Blog Archives
Saturday At The Movies: Molly Maxwell
The Queen and I often talk about how, back in our high school days, the worst thing one could think of was staying home on a Saturday night. You know, if you didn’t have someplace to be, you just weren’t cool enough. But then, as you get older, you start to relish those evenings in. Without plans or having anyplace to be.
Try telling that to someone still in the thick of high school, still coming of age, and they’ll tell you you’re nuts. If they even deem to talk to you at all.
Growing up. It’s not easy. But in the right hands, it makes for a fun movie. Which is what Molly Maxwell is.
Porkchop Sandwiches: A look at the infamous G.I. Joe PSA parodies.
If you grew up watching the G.I. Joe cartoons in the late 80′s, you’re most likely familiar with the PSA’s at the end that taught safety and life lessons. What you may or may not know is that way off in a small corner of the internet back in 2003, Eric Fensler and his company Fenslerfilms started making parodies of these PSA’s, and they’re still a HUGE hit over a decade later! The clips were re-workings of the original PSA’s, with new voice-overs and sometimes changes in the animation or some creative editing. They were just the normal safety hazard situations, with a new dialogue that changed the scenes’ dynamic – and often made them hilariously awkward and creepy.
Indeed, they did.
Saturday At The Movies: It Really Is The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
I went into the theater with low expectations for The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. After my disappointing romp with James Franco, I needed something lighter to cleanse the palette. I love Steve Carell and he’s been called the nicest man in Hollywood, so I thought I would give him a chance with this Burt Wonderstone movie. It has Steve Buscemi and Alan Arkin, as well as Olivia Wilde as the love interest and Jim Carrey as an insane magician. How bad could it be?
It turned out to be a lovely, little, knee slapper with some definite laugh-out-loud moments and a hint of black humor that kept it from tipping over into corny territory.
Check out the trailer and then read my review after the jump!
In the Thick of It: Duking It Out for CineCoup
Two weeks ago I wrote about taking the plunge on the CineCoup Film Accelerator, making a trailer for Starkers, a feature-to-be in the hunt for $1 million in Cineplex funding. We’re definitely swimming in the deep end; no water-wings for the teams competing from all over Canada. When the contest opened there were ninety-one teams. Now there’s eighty-two. Fourteen days, and attrition has set in.
We’ve done two Mission Videos already in that time. Every Sunday, the CineCoup teams scramble to get a video in by midnight, which appears for public viewing starting the following Monday at 9pm. The first Mission Video was a “power trio” vid, giving each team a chance to introduce their members. Teams leapt at the chance to unleash their pent-up creativity. Check out the the three top videos so far after the jump!
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CineCoup’s Million-Dollar Green-Light
The toughest part about making a movie is, well, everything. You need a good story. Someone has to make that story into a decent script. Actors have to bring the script to life. A director has to realize the world the actors inhabit, giving the movie its shape and style. A host of people bring that director’s vision to fruition. There’s editing, effects, sound, score, and that doesn’t even get to distribution and marketing and how much fizzy sugar water is this all going to sell anyway. Making movies is hard, and every one that gets done is a minor miracle.
That puts CineCoup in the minor miracle business. Founded by J. Joly and Brian Wideen in May of 2012, the CineCoup Film Accelerator is a new model for filmmaking. They decided to put the power in social media, and let people decide where their tastes lie, before the film actually gets made. Trailers are what open the doors. This past weekend, CineCoup opened the curtain on ninety-one trailers from indie filmmakers across Canada. They run the gamut from comedy to drama to horror to sci-fi. Each one is two-minutes of first impression, to make you want to see a movie that hasn’t even been made. By leveraging Facebook, Twitter and the like, these scrappy teams can duke it out for fans, and CineCoup gets to see what plays with a bunch of different audiences. Over three months and through weekly media exercises, the teams will build on their feature ideas, and CineCoup will relentlessly narrow the field, à la American Idol. The winning team gets a million dollars toward the production of their film, backed by Cineplex Odeon. Not Avengers money, but enough to get a good little indie film really rolling.
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Watch With Amanda: What’s on TV This Week? February 25 – March 3
This week: The History Channel teaches us about Vikings, Chang returns to Greendale on Community, and Law & Order SVU takes on Rihanna and Chris Brown.
What will you be watching? Read the rest of this entry
Saturday At The Movies: Identity Thief
Identity Thief – the new comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. The previews put this one over the top, showing off McCarthy and her delightful banter. But once again, clever trailer editing has shown us all of the best parts of this far-fetched comedy and left the rest of the movie as filler.
Check out the trailer and then read my review after the jump!
Watch With Amanda: What’s on TV This Week? February 11 – 17
This week: Will we find out whose severed arm is at the bottom of the ocean on Revenge? Will and Emma finally get their wedding day on Glee, and Anthony Edwards returns to the small screen on Zero Hour.
What will you be watching?
Monday February 11th
How I Met Your Mother (8pm): Ted is gun-shy about breaking up with his wacky new girlfriend. Meanwhile, Robin finally breaks down and holds baby Marvin, and finds herself becoming incredibly attached to the little guy.
The Carrie Diaries (8pm): Carrie reconnects with an old friend who invites her to his mom’s dinner party. Meanwhile, Mouse is anxious about reuniting with Seth, so she turns to Walt for advice; Maggie fights to keep her favorite spot at the diner; and Tom ponders dating again.
Bones (8pm): Brennan is shot while working late at the lab, but her condition is further complicated by logic-defying visions of her deceased mother. Meanwhile, the team’s investigation of the incident reveals that the perpetrator may be linked to the Jeffersonian.
Continuum (8pm): Keira must protect her Grandmother from Liber8.
The Following (9pm): Maggie plots Hardy’s demise; Paul reveals a secret of Emma’s. In other events, Hardy and Claire’s history together is recalled.
Being Human (9pm): Liam is determined to turn Josh and Nora against Aidan, who has more immediate concerns when Kenny begins to suspect that Aidan is a vampire. Meanwhile, Sally and Max grow closer at the funeral home.
Dallas (9pm): Christopher desperately works on a key deal as the future of Ewing Energies dims. Meanwhile, J.R.’s machinations continue, compelling John Ross to choose between a Ewing and a Barnes; and Cliff Barnes returns for a surprise meeting.
Castle (10pm): Castle and Beckett investigate the homicide of an emerging reality star who was part of the cast of “The Wives of Wall Street.” Meanwhile, Castle runs into trouble as he searches for a Valentine’s Day present for Beckett.
Lost Girl (10pm): Bo discovers a link between people dissolving into piles of goo and a swingers’ club. At the same time, she takes bold action to put an end to Kenzi’s clingy behavior.
Deception (10pm): Faced with the truth about her real parents, Mia runs away with Kyle to a friend’s empty vacation home. At the same time, Will goes to Edward’s house looking for answers about Vivian’s murder.
Hawaii Five-0 (10pm): Five-0 investigates the murder of a traditional Hawaiian fighting master. Meanwhile, McGarrett hires a private investigator to follow his mother.
