Actualités

For Anglophone readers, Jean Louis Schefer’s name will most likely only be familiar through the reverent, often enigmatic references made in translated works by some of the most eminent French film theorists and critics: Gilles Deleuze, (“Jean Louis Schefer, in a book in which the theory forms a kind of great poem…”), Nicole Brenez, (“In the beginning was Jean Louis Schefer…”), Serge Daney (“[a thinker] mysterious and more complicated than we were”), etc. Semiotext(e)’s recent translation(1) of Schefer’s The Ordinary Man of Cinema, published in France in 1980, rectifies what was previously a serious gap in our knowledge of French film theory and offers the chance—especially as “film-philosophy” is so in vogue in academia right now—to reappraise how we conceive the relationship between cinema and thought today. In the opening line of the book, Schefer introduces himself as “the ordinary man of cinema”—someone with no professional...

The Butler follows White House butler Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) over several decades, serving from Eisenhower to Reagan.  For better or worse, director Lee Daniels (Precious) recruited a name cast to play the presidents: Robin Williams (Dwight D. Eisenhower), James Marsden (John F. Kennedy), Liev Schreiber (Lyndon B. Johnson), John Cusack (Richard Nixon), Alan Rickman (Ronald Reagan).  Probably best they seem to skip Jimmy Carter, because Daniels openly laments: "We had to finance it through bringing in names that meant something overseas.  It's a very sad testament that [co-star] Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker can't greenlight a film." If you want more names, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, David Oyelowo, Mariah Carey, Jane Fonda, Minka Kelly, Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Leo, Alex Pettyfer, and Vanessa Redgrave also star.  Hit the jump for new images, a Fonda-centric featurette with the first clip, and two TV spots. "Jane Fonda Featurette" "Ordinary Man" "Duty"   All images come from EW,...

Aside from being a recurring premise on primetime sitcoms, bartering is generally an old-fashioned concept that seems out of date in these modern times, where the internet offers consumers easy access to an overwhelming world of goods and services. And yet, there's something romantic about the idea of trading what you have for what you need and want. This is part of the easy allure of Kyle MacDonald's strange but true story told in his offbeat memoir One Red Paperclip: Or How an Ordinary Man Achieved His Dream with the Help of a Simple Office Supply. In 2005, MacDonald posted an ad on Craig's List and set out to see if he could trade his way up to from the tiny titular tool to "something bigger and better" until he made his way to his goal: a home of his very own. Combining modern technology with old school bartering and...

Release Date: Nov. 29, 2011

Price: DVD $24.98

Studio: IFC/Mpi

Imagine Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins as blood-suckers, and you have the idea behind Vampires, a mockumentary that is being called the This Is Spinal Tap of vampire films.

The 2010 foreign movie, directed by Vincent Lannoo (Ordinary Man), follows a documentary film crew who have a few bloody mishaps in their attempt to film vampires, until they finally find a Belgian clan willing to go on camera — and not eat the crew.

In the family, the dad’s channeling Bela Lugosi, the mom’s giving bite lessons, the son is rebellious and the daughter is pining for her lost mortality.

The documentary crew watch and shoot as the family eat illegal immigrants, children, the handicapped and bleed the country’s social benefits for all they’re worth.

Vampires wasn’t released in theaters in the U.S., making it a DVD premiere.