‘Chasing Chasing Amy’ Review: Sav Rodgers’ Engaging Doc Tackles Kevin Smith’s “Problematic” Romcom – Tribeca Film Festival

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Adapted from the author’s 1999 debut novel, “God Is A Bullet” is the first screen translation of a work by one Boston Teran, a prolific but pseudononymous scribe of popular page-turners. Those tomes have been well-received by thriller fans, though others have speculated they might be a genre put-on penned by possibly more than one well-known literary figure. Nick Cassavetes’ slick adaptation certainly maintains the book’s mix of lurid incident and pontificating pretentiousness — albeit without the kind of intensity that might have made this far-fetched story credible, or the atmospheric style that might’ve pulled it off as a fevered nightmare à la David Lynch instead. 

Sometimes, stars aren’t just like Us. Court documents in Kevin Costner’s ongoing divorce proceedings with estranged wife Christine Baumgartner reveal how the celebrated actor spends his nearly $20 million-a-year salary — and some of the recurring expenses that have prompted Baumgartner to request $248,000 a month in support.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ “The Flash,” now playing in theaters. “I finally got to see Nic Cage be Superman. It has been an absolute delight for me,” Kevin Smith recently told Rolling Stone about watching “The Flash.” The film and that Cage-as-Superman cameo near the end is a full circle moment for Smith, who was the screenwriter of the studio’s infamous “Superman Lives.” After launching the Batman movie franchise for Warner Bros. to great success, Tim Burton turned his attention towards Superman in 1998 with the development of “Superman Lives.” Smith penned the script, which focused on Superman’s fight against Doomsday. Despite spending over $30 million on the film’s casting and pre-production, Warner Bros. pulled the plug on “Superman Lives” due to creative differences.

U.S. NARRATIVE COMPETITIONBest Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature: Ji-Young Yoo for “Smoking Tigers,” (United States) – World Premiere.

There was no mention of artificial intelligence Thursday at Tribeca Festival’s Paul McCartney talk with Conan O’Brien.

Gabrielle Union steps out in a studded mini dress from Prada for the premiere of her new movie, The Perfect Find!

It’s been a busy week for Ariana DeBose!

Paul McCartney “Got Back” again.The 80-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is headed to New York City’s Tribeca Performing Arts Center on Thursday, June 15 at 6 p.m. for a conversation with Conan O’Brien.At the one night only event, the pair will discuss McCartney’s new “1964: Eyes of the Storm” about McCartney’s rediscovered photos from the height of Beatlemania as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Storytellers Series.And if you want to pick up last-minute tickets to see the Beatle live in the Big Apple, we’re here to let you know you still can.General admission tickets start at $254 before fees on Vivid Seats at the time of publication.Will Paul bust out his guitar and sing “Hey Jude” with Conan? What do the two have in store?All we know is the best way to find out is live.Want to go to the show?Here’s everything you need to know and more.All prices listed above are subject to inflation.As mentioned earlier, the lowest price on general admission tickets is $254 before fees on Vivid Seats.After that, there is a significant price hike — the next cheapest tickets start at a whopping $732 before fees.Therefore, if you see tickets available at a lower price — strike while the iron is hot.

Sometimes it feels as though A.I. is already here, given the number of films resembling Garden State that pop up on the festival circuit every year. Robert Schwartzman’s The Good Half is only the latest, and his attempt to out-emo Zach Braff’s legacy film falls disappointingly short, given that his last Tribeca appearance was with the surreal and underrated comedy The Argument (2020), which channeled Charlie Kaufman in the story of a couple whose obsession with a petty fight spirals into absurdity. The Good Half, however, mostly serves as a decent vehicle for Nick Jonas, who seems to making a play to be the new Adam Driver, which is not as far-fetched as it might sound.

Each other’s biggest fans. Ben Stiller supported his wife, Christine Taylor, alongside their daughter, Ella, 21, at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.

Hollywood’s biggest names never miss an opportunity to dazzle Us with their fierce fashion sense. Tracee Ellis Ross, Claire Danes, Brittany Snow and more stars turned heads on the red carpet at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. 

It was a Stiller family affair.

In the proliferation of subgenres, the media noir is perhaps the rarest. From the ’50s alone, Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole, Fritz Lang’s While the City Sleeps, and Alexander Mackendrick’s Sweet Smell of Success spring to mind. Just lately, with the exception of Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler (2014), there hasn’t been too much evidence of a renaissance, but Roxine Hellberg’s satisfying feature debut taps back into the same dark wells of oral ambivalence corruption and power, casting the excellent Bel Powley as a journalism student who will do whatever it takes to make it in the cut-throat world of TV news broadcasting.

Though it doesn’t exactly have the same warm, melancholic charm, Alice Troughton’s elegant literary thriller The Lesson could give star Richard E. Grant the kind of late-career bump that last year’s Living afforded Bill Nighy. An Oscar nom might be a little fanciful at this stage, but a Bafta shot is a no-brainer, with Grant on top form as a mercurial, narcissistic British author. Co-star Julie Delpy might also find new offers coming in, showing a stiletto-sharp new side to herself as his enigmatic wife.

There have been plenty of movies detailing life in a fraternity – Animal House being the crown jewel of all, no matter how outrageously funny. The newest entry in the genre, The Line which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend, is not trying to amuse on any level , a deadly serious take on college frat houses that looks like it was ripped straight from the many headlines about hazing deaths and horrific goings-on at these places.

For his sophomore feature, the follow-up to 2004’s little-seen indie House of D, David Duchovny serves up a similarly niche confection, a sometimes-zany black comedy based on his 2016 novel of the same name. The elevator pitch is a tough one; though it’s funny in places, the tone is all over the place, one minute aspiring for the arch, stoner laughs of PTA’s Inherent Vice, the next veering into straightforward sentiment with a rambling final section that hits a similar highway to the 2006 Sundance hit Little Miss Sunshine. There’s also the f-word: the looming curse of American baseball movies that don’t have the word Field in the title, which could hamper its commercial prospects in the wider world.

Premiering Saturday night in the Tribeca Film Festival’s Spotlight Narrative category, Eric Larue is an intense and devastating account of the after effects of a school shooting, but the focus is almost entirely on the parents of that boy who shot and killed three male classmates and is now in prison. Adapted by Brett Neveu from his own 2002 stage play, it has taken on new weight in the two decades since it was first presented at Chicago’s Red Orchid Theatre in light of the seemingly endless numbers of school shootings and the fact that the number one cause for deaths of young people is now by gun. But for his feature film directorial debut actor Michael Shannon was most interested in looking at the effects of this traumatic life-changing incident from the point of view of the parents, those of the kids killed, and particularly the pair of the young teen who murdered them.

“How do people do this?” asks well-to-do New York book publisher Nicky (Luke Evans) in a state of exasperation. Nicky is in the thick of a bitter custody battle for his eight-year-old son Owen (Christopher Woodley), after Gabriel (Billy Porter), his partner of 13 years, has decided to call time on their relationship. It’s a well-worn premise in mainstream cinema — essayed most recently by Noah Baumbach’s acerbic Marriage Story, and still portrayed most famously in Robert Benton’s 1979 weepie Kramer vs. Kramer — but gay cinema has been slow to tackle the issue. With his second movie, the follow-up to the 2018 sci-fi Jonathan, Bill Oliver corrects that oversight with a beautifully judged human drama that dissects a dying marriage with humor and intelligence, drawing out an especially open and moving performance from Porter.

It might sound like a backhanded compliment, but Downtown Owl feels more like a pilot than a feature film and may yet yield a series. In today’s market, that could work out just fine for directors Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe, who, after a choppy start, finesse Chuck Klosterman’s digressive 2007 novel into a thoughtful, broad-canvas ensemble piece. T Bone Burnett helps nail things down with an eclectic alt-country score and soundtrack, infused with the music and spirit of Elvis Costello, but it’s Rabe that holds it all together onscreen with a controlled yet still wildly uninhibited performance.

Twenty-one years ago, Robert De Niro co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with Jane Rosenthal. While its dates sandwich it between more prestigious festivals like Cannes and Venice, film fans can’t sleep on the festival, especially because of its world premieres.