- I care about few things enough to remember whether biennial means every two years or twice a year, but the seventh biennial Vision Maker Film Festival is one of them. Held at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center on the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s campus on April 20-26, this showcase will feature more than 30 films focused on Native storytelling. Take that, unnamed film festival that only dances with the sun! If it weren’t enough for the organizers to provide a platform for diverse filmmakers, which it would be (just to be clear), they’re also offering a workshop on April 22-24. Head to visionmakermedia.org/festival for more details, even if they also won’t tell you what biennial means. You’re gonna have to Google that shit.
- Here’s a fun thing: Nielsen has started estimating Netflix viewing numbers, likely using the same weird pseudo-science they have used for years to erroneously account for TV viewing numbers. Seriously, there is absolutely no method for accountability, and every explanation for how they’re doing calculating Netflix’s numbers is a fancy and lengthy way of saying “educated guess.” At any rate, they projected that The Cloverfield Paradox had 5 million views its first week, well below Bright’s 11 million in its first three days, also another “what’s this in my butt” metric from Nielsen. This is being used to show the third Cloverfield movie is a failure. Except, 5 million over one week would be the equivalent of $45 million at the box office. And Netflix bought it for $50 million. So using the traditional thought process, Cloverfield Paradox will “earn more than its money back.” Don’t forget kids, when all else fails, use faulty and suspect data to back up preconceived notions!
- If you love me, you know that director Oz Perkins’ first two films, The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, each wound up on their respective year’s “Best of” lists. Therefore, hearing news of his new movie fills me with whatever I have inside me instead of joy. Apparently, he’ll be adapting Paul Tremblay’s novel A Head Full of Ghosts, which is about kids playing soccer. Just kidding, it’s about a suburban family whose eldest daughter done gets possessed by a demon. Sure, that sounds generic, but apparently there’s a reality TV show angle, which could be great or awful. Honestly, we’ve been dealing with demonically possessed reality TV stars since the genre’s inception, right?
- I love heist movies. I love Tessa Thompson. Tess Thompson is dong a heist movie. I am in love. That’s like an SAT question, right? I’m helping! Thompson will play Doris Payne, who spent 60 years as an international jewel thief. That’s a staggering career in something that should probably not be a career. Not only has this movie, which doesn’t have an official title yet, shot to the top of my “must see” list, I would like to officially nominate Doris Payne to appear in place of Andrew Jackson on American money. Her or Tessa Thompson. I’m good with either one.
Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly podcast, catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 on Fridays at around 7:40 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 on Wednesdays and follow him on Twitter.