Confessions of a Bootlegger

I've been a bootlegger for seven years. That all ends tonight when I pull the plug on SuperHappyFun.com. It will no longer be a viable "grey market" site after tonight.

I got into the bootleg business as revenge. I was in desperate need of a few movies and was unable to trade for them. Instead, I was charged through the nose for them. Rather than see anyone else pay the exorbitant prices I did, I decided to sell copies for cheap in order to make up what I had paid as well as unleash these titles to the world; effectively undermining the guys that ripped me off.

Don't piss me off.

Thus, SuperHappyFun.com was born. I had registered the domain years before, not knowing what to do with such a wonderfully-named site other than hosting an animation of a drawing I traced out of a Japanese magazine. Now I could try my hand at making an e-commerce/database-driven site.

Out of the blue, a stranger offered to help me put some of my more popular titles on DVDr - a new format to the time - a home-made DVD that played on most of the new DVD machines. Soon things evolved and this stranger went from a guy converting things to one DVDr to him being my partner in crime -- fulfilling orders from his secret underground lair.

I was the murky face of the business -- buying new titles, making deals for things, and gathering a stock that would make my old tape-trading buddies drool. I started garnering a "name" in the bootleg biz, helped quite a bit by an article in Cinemascope by Jonathan Rosenbaum which lauded the rarities I had amassed.

Meanwhile, my partner toiled in obscurity, his life ruled by the order queue that I maintained.

We had our spats -- my partner always had a knack of misplacing things or having massive harddrive meltdowns. I could never get rid of anything or misplace anything, never knowing when my partner would need me to send it to him. This got fairly frustrating.

I tried to stay within the spirit of the law, if not the letter. I tried to only sell titles that weren't available on DVD in the United States. This became more difficult as more and more titles found their way out. I eventually gave up even trying to carry certain directors as they kept being released by obscure DVD outfits.

In actuality, I loved that the titles on SuperHappyFun were being ousted by legitimate release. My dream is that all of the two thousand films we once carried would be as easy to get as the latest hot release. I want a world where the grey market isn't necessary; where all movies are available via a massive movie server where they could be viewed in their original aspect ratio with their original running time with any/all languages available as audio tracks and/or subtitles. Keep dreaming, I know.

Things got weird a few times when I got cease & desist orders. Matthew Barney's lawyers were not happy about me selling copies of Cremaster when the "artist" could fetch a few hundred grand for copies (no lie). David Lynch's people didn't like that the Rabbits webseries showed up on my site (though they didn't mention the Mulholland Drive TV Pilot -- the video that really started the whole business. Remarkably, I never heard from George Lucas's legal team even with multiple fan edits of The Phantom Menace prominent on the site (the other film that pushed me over the edge, along with Jim Morrison's HWY).

Along the way, I tried to branch out a bit. Read about that fiasco here.

When my partner lost his day job, I encouraged him to start his own site and sell the scads of titles he had that I didn't want to sell (too close to being illegal for me). Oh, what bad advice. A few weeks after his site finally opened I found that he was selling some of the same things I was. Essentially, I was competing... against myself. That wouldn't do.

Rather than going ballistic, I decided that this was my chance to get out of the business. No longer would I have to refuse all registered mail (the way all previous C&D letters had come) and constantly scan New Release lists to find out what new titles I'd have to pull from my site.

This is the year of clean-up, apparently. I pulled the plug on Cashiers du Cinemart and now I'm sunsetting SuperHappyFun.com. Now I can finally clean out my basement and start getting rid of the hundred of VHS tapes and DVDs that have been cluttering my life for so long. (Be sure to check back for announcements of DVD sales on ebay or something). Time to cut the things that don't make me money or happy.

Wish me luck!

Hot Pix and Trash Flix - A TIFF Revelation

Ah-ha! I just found out why so many of the films to which I was looking forward seem to be missing from the Press/Industry schedule. Apparently, there's a separate schedule called "Priority Press" to which I'm not privy. Privilege to one of these passes "depends mainly on the periodicity of the outlet and the coverage done during the Festival. Most of the daily newspapers and wire news agencies are provided with priority passes."

Sadly, that's not me.

While I may be blogging away on a daily basis, I'm simply not big enough to merit one of these passes. No, I'm not being sarcastic, I'm just stating a fact. It's a fair cop that keeps these screenings reserved for the hard working journalists while keeping the rabble away. No more kvetching from Roger Ebert that he didn't get into a particular screening while some schlub like me did.

It is interesting, though, to note what films are being held in this esteem. A lot of them are films which should be getting press screenings around the country over the next few weeks/months including Burn After Reading (opening while the Festival is still in progress), Secret Life of Bees, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (a title which causes me no small amount of duress), Rachel Getting Married, et cetera. Note that all of the "Priority Press" screenings take place during the first six of the ten day screening schedule.

The real puzzler are those oddball titles that merit a "Press Priority" screening without being "A" players. This includes The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World, Still Walking, Soul Power, and Kisses. How odd to limit the audience for these smaller films (not that I'd be banging down the door to see them).

A few of the "Priority Press" screenings are getting secondary screenings for the Press/Industry rabble, sure (including The Brother Bloom and American Swing), and I'll try to fit them into my schedule when possible, though having more opportunities to see them and having any opportunity to see something like Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler would be nice.

I thought that last year I had the chance to see any/all press screenings including those marked as "Priority Press" as I was under the impression that I'm press and am given priority but I've since learned that "The access of the Priority Press screenings are only for the Priority press passes." I figured maybe the "big boys" had first dibs and then we small fries got to fill in the empty seats behind Rex Reed or those AICN blokes.

Regardless, I'd try to queue up for The Wrestler and report back, dear reader, but it's playing against J.T. Petty's The Burrowers and I know that Petty's flick won't be getting a release wide enough to include Detroit any time soon.

Gathering Headlines!

Word from the Drew Barrymore camp is that she's heard Uncle Leon & The Alibis' "Roller Derby Saved My Soul". The verdict? Not sure. But it's pretty apparent that "the people" have spoken! The move to convince Drew to include the song on the soundtrack of her upcoming film Whip It! continues to grow!

Check out all these headlines / postings!

• Detour-Mag.com
• DerbyLuv.com
• Cinncinnati.com
• Audrey Scorne

The petition has crossed the 350+ mark. Let the people be heard!

Toronto International Film Festival 2008 - Rough Schedule

It never fails.

Hours... even days (!) go by without anything that I really want to see. And then there's just a glut of films all starting at the same time or a half hour apart.

It then becomes my task to sort out the mess -- trying to find films to fill the holes and then deciding, "Will I be able to see this in a mainstream theater back home in a few months? Will this be on DVD in Malaysia in a few weeks? Has this director let me down before?"

That said, here's my very rough schedule for Toronto. There are still a few holes to fill and still a few times that I need to eliminate. This definitely doesn't accurately express everything I want to see at TIFF08!

Pre-Festival Pick
Either Hamlet 2 or The House Bunny
September 4, 2008
RocknRolla	9:00 AM	VARSITY 8
Ghost Town	2:30 PM	VARSITY 8
Two-Legged Horse	4:00 PM	VARSITY 2
Paranoids	8:00 PM	VARSITY 5
September 5, 2008
Good, the Bad, the Weird	11:15 AM	VARSITY 1
Krabat	2:30 PM	VARSITY 4
Witch Hunt	5:00 PM	VARSITY 7
Edison & Leo	7:45 PM	VARSITY 7
September 6, 2008
JCVD	10:30 AM	CUMBERLAND 1
7915 KM	2:45 PM	VARSITY 5
Sunshine Barry & the Disco Worms	5:15 PM	VARSITY 5
Empreinte de l'ange	6:15 PM	VARSITY 2
September 7, 2008
Me and Orson Welles	10:00 AM	AMC 2
Deadgirl	1:15 PM	AMC 10
Plastic City	3:45 PM	AMC 10
Good	6:00 PM	VARSITY 3
Peace Mission	7:45 PM	VARSITY VIP 3
September 8, 2008
Adam Resurrected	9:00 AM	VARSITY 6
Brothers Bloom	10:00 AM	CUMBERLAND 3
Dungeon Masters	12:00 PM	VARSITY VIP 3
Burrowers	3:15 PM	VARSITY 4
Sauna	4:45 PM	VARSITY 6
Detroit Metal City	7:45 PM	VARSITY 5
September 9, 2008
American Swing	9:15 AM	VARSITY 8
Hurt Locker	12:00 PM	CUMBERLAND 3
Martyrs	3:15 PM	VARSITY 3
Acolytes	3:45 PM	VARSITY 2
Religulous	5:45 PM	VARSITY 3
September 10, 2008
Not Quite Hollywood	9:00 AM	CUMBERLAND 4
Sexykiller	12:15 PM	VARSITY 2

Taken Online

Thanks to Mike Thompson for pointing out that neoexploitation film Taken has been popping up online. The movie's not slated for a U.S. release until Jan 2009 but it's already available in Europe (also known as 96 Hours) and apparently out on DVD in Japan. I'm sure it'll be taken (hardy har) down soon but, until then, Enjoy!.

Movie Reviews

Two movie reviews from WildSideCinema and three in the Metro Times!

• Death Race
• Kenny
• Privilege
• The Man
• Postal

Enjoy!

Top Twenty Sequels List Misses Mark

I may have to rethink linking over to TheMovieBlog. Their recent list of the Top Twenty Sequels of All Time list leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, some of the choices are just plain assy.

First off, it's rather lame having multiple sequels of the same movie on this list. If that's the case, it should have been the "Top Whatever Series" list. There should have been a "Choose Only One" disclaimer when the author set this up. Secondly, the "double sequels" chosen don't do much to move me: Return of the King had far too many endings while Star Trek IV gets more embarrassing with age ("Double dumbass on you").

I know it may be a little bit sacrilegious but I gave up my affection for Godfather II a while ago. Watching it again over the last few years left me rather bored with it overall. There are some great moments to it, yes ("I know it was you, Fredo.") but the flashback structure is wearisome. Army of Darkness - Same thing. Some great lines but not cohesive overall. For me, the Evil Dead series is all about Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (and the original, of course).

I've already made my feelings about Indy Jones 3 known, as well as Return of the Jedi (I've written reams about the ways in which that film fails). And, um, Die Hard 3? That's another one I've shredded in the past.

I agree with some of the things on this list. Culling it down, I'd go with:

• Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
• Aliens
• The Empire Strikes Back

These are okay but not sure if they're the "Top of all time":

• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• Rocky 2
• X-Men 2
• Spiderman 2

Movies that should have been on the list:

• The Road Warrior
• The Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Sanjuro
• Lone Wolf & Cub 2
• Drunken Master 2
• The Bride of Frankenstein
• For a Few Dollars More
• Mr. Vampire 2
• Cannonball Run II
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

"Singer Screwed The Pooch," Says WB

It's so refreshing when a movie company actually agrees with your opinion and admits that one of its blockbuster hits wasn't quite the right "direction" that the franchise should have gone. That's the word from Warner Brothers who pretty much pimped out Bryan Singer last week, saying that Superman Returns "didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to." In other words, it sucked.

The full story can be read here.

My take on Superman Returns can be found in the pages of Cashiers du Cinemart #15 and are reprinted here for your entertainment:

Superman Returns (Bryan Singer, 2006)
Little stands out as being starkly different from the screenplay of Superman Returns to the final film version, except for the lack of explanation for Superman’s disappearance and the scenes of Superman flying (in a spaceship) amongst the ruined crags of Kryptonite asteroids.

The cuts between the Superman (Brandon Routh) story line and the Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) story line are jarring. The film moves from the moody introspective Kryptonian, who’s been dumped by Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) in favor of the boss’s son, Richard White (James Marsden) to the hammy criminal mastermind and his Miss Teschmacher stand-in, Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey). The worst character in the film has to be Superman’s bastard son, Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu), and his awful Adam Rich haircut.

While I can respect the decision to emulate Donner’s Superman films, aping these superior movies just made me long to see the originals. The John Williams score, combined with the unnecessary cameo appearance by Marlon Brando, only reinforced this desire. Overall, I would have rather have seen J.J. Abrams’s version of the story, as it strayed the farthest from the Jon Peters directives, divorced itself from Donner, and actually managed to feel like an original take on the Superman story.

Even if it hadn’t taken over a dozen years and millions of dollars to bring the next chapter of Superman saga to the big screen, Superman Returns would epitomize anticlimactic. Rather than breaking new ground or taking the Superman story in a different direction (see “Red Son” by Mark Millar), the film was just a rehash of a better film that predated it by nearly three decades.

Fooling Films Back On YouTube

I re-posted these on YouTube a few months back and haven't posted them on the blog in a while. I think I'm required by law to cross-promote these every once in a while.