Should we hit the 10th Annual Woodstock Film Festival again this year?
The line-up was decent last year, but we got there late and only saw mediocre fare like the very-meh Zach Galifianakis film, “Visioneers,” and the hokey and contrived magic movie, “The Great Buck Howard.”
Still, this year’s slate looks much better, and maybe we’ll get a chance to see some of the good stuff. Highlights include:
• Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger” a picture about the emotional affects of war that stars Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, and Samantha Morton.
• Miguel Arteta’s “Youth In Revolt” which also screens at TIFF later this month.
• Jonathan Demme’s “Neil Young Trunk Show”, which will apparently be its U.S. Premiere [ed. that didn’t play at Sundance?]
• Tom Dicillio’s documentary, “When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors” which screened at Sundance earlier this year and now should feature narration by Johnny Depp if all has gone according to plan.
• Rebecca Miller’s “The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee,” starring Robin Wright Penn in what is being touted as an Oscar quality performance. We’re looking forward to this one.
• Grant Heslov’s “The Men Who Stare At Goats” starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. It’s a black comedy based on a true, non-fiction book about secret U.S. soldiers with paranormal powers and it screens at TIFF later this month as well.
• Richard Linklater’s still unreleased, “Me And Orson Welles” which we saw at TIFF 2008. It’s not great, but Linklater will be there as he is the recipient of this year’s Maverick Award.
• “(Untitled)” directed by Jonathan Parker, about a Chelsea art gallerist (Marley Shelton) who falls for a brooding new music composer (Adam Goldberg) in a comic tale about the state of contemporary art.
• The documentary “William Kunstler, Disturbing the Universe” directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler
• “WOODSTOCK: NOW AND THEN,” Barbara Kopple’s documentary which features never-before-seen footage, photographs and illustrations of the ’69 concert.
The festival runs Sept. 30 through Sunday Oct. 4, in, where else, Woodstock, New York, and features over 50 films and also boasts nine world premieres. It’s a quaint little town. Kinda fun to go there and make a weekend of it. If you live in the New York area, you should make the trek. [Woodstock Film Festival]