In Which We Do Some Coastal Log-Rolling, And Make More Promises That We Probably Won't Keep...



First things first, I wanna remind those of you in the L.A. and NYC areas that there are several films screening that were shot here in the Midwest. Those of you in the NYC area can attend the Hoboken International Film Festival, which kicks off this weekend - THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN screens on Saturday, June 5th, if you'd like to see it on the big screen (instead of, say, on your t.v. via Starz VOD; or on your computer screen via Netflix streaming).

THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN




Monday, June 7th is the date for THE BATTLE FOR BUNKER HILL, Kevin Willmott's new film (though, actually it was shot before INDIAN). It previously screened at the Atlanta Film Festival in April - here's a podcast featuring an interview with Kevin about the film, and Dan Hoyt's review on the Helium website.

THE BATTLE FOR BUNKER HILL



Those in the L.A. area planning on attending the Dances With Films festival may want to reserve some tickets for the screening of LAST BREATH on Tuesday, June 8; Ty Jones' thriller/drama that's starting to hit the festival circuit after winning the Audience Favorite award at the Omaha Film Festival.


I slacked on the blog a bit mainly due to so many other things; mainly looking for work... paying work. I've also been working on a couple of feature scripts and other things, but those are ventures that may potentially pay off Some Bright Day - Way.... WAY Off In The Future, where things can look pretty bright or dark, depending on how good the coffee is in the morning. In The Right Now, it's pretty fucking Hard -- but then, it usually has been.

I've also been watching a wide variety of films at home, since it's way cheaper than going out and the selection is much better than what's in the theaters. So, I turn to what the unemployed and obnoxiously vocal do in Tough Times -- blog about movies. Yes, I know -- how original. You're lucky that it's not about music... now that I've reached the plateau of Bitter Old Man, I no longer recognize what or who the Hell is playing in the clubs that the kids are listening to.

It's pretty fun no longer trying to be Cool...

So for the few of you following my rantings (THANK YOU every last one of you!), I should repay your kindness by providing more content a bit more often -- Facebook has largely been the recipient of the quick hit & run snark, illustrated by link - maybe a little of that will still get here, but I have to try harder - especially when I demand it from others.

THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN Broadcast Premiere




If you have access to most of the Starz channels... like Encore, or Movieplex, then you'll have the opportunity to see TOGI several times during the month. The broadcast premiere is today, May 4, on Encore Westerns at 11:20am, and 8pm - and additional showings on Encore Westerns May 5th @ 4pm; May 8th @ 10am and 5:10pm; May 20th @ 10:05am & 11:10pm; and May 5th on Movieplex @5am.

Times listed are Eastern/Pacific, so adjust accordingly if you're in Central or Mountain time.

Check the Starz page for more info. It should also be available for VOD later in the month, also.

SCARFACE - School play version






Simultaneously wrong and awesome -- when recommending supporting the Arts in schools, this may not what they had in mind.


UPDATE: Sure 'nuff, it's a hoax - well, satirical, anyway. These guys did a great job, but this is a great example why post-mortem on humor is a bad idea:

Coming in April...

Screenings! An excuse to get out of the house and see something that was intended for people over the age of 14!! Granted, that may not be incentive for most people, but I'm sure there's at least a few of you still around out there...



Starting this Friday, April 2, THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN (award-winning western drama directed by Kevin Willmott) will have public screenings at Screenland Armour Theater in North KC beginning Friday, April 2 and running through Thursday April 8th. Kevin Willmott is scheduled for a Q&A after the first screening Friday, April 2. After this, it'll go into blackout, prior to its debut on Starz, so this will be your last chance to see it on the big screen for awhile.



April also brings the Kansas City FilmFest (merging of the KC Filmmakers Jubilee and the Kansas City Film Society Film Festival) - this is the second year under the FilmFest name, and it looks to be a good one. Among those in attendance is director/actor L. Q. Jones, who will be screening the classic A BOY AND HIS DOG as a special presentation.

Very appropriate since KC artist Richard Corben did a graphic adaptation of the Harlan Ellison story; and the latter part of the film is set in an odd environment called 'Topeka'...

Making its premiere is San Francisco filmmaker Chris Brown's new feature, FANNIE, ANNIE & DANNY -- I worked on Chris' first feature film, DAUGHTERS some years ago - and attend some of the seminars, parties, after-parties, etc.




A little further away - Atlanta, GA to be exact - BUNKER HILL (now with 'The Battle For' appended to the title) will screen at the Atlanta Film Festival in mid-April. BUNKER will be playing more dates on the festival circuit this year, and I'll pass 'em along as soon as I hear about them. It recently screened at my old, abandoned college stomping grounds SIU-C, at their annual Big Muddy Film Festival.

Who are The Big House Boys?

Started watching JUSTIFIED, the new FX show based on a character created by Elmore Leonard -- two weeks in & so far, so good. The second ep briefly featured a band made up of convicts, called The Big House Boys. The featured song was pretty good, but no mention of who the band was in the credits, and checking the website wasn't helpful either.

Well, let a few days pass, and through the magic of the Internets, all is answered -- the featured song was "Castleneck" by Cliff Wagner & The Old #7, off of their album HOBO'S LULLABY. Three of the band members were featured as The Big House Boys.


Devitt Feely, Cliff Wagner & Craig Ferguson
Big House Boys

The band's website features a video for the song, as well as an earlier, less bluegrassy & more hard crunching version of 'Castleneck', as well as song samples from their albums, gig info and more.

This has been another Public Service Posting...

THE LAST BROADCAST




I finally got around to viewing THE LAST BROADCAST after about a decade or so. You know how it is... things to do, not enough time... I had missed it at its screening at SXSW, but I remember hearing quite a buzz about it, being the first digital feature and it was made for something like under $1000.

Then 1999 came along, and with it, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which was kinda sorta like THE LAST BROADCAST, but it was on film... and REAL, (or so I would've been convinced had I been taking in all the internet hype at the time - and had never gone camping before) and more importantly, it was picked up for distribution and made a shitload of money, and ushered in a decade of vomit-inducing camerawork and shoddy faux-amateurism all reaching for the brass ring in the hopes for a similar payoff.

Time ultimately is the final judge, no matter how good the boxoffice or hype... Others have done a much better job at documenting the history of both films - I'm much more concerned with how well they hold up now, and I have to say THE LAST BROADCAST is the more satisfying of the films. But then, both films have entirely different purposes, and both are marketed as horror films, which LAST BROADCAST isn't.

LB is a 'psuedo-documentary' (the term used when I took a class about it in film-school), and it follows the format of a documentary for a good 95% of its running time. BLAIR WITCH was sold to the audience as a "documentary", the leavings of 3 film students who disappear into the woods, but only the severely thick-headed would believe that after 20 minutes of watching it. Most of the documentary backstory was not a part of the film itself, but was used in publicity - the website, a tv special, CURSE OF THE BLAIR WITCH, which is where its resemblance to THE LAST BROADCAST is strongest.

BLAIR WITCH does fit the description of being a 'horror' film, in that taking the events at face value, it does appear to support a supernatural presence at work.
THE LAST BROADCAST, while it does play with the notion of supernatural forces present, it pretty much shoves that notion under the bus, and actually very cleverly.

What THE LAST BROADCAST is concerned with is media, and how media is used in perceiving "truth", whatever it is decided to be by whoever puts it together. At the time when it was released, "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted" were pretty much the definition of reality television; now there are entire cable networks devoted to it and almost any type of crime you can think of. The networks have their DATEBOOKS and 48 HOURS, devoted to a solid evening of murder television, all attempting to get at the 'truth' of the matter.

There's a lot to chew on well after watching LB, and there's some value in repeat viewings - it may look very crude now, but there was a lot of effort put forth in getting things to look purposely 'bad'. Those going in expecting a horror picture will be extremely disappointed, but the film ultimately is more intellectually stimulating than crowd pleasing. BW, on the other hand, didn't have anything else on its mind other than giving the audience a scare - and when substance was grafted to it, shotgun-wedding style (what Joe Berliner attempted to do with BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2), it just didn't take.

Although both are thoroughly to blame for these goddamn 'ghost-hunting' shows currently clogging up the airwaves...

Douchebags and Snotty Pricks make The Internet Go Round and Round...

Pretty silly, but I guess it's time to make A Big Statement -

What kicked this off was a comment on a review of CLOVERFIELD on Stacie Ponder's wonderful horror blog (that you should be reading) FINAL GIRL. If you've been following me for awhile, or at least checking the archives like, HERE, HERE, and of course, HERE, it's pretty evident that I don't think much of the movie enterprises connected with J.J. Abrams -- going as far as calling it 'cinema for douchebags'.

Not that it matters in the long run - everyone appears to love this stuff, much like a kitten batting a dangling toy and following a light when you shine it deep into its eyes - I REALLY, REALLY don't; going as far as to claim my remarks by name, rather than under the popular pseudonym, "Anonymous".

It doesn't win you popularity - and a couple of Stacie's readers took my 'douchebag' remarks to heart, labelling me a 'snotty prick'.

Touche.

My assumption on readers of this blog, however many or few that may be - is (1) that you have a working brain and (2) you may have an opinion. At least that's how I'm couching the writing.

If you don't agree with something I've said, you can write to me about it, or you can just not read it anymore, if it's that offensive. I don't go out of my way to BE offensive for shock value, but if I strongly feel about something, I'm gonna say it and we deal with the aftermath.

With the dumbing down of society and the lack of any sort of asethetic value or conditions, "Snotty Prick" is becoming more and more of a badge of honor.

ADDENDUM

well, it appears that I have been thoroughly schooled by the two who objected to my remarks - so I won't have to worry about offending those assholes ever again. ;p

Nothing like writing off people WHOM YOU'VE NEVER MET AND WHO YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW - no Christmas cards for them this year...