Monday, December 31, 2012

Trey Songz (INTERVIEW)



Trey Songz
The “Texas Chainsaw 3D” Interview
with Kam Williams

Trey Makes the Move from CD to 3D

Born in Petersburg, Virginia on November 28, 1984, Tremaine Aldon Neverson, AKA Trey Songz, has undeniably become one of music’s hottest R&B artists today thanks to an impressive streak of hit singles like “2 Reasons,” “Can’t Help But Wait,” “Successful” (featuring Drake), “I Invented Sex,” “Neighbors Know My Name,” the platinum-certified “Say Aah” and “Heart Attack,” which was recently nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Song category.  
Songz’ third album, Ready, made a stunning, Top 10 debut on the Billboard Top 200 charts and eventually landed a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The pop icon’s fourth studio album, Passion, Pain, and Pleasure, was released in September of 2010 and debuted at #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop Chart, thanks to the success of two smash singles, “Bottoms Up” (featuring Nicki Minaj),” and “Can’t Be Friends,” both of which went platinum.
His latest LP, Chapter V, debuted in 2012 at #1 on the Billboard 200. For this project, Trey tapped his younger brother, Alex, to produce “Don’t Be Scared,” and he also included such high-profile guests as T.I., Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Diddy and Meek Mill in the project.
In 2011, Trey was part of Kodak’s “SO KODAK” campaign alongside Drake, Pitbull and Rihanna, and he served as the face of Rocawear’s Fall and Spring campaigns, too. His constant touring led him to Johannesburg, Africa where he not only performed a couple of sold-out concerts but spent time with local aspiring young musicians and entrepreneurs.
Trey has used his gift of music as a launching pad for various philanthropic and entrepreneurial endeavors, like the “Angels with Heart Foundation” and the Trey’s Angels clothing line, sold exclusively at Citi Trends. Created in 2010, the “Angels with Heart Foundation” began as a call to action to engage his fan club, and it has now blossomed into a worldwide movement. Through this organization, Trey encourages members to give back to the community and, most importantly, to have a positive impact on their neighborhoods through service with local charities and random acts of kindness.
Here, the versatile entertainer talks about his latest film, Texas Chainsaw 3D, where he co-stars as Ryan opposite Alexandra Daddario.

Kam Williams: Hi Trey, thanks for the interview.
Trey Songz: Hey, Kam, what’s up?

KW: What interested you in Texas Chainsaw 3D?
TS: Oh, man, so many different things, like the opportunity to be a part of an iconic franchise. The original was one of the first horror films that actually petrified people. Also, for me, as a musician moving over into acting, it was important to have other denominators in the picture that could carry the weight. As a musician-turned-actor, you ordinarily face one of two scenarios. Either all the pressure of success or failure is on your shoulders, so if the picture does poorly, you might never get another movie role, or you have a situation where you already have an anchor, which allows you to work your way up the ranks. I think Texas Chainsaw is such a big brand that it’s an anchor unto itself. In fact, I wasn’t #1 on the call sheet. That was Alexandra Daddario, who is an amazing actress. So, I didn’t have the burden of carrying the film, which afforded me a chance to learn a lot about acting while playing her boyfriend.

KW: How would you describe your character, Ryan?
TS: As a likable character you get to know and love. He’s easy-going, laidback, and really likes his girl. He wants to be there to support her, when she learns that her parents weren’t her biological parents, and that she’s just inherited a house from a grandmother she never knew. I’m just there for the ride. And even though I want to be a good boyfriend, like any good boyfriend, I slip up a couple times in the movie.

KW: One of the most common, horror movie clichés is that the black dude dies first. But I guess it must be different in this case, since you’re playing the heroine’s love interest.
TS: Yeah, that was definitely a part of the negotiations.

KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks: How do you like making the move to acting from music?
TS: I’ve been in front of the camera a million times as a musician, and even directed a few music videos. So, I know a lot about spacing, focus, blocking, etcetera. So, acting isn’t totally new for me. Still, I find it fascinating, because you actually get to be another person. Even though Ryan wasn’t that complex an individual, I really enjoyed portraying someone else.

KW: How do you divide your time between acting and music, given that you have a new album out, Chapter V?
TS: I’m very busy. Besides promoting the movie, I did several concerts before taking a break for Christmas, and I have another month on tour ahead of me. After enjoying the holidays in the country with the family in Virginia, I’m heading to Stockholm, Sweden on New Year’s Day.

KW: Director Larry Greenberg says: Trey, I used a chainsaw to defend against zombies in my last film and it was difficult to get the splatter right.  How did you guys handle that in Texas Chainsaw 3-D?
TS: The splatter? I don’t know how they did it, but when they did it, they did it right. I know that they used a real chainsaw when he cut through the door and throughout the whole film. I wasn’t scared, but I still thought to myself, “He does actually have a chainsaw in his hands!” So, if he wanted to cut through anything, he could.

KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
TS: That’s a great question! Ironically enough, I can’t think of one right now. I do have some, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

KW: When people do give me a good question. I call it their question and use it on other celebrities.
TS: Oh, that’s gangsta’!

KW: I just got this one from Jamie Foxx: If you only had 24 hours to live, what would you do? Would you do the bad stuff, you never got a chance to do, or would you do good stuff to make sure you make it into heaven?
TS: If I only had 24 hours to live, I’d most likely spend it letting people know I loved them, and trying to make things right with whoever things were wrong with. One thing about life, man, once you’re gone, the only true impact you have is on the lives you affected positively, no matter how many hit songs or movies you had.   

KW: Jamie’s co-star in Django Unchained, Kerry Washington, came up with: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
TS: [Chuckles] That’s a weird-ass question. I’d probably be a monkey.

KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?
TS: Afraid? I don’t know if afraid is the word. Sometimes, I’m unsure.

KW: Columbus Short said nobody ever asks him if he’s happy. Are you happy?
TS: That’s a very good question. Nobody ever asks me that either. I believe I am happy. I don’t think I have achieved happiness in all areas of my life yet. As far as success is concerned, my family is being taken care of. But I think the last level of happiness would be becoming a father.  

KW: The Teri Emerson question: When was the last time you had a good laugh?
TS: I been laughing all day. You can’t stop me from having a good laugh.

KW: What is your guiltiest pleasure?
TS: My guiltiest pleasure? The ID channel [Investigation Discovery]. I like watching real-life murder mysteries all day long.

KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?
TS: I just started reading R. Kelly’s book, “Soulacoaster.”
 

KW: The music maven Heather Covington question: What was the last song you listened to? 
TS: “He Can’t Love You,” by Jagged Edge. 

 
KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?
TS: Pot roast.

KW: The Sanaa Lathan question: What excites you?
TS: The idea of Sanaa Lathan excites me.

KW: The Uduak Oduok question: Who is your favorite clothes designer?
TS: Versace.

KW: The Tavis Smiley question: How do you want to be remembered?
TS: As a good man.

KW: Thanks again for the time, Trey, and best of luck with the film.
TS: Thanks, Kam.

To see a trailer for Texas Chainsaw 3-D, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqCe2pDfICE
  

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Looper (DVD REVIEW)


Looper
DVD Review by Kam Williams

Willis & Gordon-Levitt Share Role in Riveting Time-Travel Thriller

            Dateline: Kansas City, 2042, which is where we find 25 year-old Joseph Simmons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gainfully-employed as a novel type of hit man called a “looper.” The grisly line of work basically involves waiting at a designated clearing in a cornfield for the delivery of a blindfolded kidnap victim involuntarily teleported back in time.
            As soon as each victim spontaneously materializes, Joe blows them away on the spot with a big blunderbuss before incinerating the body to eliminate the evidence. This modernistic equivalent of filling cement shoes has become the mob’s preferred method of assassination since loopers can commit the perfect crime by killing people who technically don’t even exist yet.
            Despite the great pay, Joe’s job has one major drawback, namely, that he will eventually be expected to close his own loop by shooting his future self (Bruce Willis) dead in the killing field. In the interim, he copes with the prospect of committing suicide via drugs and denial, getting high while making plans to retire to France that ostensibly amount to an exercise in futility.
            The moment of truth arrives the fateful day he finally finds himself face-to-face with his 55 year-old alter ego. However, Joe is unable to pull the trigger, a failing which doesn’t sit well with his short-fused boss (Jeff Daniels) who immediately dispatches an army of thugs to finish off both fugitives.
            That is the absorbing premise of Looper, a riveting sci-fi thriller directed by Rian Johnson. The movie marks the third collaboration between him and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a reteaming lending credence to the age-old maxim: three times a charm. 
             The picture’s inscrutable script is as confounding as Chris Nolan’s Memento, and visually the production is rather reminiscent of the best of Steven Spielberg. Nice company. Again and again, just when you think you’ve unraveled the convoluted plot, the story takes yet another intriguing turn into uncharted waters.
            Great performances abound here, starting with Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as the same character. Also deserving of accolades in substantial support roles are Paul Dano, Emily Blunt, Piper Perabo and Jeff Daniels. 
            A mind-bending masterpiece that’s a must for more cerebral fans of the time-travel genre.

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for profanity, sexuality, nudity, drug use and graphic violence.
Running time: 119 minutes
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Commentary with director Rian Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt; Looper from the Beginning: The Making of Featurette; 5 deleted scenes; Scoring Looper; and Looper animated trailer.  

To see a trailer for Looper, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iQuhsmtfHw

Sweet Tea & Cornbread (BOOK REVIEW)



Sweet Tea & Cornbread:

Inspiring, Motivating & Empowering Black Women to
            Take Back Their Bodies & Live a Healthier Lifestyle
by Karrie Marchbanks  
CreateSpace
Paperback, $10.99
162 pages
ISBN: 978-1-478233039
           
Book Review by Kam Williams

“Let’s face it, ladies, as black women we have issues when it comes to food and exercise... If you’re like me, you sometimes reminisce about the good ole days… when you could eat whatever you wanted [and] you didn’t have to exercise.
So what happened? Was it age? Your love of fast food? Heredity? Soul food is typically high in fat, sodium and sugar… We’ve let our hairstyles determine the size of our waistlines, and it’s killing us! Pride in your appearance shouldn’t stop at the neck.
Sweet Tea & Cornbread was written for every black woman who identifies with the struggle to eat healthy, lose weight and exercise… Incorporating exercise into your daily routine doesn’t mean you have to give up your weave.” 
-- Excerpted from Introduction (pages xi-xiii)

            ‘Tis the season to make New Year’s resolutions, and a popular one is to shed a few pounds, a proposition easier said than done. For black women, losing weight is even more of a challenge, at least that’s the thesis of Karrie Marchbanks, an African-American female speaking from experience.
            She says that sisters are losing the battle of the bulge because of bad eating habits further complicated by a reluctance to exercise due to a fear of sweating out their hair. Not to worry. Ms. Marchbanks, a single-mom currently residing in North Carolina, has come up with a plan to get you the body you deserve, and in just 21 days.
            Not surprisingly, the regimen involves both working out and eliminating unhealthy foods from your diet. Oh, and it also addresses the coiffure controversy in a chapter humorously titled: “Do what? I Just Got My Hair Done!”
            However, the author is dead serious about the subject, and has the statistics to support her arguments. For instance, she cites the fact that 14% of black women have diabetes, 47% have cardiovascular disease, 45% have high blood pressure, 41% have high cholesterol and that 51% are obese to suggest that the African-American community has a health crisis on its hands.
            The Sweet Tea 3-week initiative involves a combination of sound advice, personal challenges and daily affirmations (hope you’re a Christian). Of course, the real goal is for you to find the motivation to stop with the excuses and put the valuable ideas found here into practice year-round.
            A timely, fitness primer strictly for sisters!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Red Hook Summer (DVD REVIEW)




 
Red Hook Summer
DVD Review by Kam Williams

Latest Spike Lee Joint Deserves to Get the Hook  

            Flik Royale (Jules Brown) is 13 by the time his mother (De’Adre Aziza) is finally ready to introduce him to his grandfather (Clarke Peters). Trouble is the bourgie mamma’s boy was brought up in suburban Atlanta where he’s been raised vegetarian and been attending private school.
            So, when his single-mom decides the two should get acquainted over the summer, it means the boy will have to live in the projects in Red Hook, an area of New York City teeming with dangers and temptations he hasn’t been exposed to before. Still, she figures he’ll be okay, since gramps happens to be the pastor of the Lil’ Peace of Heaven Baptist Church.
             Flik grudgingly agrees to stay with the Bible-thumping bishop, and their strained relationship supplies the raison d’etre of Red Hook Summer. Directed by Spike Lee, the movie might superficially resemble some of his classic films like Do the Right Thing and She’s Gotta Have It, being a character-driven drama set in a sweltering Brooklyn.
            Unfortunately, that’s where any similarities start and end. This is a movie that might earn high marks were it the work of a first time director. However, coming from a two-time Oscar-nominee (for 4 Little Girls and Do the Right Thing), it can only be described as bitter disappointing.
            The primary problem is that the acting is mediocre. Secondly, the screen is littered with the sort of buffoonish stereotypes Spike has been criticizing Tyler Perry for, one-dimensional caricatures running the gamut from ghetto gangstas to church ladies. Thirdly, the film fails to generate any palpable tension.
            The director makes a cameo appearance as pizza deliveryman Mookie, reprising the role he played as the protagonist of Do the Right Thing. Sadly, that distraction merely serves as a sad reminder of how much Spike’s skills have eroded since his glory days.
            No wonder he’s so miffed about Quentin Tarantino stealing the limelight. Picture a two-hour episode of Amos ‘n’ Andy on crack. Holy mackerel, Sapphire!         

Fair (1 star)
Unrated
Running time: 120 minutes
Distributor: Image Entertainment
DVD Extras: Director’s commentary; music video; and a behind the scenes featurette.

To see a trailer for Red Hook Summer, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CX9xKczh4w

The Words (DVD REVIEW)





The Words
DVD Review by Kam Williams

Saldana and Cooper Co-Star in Tale of Overwhelming Regret

            The latest stop on Clayton Hammond’s (Dennis Quaid) whirlwind book tour has the author in New York to promote his latest opus. It’s a cautionary tale of overwhelming regret recounting the rise and fall of a presumably fictional character called Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper).
            At the story’s point of departure, he’s an aspiring novelist under pressure to find a real job after years of relying on handouts from his father (J.K. Simmons). The young man grudgingly capitulates by taking a lowly 9 to 5 gig in the mailroom of a leading literary agency.
            The steady pay does enable Rory to save enough money to propose to his longtime girlfriend (Zoe Saldana) who has been patiently waiting to start a family. Soon enough, they’re newlyweds and honeymooning in Paris where the grateful bride impulsively buys her hubby a weather-beaten briefcase lying around a dusty antique shop.
            Upon returning to the States, Rory opens the valise and discovers that it contains a handwritten manuscript by someone far more talented than he. However, instead of trying to locate the owner, he succumbs to the temptation to submit the novel to publishers under his own name.
            Lo and behold, the book, “The Window Tears,” becomes a runaway best-seller, thereby belatedly launching the literary career he’d always dreamed of. But because of the possibility of the actual author’s (Jeremy Irons) stepping forward to expose the fraud, Rory faces the prospect of having to spend his life looking over his shoulder.
            Co-written and co-directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, The Words is constructed as a series of flashbacks narrated by a visibly-haunted Hammond as he reads excerpts from his new book. It gradually becomes obvious that he is agonizing over the material on the pages as the tension mounts around whether what his audience is hearing might be autobiographical rather than fictional.
            Unfortunately, the problems with this glacial-paced production are plentiful. First, it’s hard to swallow the film’s farfetched premise, and harder still to fathom how the protagonist has managed to maintain the charade for so long, especially given his guilty conscience and being confronted by the aggrieved party he’s impersonated.
            Furthermore, neither of the parallel plotlines is particularly engaging, the only issue of interest being whether Hammond’s new book constitutes a confession that his debut novel had been purloined. For this reason, the film’s biggest flaw rests in its ultimately ending on a cliffhanger, and thereby failing to resolve if Rory Jansen is indeed a thinly-veiled version of the author.
            That anticlimactic conclusion proves to be quite unsatisfying after an investment of what feels like an eternity awaiting the resolution of the specific question “Did he or didn’t he?” The only thing worse than a movie without an ending, is a ninety-minute endurance test without an ending. 
             
Fair (1 star)
Rated PG-13 for smoking, sensuality and brief profanity.
Running time: 96 minutes
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Extended special edition; Unabridged: A look behind the scenes of The Words; A Gentleman’s Agreement: a look at how Bradley Cooper and the filmmakers found The Words; and more.

To see a trailer for The Words, visit:  

Top Ten DVD Releases for 1-1-13



This Week’s DVD Releases
by Kam Williams


Headline: Top Ten DVD List for January 1, 2013          
            
Looper


Christian DVD Study: It’s Not What You Think


Doctor Zhivago


Cosmopolis


The Mudlark 


Justified – The Complete Third Season


Little Birds


The Trouble with Bliss


Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend


War of the Dead
   

Friday, December 28, 2012

Promised Land (FILM REVIEW)

Promised Land
Film Review by Kam Williams

Gas Company Downplays Downside of Fracking in Timely Eco-Drama

            In 2011, a disturbing documentary called Gasland was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary category. That eye-opening expose’ chronicled how energy companies had duped landowners in Pennsylvania and Colorado into signing over the drilling rights on their property while downplaying the ecological risks.
            For hydraulic fracturing, AKA fracking, the process employed to mine natural gas, has contaminated many a community’s environment, thereby rendering homes virtually uninhabitable. In that movie, victims demonstrated with a match how their tap water had become flammable, and how their pets had inexplicably turned sickly and started shedding fur in patches.
            Ostensibly inspired by Gasland, the Biblically-titled Promised Land is a cautionary tale tackling the same theme. This modern morality play reunites director Gus Van Sant with Matt Damon for their fourth collaboration which began back in 1997 with Good Will Hunting. The pair also worked together on Finding Forrester in 2000 and on Gerry a couple of years later.
            Here, Damon stars as Steve Butler, a farm boy-turned-itinerant corporate pitchman employed by a gas conglomerate to fast-talk country folks into turning over their drilling rights. He and his partner’s (Frances McDormand) latest assignment takes them to McKinley, a cash-strapped, if otherwise idyllic, rural community that stands to be polluted if tricked into signing on the dotted line.
            Steve has a down-home way of insinuating himself with the locals which even turns the head of a pretty schoolmarm (Rosemarie DeWitt). Fortunately, a couple of gadflies in the ointment emerge in a skeptical science teacher (Hal Holbrook) and an outside agitator (John Krasinski) who urge everybody not to be blinded by dollar signs, but to do a little research into the potential fallout from fracking.
            A transparent message movie which might deserve to be forgiven for moralizing and politicizing, given the urgency of the underlying environmental issue.

Very Good (3 Stars)
Rated R for profanity.
Running time: 106 minutes
Distributor: Focus Features

To see a trailer for Promised Land, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqPv6xO6es 

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Django Unchained (FILM REVIEW)



Django Unchained
Film Review by Kam Williams

Ex-Slave Exacts Vengeance in Tarantino Variation on Spaghetti Western

            There’s a sensible reason why nobody ever wanted to be an Indian whenever we played Cowboys and Indians as kids. That’s because the white man was invariably the hero of the Westerns on which we’d been weaned, while the red man had always been presented as a wild savage dismissed by the dehumanizing affirmation that, “The only good Injun is a dead Injun.”      
            Sure, a few films, such as Apaches (1973), The Sons of Great Bear (1966) and Chingachgook: The Great Snake (1967), flipped the script by portraying Native Americans as the good guys and the European settlers as the bad guys. But those productions were few and far between.
            Hollywood has also promoted a set of stereotypes when it comes to the depictions of black-white race relations during slavery, with classics like The Birth of the Nation (1915) and Gone with the Wind (1939) setting the tone. Consequently, most movies have by-and-large suggested that it was a benign institution under which docile African-Americans were well-treated by kindly masters, at least as long as they remained submissive and knew their place.
            Leave it to Quentin Tarantino to put a fresh spin on the genre, much as he did in the World War II flick Inglourious Basterds (2009). With Django Unchained, the iconoclast writer/director again rattles the cinematic cage by virtue of an irreverent adventure that audaciously turns the conventional thinking on its head.
            Set in the South in 1858, the picture is visually reminiscent of the Spaghetti Westerns popularized in the Sixties by Italian director Sergio Leone, being replete with both big sky panoramas and cartoonish, one-note villains who are the embodiment of evil. But instead of cattle rustlers, it’s inveterate racists being slowly tortured or blown away to the delight of the audience.   
            The movie stars Jamie Foxx in the title role as a slave lucky enough to be liberated by a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz). Abolitionist Dr. Schultz altruistically takes Django on as an apprentice, and proceeds to teach him how to ride a horse and handle a gun.
            The grisly business of tracking down outlaws “Wanted Dead-or-Alive” conveniently affords the revenge-minded freedman many an opportunity to even the score with folks responsible for his misery, from the scars on his back, to the “R” for “Runaway” branded on his cheek, to being separated from his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). As you might guess, the action gets pretty gruesome, as is par for the course for any Tarantino vehicle.
            Slavery reimagined as a messy splatterfest where massa gets exactly what he deserves, and then some!

Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for profanity, nudity, ethnic slurs and graphic violence
Running time: 165 minutes
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

To see a trailer for Django Unchained, visit:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pKZbJHa17c

The 10 Best, No, the 100 Best Films of 2012 (FEATURE)




The 10 Best, No, the 100 Best Films of 2012
by Kam Williams

Kam’s Annual Assessment of the Cream of the Cinematic Crop

            It’s impossible for me to limit my favorite films of 2012 to just 10 of the year’s 1,000 or so releases After all, it feels unfair even to compare most of them to each other, since they represent so many different genres, countries and cultures, and enjoyed such a range in budgets.
            Therefore, as per usual, this critic’s annual list features 100 entries in order to honor as many of the best offerings as possible. And despite the cloud of controversy swirling around Kathryn’s Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty for its depiction of torture and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained for its violence and use of the N-word, both of these movies are nevertheless deserving of high accolades in my humble opinion.


10 Best Big Budget Films

1.       Zero Dark Thirty
2.       Silver Linings Playbook
3.       Django Unchained
4.       Looper
5.       Argo
6.       Life of Pi
7.       21 Jump Street
8.       Cabin in the Woods
9.       Flight
10.  Magic Mike

Big Budgets Honorable Mention

11.  The Hunger Games
12.  Skyfall
13.  The Amazing Spider-Man
14.  Safe House
15.  The Sessions
16.  Savages
17.  The Avengers
18.  Think Like a Man
19.  Hitchcock
20.  Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
21.  Mirror Mirror
22.  Anna Karenina
23.  Lincoln
24.  Sparkle
25.  Promised Land


10 Best Foreign Films

1.      Amour (France)
2.      Turn Me on, Dammit! (Norway)
3.      Nobody Else but You (France)
4.      Let the Bullets Fly (China)
5.      The Other Son (Israel)
6.      Putin’s Kiss (Russia)
7.      Sound of Noise (Germany)
8.      Attenberg (Greece)
9.      I Wish (Japan)
10. The Fairy (Belgium)

Foreign Films Honorable Mention

11.  The Well Digger’s Daughter (France)
12.  Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Japan)
13.  Ikland (Uganda)
14.  Elles (France)
15.  Simon and the Oaks (Sweden)
16.  The Intouchables (France)
17.  Unforgivable (Italy)
18.  Dolphin Boy 
19.  Oslo, August 31st (Norway)
20.  A Royal Affair (Denmark)
21.  Busong (Philippines)
22.  Gerhard Richter Painting (Germany)
23.  Somewhere Between (China)
24.  Crazy Horse (France)
25.  360 (Brazil)


10 Best Independent Films

1.       Beasts of the Southern Wild
2.       The Deep Blue Sea
3.       Quartet
4.       Take This Waltz
5.       Middle of Nowhere
6.       Safety Not Guaranteed
7.       Compliance
8.       Restless City
9.       Goon
10.  Changing the Game

Independent Films Honorable Mention

11.  God Bless America
12.  Ginger & Rosa
13.  Yelling to the Sky
14.  Nobody Walks
15.  V/H/S
16.  Tim & Eric's Billion-Dollar Movie
17.  Model Minority
18.  The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best
19.  28 Hotel Rooms
20.  Velvet Elvis
21.  Deadfall
22.  Mosquita & Mari
23.  Happy New Year
24.  96 Minutes
25.  Jack & Diane


10 Best Documentaries

1.         The Central Park Five
2.         Head Games
3.         Chasing Ice
4.         Bully
5.         The Loving Story
6.         The Queen of Versailles
7.         Hoodwinked
8.         Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel
9.         65_RedRoses
10.     Heist

Documentaries Honorable Mention

11.     Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story
12.     The Revisionaires
13.     Six Million and One
14.     Marley
15.     High Ground
16.     Bonsai People
17.     Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story
18.     Soul Food Junkies
19.     Brooklyn Castle
20.     Chimpanzee
21.     Detropia
22.     Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment
23.     Never Stand Still
24.     5 Broken Cameras
25.     Samsara