Click To Play

ReelerTV is on something of a break, but we couldn't help but bring it back this week to hear from Tamara Jenkins about her new film The Savages, which we caught in its acclaimed run earlier this fall in Toronto. In this week's episode, Jenkins tells us what she's been up to since her 1998 breakthrough Slums of Beverly Hills, and gives us the background on working with a bulletproof cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney and Philip Bosco. Cinecultist editor Karen Wilson also drops by as well to share her two cents about a pair of this week's new releases, Margot at the Wedding and Redacted.

Many thanks to our genius sponsors at Paramount Vantage, and continued appreciation as always to RTV's fine producers Scott Solary and Luci Westphal of Good Hard Working People.

And as always, thanks to you for having a look...

--S.T. VanAirsdale, editor

Posted at 9:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

From the teeming surge of quality that is this year's New York Film Festival, ReelerTV arrives on the scene to chat with Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman -- co-stars of this year's opening-night selection The Darjeeling Limited. Flavorpill critic Lisa Rosman clues us in to a few of her picks and pans from this year's program, including her thoughts on Darjeeling, Married Life, the Coen brothers and Noah Baumbach. Our news round-up revisits my chat this week with festival programming boss Richard Peña, mourns yet another apocalypse-signaling Tony Scott remake and cheers on Harvey Weinstein in his latest game of Pin the Release Date on the Oscar Hopeful.

Thanks as always to our gracious hosts at the Pioneer Theater, and thanks to you for watching. We'll look for you back here next week...

--S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 6:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

ReelerTV @ Toronto winds up its coverage today with special guest Peter Bogdanovich, the Oscar-nominated director and film historian who introduced a revival of John Ford's long-lost 1917 silent Bucking Broadway in this year's Dialogues section. The story of a cowboy who rides into the city to save his true love from the evil claws of an industry baron, Bucking Broadway was recently rediscovered and restored; prior to its TIFF screening Sept. 9, even Bogdanovich -- a pre-eminent Ford scholar -- hadn't seen the film.

Meahwhile, Spout Blog proprietor Karina Longworth and I shared our thoughts as we prepared our returns to New York; you can read more about the films noted here and many other Toronto selections at Spout. The Reeler owes many thanks to the site for its support of ReelerTV @ Toronto.

Thanks also to my producers Scott Solary and Luci Westphal of Good Hard Working People; they are indeed good, hard-working and indispensible collaborators week in, week out. And as always, thanks to you for watching; we'll all see you back in NYC soon.

--S.T. VanAirsdale, editor

Posted at 8:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

ReelerTV today welcomes a talk-show pioneer now keeping it real -- very, very real -- as a documentary filmmaker in Toronto. Phil Donahue's film Body of War, co-directed by Ellen Spiro and premiering tonight in one of the most highly anticipated events of the fest (Eddie Vedder is performing two songs written especially for the movie), is the staggering tale of Tomas Young, an Army veteran who enlisted for service in Afghanistan after 9/11 only to be deployed to Iraq and subsequently paralyzed by gunshot wound through the spine. His rehabilitation is intercut with the false, facile talking points leading up to Congress' abrogation of war authorization to President Bush in 2002. Combined, it's a stirring, explosive anti-war fury -- unapologetically honest and ultimately devastating. I'm thrilled to have had a word with Donahue and Young last weekend in Toronto.

We also catch up once more with our dear friend Karina Longworth from Spout Blog about her Peter Greenaway experience and other notable festival films in town. Be sure to read about and continue the discussion of all of the festival's titles at Spout.

Stay tuned as ReelerTV @ TIFF wraps up Wednesday with another very special New York guest...

--S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 9:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In the spirit of Anton Corbijn's new Ian Curtis biopic Control, one of the more celebrated titles at this year's festival, today's episode of ReelerTV @ Toronto goes black-and-white for its conversation with the great rock photographer turned feature film director. We once again catch up with Spout Blog's Karina Longworth, who has a few things to say about the film and its notable lead performance by Sam Riley as the doomed Joy Division vocalist. The Weinstein Company opens the film Oct. 10 at Film Forum.

Visit Spout to discuss Control and many other Toronto titles, and stay tuned here for more ReelerTV as the festival continues.

--S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 7:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts premiered Friday at Toronto, marking Shine and No Reservations director Scott Hicks' fourth film -- and first documentary -- to debut at the festival. The film's complex depiction of the composer Philip Glass traces both the trajectory of his four-decade-long career and the family idyll strained below that arc, revealing a workaholic philosopher whose obsessions follow him everywhere from his Nova Scotia vacation home to the studios where he arranges film scores alongside the likes of Woody Allen and Errol Morris.

ReelerTV caught up with Hicks before the premiere to hear more background about the project, while Spout Blog's Karina Longworth dropped by once again to share a few of her recommended titles from the long days of viewing in Toronto. Visit Spout to discuss these films and many more notable selections from TIFF '07, and stay tuned for ReelerTV's return Monday with Control director Anton Corbijn.

--S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 6:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of several gala premieres dotting the Toronto landscape on opening night was The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster as a New York talk show who takes justice into her own hands after vicious attackers in Central Park kill her fiance and leave her for dead. I'll be writing more about the film a little later over on Screening Gotham, but in the interim, I visited the red carpet to chat up director Neil Jordan and co-star Terrence Howard about vigilante politics and the stunningly regressive, smoldering NYC depicted in the film. We also caught up with Spout Blog's Karina Longworth to review some of her recommendations and anticipations for the festival ahead.

Stay tuned for lots and lots more of ReelerTV @ TIFF, and remember you can discuss The Brave One and many of Toronto's titles at Spout.

--S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 6:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After a few weeks away, ReelerTV returns today with a busy episode full of news you can use. Hannah Takes the Stairs director Joe Swanberg joined me for a chat about his film's anchoring the ongoing Generation DIY series at IFC Center (not to mention a teaser of his forthcoming Web series, Butterknife), while Spout Blog's Karina Longworth dropped by the Pioneer Theater to discuss some of the same series' lesser-known titles. We celebrated William Friedkin Week in NYC and mourned the untimely passing of IFC TV, hacked to death by stone-hearted marketers wielding euphemisms like machetes. Click on the video above to view more.

Be sure to check us out next week at the Toronto Film Festival, where we'll be tracking down some of the New York stories and storytellers migrating north for the first week of fall (and fall premieres). Wish us safe travels -- we'll see you then!

--S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 8:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The fifth episode of ReelerTV is on the air, featuring a discussion with Rocket Science writer/director Jeffrey Blitz and a chat about some of this week's new releases with New York Magazine film critic Logan Hill. We also unpack our black armbands in memory of the late Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, check out the scintillating slate set for Film Forum's fall season and send you over to Picture New York's Web site to read more about the city's controversial new proposals designed to regulate filmmaking in New York. (You can read my other thoughts over at our new news and comment blog Screening Gotham.) It's more than any mortal can stand, which should probably be a warning to auterist survivors Eric Rohmer and Jean-Luc Godard to stop reading right about now.

A brief programming note: ReelerTV will be taking a little break for the next few weeks, likely returning in late August with all kinds of new hijinx and chaos from the New York cinema trenches. We pledge a full report upon our return about what we did over our summer vacation.

Thanks as always to ReelerTV's unflagging producers at Good Hard Working People and to our gracious, gentle hosts at the Pioneer Theater. And thanks to you for your continuing support and viewership. I'll see you back here soon. -- S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 6:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week's episode of ReelerTV is an especially proud moment for us at The Reeler, featuring perhaps online video's first-ever juxtaposition of Norman Mailer, Lindsay Lohan, Gretchen Mol and competitive-eating documentaries. And there's more! We talked Commandments at the red carpet premiere of The Ten, discovered a surprising scoop about Harvey Weinstein and caught up on some of this week's new releases with Time Out New York film critic Joshua Rothkopf. A truly epic moment in our young history, to be sure, and I hope you enjoy it.

Remember: You can take The Reeler with you wherever you go when you subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, and a handy RSS feed is available as well via Blip. We're on YouTube and Veoh. You can be our friend at MySpace and Facebook, and if you're not yet signed up for The Reeler's mailing list, subscribe now on the upper right-hand side of this page. World conquest, here we come!

Much full-hearted gratitude goes out to our sponsor IFC Films, whose My Best Friend is in theaters now. Thanks also to our hosts at the Pioneer Theater and the tireless producing tandem of Scott Solary and Luci Westphal at Good Hard Working People. See you next week!

-- S.T. VanAirsdale

Posted at 7:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)