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It is amazing just how close to death (or severe injury) kids get on a daily basis. Two brothers -- Eric (Nathan Varnson) and Tommy (Ryan Jones) -- and their friend Ian (Ivan Tomic) use the densely forested landscapes surrounding their rural hometown as a giant playground. They explore long-abandoned structures, play with dead animals, swim in dingy lakes, aim [possibly loaded] guns at each other, stand eye-to-eye with a bear, and wrestle without any adult supervision. It may all seem a magical capturing of adolescence, but there is a menacing air (thanks to Robert Donne's eerie score) that seems to be following the kids around. The menace boils to fruition when Eric discovers a dead body, though we are given no hints as to which way the story will go next. There seems to be a murder-mystery lingering on the periphery of the narrative, but Eric and Tommy seem much...

The Comedy

Directed by Rick Alverson

Written by Robert Donne and Rick Alverson

2012, USA

The Comedy is an unpleasant twist on arrested development as in defined by the the notion of mental growth. Tim Heidecker, co-star and co-creator of the cult show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, stars in this bleak character study about a self-loathing, thirty-something Brooklyn hipster with sociopathic tendencies. The Comedy is a strange bird, a comedy of discomfort in which terrible people say and do rotten things to one another. Never before, have I spent 90 minutes with characters I despise and walked away feeling rewarded. The title describes not the film but the main character’s life, which he lives out as a of meta satire of life itself. This is a character portrait of a narcissist and nihilist; one of those great movies that is difficult to enjoy and met with harsh criticism,...

To say that none of the 40 + films on our staff-voted list is universally beloved is putting it mildly; but then, that’s the nature of polls like these. Every year we’ve run this poll, there’s been a runaway winner; this year, the top film crossed the three-hundred-point threshold, a first here at Sound On Sight. Not since Inglourious Basterds has a film run away so clearly with the number one spot. Our top choice received unbelievable love and support from everyone, nearly doubling the amount of points of our second place pick.

Nobody will agree on each entry, but keep in mind, Sound On Sight has always been a place that bridges the gap between mainstream and independent cinema. We love foreign films but we also love genre pics and documentaries. In other words, we cover it all, or at least we try.

With more movies in limited...

2012 wasn’t a bad year for movies. It was actually a great year. The problem is, the movies we were most anticipating, specifically the Hollywood blockbusters like Prometheus and The Hobbit, didn’t live up to our expectations. With that said I still managed to make a list of 50 films I loved. Maybe I just have bad taste or maybe I just love movies but the most time consuming factor when making this list was sitting down and deciding what makes the cut and what doesn’t. Even with 50 films listed below, I found it hard to not include movies like Frankenweenie, The Loneliest Planet, Footnote, Compliance, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, and Searching For Sugar Man. Come to think of it, every film featured on our list of best documentaries could have easily snuck into this list. I haven’t seen everything of course. Below is...

The Comedy

Directed by Rick Alvorson

Written by Rick Alvorson, Robert Donne, and Colm O’Leary

USA, 2012

What purpose is there in an insincere life? Perhaps an aimless movie couldn’t dare answer such a heady question, but The Comedy, a new independent film starring Tim Heidecker of the TV show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, at least considers it through its main character. Swanson rambles through life, unattached to anyone or anything. As such, The Comedy represents whatever you, the viewer, bring to it. The film’s director and writers are, it seems, very careful in allowing the film to have a deliberately vague sensibility, turning it into a cinematic Rorschach test.

The 35-year old Swanson leads a charmed life, spending debauched, disaffected nights in Williamsburg with his friends (played by, among others, LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Heidecker’s TV partner, Eric Wareheim), and days wandering around New York City.

Tribeca Film has released the first trailer and poster for Rick Alverson’s The Comedy, a film about aging hipsters and the film, which stars Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of ‘Tim And Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job!’.

The story centers on Swanson (Heidecker), a man who begins to test the limits of acceptable behavior just before he inherits his father’s estate.

The script was co-written by Alverson, Robert Donne and Colm O’Leary. This first premiered at this year’s Sundance.

The Comedy is scheduled to hit theaters in a limited release on November 9th, 2012, plus VOD on October 24th.

James Murphy, himself the gold standard for aging hipsters, appears in the film, too.

Check them both out below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s the synopsis:

On the cusp of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker, ‘Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

Whether you like the work Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim do on their cable show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, or not, you have to admit that what they produce is so unique and absurd that it’s hard to explain to those who haven’t seen it. And the trailer for a new film that they star in, The Comedy, is exactly the same way. You can sit through over two minutes of this preview, you can get introduced to the lives and struggles of this group of characters, but when it’s all over, it’s still kind of hard to explain what you’ve watched. Despite the head-scratching nature of some of this material, The Comedy isn’t rampant silliness like Tim and Eric’s other work. It’s looks gritty, indie, kind of dark, and it sees the famous comic duo taking acting roles in a project that was the creative...

Director: Rick Alverson Writers: Rick Alverson, Robert Donne, Colm O'Leary Starring: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Gregg Turkington, Kate Lyn Sheil, Alexia Rasmussen, Jeff Jensen The Comedy is the case study of Swanson (Tim Heidecker); a privileged thirty-something slacker hipster from the affluent Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. With his father withering away in hospice care, Swanson faces the inevitable inheritance of the family’s estate. Due to his complete lack of responsibilities as well as unlimited free time, Swanson has a desensitized perception of the world around him. He pushes social buttons and boundaries with the same abrasive curiosity of a child poking a dead animal with a stick, and plods through life with a drag on those around him. Swanson and his group of friends are reminiscent of the house destroying, gang of teenagers (The Wormsley Common Gang) in Graham Greene's short story The Destructors,...

SXSW 2012 film review

complete coverage of SXSW Film 2012

The Comedy

Director: Rick Alverson | Screenwriters: Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary

Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker), a desensitized, aging Brooklyn hipster, strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution.

Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn-Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen

Film Synopsis (from SXSW.com)

Who’S It For? Don’t come to The Comedy looking to laugh. And at the same time, don’t expect to learn something significant about comedian Tim Heidecker either.

Overall

Something is trying to be said with Rick Alverson’s not-so-funny The Comedy, but Tim Heidecker might not have been the right choice for said role. Not because the guy can’t act (he’s clearly a good performer if you pay close attention to...

Sound On Sight will once again be covering the SXSW Film Festival this year, making it our second time attending. 130 feature films will screen at the Austin, Texas fest taking place March 9-17, including 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. As previously announced, Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods will have the honours of opening the festival, and now they have released the full list of films – and it’s looking pretty amazing. Enjoy!

Narrative Feature Competition

This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:

Booster

Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin

When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.

Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere)

Eden

Director: Megan Griffiths,...

Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry, shot by Bob Gruen in 1977

Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen

screens as part of 24 Beats per Second

SXSW Film has just announced its features lineup for the 2012 edition, running March 9 through 17. We already knew that the Opening Night Film would be Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods. For its Closing Night Film, the festival will host the world premiere of of Emmett Malloy’s documentary Big Easy Express (more below). The lineup, with descriptions from the festival:

Narrative Feature Competition

Booster

Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin. When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted. Cast: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail. (World Premiere)

Eden

Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim.

With Sundance 2012 Film Festival over, the next big one on the horizon is South by Southwest, which we’ll be heavily covering. The biggest chunk of the line-up has been announced today, which has some great premieres including 21 Jump Street, Tiff and Sundance hit The Raid, Will Ferrell‘s Casa de mi Padre, the documentary Girl Model (which we liked at Tiff), as well as the next from Broken Lizard, The Babymakers. There are many other promising titles included and you can see them all below. Check back for our coverage for the fest, kicking off March 9th.

Narrative Feature Competition

This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere. Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:

Booster

Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin

When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.

Attendees of South by Southwest 2012 are in for a treat. 130 feature films will screen at the Austin, Texas festival taking place March 9-17. Among them are 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. The organization already announced [1] Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon's The Cabin in the Woods would open the festival (the movie is phenomenal [2]) and today the majority of the remaining line up has been revealed. One of the highlights is the unbelievably smart and hilarious 21 Jump Street, directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller. Both of those are World Premieres. Other highlights include The Hunter, Killer Joe, The Babymakers, frankie goes boom, God Bless America, The Imposter, The Raid, Bernie and Casa de mi Padre just to name a few. After the jump, read descriptions of all the films that have been announced so far. Before I copy and paste the rest of the list, a few minor notes.

Breaking: The Sundance Institute has unveiled the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary competition slate for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival that runs January 19-29. There is a total of 110 features. At the Gotham Awards earlier this week, both agents and distributors felt there would a bounty of promising films with no distribution. That could make for a lot of dealmaking, which is certainly the way it went down last January in Park City. Here are the selections in all categories: U.S. Dramatic Competition The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films. Beasts Of The Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world.

The Sundance Institute revealed their Us and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary competition titles today for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The question, of course, is which films will break out this year after the 2011 Sundance Film Festival brought titles such as ,i>Martha Marcy May Marlene, Pariah, Like Crazy and Take Shelter to the forefront. I have never attended the Sundance Film Festival, primarily because I have never heard good things about the experience, plus it means I can save my money for my trip to Cannes where I have typically seen the some of the best films Sundance had to offer including Blue Valentine two years ago and Martha Marcy May Marlene this year. Which means it serves as a good way for me to find films to make sure I add to my Cannes 2012 must see list... can you figure out which ones they may be? When it...