Splinters and fragments from the aforementioned zine and other projects
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
MaryAnn with MaryJane
If you ever get into the "MaryAnn or Ginger" debate with a friend (and at some point, you will), here's some points towards MaryAnn...
Guess we know now why MaryAnn's cooking on the island was so popular... Also, two guesses what Dawn and Bob Denver were up to between takes.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Bunker Hill/ Suspension News
Just in from Ethan Shaftel co-director of SUSPENSION:
Our movie is finally ready for the public! This May, Warner Brothers Home Video will release SUSPENSION on DVD, packed with special features including a "Making of the Visual Effects" featurette, commentary tracks, and deleted scenes. The DVD will be widely available for rental and retail, but we've also retained the right to sell it directly off our website.
Sounds like it'll be a packed disc...
Also, news about BUNKER HILL - the film will have its premiere in Lawrence, KS on March 29, 2008 at Liberty Hall at 7:30pm. Following is the press release by Charla Jenkins:
LAWRENCE---An advance screening of the newest Kevin Willmott feature film, “Bunker Hill,” will launch a new support organization for the University of Kansas Film Program. The first public showing of the film will follow a gala reception for Friends of Film (KUFF) Saturday, March 29.
The reception begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Big Six Room of the Eldridge Hotel, 701 Massachusetts, in downtown Lawrence. The film will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts, across the street from the hotel.
Formation of KU Friends of Film, a companion organization to Friends of the Theatre (FROTH), has been in the organizational stages for several months.
“The film area of the department felt that having an organization to support students in their future film endeavors made sense,” explained Tamara Falicov, associate professor and associate chair of the Department of Theatre and Film. “We are growing in leaps and bounds—film now has 10 faculty members and film majors abound. We hope that forming this new organization in partnership with community members will provide future film studies and film production opportunities for KU students in the forms of improved facilities and future scholarships for our undergraduate and graduate students. We feel that raising awareness of the need for a larger facility is necessary.”
Falicov added that premiering Willmott’s latest work as a KUFF event is especially exciting.
“Willmott's previous work has put KU Film on the map. He is a fantastic colleague and one who is always working to support the aspirations of our film students. For this reason it makes sense that he would offer to show his latest feature film in a special advanced screening so the local community will have an opportunity to preview the movie.”
Willmott, associate professor of theatre and film at KU, finished filming “Bunker Hill” late in 2007. Production began in May 2006 with footage of the wheat harvest shot between Russell and Hays. Principal photography was shot over a five-week period in several Kansas locations, including Lawrence, West Mineral, Sedan, Nortonville, Topeka, and the actual Bunker Hill.
The independent film stars the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning actor James McDaniel, who portrayed Lt. Arthur Fancy on the NBC-TV series, “NYPD Blue,” as well as Saeed Jaffrey, a legendary Indian actor, who starred in more than 150 films, including “Gandhi,” “Passage to India,” and “The Man Who Would Be King”; Laura Kirk, a KU alumna, who co-wrote and starred in the feature film “Lisa Picard is Famous”; Broadway, TV and film star Kevin Geer, whose credits include “American Gangster” and “The Contender”; Blake Robbins, from the HBO series “Oz” and FOX-TV‘s “24”; Scott Allegrucci, who appeared on “Chicago Hope” and “The Feud”; and local singer/songwriter Kelley Hunt.
“Bunker Hill” is the story of a former Wall Street executive who leaves prison and heads for the small town of Bunker Hill in Kansas, where his ex-wife and their children have started a new life. Soon after he arrives, an apparent massive terrorist attack against America darkens the town. Cut off from the world, the town’s militant past is reawakened and forces coalesce to protect citizens from an unseen enemy. The town’s fear leads to the creation of a posse of gunmen, resulting in torture, illegal searches, and eventually, murder.
Filmmaker Willmott, a native of Junction City, attended Marymount College in Salina and New York University Film School, and then began writing, first for the stage, and then for TV and film. Willmott’s screenplays have been commissioned by Oliver Stone, 20th Century Fox and others, and he co-wrote the NBC mini-series, “The 70’s” with Mitch Brian. “Ninth Street,” a feature film starring Martin Sheen and Isaac Hayes, was written, produced, and co-directed by Willmott. “CSA: Confederate States Of America,” written and directed by Willmott, premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. He is currently in postproduction on a new feature, “The Only Good Indian,” written by Thomas L. Carmody and starring Wes Studi.
Willmott directed “Bunker Hill” from a script he wrote with Greg Hurd. Matt Jacobson, KU associate professor of theatre and film, whose credits include “CSA,” Bukowski,” and “Born To This,” is the Director of Photography. Robert Hurst, assistant professor of theatre and film, was responsible for the postproduction sound for the film.
Reservations for the reception, which has a $15 admission charge, can be made through the KU Film Program at Oldfather Studios, 1621 W 9th Street, W. Ninth, Lawrence, KS 66044, or by calling 785-864-1340. General admission tickets for “Bunker Hill” are available through the Liberty Hall Box Office for $15 for the public and $10 for students.
In other exciting news, more of my reviews have been posted over on the Micro-Film blog - hit the link on the right to check them out. Currently working on more, and on a couple of articles for the next issue coming up.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
SUSPENSION - "Thumbs up"
I went to last night's (Monday) screening of SUSPENSION... and am very happy to report that it was VERY GOOD. Of course, having been a part of the crew, my judgment may be somewhat suspect and biased - you do love your children, even though some of them are highly flawed, or just totally fucked up. Happily, such is not the case here. It turned out to be a solid piece of work -- SUSPENSION held the audience's interest, and I hope that many others will enjoy it as much as I did... and Chris & Jeremy at ThroughAGlass Productions (who did excellent work). Big kudos to Ethan and Alec, Aris, Scott and Annie, and everyone else involved.
Alec and Ethan will be hitting the festivals for most of the year, and they did drop the news that it should be out on DVD later in the year... more news on that as soon as I hear about it.
SUSPENSION will be appearing at the Sedona International Film Festival in Arizona with the directors in attendance and doing Q & A.
The following week, SUSPENSION will also appear at the Cinequest International Film Festival in San Jose, California.
Friday, March 7th - 9:30 pm Saturday, March 8th - 9:30 pm Sunday, March 9th - 10:30 am
http://www.cinequest.org/index.php
Another nice surprise was finding out that Annie Tesdesco, the lead actress, was seen by millions this past Sunday in a Super Bowl commercial for CareerBuilder.com:
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Random Thoughts after watching "CLOVERFIELD"
The movie was OK - I liked it more when it was called MIRACLE MILE... and it certainly ain't no HOST.
I fully understand why people are giving this high praise, much like BLAIR WITCH when it was first released... on its own terms, it's a pretty decent flick with some good scares and lots of frenetic camera shakiness that we all accept as a totem of 'realness'. It's a thrill-ride movie, and it makes for a good matinee or date movie when you and your date want to jump out of your seat.
But I'm not jumping on the Abrams bandwagon. I'm not going to harp on little things - the big thing for me is that I just really didn't give one damn about anyone in the movie... not that character is a BIG concern in a monster thrill ride, but it certainly helps (see the two films that I referenced in the first sentence of this post). It's a clever movie - the conceit of GODZILLA, or whatever giant-monster-on-the-rampage visualized from the viewpoint of a person at Ground Zero is a fun conceit, and THAT is what is garnering all the good praise, as well it should - it's a brilliant idea, after all.
But clever only goes so far, though it seems that Abrams and Co. have been coasting on it for years (see ALIAS, LOST, FELICITY); and it makes me very nervous at what the STAR TREK 3.0 reboot is gonna be like.
I would have thought that CLOVERFIELD would have been The Awesomest Shit if (1) it had been 20 minutes long -- the setup wears out its welcome after 10 minutes -- and (2) if the filmmakers had licensed the trademark Godzilla scream and NEVER shown the monster onscreen. You'd only hear it - though that might have been too much of a conceit to go over successfully with audiences. And Toho Studios probably would have wanted too much money.
Oh, and the shrimp/bug like things that make you explode after they bite you - overkill. Keep it simple, guys -- Big Fucking Monster Stomping Shit was plenty.
How big is this thing supposed to be? It's big enough to knock the head off of the Statue of Liberty, stomp tanks flat and knock over buildings, but the one good glimpse that we see of it (before eating a character who I was praying would either get crushed by falling debris or shot), it doesn't seem to be quite that large to do those things...
Now we'll just have to prepare for all the CLOVERFIELD knock-offs and YouTube spoofs that show up through the rest of the year.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
SUSPENSION screening in Lawrence, KS.
Back in the fall of 2005, I worked on a feature shooting in Lawrence and Topeka with the working title of REST E-Z -- It's since been retitled SUSPENSION and has started making the festival rounds. Now local audiences - and the cast & crew - will get a chance to see the film.
SUSPENSION for two days only! Sunday, February 3rd, 1PM and 7PM Monday, February 4th, 7PM Director Q & A to follow the movie Tickets: $5 Liberty Hall: 644 Massachusetts, Lawrence, KS,
SUSPENSION was filmed locally in Lawrence, Topeka, and Kansas City,and directed by Lawrence-born filmmakers Ethan Shaftel and Alec Joler.
Tickets are available the day of each screening at the Liberty Hall Box office, (sorry no online ticketing for this one).
