Four Eyed Monsters is finally getting its big, "real" theatrical opening in New York City this Friday. It's a big week for the duo, what with their Independent Spirit noms, and the always-welcome badge of legitimacy that is the NY Times review, which will probably be online by this time tomorrow. As much as I like the movie, I'm anxious to see how Arin and Susan are going to top it, so selfishly, I hope this is, as Susan puts it in the podcast below, their "final push" with this project, before moving on to new things:



I'm going to try to stop by one of the screenings on Friday, and even if you've seen the film already, I think you should, too -- I imagine watching the film in the wake of the spectre of the massive internet stardom Arin and Susan have created for themselves over the past year and a half will make for a pretty interesting experience.

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Independent Spirit Noms Announced

Anne Thompson's got the full press release. A couple of thoughts right off the bat :

1. It would appear that Film Independent took last year's gripes, that the noms had become too mainstream, very, very seriously. The only film nominated in the Best Feature category that looks and talks like a Hollywood movie is Little Miss Sunshine; much to my chagrin, it's been so successful that I don't know if it can lose.

2. When did American Gun even come out?

3. I'm a moderate supporter of A Prarie Home Companion, but I've got to wonder: when was this list locked? Was Robert Altman's Best Director nomination guiltily slipped in at the last minute?

4. It's nice to see Wristcutters getting some attention. Why this film wasn't snatched up at Sundance, put into platform release in July, and made the sleeper hit of the year is beyond me. Oh - right.

5. The Road to Guantanamo qualifies as a documentary? Seriously?

6. Thank You For Smoking qualifies as one of the five Best Screenplays of the year? Seriously?

7. A logistic quibble: Four Eyed Monsters made its festival debut in 2005 and debuted theatrically this year. Stephanie Daley, as far as I know, has only screened at festivals in 2006, and will not debut theatrically until early 2007. I love both of these films and I'm happy to see them get this kind of attention, but how come both were eligible for nominations this year?

Update:
David Hudson is reliably collating responses at GreenCine Daily. I have my own round-up on Netscape here.

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