It’s unclear exactly what a hipster is, or how one might dress, but I think it’s got something to do with looking weird — or bad — in a way where the inverse happens, and one strangely looks good. This may be a shallow way to describe an ostensibly complex mentality or social posturing, for which this disclaimer serves as an apology. The characters in the following films were not supposed to be hipsters, but they look the part. Damn them. Here are some of the biggest inadvertent hipsters in film…

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It’s that time of the year again. You know, the annual two week jamboree where the most elite of celebs gather in their most glitzy gear to loll around on the most fabulous yachts and drink the most expensive champers and if they can drag themselves away from all that glamour: watch a few pretty good films, too.

While the majority of us mere mortals won’t get a chance to party with the stars while sporting gold-plated life jackets, let alone actually see any of the Cannes films at their Cote d’Azur premieres, that doesn’t mean we can’t be excited about some of the festival entries. And even those of us who haven’t won the genetic lottery will be able to see said films… at least, eventually.

So, all yacht-jealousy and beautiful people-hating aside, here is a guide to the most anticipated, must-see flicks from Cannes 2013. And get excited, because with the likes of Sofia Coppola, James Franco, Ryan Gosling and Tilda Swinton on board this year, it is set to be a more mouth-watering festival than ever. Cinematically speaking, that is.

The post Portable’s Guide To The Must-See Films At Cannes appeared first on Portable.tv.

Earlier, we told you about the movies that make us want to do drugs. What about the movies that make us not want to do drugs, and extending even further, what movies make other presumably fun things look super lame?

The post Movies That Make Drugs, Sex, and Such Look Super Lame appeared first on Portable.tv.

This entry was originally titled ‘Movies I Won’t See Due To The Poster’ but after careful consideration of my wavering standards in movie viewing and the guidance of a six year old budding judge of book covers (Quinn), I decided to give these comments some flexibility. Like most people, I will almost exclusively choose a book by its cover, something my school teachers, and males whose advances I’ve ignored, would scold me for. After years perusing the shelves of Blockbuster and hours spent on Netflix and iTunes, one develops a sixth sense to choose purely by a movie poster/DVD cover.

As the summer season takes off, let’s ponder these 6 promotional movie posters that make question if I ever want to see the films they’re advertising, with the help of my young buddy Quinn…

The post 6 Promotional Movie Posters That Make Me Question Whether I Will See The Films They’re Advertising appeared first on Portable.tv.

American remakes of foreign language films often get quite a bad rap. From Asian horror remakes to the retelling of French classics, it often seems like it’s difficult for American filmmakers to successfully adapt such films for an English speaking audience while still retaining the original tone and essence of the story. The latest film to cause movie buffs to gasp and splutter in outrage is the upcoming Spike Lee remake of Park Chan-Wook’s South Korean thriller Oldboy. Truth be told, I too am neither thrilled nor hopeful at the prospect of this particular project. Nevertheless, the automatic offense people take to potential remakes isn’t always quite founded. Not all remakes are bad; sometimes they can even be better. What follows are just a few Hollywood remakes of foreign films that are worth checking out.

The post American Remakes Of Foreign Language Films That Are Actually Quite Good appeared first on Portable.tv.

Just like anywhere in the world, Australia has it’s problems. Sure, they’re pretty few and far between compared to some, but Australia isn’t necessarily the sun swept land of every foreigners dreams. They’ve got issues, too, and at the turn of the century, they really started to express them through cinema. Somewhere in the mid to late noughties, it became rather clear that Australian films of the time had a knack for being really, really downbeat. And this trend continues. Chances are, you are going to be feeling a little depressed after watching most Australian films from the early 21st century onwards.

In saying that, the last decade or so hasn’t been ALL cinematic doom and gloom down under. Last year brought us the uplifting coming-of-age tale of Aboriginal sisters in critically-acclaimed Australian film The Sapphires. Ever seen Ernie Dingo in Bran Nue Day? It’s proof that the Aussies do know how to have a giggle every now and then.

But, I digress. I’m not here to prove to you that Australian film isn’t always depressing, I’m here to prove to you that even the saddest of Antipodean flicks aren’t just a reflection on a morbid country obsessed with incest, alcohol-addiction and gangland wars. These films are made because they’re darn interesting stories. Or, to sum it up with an Aussie cliché: here are five depressing Australian films from the past decade or so that are fair dinkum.

The post It’s Not All Bad News Down Under: 5 Depressing Australian Films That Are Actually Quite Good appeared first on Portable.tv.

Sometimes, the world’s worst actors prove that they have talent deep, deep, deep inside. Some actors mature into a better body of work. Some actors blow us away with an award-winning performance and never get better. And some just land roles in popular movies that don’t exactly require much “acting.” The following lists bad actors who don’t have the best reputations but landed a role — or started with one — that made us think better of them.

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Every so often, one of the greats has a slip up. It usually involves an accent, a bad script, or a terrible director. Sometimes, it’s all of those things. The following lists some capable, award- winning actors who delivered some of the terrible performances not of their lives, but all life.

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Canadian filmmaker and actress Sarah Polley has made one of the most enjoyable and fascinating films of the year. Stories We Tell is, in fact, a documentary about her and her family’s own life — wait, she made a film about herself?

The fact that the film is about Polley’s own life is not even the main fascination — it’s the story she tells of her parents and the tremendous effort she takes to craft the perspective of multiple people in hers and their lives.

A little bit on Polley, though, to jog your memory: she has most recently become an established filmmaker most notably with last year’s Michelle Williams starring Take This Waltz and her Oscar nominated screenplay for 2006 film Away From Her. Personally, I have admired Polley from her lead role in the kick-ass remake of zombie classic Dawn of the Dead and most importantly, lead in one of my all-time favorites: 1999′s drug-deal-gone-wrong classic Go.

The story of Sarah Polley’s relation to her parents is public knowledge but I believe not knowing anything at all about Michael and Diane (Sarah’s parents) will serve as a substantial delight when taking in this documentation. What I can tell you, however, is how Michael and Diane met, which sets up the main narrative of the film: Diane (an actress) attends a play that Michael (an actor) was performing in at the time in Toronto. They hit it off right away after the show — Diane in beliving that she has met one of the most talented and brilliant men ever in Michael. They fall in love and start a family aka “The Canadian Dream.”

A pretty basic premise, I know, but the way that Polley unravels information about her parents’ marriage, her siblings’ lives and other relatives/family friends was astounding and sometimes quite shocking. With last year’s Take This Waltz, Polley seemed to admire and admonish the efficacies and tribulations of marriage and love. It is interesting to see and witness, here, that the story of her parents’ own marriage exhibits those kinds of sentiments — and of course, like Take This Waltz, this is all presented in the quirky indie Canadian manner that we all now love about the Polley aesthetic.

In addition, pair that kind of storytelling with Super 8 footage of her family’s past along with brand new Super 8 footage used to dramatized certain events and you have the kind of seamless narrative that you probably have never seen in any documentary. Polley herself has stated that her crew went through one Super 8 per day of shooting. Furthermore, for the dramatizations, the actors cast (including legendary Canadian actress Rebecca Jenkins), to play her parents for example, were dead on — it literally took me two thirds into the film to realize that some of these scenes were totally fabricated. This simple use of a classic piece of equipment has a marvelous impact on indulging into the Polley’s lives.

Sarah Polley has created one of the most poignant, memorable, funny and affecting films I have seen in awhile. If you have any kind of family or have fallen in love I cannot see how you would not instantly relate to the stories and relationships featured here. Finally, through the careful positioning of real life stories and beautiful footage from her own life, Sarah Polley has possibly redefined an entire genre and has made a case for being one the best filmmakers, right now, on the planet.

The post Stories We Tell: This Self-Documentary By Sarah Polley Is One of the Best Films of 2013 appeared first on Portable.tv.

When it comes to movies that should not have been made but we don’t know what we’d do without them, every moment is worth seeing, hearing and believing. Some plot elements and character fates are stated in the following descriptions, but it doesn’t matter because these movies are so terrible that anything and everything will make you want to die, even if you know what’s coming. Here are the most terrible movies that I absolutely love to watch.

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