October « 2008 « FRED Entertainment

October 31, 2008

Ken P. D. Snyde-Cast #67: Sunny Side Down

Filed under: Ken P.D. Snydecast — UncaScroogeMcD @ 1:59 am

Adult Swim’s Dana Snyder and FRED’s Ken Plume set out to have a literate conversation between two pals, but inevitably devolve into a verbal, and funny, free-for-all full of bickering, infighting, and the special kind of male bonding that comes from conflict expressed through the podcast medium.

Actor/comedian/raconteur Dana Snyder, you’re certainly aware, is Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Master Shake, Squidbillies‘ Granny, Minoriteam’s Dr. Wang, and The Venture Bros.‘ Alchemist. Available for weddings and bar mitzvahs (bat availability pending), you can keep tabs on him via his website, www.eyeofthesnyder.com.

Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #67: Sunny Side Down – Ken & Dana return with a bit of a ramble… Well, a lot of ramble, actually, as they talk about this, that, and many other things of largely no consequence. Oh, and lots of talk of safety masks.

[CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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Trailer Park: ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO – Reviewed

Filed under: Reviews,Trailer Park — admin @ 1:58 am

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

One of the real delights of ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO is Craig Robinson; it’s his brand of humor that succinctly explains why this film is a delightful diversion and honorable entry in the View Askew canon.

It’s the mixture of actors who haven’t lived within Kevin Smith’s oeuvre that pump the much needed vitality and energy in order to make this picture more than just something limited to the characters and personas he’s used to creating. Without question a lot of the credit for what elevates the film has to go to Elizabeth Banks; it’s her bubbly effervescence, her commitment in playing a woman who would a) rock granny panties and b) allow herself to be ridiculed for doing so when she’s captured doing so on a cell phone and uploaded to YouTube but it’s also her natural charisma that make her an audience darling. We care about Miri’s plight, along with Zack’s, in her quest to find a way out of the abject poverty she and Zack finds themselves in. Banks just exudes the innocence that this whole film hinges on, Lord knows as an audience we would absolutely buy the premise that Seth Rogan would hump on cue in front of the camera, and it’s only through Smith’s writing we can believe the series of events that take this from just a clever idea, a one trick pony, and honestly morphs into a movie that is, perhaps, one of the best romantic comedies that has been released this year.

As well, moving towards the moment when our two broke losers figure porn is the only way out there is no denying that Justin Long not only has one of the most briefest moments in the film but is pivotal to pushing the narrative towards its logical next step. Long is outrageous as Brandon, the throaty emperor of gay porn, and the moment he has with Zack at Zack and Miri’s high school reunion is one that, if nothing else, give reason for Long to shed any trace of the twinkling boy next door we all know from his stints as the Apple pitch man.

The plot ripens in a way that isn’t reminiscent of Smith films, looking at this entry as you would any artist’s collection, as you won’t find long ruminations on pop culture, but Smith allows Banks and Rogen to develop a relationship with one another on screen instead of using them as conduits for his writing. These performers cement their believability as roommates and, more importantly, friends who have known each other for a long time and it works. It works to the film’s benefit as the two of them then become willing partners in a pornographic adventure that seems more to do with their relationship than it does with the excuse to have adult film stars flitting around making puerile jokes with one another. (And if that’s your bag there’s enough of that to go around so fear not.)

Robinson, Jason Mewes, Ricky Mabe, Jeff Anderson and the rest of the cast are well-placed in this film’s tableau as they’re not immediately front and center of this film’s action. This is Zack and Miri’s movie in more than one way. Neverminding the production of this porno and overlooking the amusing steps along the way as the movie is put to tape it is the penultimate moment when Zack and Miri come together, witticism intended, that this movie explodes. The way this scene is framed, shot and scored it makes you wonder if this was the moment Smith had thought of when he came up with the idea. It just feels like an earned moment and it certainly is the brightest spot of the film for me. He earned the right to take the film where it went and all self-effacements aside it just worked, clicked.

To talk about the intricacies of what takes this movie just beyond the making of the porno, the changed feelings Zack and Miri have for one another is just too easy not to see coming, would be a disservice to the film. In explaining comedy you almost have to give up the reason why it was funny in the first place and I’m not here to spoil the little surprises that pepper the film.

Rogan should be the one, however, to surprise everyone. From KNOCKED UP to SUPERBAD the guy, funny as he was, was funny because he needed to be. In this film he doesn’t try to be that guy; his performance was naturally compelling because it was the closest iteration to what someone in his position would do should they find themselves in the unique circumstances he does. You believe his antics and actions. His comedy here seems stripped down and proves why someone took notice of him while he was on Freaks and Geeks.

The film should be one of Smith’s centerpieces if for no other reason than this is one of the best examples that prove that he can make a movie that is filled with some of the most jolting moments this year, Dutch Rudder and constipation, that’s all I’m going to say, but marry it with a love story that is affective and tender. Too many times the criticisms about Smith’s inclusiveness with regard to his characters’ seemingly whip smart cadence is well-deserved. Here, though, Smith eschews it. It’s odd but liberating at the same time.

I’ve always wanted more of Smith’s belief in himself, that his writing can absolutely go beyond his ken and stable of familiar and safe characters, and this film is the one that feels and acts different. It’s Smith putting himself out there for all those who have been lobbing their sound bites at his feet, telling him to leave the View Askew universe for a bit, and the end result is great. Great not only from the point that his regulars are relegated to the background but that he put his trust in his actors to let them distill his script and relay it in the manner which has made them good at what they do.

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Now, it’s Halloween and that means it’s time for Ray Schillaci to break down my virtual door to bring his own brand of insight on this most hallowed of days…but before I get to him there is a little bit of custodial quick hits:

1. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. I saw this movie two nights ago and I have to tell you, honestly, no bullshit, this is one of the best films of 2008 that I have seen. While I am restricted and prohibited from saying anything more it is my honest wish that some of you put this film in your Must See queue. It’s beyond words for me at the moment but these next couple weeks will allow the film to replay and percolate in my mind as I craft a review. It damn near made me cry.

2. “Kyle Clifford”. Who is he? What is he? What does he want? I dunno but he just deserves a mention. Guy should put on a one man show. He’s the next Danny Gans, the next Carrot Top without the props, the next Louie Anderson but not as portly. It’s my solemn wish that this guy realize his potential and bring laughter to the masses. As it is, the guy warrants a little ink. WWRBD, indeed.

3. I made a mix tape. Remember when you made mix tapes in high school, maybe into college? Well, I was rapping to my man Thomas Stern and mentioned that this activity shouldn’t be limited to those in the younger grades as I remember getting my start in listening to some excellent bands from the trading of mix tapes. Since I can’t freely distribute this thing without getting hauled into federal court I will at least list the tracks for your perusal. I’m damn proud of this one and if anyone has a mix tape they would like to share I am always in the market for new music. Long live the mix tape:

1. Elvis is Everywhere ““ Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper
2. Sorry Again ““ Velocity Girl
3. Lights Out ““ Santogold
4. Heavyweight Champion Of The World ““ Reverend And The Makers
5. Bitches Aint Shit ““ Ben Folds
6. I Want It All ““ Dance Hall Crashers
7. Reid’s Situation ““ Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
8. The Mayor of Simpleton ““ XTC
9. Lonesome ““ Regatta 69
10. White Winter Hymnal ““ Fleet Foxes
11. Little Tiny Moustache ““ Stephen Lynch
12. *Hidden Track Within The Mix And Therefore Isn’t Hidden*
13. The Bigger the Figure ““ Louis Prima
14. The Audience Is Listening ““ Cut Chemist
15. Shower Science ““ Saint Etienne
16. My Little Suede Shoes ““ The Robustos
17. Into The Dark ““ Ben Lee
18. Some Rainy Sunday ““ Juliana Hatfield
19. Na Na Na ““ Theresa Andersson
20. Building Steam with a Grain of Salt ““ DJ Shadow
21. Unplayed Piano ““ Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan
22. Just Stay ““ Kevin Devine

4. Giveaway. Anyone who read this far and wants to be entered into a drawing for a free ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO one sheet just send me a note to Christopher_Stipp@Yahoo.com. Yahtzee!

5. Text Movie Club. This is a new site I write for on a regional basis, it’s out of Phoenix, and it’s creation is not why I’m including it today in my column. It’s due to this online social network that gets people into screenings early, gives them free shit and is a portal where people can go and just dish about movies. It’s as if Santa Claus and MySpace (not the part of it that sucks) had a baby and raised it to give away stuff nonstop. It’s an excellent concept to give fans of a film an early peek to movies that many of us have to wait until opening day to see and it seems to be branching off into other states as well. Give it a peek to see if it’s coming to a town near you. Who can deny the power of free films in this economy?

6. Get your ass out and vote. So many of you lazy asses will sit on them and not get a vote cast. Be it McCain or Obama it is my hope that every one of you who are able to cast a vote do so. Even if there is just one proposition you want to vote for (Proposition 102 for example, in Arizona, wants to make marriage only between a woman and man. I’m honestly disgusted to be in a state where these religious fundies think this is a good thing. 30 years from now we’re all going to be laughed at for this type of thing.) just do it. Lots of people, a long time ago, worked especially hard to make sure you could do it and it’s honestly something I love doing every year. Even if I’m not proud of what other countries think of us based on the retarded ape we have as a president now I still think it’s a civic duty we should embrace.

That said, go Obama…

And now, without any further ado, my main man, my Toucan Sam, you know his name isn’t quite Pam, Ray Schillaci…

Greatest Moments in Horror History

While other people pontificate about the greatest horror films this season, which I feel so many have missed the mark, I decided to deliver my choice of the greatest horror moments (in no particular order) in scary movies. Some are automatic gimmes, others are a little out of left field, but well worth checking out if out have missed the boat. All are available on DVD.

First the obvious:

Psycho ““ Janet Leigh takes her last shower and we end up flinching every time someone steps into a bathroom in anything remotely resembling a thriller.

Night of the Living Dead ““ It was bad enough that good ol’ George (Romero) was breaking taboos all over the place with a black hero and cannibalism, but he went and had a little girl (all of about 11 years old) die, come back to life and butcher her mommy before or very eyes. Sure it was black and white, but the visual chilled us to the bone.

Diabolique (the original French version) ““ My dad still remembers after all these years the corpse suddenly reappearing, slowly stepping out of the bathtub, white pupils exposed and heading towards his spouse. It scared the crap out of him and it gave me the willies as well when I first picked up the Criterion DVD.

The Exorcist ““ Sometimes it’s the subtle things that scare the shit out of us. Freidkin paced himself well, but nothing truly beat the eeriness of the sounds coming from the attic and Ellen Burstyn taking a lit candlestick and checking it out. What was she thinking!

Halloween ““ There is a one-two punch here; when Dr. Loomis arrives at the sanitarium in the pouring rain, finds the attendees taking a stroll and Michael Myers leaps up on the car from behind. More people had their blood pressure shoot up ““ and it only built from there ““ but the pinnacle for so many was when he rose from the couch. I remember being at the Americana Theaters in Van Nuys, CA and the continuous screaming that accompanied it. Horrific.

Now for something different:

The Omen (original) ““ Richard Donner was in rare form when he choreographed the graveyard scene that had people leaping from their theater seats and popcorn flying. This is a good reason to go out and get a PS3 to see and hear this testament to horror on blu-ray that would never be surpassed by its sequels or remake.

Alien ““ Talk about something eating at you. When that little bugger popped out of John Hurt’s chest, some people literally ran out into the lobby. Who would ever think they could find gothic horror in space.

The Shining ““ The Twins. Need I say more.

Friday the 13th ““ Before you toss out this opinion, think about the very first time you watched this and knew it was a low rate, who’s doing it with gallons of grand guignol to boot. When we though it was all over, Jason introduces himself in the most nerve-wracking way having some people screaming and crying through the credits. Of all the cheap jumping out bits this far surpassed “Carrie” or anything else in the cheap thrills department and it proved that at the box office with its continuous sequels. By the way, the beginning of Pt. 2 has a great jump-start as well.

SAW ““ the very ending made so many of us gasp in terror and leave us sleepless for several nights while spawning sequels (some that are too good for this kind of tawdry tale of the macabre) that may become as regular as Halloween.

Speaking of endings; “The Blair Witch Project” worked its weird magic into people’s minds and messed with us to no end after we ran into that building with all the small handprints and found you-know-who standing in the corner. Creeeepy.

Wait Until Dark ““ At one time it was thought that the last 10 minutes of this nifty thriller was nearly as harrowing as it gets with Alan Arkin as the slimiest scumbag on the planet.

Of course, Neil Marshall proved that wrong years later by frying our nerves with the last 50 minutes of “The Descent”. This could easily be labeled as one of the best horror films in the past 10 years. One claustrophobic scene after another accompanied by the feeling of being watched and not knowing what is around the corner. Oh, but when you do get around the corner what you find may cause an asthma attack.

And, finally the granddaddy of them all; Texas Chainsaw Massacre and TCM 2 ““ Tobe Hooper initiated us into believing what we were seeing when we saw so little. It was a great exercise in suggestive sinema. And, the scene when the first couple encounters Leatherface’s home is as uncomfortable and terrifying as it gets. Just when you thought he could do no more, Hooper followed up with a sequel that was as blood drenched as everybody thought the first one was. He knew he started something, and so many lesser directors had jumped on the gore wagon. But Hooper’s sequel was different from the beginning, laced with farce, gallows humor and an over-the-top performance, not to be missed, by a double chainsaw wielding Dennis Hopper. In fact Hooper matched the first encounter with Leatherface with a reintroduction in the sequel that has to be seen. Just writing about it will not do it justice. But I will say he uses the talents of Danny Elfman and his band Oingo Boingo to the max! Pipe this through your sound system and crank it up. You won’t be sorry.

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October 30, 2008

Win PLANET OF THE APES on BLU-RAY DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 8:28 am

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Fox Home Video, three (3) copies of PLANET OF THE APES on Blu-Ray DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Thursday, November 6th.

CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!

Official Rules

No member of Quick Stop Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

No Purchase necessary to win.

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

One entry per day, per person.

All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Thursday, November 6th.

The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

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October 28, 2008

Party Favors: The Ranch Hand

Filed under: Joe Corey's Party Favors — UncaScroogeMcD @ 11:48 pm

CARSON CITY – Dennis Hof will never regret spending too much time at work. He’s the last boss in America who can allow the women who work in his business to sit on his lap and call him daddy without the fear of H.R. deporting him to a reeducation workshop. He’s got the greatest job in the world as the owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch.

Currently he’s a busy man promoting the new season of Cathouse on HBO (October 23) and the DVD of Cathouse: The Series & The Musical (Oct. 28). I figured we’d just do another phone interview. But Hof invited me to his office. After all the tease, it was time to experience what’s often called the Adult DisneyWorld. After spending 24 hours inside America’s Cathouse, I can assure you that the Bunny Ranch is better than DisneyWorld. At no point is your fun interrupted by a parent dragging a crying child out of a gift shop.

For fans of the show, here’s three things that are different between the reality TV show and the actual reality: 1). It has an amazing view of the surrounding mountains. When you bounce on the trampoline, you’ll see a wonderful vista. 2.) The lights are dimmer inside the parlor. 3.) They don’t play the soundtrack from the TV show over the PA. They play Music Choice channels on the flat screen TVs. You’ll be able to collect some of the goofiest trivia about bands. But you’re not there to study for Rock N Roll Jeopardy. And neither was I. It’s time to begin The Wisdom of Hof:

In this segment Dennis talks about the hookers of Elizabeth, New Jersey and Elliot Spitzer.

Fans of Cathouse have grown accustomed to Isabella Soprano as the kinky girl next door. She has this amazing charm. Yet if you called up the Bunny Ranch after an episode and asked about partying with her, you’d discover she wasn’t currently working at that house. In previous interviews we’ve always asked Dennis about the status of Isabella Soprano. He would say that she had retired and was at an organic farm in Massachusetts. For the first time ever, Hof tells us the complete story of what happened to Isabella Soprano, America’s Sweetho.

In the words of Paul Harvey: Now you know the rest of the story. Perhaps Sheila Nivens at HBO will let me do a “In Search of Isabella” special for HBO Undercover.

The next column will have more of our the interview with Hof. We also spend time in bed with Cathouse star Brooke Taylor. You’ll want to see how she’s juggling a musical career, being the Hustler centerfold, getting featured in Marie Claire and still keeping her dayjob.

There will be more details of my Bunny Ranch visit in part two of this interview. Find out the truth about waffles and working girls. Also tips on how to lure your wife to a brothel for your wedding anniversary. It’s better than flowers. Currently I can’t disclose these facts since Ron Howard wants to adapt this interview into his follow up of Frost/Nixon. Opie wants Nicolas Cage to play me and Gene Hackman to be Hof. Of course most of this negotiation hinges on if Cage agrees to play me in my family’s Christmas movie this holiday season. The offer is still open since I haven’t spent that $20 bill that’s intended for Cage. To sweeten the pot, my wife will knit Cage his own Godzilla doll.

Stay tuned for more Hof!

UPGRADE

The premiere episode of Chocolate News with David Alan Grier is funnier than all the episodes of David Spade’s Showbiz Show.

DISCOUNT TICKETS

When you’re in Las Vegas, be careful buying show tickets from scalpers. Turns out there’s plenty of bootleg performers eager to sucker you into strange showrooms. We innocently bought tickets for Danny Gans at the Mirage. His final performance in the Danny Gans theater is Nov. 22. How could we live without seeing “The #1 Entertainer on the Strip?” Imagine our dismay to discover we had blown $3,000 to see Danny Glands at the Mirage.

Who is Danny Glands? The performer once rolled with Slim Goodbody. He developed his act to become a celebrity endocrine system impersonator. You haven’t really felt Vegas until you see Danny transform into Dean Martin’s Thyroid. You’ll swear you are looking into Dino. He does a complete Rat Pack reunion with Sinatra’s Parathyroid and Sammy Davis Jr’s Posterior pituitary lobe. Even better is Ernest Borgnine’s Hypothalamus. I almost called him McHale after the show. He’s that good.

Glands’ favorite routine involves how dead stars would mow their lawns. You haven’t experienced comedy until you get an eyeful George Burns’s Anterior pituitary lobe riding a John Deere. I almost felt it was worth the price until I leaned back and stressed the scar from the kidney I sold to buy the tickets.

HAIR TV

Michael Imperioli’s fu manchu dominates Life On Mars. You don’t even think of him as the guy from The Sopranos. He’s become the man rockin’ the stache. From a reliable source, it’s been revealed that the facial hair is actually Grant Show’s porn-stache from Swingtown. Who knew that follicles can be so versatile? This is an industry that pigeonholes its mustaches. Bea Arthur’s mustache went decades without a steady gig until it hooked up with Spencer on The Hills. So a big up to Michael Imperioli’s fu manchu making him the Conrad Dobler of cops.

BOND SALE

Back when I programmed at a major film archive, there was pure bliss in running our complete collection of James Bond films on the big screen. All of the early titles were Technicolor 35mm gems. Shirley Eaton dazzled in gold paint in Goldfinger. When my time there finished, I felt the loss of having to settle for pan and scan VHS tapes for my 007 action. How can you settle for NTSC when you’ve tasted Technicolor?

I bought the first batch of Bond DVDs. The image quality was a step up from VHS and they maintained their original aspect ratios. But the transfer prints had rough in spots. Then came The Ultimate Editions with their completely spiffed up images thanks to Lowry Digital Images. But I was still having to settle for 480p action. I wanted to be able to reach towards the screen and touch the face of Pussy Galore. Where was the Blu-ray love for Bond?

With the impending release of Quantum of Solace, 6 of the top Bond titles are now on Blu-ray ready for you to upgrade. They’re available separately or in two boxsets. Volume 1 has From Russia With Love, Thunderball and For Your Eyes Only. The second volume consists of Dr. No, Live and Let Die and Die Another Day. They’ve imported all the bonus features from the Ultimate Editions. Many of the documentaries have also been boosted to 1080p. If you appreciate the extra detail of Hi-Def, you’ll break the piggy bank or sell your cat.

Dr. No got the series off on a great foot. Sean Connery perfect as Bond. They cast Jack Lord (Hawaii Five-O) as CIA agent Felix Leiter. The crowning glory of this flick is Ursula Andress coming out of the water in her swimsuit. The calypso soundtrack hops in the Lossless Sound. From Russia With Love is the best of the Bonds. 007 merely thinks his job is to go to Istanbul to retrieve Soviet embassy worker and her code typewriter. But his mission turns out to have the fate of the world at stake. The action is hardcore especially a fight on the Orient Express between Connery and Robert Shaw (Jaws). Daniela Bianchi is perfection as the embassy gal who thinks she’s helping her glorious country capture the English agent. Thunderball was the first Bond film to take advantage of Cinemascope. The action gets wider. Bond has to recover nuclear bombs stolen by SPECTRE. The big finale includes a huge underwater battle. John Barry’s orchestration has a marvelous sweep and swell from the speakers.

Live and Let Die is memorable for when Felix Leiter (David Hedison) utters “Pimpmobile.” This has James Bond (in the form of Roger Moore) going to Harlem to face off with Yaphet Kotto. He’s running the American heroin trade through his Fillet of Soul restaurants. His main form of protection is Jane Seymour working her Tarot cards. But she can’t stop Bond’s ability to shuffle her deck. For Your Eyes Only was the attempt to make Roger Moore more serious and less gadgety. He’s got to recover an encryption machine. His only help is Topol (the actor not the toothpaste). The only bad move in this film is Bill Conti’s cheesy score that screams ’80s action movie with every synth beat.

Die Another Day was the finale for Pierce Brosnan as Bond. After the disappointments of The World Is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies, this Bond is slightly better. The hovercraft fight is worth seeing with the extra definition. Halle Berry makes a good partner for Bond. She even gets a sweet swimsuit moment. But the faux-Richard Branson villain doesn’t put it completely over the top.

The Blu-ray experience is perfect for the espionage action. You’re able to see the details. The color on the first three reflect the lush Technicolor hues. This is almost like being back in the screening room running the 35mm prints of Bond. If you’re on the fence about upgrading your Bonds, each title includes a coupon good for a free ticket to Quantum of Solace.
?DVD SHELF

A Threevening with Kevin Smith is nearly five hours of Kevin Smith talking on stage in Jersey. Bruce Springsteen is an awe of that showtime. He opens up with riff on Cookiepuss. He talks the audience through a tour of his hometown on his 37th birthday. It’s touching when he introduces her mom after talking about his parents’ sex life. He tells plenty of stories about working on Live Free or Die Hard and making Clerks II. Learn the truth about Bruce Willis and Kevin’s “rewrite.” The big bonus feature is a question and answer session with the audience. He won’t be making a sequel to Dogma. A Threevening with Kevin Smith is the perfect Christmas gift for grandma.

The Wild Wild West: The Complete TV Series brings together all four seasons along with the two reunion movies. This show mixed cowboy action with secret agent cool. Instead of merely dealing with outlaws and rustlers, Jim West (Robert Conrad) and Artemis Gordon (Ross Martin) had to expose and defeat diabolical madmen. Their biggest villain was the diminutive Dr. Lovelace (Michael Dunn) Unfortunately Dunn died before the reunion movies so for Wild Wild West Revisited Paul Williams (Smokey and the Bandit) plays his son. For once Williams is too tall for a part. Shields and Yarnell mime out killer robot action. More Wild Wild West has Jonathan Winters wrapped up in the case. The split personality comic wants to conquer the world. He has plenty of death scenes in the opening minutes. The films are extremely low budget when compare to Will Smith’s feature film version, but they’re infinitely more entertaining. Conrad and Martin still had a great repartee no matter how campy the moment. The Wild Wild West: The Complete TV Series boxes up one of my favorite shows.

The 4400: The Complete Series brings together the USA network show about 4,400 people who return to earth after being abducted by aliens. They have each been given a strange new gift by their hosts. The government fears that these returning citizens will lead to the end of civilization as we know it. I got hooked on the show. Word has it that the show was canceled because of the writer’s strike made its release schedule impossible. By the time the channel could get back on the air, Conchita Campbell would be old enough to star on Golden Girls: The Next Generation. At least the final episode does feel like a finale versus a cliffhanger.

Black Magic documents the rise of African-Americans in the sport of basketball. Director Dan Klores (Crazy Love) compiles a fast break of interviews with major players and vintage clips. It’s hard for most viewers to remember a time when basketball was dominated by white guys not named Larry Bird. The film shows how the desegregation on the hard court reflected the changes in America. There’s respect given to the racial integration work of Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics. Earl “the Pearl” Monroe shows off his legendary skills. The Michael Jordan explosion is perfectly captured. The bonus features include extended interviews, ESPN’s quickie basketball bios and the Apollo Theater premiere. This is perfect for fans to watch instead of those pre-season NBA games.

The Alice Faye Collection, Volume 2 revives one of the cutest song birds from World War II era cinema. Alice Faye’s characters take part in the early days of Vaudeville, radio, cinema, dance halls and USO tours. The five films in the boxset include Rose of Washington Square, Hollywood Cavalcade, The Great American Broadcast, Hello Frisco, Hello and Four Jills and a Jeep. What excites me about this collection is a chance to basic in the greatness of William Frawley on Rose of Washington Square. St. Frawley dresses dapper for his role. Phil Silvers plays the jeep driver in Four Jills and a Jeep. You’ll get a kick out of the bonus feature documentary that hints that two of the Jills hooked up with each other during the shoot. Finally there’s Cesar Romero working his latin lover action on Faye in The Great American Broadcast. This is the perfect gift for the TCM addict in your life.

The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection has all 80 episodes produced by Hal Roach that used to always be on TV. There were a batch of later ones that MGM made. Even as an adult, it’s fun to crack open a bottle of Jack Daniels and laugh at Spanky and his gang. These kids were a handful. It goes great with The Three Stooges, Volume 4.

The L Word: The Complete Fifth Season focuses on Jenny (Mia Kirshner) directing the movie about her lesbian (and bisexual) friends. Everybody gets upset at this invasion of their lives by actors studying them. Pam Grier gets back to her Coffy roots when she breaks out the hardware to take down an evil competitor. While the writers keep Jenny as a hardcore pain, she has her soft moment. The best of these occurs when she and the star of her film (Kate French) get buck wild in a tent. You’ll appreciate being able to watch this moment with the clarity of DVD. Why isn’t Mia Kirshner constantly being worshipped on the covers of People and Us? She has the eyes of a goddess. It’s moments like the tent scene that make Frip thankful that The L Word is on Showtime and not toned down for FX.

Hank and Mike cracked me up. Thomas Michael and Paolo Mancini are Easter bunnies. They screw up on an egg delivery and find themselves laid off during a round of cutbacks at the Easter Corporation. The two guys have to find real jobs. But what can you do when being an Easter bunny is the main thing on the resume? The duo are perfectly mismatched. This is Bad Santa for the Easter season.

Death Defying Acts: Houdini’s Secret comes out almost in time for the 82nd anniversary of the escape artist’s death. I’ve got to wonder how this film starring Guy Pearce (Memento) as Houdini vanished from the theater so quick. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a stage psychic that has an affair with Houdini in hopes of getting the edge for a $10,000 reward. The payoff happens if she can guess the final words of Houdini’s dead mother. Will he talk in his sleep? It’s a complicated enough romance to not disappear after the DVD ends.

Ringside Muhammad Ali has 4 DVDs filled with the Greatest’s greatest fights. Included in the footage is “Rumble in the Jungle,” “Thrilla in Manilla” and “The Fight of the Century.” Ali battles Foreman, Fraizer and Leon Spinks. This reminds you of a time when heavyweight boxing meant something. It’s not merely that Ali had a passion and personality, but so did his opponents. Brian Kenny, Bert Randolph Sugar and guests break down the ring work. The documentary about Ali includes plenty of footage of Howard Cosell joking around with the champ.

Elmo’s Christmas Countdown proves that Ben Stiller can be everywhere at once. This time he’s been turned into a Muppet. He’s Stiller the Elf. He teams up with Elmo and Abby Cadabby to save Christmas. Seems they have this magic Christmas Counter-Downer. It’s missing a few boxes. Stiller must find those boxes or Christmas is a bust. With today’s economy, they should have had an alternate ending where there is no Christmas so parents have an excuse for not buying that pony. In a really weird twist, Sopranos alumni Steve Schirripa and Tony Sirico appear. Did you know in mobster families, on Christmas morning the kids rush out of their houses and onto the street to see what fell off the back of Santa’s Sleigh? Paulie Walnuts and the Muppets will entertain the entire family. Also coming out is Pinky Dinky Doo: Polka Dot Pox. It’s a little kid animated show starring a little girl, her even younger brother and their guinea pig. Even though the girl has a kid brains, when she thinks hard, her brain gets bigger till she gets the right idea. Wow. It’s like Homer Simpson in reverse. There’s no Sopranos regulars in this series from the Sesame Street folks.

Shrek The Halls brings last year’s surprisingly good TV holiday special to DVD. Shrek (Mike Myers) realizes there’s no way his princess wife (Cameron Diaz) and kids will blow off the holiday season. Shrek gets a book to help do Christmas right for his family. But Donkey decides to add his flavor to the punch. The jokes come fast and often. Puss in Boots becomes Santa Zorro.

Girlfriends: The Fifth Season opens up with Tina being pregnant and Todd swearing he isn’t the daddy. She wants to patch things up, but he wants a divorce. Nobody seems too happy on this show even though this is a comedy. Al Sharpton has a cameo in “The Rabbit Died.” There’s 22 episodes on 3 DVDs. There were 8 seasons of the series.

Sister Sister: The First Season takes us back to the time when the Mowry twins (Tia & Tamera) were the darlings of primetime. They play twin sisters adopted by two different people. They meet by chance and decide they can’t live apart. They plot to have their adoptive parents move into together. It’s like The Parent Trap meets Blind Date. Who are these parental units? Why it’s Jackee Harry from 227 and Tim Reid of WKRP in Cincinnati. Remember how cool he was a Venus Flytrap when he’d lean over Loni Anderson’s desk? Once more Tim would play a supporting role to a pair of twins. Sister, Sister lasted six seasons. This boxset has the dozen freshmen episodes on 2 DVDs.

JAG: The Seventh Season brings more military justice to the small screen. I mostly remember watching this show to see Catherine Bell in a uniform. Did she wear standard issue? This is the season where Bell and David James Elliott find themselves single again. There’s constant hints that they might want to file more than legal briefs. There’s a huge caseload around the globe as the Navy legal eagles solve cases wherever there’s water and trouble. In case you’re curious, JAG was on the air for 10 seasons.

Red shows what happens when you mess with a man’s dog. Actually it shows that you shouldn’t mess with the dog owned by a guy who played Hannibal Lecter (Brian Cox). Three teenage creeps hold up Cox. The casualty of their armed robbery is Cox’s dog named Red. He hunts down the kids and finds out their father is Tom Sizemore. Dad won’t make right so Cox has to given them a “spanking.” Cox gives one of those perfect subtle performances even when the violence goes over the top. You feel it when he loses it. Anyone that ever lost a dog will feel Cox’s pain. Supporting roles from Delaney Williams (The Wire‘s Sgt, Landsman), Richard Riehle (Grounded for Life) and Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) make this small film deserve a larger audience.

Return to Sleepaway Camp reminds us why it’s better to spend summers at home in the air conditioned glory of the family room playing wii sports. Any film that opens with summer campers lighting their farts gets my attention. Although there should be a warning that your butt doesn’t become a human blow torch. Ronnie (Paul DeAngelo) from the original Sleepaway Camp realizes that the gruesome deaths of folks at his new camp kinda remind him of his past. Working nearby is Ricky Backer (Jonathan Tiesten) who survived the first film. Will they find the latest terror by the lake? The camp is run by Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos‘ Big Pussy). He does well playing the clueless leader. In a strange bit of casting weirdness, Isaac Hayes plays “The Chef.” He’s wearing a red shirt, blue jeans and a white apron. Turns out this was his final film gig so in a way, he was able to “retire” the Chef character from South Park instead of having him go out as a brainwashed child predator. How many people have to die at a summer camp before parents pick up their children? Was this camp’s penalty for early withdrawal that stiff?

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TV Or Not TV: 10/27 – 11/2

Filed under: TV Or Not TV — admin @ 11:31 pm

Hello TV viewers and welcome back to a spook-tackular week of television viewing.

To be blatantly honest, I’m writing this week’s column passed my deadline. Yes, I know it is a horrible thing to do however extrenuating circumstances some times lead to this happening so it is what it is. As such I’m now writing the column while I’m pondering if I’m really going to watch another hour of Heroes tonight.

In case you haven’t caught the jist of things yet, I have a very love/hate relationship with Heroes. The show had an intriguing beginning in the first season, which lead to almost an entire season of compelling episodes. The heat was on, Heroes was on fire and when the big conflict finally came in the season one finale we we amazed by… nothing. We were given an episode that gave us all of the Heroes in one place to face down Sylar and the fight was just weak.

Fanboys around the world would mostly agree that season 2 of Heroes started off boring, didn’t get much better, and the stike induced premature season finale was just there. We were left with plenty of unanswered questions and a feeling of emptyness where greatness once lived.

We’re already deep in to the first half of this season and so far there are more elements on the show that have me scratching my head instead of being entertained. I feel that I am watching a show that doesn’t really know what its purpose is any more. It has lost its way. All the while the show is getting killed in the ratings by Dancing with the Stars (as is everything else that airs opposite of it).

What I’m really trying to say is that I’m just not sure I even care about tuning in to the show tonight and it really makes me kind of sad.

Let’s get on to the fun stuff instead, shall we?

MONDAY

If you are like me and miss seeing Tony Hale as Buster Bluth than Monday is your lucky night! It’s a Tony Hale Two-fer if you are willing to channel hop (sorry, no Bluth to be seen).

NBC – 8:00 PM: Tony Hale guest stars on tonight’s episode of Chuck as an effeciency expert brought in to shape things up in the Buy More.

ABC – 9:30 PM: Tony Hale guest stars on Samantha Who? as a doctor. Does his fake hand hold the cure to retrograde amnesia? (Darnit, sorry, he’s not Buster Bluth. His hand is real.)

TUESDAY

ABC – 8:00 PM: Part of me is a bit phased by the fact that CBS no longer has a lock on all of the Peanuts specials, but part of me is still very happy to know that even with all that has gone wrong in the world we’ve still got It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to look forward to. Is this a nice look back at a simpler time or a close study into the dementia of one little boy who believes in a benevolent pumpkin? You decide.

NBC – 8:00 PM: Apparently one contestant is going to lose more weight than an entire team of people on The Biggest Loser Families tonight. Either he really put up a sweat that week or everyone else stumbled into Sizzler.

CWÂ – 8:00 PM: It’s like EVERYTHING is on at 8 PM tonight! Anyway, tonight 90210 finally returns after the overdose cliffhanger.

WEDNESDAY

FOX – NBC – CBS – 8:00 PM: It’s the Barack Obama: American Stories 30 minute infomercial. I think SNL‘s send up is all I need to see of this, unless someone is going to sing, “Solid as Barack.”

HIST – 10:00 PM: With a show named UFO Hunters you pretty much know what you are going to get. The question is do they do it for sport or food?

THURSDAY

NBC – 9:30 PM: I’ve been waiting a long time for tonight’s 30 Rock premiere, and I’m so glad it is here. Yes, NBC, I do in fact wanna get rocked.

NBC – 10:00 PM: If I tell you that Shane West is returning to ER tonight you might scratch your head.Â If I tell you the doctor that lost his legs is returning tonight you probably haveÂ a better clue.

FRIDAY

HIST – 6:00 PM*: The Haunted History of Halloween takes a look at practices of the past that lead to costumes and candy.

TVONE – 6:00PM*: Blacula and Scream Blacula Scream shown back to back.

CBS – 8:00 PM: Halloween falls right on the air day of Ghost Whisperer. Since she can talk to ghosts they are doing something special, right? Nope.

E! – 9:00 PM: The E! network brings us the scariest Halloween special of all: Star Jones: The E! True Hollywood Story.

TMC – 9:00 PM: Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror strikes fear in my heart with the name alone.

*Check local listings just to be sure.

SATURDAY

BBCA – 4 PM E / 1PM P: You can take the American out of Gladiators, but it’s the same show. British contestants just make it more polite with their accents.

AMC – 8:00 PM: The Stanley Kubrik version of The Shining is on one day too late to make it REALLY creepy.

NBC – 11:29 PM: This one threw me for a loop, Ben Affleck is hosting SNL. Is it too much to hope for a cameo from Jimmy Kimmel?

SUNDAY

FOX – 8:00 PM: Just in time to b elate for Halloween again, the ninteenth edition of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror! hits the airwaves. This year they’ll be destroying our fond memories with their own rendition of the Grand Pumpkin. Curl up with a bowl of candy and enjoy.

TNT – 8:00 PM: Witness bad hair and big thinking puzzle solving in The Da Vinci Code.

ABC – 8:00 PM: The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team renovates a 200 year old farm house. Can you even renovate something that old?

– Will WIlkins hopes you are watching My Own Worst Enemy

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Win MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 11:27 pm

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Shout! Factory, one (1) copy of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, November 5th.

CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!

Official Rules

No member of Quick Stop Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

No Purchase necessary to win.

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

One entry per day, per person.

All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, November 5th.

The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

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Win WAGON TRAIN on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 11:18 pm

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Timeless Media, two (2) copies of WAGON TRAIN: THE COMPLETE COLOR SEASON on DVD.

Inspired by John Ford’s Western classic Wagon Master, WAGON TRAIN ran for 8 seasons on both NBC and ABC. However, only a single season of WAGON TRAIN (1957-1965) was filmed in color and WAGON TRAIN: THE COMPLETE COLOR SEASON includes all 32 of the 90 minute episodes in a stunning, library-worthy 16-DVD set. Upping the collectibility are 16 of the best black & white episodes, featuring a who’s who of guest stars and interviews with series regulars Robert Fuller (TV’s EMERGENCY!) and Denny Scott Miller.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, November 5th.

CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!

Official Rules

No member of Quick Stop Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

No Purchase necessary to win.

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

One entry per day, per person.

All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, November 5th.

The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

Comments (2)

Masters Of Song Fu #2: The Winner Revealed!

Filed under: Masters Of Song Fu — UncaScroogeMcD @ 12:09 am

We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.

To that end, we launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop. You’ll find the very first of these competitions here.

In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we’ve decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.

Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…

A week back, we sent out the call for challengers. Hundreds of you heard the call and fought for a chance to be in the initial group. 20 were selected. Of those 20, only 13 responded in time (Them’s the breaks).

Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, these challengers were presented with a very specific songwriting challenge, and given one week to complete their songs – however they saw fit, within the parameters set forth.

At the very end, there stood but one Challenger – who faced off against one Master of Song Fu.

The Master was The RiffTones, and the Challenger was Jason Morris. Both met the Final Challenge head on, and then left their creations to be judged by you, the public. At the end of the day – with a vote count of 222 to 135 – the winner is THE RIFFTONES.

As the winner, The RiffTones claim the remarkable (and potentially off-putting) bragging rights and a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes, as well as becoming the proud owner of the magnificent, one-of-a-kind MASTER OF SONG FU TROPHY, designed and handcrafted by [adult swim] superstar Dana Snyder.

Ah, but there’s also something for Jason Morris. While it’s not an “I Fought A MASTER OF SONG FU And Did Pretty Damn Well” t-shirt, he also gets a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes for making it this far. Hopefully, he’s also gained the confidence and support of you, the public, and will continue making music with the knowledge that there a whole bunch of new listeners eager to hear what the future holds.

And, since many of you have written in wondering…

SIGN-UP FOR A VERY SPECIAL ONE-OFF HOLIDAY EDITION OF MASTERS OF SONG FU WILL BEGIN ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24th, 2008.

Below, you’ll find the history of the 2nd MASTERS OF SONG FU competition…

ROUND 1 CHALLENGE

This is going to seem to be a rather straightforward challenge to kick off our second Song Fu competition. In actuality, it’s a pretty darn interesting way to give people a sense of just what your songwriting personality and style is. We’re taking a cue from a fellow named Paul Simon…

Your first challenge is to WRITE A SONG ABOUT THE MOON.

That’s it. The only other directive is that your song must run no shorter than 1 minute 45 seconds.

After one week of intense campaigning and voting, we eliminated the bottom vote-getters – leaving only 6 competitors (5th place was a tie) to move on to… ROUND 2. The remaining Challengers and our Masters were then presented with their Round 2 Challenge…

ROUND 2 CHALLENGE

Your challenge is to choose a famous inventor and craft a song proposing a “dance craze” based on either the inventor or one of his/her most well known inventions. For an idea of what we’re looking for, here’s a song proposing the ill-fated “Lurch”…

Your song must run no shorter than 1 minute 45 seconds.

Your votes were tallied, and the top two Challengers from Round 2 moved on to battle head-to-head in ROUND 3…

ROUND 3 CHALLENGE

For this Challenge, not only are we going to provide you with a theme and style, but we’re also going to give you the title. Your task is to write a song that utilizes all of the provided elements.

For this Round, we’re paying homage to the country balladeer greats ““ people like Jerry Reed, Waylon Jennings, and Roger Miller. Your task is to write a country ballad – using a backstory of your own creation ““ called “The Ballad of Rufus Amos Adams”.

Your song must run no shorter than 1 minute 45 seconds.

Well, you voted on the Round 3 Challenge HERE. You chose one Master and one Challenger to battle head-to-head in the final challenge…

FINAL CHALLENGE

THE SONG FROM (aka 70’s Cinema Pop): For this final duel between Master and Challenger, you must envision a world in which composer John Williams was never hired to write the now-iconic scores for the Lucas and Spielberg films of the 1970’s (JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, 1941, and STAR WARS). Imagine instead that the filmmakers decided to go with that other staple of the 70’s – a tailor-made pop tune. Think THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE’s “The Morning After (The Song From THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE)”, which you’ll find below. You must choose one of those 1970’s Williams-scored Spielberg/Lucas flicks and write “The Song From…” that the film never had, in the style of a 1970’s pop tune (particularly in your instrumentation).

The song must be at least 1min 45sec, and must be an original creation.

[flashvideo filename=”http://asitecalledfred.com/songfu/02song4/maureen_mcgovern-the_morning_after.mp3″ width=”460″ height=”20″ /]

And that brought us to the Final Challenge songs from both the RiffTones and Jason…

MASTERS OF SONG FU

For this edition of Song Fu, we’re bringing in two (well, 5, if you’re being technical) very special Masters who you’ll be going up against. Think of them as the iron chefs of Song Fu, and your ultimate challengers, as you’ll square off against one of them mano-a-mano in the Final Round:

THE RIFFTONES

You know ’em as the RiffTrax trio, but here at Song Fu they are the mighty RiffTones…

MICHAEL J. NELSON – Michael J. Nelson is the creator of Rifftrax.com, and is the former host and head writer of the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning Mystery Science Theater 3000. Since that time, he has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, penned a regular column for TV Guide, and authored best-selling books for both HarperCollins and Abrams.

His first book, Mike Nelson’s Movie Megacheese, thrilled critics, including Richard Schickel of Time Magazine, who said of Mike, “He’s more fun than a barrel of Val Kilmers… Smarter than a roomful of Patrick Swayzes… and almost as hilarious as Keanu Reeves.” Mike’s laugh-out-loud follow-up, Mind Over Matters, prompted Kirkus Reviews to enthuse, “From someplace called Minnesota comes a Nelson funnier than Ozzie, Ricky, Lord or Half,” and even dared to compare him to another legendary writer, saying of his Serious Speech to Business People, “[It] could easily precede [Robert] Benchley’s immortal Treasurer’s Report.” And Kirkus Reviews loved his novel, Death Rat!, saying, “Fast-paced, outrageous and funny, first-novelist Nelson’s mockery of media mendacity is as biting as La Dolce Vita or Network – only funnier!”

Mike speaks all over the country, is a frequent guest on radio and television, and along with Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy sells out theaters with his RiffTrax Live events.

KEVIN MURPHY – “I’m probably best known for portraying that ol’ squat loveable bubble-headed robot Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000. In fact I’m the only member of the cast and crew to have worked on every single episode of the series, probably because I tend to like everybody. I also got to sing at the drop of a hat and collaborated with the lovely, leggy Mike Nelson on many of the show’s songs.

Right now I’m back with Mike and Bill for www.rifftrax.com , where once again we sit in close proximity to each other and make fun of movies; unfortunately we don’t write a lot of songs… yet. To exercise my musical jollies I occasionally write and record solo and with family members, under the name The Revolutionary Communist Mountain Boys. Oh, and I’m also writing my first comic book series, symptomatic of my terminal case of Adult-onset Geekdom.

BILL CORBETT – Beloved by literally billions of people, Bill Corbett is a former writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and previously on Comedy Central. He was also a performer on the show, providing the second incarnation of the robot Crow and embarrassing himself in grand fashion as other strange characters – including the all-powerful but clueless alien The Observer, a.k.a. “Brain Guy.” Bill has always been an amateur musician (cough cough HACK cough cough), performing with garage-less garage bands, and writing / performing songs for MST3K – including the beloved-by-literally-trillions CANADA SONG. He now works with former MST3K colleagues Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy at Rifftrax.com.

Corbett is also a screenwriter and playwright. His plays have been produced at numerous theaters across the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and (seriously) Japan. He wasn’t able to attend the latter, but assumes it was a live-manga concept.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Corbett currently spends a lot of time in Los Angeles partying into the wee hours with stars like Skeet Ulrich, Harry Hamlin, and the late Red Buttons. But he actually lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife Virginia, their two young children, and a small Jack Russell Terrier who really runs the house.

He hopes someday to raise alpacas.

Official Website: www.rifftrax.com

FINAL CHALLENGE SONG: “Love Theme from JAWS (When a Man Loves a Shark)”
ROUND 3 SONG: “(The Ballad Of) Rufus Amos Adams”
ROUND 2 SONG: “Do The Ballpoint!”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Moon Shine“

THE CHALLENGERS

JASON MORRIS

I suppose I am what you could call a “Multi-Instrumentalist”. That is a nice way of saying “Jack-of-all-trades, Master-of-none”. I began playing drums as a teenager and spent a great deal of energy during my 20’s trying to “make it” in the music biz. As a drummer, I have had the opportunity to play with some pretty incredible musicians, garnering literally DOZENS of fans over the years. In 2004 I joined the band Celestial Static, and spent several years melting some face with good friends Jeremy and Julie Elzerman. Once that ran its course, I decided to spend more time locked away in my studio, writing my own songs and learning to play guitar, bass and sing. It doesn’t pay the bills, but I have a good time doing it.

Official Website: www.jason-morris.com

FINAL CHALLENGE SONG: “Take Me Home (The Song from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS)”
ROUND 3 SONG: “The Ballad Of Rufus Amos Adams”
ROUND 2 SONG: “The O’Sullivan Stomp”
ROUND 1 SONG: “The Universe Outsourced The Moon“

FINAL CHALLENGE RESULTS

[poll id=”11″]

The Fu Shall Return.

Comments (9)

October 27, 2008

Toy Box: Kotobukiya R2-D2 and C-3PO

Filed under: Toy Box — admin @ 10:48 pm

Peanut butter and jelly. Bacon and eggs. Oprah and Steadman. Some combinations are just meant to be. And that’s the way it is for those two lovable droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. As a pair they are far better than by themselves, so it makes perfect sense that when Kotobukiya set out to do one of their 1/7th scale vinyl ‘kits’ based on the characters, that they’d put them together.

For those that haven’t picked up the Kotobukiya kits before, a little background. The statues (or Nerd Hummels, as I am so often want to call them) come to your door step in pieces. You pop the arms, legs, etc together, doing your own assembly work. This process takes all of about 5 seconds tops, at least when it comes to these vinyl kits. Hot Toys makes some ‘kits’ that are far more complex, but Kotobukiya tends to stick with simple assembly designs.

I’ve wanted to add this twoferone statue to my collection for quite some time, but with a usual asking price of $90 – $120, it was always above what I was willing to pay. This week though, Things From Another World is running a terrific 50% off retail price sale on a bunch of Kotobukiya Star Wars statues, including this one. That means you can take it home for about $75, and I’ll make a special note of this when I get to my Value section in the review.

Kotobukiya R2-D2 and C-3PO

If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you’d like to see more reviews, including reviews of other Koto Star Wars statues (I just reviewed Commander Bly today!), head over to my website at Michael’s Review of the Week – Captain Toy. Now let’s see if these are the droids you’re looking for!

Packaging – ***
The boxes are designed to show off the dismembered figures as best as possible, and they do what they can. They certainly protect the pieces well enough, and they arrange them in the tray so you get a rough idea of what it might look like once they are popped together. The photos on the box show the final kit.

Sculpting – ***
The box always says 1/7th scale, but the Star Wars Kotos tend to be a lot closer to 1/6th scale than you might think. However, and most unfortunately, that’s not the case this time. These really are smaller than usual, and as you can see by the photo later in the review with the Commander Bly statue, these are really too small to use with other sixth scale figures. This is particularly true for C-3PO, but somewhat an issue for R2 as well.

Of course, they aren’t advertised to work with other sixth scale figures, but they don’t really work with the other Kotos either. And that’s pretty annoying to me, since I’d prefer if these fit in better as an overall display.

Ignoring the scale issues, the sculpts are quite good. There’s plenty of detail on both droids, and the small detail work on the various antenna, wiring and pistons on C-3PO is quite impressive. If you’re just looking for a stand alone statue of your favorite characters, you won’t be disappointed with the work here.

Another difference with these two and the usual Kotobukiya’s is that these are not solid vinyl, but hollow plastic. I’m not sure why, except perhaps that the electroplating of C-3PO’s finish doesn’t work with vinyl like it does with this kind of plastic. Still, why do it to R2? While these look good from a distance, as soon as you pick them up you get that nasty cheap feel from them, something that always bothers me.

Paint – ***1/2
While there were a few issues around the sculpt that disappointed me, the paint helped make up for some of that. The gold and silver plating on C-3PO looks terrific, with a very even, consisten, and clean appearance. There’s no seams, no sprues, nothing to break the clean surface.

The work on R2 isn’t quite as complex, but it’s also extremely high quality. I searched for slop, and found none. And I’m pretty good at finding it.

Articulation – *
At first, you might think such a low score in any category would seriously hurt the Overall score of the product. However, you have to keep in mind that this is intended to be basically a statue. And this category is ‘articulation’, something that normal statues do not have. Therefore, ANY score above a Bupkis is actually a positive thing, and will effect the Overall score in a positive way.

Now, it’s only one star, because the only articulation is the dome on R2. It can turn, allowing you to position his ‘face’ in different positions. Sure, it’s not a big thing, but it’s something.

Design – ***
Neither R2 or C-3PO are exactly dynamic characters. That left Kotobukiya with a struggle – how to make them look interesting?

They’ve done a reasonable job here, and putting C-3PO’s hand on R2’s dome (that does NOT sound right) was a good move, implying the deep friendship between the two. But otherwise, they’re just standing there. I don’t have any brilliant suggestions for how to improve on that, but that’s not my job. My job is to merely whine about it.

Value – usually **; with TFAW’s sale **1/2
Normally, you’ll spend $90 – $120 on this set, with a SRP of $150. At $100, I’d rate the pair a below average value, particularly with the hollow plastic bodies. However, if you pick up the set at the $75 TFAW price, you can bump this score up, as that is a much more reasonable value and appropriate sticker price.

Things to Watch Out For –
Take some care with C-3PO, as the smaller pieces of his body can be broken off, particularly around the neck. As you’re pushing the parts together, take care what you’re squeezing or pushing back on. Other than that, there really isn’t anything to take extra care with.

Overall – ***
This set isn’t quite as good as I’d originally hoped, being a bit small and feeling a bit cheaper than the normal Koto SW statue. It still looks fairly good on the shelf though, and I have to say that they did a wonderful job with the electro-plating on C-3PO. The R2 is also pretty well scaled to fit with the Medicom and even Sideshow Star Wars figures if you squint just right, although you can also just go with the old Hasbro version. If I were spending the $100 on it, the Overall score would have dropped another half star, but at the TFAW sale price, it’s a solid B.

Where to Buy –
There are plenty of options, but Things from Another World is having a huge 50% off retail sale right now, including this kit. Go to THIS LINK and you’ll be on the landing page showing which Kotobukiya Star Wars statues are on sale, and the coupon code will automatically be added to your cart!

Related Links –
I’ve covered a fair number of Kotobukiya statues:

– today, I have my review of the Commader Bly going up at my other site.

– there’s also the TIE Fighter Pilot, the Snowtrooper, and the Boba Fett in the Star Wars line.

– in their Indiana Jones line, there is Indy
and his pops.

Comments (1)

Bagged & Boarded 7: Halloweenus

Filed under: Bagged & Boarded — UncaScroogeMcD @ 9:43 pm

What happens when two young men let their love of movies, comic books, and all things “geek” take over their lives? They run away from their families, bringing only the most essential DVDs and comics to their secret, highly fortified underground bunker in sunny Southern California, where they start recording podcasts that will change the world.

Are they heroes?

No.

Are they geniuses?

Far from it.

Are they the future of this planet?

I sure hope not.

Simply put… Matt Cohen and Jesse Rivers are “Bagged and Boarded”.

BAGGED & BOARDED #7: Halloweenus – In which Matt and Jesse discuss the frightening subject of the Horror Genre (and they are frightened by it), Haunted Houses, and Matt has X-Tourrettes… Check it out Mon Cher.

[CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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Win SARAH VOWELL’s THE WORDY SHIPMATES!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 9:30 pm

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Riverhead Books, five (5) copies of SARAH VOWELL’s THE WORDY SHIPMATES.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, November 4th.

CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!

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The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

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Win SHREK THE HALLS on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 9:21 pm

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Dreamworks Home Video, five (5) copies of SHREK THE HALLS on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, November 4th.

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No member of Quick Stop Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

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Win WATERWORLD on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 9:15 pm

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Universal Home Video, five (5) copies of WATERWORLD on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, November 4th.

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The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

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October 26, 2008

SModcast 67

Filed under: SModcast — UncaScroogeMcD @ 11:34 pm

SModcast is the meandering palaver of a pair of dudes whose voices are so dull, they don’t deserve to be on the radio (and, hence, aren’t). Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier are SModcast.The best thing about SModcast? It don’t cost nothing.

SModcast 67: The New Centurions –

In which our heroes confront the civic perils of making a porno, debate the innocence of youth, discuss the responsibilities of parenthood, witness the genesis of a northern superhero team, and try to unravel the mystery of one boy’s vestigal gills.

[CONTENT WARNING] SModcast features harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Listener discretion is advised.

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SModcast 67 (MP3 format) – 78.78 MB

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Win POPEYE THE SAILOR: VOLUME THREE on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 7:34 am

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Home Video, two (2) copies of POPEYE THE SAILOR: VOLUME THREE on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Monday, November 3rd.

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Win THE WILD WILD WEST: THE COMPLETE SERIES on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 7:26 am

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Paramount Home Video, five (5) copies of THE WILD WILD WEST: THE COMPLETE SERIES on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Monday, November 3rd.

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Win JAG: SEASON 7 on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 7:18 am

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Paramount Home Video, five (5) copies of JAG: SEASON 7 on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Monday, November 3rd.

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No member of Quick Stop Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

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Win HOLIDAY INN on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 7:09 am

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Universal Home Video, five (5) copies of HOLIDAY INN on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Monday, November 3rd.

CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!

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No member of Quick Stop Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

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October 24, 2008

Ken P. D. Snyde-Cast #66: Make Life A Jamboree

Filed under: Ken P.D. Snydecast — UncaScroogeMcD @ 4:01 am

Ken Plume is the editor-in-chief here at FRED. He is a friend of Dana’s, as well as his arch-nemesis.

VISIT THE SNYDECAST EXPERIENCE

KEN P.D. SNYDECAST #66: Make Life A Jamboree – Ken & Dana return with an unexpected round of congratulations before featuring a very special celebrity guest, take a journey through language, go on a magical trip to an extraterrestrial mushroom acid trip, get all Muppety, and end on a jamboree. Ducks in buckets!

[CONTENT WARNING]: This podcast may contain some foul language and horribly off-color jokes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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Trailer Park: Mike Leigh

Filed under: Interviews,Trailer Park — admin @ 2:11 am

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

I was waiting patiently to speak to Mike Leigh.

It was an unexpectedly cool outside of the Hotel Valley Ho, the higher end resort-style lodgings actually looking more like a motel with all the rooms on the outside, and I was going over the questions I had after seeing the film days before.

I’m naturally more apt to not go the “What was it like working…” route with any performer or person involved with the production of a film during an interview but I was prepped that Mike Leigh is a tougher interview to some people just because you really do have to dig a little deeper than the morning show retardedness that plagues so many programs that get the opportunity to talk to great people and then squander it on things like, “Did you enjoy making the movie?”

As I reflected on what I was going to ask, the door opened and Colin Boyd walked out. He said that Mike was excellent, a great interview. However, he paused for a moment and whispered that Mike corrected him on some questions. “Be careful,” he said. It wasn’t ominous or something that caused me to rethink my questions but it did rattle me a bit. I’ve never been in the position to have someone be actively picking apart my questions in their head, make it known out loud, so I tried desperately to speak in specifics as best I could and avoid anything that could be constructed as lazy. And, as I saw the diminutive man with a thick beard, suspenders and an amiable greeting as he welcomed me into the room where we were to conduct the interview, all alone which was a different experience, he closed the door and went after it.

Yes, it gets a little awkward at times, and I left those unadulterated moments in there, but Mike seems like the kind of guy who doesn’t mind telling you how it is…and how it’s going to be. You’ve got to respect that kind of assertiveness.

CS: I think the film spoke to a few different levels, the most superficial being the positiveness of life. When you were fleshing this out, over the months of figuring out what you wanted to say, was it always the same story or during those months did you find something you weren’t expecting?

LEIGH: Well, it’s all about finding things you’re not expecting. For me, the journey of making this film is the journey of discovery as to what it is. I started with a very strong feeling, a sense of the spirit of the thing, but the journey ““ the months I spent, which is what I think you’re talking about, preparing the thing are merely arriving at the premise of the film, but it’s shooting of the film that I make it up and define it as I go along.

It’s a constant, endless harvest of feast of surprises, of discoveries, of revelations. That is what creating a piece of art is all about. So, if the question, which sort of is I suspect, has something to do with starting with a fixed notion and how much it grows or deviates from that, that really not appropriate because all you have is something nebulous and fluid and you move toward coming into existence and that, the act in itself, is where all the surprises are and decisions are made and you decide what it is ““ abstract, really is what I’m talking about.

There you have it in a nutshell. I couldn’t elaborate. Picasso once said that if you know what you’re going to do before you do it, what’s the point of doing it?

So, let’s move on.

CS: Yes, absolutely.

LEIGH: Let’s get more specific.

(Laughs)

CS: Let’s talk about Sally Hawkins.

LEIGH: You can’t get more specific than that.

CS: No, I cannot. I thought she was wonderfully effervescent on the screen. I want to speak more about her character itself, about Poppy. When you looked at it and as you were developing her… By the end, which I wasn’t expecting, I was completely amazed.

LEIGH: I’m glad you were, but of course you were. You couldn’t know. But then you know it shouldn’t be possible to talk about any movie where you expect anything. Unfortunately with all too many movies you get what you expect.

CS: Exactly. But there are some movies where you know exactly where things are going and sometimes rewards you for being that predictable.

LEIGH: That’s true.

CS: Can a woman like Poppy exist in our culture?

LEIGH: Absolutely. Absolutely. Plenty of them around, and men too, of course. It’s about, I mean, you have to mean this is a cynical world and of course it is. Look, apart from anything else Poppy is a teacher and a good teacher and you know there are millions of good teachers out there and teaching kids in that positive kind of way is an act of optimism. You are nourishing the future. Those kids are the grandparents of the 22nd century. See what I mean?

CS: Absolutely, I do.

LEIGH: So, it’s a gloomy, cynical world and we are destroying it, etc. etc. etc. but there are people out there getting on with it while we may be gloomy. And Poppy is such… That is what the film is about. So, yeah.

The truth of the matter is, apart from anything else, if I didn’t think, if I genuinely didn’t think that people like that weren’t feasible, then I wouldn’t make the film, because I made a film about life as we live it, life as it is and life with it’s real potential.

CS: And this is a move about teachers and I think Karina Fernandez deserves a lot of credit. She’s a nice punctuation to what the film is saying.

LEIGH: She’s wonderful. She’s someone I didn’t know. I got her in just to see what would happen. She’s never done flamenco at all.

CS: You’re kidding.

LEIGH: She’s not Spanish. She’s English but her father is Spanish. Sally and I were talking ““ I bring people in gradually ““ I contract them to join us but then not sure what I’m going to do with them and I said to Sally one day, we were talking about Poppy, working on Poppy, and I said maybe she needs to have another leisure. And she said I was thinking about salsa or tango. And because I like Flamenco I said “How about Flamenco?” and she said, “Yeah.”

So I sent Karina off to Flamenco lessons every day for weeks. She’s an actress not a hoofer. So we created this character and sent her off to Seville for a few days. But all the characters…we create all these characters in 3 dimensional complete with their whole back stories and life histories and all that. That’s what motivates and makes it all live. Sometimes it’s great to be able to tap into a fascinating…Wanting to channel that emotion about the man who has cheated on her.

(Laughs)

So I said, “Let’s pull it out.” Whereas in other cases, like the wonderful performance by Stanley Towsend who is the homeless guy, there’s a whole life there and you just get maybe a sense of it, what he’s doing is too discombobulated you get a sense there is a man and a woman he’s talking about there. So, she is wonderful isn’t she, Karina?

CS: Oh yes, I would never have known”¦

LEIGH: Of course you wouldn’t and I expect you haven’t seen the last of her.

CS: The homeless man scene ““ I’m glad you brought that up. I think this movie has a lot to do ““ you have multiple characters and they all are in their own orbits and we see what happens when you bring these orbits together. Could you talk about”¦

LEIGH: What that scene is about?

CS: Yes, please.

LEIGH: Of course. It’s about Poppy. It’s about openness and the ability to connect, complete ability not to be judgmental, and not to act on preconceptions, and her bravery ““ she didn’t think about being in danger. Some people say it’s naivete. No, it’s not naivete. She not concerned with that. She’s inquiring ““ “What is this?” It happens at a moment when she’s feeling more reflective perhaps. And she really connects with this guy, whoever he is, she doesn’t know. And the next scene when she goes back to the apartment when Zoe says, “Where have you been?” She doesn’t say because some things are private. It’s about something she shared with this guy. She’ll never see him again but perhaps would betray. When we were planning that scene I said to the production designer and the cinematographer, “It needs to be somewhere.”

We don’t know where we really are, and subliminally the audience needs to be pulled out of their comfort zone.

CS: I was a little frightened for her.

LEIGH: It’s about Poppy dealing with stuff. Being open. Warm. All that stuff.

CS: The whole film, she doesn’t allow anyone to alter the trajectory that she’s on.

LEIGH: I don’t know whether that’s”¦.I know what you mean you say that.

She certainly doesn’t allow anyone to get her down but I think to suggest anyone to alter her trajectory would suggest a kind of inflexibility. You can see for example the final and traumatic thing that happened with Scott again being caring and sympathetic but also firm and tough and also dealing with a kid. which she is very inexperienced in doing. I very seldom in my films have actions where someone just walks about ““ that’s not what I do, but there, toward the end when Scott drives off, you see him walking around just reflective for a while. And you know what that is. And she’s affected by it.

You can see it in the next scene but it’s only in the end, in the grander scheme of her life, the time she took a free driver’s lesson from this nutcase will pale in significance, of course it will but still, she’s affected by him in the sense that she’s obsessed because she cares. I think any sensitive person must feel someone else’s pain basically. And when Zoe says “Don’t you think we should call the police?” and she says “No, that’s not going to help him” that’s a caring, un-judgmental position she takes.

CS: She does and I see that when she sees the boys go after one another. She’s concerned and takes the steps to”¦.

LEIGH: I think it’s an important detail that they are not going after one another ““ one is attacking and the rest are victims.

CS: Yes. And she does what needs to happen in order to take care of that. I want to be sure we stay on point. The overarching theme ““ there is a lot of teachers in this film, there’s a lot about learning, those who are in charge of teaching others to do some thing. In your estimation, what is the value of teaching in general?

LEIGH: That’s too vague a question. It’s important, isn’t it?

CS: Well, Scott doesn’t care.

LEIGH: No, no, no. You said what is the value of teaching in general, and the answer is it’s important. If you want to talk specifically about Scott, that’s a different thing. What is your question actually?

CS: In relation to Scott as it pertains to Poppy.

LEIGH: What’s the question?

CS: What’s the value? Are there two different ideologies of how to teach someone?

LEIGH: Oh, I see what you mean. Obviously Scott subscribes to an old fashioned ideology that you learn by rote. But the bottom line is that Poppy is a natural, very good teacher. The flamenco teacher and hasn’t learned the number one rule of keeping your personal shit outside the classroom. Scott has no teaching ability whatsoever. He talks about it but he’s a very nervous, neurotic, isolated, frustrated and bitter individual basically.

CS: And Poppy, with her relationships with her sisters who all obviously have some issue with one another, she doesn’t ever criticize her sisters for whatever faults they have. Scott and the other sister makes mention that Poppy lives in her own world.

LEIGH: But, that is their perception. I’m not going to accuse you of saying this but one of the most stupid things against the film is because they say that then ipso facto is the case. But it is not the case. She is plainly all the things that Helen from her own insecurities is plainly isn’t and the same thing with Scott. I mean Scott says to her, “You want to be loved.” Actually, he says to her, “You had no intention to learn how to drive, you set out to reel me in.” Both her sister and Scott are talking from positions of their own insecurities and their own isolation and not seeing her for what she really is which is an open, generous, understanding, fulfilled person. So, any notion that Poppy is compensating for anything is rubbish basically.

CS: She’s gotten along just fine without any…

LEIGH: Because she’s intelligent and open and focused and you know, motivated, and committed, and serious, and caring and all those things and has a great sense of humor and has a great sense of fun.

CS: What do people see in her, you just mentioned insecurities. She’s almost a mirror to some other people to show them how they are to themselves. And I’m speaking here of Scott and I’m going to use Scott and the social worker who eventually comes together with Poppy and that relationship seems genuinely healthy and he loves her.

LEIGH: Because he is as centered and comfortable with who he is open to the world as she is and they are quite a good match I would say.

CS: Absolutely.

LEIGH: You would get the impression that they are good in the sack as well.

(Laughs)

CS: In your own estimation, the characters of, and again I’m going back to Scott because he seems so diametrically opposed to Poppy, what happens in life that Poppy retains that sense of wonder and hope and optimism that we all have as children and somehow”¦

LEIGH: This guy has never been loved. You can tell he’s had a terrible family life. There are clues. But with all due respect he’s not as bright as Poppy, he’s not as sharp and he’s isolated. People have said you know he’s like the homeless guy. No, he’s not. The homeless guy has obviously had emotional experiences. When, this homeless guy breaks out into a piece of Sinatra, he’s got romance in his soul. You can see. He’s just damaged. But this guy Scott, he’s impotent, arid, paranoid, fascist, a sad case. Nobody has ever given him a coddle. He’s desperate for it. If a woman came along, we dealt with it in the back story, he just doesn’t know how to deal with it. So, classically, he’s the kind of guy who is in the teacher kind of role from his insecurity because dominating people is the only way he can be in power. He’s the classic case. Because you get reports of the other guy giving him a hard time.

CS: Right. It wasn’t so much the student as the teacher. Now, I only have time for just one more question and want to ask about when you created this movie and went through the process of making it and putting it out there, how are you finding people responding to it? Not so much a like it or love it but, again, this is a piece of art because you put it out there and whether or not people like it or not is irrelevant, what are you getting back from people from what they are getting from the film after they have seen it?

LEIGH: A multiplicity of things. The good news is ““ OK, there are critics and there are people. Today, for example, we got a lot of rave reviews. But actually I’ve been going to a lot of screenings doing Q&A’s. To enumerate what is too much of a chore except to say there is a wide range of reactions within an overall positive reaction. Occasionally there are people say they wanted to throttle, they say they couldn’t stand her”¦

(Laughs)

I don’t get that.

CS: I don’t get that either.

LEIGH: If you don’t fall in love with her then I don’t know what you do, basically. It’s just a character ““ somebody said to me, to be stuck on a desert island with her would be great ““ yes, please. Let me know when. I’m looking forward to it.

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Win JOHN HODGMAN’s MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 12:07 am

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Dutton Books, five (5) copies of JOHN HODGMAN’s MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Friday, October 31st.

CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!

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One entry per day, per person.

All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Friday, October 31st.

The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

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October 23, 2008

Trailer Park: HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED and SALO

Filed under: Trailer Park — admin @ 11:49 pm

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

I think if I explain everything I just could not, in good conscious, recommend about this little film that’s completely overrated, overexposed and represents everything wretched about art films that try and be too clever without giving the audience anything for their patience in sitting through this dreadful slop I might just be able to tell you why the good money should be on HAPPY-GO-LUCKY.

When we meet Anne Hathaway, starring as Kym, in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED she is on the rebound. Rebounding from the dark floor of drug addiction she is trying to right her own personal plane from completely decimating any little humanity she might have left as it careens towards an ultimate crash course. She is saved, however, by a 12-step program. She seems committed to her recovery and to making amends for past abuses that we aren’t really let in on as an audience until it’s theatrically appropriate. You see, the whole film is supposed to be, as the title says, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Rachel. Instead, what we get is the impish and selfish behaviors of Kym as she desperately seeks attention, any attention, from those who have no doubt been through an emotional corkscrew as we learn even more about her past transgressions against her family. This is one of the problems that suffers at the hands of Jonathan Demme’s overwrought, overacted, melodramatic, bombastic piece of stillborn cinema.

The reason why no one seems to be pointing out that this emperor has no clothes is that the movie seems steeped in a artful sheen that, itself, is screaming to be loved. The entire movie almost all takes place at Kym’s childhood home and the bizarre events that transpire there for their wedding weekend should be enough reason for you to steer clear of this film. Case in point, never mind that the movie’s best man to the dreadfully acted husband-to-be, Tunde Adebimpe, who looks like Kanye West but without the swagger, charisma or anything else endearing, fucks Kym in the basement of her house just hours before the rehearsal dinner moments, just moments, after formally introducing themselves to one another, both attending the same weekly 12 step meeting. We don’t know for sure whether he’s romantically linked to the bridesmaid who was, moments before Kym decides to have a meltdown about it, supposed to be the maid of honor but the casualness of this intimacy which isn’t is exactly what’s wrong with this picture.

We’re supposed to somehow care for these characters, I think that’s the point of a good story, connect with one of them at least, and be happy for the couple getting married, but it is one strange person after the next that we’re introduced to in this movie. We have a live band, friends of the bride and groom, that keeps playing all weekend in anticipation of their big day, at the house. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a running joke but they are the most grating, annoying musical group put to celluloid this year. Their playing borders on unbelievable, unbelievable that any normal person would oppress everyone else in the home, seemingly throughout the whole film, with their practicing. You have a rehearsal dinner, the likes of which I have never even remotely come close to experiencing, that literally takes its time getting through to the end.

I don’t know if Demme forgot to pay his editor, thus feeling like he didn’t cut an ounce of material from this scene, but since brevity wasn’t a chief concern of his and decided to treat this dinner as if it were one long tracking shot it is tough to sit through. As well, almost a companion piece to this, we get an obnoxiously designed and executed wedding reception that is so pretentious and unbelievable in its scope and size that I am loathe to even praise it for trying to be different. There’s a difference between different and interesting and these moments, filled with all sorts of hipsters, people much too cool for anyone’s school (especially one of the groom’s buddies who gives his toast rocking a pair of sunglasses) but, frankly, it is hard to get past the forced bohemianisms many of these players exude.

Specifically, one of the more surprising disappointments is Bill Irwin. He’s so adept, and could run circles around some of the youthful screen actors who wouldn’t know how to carry themselves appropriately on a real stage like Bill has over the years, but yet he turns in a performance that is overwrought and melodramatic at moments that you wonder if we’re supposed to laugh or be horrified by what he considers to be dramatic acting during some key moments in this film. If this serves as any indication of his strengths on film maybe he should just stick to playing Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street. As well, Debra Winger is the real disaster of this film. Playing the part of a disassociated mother who wants us to believe that her wayward daughter Kym is less deserving of the affection she gives her “successful” daughter Rachel doesn’t work. By the end of the film she’s merely a skid mark on a disaster of what should have been a movie about how one family turns tragedy into something new, something worth making a film about. But, instead, the film grates and limps towards its final minutes, oppressing the audience through a long, drawn out wedding reception that, if anyone is being honest, no one ever wants to see unless you’re the bride and groom. The reasons for including such a long sequence are not valid if the point is to illustrate something more than letting the audience sit through a fake reception, with fake people, with no real point but to be lengthy and self-indulgent.

Anne Hathaway, though, deserves some credit for turning in a performance that is genuinely a highlight to the other roles she’s ever had to play on film and, setting aside some of the more awkward moments (read here: her many outbursts), she does shine. She does. The film is not a complete waste and, if it were not for Anne’s dedication to making this character seem more real than the stiffs she’s surrounded with, is better for her being in it.

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY

There is something to be said about the power of a positive attitude.

We could talk endlessly about whether people who seem perpetually happy are really delusional or are deluding themselves. In this film, written and directed by Mike Leigh, the real genuineness about Poppy (played deftly and tenderly by Sally Hawkins) when we first meet her is that she has not just a great attitude about life and its cruelties that seem to pepper our daily existence but that she simply has the closest thing to Leibnizian optimism that hasn’t been seen since Voltaire’s novel Candide. Amazingly enough her joie de vivre doesn’t become annoying and isn’t obnoxious. Poppy knows how to navigate through any situation and instead of letting water find its lowest point she elevates everyone else around her. For the most part.

Now, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, Leigh is smart and sharp enough to make Poppy a strong independent woman who doesn’t need anyone in her life to determine how she should feel, and she is equipped with the kind of humor that could be taken a few different ways. In one way, she is a bastion of delight to her friends who love her; she’s the kind of friend who would pick you up anywhere at any time. The other way her soulfully bright outlook on such mundane activities as learning how to drive a car is taken, judging by the reaction of her driving instructor, Scott (played with wicked precision by Eddie Marsan), Poppy acts like a life mirror for those she comes in contact and interacts with. To wit, her humor about things is genuinely meant to soothe, to trigger some sense of ease, but her very being reminds others who find themselves at rotten opposites to Poppy’s positivity that they are not good people. Again, it’s so simplistic to make the observation but for lack of a better metaphor she is like a walking piece of art; people have reactions to it, for good or bad, depending on how they interpret her.

Hawkins’ performance, as I heard one person explain, could be likened to the supposition of what it would be like if the jovial best friend in all the films that have come out in years past were given her own film. In a way that’s a perfectly apt comparison and one I would agree with up to the point where she stops, however brief, being the unstoppably positive person and comes to the aid of a young schoolboy who is getting beaten in the schoolyard. As a teacher she is unmistakably compassionate and the subsequent moments where we meet a social worker, Tim (Samuel Roukin), who comes in to talk to the child, I half expectedly waiting to have this movie turn into usual Hollywood territory where we learn there is something sinister afoot and this social worker guy and Poppy team up to get to the damn bottom of things, things end with Tim finding out the core of what’s wrong and then works off-camera to resolve the issue. It’s in the moment where Poppy shows her sensitivity as a human being, the dedication to the children who have been placed in her care, and Hawkins’ range as a sophisticated actress that understands her role and embraces all its facets. The way that Tim and Poppy come together, and how Tim responds quite favorably to Poppy’s embrace of life, seems perfectly believable in that Leigh earns the moment these two people share with one another.

Conversely, the same dedication and jovialness she displays in her classroom with the young kids she teaches during the week acts like an oppressive force as Scott sees Poppy in a complete and different way. Poppy’s humor and genialness is interpreted quite terrifyingly by Scott who has obvious emotional issues that at first don’t seem like they have anything to do with her. Poppy thinks the things that happen with Scott, for instance when he chats about the miserable students that he has to endure, are simply random. Scott makes his own misery and this is another aspect of Leigh’s movie that is so powerful; it’s not enough to just say “Be happy” but, Leigh seems to be saying, if I could be so bold as to make the assertion, your misery is your own making.

Life is hard and scraggly, yes, and there is a moment that Poppy has with a homeless man that is at the same time tense, scary and completely disarming, but there is just something uplifting about the moment when Poppy enters the homeless person’s world willingly to try and understand, to help. Again, she doesn’t suffer any fools gladly but the response she has to the events that happen to her is what makes this film so different than anything you’ll see this year. You want her to react in ways we’ve been condition to react to tense emotional situations but she gladly disappoints you every single time in taking not just the higher road but the road less taken by many people in the world. She is not the Pangloss from Candide of her day but, rather, Candide himself who eventually looks at the hardships that have happened in life and confesses he must, “cultivate her garden”; it’s the recognition that, yes, these things will happen, and very unpleasant things will continue to happen but let your good soul be the better person.

For sure, and as well, you have to credit the performances of Karina Fernandez who chews up screen time with an absolutely gripping scene as Poppy decides to take a flamenco dancing class and gets an introduction that no one has probably ever received and Stanley Townsend as a tramp who manages to shift the whole tone of the film for a few gripping moments.
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Not Worth Revisiting: SALO by Raymond Schillaci

Some Movies You Don’t Have to See

Christopher played a cruel joke on me. He went to Borders and purchased the Criterion Collection of Salo, The 120 Days of Sodom, and dared me as a film lover to view it before him. He herald it with praise ““ of course, this is only hearsay ““ he was like a little lemming ready to jump off the cliff. Well, I saved his ass and suffered through 145 minutes of literal torture involving sodomizing, fecal obsession, rape, old men and women getting their rocks off with disgusting stories that could just about turn anyone’s stomach and that is just at a glimpse of this dispassionate piece of psuedo-art.

Why did I see this movie? Not to be unfair to Mel, but I felt the same way when I walked away from The Passion. Two hours of torture. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the religious implications to “The Passion”. So to some (or many ““ the box office numbers prove that) there was a deep sincerity to it all that really needed no average story-telling techniques. But to those of us not of the religious persuasion it was an exercise in nausea. That is the only comparison that I will draw with those two movies. Many will see the redeeming value in “The Passion” while “Salo” is void of it.

Some movies should just not be made. You feel dirty afterwards and it ruins 2 hours of your life, if not more, for what it has done to your psyche. As well done as some of them may be, they manage to cross the taboo line that makes you feel how unnecessary these people are to the film community. Their talents wasted on something so vile, one wishes to burn the film and ask the artists to go back and create something more palatable. Now don’t get me wrong. I think you may know from some of my reviews that I appreciate deep and avant garde films. I have sung the praises of Jodorowsky, Scorsese and Lynch. But for the life of me I can’t understand anybody putting themselves through the likes of “Old Boy” “Pink Flamingos” or “Salo”. As far as who wins out most disturbing and voted closest to want to burn in hell ““ Salo takes the number 1 spot and so does Christopher and Criterion for aiding and abetting anyone to try an view this disturbing onslaught on the senses. This is not a movie for one to own, let alone rent.

I’m not in the minority on this one folks. Many have damned this film. Check out the reviews on Amazon.com. A few sickos out there have praised it as a masterpiece for its imagery and daring. I say, “Get a life!” We have seen similar imagery in films from past masters done much better. Any amateur film historian could recognize the influences of Kubrick, Fellini and perhaps Bergman. Yes, the decision to leave nothing to the imagination may be considered daring, but so was getting Divine to eat poodle shit in one disgusting take in “Pink Flamingos”. Is it art? I don’t think so.

This is a story from the Marque de Sade and has all the earmarks of his disgusting fetishes. This is a tale reveling in the history of four powerful fascists men in Northern Italy, during WWII, who kidnap eighteen young people (men & women) and put them through physical and emotional torture. The lucky ones commit suicide early while the others endure stomach-churning stories from perverted old men and women, brutal rape, eating and bathing in human excrement over and over again, detailed visceral torture and eventually death, only to have two young fascist men waltz to the sounds of agony.

There is no redeeming value to this film. It’s four lead characters start off repulsive and go downhill from there. This film makes “Eyes Wide Shut” & “Clockwork Orange” look like a piker for perversion. But those films actually had far more appeal. Yes, the film captures the decadence of the period, but who really wants to relive that. Some may argue the point that such films like “Platoon” or “Schindler’s List” have been labeled as masterpieces exposing atrocities set upon the human spirit. That is correct, but they also had a redeeming value that rose above the events themselves. Pasolini’s “Salo” has no desire to take what it may consider as the easy route. Instead it shoves your face into it, makes you feel like an outsider, forced to subject one’s self to the humility all the actors have put themselves through.

What a nightmare this movie is and I curse Criterion, Christopher and myself for the viewing displeasure. I urge all not to even rent this. And, if you are offered to see it for free, beat the hell out of the person who offers it to you. I have urged Christopher to shred this DVD and rid it from our lives. By the way, it took me 3 sittings to get through this atrocity. I now have to bath myself in lime and get a good spraying of Lysol. Maybe then I will feel half way human again.

God, I hope my family forgives me.

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EXCLUSIVE: Quick Stop Entertainment Screening of Changeling

Filed under: Contests — admin @ 11:47 pm

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

For those of you caught in the lonely desert wasteland that is the Southwest and wonder why those on east and west coast get all the early screenings I am here to say that you now have an advantage to be living in Bumwad, America.

I have passes galore for Angelina Jolie’s CHANGELING and it’s playing at 7:00 p.m. in Tucson (where my personal favorites CAN’T FIND ME LOVE and REVENGE OF THE NERDS was filmed), Albequerque (where one this year’s best comedies, HAMLET 2, was put to celluloid) and Phoenix (RAISING ARIZONA, anyone?).

So, come one, come all and if you want a pass just shoot me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com. It’s as easy as that.

Here’s the synopsis for those who don’t know:

Clint Eastwood directs Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich in a provocative thriller based on actual events: Changeling. In the film, Christine Collins’ (Jolie) prayers are met when her kidnapped son is returned. But amidst the frenzy of the photo-op reunion, she realizes this child is not hers. Facing corrupt police and a skeptical public, she desperately hunts for answers, only to be confronted by a truth that will change her forever.

Los Angeles, 1928: On a Saturday morning in a working-class suburb, Christine said goodbye to her son, Walter, and left for work. When she came home, she discovered he had vanished. A fruitless search ensues, and months later, a boy claiming to be the nine-year-old is returned. Dazed by the swirl of cops, reporters and her conflicted emotions, Christine allows him to stay overnight. But in her heart, she knows he is not Walter.

As she pushes authorities to keep looking, she learns that in Prohibition-era L.A., women don’t challenge the system and live to tell their story. Slandered as delusional and unfit, Christine finds an ally in activist Reverend Briegleb (Malkovich), who helps her fight the city to look for her missing boy. Based on the actual incident that rocked California’s legal system, Changeling tells the shocking tale of a mother’s quest to find her son, and those who won’t stop until they silence her.

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Weekend Shopping Guide 10/24/08: World Knowledge!

Filed under: Shopping Guides — UncaScroogeMcD @ 11:24 pm

The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

As dense as a diamond and just as exquisite, the second volume of world knowledge written by the world’s FOREMOST EXPERT on ALL THAT IS KNOWABLE (if not factual) and the possessor of soft hands and a baby’s face (the former per our handshake, the latter per Ricky Gervais), John Hodgman, is now available for purchase from your favorite book emporium. More Information Than You Require (Dutton, $25.00 SRP) picks up where The Areas Of My Expertise left off – literally – and presents the reader (us) with learned knowings rare, surreal, useful, and useless, as well as 700 Mole Men (one of which bears a familiar name) and CHARTS! Lots and lots of CHARTS! How can you not want this book? THERE ARE CHARTS!

It may have an unfortunate name, but I can’t stop playing around with my Ball of Whacks ($29.99). It’s not really a puzzle, it’s not really a game – it’s just a fun, thought-provoking, creative diversion in the form of a geodesic ball comprised of 30 pyramidal pieces (with 180 internal rare earth magnets) that you can rearrange however you’d like. It’s fun.

How time flies. It was announced that the 6th volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$64.98 SRP) would be the last before the Looney Tunes collections morph into a new form, and they’ve certainly gone out with a bang. Literally, as it turns out, since most of the cartoons are those produced during World War II, many of which are rarely – if ever – seen on TV nowadays due to issues with ethnic stereotyping. The cartoons are presented here in their historical context, and the set is a must-have for animation aficionados. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, a spotlight on vocal legend Mel Blanc, 2 Looney tunes TV specials, rarities from the vaults, and more. As usual, for those just wanting to show cartoons to the kids without the bonus goodies, there’s the stripped down Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 6 (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). And no, none of the controversial shorts are on the kid-friendly set.

There are some flaws here and there, but I was incredibly impressed with The Incredible Hulk (Universal, Rated PG-13, DVD-$34.98 SRP). Whoda thunk that, oh, just being faithful to the character and its history would be the right way to go? WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT SUCH A BIZARRE NOTION WOULD BE TRUE? You know, besides intelligent people who aren’t Avi Arad or Tom Rothman. This flick erases the abysmal Ang Lee Hulk from memory, and sets a redo template I can only hope will soon be applied to Fox’s bastardized Fantastic Four and X-Men. The 3-disc special edition features an audio commentary, deleted scenes, making-of featurettes, and more.

As of fan of Kevin Smith’s live performances (captured in the two previous Evening With… sets), I find it quite a feat that his latest – Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith (Genius, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) – accomplishes the not-so-small feat of being even more enjoyable than what’s come before. Recorded on his birthday in his hometown of Red Bank, NJ, the Q&A/performance turned into a marathon session that’s been condensed down to a solid almost 4 hour cut. If that weren’t enough, the 2-disc set is loaded with over an hour of deleted scenes.

It was only a matter of time before the classic James Bond flicks made their high definition debut, and we’ve got a clutch of 6 to ring in the holiday season. You can whet your Blu-Ray Bond appetite with the fully restored Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, For Your Eyes Only, Live & Let Die, and Die Another Day (MGM, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP each). While all of the bonus features are basically those found on the previous standard DVD special edition sets, many of the documentaries have been remastered in high definition. By all means – fire up the player, pull over the ottoman, and have yourself a mini-marathon.

As the classic films are hitting Blu-Ray and Quantum Of Solace is about to hit theaters, Daniel Craig’s first turn as James Bond gets a radically updated spin with a 3-disc Collector’s Edition of Casino Royale (Sony, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.95 SRP). The new bonus features include a pair of commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, storyboard sequences, and more – in addition to the original releases special features. A Blu-Ray edition ($38.96 SRP) is also available, with the same bonus materials – you know, just so your Bond Blu-Ray shelf won’t be incomplete.

Ah, but that’s not the only version of Casino Royale in existence – the swinging 60’s version of Casino Royale (MGM/UA, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) gets a 40th anniversary edition with a new audio commentary, a making-of documentary, the original theatrical trailer, and a photo gallery.

Round out your big Bond weekend with the musical journey The Best Of Bond… James Bond (Capitol, $24.98 SRP) – the latest in a long line of compilations featuring the pop title tunes from the Bond series. This one ups the game by adding a previously unreleased version of the “James Bond Theme” by John Arnold, plus a bonus DVD featuring 6 music videos and a documentary on the Music of Bond.

Following up their circumnavigatory trip in Long Way Round, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman take to their bikes again for a more vertical trip in Long Way Down (EMI, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), which finds them traveling from Britain to Cape Town. Naturally, they encounter just as many obstacles as before – and many fascinating people and places. The 3-disc set features all 10 episodes, plus additional footage, a photo gallery, route maps, and a documentary about their first trip to Africa.

Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd was originally supposed to make it to high-definition earlier this year – but it was slotted for the now-deceased HD-DVD format. You can now get it in spiffy Blu-Ray (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), containing all the same bonus features as the standard release, but in HD.

It’s time to mark another TV show off the list, as the fifth and final season of The Incredible Hulk (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) makes its way to DVD. The 2-disc set features all seven episodes, plus a retrospective featurette with the creator Kenneth Johnson, and a gag reel.

It’s low budget and quirky, and that’s probably why I enjoyed Birds Of America (First Look, Rated R, DVD-$28.98 SRP), which focuses on a quirky family (Matthew Perry, Ginnifer Goodwin, & Ben Foster) and the stresses of sibling relations. Think of it as a more accessible Royal Tenenbaums. Give it a spin.

I have a good friend who has been eagerly anticipating the release of U2’s legendary live performance at the famous Red Rocks amphitheater… And he’s been waiting for years, and years, and years, as the release was bogged down in a seemingly unfixable legal kerfuffle. Well, something must have happened, because U2: Under A Blood Red Sky (Universal, $34.98 SRP) is finally available, featuring a DVD of the Red Rocks concert, as well as the live album. My friend can finally rest easy.

Though you would expect Neil Young’s film about the Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young “Freedom Of Speech Tour”, DÃ©jÃ Vu (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$14.98 SRP), to be a nostalgia piece, it’s actually a poignant portrait of a band in search of relevance, and also confronting their age and dwindling vocal skills. The latter part of that assessment isn’t really addressed in the film, but it’s all I could think about while watching it. Thankfully, though, they aren’t as bad as CSN was during their recent Colbert Report appearance. Bonus features include music videos and the film’s trailer.

The Disney Channel can keep their creepy Jonas troika, as Nickelodeon sports the much wilder, crazier, and younger Naked Brothers Band (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP), whose complete second season is now available. The 2-disc set features all 10 episodes, plus featurettes, music videos, and more.

New faces! More cat fights! More greed! The 80’s are still alive in the second volume of Dynasty: Season 3 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$35.98 SRP). The 3-disc set features all 12 episodes, and more than enough hair-pulling and snarkniness to fill your cup.

If Two And A Half Men is TV comfort food, then According To Jim (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) must be the box of Pizza Rolls you secretly microwave in the dead of night, and whose box you hide in the trash. And, like all secret shames, it persists to this day. You can, however, now own the complete first season on DVD. The 4-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus audio commentaries, interviews, featurettes, and a gag reel.

Well, when you’ve got a title like My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP), you pretty much know what to expect… Ponies. And Christmas. And minty-ness. And there’s also a My Little Pony holiday figurine. The perfect gift for my little cousin.

So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

-Ken Plume

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Win ANIMAL HOUSE on DVD!

Filed under: Contests — UncaScroogeMcD @ 3:39 am

We’re giving away, in conjunction with Universal Home Video, five (5) copies of ANIMAL HOUSE: 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION on DVD.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Thursday, October 30th.

CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!

Official Rules

No member of Quick Stop Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

No Purchase necessary to win.

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

One entry per day, per person.

All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Thursday, October 30th.

The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

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