Doc Corner: Slenderman, David Lynch and More at Doc NYC

By Glenn Dunks

Doc NYC begins this week in (where else?) New York City. This year's festival, running from November 10th to November 17th, features 110 feature titles (now on sale), 44% of which are from women directors proving that #52FilmsByWomen is perfectly achievable if you're a fan of non-fiction.

After the jump notes on four new titles including a horror movie ready documentary and a look at David Lynch's creativity offscreen...

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Mr. Robot's Season 2: Leap forward, or sophomore slump?

by Lynn Lee

USA’s Mr. Robot wrapped its second season this past week, just after star Rami Malek landed his first Emmy for best lead actor in a drama.  The timing couldn’t be better: with the show already renewed for a third season, it should help maintain the buzz factor and maybe pick up more curious viewers.

And yet, among existing fans, season 2 has been remarkably divisive...

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Blue Velvet at 30

by Jason Adams 

With our host Nathaniel off in Toronto seeing movies this week; some good, some bad... but which ones will last forever? It's a question I put forth because David Lynch's masterpiece Blue Velvet played at the Toronto Film Festival exactly 30 years ago today. Did those fortunate souls sitting there in that audience know they were seeing a stone-cold American classic unveiled unto the world. I can't imagine they didn't know they were seeing something unlike anything else they'd ever seen before, that much seems clear. The film made some noise!

Blue Velvet's one of my Top Five Favorites so let's celebrate its anniversary (it was released in US theaters one week after its screening in Toronto). In honor of 30 years here are 30 favorite Blue Velvety facts, figures, and fun stuff, starting with...

1. LAURA DERN'S FACE

2. But seriously this is Lynch's first collaboration with his muse and most important collaborator (so says me and that cow he stood on Hollywood Blvd with) and it's a pleasure to contrast the character of Sandy with the places the two would later go - the sweetness and naivete here evenautally giving way to all kinds of craziness; it's impossible not to look at this nice young lady now and not see the wild woman -- Lulu Fortune anybody? -- about to come beating out from underneath those fuzzy sweaters.

Ears and lots of the F-word after the break...

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"There is trouble until the robins come..."

After catching a restored, 30th anniversary rerelease of David Lynch’s psycho-suburban nightmare on the big screen last night, Blue Velvet has once again invaded my waking life with huffing menace, casting sinister shadows and nasty neon onto the innocuous surfaces of everyday existence. And it starts from the opening credits. Every time I see this curtain shimmer, I can feel my vision start to go soft as it flickers me into a dream state. The image hypnotically blurs the line between its politely decorative titles and the mysteriously unnerving surface breathing behind them. The strings of the score shimmy with sharp elegance and ironic doom. I’m already huddling inside the closet, unsettled and voyeuristic. Seeing candles dance in the dark. Coiling myself against the danger hiding in plain sight. Soaked in curdling Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Which of your favorite opening credits sequences instantly place you inside the mind and mood of the movie?

Link Party

This is Not Porn an 11 year old David Lynch meeting Vincent Price. LOL
TMZ Shadow Trooper trademark filed for the Star Wars franchise. 
Nicks Flick Picks Sometimes the rating has to be an A+. Truly nothing else would do
Salon has a gossipy unflattering list of difficult directors: Lars von Trier, David Fincher, etc...
MNPP Rock Hudson one time 

Variety Nate Parker (Beyond the Lights) isn't waiting around for Birth of a Nation to make him happen in a bigger way. He's already working on writing his next picture Carry On a paralympic wrestler movie.
Variety Julia Roberts to star in a true story lawyer drama. Said to be a meaty role for her though the story sounds like it's all about her client. 
Coming Soon I have no words about this Red Band trailer for the animated comedy Sausage Party
Kenneth in the (212) Actor Robert Davalos (East of Eden) dies at 85. RIP 

Small Screen
MNPP [NSFW] Corey Stoll (♥) goes gay in an explicit scene on Girls 
Playbill Sydney Lucas, the young girl who was so brilliant in Fun Home on Broadway joins the cast of AMC's new series The Son which will star Sam Neill
Comics Alliance new trailer and poster for AMC series Preacher, a comic book adaptation starring Dominic Cooper
Variety Underground, a slave escape drama, is a huge hit for WGN

Off Cinema
Spin Macklemore owns a painting of Justin Beiber with a pancake on his dick
Theater Mania suggests Broadway musicals based on 5 TV shows
Boy Culture an audio recording from Liza Minnelli to everyone who wished her a happy birthday online

Reminder
Tonight is the Hit Me With Your Best Shot for ATONEMENT (2007). You can see read and bask in early entries already from Awards Madness, Cinematic Corner, I Want to Believe, Film Mix Tape, 54 Disney, Christian Bonamusa, and Out to the Movies... and that's a lot in already so tonight might be crazy. Stream it quick and join us. The full roundup will be up late, probably about 10 PM EST