me too much. The movie of the night is The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, I’ll either catch that or Mars and Like a Pascha.

Day 8
I can catch a bunch of films today in case I missed them earlier in the week including Canal Street Madam, The Parking Lot Movie, Pelada, and Mars…or go to the Carniville again .

Day 9
THE FINAL DAY!, World’s Largest plays again as well as Hood to Coast, Tiny Furniture, and American Bill Hicks.

That’s the plan…let’s see what actually happens!