Movie Reviews of all the latest Hollywood blockbusters and catch all the hottest celeb gossip - AOL Australia

Eat My Shorts!

Eat My Shorts: The Mumblecore Crowd

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:01:00 EST

Filed under: Independent, Shorts, Eat My Shorts!, Cinematical Indie

You might have heard the term "mumblecore" recently and are wondering where it came from and what it means. I'm still trying to figure that out myself. Here's what I know: In 2005, Andrew Bujalski (Mutual Appreciation) gave an interview to IndieWIRE in which he mentioned the term "mumblecore" as a name for a new indie-film movement. (The term allegedly came from Eric Masunga, the sound mixer on Bujalski's Funny Ha-Ha.) At SXSW this year, the term "mumblecore" was invoked everywhere -- the cast of Joe Swanberg's film Hannah Takes the Stairs included several mumblecore filmmakers, and SXSW Film Festival head Matt Dentler called the film "the blockbuster of this movement." Aaron Hillis actually created a groovy chart that linked many of the mumblecore gang together on different projects. But none of this is giving you a clear definition, is it?

As I see it (and you should feel free to correct me), "mumblecore" refers to a group of American filmmakers who tend to work on each other's movies, and whose films are performance-based and focus on the everyday problems, often about relationships, of middle-class twentysomethings. Some examples besides the above-mentioned films might include Susan Buice and Arin Crumley's 2005 feature Four-Eyed Monsters; The Puffy Chair, from brothers Jay and Mark Duplass; and Orphans, Ry Russo-Young's film that won a special jury award at SXSW this year (Buice and Russo-Young are in the minority as female filmmakers among the mumblecore guys).

So this week's Eat My Shorts includes a sampling of films from some of the Mumblecorps, as the group is also called, mostly from their earlier filmmaking days. Every short film on the following list ties in with one of the others -- the editor of one may be the director of another and the star of a third. These shorts tend to be funny rather than angst-y, but with some genuine emotion behind the laughs at times. Whether you're mumblecore or working on your own shorts, feel free to email me links to any shorts available to watch online: shorts AT cinematical DOT com.

Continue reading Eat My Shorts: The Mumblecore Crowd

Eat My Shorts: Microshorts and Robots

Wed, 23 May 2007 20:01:00 EST

Filed under: Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Shorts, DIY/Filmmaking, Home Entertainment, Eat My Shorts!, Cinematical Indie

I like watching all kinds of short films, but I have a particular liking for very short shorts -- microshorts, I suppose they're called. I've been moved and impressed by 20-minute and even half-hour long short films, but give me a film under five minutes in length and I'm easy to please. Let's not forget that one of the best-known short films ever, the 1969 classic Bambi Meets Godzilla, is only two minutes long, including credits. So when I found out DepicT!, a competition for shorts under 90 seconds, and learned that the competition's website includes many of the winning shorts, you know I was in short-film heaven. The competition is currently accepting entries through Sept. 3, so if you've got a short film that qualifies, send it to them ... and to me too!

This week's list of shorts (after the jump) also includes a couple of robot-themed films, for no other reason than that someone sent me one and it made me think of another one I liked. I could do a whole week of nothing but robot shorts ... maybe next time. Remember, if you've got a short film available online (or have seen one you like), whether or not it contains robots, please email us the URL to shorts AT cinematical DOT com.

Continue reading Eat My Shorts: Microshorts and Robots

Eat My Shorts: Creeping Up on You

Wed, 09 May 2007 18:32:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Independent, Shorts, Eat My Shorts!, Cinematical Indie

This week's "Eat My Shorts" selections are all just a little creepy, in one way or another. Some of the short films are about ghosts or the supernatural, one is about a very creepy demon indeed, and one is about what we might call our inner demons. It doesn't matter if you're watching these movies on a computer monitor at your desk or a laptop at a coffeehouse, and that the film you're watching is in the size of a Post-It note. The moods and tones are still palpable -- sweet, scary, or just plain fascinating.

Thanks to everyone who sent me links in past couple of weeks, either to their own short films or to films online that they saw and enjoyed. Please keep those links coming -- send links to your favorite short films to shorts AT cinematical DOT com, so I can gather and watch a new batch of films to recommend to you next time. You'll find this week's creepy-themed films after the jump.

Continue reading Eat My Shorts: Creeping Up on You