New Release Wall
It’s possible that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) might have somehow been an even bigger box-office sensation had it not been released during a global pandemic, but all things considered, it still did pretty well for itself. Monetary success aside, this is a rousing and thrilling superhero tale that manages to feel self-contained as it compulsorily sets the stage for a whole bunch of upcoming MCU plot twists. The 4K and Blu-ray versions include a smattering of extras, including bloopers, panel discussions with the guest villains, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Also available:
“C’mon C’mon” (Lionsgate): Mike Mills’ disarmingly lovely look at family ties offers Joaquin Phoenix one of the more subdued and humane characters he’s ever played.
“Death on the Nile” (20th Century Studios): Toast Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation with enough champagne to fill the… oh, you know.
It’s possible that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) might have somehow been an even bigger box-office sensation had it not been released during a global pandemic, but all things considered, it still did pretty well for itself. Monetary success aside, this is a rousing and thrilling superhero tale that manages to feel self-contained as it compulsorily sets the stage for a whole bunch of upcoming MCU plot twists. The 4K and Blu-ray versions include a smattering of extras, including bloopers, panel discussions with the guest villains, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Also available:
“C’mon C’mon” (Lionsgate): Mike Mills’ disarmingly lovely look at family ties offers Joaquin Phoenix one of the more subdued and humane characters he’s ever played.
“Death on the Nile” (20th Century Studios): Toast Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation with enough champagne to fill the… oh, you know.
- 4/5/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
A Place on Earth: Silver’s Period Commune Channels Cinema-Verite
While his 2014 title Uncertain Terms still awaits theatrical release as it makes the rounds of the festival circuit after premiering last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the increasingly prolific Nathan Silver unveils his fifth feature. Stinking Heaven represents a change of pace stylistically and dramatically within Silver’s preferred parameters examining human beings tossed vicariously into strained living situations, where they often wear each other down to an inevitable breaking point. A period piece set within the confines of a well-meaning commune in early 90s suburban New Jersey, the grainy look and feel of Silver’s film lends it a vintage realism that aligns it with the cinema-verite styling of documentary filmmaker Allan King, whose films like Warrendale and A Married Couple focused, unobtrusively, on isolated groups or units of people in similar fashion.
Lucy (Deragh Campbell) and...
While his 2014 title Uncertain Terms still awaits theatrical release as it makes the rounds of the festival circuit after premiering last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the increasingly prolific Nathan Silver unveils his fifth feature. Stinking Heaven represents a change of pace stylistically and dramatically within Silver’s preferred parameters examining human beings tossed vicariously into strained living situations, where they often wear each other down to an inevitable breaking point. A period piece set within the confines of a well-meaning commune in early 90s suburban New Jersey, the grainy look and feel of Silver’s film lends it a vintage realism that aligns it with the cinema-verite styling of documentary filmmaker Allan King, whose films like Warrendale and A Married Couple focused, unobtrusively, on isolated groups or units of people in similar fashion.
Lucy (Deragh Campbell) and...
- 12/10/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes release details and the trailer for Chemical Peel, premiere details for Refuge, Day for Night, and Perfidy, a new Summer of Blood trailer and much more:
Chemical Peel Release Details and Exclusive Comments from Actress Natalie Victoria: Actress Natalie Victoria stars in “Chemical Peel,” a Lionsgate Home Entertainment Release that will be available on October 14th. Here are some comments from Natalie on us why she enjoyed working on this movie:
“I think the best thing about this film is it’s a unique, fun, realistic concept that will scare people, you know? I love films that are set in a real and really raw reality that frighten you to the core. Chemical Peel is a real ‘what would You do?’ kind of film that gets you thinking,...
Chemical Peel Release Details and Exclusive Comments from Actress Natalie Victoria: Actress Natalie Victoria stars in “Chemical Peel,” a Lionsgate Home Entertainment Release that will be available on October 14th. Here are some comments from Natalie on us why she enjoyed working on this movie:
“I think the best thing about this film is it’s a unique, fun, realistic concept that will scare people, you know? I love films that are set in a real and really raw reality that frighten you to the core. Chemical Peel is a real ‘what would You do?’ kind of film that gets you thinking,...
- 10/12/2014
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Satirize This: Bilandic’s Scruffy Send-up of NYC Art Scene
Though starting off on a stronger note than where it eventually ends up, Michael M. Bilandic’s sophomore feature, Hellaware is an entertaining satire of the ultra-pretentious art scene in New York. Filled with sharp one liners and skewering observations of the self-important hipster scene, it’s a group that’s easy to target, which may explain why it eventually feels a bit inconsequential once it fosters its full circle treatment. But Bilandic’s acerbic, hilarious wit is often more than enough to carry the narrative through a slim manifestation.
While at a ridiculous and utterly pretentious art gallery of what looks like a variety of depraved children’s’ paintings, jaded struggling artist Nate (Keith Poulson) miserably shares his critical hatred for such types with tagalong friends Bernadette (Sophia Takal) and Gauguin (Duane C. Wallace), apparently taking the name of the famed artist.
Though starting off on a stronger note than where it eventually ends up, Michael M. Bilandic’s sophomore feature, Hellaware is an entertaining satire of the ultra-pretentious art scene in New York. Filled with sharp one liners and skewering observations of the self-important hipster scene, it’s a group that’s easy to target, which may explain why it eventually feels a bit inconsequential once it fosters its full circle treatment. But Bilandic’s acerbic, hilarious wit is often more than enough to carry the narrative through a slim manifestation.
While at a ridiculous and utterly pretentious art gallery of what looks like a variety of depraved children’s’ paintings, jaded struggling artist Nate (Keith Poulson) miserably shares his critical hatred for such types with tagalong friends Bernadette (Sophia Takal) and Gauguin (Duane C. Wallace), apparently taking the name of the famed artist.
- 9/30/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Music is at the core of two new Specialty features making their theatrical bows this weekend, albeit from rather different ends of the spectrum. XLrator Media will open Jimi: All Is By My Side focusing on the artist’s life in London in nearly three dozen theaters, while Samuel Goldwyn Films will bow faith-centered The Song in over 300 theaters, the biggest number of runs for a limited release newcomer this week. Magnolia Pictures will take thriller The Two Faces Of January starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac to an initial half-dozen locations in the wake of its VOD release late last month and CBS Films is targeting the same number of runs for its Cannes ’14 feature Pride. Factory 25 is opening its art meets goth-rap thriller Hellaware and Cinema Libre will debut a former Swiss foreign-language Oscar contender The Little Bedroom in exclusive New York runs. The weekend is...
- 9/26/2014
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline
Michael M. Bilandic’s “Hellaware” is cleverly, if absurdly, titled —the portmanteau of “Hell” and “Delaware” conjuring up the fiery depths into which this film's protagonist sinks after a fateful trip to The First State. But it also could be seen as a mashup of “hella” and “aware,” which could aptly describe the pretentious Brooklyn artsy hipsters that populate the protagonist’s milieu: highly self-conscious, self-styled individuals, whose “art” is all style and no substance. In reaction to that, “Hellaware” is a cynical, caustic, and often very funny send up of not only the current commercial art world but the entire borough of Brooklyn. In doing so, the film manages to make a very silly and stereotypical Insane Clown Posse-esque rap rock group look like the good guys. Nate (Keith Poulson) is our protagonist, and eventual anti-hero, a struggling artist frustrated by the successes of those around him who are celebrated for their gimmicky,...
- 9/25/2014
- by Katie Walsh
- The Playlist
Few things are more frustrating than being an aspiring photographer, unless it's being an aspiring photographer who just got dumped. In Nate's (Keith Poulson) case, the competition is an artist whose Manhattan gallery exhibit consists of his childish black-metal illustrations. Enter Young Torture Killaz, a teenage Icp analogue from Delaware whose song "I'll Cut Yo Dick Off" Nate stumbles across on YouTube. He rationalizes his interest in the trio as an attempt to escape the "incestuous socialite shit" that plagues the NYC scene (said non-ironically while wearing a cardigan and yellow ski cap). This is about the level of satire you can expect in Michael M. Bilandic's Hellaware, a broad and occasionally disjointed indictment of the New York art scene and horrorcor...
- 9/24/2014
- Village Voice
The world of pretentious NYC scenester artists is always ripe for a send up, and the new indie "Hellaware," from Michael M. Bilandic, mashes up that universe with a dose of reality from a band of rural Delaware rap rockers. Today we've got the exclusive trailer for the film, which stars Keith Poulson as struggling artist Nate, who seeks inspiration outside of the city when he discovers Icp-esque rap rockers (rock rappers?) Young Torture Killaz on YouTube, and sets off to find and photograph them. It's a bitterly funny and cynical take on the nature of commercial art, and Poulson is magnetic in his downward spiral. "Hellaware" also co-stars Brooklyn indie darlings Sophia Takal and Kate Lyn Sheil. Check out the trailer below. "Hellaware" opens in theaters and on VOD on September 26th.
- 9/19/2014
- by Katie Walsh
- The Playlist
Brooklyn-based distributor Factory 25 has acquired North American rights to Hellaware, writer-director Michael M. Bilandic’s indie satire about a wannabe photographer caught in the lowbrow-highbrow collision between the NYC art gallery scene and the grimy rapcore world of Juggalo culture. Keith Poulson stars as Nate, whose coked-up YouTube search leads him to a music video by Insane Clown Posse knockoff the Young Torture Killers. The fictional band drew free publicity for the film when online viewers took a controversial music video from the movie for the real thing. Factory 25 will open the film in NYC on September 26 and digitally on September 23.
DigiNext has pacted directly with indie shingle Vision Vehicle Productions for worldwide rights to two features from the label co-founded by actor Malcolm Goodwin (American Gangster, Leatherheads, Breakout Kings, iZombie). Faith-inspired flick Pass The Light stars Cameron Palatas as a 17-year-old high school student who runs for Congress to...
DigiNext has pacted directly with indie shingle Vision Vehicle Productions for worldwide rights to two features from the label co-founded by actor Malcolm Goodwin (American Gangster, Leatherheads, Breakout Kings, iZombie). Faith-inspired flick Pass The Light stars Cameron Palatas as a 17-year-old high school student who runs for Congress to...
- 8/15/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
IFC Films has picked up North American rights to Christian Camargo’s story inspired by Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull.
Katie Holmes, William Hurt and Allison Janney star in the 1980s-set story of a fading star at the centre of a dysfunctional family visit.
Rounding out the key cast are Cherry Jones, Russell Means, Michael Nyqvist, Jean Reno, Juliet Rylance, Mark Rylance and Ben Whishaw.
Juliet Rylance and Barbara Romer produced the film, which will be released theatrically and on VOD on September 26. ICM Partners represented the filmmakers in the deal.
Factory 25 has acquired North American rights to the comedy Hellaware, Michael M Bilandic’s comedy inspired by the New York art scene and the band Insane Clown Posse. The story of a photographer who becomes seduced by success stars Keith Poulson and Sophia Takal and will open theatrically on September 26, three days after digital launch.
Katie Holmes, William Hurt and Allison Janney star in the 1980s-set story of a fading star at the centre of a dysfunctional family visit.
Rounding out the key cast are Cherry Jones, Russell Means, Michael Nyqvist, Jean Reno, Juliet Rylance, Mark Rylance and Ben Whishaw.
Juliet Rylance and Barbara Romer produced the film, which will be released theatrically and on VOD on September 26. ICM Partners represented the filmmakers in the deal.
Factory 25 has acquired North American rights to the comedy Hellaware, Michael M Bilandic’s comedy inspired by the New York art scene and the band Insane Clown Posse. The story of a photographer who becomes seduced by success stars Keith Poulson and Sophia Takal and will open theatrically on September 26, three days after digital launch.
- 8/14/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
In the lead-up to the unveiling of our definitive Top 50 Movies of 2013 list, we’ve asked some friends of Paste to tell us their favorites of the year. Tune in for a different list each day. Today’s contributor is actor Sophia Takal, who has appeared in, among others, Gabi on the Roof in July (pictured), Green (which she also directed), V/H/S, and this year’s Hellaware and All the Light in the Sky. ...
- 12/27/2013
- Pastemagazine.com
Written and directed by University of Texas graduate Michael Bilandic (who we interviewed before Austin Film Festival began), Hellaware is a playful modern morality tale that explores the ups and downs a young photographer experiences while trying to make himself a part of the New York art scene.
Hellaware stars Keith Poulson (Somebody Up There Likes Me) as Nate, a slacker with abstract dreams of fame and just a few vague ideas about how to actually achieve it. After his girlfriend (Kate Lyn Sheil) dumps him to be with the pigtail-wearing Brooklyn artist of the moment, he descends into a downward spiral of self-pity and complaints. One night while attempting to mute his sorrows with booze, drugs and the internet, Nate and his friends (played by Sophia Takal and Duane C. Wallace) stumble across something on YouTube that is mesmerizing in its repulsiveness.
An absurd rap/rock video made by...
Hellaware stars Keith Poulson (Somebody Up There Likes Me) as Nate, a slacker with abstract dreams of fame and just a few vague ideas about how to actually achieve it. After his girlfriend (Kate Lyn Sheil) dumps him to be with the pigtail-wearing Brooklyn artist of the moment, he descends into a downward spiral of self-pity and complaints. One night while attempting to mute his sorrows with booze, drugs and the internet, Nate and his friends (played by Sophia Takal and Duane C. Wallace) stumble across something on YouTube that is mesmerizing in its repulsiveness.
An absurd rap/rock video made by...
- 11/13/2013
- by Caitlin Moore
- Slackerwood
In Hellaware, a sly comedy written and directed by University of Texas graduate Michael M. Bilandic, a young New York City photographer stumbles upon a crude and downright terrible YouTube video made by a group of suburban Delaware rappers. Oddly intrigued, he tracks them down in the hopes they'll offer up enough perfectly edgy material to help him break into the fancy art world scene, but all he really ends up exposing is his own naivete.
Bilandic's second feature has already captured more attention than usual for an indie film thanks to a creative promotional strategy. Weeks before Hellaware's first screening, the filmmakers posted the music video featured in the movie (which they designed to be over-the-top and hilariously horrible), and sat back and watched as it amassed over 100,000 combined views. Commenters called it out for being vulgar and just plain bad, unaware they were critiquing something never meant to be taken seriously.
Bilandic's second feature has already captured more attention than usual for an indie film thanks to a creative promotional strategy. Weeks before Hellaware's first screening, the filmmakers posted the music video featured in the movie (which they designed to be over-the-top and hilariously horrible), and sat back and watched as it amassed over 100,000 combined views. Commenters called it out for being vulgar and just plain bad, unaware they were critiquing something never meant to be taken seriously.
- 10/21/2013
- by Caitlin Moore
- Slackerwood
Austin Film Festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, features an eight-day program of panels and films specifically focused on screenwriters. Along with a handful of highly anticipated festival favorites bolstering the lineup (among them 12 Years a Slave and Inside Llewyn Davis), the film schedule contains dozens of features, documentaries and shorts chosen for their original points of view and creative storytelling techniques. Of course several of these have Austin or Texas ties -- they were either made by local filmmakers or were filmed in the state.
Here are a few potential gems found on this year's Aff Features lineup that happen to have strong Texas connections:
All of Me (Documentary Feature Competition) -- This documentary was filmed here in town and features a group of friends who met through Austin's Big Beautiful Women community. The dynamic of their social club begins to change when many of the women choose to undergo weight loss surgery,...
Here are a few potential gems found on this year's Aff Features lineup that happen to have strong Texas connections:
All of Me (Documentary Feature Competition) -- This documentary was filmed here in town and features a group of friends who met through Austin's Big Beautiful Women community. The dynamic of their social club begins to change when many of the women choose to undergo weight loss surgery,...
- 10/8/2013
- by Caitlin Moore
- Slackerwood
Indiewire has just received an exclusive poster for "Hellaware," the new indie satire from Michael Bilandic premiering at BAMcinemaFest this weekend. Read More: Usually Careful and Crafty Internet Commenters Fooled by 'Hellaware' Promotional Video Here's the film's official synopsis: "Hellaware" gently satirizes the world of high-brow art through the eyes of a wannabe photographer who becomes consumed by the bright lights of mainstream success. Jaded by the "incestuous, New York, socialite shit" that sells at prominent art galleries, Nate (Keith Poulson) embarks on a quest for a more authentic brand of contemporary art. When a coked-up YouTube search leads to a music video from Delawarean Goth rappers Young Torture Killers, an Insane Clown Posse knock-off, Nate knows he's found his subjects. He soon drags his friend-with-benefits Bernadette (Sophia Takal) to rural Delaware to shoot the group playing in their parents' basement. To "immerse himself" in the group’s culture and.
- 6/20/2013
- by Casey Cipriani
- Indiewire
Some filmmakers know how to make the most of an opportunity. The group behind "Hellaware," an independent comedy set to premiere at the BAMcinemafest on June 22, has released a YouTube video to promote their film. While not a revolutionary act per se, the execution has left many confused internet viewers wondering what, if anything, the video is about. Let's start at the beginning. The film itself focuses on an "aspiring but less than ambitious" New York City photographer who discovers the Young Torture Killaz — an extremely vulgar band sporting excess amounts of clown makeup — on YouTube. He becomes fascinated with them and hopes they'll prove to be his big break. Starring Keith Poulson ("Somebody Up There Likes Me") and directed by Michael M. Bilandic ("Happy Life"), "Hellaware" is meant to be a satirical take of New York City's underground art world. Meanwhile, in the real world, the fictional Young Torture...
- 6/20/2013
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
When it replaced Bam’s season of Sundance favorites some years ago, BAMcinemaFest emerged as a stronger and much more Brooklyn-centric event, a true festival rather than just a Park City greatest hits package. This year, it bookends proceedings with festival favorites from two our “25 New Faces” of previous years, David Lowery’s gorgeous period outlaw drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, and Destin Cretton’s SXSW-winning social worker drama Short Term 12. Michael M. Bilandic’s artworld satire Hellaware — which was featured in our Summer 2012 article “The Shooting Parties” — is the sole world premiere, however the focus here is on local …...
- 5/8/2013
- by Nick Dawson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.