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.
