(This movie made its Michigan premiere August 27th at the Grand Rapids Film Festival, the producers plan to release the movie in Spring 2010)

“Like Dandelion Dust” is a gut wrenching battle between two devoted dads and two devoted moms.

When it comes out, sometime in Spring 2010, this is a movie you should see and should quickly be in the running for Oscar nominations for Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture… yes its that good.
 

(My spoiler free review:)

There’s a family message/christian theme behind the story, but its not heavy handed and barely noticeable.

Mira Sorvino and Barry Pepper do most of the the “heavy lifting” of the acting in this film.. but the rest of the cast are strong… including Maxwell Perry Cotton who is awesome as 6-year-old “Joey”.

Pepper transforms himself, becoming his character so convincing he is barely recognizeable from his roles in “Unknown” (2006), “The Green Mile” (1999), “Enemy of the State” (1998), “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), and yes, even…. “Battlefield Earth” (2000).

Pepper adds so many layers to a complicated character… something he’s been doing for years regardless of his screentime, “Like Dandelion Dust” may make Pepper a household name.

Sorvino shines again in a role she plays perfectly – her best performance since winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Mighty Aphrodite” (1995).

Cole Hauser is convincing as a troubled dad, struggling with the decision to do the right and legal thing and what his heart wants to do.  L. Scott Caldwell is great as the social worker and Kate Levering is solid as the other mother.

Based on the Karen Kingsbury novel by the same name, “Like Dandelion Dust” sets up two clearly different worlds…. where at least once, the audience goes from supporting one side to the other.   

THE BOTTOM LINE: (more…)

Family oriented movies are the focus of inaugural Grand Rapids Film Festival August 26-28

 43 movies make up the first ever Grand Rapids Film Festival… 11 features, 12 documentaries, 9 short narratives, and 3 animated films.

There are also 4 free panel discussions focused on ”Making Movies in Michigan”, “Digital Animation and Game Design”, “How Academia Can Help”, and “In the Movies”, a panel that includes some of the filmmakers behind the movies at this festival.

The “In The Movies” panel includes Rick Eldridge the producer of “The Ultimate Gift”, Andre’ van Heerden the producer of  “Saving God”, Bobby Downes the producer of “Like Dandelion Dust”, John Grooters the producer/director of “American Sailors”.

The Grand Rapids Film Festival will run August 26-28 at Celebration! Cinema North in Grand Rapids.  Tickets are $5- $8 per movie.

Here’s a look at some of the 43 movies, click here for a look at the schedule:

 “Like Dandelion Dust”
(1 hour, 40 min/ not Rated)

“Like Dandelion Dust” will make its Michigan premiere at the Grand Rapids Film Festival, the movie has already won 7 awards at festivals across the country this year.

Cast: Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Kate Levering, Maxwell Perry Cotton, and Cole Hauser

Plot: A compelling drama, based on the best-selling novel by Karen Kingsbury, that explores the different meanings of being a parent through the grittily realistic lives of the struggling, blue-collar Porter’s, and the privileged Campbell family. Their lives intersect, intertwine and collide, all for the love of a little boy.

Director: Jon Gunn

Trailer: not available, link to movie website: http://www.likedandeliondust.com/

 “Saving God”
(1 hour, 41 min/ rated PG-13)

“Saving God” garnered strong reviews at several film festivals this year and won the Film Excellence Award at the International Family Film Festival.  The film is also nominated for a Time for Peace Film Award and Ving Rhames is nominated for a Time for Peace Actor Award for his performance.

Cast: Ving Rhames, Ricardo Chavira (ABC’s Desperate Housewives), Dean McDermott, Dwain Murphy, Genelle Williams

Plot: Armstrong Cane (Rhames) served 15 years in prison for manslaughter.  Now he serves as the Pastor of his community church. As he works to rebuild the community he left behind, the ex con meets Norris (Murphy) and recognizes a young man headed down a familiar scary path.  Lured into the depths of drugs and violence by local dealer Blaze (McDermott), the troubled teen is pulled in opposite directions.

Director: Duane Crighton

Trailer: http://www.savinggodmovie.com/index.php?obj=trailer 

 “The Way Home”
(1 hour, 30 min/ rated PG)

Premiered May 12th at Fox Theater in Atlanta.

Cast: Dean Cain, Lori Beth Edgeman, Sonny Shroyer, Tom Nowicki, Brett Rice, Jay Gill, Jackson Walker, L. Warren Young, Jackie Prucha, Bruce McKinnon

Plot: An inspirational true story about how a rural community rallied around a distraught family to search for their missing two year-old boy and through doing so changed the lives of many of those involved.

Director: Lance Dreesen

Trailer: http://www.thewayhome-movie.com/

 “The Ultimate Gift”
(1 hour, 55 min/ rated PG)

Won the “Crystal Heart Award” at the Heartland Film Festival in 2006 in Indianapolis.

Cast: Drew Fuller, Abigail Breslin, James Garner, Bill Cobbs, Lee Meriwether, George Lee, Brett Rice, D. David Morin, Ali Hillis, Brian Dennehy

Plot: Jason thought his inheritance was going to be the gift of money and lots of it. Was he ever in for a big surprise. Based on the best-selling book “The Ultimate Gift” by Jim Stovall, the story sends trust fund baby Jason Stevens on an improbable journey of discovery, having to answer the ultimate question: “What is the relationship between wealth and happiness?”

Director: Rick Eldridge

Trailer: http://www.theultimategift.com/movie.php?cid=1560810621&cat=movie

(more…)

First group of movies to play at August 26-28 Grand Rapids Film Festival

So far I know of 18 movies that will be at the first ever Grand Rapids Film Festival… 2 features, 8 documentaries, 6 short narratives, and 2 animated films.  One of the feature films is a movie with star power that might just be in consideration come Academy Award season… and two of the documentaries are recognizable (at least to me as films that have already had some positive national expposure, including one with ties to West Michigan).  Many of the movies have family oriented themes.
The Grand Rapids Film Festival will run August 26-28 at Celebration! Cinema North in Grand Rapids.  
I’ll try to keep you updated in the coming weeks as more movies are added to the list!!

Here’s what I know so far:

 “Like Dandelion Dust”
(1 hour, 40 min/ not Rated)

“Like Dandelion Dust” will make its Michigan premiere at the Grand Rapids Film Festival, the movie has already won 7 awards at festivals across the country this year.

Cast: Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Kate Levering, Maxwell Perry Cotton, and Cole Hauser

Plot: A compelling drama, based on the best-selling novel by Karen Kingsbury, that explores the different meanings of being a parent through the grittily realistic lives of the struggling, blue-collar Porter’s, and the privileged Campbell family. Their lives intersect, intertwine and collide, all for the love of a little boy.

Director: Jon Gunn

Trailer: not available, link to movie website: http://www.likedandeliondust.com/

 “Saving God”
(1 hour, 41 min/ rated PG-13)

“Saving God” garnered strong reviews at several film festivals this year and won the Film Excellence Award at the International Family Film Festival.  The film is also nominated for a Time for Peace Film Award and Ving Rhames is nominated for a Time for Peace Actor Award for his performance.

Cast: Ving Rhames, Ricardo Chavira (ABC’s Desperate Housewives), Dean McDermott, Dwain Murphy, Genelle Williams

Plot: Armstrong Cane (Rhames) served 15 years in prison for manslaughter.  Now he serves as the Pastor of his community church. As he works to rebuild the community he left behind, the ex con meets Norris (Murphy) and recognizes a young man headed down a familiar scary path.  Lured into the depths of drugs and violence by local dealer Blaze (McDermott), the troubled teen is pulled in opposite directions.

Director: Duane Crighton

Trailer: http://www.savinggodmovie.com/index.php?obj=trailer 

(more…)

Outgoing Grand Rapids school board member David Allen accused the teachers union leadership Monday night of never having “any intention of settling a contract” with Grand Rapids Public Schools.

During remarks at his last meeting as a board member, Allen said union leaders, including President Paul Helder, did not bring a potential contract agreement to member teachers in February.  District teachers just finished their second school year without a contract.

“Imagine that: seven people deciding the fate of over 1,700.  That does not sound like a democracy, it sounds like a dictatorship, ironically one of the things of which [the union] accuses (Superintendent) Dr. Taylor,” said Allen, a one-time board president. He said the union’s tactics have mirrored a 2003 warning presented by a staffer at Michigan Association of School Boards

Allen, who has served since 2002, also discussed what he saw as successes during his tenure: the passage of a school bond, making needed building and program cuts, more schools meeting state and federal standards and looming high school reforms.

In an interview after the meeting, Helder told 24 Hour News 8 Allen is entitled to his opinion.  But he said there never was a tentative agreement he could have presented to his membership.  And the union president said he would literally be willing to be locked in a room with negotiators until a contract is settled.

“We’re offering right now again: go into a building, chain the doors — we’ll get flat food, you can slide it under the door,” Helder said.  “And we’d like Dr. Taylor there as well.”

Also Monday night, the board approved pink slips for 141 teachers.

The district typically recalls most of the teachers who receive the slips, although because of lower than expected retirements and the elimination of 95 full-time positions, that may not be the case this year.

Those 95 positions will be cut through not replacing retirees, moving some teachers from full- to part-time and laying off some teachers.  Helder said he expects roughly 30 retirements this year.
Also Monday night, Superintendent Bernard Taylor offered a moment of silence for two members of the school community who lost their lives recently, including Nathaniel Jones, who was shot Thursday afternoon near Fuller Avenue and Kalamazoo Street SE.

GRPS has announced LEED certification, a nationwide environmental designation, for Gerald Ford Middle School. It’s the third district building to receive the honor.  A fourth has applied for it.

The board also approved the lease of Park School, 1150 Adams Street SE, to Michigan Family Resources/Head Start.

Keep it here for the latest.

–Tony

“Caught in the Crossfire” wraps shooting on Tuesday

(Originally posted June 9, 12:28am)

After two weeks of shooting in Grand Rapids, “Caught in the Crossfire” is close to a wrap.

The crime drama stars Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Chris Klein, Adam Rodriguez, Richard T. Jones, and Michael Matthias.

Monday night, crews were shooting a pivotal interrogation scene at Deano’s Production Facilities in Grand Rapids.   Producer R.D. Miller says the movie is a cross between “L.A. Confidential” and “The Usual Suspects” and they will be cutting back and forth between this interrogation scene and the action throughout the movie.

Producer R.D. Miller was hesitant to tell me that the police Captain (Jones) and police Lieutenant (Matthias) are “interrogating the detectives” (Klein and Rodriguez).

Director Brian Miller and Producer R.D. Miller plan to come back with future projects, and we know from our last visit to the set that 50 Cent would like to bring his next project that he’s producing with Forest Whitaker called “Jekyll and Hyde” to Grand Rapids (in August).

The filmmakers say Michigan’s tax incentives (up to 42%) were (more…)

Grand Rapids 1st Annual Film Festival
August 26-28, 2009 at Celebration! Cinema North

Its now official.. Grand Rapids first annual Film Festival will take place August 26 to 28, 2009 at Celebration! Cinema North.

Its something organizers have been talking about doing for the last three years.

The festival’s website says “our goal is to have great films (action, adventure, comedy, drama, romance, whatever…) that arent the typical Hollywood-type gish filled with gratuitous sex or extreme profanity and violence. We want movies, documentaries, short films, animation projects, that inspire and challenge. Independent films that are message driven.”

While this year’s festival will be a Celebration! Cinema North, organizers plan to have the venue downtown next year at different locations.

Organizers are putting out the call for submissions from filmmakers: the film submission deadline is July 17.   There will be awards for Best in Show and Best in Category with Cash Awards for Best in Show (for 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place).

For more information check out the festival’s website or send an email to info@grfilmfestival.com

We broke the story yesterday at woodtv.com and on 24 Hour News 8 at 5:00pm.

– 

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Thriller! Chiller! Festival taking 2009 off

Thriller! Chiller! Festival

Organizers of Grand Rapids’ own Thriller! Chiller! Festival say, in a notice on the festival’s website say they will taking a “bye year to work on our own collective film projects while enjoying the increased business opportunities to thrive in our professions as Michigan transforms into Hollywood North.”

The festival usually runs in October and is a showcase for horror, sci-fi, action, and suspense movies and runs out of the Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids.

—

Originally published October 19, 2008:

Local Film Festival “Thriller! Chiller!” begins Thursday at Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids

(more…)

Update: Grand Rapids is in the running for “Tribes of October”

Between comments from folks at Cinepro Pictures, director Phillipe Martinez’ recorded comments at the “Chaos” premiere, and a few of my sources, I can tell you that Grand Rapids is being scouted for Martinez’ next movie “Tribes of October”.

The $25 million budget CGI heavy post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller needs big open spaces to shoot, and I’ve learned that DeVos Place and some big warehouse-size buildings around Grand Rapids are also being considered for possible shooting locations.

Also today, new pre-production images (above) from Cinepro Pictures.

Originally posted May 5, 2009: (more…)

Tonight is the world premiere, will update with more later.

Originally posted:  May 4th, 2009

Time is up!!!

Update: Congratulations to the 2 winners… they have been contacted by email, but if they are unable to pick up their tickets, I have picked 2 alternates.  Thanks to everyone who entered!!!

Update: I picked up the tickets yesterday for the premiere Tuesday evening, May 5th, but I only have 2 pairs of tickets to give away, so get your comments in and make ‘em count!  I’ll pick the 2 winners and notify them by email on Monday!!

Contest to see “The Chaos Experiment” before it opens in Grand Rapids

I will have a limited amount of tickets to giveaway for the May 5th premiere of “The Chaos Experiment” at Celebration! Cinema North… so here’s the contest, its easy: just leave a quality comment on any of my blogs (old or new)… and when you do, include your name and email address in the comment section, so I can contact you.  The person with the most quality comments wins!

Some additional details about the May 5th invitation-only premiere:
My source tells me that the premiere for “The Chaos Experiment” will not include any celebrities, like the main cast, but there will be a representative from the company.

My source also says that Celebration! Cinema worked to get the movie to have a theatrical run in Grand Rapids, since it was filmed here.  Apparently the costs were too high to release the movie in other cities, and the market is better for DVD.

After the premiere, “The Chaos Experiment” will be available for one week for the public starting May 8th at Celebration! Cinema North and Celebration! Cinema RiverTown.  The weeklong run from May 8th to 14th will include limited screenings at least twice a day.

Originally posted April 21, 2009: (more…)

GRPS board meeting, May 4, 2009.

A team of Grand Rapids Public Schools students took top honors in nationwide math and language competitions at the National Academic Games tournament in Tennessee. (more…)