On Demand Weekly

Let Them Chirp Awhile: On DemandJanuary 19, 2010

FilmBuff

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews to hot movies on demand. This week, "Let Them Chirp Awhile" from FilmBuff on Time Warner Movies On Demand and Comcast TV.

New to the FilmBuff (a division of Cinetic Media) VOD channel programming (that has included such diverse indie titles as docu "The Carter," about Lil Wayne, Richard Linklater's "Slacker" and Rob Epstein's "The Times of Harvey Milk") comes "Let Them Chirp Awhile," the 2007 debut feature from (then) 23 year-old Jonathan Blitstein. "Chirp" is a 90-minute low-budget film shot with donated film stock and a 'family, friends and Mastercard' approach to post-NYU filmmaking.

The film centers around two work-challenged, late twenties daydreamers: Bobby (Justin Rice) and Scott (Brendan Sexton III). Bobby can't write a page but he has grand ideas. Scott listens to music but struggles to write his own. Along the way, Bobby loses a dog he was dogsitting and has to find a replacement. Scott leaks Bobby's idea to a hack playwright and it is used in a showcase. Scott breaks up with his girlfriend Michelle (Laura Breckenridge) and Bobby shares a romantic moment with her, ruining the chances of his own budding relationship with another woman. They have problems but one gets the feeling Bobby and Scott will be friends forever.

Tags:

filmbuff,

sean mcphillips,

hot movies on demand,

woody allen,

new movie reviews,

let them chirp awhile,

laura breckeridge,

jonathan blitstein,

7 DAYS - On Demand Direct from the Sundance Film FestivalFebruary 04, 2010

Sundance Selects

Updated...

On Demand Weekly reviews movies on demand from the perspective of watching them from the comfort of your home. Currently, the Sundance Selects film label as part of the Direct from the Sundance Film Festival initiative is choosing three films being screened at the festival that will simultaneously be available nationwide On Demand. Daniel Grou's "7 Days" is one of them as it made its North American premiere on January 22nd at SFF 2010 and is available now On Demand.

Bruno Hamel (Claude Legault) is a successful surgeon whose world is torn apart by the rape and murder of his precious eight-year-old daughter. Soon after the perpetrator (Martin Dubreuil) is caught, Hamel embarks on a quest for revenge. He successfully kidnaps the suspect and drives him to a remote cabin where seven days of torture awaits -- the final day lands on his daughter's ninth birthday. The main detective (Remy Girard), older, wiser, and also suffering from his wife's senseless death, tries his best to track Hamel down and stop him before he turns into a monster himself. Hamel has the upper hand, but does he have what it takes to commit murder?

"7 Days" joins the father revenge genre along with, most recently in the US, Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness, Liam Neeson's Taken, and Gerard Butler's Law Abiding Citizen but this film differentiates itself from those flashier action movies in that Bruno Hamel is not a detective or CIA operative with special skills. He's a regular guy, albeit one whose med school prepared him incredibly well for diabolical behavior. It is also a French film, (in the French language) which skews the genre considerably.

Tags:

sean mcphillips,

sundance selects,

hot movies on demand,

direct from the sundance film festival,

7 days,

daniel grou,

park city,

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC: On DemandMarch 11, 2010

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the perspective of watching them from the comfort of your home. This week, Gravitas Ventures WE LIVE IN PUBLIC. Learn more about Gravitas with our one-on-one interview with founder Nolan Gallagher here.

Award-winning director Ondi Timoner’s (DIG!) latest documentary comes to Video On Demand. WE LIVE IN PUBLIC covers the career of who the film feels is “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of”, Pseudo founder Pseudo Josh Harris. Not dissimilar to DIG!’s main subject, the rock band’s Brian Jonestown Massacre’s lead man Anton Newcombe, Timoner has found a public visionary that goes to the beat of his own drum, even if that means destruction.

The film’s decade-long journey following Harris also wants to be a cautionary tale of the internet controlling our lives. “Everything he does is a precursor to something that will happen to all of us,” said Josh Harris’ brother Tom.

Harris, once called the “Warhol of the Web”, made his first fortune with his consulting and analysis firm Jupiter Communications. In the mid 1990’s he then launched Pseudo, an internet network of web-based video programs. It was with Pseudo where he became a more public figure, including threatening to replace entrenched networks like CBS on 60 Minutes of all places. His peculiarity would then reveal itself when he descended into his elderly, clown-like character Luvvy, who he channeled from Gilligan’s Island and perhaps his version of his estranged mother.

Following the success of Pseudo, the artistically frustrated Harris then funded controversial multimedia projects: In 1999, with the new millennium approaching and Y2K front and center in the public mind (thanks to overhyped media). he created “Quiet,” a basement of pods for people to live in equipped with cameras and TVs. Everything was provided for the participants, but Harris made it clear he owned the video. What could go wrong in a bunker complete with free food, an armory of guns and its own “Interrogation Artist?” Lucky for them, the New York City police shut it down.

Tags:

hot movies on demand,

dig,

pseudo,

DADDY LONGLEGS - On Demand Direct from the Sundance Film FestivalMay 25, 2010

Sundance Selects

Updated...

DADDY LONGLEGS was originally released on VOD in February. It has been rereleased and is now available until July 6, 2010. Below is ODW's original review from its premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

On Demand Weekly reviews movies on demand from the perspective of watching them from the comfort of your home. This week, "Daddy Longlegs." (originally titled as "Go Get Some Rosemary.")

As we've all heard, the Sundance Film Festival has made some changes in 2010. A new festival director, a focus on "tougher, smaller" films, a few surprises like new categories (Next focuses on "no-budget" films) and the Sundance Selects film label as part of the Direct from the Sundance Film Festival initiative chooses three films being screened at the festival that will simultaneously be available nationwide On Demand. Josh and Benny Safdie's "Daddy Longlegs" is one of them as it made its North American premiere SFF 2010 and is available On Demand in your living room.

Tags:

sean mcphillips,

hot movies on demand,

daddy longlegs,

direct from the sundance film festival,

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