Too many people abuse the term "homage" as a euphemism of "rip off" (I know I'm guilty of this myself, though I use it facetiously). When I use "homage" in this review, its intended use is the proper definition; "respect or reverence paid or rendered."
Ken Coffman's Fairhaven (ISBN: 978-0982773420) is a loving homage to the works of Charles Willeford, specifically the Hoke Mosely series (Miami Blues, Sideswipe, et cetera). The title plays off "The Grimhaven Manuscript" which I described in "Madness in the 20th Century" as:
An early draft for the second book in the Moseley series, New Hope for the Dead, is commonly known as "The Grimhaven Manuscript." Herein we witness Hoke burnt-out from his job as a homicide detective. He begins a quest for "absolutely nothing" and determines that this may best be attained through killing off his ex-wife and two daughters. Needless to say, Willeford's publisher refused the draft. The second (and successful) stab at the sequel, stands as not only the best of the Moseley books but of Willeford's oeuvre.
The Fairhaven of Coffman's title is Charlie Fairhaven, a rest home nursing assistant who finds too much pleasure in euthanizing patients around the Pacific Northwest. Curmudgeonly retired cop Jake Mosby (not to be confused with Hoke Mosely) gets reluctantly involved in the case when one of the customers at his decrepit bookstore dumps it in his lap.
Initially I was afraid that Mosby's grandson, Nort, would become a precocious source of comic relief a la Grandma Mazur from the Stephanie Plum books. Fortunately, Coffman handles Nort and all of the other oddball characters of Fairhaven well. Likewise, Coffman could have made Fairhaven more of a jokey send-up of Willeford. Instead, his references to Willeford's work are brief, appropriate, and appreciated.
Coffman excels at taught, compelling storytelling and has crafted a must-read for mystery enthusiasts, especially Willeford fans.
I'm looking for some scripts for projects that are either completely dead in the water or that underwent significant changes from inception to production (or even thereafter).
Any help would be greatly appreciated:
Isobar by Jim Uhls
Giraffes on Horseback Salads by Salvador Dali
DUNE by Alejandro Jodorowsky
INSECT CITY by Frank Henenlotter
Robocop 2: Corporate Wars by Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner
Eyes by John Carpenter (original version of The Eyes of Laura Mars)
Elric by Chris & Paul Weitz
A Confederate General from Big Sur by Brandon French
A Confederate General from Big Sur by Anthony Lucero
Though I took a few months off between touring Impossibly Funky around after 2010, I kept trying to work that publicity angle throughout the early part of 2011. I completed my second book tour in late May/early June and, in effect, I completed book touring altogether unless I suddenly find myself with some kind of lucrative publishing deal some day. I met a lot of great people but I sure didn't sell enough books to make the trip worthwhile.
A lot of the folks I met on my travels with Impossibly Funky in 2010 and 2011 ended up writing for me in the "Revenge of Print" issue of Cashiers du Cinemart. This came out a month early in August though I have yet to get all of the old school photocopied and stapled issues out to my distributor (and, thus, out to stores). In the meantime, CdC 16 is available via a print-on-demand service.
In March I co-founded a podcast, The Projection Booth. Since then there has been a new episode (or two) available each week. Nearly all of them feature interviews with the filmmakers behind the movies covered. It's been great connecting and/or re-connecting with folks and sharing my love of some terrific films.
Doing all of the research for the show has really helped bolster my confidence and led to benefits for other work that I've done in 2011 including the piece I wrote for the new Paracinema magazine all about horror parodies of the '80s and the chapter I wrote on Airplane II: The Sequel for an upcoming book from BearManor Media.
I had a blast hanging out with Greydon Clark in April at Horror Hound and in September. I'm still hoping to work with him on his autobiography (fingers crossed). I also had a lot of fun with the fine folks at the Blue Water Film Festival. BWFF marked the fist time that Chris Gore and I ever officially met (though we were both in The People Vs. George Lucas).
Along with Horror Hound and Blue Water, I also attended the CIMMFest in Chicago in April where I got to see the premiere of Freaks in Love, the Alice Donut documentary.
If you know me, you know how much I love to travel. 2011 marked the first year I'd been to Europe since 1991, and my first time on the Iberian peninsula. Andrea and I had a blast in Barcelona. I miss it just about every day.
Please feel free to go through the archives of this blog for more fun or check out the links below. Stay tuned in 2012 for more good stuff.
As a special holiday gift from me to you, I put together the songs that I used in the Robocop episode of The Projection Booth podcast into a music mix. It's a .zip file for easy download.
Here are some of the songs:
Robocop Theme - Basil Poledouris
Robocop Theme - Nintendo 8-bit version
Robocop (Who R U?) - B.O.S.E
OCP - Gama Bomb
Robocop - Sleaze Boyz
Murphy's Law - Priestess
Robocop: Streets of Detroit - Shiryu
Murphy, It's You - Al & Jon Kaplan
I'm really happy to see that my upcoming article on horror parodies of the 1980s has made the front cover of Paracinema 14. Being OCD, I went a little nuts doing the research on this one, talking to Jeff Begun of Saturday the 14th, Alfred Sole of Pandemonium, Greydon Clark of Wacko, Chris Bearde of Hysterical, and more. Stop by Paracinema.net to pre-order a copy now!
Dion Conflict interviews author Mike White (Cashiers du Cinemart) on his book entitled "Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers Du Cinemart Collection" in the rest room of a rep cinema in Detroit, Michigan.
NEW YORK, NY; December 1, 2011 - Scheduled for February 7-12, 2012, the ninth annual CineKink NYC will feature a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans for the festival also include a short film competition, audience choice awards, a special adult entertainment showcase, presentations, parties and a gala kick-off, all to be followed by a national tour.
Billing itself as "the kinky film festival," the event is presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television. With offerings drawn from both the independent cinema world and the adult, works presented at CineKink NYC will range from documentary to drama, comedy to experimental, slightly spicy to quite explicit--and everything in between.
"We're once again looking to blur some boundaries and spice things up with our programming," said Lisa Vandever, Co-Founder and Director of CineKink. "Our audience has come to expect a quality selection of smart and sexy works and, judging from the films that have come in so far, the 2012 season will not disappoint!"
CineKink recently completed its 2011 national tour in Chicago, concluding a season that also saw the festival visiting Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland and Washington, DC.
A call for entries to submit works for CineKink/2012 runs until December 12, 2011, and the festival line-up and schedule for CineKink NYC will be announced in early January.
The People vs. George Lucas came out recently on DVD. If they ever do a sequel, the clip below needs to be in it. I'm reminded of my rant about how the prequels were originally supposed to roll out and which characters were supposed to be in them. Watch it before George suppresses it.
I like the work done on the supercut "Cinema's Top Human Villains" but didn't like the song. I added Zwan's "Number of the Beast" and a handful of extra clips at the end to hopefully sate the requests from hh1edits's comments.
Here's the original:
Here's my version:
Additional villains:
Salieri from Amadeus
Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Amon Goeth from Schindler's List
Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds (sic)
Pauline from Heavenly Creatures
Layne from River's Edge
I knew that things were going to be good when we rounded the corner to our hotel (The Riviera) and saw that the Village People were playing there. That kind of made up for the Elvis show at the Aria being dark for the week.
Andrea and I went to Las Vegas from November 9-13 ostensibly to get re-re-marries on 11/11/2011. Fittingly, this is our 11th anniversary year and we had originally planned on getting married on 11/11/2001 until the date was changed on us. Long story. Let's just say that family politics were involved and we still shake our fists and gnash our teeth in anger over this one. Regardless, we were there to set the record straight and take advantage of the date. As it turned out, a lot of other couples were in Vegas with similar plans.
Our wedding was one of three that were performed within the twenty minutes we were at A Hollywood Chapel on Las Vegas Blvd. The place had it down to a science, including adding in all of the extra perks to charge people more money. "With the package you get a roll of film. If you'd like, we can give you digital pictures for $20 more..." "No, that's fine, we'll take the film." "With the package, you get the ceremony on VHS. For $30 more, we'll give you a DVD." "That's fine, we'll take the VHS."
There's no VCR in the building and the photographer was obviously using a digital camera. When we were getting ready to leave the same saleswoman told us that the officiant/minister was so nice that he bought us the upgrade. I think we were supposed to then tip him for his generosity but I think he would have been fairly surprised to hear that he'd paid $50 out of his own pocket for us. We laughed about this all day.
Weddings were in the air; one couple even got married on stage at the Village People concert that night as part of the encore. Alas, they were a hetero couple. I had hoped that the Village People might be a little more progressive than that. Maybe the boys were being on good behavior since Felipe's father was in the audience but they were posturing as very straight all evening.
I had figured that the guys going under the name "The Village People" these days would be six twentysomething dudes who might have seen Can't Stop the Music a couple times and knew the lyrics to "Macho Man" as a qualification. Surprisingly, apart from The Leather Man, all of the guys in the Village People had been in the band since 1980 or earlier.
Apart from a couple of teenagers, I think I was the youngest person there. The show was good though they didn't do as many of their original songs as I'd have liked. I had really hoped for more of a Live and Sleazy playlist with some Can't Stop the Music tunes in there too. They did some of their hits and a couple covers but I could have done for a few more hours of Village People music.
Most of our time was spent reading, walking, eating and gambling; in that order. On Thursday and Saturday I was in my glory as we got to hang out with Greydon Clark and Marly a bit.
The other high point of our weekend came just as we were leaving. We took a taxi from the hotel to the airport. The driver did the usual patter, asking us where we were from, asking about the weather and the politics happening in Michigan, and giving us a dismal forecast of the future. He seemed very down on the state of things as he and Andrea talked state funding. I almost said, "It's too early to talk politics," to try and shut him up but I'm so glad I didn't. As we went along we went past the Occupy Las Vegas camp the driver started telling us that the whole Occupy movement is actually a government-created plot to keep people busy, all headed up by a good friend of President Obama.
And then he went off the deep end.
"I'm going to tell you something that's going to blow your mind," he told us. I wished that I had started recording him because what he laid on us was an incredibly dense web of conspiracy theory nuttiness that just couldn't be topped. He told us that Barak Obama's real name was Barry Soetoro and that he had been to Mars as part of the colonization of our sister planet (via Tesla-based teleportation technology, 'natch). He spun this wild tale of Martians, the Rothchilds, and Queen Elizabeth II. When he was at a breaking point, with a straight face, I told him, "That's funny because I had heard something very similar but about Gerald Ford..." I went on to tell him a little bit of the plot outline of Mondo Ford. I hope like hell that he looked it up when he got home and believed every word of this Ricardo Fratelli classic:
The scariest thing about what this guy was spewing is that I just googled "Obama Mars Barry" and came up with two million hits.
In Podcasting on a Budget Mike White details the nuts and bolts of creating and distributing a podcast all for less than $60. He also reveals the intricacies of audio editing, getting your podcast on iTunes and utilizing social media for free publicity.
Retail Price: $9.97 US
Paperback/eBook: 52 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-105-25405-5
Publication Date: November 15, 2011
Just to help folks (including me) keep things straight:
Television
ABC - Once Upon a Time - Official Blurb: Centers on a woman with a troubled past who is drawn into a small town in Maine where the magic and mystery of Fairy Tales just may be real. Series Premiere October 23rd Sundays 8/7c
NBC - Grimm - Official Blurb: "Grimm" is a new drama series inspired by the classic Grimm's Fairy Tales.Portland homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli, "Turn The Beat Around") discovers he is descended from an elite line of criminal profilers known as "Grimms," charged with keeping balance between humanity and the mythological creatures of the world. Series Premiere October 28th Fridays 9/8c
Movies
Universal - Snow White and The Huntsman - Official Blurb: In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen. This is the one with Charlize Theron and directed by Rupert Sanders. Watch the trailer at Apple.com.
Relativity Media - Mirror! Mirror! - This is the one with Julia Roberts (wearing a false nose... I hope) as the Evil Queen and directed by Tarsem Singh. Oh, yeah, and it seems to be some kind of Bollywood musical.
All of these seem to be taking nods from the comic book series Fables by Bill Willingham.
Best Female Performers in short clips: Christina Carter in EROTIC DAYDREAMS (Restrained Elegance) Janey in LADETTE TO LADY (Restrained Elegance) Katey Cee in LADETTE TO LADY (Restrained Elegance)
Co-host of The Projection Booth podcast moving on to bigger, better things. Podcast re-tooling with more guest hosts, same hard-hitting movie discussions.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 30, 2011 - Detroit, MI - It's with a heavy heart that I invite listeners and fans of The Projection Booth to bid a fond adieu to podcast co-founder Mondo Justin as he moves on to bigger and better things.
Mondo Justin brought a unique perspective to The Projection Booth, exploring a vast array of films from Stripteaser to The Warriors to the works of Kenneth Anger and much more. His admirable dedication to all things cinema made for some heated and satisfying discussions.
Some of Mondo Justin's future projects include two books: Naked Noir, a look at the late night erotic thrillers of the mid/late '80s and '90s. Also, Mondo Justin will be collaborating with legendary tough guy actor Wings Hauser on a biography tentatively titled, Tough Guys Do Dance: The Life & Films Of Wings Hauser. Keep up with Mondo Justin and all of his exciting future projects at his website - http://www.mondo-video.com.
Stay tuned to The Projection Booth podcast for more movie adventures including discussions of Hickey & Boggs with The Maltese Touch of Evil co-author Richard Edwards and DailyGrindhouse.com scribe Joe Robin, High & Low with VCinema's Coffin Jon, The World's Greatest Sinner with Timothy Carey expert Marisa Young, The Italian Connection with Eurocrime documentarian Mike Malloy, Straight Time with author Andrew Rausch, Frankenhooker with nerdlebrity Chris Gore.
Watch our website and Facebook group for more exciting announcements:
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… Learn the history behind the immortal phrase and the fans that worship it as Lionsgate debuts The People Vs. George Lucas on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this fall. Fans of the Star Wars series take their love of the original trilogy – and its creator, George Lucas – seriously, and this hilarious and heart-felt documentary explores the deep conflict surrounding the release of the prequel series. A film festival favorite, the documentary delves into geek culture, but proves “You don't have to be a Star Wars nut to enjoy this fast-paced film” (Los Angeles Times). The DVD is packed with bonus material, including poetry slam selections, a music video for “GL Raped Our Childhood,” and the featurette, “The People vs. Star Wars 3D” (which interviews Comic-Con attendees). The People Vs. George Lucas will bring The Force home when Video on Demand premieres on September 27 th, and DVD and Digital Download arrive on October 25th.
Few films have had the same influence on pop culture as Star Wars. Even fewer have the same devoted fan base as the original trilogy. But since the release of George Lucas’s Star Wars prequels – more than 20 years after the original release – some fans have found their ardor cooled into a complicated love-hate relationship with Luke and Leia’s creator. The People Vs. George Lucas is a hilarious, heartfelt documentary that delves deep into Lucas’s cultural legacy and explores the issues of filmmaking and fanaticism around one of the industry's most famous franchises. The innovative documentary calls on filmmaker and celebrity interviews taken from more than 600 hours of footage to create the world's first digitally democratic feature documentary. Peppered with extraordinary Star Wars and Indiana Jones recreations lovingly immortalized in song, needlepoint, Claymation and more, the film explores the roles of the fan and the creator in making a worldwide cultural phenomenon.
DVD Special Features
(Subject to change)
Poetry slam selects
Gary Kurtz (Producer, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back) interview selects
What: The Fourth Annual Monster Mash for Literacy Bash
Charity Fundraiser for the Dominican and Siena Literacy Organizations
presented by the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers
Where: Dick O'Dow's Irish Pub
160 W. Maple Rd, Birmingham, MI
It's refreshing to see a film that knows the true meaning of the word "homage" -- something done or given in acknowledgment or consideration of the worth of another -- rather than "rip off," which is something we see far too often in films, especially horror movies.
Douglas Schulze's Mimesis is a clever homage to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead on one hand and a modern "thrill killer" movie on the other. After an opening scare starring Courtney Gaines, the audience is taken to a horror convention where Alphonze Betz (Sid Haig) rails against the media blaming horror movies for real life horrors. In the audience are Russell (Taylor Piedmonte) and his unlikely pal Duane (Allen Maldonado).
Russell is a horror fan while Duane is more keen on meeting some of the hotties at the con including Judith (Lauren Mae Shafer), a goth girl who invites the boys to a party later that night. Thinking he'll get some, Duane convinces Russell to drive out to the spooky farmhouse where they encounter some out-of-place regular people and a number of silent, spooky dudes all made up in makeup. Before the party gets too "dick in the mashed potatoes" crazy, Russell and Duane are down for the count, waking up dressed in different clothes and hanging out in some eerily familiar settings.
There's no "They're coming to get you, Barbara!" line in Mimesis but much of the rest of Night of the Living Dead is there as our protagonists find themselves cast in a living remake of the film, complete with flesh-tearing zombies.
Thus, Mimesis becomes a film with disparate characters trapped in a farmhouse with a menacing presence outside but the presence isn't supernatural, it's psychotic. Additionally, the script by Schulze and Joshua Wagner is incredibly self-aware, playing with and against the plot of NOTLD along with more current films where strangers toy with innocents (Them, Inside, High Tension, etc.).
Everyone involved brings a strong presence to the screen. If I had to pick on anything in the film it wouldn't be the performances, thank goodness. The one problem I had with the film -- and I don't think it was a projection gaffe -- was the audio mix. I don't think it was foley work but wild sound. Footsteps in the film, especially as characters would go up and down stairs at the farmhouse, were distractingly loud. They boomed through the packed theater where I was lucky enough to see the U.S. Premiere of the film. Maybe this will be fixed in the mix down the line and, fortunately, it wasn't enough to detract from my enjoyment of this clever film overall.
Port Huron, a big little town at the tip of Michigan's thumb, played host to the third annual Blue Water Film Festival from October 6-8, 2011. One couldn't have asked for a better weekend. The sun shone, the breeze blew, and the clouds stayed away.
Things kicked on on Thursday night with a laugh. Comedian Dave Coulier did some stand-up at the McMorran Place Sports & Entertainment Center, the main location of the festival activities. I've never been a big Full House fan so some of the mullet jokes went over my head but I still had a good time.
The audience at the McMorran Place on opening night
Afterward, I headed over to The Vintage Tavern with festival organizers Jeremy Stemen and Kelly Kennedy along with Detroit Windsor International Film Festival bigwig Suzanne Janik. There I finally met Chris Gore. Yes, after twenty-some years, Gore and I were finally in the same room at the same time. Remarkably, the earth stayed in its orbit and sunspots failed to obliterate the moon. As evidenced by the introduction Gore penned for Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection, we've managed to bury the hatchet over the years -- and not between our shoulder blades.
Festival Organizers Jeremy Stemen and Kelly Kennedy
At one point during the night Jeremy asked me if I'd like to be on the radio for an interview the next morning. "Sure!" I said, before he told me that he'd pick me up at 7AM. I quickly excused myself but still didn't find myself in bed until 2AM. Within moments of walking into the station I was sporting headphones and pontificating in front of the mic.
That became par for the course that day as I relied heavily on my ability to chat at the drop of a hat later on at the "Icons & Idols" panel discussion at The Alley Room that afternoon and later at The Vintage where I interviewed several of the filmmakers from and supporters of the Blue Water Film Festival. Fortunately, I had gotten warmed up earlier in the day with Sid Haig. In town for the big premiere of Douglas Schultz's Mimesis, Haig sat down with me for about an hour-long interview. Both the review of Mimesis and interview transcription are to come.
Mimesis cast members Gavin Grazer, Allen Maldonado, and Sid Haig at The Alley Room
That Friday evening was the big Mimesis screening. Some members of the cast showed up at McMorran in a limo to walk down the red carpet. My friend Gina--a huge Sid Haig fan--joined me and was stunned to get her picture taken with Haig before the show started. She even wore her Captain Spaulding t-shirt.
Mimesis speaks to Romero's Night of the Living Dead in some very clever ways. It's truly homage (as opposed to a rip off) and it was a blast seeing the film with such a large, enthusiastic audience. The Blue Water Film Festival went all out for the screening, too, with dozens of people dressed up as zombies who shambled around the theater lobby before and after the show.
Cute Zombie Couple at McMorran Place
Also, BWFF had a room next to the theater where, after the show, folks could meet the cast and get their Mimesis posters signed. This garnered a tremendous response with the last of the zombies being swept away after 1AM. Jeremy, Kelly and I headed back to The Alley Room for one last drink before turning in.
Saturday morning I went downstairs at the Thomas Edison Inn for a little breakfast where I was soon joined by Chris Gore and his girlfriend, Mary Forrest. Despite all of the fun things that I did at the BWFF, this was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. We geeked out for hours, talking about movies, books, television, the web, and more. Gore shared some of the projects he's been cooking up including FetishVIL, a web series that sounds right up my alley. It's currently in the financing stages over at IndieGoGo.com/FetishVIL. I threw in a couple bucks as I'd love to see this come to fruition.
The majority of the films at the BWFF played on Saturday in three blocks at the McMorran Place. I had seen everything that played beforehand with the exception of one movie, Clean Break. I made sure to catch this one and, of course, found that it was right up my alley. The story of a struggling writer who also happens to be a skeleton, Ryan Lieske's Clean Break reminded me of the great, goofy stuff I used to enjoy every fall at Baltimore's MicroCineFest.
After the screenings it was time to give away some awards. I was glad that Kelly Kennedy went after me to present The Golden Mitten award to actor/director Timothy Busfield. She was wonderfully eloquent compared to my mush-mouthed stammering as I got up behind the lectern to present Chris Gore with the BWFF Golden Thumb award for his contributions to film. Here's the speech I tried to give before he came up to accept his award:
First off, I want to thank the Blue Water Film Festival for the honor of presenting this award. I've had a wonderful time this weekend and feel that I should be presenting the festival organizers and volunteers with an award for the great job they've done in putting together such a fine, fun festival.
But, I'm here to present an award to an esteemed peer -- a fellow film fan and movie nerd, Chris Gore.
It's funny but I think that I've known Chris for about twenty years but only finally met him this weekend. I was a fan of his invaluable movie magazine, Film Threat, since I was but a wee little geek, picking up copies at Thomas Video or Tower Records.
I'd pepper Film Threat with letter and, eventually, Chris and I began communicating via this new method: email. I can't say that Chris and I always saw eye to eye but we definitely were passionate about film in our own way.
Chris has given a lot to the movie community, sometimes to their chagrin. He's helped turn a lot of people on to films and filmmakers that flew under the radar in the pre-internet age. He provided feedback both directly through reviews and via parody. Chris's disarming and oft-alarming humor is legendary. He's also provided great insight to his fellow filmmakers and film fans with his many books including the Film Festival Survival Guide which, I hope, sits dog-eared on all of your shelves.
Films, books, television, the web -- Chris is vying for the title of King of All Media. Well, Chris, I can't give that to you, tonight, but I can give you the finger, er, oh, sorry, thumb. Thumb.
Yes, for all of Chris's achievements, it's my honor to award him with the first Golden Thumb award. Let's hear it for Chris!
Chris Gore accepting The Golden Thumb award
Me and Chris back stage at the McMorran Place
When the dust settled, here are all the filmmakers who received awards at this year's Blue Water Film Festival:
Best Actor Mike Kopera from "My Friend Peter"
Best Actress Lauren Mae Shafer from "Certain Essential Elements"
Best Screenplay Mike Kopera from "My Friend Peter"
Best Cinematography Benjamin Dell from "Senses & Nonsense"
Best Soundtrack Daniel Galeski Jr. from "Protangeline"
Best Director Jeremy Olstyn from "Strong From Detroit"
The Film Selection Committee Viewer's Choice My Friend Peter
Silver Award World of Art Submitted by Mike Allore
Gold Award Bullies on Vacation Submitted by Mike Zago
The Platinum Award The Dancer Submitted by Seth Stark
The next morning I met up with Jeremy, Chris, and Mary for a farewell breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised to find Sid Haig at our table as well. Again, we all sat and chatted for a few hours before rides to the airport started to arrive.
Port Huron is just a little over an hour away from my house and it was a beautiful drive down I-94 taking in all the colors of fall as I went.
My review of the B-Movie Celebration in 2010 was a rather whitewashed piece. I had fun while I was there, yes, but often in spite of the event itself. With expectations lowered appropriately, I kind of dreaded going back down to Franklin, Indiana in 2011 for another round of abuse.
The festival isn't all that bad. It's just that there's a lot of untapped potential there that I wanted to see come to fruition. If Cashiers du Cinemart writer Rich Osmond hadn't have been there, I would have skipped this year's event especially after so many of the announced guests and films ended up off the docket.
One of the biggest problems I have with the fest is the way that titles are trotted out and never happen. On the B-Movie Celebration Facebook group, there were three groups of films announced:
Out of the 89 35mm films from March 30, zero are on the final list.
Out of the 50 films from July 19, only 23 made the final cut (with two additional films not on any of the aforementioned lists).
Out of the 25 scheduled films, only eight were shown in 35mm.
Seeing movies on film is a big deal to me. As it was, the projection in the main theater--the ArtCraft--wasn't too bad, even the digital stuff.
Over Friday and Saturday we saw seven films. The first night we caught the new Jim Wynorski film, Camel Spiders, shot partially in Franklin, IN. The main creatures don't look like camels nor do they seem like they're spiders (it's called out at least twice in the film that they only have six legs). That aside, the movie would feel right at home on the SyFy channel with the cheesy special effects. It was good to see C. Thomas Howell in the film as the local sheriff, though I wish he'd had a little more to work with.
The second feature on Friday, Fred Olen Ray's Dino Wolf, proved to be most enjoyable. Maxwell Caulfield as the sheriff in this one was a real treat and really helped set the movie apart.
We started the next day with Varan: The Unbelievable, a Japanese film (Daikaijû Baran) that had been re-cut and padded out with American footage. The film really defies the viewer to pay attention to it. And, being shown at 10AM, several folks in the audience nodded off (including yours truly).
At noon we headed over to the (not so) Secret Theater. I'm not sure what purpose the building serves usually but two of its rooms had been turned into screening areas. We only went into the first one where it looked like paper had been tacked up onto the wall for a screen. The movie we caught, Tony Randel's Ticks, was terrific despite being marred by technical difficulties. It was shown in the wrong aspect ratio (making a lot of the female actresses' behinds look really big) and with the center sound channel completely missing. This rendered the music and sound effects perfectly audible with the dialogue completely muffled.
Despite this, I still enjoyed the film but we swore off going back to the Secret Theater for the rest of our time.
We headed back to the ArtCraft for the 1966 Batman movie. I'd never seen it before I it was quite a treat. I don't remember laughing so much at a movie in a long time.
I also did a lot of laughing at Roy Ward Baker's Legend of Seven Golden Vampires which was unintentionally hilarious, especially as some of the same sequences of film were used repeatedly; the movie seeming to start three times before finally moving forward.
Up next at the ArtCraft were the Golden Cob Awards. Knowing that I hadn't won anything, Rich and I adjourned to dinner for a while.
We came back for the festival's main attraction, a screening of Killer Klowns from Outer Space on 35mm with the Chiodo brothers as guests and a post-screening Q&A done by Joe Bob Briggs. I'd never seen KKFOS before so this was the ideal way to do it.
With the Secret Theater out and the fare at the ArtCraft not appealing we headed back to the hotel to talk about truck driving music.
When all was said and done, B-Movie Celebration was fine. Could have been better but it wasn't too bad. I'll probably be skipping out on BMC from now on, looking for an event that caters more to cinephiles.
On The Projection Booth podcast our movie of the week was Last Action Hero, one of my least favorite films. Upon hearing it called "a masterpiece" by my cohost, Mondo Justin, and being acceptable fare by our guest, Samurai from The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnight Cinema, I kind of went off in a tirade about just how much I hate that movie.
Now it's time for folks to either join with me in decrying Last Action Hero or to embrace it. I want to hear your voice... and I secretly hope you'll agree with me.
Please, download the episode or listen below. When it's over, give us a call at 734-274-5904* and leave us a message before October 15, 2011.
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Tsui Hark, China, 2011)
Based on Chinese folk hero Di Renjie (popularized in the West by Robert Van Gulik’s “Judge Dee” stories), Tsui Hark’s latest is a return to form for the director. Written by Jialu Zhang, the film plays out against the politics China in the late 600s A.D. When officials start spontaneously combusting on the eve of Empress Wu’s inauguration, Detective Dee (Andy Lau) gets released from jail to solve the mystery. He’s accompanied by feisty royal guard Shangguan Jing'er (Li Bing Bing) and determined albino Pei Donglai (Chao Deng) as he unravels the story, digging deeper than he should. As Dee, Lau seems to be having a lot of fun and this translates from the screen. Along with the politics and immolation, there Hark showcases several set pieces and martial arts battles choreographed by Sammo Hung. I’m not usually a fan of wire-fu but the fights here look great.
Watching Detective Dee, I was often reminded of another film about a criminalist investigating apparently supernatural forces, Pitof’s Vidoq (a.k.a. Dark Portals). Both characters have been brought to the screen in the past, enjoying new life with digital effects and slick camerawork. That several people burst into flames in both films helped reinforce this idea.
White will interview celebrities and filmmakers, fans can tune in on Facebook.
PORT HURON, Mich., September 13, 2011 - Acclaimed Michigan movie critic and journalist Mike White will serve as talent interviewer at the Blue Water Film Festival. October 6 " 8, 2011 the festival will include a stand-up comedy performance by television star Dave Coulier, "Mimesis" movie premiere and the screening of 17 independent films at McMorran in downtown Port Huron. Mike White will interview attending celebrities, filmmakers, actors and dignitaries. Video portions of the interviews will appear on the Blue Water Film Festival's website and Facebook page.
White is noted as a frequent contributor to publications such as "CinemaScope," "Paracinema," Detroit"s "Metro Times" and Detour-Mag.com White was featured in the documentaries "David Goodis: To a Pulp" and "The People Vs. George Lucas." He authored "Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection" and weekly co-hosts "The Projection Booth" podcast.
"We wanted someone with Mike"s edgy approach and independent film industry credentials," said Jeremy Stemen, executive director of the Blue Water Film Festival. "Sharing his insight and interviews with BWFF movie-goers and fans adds an extra dimension to the great access our festival provides."
Tickets to all Blue Water Film Festival events may be purchased at www.bluewaterfilmfestival.com.
The annual Blue Water Film Festival strives to bring movies, movie stars and movie makers to Port Huron. The movies shown at the festival are diverse and enjoyable to people of all ages. For one week a year our community has the opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow in Port Huron today.
# # #
Media contact/BWFF spokesperson: Jeremy Stemen, BWFF Executive Director
(734) 658-6490 or Jeremy@BlueWaterFilmFestival.com
I'm happy to announce that I'll be participating in the Blue Water Film Festival in Port Huron, MI.
I'm going to be their "man about town," interviewing filmmakers and generally acting like a nuisance. Perfect for me. It's too early to announce all the guests but two folks who will be there for sure include comedian Dave Coulier and Chris Gore. This will be the first time Chris and I are meeting face-to-face so that promises to be fun!
I'll be in attendance from October 6-8. Tickets are available here. C'mon out for a fun time watching some Michigan-made movies.
Cashiers du Cinemart contributor Andrew Rausch has a new book out. It's his first swag at fiction. I had the pleasure of reading a copy of this back in February and it blew me away! It's a riveting tale of seedy characters that rivals Elmore Leonard. Pick up a copy today!
Let 2011 be known as The Revenge of Print, an effort began in Baltimroe to put an end to the rumors that print is dead. Scores of zinesters have answered the call, putting out a new issue of zines long since put down -- just like Cashiers du Cinemart. After four years, there's a fresh CdC in town.
There are two versions of Cashiers du Cinemart #16 available -- an old school photocopied version and a print-on-demand high-gloss version. Order one or the other (or both) today.
Polished:
Author
Article
Skizz Cyzyk
Film Festival X is a Scam A warning to the naive filmmaker
Mike Malloy
These Massacres Could Have Been Avoided A study of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise
Andrew Rausch
The Sound of Thunder An interview with Heywood Gould about Rolling Thunder
Kyle Barrowman
Identity & Arnie A response to Pat Bishow's piece in Cashiers du Cinemart 13
Ralph Elawani
Maple Syrup Porn Dirty movies from the Great White North
Mike Sullivan
Like Watching a Laurel & Hardy Short Seen Through a Fog of Deep Depression An interview with Adam Resnick (Cabin Boy, Death to Smoochy, etc.)
Rich Osmond
Rural Mayhem: Georgia Peaches A review of the classic TV movie
Chris Cummins
Breaking Glass: The Experience is Shattering A review of the punk rock classic
David MacGregor
Thank the Pig An appreciation of Babe 2: Pig in the City
Dion Conflict
Heaven or Vegas: A Sin City Sleeper A review of Gregory C. Haynes's film
Jef Burnham
The Monster in the Gelatin A look at Reindeer Games
Karen Lillis
Downtown 2001: A review essay of Downtown 81 Life in NYC in the early 2000s
Mike White
Death on the Highway: Killer Cars Driving down the highway to hell
Mike White
Love Not Given Lightly The cinema of domination and the domination of cinema
I was invited to be a guest on the Cinemafantastique podcast this week. The price I had to pay was watching Final Destination V. Okay, it wasn't that bad of a movie... but I'll let you listen to the podcast and hear what Dan Persons and I had to say.
One of my favorite magazines, Paracinema needs your help:
In the summer of 2007 the idea for Paracinema Magazine blossomed and was fostered by a naive “let’s just do it” attitude. By that fall it was a reality; our first issue was printed. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t exactly how we envisioned it, but it was ours and we loved it. Over the years our incredibly loyal readers enabled us to learn from our mistakes and keep printing new issues, each one better than the last. If you count yourself as one of those readers (new or old) allow us to thank you. Without your support there wouldn’t be a Paracinema Magazine. If you’re not yet a reader of Paracinema we hope you’ll give us a try in the future. Each issue is a labor of love, every article featured is written by someone with an immense passion for movies. If you share even a fraction of that passion and you’re not reading Paracinema, you’re seriously missing out.
Recently we’ve been given the opportunity to expand; of course it’s not as simple as it sounds. Being a labor of love (read: usually in the red) our budget is quite tight. So we’re proposing a bit of a fundraiser. Think of it as a donation, but instead of a tote bag you get a sweet Warriors shirt out of the deal. We know times are tough (believe me) so if you can’t afford the shirt, please, please, please help us spread the word by sharing the link everywhere you can. We want to sell all of the shirts, which shouldn’t be too difficult given the amount we have. Thank you in advance!
My first film class at school had me studying under Professor Herbert Cohen. We covered the basics (Kane, Potemkin, etc), yes, but we also watched a whole heck of a lot of Ingmar Bergman films -- especially those with Gunnar Björnstrand.
I'm not sure when I realized it, but Cohen was writing a book about Bergman (Ingmar Bergman: The Art of Confession) and using our class as a bit of an excuse to re-watch/study a number of Bergman's films, focusing quite a bit on movies with Gunnar Björnstrand, one of Bergman's stock players.
I'm going to take a page from Cohen's book. Not the one about Bergmen but I'm going to do the same thing in the coming months/weeks. I've been asked to come aboard as a writer at DailyGrindhouse.com and I'm going to be reviewing some movies that I've been wanting to write about in a larger context:
The films of Alfred Sole
The films of Oldrich Lipsky
The films of Jean-Pierre Melville
Elliot Gould/Donald Sutherland '70s films
The films of Greydon Clark
Films related to the above
Stuff I've been wanting to write about
I'm also going to be delving into some horror spoofs from the early '80s. Wish me luck.
More than anything, I'm hoping this kicks my butt into gear with some writing I've been wanting to do outside of Cashiers du Cinemart #16. I'm off to the races.
This week we've got two new episodes of The Projection Booth podcast.
On the weekly show we discuss Tapeheads and feature interviews with producer Peter McCarthy and director Bill Fishman. We're joined by special guest Skizz Cyzyk -- a true video ace.
Our special edition speaks to Captain America -- the 2011 Joe Johnston release as well as the 1990 Albert Pyun film. We've even got an interview with Pyun about the film. We're joined by fellow Jackalope jockey Josh Hadley.
Williams, for his part as Virgil, the amiable orangutan companion, manages to look eerily like himself behind the makeup, and does a decent job of walking awkwardly and saying wise things at appropriate moments. He doesn't break any ground dramatically; then again, the Apes movies aren't exactly known for their understatement. More intriguing than the movie itself is the fact that, after one particularly long day of shooting, Paul was scheduled to make one of his many appearances on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show." Not wanting to miss it, and always up for a good laugh, Paul arranged to sing a surprise, romantically lit version of one of Johnny's favorite songs... in full ape makeup.
Port Huron, Mich., July 31, 2011 - The Blue Water Film Festival (BWFF) has announced the official selections of the 2011 festival.
The festival asks for film submissions each year and they are received from all over the state of Michigan and the Sarnia-Lambton area.
The Blue Water Film Festival will highlight short films, full length features and documentaries.
The 2011 Official Selections of the Blue Water Film Festival
(In Alphabetical Order)
Always Elsewhere...Zachary Blosser...Ypsilanti
Awake...Alex Grossfeld...Berkley
Being From Another Planet...Joseph Parcell...Okemos (Shot in Marine City & Richmond)
The Bicyclist...Oren Goldberg...Detroit
Bullies on Vacation...Michael Zago...East Grand Rapids
Certain Essential Elements...Jennifer Atanasovski & Jeffery T. Schultz...Detroit
Clean Break...Ryan Lieske...Byron Center
The Dancer...Seth Stark...Troy
Defying Deletion...Andre N. Anton...West Bloomfield
Melody...Devin Polaski...St. Clair
My Friend Peter...Steve Kopera...Ann Arbor
Protangeline...Scott A. Galeski...Wyandotte
Pink Lines...Mike Madigan...Troy
Regional Roots...Carrie LeZotte...Detroit
Scents & Nonsense...Benjamin Dell...Ann Arbor
Strong From Detroit...Jeremy Olstyn...Berkley
World Of Art...Mike Allore...Oakland Township (Portions shot in Port Huron)
Kelly Kennedy, the Film Selection Committee's Chairperson for the Blue Water Film Festival states, ""As the Blue Water Film Festival enters its third annual year, we continue to be amazed at the unbelievable talent emerging from our State's independent filmmakers." She continues "We are thrilled and very proud to present a compelling program that gives these gifted filmmakers an opportunity to feature their outstanding films. We look forward to providing our community and the entire State of Michigan with the chance to see everything from comedies and dramas to documentaries and even a couple of puppets!"
Dave Coulier, star of televisions "Full House" will kick off the Blue Water Film Festival with a Stand Up comedy show on Thursday, October 6, 2011.
The Official Selections of the Blue Water Film Festival will play on Saturday, October 8, 2011.
Executive Director Jeremy Stemen proclaims that Friday nights event "will be something that will certainly impress all residents of the city of Port Huron, the Blue Water Area, the state, and beyond."
The annual The Blue Water Film Festival strives to bring movies, movie stars and movie makers to Port Huron. The movies shown at the festival are diverse and enjoyable to people of all ages. For one week a year our community has the opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow in Port Huron today.
Too many people abuse the term "homage" as a euphemism of "rip off" (I know I'm guilty of this myself, though I use it facetiously). When I use "homage" in this review, its intended use is the proper definition; "respect or reverence paid or rendered."
In Podcasting on a Budget Mike White details the nuts and bolts of creating and distributing a podcast all for less than $60. He also reveals the intricacies of audio editing, getting your podcast on iTunes and utilizing social media for free publicity.
On The Projection Booth podcast our movie of the week was Last Action Hero, one of my least favorite films. Upon hearing it called "a masterpiece" by my cohost, Mondo Justin, and being acceptable fare by our guest, Samurai from The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnight Cinema, I kind of went off in a tirade about just how much I hate that movie.
