Saturday, November 29, 2008

Social Network Frustration

I'm a big fan of Facebook (and I used to be into MySpace... before I realized it sucks). One of the frustrating things I've found about it, however, is that for every great "find" of people that you haven't talked to in a long time that it's really good to "see" again, there are an equal number of folks who are missing from the ever-widening ranks of Facebook members.

I'm going to start keeping track of these folks with the hope that they'll show up some day.

  • Brett McCartney - High school alum
  • Kim Demmick - High school alum
  • Somya Srinavasin - Coworker from Bowne
  • Jon Dornoff - Coworker from Bowne
  • Mark Fontana - Coworker from Bowne
  • Mitch Range - Coworker from Star Taylor (I could do for a few more Star Taylor coworkers)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Big Thanks

Who am I thankful for? You're it. I'm thankful for all the folks who take the time to be bothered with me, my writing, and my aberrant thoughts/behaviors.

I've been thinking a lot about this, what with the season and with me sitting down last night to finally write out the "Acknowledgments" section of the Cashiers du Cinemart book. If I had my druthers, I'd include everyone who ever read an issue. As that's rather space-prohibitive, you may not find your name in the book when it comes out. I promise, it wasn't a slight. :)

Big props to you. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, have a good one.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Don't Let Me Spoil This For You...

People were pretty good about keeping the secret of The Sixth Sense, The Crying Game, and even Fight Club. But let's not put it past the movie companies themselves to keep the cat in the bag about their own films.

Last week I caught a commercial for Hancock - a movie I wasn't necessarily thrilled about but even when I was discussing it, I refused to give away the "twist" of the film, no matter how lame it is. Anyway, so there's the commercial and--BAM--there's the "twist" right there in the middle of this 30-second spot... big as life.

It's fairly obvious that they still have no idea how to treat this movie, as evidenced by this spot and by the recent news of some various cuts of this film coming out.

Talking to Bruce Campbell

I was fortunate enough to get to talk to Bruce Campbell again on Friday - here's my interview from Detour-Mag.com. Enjoy!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Blurbtastic

I've been putting together a mental list of folks from whom I'd love to get cover blurbs from for my book. I suppose it goes along the lines of the book review topic I posted earlier this week. I've been pursuing the following folks for blurbs. Some have responded, others haven't:

  • Jonathan Rosenbaum (busy)
  • Quentin Tarantino (no response)
  • Sam & Ted Raimi (no response)
  • Kevin Smith (no response)
  • Jack Hill (busy)
  • Joe Bob Briggs (no response)
  • Jay Hoberman
  • John Waters (working on it)

That's not including the fine folks that have given me the time of day and some great blurbs. I'm really pleased by the support that folks have been showing. It's pretty remarkable.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Review Venues

If you know me, you know how OCD I can be. Despite the Cashiers du Cinemart book not coming out for at least a year, I spent a few hours Sunday morning thinking about what periodicals/venues would be good places to review the book upon release. Here's what I came up with so far. Please post a comment if you can think of additional places:

  • Rue Morgue
  • Star Wars Insider
  • Real Detroit
  • Metro Times (Detroit)
  • Fangoria/Star Log
  • Hour Detroit
  • Geek Monthly
  • Paracinema
  • Shock Cinema
  • Cinema Sewer
  • Twitchfilm.net
  • Cinemascope
  • Cine-Action
  • Teleport City
  • Video Watchdog
  • Chicago Reader
  • City Paper (Baltimore)

You may have noticed that a lot of these sites are on my links section. Why aren't the others? Because I'm not sure which of them review books and which are strictly movies. Anyway, I'm welcome to all suggestions!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Day Late Dollar Short

I just found out over the weekend that The World's Greatest Sinner played on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) recently! I would have loved to have seen this again and finally gotten a decent copy of it. I'm still awaiting this one's release on DVD though I know director Timothy Carey's son is a bit cautious due to the widespread bootlegging that kept Sinner afloat for so many years.

If you're unfamiliar with Carey and why the showing of Sinner is a major coup for TCM in general and television overall, be sure to check out the article Sam McAbee penned back in Cashiers du Cinemart #12. BTW, I think that Sam's original article still exists over at his own site - 5mtl.com. I see that he still has the "brilliance of Einstein" quote. What John Cassavetes really said was that Timothy Carey had the brilliance of "Einsenstein."

So why am I reporting about something that I missed? Because there's another chance to see a pristine copy of The World's Greatest Sinner on April 17, 2009 according to TCM's Underground schedule.

BTW, I'm also still awaiting the release of Carey's sophomore effort, Tweet's Ladies of Pasadena. Here's hoping Romeo allows this and any other films from the Carey archive to be consumed by the public!

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Nightmare City 2035

"I feel like I'm in two places at once," intones Deputy Minor McDowell (Maxwell Caulfield). It's no wonder he's feeling a bit scattered as he's in a pastiche of about a half dozen science fiction films. McDowell is a loyal cop in a corrupt system led by Commander Valentine (Todd Jensen who gives gravitas via his extended verbal pauses). Things change for the steadfast law officer when he's targeted by a rebel faction who fuck with the chip in his head, allowing him to see his ornate metropolis for what is truly is--a burned-out shell of a city, still smoldering after a global disaster. Yup, the internet crashed and everything went to pot.

The leader of the rebels, Kyla (Alexis Thorpe), has a super-duper chip in her noggin that allows her to communicate with machines and even shoot beams out of her eyes (yeah, it looks as silly as it sounds). She wants to take down The Illusion which placates the populace. She's such a party pooper.

With major nods to They Live, Minority Report, Equilibrium, Aeon Flux, The Matrix, and more, Nightmare City 2035 tries hard to be topical if not original. Reference to an Orange Terror Level and leading via fear are anything but subtle commentary on the Bush administration.

Stultifying sincere, Nightmare City 2035 entertains in that "cheesy Sci-Fi channel movie" way, proudly defying logic, screen direction, continuity, and capable special effects (a digitally multiplied crowd has one chap wearing a loudly-striped shirt, turning the film into a "Where's Waldo?" exercise). Definitely worth renting if you're in need of hackneyed dialog, overdelivered by amateur actors.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Bruce Campbell On Tour!

Bruce is on tour with his latest film, My Name is Bruce (not to be confused with They Call Me Bruce? and the sequel, They Still Call Me Bruce?)

More info can be found here and here.

With any luck, it'll be better than The Man with the Screaming Brain. ;)

I'll be at the November 21st screening (7PM screening) in Royal Oak, MI. Anyone care to join me?

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Shiny Boots of Leather

I got some possible good news today. I might be a part of an upcoming journal. I know that's a pretty sketchy sentence but I don't want to give away too much and jinx it. What I can reveal is that it will involve the article I wrote on BDSM in cinema for the Metro Times a few months ago. That said, I've been spending this weekend watching various documentaries on the same subject. Some good. Some godawful.

The next few weekends between now and Thanksgiving will include many more BDSM-related films. It should be an interesting month. I'm working off a list of about a dozen titles. If you can think of anything I should check out, feel free to post a comment.