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Exclusive: Paramount Pictures has picked up Alex R. Johnson’s spec script Northeast Kingdom for Platinum Dunes to produce. Johnson, who wrote and directed the Austin-set neo-noir thriller Two Step, which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, is attached to direct Northeast Kingdom. The story line is being kept under wraps on this one, but we hear that it’s a female two-hander revenge thriller. Always nice to see strong females kick some … As for Two Step, it was picked up…...

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees:

Best Film:

Anomalisa

Carol

Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road

Spotlight

Trumbo

Best Director:

Todd Haynes, Carol

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Adam McKay, The Big Short

Winner: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Actor:

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Winner: Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Michael B. Jordan, Creed

Jacob Tremblay, Room

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Winner: Brie Larson, Room

Rooney Mara, Carol

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Benicio Del Toro, Sicario

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina

Michael Shannon, 99 Homes

Winner: Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress:

Elizabeth Banks, Love & Mercy

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria

Winner: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Original Screenplay:

Winner: Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley,...

Todd Haynes' "Carol" led the pack of the Austin Film Critics Association (Afca) 2015 awards nominations. The film received seven nomination including for Best Picture, Best Director (Todd Haynes) and Best Actress (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara).

Winners, as well as the Top 10 films of 2015 will be announced on Dec. 29.

Here's the complete list of nominees of the Austin Film Critics Assocation 2015 awards nominations:

Best Film:

Anomalisa

Carol

Mad Max: Fury Road

Spotlight

Trumbo

Best Director:

Todd Haynes, Carol

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Adam McKay, The Big Short

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight

Best Actor:

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Michael B. Jordan, Creed

Jacob Tremblay, Room

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room

Rooney Mara, Carol

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Benicio Del Toro, Sicario

Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Oscar Isaac,...

Read More: The 17 Indie Films You Must See This September: '99 Homes,' 'Goodnight Mommy' and More "Two Step" (September 1)After opening in limited release on July 31, Alex R. Johnson's well-reviewed, SXSW-nominated thriller "Two Step" finally becomes available On Demand this month with its fair share of genre surprises. Skyy Moore stars as college dropout James, who learns that his deceased grandmother was the victim of the "Grandparent Scam," in which someone posing as James has been gradually stealing thousands of dollars from her. When the culprit shows up at James' door, a complex series of characters and events provide twists and turns you won't see coming. Throw in Johnson's assured direction and Andy Lilien's deep-focus cinematography, and "Two Step" is a thriller not to miss. "Dirty Weekend" (September 4)Filmmaker and playwright Neil Labute has always excelled at character duets (see "In The Company of Men"),...

Title: Two Step Director: Alex R. Johnson Starring: Skyy Moore, James Landry Hebert, Beth Broderick, Jason Douglas, Ashley Rae Spillers, Barry Tubb, Brady Coleman A small town-set indie crime drama of smartly modulated disquiet, ”Two Step” is a refreshing reminder of the abundance of talent, onscreen and off, that lies outside of the conventional cinematic production hubs of Los Angeles and New York City. A SXSW world premiere, writer-director Alex R. Johnson’s film is a slow-boil affair, marked by superb performances and a solid technical package. Baylor University wash-out James (Skyy Moore) returns home, only to have the grandmother who raised him somewhat suddenly pass away and bequeath him a five-figure inheritance. [ Read More ]

The post Two Step Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

This is a repost of our review from the 2014 SXSW Film Festival.

Don’t pay any attention to its baffling, boring title – Two Step is actually a nasty and riveting little flick that, thanks to its excellent execution and fine performances, should land at the top of any self-respecting thriller junkie’s watchlist.

Two Step opens with James (Skyy Moore), a dopey guy in his early twenties who, after being kicked out of college, finds himself tasked with settling the affairs of his recently deceased grandmother. When James discovers that his beloved relative was being conned out of thousands by a criminal masquerading as him over the phone, he foolishly decides to try to track down the man, a rough customer named Webb (James Landry Hébert), and confront him on his own. When Webb unexpectedly shows up on his grandmother’s doorstep and realizes James’ identity, things go south fast.

Ordinary Madness: Johnson’s Character Study Enriched by Neo-Noir Aesthetic

Premiering earlier this year at the SXSW Film Festival, Alex R. Johnson’s directorial debut Two Step is one of those surprisingly adept, slow burn gems that sometimes have trouble finding an audience outside of the festival circuit. Though it features several recognizable character actors, a mere plot synopsis can’t quite do justice to Johnson’s ambiguous title, which takes the concept of a simple dance move and makes it a surprisingly violent situational character study. Though it may ultimately prove too slight for some, and Johnson may not be reinventing the genre, it features enough unexpected moves to prove a heightened command of narrative and tone. At times, it even feels like he’s downplaying the capabilities of his two lead protagonists, and yet, it all seems entirely plausible.

When his grandmother suddenly passes away, James...

There's a companion site for the new edition of Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener's Film Theory: an Introduction Through the Senses that's chock full of some of the best recent audiovisual essays on cinema. Also in today's roundup: Jean-Luc Godard's illustrated scenario for Film Socialisme; Martin Scorsese on three of his favorite actresses, Gene Tierney, Olivia de Havilland and Teresa Wright; Kenneth Turan on Dorothy Arzner; J. Hoberman on Nadav Lapid; David Fear's interview with Julien Temple and Neil Fox's with Alex Ross Perry; Joe Swanberg and Kris Swanberg in conversation; and Adam Schartoff's interviews with James Ponsoldt (The End of the Tour), Patrick Wang (The Grief of Othersv) and Alex R. Johnson (Two Step). » - David Hudson...

There's a companion site for the new edition of Thomas Elsaesser and Malte Hagener's Film Theory: an Introduction Through the Senses that's chock full of some of the best recent audiovisual essays on cinema. Also in today's roundup: Jean-Luc Godard's illustrated scenario for Film Socialisme; Martin Scorsese on three of his favorite actresses, Gene Tierney, Olivia de Havilland and Teresa Wright; Kenneth Turan on Dorothy Arzner; J. Hoberman on Nadav Lapid; David Fear's interview with Julien Temple and Neil Fox's with Alex Ross Perry; Joe Swanberg and Kris Swanberg in conversation; and Adam Schartoff's interviews with James Ponsoldt (The End of the Tour), Patrick Wang (The Grief of Othersv) and Alex R. Johnson (Two Step). » - David Hudson...

In a summer where worlds have been threatened by evil robots, lives taken by reanimated dinosaurs and heroes born out of men with the ability to shrink to the size of an ant, it may seem like the days of the low-key, small town thriller have passed us by. While this may be true for mainstream theaters and your local megaplex, if you dig just a tad bit deeper into the arthouse and VOD circuit, there’s one new thriller waiting ever so patiently.

Entitled Two Step, the film comes from director Alex R. Johnson, and is a decidedly low-fi affair. A throwback in many ways, the film finds a young man named James, at a crossroads. Recently kicked out of school for skipping classes, James heads home hoping to finds some support in his last remaining family member, Grams. Sadly, Grams passes away relatively quickly after his arrival in town,...

One of the discovery highlights of SXSW 2015 was the thriller “Two Step” from director Alex R. Johnson. Starring Beth Broderick, James Landry Hébert, Skyy Moore, Jason Douglas and Ashley Rae Spillers, the movie is a fast-paced Texas thriller in which the lives of a directionless college dropout and a career criminal with his back against the wall violently collide. But one of the things we enjoyed about it so much was the emotional heft mixed in with the taut tension of a tradition thriller. Our review from SXSW called the movie “deeply human and quietly unsettling,” and the picture should be one that lands on your radar. Set in Texas, music is an important part of film, and country, alt-twangy tunes sit alongside a score from Andrew Kenny of the '90s and '00s indie rock bands The American Analog Set and The Wooden Birds. With the film's release on the horizon,...

For those of you who like to dance, maybe you've got the two-step down cold. It requires your right and left feet to be in sync, or when it comes to writer/director Alex R. Johnson's "Two Step," it amounts to a balance between genre thrills and emotional impact, and today we have an exclusive new trailer for the film. Starring Beth Broderick, James Landry Hébert, Skyy Moore, Jason Douglas and Ashley Rae Spillers, the film tracks the intersection of directionless college dropout James and career criminal Webb. Kicked out of college, James visits Grams, his only remaining family member who dies shortly after his arrival. While settling Grams' affairs, James learns she's been the victim of the 'Grandparent Scam', in which someone posing as James has been slowly bilking her out of thousands of dollars. But before James can go looking for the culprit, he shows up at the front door,...

Alex R Johnson's Two Step is the sort of film that too often slips between the cracks, a critically acclaimed festival favorite from a promising young director that proves hard to market thanks to a largely unknown cast and so simply slips away. Except that's not happening here thanks to Traverse Media stepping up to bring the film to audiences across North America.Los Angeles -- Talent management, production and film distribution company Traverse Media today announced the acquisition of Director Alex R. Johnson's award-winning thriller Two Step.  A festival favorite, for distribution across North America.Two Step is a throwback Texas thriller in which the lives of James, a directionless college dropout, and Webb, a career criminal with his back against the wall, violently collide. Kicked...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The festival’s 25th edition will feature a contribution from Ai Weiwei and competition titles including Whiplash, Nightcrawler and Foxcatcher.

The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 5-16) is to present its Achievement Award to Us actress Uma Thurman.

The Kill Bill star will will visit Stockholm to receive the prestigious Bronze Horse and meet the audience during an exclusive “Face2Face”.

Thurman will also take part in the inauguration ceremony, which will include the unveiling of an ice sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Weiwei was a Stockholm jury member last year but since he wasn’t allowed to leave China, he sent an empty chair named ”The Chair for Non-attendance” as symbol of his absence.

He is still not allowed to leave China so will send a design that will be portrayed in the form of a large ice sculpture symbolising this years’ Spotlight theme - Hope.

Brazil

The festival will focus this year on Brazil...

Last week, shortly before leaving for Iceland where his movie is playing before making its Canadian premiere, Two Step (review) director Alex R. Johnson took some time from his busy schedule to chat with me about his feature film debut. Over the course of our conversation we talked about breaking into the industry, how projects falling apart can actually lead to great things and we touch broadly on some of the nuances of Two Step which plays tonight at Viff.

Quiet Earth: Congratulations on the movie. I had a chance to see it the other day, and it kind of blew me away. It was not at all what I was expect [Continued ...]...

Somewhere in Texas, a man in an orange jacket calls down a list of telephone numbers searching for his “grandpa.” The first thing that comes to mind is that this poor guy has somehow lost track of his family and is trying to reconnect with them. As quickly as that thought enters it's gone. The camera pulls out slightly and we see the man's orange jacket is actually a prison jumper and rather than calling from a payphone somewhere outside, he's in prison.

This introduction to Webb, one of the leads of Alex R. Johnson's feature film debut, is a perfect encapsulation of Two Step as a whole: it's not the movie it appears to be. It doesn't play by any rules besides its own and the need to be as realistic as possible. There is little in the way of glorified violence and ev [Continued ...]...

Titles include Shawn Christensen’s Before I Disappear and Suha Arraf’s Villa Touma [pictured]; guests include Mike Leigh and Ruben Ostlund.

The Reykjavik International Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 5) has unveiled the 12 features in competition for the Golden Puffin award, reserved for first or second time directors.

They include Us drama Before I Disappear, from director Shawn Christensen, which picked up the audience audience at SXSW, where it received its world premiere.

Also in the running is family drama Villa Touma, from Palestinian/Israeli director Suha Arraf, which played at Venice and Toronto; and Grzegorz Jaroszuk’s Kebab and Horoscope, which debuted at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

The competition line-up includes:

Villa Touma,Suha ArrafThe Lack, Masbedo (It)Age of Cannibals, Johannes Naber (Ger)Before I Disappear, Shawn Christensen (Us-uk)Bonobo, Matthew Hammett Knott (UK)Heimurinn, Iris Elezi, Thomas LogorrheicThe Council of Birds, Timm Kröger (Ger)I Can Quit Whenever I Want,Sydney Sibilia (It)Kebab...

Some of the best psychological thrillers of modern times have come from obscure directors working with unknown casts on tiny budgets. Take Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List and Alex R. Johnson’s Two Step as some recent examples. Next month will see the release of The Maid’s Room, from Price Check director Michael Walker. Whether it will be added to that list of unexpected gems remains to be seen, but the tense clip that We Got This Covered is exclusively debuting for you today is a very promising indicator.

In the clip, live-in maid Drina (Paula Garcés) discovers a newspaper clipping related to a recent hit-and-run, then overhears a conversation between her affluent employer Mr. Crawford (Bill Camp) and his teenage son Brandon (Philip Ettinger). The bits and pieces of what she hears sparks her realization that Brandon is responsible for the accident. It’s a brief,...

 

The Austin Film Society begins a very rare series this Sunday afternoon at the Marchesa called "The Sepia Screen." They'll be spotlighting 35mm "race" films from a special collection at Southern Methodist University from the days when movie theaters were segregated. This weekend, they'll be screening a 1946 short called Vanities, a 1946 feature called Dirty Gertie From Harlem U.S.A. and 1949's feature Souls Of Sin. Elizabeth's preview has details plus some insights on the series from Afs programmer Lars Nilsen.

On Tuesday evening, Afs is hosting Two Step, a locally-shot SXSW 2014 favorite (Don's review). Director Alex R. Johnson and composer Andrew Kenny (The Wooden Birds, The American Analog Set) will be in attendance for a Q&A. The current Afs Essential Cinema series is closing out on Thursday evening with Liv and Ingmar. After filling the Marchesa's screen over the last few weeks with some of their greatest collaborations,...

Exclusive: German sales company Films Boutique has snapped up world rights to several new titles.

Here at the Cannes market, the company is unveiling Monument To Michael Jackson, which will have a closed screening for buyers.

Directed by Darko Lungulov, the bittersweet comedy is set in a dying town in Serbia, where daydreamer Marko is on the verge of divorce from the love of his life.

When an old communist-era monument is removed front he Main Square, he comes up with the idea to build a monument to Michael Jackson in order to save his town and seduce his wife again. But the town’s mayor has his own plans.

During the festival, Films Boutique will also be introducing buyers to Directors’ Fornight title Next To Her, the debut feature by Asaf Korman who worked as editor on The Slut by Hagar Ben Asher. The film stars Dana Ivgy and Liron Ben-Shlush.

Based on autobiographical...

Exclusive: Comedies dominate Films Boutique’s line-up of market premieres at next week’s Marché du Film in Cannes.

The Berlin-based sales outfit will be presenting three comedies among its latest pickups.

These include Serbian writer-director Darko Lungulov’s Monument To Michael Jackson. It follows his award-winning feature Here And There and was pitched at various co-production events, including Sofia Meetings and Moscow Business Square; the film was co-produced by Macedonia’s Producer on the Move, Ognen Antov of Dream Factory Macedonia;T

The other two titles are Belgian film-maker Geoffrey Enthoven’s Halfway and Pascal Rabaté’s Patchwork Family, to be released in France on July 9 by Ad Vitam Distribution, as buyers-only screenings.

Halfway is the second film by Enthoven to be handled internationally by Films Boutique after the sales company had sold Come As You Are, a drama about three disabled youngsters going to Spain to get laid, to 42 territories...

One of my most pleasant surprises at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin was definitely Two Step, a terrifically tense and finely acted crime thriller from first-time writer-director Alex R. Johnson. Balancing rich, natural dialogue and believable characters with shocking violence and an overpowering sense of impending doom, it had a powerful impact on audiences in Austin, which explains why SXSW is just the first stop on its tour of the festival circuit.

Two Step will next be heading to the Cannes Film Festival marketplace. It was picked up for international sales back in March by Films Boutique, though details on a U.S. release are still scarce. Seeing as the film’s Texas atmosphere is a huge part of its appeal, it shouldn’t be hard for it to find a stateside distributor to get the film on track for release this fall or next spring,...

As we've said before, one of the real pleasures of attending film festivals doesn't have to do with seeing the starry, main attractions (that usually will end up at a multiplex near you anyway). Instead, it's uncovering hidden gems, and for those that made time at this year's SXSW for "Two Step," they certainly came away having experienced something special when the lights came up. Today, we have the exclusive first trailer to give you a sense of carefully calibrated Texas noir to keep on your radar. Directed by Alex R. Johnson and starring Beth Broderick, James Landry Hébert, Skyy Moore, Jason Douglas, Ashley Rae Spillers and more, the thriller follows James, a directionless college dropout, and Webb, a career criminal with his back against the wall, who cross paths with deadly consequences. And the results are impressive, with our own Drew Taylor praising the film in his review saying it's "deeply human,...

 

Austin was filmmaker Alex R. Johnson's "something better" from the hustle and bustle of New York City life. Johnson had searched for a city that wouldn't necessarily compete with his memories of the Big Apple, but for a community of like-minded individuals that weren't worried about their role on Law & Order. His dear pal and composer Andrew Kenny, aka Kenny, also made the move with his wife last year after an extended SXSW trip. The house that Kenny and his wife bought became the fictional home of a character in his and Johnson's latest movie Two Step (Don's review).

"I didn't really know what I was getting myself into," Kenny said.

That may have been an understatement. Once a truck and generator showed up at the Kenny home, they knew they were in for surprises. Memories of the ten-day shoot at their house continue to show up in the form of fake blood droplets.

ComingSoon.net has your exclusive first look at the poster for Two Step , which is premiering at SXSW in Austin today, March 9th. Written and directed by Alex R. Johnson, the thriller stars Beth Broderick, James Landry Hebert, Skyy Moore, Jason Douglas and Ashley Rae Spillers. Kicked out of college, James visits Grams, his only remaining family, who dies shortly after his arrival. He finds consolation in the company of Grams' neighbor, Dot, a dance teacher, as he figures out his next move. While settling Grams' affairs, James learns she's been the victim of the "grandparent scam" in which someone posing as James has been slowly bilking her out of thousands. But before James can go looking for the culprit, he shows up at the front door, desperate for money. The culprit,...

SXSW is now underway, and there's a lot to choose from, and so to help those of you on the ground in Austin, we collected our 15 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2014 SXSW Film Festival. One we hope you'll make some time for, and featured on our list, is director Alex R. Johnson's feature debut "Two Step." Starring Beth Broderick, James Landry Hébert, Skyy Moore, Jason Douglas, Ashley Rae Spillers and more, the story follows James, a directionless college dropout, and Webb, a career criminal with his back against the wall, who violently collide. What brings them into each other's orbit is the "grandparent scam," which we see set in motion in this exclusive clip. It looks like a compelling thriller, and soundtrack folks will want to take note that Andrew Kenny, the founder of The American Analog Set and its more countrified successor The Wooden Birds, has penned a score for the flick.

Sundance just ended, and we are already preparing for the next big film festival, South By Southwest. Not too long ago, the festival announced a few of the films premiering this year, but now they’ve announced the main slate. The midnight selections and some inevitable late-breaking additions are still to be announced, but this should be more than enough to get you excited. Along with many World Premieres, and Sundance favorites like Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2, the line up also includes an anniversary screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and an extended Q&A screening of The Grand Budapest Hotel with Wes Anderson. SXSW 2014 runs March 7 through 15 in Austin, Texas. Check out the line up after the jump.

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Narrative Feature Competition

Eight world premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,324 films submitted to SXSW 2014. Films screening in Narrative...

Today the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced a diverse features lineup for this year’s Festival, the 21st edition and running March 7 – 15, 2014 in Austin, Texas. The 2014 program expands on SXSW tradition of embracing a range of genres and span of budgets, featuring a wealth of vision from experienced and developing filmmakers alike.

For more information visit http://sxsw.com/film.

Listed in the announcement are 115 of the features that will screen over the course of nine days at SXSW 2014. The lineup below includes 68 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 76 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres and 7 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 2,215 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,540 U.S. and 675 international feature-length films. With a record number of 6,482 submissions total, the overall increase was 14% over 2013. The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 5, with the complete...

After announcing earlier this month that Jon Favreau’s Chef and the Veronica Mars movie will be making their world debuts at SXSW this year, the festival has revealed its full line-up, including further very promising world premieres, alongside appearances from some of the year’s most high-profile films.

The Midnight programme will be announced early next month, along with the Shorts line-up, and the complete Conference slate a little later as well.

Led by Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, Nicholas Stoller’s anticipated R-rated comedy, Neighbors, will be making its world debut at the festival, notably marked out as a ‘work-in-progress’ ahead of its theatrical release in May.

David Gordon Green’s acclaimed Joe will make its Us premiere, having bowed at Venice and then Toronto last year. Early reviews have Nicolas Cage giving one of the finest performances of his career, with Tye Sheridan (Mud) excellent alongside him.

Not sure if there is a Short Term 12 equivalent in this year’s Narrative Feature Comp, but on paper SXSW programmers are serving up a mean (and the usual lean group of 8 out of a whopping 1,324 film entries) for the upcoming competitiuon of eight which includes notable entries (that we’ve been tracking for a good time now) such as Zachary Wigon’s The Heart Machine, John Magary’s The Mend, Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns and Lawrence Michael Levine’s Wild Canaries. Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated docs of the year, on the non-fiction side we find Margaret Brown’s The Great Invisible. Below you’ll find a breakdown of the other sections (notable world preems in We’ll Never Have Paris and Faults (see Mary Elizabeth Winstead above), some Sundance items with Texan connections and other nuggets.

Narrative Feature Competition

Eight world premieres, eight...

Exclusive: Sure, production has begun on Johnny Depp’s action comedy “Mortdecai” co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor, but we thought we’d give some shine to a polar opposite indie beginning production in Austin, Texas today. La Chima Films has started today on “Two Step,” a fast-paced thriller set in the twangy underside of Austin and directed by Alex R. Johnson. Starring James Landry Hébert ("Mob City," "Seven Psychopaths," "Gangster Squad"), Beth Broderick ("Under the Dome,""Lost"), Ashley Spillers (“Last Vegas,” “Zero Charisma”), Jason Douglas ("Breaking Bad,""Nashville," “Revolution") and relative newcomer Skyy Moore ("Love Land"), the character-heavy indie centers on a quick, anonymous phone scam that turns prolonged, bloody and deeply personal. A lost 20-something student (Moore) returns home after getting kicked out of college to settle the affairs of his now-deceased grandmother. In doing so, he learns she was the victim of a pleading her to wire money,...