News

Last night, Lifetime premiered its destined to be Peabody-, Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and (why not?) Nobel Prize-winning film Anna Nicole. A prestigious (and I must add, courageous) group of EW staffers convened at my apartment to see whether the biopic could give Citizen Kane a run for its money. Read on for a sampling of our reactions to Anna Nicole.

8 p.m.: Any movie that starts with a dead woman defining herself as a “balls-to-the-wall party girl” is my kind of movie.

8:01 p.m.: The credits begin to roll, in Brush Script Mt font no less (classy!

Coming-of-age films are often centered around something big like death or sex, but most people grow up with hurdles built on somewhat lesser obstacles. Tony Phillips (Tony Vespe) is one such person. His high school years are winding down, his friends are moving on and his mother is reminding him that college life is right around the corner, but the challenge facing him right this minute is his absolute love for all things Halloween. Writer/director/wunderkind Emily Hagins is a twenty-year-old filmmaker who made her first feature at the age of 12 and scored a nationwide distribution deal with her last film, My Sucky Teen Romance. Her new movie, Grow Up, Tony Phillips, once again presents a casual, charming and youth-centric world, but she makes some important steps forward in her professional growth too. Unfortunately though it’s a bit of a “one step forward, one step back” situation. We first meet Tony trying to defend his...

Tony (Tony Vespe) likes Halloween. Like a lot. Like maybe too much for a high school senior. Tony obsesses over his costume all year long in preparation for the Halloween dance and trick or treating. Yep, that's right, Tony still goes trick or treating. While he does not see anything wrong with that, his best friends do. Elle (Katie Folger) and Craig (Devin Bonnée) have presumably matured at a much faster rate than Tony. As strange as it is for them to see Tony acting so immaturely, it is equally disorienting for Tony to have his friends change right in front of his eyes. It is pretty sad that at this juncture in his life, Tony actually seems to have more in common with the kid he babysits -- Mikey (Caleb Barwick) -- than anyone his own age. Nonetheless, Tony has no intentions of changing.

Grow Up, Tony Phillips, the new comedy from Emily Hagins, made its world premiere at SXSW last week, in the Vimeo Theater of the Austin Convention Center. The audience was eager and excited to see the latest project by this young Austin-based director.

Tony Phillips (Hagins film regular Tony Vespe) is an easygoing senior in high school who still dresses up for Halloween and loves trick-or-treating.  He spends his fall months thinking up costume ideas, even sketching concepts in his college prep class. He tells his mom that he sees these costumes as his "legacy." 

His two closest pals are cool kid Craig (Devin Bonnee, another Hagins regular) and Elle (Katie Folger, also in Zero Charisma); both attempt to get Tony to get past this fascination with October 31. In one discussion with Tony, Elle comments, "You don't really worry about anything, do you?" They have their own reasons for worrying about Tony.

Pathogen and My Sucky Teen Romance director Emily Hagins is debuting her latest film, Grow Up, Tony Phillips, at SXSW.  

Her latest effort is a decided change of pace genre-wise as it is a comedy that concerns a young man (Tony Vespe) who loves Halloween perhaps a bit too much.  This morning, we have the trailer (inside) and poster.

Aj Bowen, Devin Bonnee, Katie Folger and Caleb Barwick also star.

The film is the fourth feature from Hagins who directed Pathogen when she was 12 years old.

Read more...