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.

Tuesday, Feb. 26th - 7:00 pm (reception to follow)
Thursday, Feb. 28th - 1:15 pm

http://www.sedonafilmfestival.com/

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:

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.

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).

Trailer at:http://www.suspension-movie.com

Theater info at:http://www.libertyhall.net/

Hope to see you there!

Choice words of wisdom for the kids, courtesy of Papa Lynch.

Word!

Some food for thought as we enter 2008...

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year... thanks to all of you who drop in from time to time to be entertained. More of the same for next year, hopefully.

Last of the modern Holiday Classics -

Hope you have a Merry Christmas - and weren't too offended.

Some holiday commentary from Classic THE DAILY SHOW.