FRED Entertainment

September 16, 2011

Trailer Park: REBIRTH, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, PROM, BAMBI II, COUGAR TOWN, PURE LEGEND Giveaway, and More!

Filed under: Trailer Park — admin @ 4:12 am

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on TWITTER under the name: Stipp

TRUE LEGEND – GIVEAWAY

trueThe name Yuen Woo Ping should strike fear into the hearts of anyone looking to challenge a man more than talented than he is at creating something truly mind blowing when it comes to choreographing fight sequences that have soul, a spirit of their own. Off on his own, then, his latest feature TRUE LEGEND looks to synergize his knowledge of what makes great action, behind the scenes, and puts it all out in open as director of this bonanza of fists and kicks. A movie about two brothers locked in true mortal combat, this is a movie I saw months ago and just loved for its spirit and dedication to simply getting things right when it comes to showcasing true action.

To that end, here’s Yuen talking about how you teach actors to fight, specifically how he did it on this feature. It’s fascinating to watch but, more importantly, it’s insightful to hear him philosophize about the nature of theatrical combat.

So, if you would like to win a copy of this film just send me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll put you into the running to win a copy of your own. Good luck!

ABOUT THE FILM:

“The real true legend here is Yuen Woo Ping…a man whose action choreography defines the post-Bruce Lee era of martial-arts cinema. Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Sammo Hung, among countless others, owe him their careers.”
– David Fear (Time Out New York)

“True Legend opens with one of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen.”
– Phillip French(The Observer)

FROM THE RENOWNED MARTIAL ARTS CHOREOGRAPHER YUEN WOO PING COMES THE FIGHT EPIC

TRUE LEGEND

AVAILABLE ON DVD & BLU-RAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Martial Arts Idols VINCENT ZHAO, MICHELLE YEOH and JAY CHOU Star Opposite DAVID CARRADINE in His Last Film Role

LOS ANGELES, CA (August 23, 2011) – From Indomina Releasing and Director Yuen Woo Ping (lead martial arts choreographer of The Matrix Trilogy, Kill Bill Volumes I and II andthe Academy Award®-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) comes the martial arts epic, True Legend, available on Blu-Ray/DVD on September 13, 2011. The timeless battle between good and evil is at the center of True Legend, which will be distributed by Vivendi Entertainment.

After years of blockbuster success as one of the most distinguished martial arts choreographers in the world, Yuen Woo Ping stepped back into the director’s chair, after a 15-year absence, to make True Legend. By blending his famed, time-honored wuxia style with high-intensity, computer generated sequences, he has managed to create some of the most brilliant and captivating fight scenes ever filmed for the screen.

SYNOPSIS

Su Can’s (Vincent Zhao) respectable life is obliterated when his vengeful brother, Yuan (Andy On), returns from war armed with the deadly Five Venom Fists. Weakened but not destroyed, Su Can learns a never-before-seen form of martial arts: the Drunken Fist. Armed with this new power, he returns home to honor his family through retribution by taking on his brother in a battle to become the ultimate warrior. Packed with the distinct fighting styles of director Yuen Woo Ping, the film stars martial arts legends Vincent Zhao, Michelle Yeoh, Jay Chou and David Carradine in his final screen performance.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

Five Original Featurettes
Two Storyboard to Scene Sequences
Music Video
International Trailer
Aspect ratio: 16×9 2.35 Widescreen Version
Sound: Manadarin 5.1 Dolby Digital, English Stereo
Subtitles: English, French

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BELLFLOWER INTERVIEW – EVAN GLODELL, JESSIE WISEMAN, TYLER DAWSON

bellflower-movie-poster-02-411x600This is one of those films that will not only light up your life if you see it on the big screen but it’s a movie, I am convinced, will have a glorious life when it come out on home video.

Bellflower

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: When you wrote the story the first time I was drawn to the idea that you just left it. And said, I’ll get back to it and then you looked at it again and said this is not what I really want it to be what I want to try to grab out some of the essence of it. What was it like when you came back and what did you see you had to do?

EVAN GLODELL: I wrote the first version of the script almost intuitively, not really knowing what I was doing in kind of in kind of like an intense phase, right? And then, it mostly sat and I occasionally made notes on it and stuff over the years. And over the years, I was planning on making it ““ even after it was years ““ I was still looking for things like I’d see a car and I needed a car and I said, OK, I’ll buy that car because that’s the car that will fit in the movie. I was driving it. But when I had the script back out to do the rewrite the question was what was the biggest thing that needed work?

CS: Right.

GLODELL: It was, I don’t know what the word is for it, but the perspective maybe. In the first version I think it was like this thing where my character was totally innocent and he had this thing done to him like God had sent this woman just for him and he is like why did you do this? This is terrible. I had to get older and learn some things and I came back to the script. I know that something about the script is important to me but it reads really one-sided, almost like a joke. So that was the biggest thing I was working on all the way up until it was done. I was always trying to look at my flaws from the character side to make it more ““ at least the relationship between mine and her characters. Me and him I think it was always the way it was supposed to be, it wasn’t as confused but it was me and the girl. It was more of a study of how it played out but maybe not the biggest thing in the movie.

WISEMAN: I think that was you just growing up yourself, when you were able to let stuff go and take responsibility.

GLODELL: Yea, it may not be the biggest thing in the movie but it was the biggest thing I was working on.

CS: What is that process like as an independent filmmaker when you have the initial contact with the actors you want to be in your film, meeting someone for the very first time and say, “Would you like to be in my movie?”

evanglodellbellflowerportraits2011sundanceozusmsqlxvzlGLODELL: I didn’t have to have that conversation with Jessie because I met her as an actress when I first moved into LA and worked on tons of some really short films and crazy things and I think all the weird ones had ideas that went into Bellflower so it was always going to be her to play that role. But then I saw Tyler ““ here’s the story ““ Tyler knew who I was but I didn’t know who Tyler was. So I saw him in a play and said I want that guy for his part.

DAWSON: We had a mutual friend who knew Evan ““ he said I know this guy who has a script and is making a movie.

WISEMAN: He’s weird.

(Laughs)

DAWSON: So in my mind, being an actor in LA out of work in my mind it was a movie that was ready, had funding, was going to be shot and I was like how am I going to go out and meet this director and get this role? So that was in my mind before I met Evan and then so I was in this play which was ridiculous luckily and we sort of hit it off and then it turned out the movie was a script and there was no funding.

GLODELL: So then essentially we started working on other projects over the years and we just worked and I know in the back of our minds we knew we always wanted to make this movie. So I guess it didn’t take much convincing because we “¦.

DAWSON: Or the convincing was done over the course of the play.

WISEMAN: He tricked him!

(Laughs)

GLODELL: When the time finally came to do the movie I think both me and you had that conversation and I was like this is actually happening now. Are you guys still onboard?

DAWSON: I actually thought it wasn’t real. They had a hard time convincing me because I knew there was no funding and I was like how are we going to go into production on a feature film without any money? And they were like, no, no, no”¦.I was living out of town at the time”¦just come to LA and we’ll shoot the movie. And I was like, “what?” I couldn’t comprehend it. And Vince, our producer who hadn’t met me at the time was pissed because he couldn’t get me to come to LA.

GLODELL: He wasn’t the only one but”¦.

(Laughs)

TYLER DAWSON: But everyone was pissed and then they tried to re-cast me so that I almost not even in the movie because I was being stubborn. And finally I don’t know what changed, you just called me and convinced me.

GLODELL: Yes. We had that conversation it just wasn’t in the beginning.

DAWSON: It was when I was already committed but had moved to Canada.

CS: Really?

DAWSON: Yes, I’m from Vancouver so I had been living up there for a little bit. So it wasn’t like I was just in town and could go shoot. I needed to fly down and take time off work. So I guess it did take some convincing. But, I’m happy they convinced me.

CS: So, the 90-day shoot? Now it’s been 3 years ago in the can?

GLODELL: It was 3 years right now we were in the middle of that shoot, yeah.

CS: Can you talk about that? You guys knew you made the movie, you didn’t realize (maybe you did) as you were making it that this was going to be one hell of a movie but time goes on and you’re obviously doing other things and thinking, “Well, maybe it won’t be coming out after all…”

DAWSON: I know for me, we literally have been shooting pick up shots. We shot for 90 days and then we’re doing pick up shots for about 2 ½ years. So all the people who knew me all they knew was that I kept flying to LA all the time to film this movie. And then 4 years passed and people were like, you’re still making that movie?

(Laughs)

evanglodellbellflowerportraits2011sundance2znfzptzwnulDAWSON: And I was like, yes. And they said, well what’s going on with that? And I’d just say we’re still making it. I know for me there was a time I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to it and for a brief moment I was well, if nothing else we have made a time capsule of our early 20’s and I thought I’d maybe pull out this movie when I was 70 and show it to my grandkids and that would be the end of it. It would just be a keepsake for us in a way.

WISEMAN: At the very least we just wanted like a DVD of it. We’re just crazy and nobody’s going to like it.

DAWSON: And then ironically for me I finally got a copy of it and showed it to some friends in Vancouver. A lot of my friends didn’t even know I was an actor or anything. And then a week later we got into Sundance. It was just perfect timing and super exciting. It literally came out of nowhere for all of us. Really didn’t expect this to happen. Super exciting.

CS: And Oscilloscope picking it up ““ They’ve really got an eye for brilliant material that just doesn’t fit anywhere else.

WISEMAN: Isn’t that amazing? It’s so cool that they get it.

GLODELL: They were in the movie more than any of us so they are going for it and we’re going for it.

CS: Now that it’s done and over are you satisfied that you can compartmentalize this party life and move on.

DAWSON: It must be like that for you?

GLODELL: Yes, I’ve been working on stuff through the whole thing. As time goes on the more I was editing ““ like hard drives gets edited because space fills up. I was editing random files, not just random files like I put in more things ““ when I started out I had two drives and now it’s like 11 drives. Now I have to put them all together, link them, and switch power slides ““ they are supposed to work. I work on this one because it’s just a tweakie thing and then they run into multiple USB hubs and it’s a nightmare. Everywhere in my life the most important thing in my life, for years now, has been these bags and bags of hard drives.

DAWSON: You should see how it carries it around.

GLODELL: I’m super unorganized and I can’t organize them so they just get bigger and bigger and bigger. I wanted to burn that pile of hard drives after we delivered the final movie. I won’t but I’m going to store them away and forget about them.

DAWSON: I just want to throw this in there ““ it was awesome when we would go to mix sound and stuff here would be Evan loading 12 hard drives into just a garbage bag ““ like all the wires and everything. It was the most important thing in our lives. “OK, let’s go”

(Laughs)

GLODELL: I think for all of us we’re all excited to be working again because it was an amazing experience and it was exciting. We’re all anxious to work again because that’s what we love. I know we’ll all be happy ““ I know that Bellflower will be a huge part of our lives and obviously we’ve become like a little tight-knit family but we’ll be happy to put that away and move on to something else.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS – DVD REVIEW

x-men-fc-tee02This is the long and short of it: BUY THIS MOVIE.

I haven’t been much, as of late, down to own films as I simply don’t have the enthusiasm to pour over every last detail of a production I simply was lukewarm on or thought was OK. Especially when it comes to summer films, this has been troubling. There just hasn’t been a movie that made me sit up, pay attention, and love the fact that big blockbusters exist for a reason.

That reason is X-MEN: FIRST C.LASS.

If any of you were down on the last installment of the mighty mutants, Lord knows I was, there couldn’t be any better reason to listen to a plea begging you to give this franchise another look. Think of X3 like a mulligan, a wayward shot that didn’t quite hit the pin. What Matthew Vaughn was able to do was essentially dismiss almost everything that has come before it to create something truly unique and insightful.

Seeing Charles Xavier and Magneto when they were spry young men, idealistic, and not consumed with a battle that eventually overcame them both was not only a refreshing angle but the way in which the story was told more than enough sold me again on the idea that this is a viable property that deserves to be developed even more.

Michael Fassbender is the true standout here, gnawing on every scene he’s given, as well as James McAvoy and Kevin Bacon (who turns in quite a ripping performance) who treat their roles not as something to be done bombastically or with a sense of false bravado. There is an earnestness with which everyone knows the role they’re playing and they’re not out to be obnoxious, they’re out to be as real as possible considering the circumstances and that’s where Vaughn’s X-MEN installment really shines. Like in X2, there is something threatening out there and they all know that even though they’re possessed with these powers something could go terribly wrong.

The movie works on so many levels but, as a summer action movie, it delivers so much more than just the chance to see Magneto when he was young, this is your chance to see The X-Men as if they really existed.

More details about the film:

LOS ANGELES (July 19, 2011) ““ Before they were superheroes, the fate of humanity depended on an extraordinary group of youngsters who went on to become X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. Based on the international bestselling Marvel Comics franchise, this box office hit bursts onto Blu-ray and DVD Friday, September 9 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. For the first time ever, “X-Men” fans will have the power to choose a side between Professor X and Magneto with two versions of premium collectible Blu-ray packaging. Also exclusively on Blu-ray, fans receive access to over two hours of special interactive features PLUS ten Marvel “X-Men” Digital Comics including a never-before-seen “X-Men: First Class” backstory – redeemable through each Blu-ray’s unique packaging code.

Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Kick Ass) tells the true origins of the multi-billion dollar film franchise, guiding exceptional performances by Golden Globe®-nominee James McAvoy (Atonement), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), and Golden Globe®-winner Kevin Bacon (“Taking Chance,” Mystic River). A “rare movie event that balances an intelligent story with solid performances, first-rate action and top-of-the-line special effects” (Ben Lyons, E!), X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has drawn an impressive $150 million at the domestic box office and nearly $350 million worldwide.

Before Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Fassbender) took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time, working together to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. The film features a star-studded supporting cast, including Academy Award®-nominee Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), January Jones (“Mad Men”), Rose Byrne (28 Weeks Later), Zoë Kravitz (“Californication”), Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man), Lucas Till (Walk the Line), and Emmy Award®-nominee Oliver Platt (“The West Wing”).

Special features on the X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Blu-ray include:
● 10 Marvel “X-Men” Digital Comics with exclusive “X-Men: First Class” Backstory Comic
● More than two hours of never-before-seen extras, including:
â—‹ Cerebro Mutant Tracker: The complete interactive Mutant Database with interactive videos giving fans the ability to learn about their favorite mutants in the X-Men film franchise
â—‹ Children of the Atom: An eight-part behind-the-scenes featurette, charting the film from pre-production through post-production, including visual effects techniques and cataloguing “X-Men” transformations through prosthetic make up and costume design
â—‹ “X” Marks the Spot: An interactive feature allowing viewers the opportunity to learn more about specific scenes with talent interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
â—‹ Extended and Deleted Scenes
â—‹ BD-Live Portal with additional Cerebro Mutant Tracker profiles
â—‹ Composer’s Isolated Score
â—‹ Theatrical Trailer

REBIRTH – DVD REVIEW

1306355303I know, you’re spent. You can’t handle any more coverage of September 11, 20o1.

Following the lives of five people over almost a ten year span, this movie is guaranteed to restore your faith in not only humanity but in the power of the human spirit. That is no hyperbole or grandiose marketing claims intended to be pull-quoted anywhere, this documentary is moving for the way in which we focus not on the sensationalistic news-y facts about what these people have gone through, it’s power is derived from one of the film’s participants who has a really difficult letting go of her past love. It’s heart wrenching, to be sure, but it’s completely understandable. And, over the course of these interviews, year after year, the transformation that happens in this woman’s life is nothing short of tear-inducing.

Credit should absolutely go to filmmaker Jim Whitaker who had the presence of mind to think this was a viable project because, starting with the first interview, there was no way to know which directions these people would go. No one would be able to.

It’s not a film that will necessarily be played on a monthly basis but it sure is a film that could be used whenever you think that the heartache you feel, the pain you’re dealing with, can ever go away. It doesn’t have to be September 11th and that’s the brilliance of this movie. It’s more than the sum of its parts, it elevates the questions it asks to a level that’s more spiritually based, how people can go forth after tragedy. That’s why this documentary works, that’s why it deserves a place on your shelf.

More details about the film:

REBIRTH is a riveting journey into living history ““ an act of personal witness to one of the most profound events in American history and the healing that has come in its wake.

The result of a decade-long process by director Jim Whitaker, the inspirational story of REBIRTH follows the nearly ten-year transformation of five people whose lives were forever altered on September 11, 2001 ““ and simultaneously tracks via unprecedented multi-camera time-lapse photography the minute-by-minute evolution of the space where the Twin Towers once rose. Both a singular cinematic and human experience, REBIRTH is deeply intimate and uplifting – providing a moving portrait of how trauma and grief metamorphose into hope and rebuilding as the human spirit transcends the unthinkable over time.

Disc one
Rebirth
Feature length audio commentary with director Jim Whitaker and director of photography Tom Lappin
English subtitles for the hearing impaired

Disc two
14 cameras, 24 hours – a video about the time-lapse project
Extended cut of the time-lapse footage
Project Rebirth – a video about the mission of this unique organization

With an exclusive essay by Davis Guggenheim, director of Waiting for Superman (2010) and the Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT – DVD REVIEW

if_a_tree_fallsEye-opening.

There is a moment in this film where we have to come to terms whether a man at the center of this documentary, Daniel McGowan, really is a terrorist.

In part a reaction to the events of September 11th, there was a special provision that could be added to court cases if they deemed the defendant someone who meddled in whatever the prosecution deemed as terrorism and you can bet that when Daniel, years before his 2005 arrest, was accused of being a domestic terrorist for acts he was convicted of being involved with in 2001.

The documentary isn’t about the Earth Liberation Front, per se, as it is more an examination of what this case meant to a man who simply found himself wrapped up in an organization that went from socially conscious protesting to crossing the line of committing troubling acts of violence all in the name of a cause.

What’s remarkable about this documentary isn’t that director Marshall Curry has made something that is wide reaching in its ability to give both sides of a story that clearly doesn’t condone the actions that Daniel was convicted of being involved in but it’s adapt at getting to the core of what would make someone think that crossing that line would be somewhat acceptable, all things being equal. I was positively transfixed by the way the argument is made that this organization has elements in it that could be branded domestic terrorists for the acts they committed against lumber yards, car dealerships, and other targets this group deemed acceptable.

The documentary does not relent and never once lulls you into a state of boredom as the one thing that keeps this from getting wildly out of control is Curry’s constant hand in keeping this story relevant and grounded in a reality that makes everything easy to understand but difficult to separate when it comes to trying to get the facts about who’s right and who’s overreaching.

More details about the film:

On December 7th, 2005, federal agents conducted a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front – an organization the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.”

IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT is the remarkable story of the group’s rise and fall, told through the transformation and radicalization of one of its members, Daniel McGowan. Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a chronicle of McGowan facing life in prison with a dramatic investigation of the events that led to his involvement with the ELF. Using never-before-seen archival footage and intimate interviews – with cell members and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them – IF A TREE FALLS asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism.

Feature length commentary with Director/Editor Marshall Curry, Co-director/Cinematographer Sam Cullman, & Editor Matthew Hamachek
Deleted Scenes
Extended interviews
“You cannot control what is wild” – updates from subjects in the film
Post-screening Q&A in Ashland, Oregon with Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
Original theatrical trailer

BAMBI II – DVD

bambi-ii-blu-ray-comboWant to know the key to determining whether this is a movie worth owning? Don’t review the film, let the kids watch it and let them tell you whether they like it or not.

This is a risky move, to be sure, as you could have kids who would downright hate on one movie that is picking up decades after the legendary first installment has left an indelible mark on the audience that has come before it and another movie that could leave them thinking that Disney has made one of the worst coming of age tales of all time.

However, I’m glad to say that both movies, PROM and BAMBI II, were given thumbs up reviews by both kids of mine who played the part of discerning moviegoer when watching both of these movies. While I was more partial to the surprising quality of BAMBI II (I was expecting the worst, I won’t lie) I was actually impressed by the level of animation. Usually, when you have a direct to video release you won’t ever get much in the way of anything to write home about but the story, which focuses on the relationship between Bambi and his father, turns out to be something worth slowing down and watching rather than writing it off wholesale. It is worth it and I enjoyed the time spent watching the movie.

prom-dvd-blu-rayPROM, on the other hand, is about as predictable as things come when dealing with the trials and tribulations of youths looking to make this one of a kind night special. I was hoping for a little drama, a little sass, but I was met with the vanilla coating of a story that essentially went exactly as I expected with bad being punished and good winning out. I found out, though, that this was OK. My oldest girl hasn’t yet reached that age of cynicism like her dad and this kind of story where young people are still idealistic and silly plot devices aren’t yet easily identifiable is still reason enough that when she was watching the movie yet again the next morning I knew that sometimes having predictability is better than uncertainty. If only life, and my own real life prom, were like that.

More details about the film:

Walt Disney Studios invites audiences to once again fall in love with the adorable, beloved forest friends – Bambi, Thumper, Owl, Flower andFaline – in this magnificent Bambi II Special Edition, the heartwarming story of a son’s courage and a father’s love. Available for the first time in Blu-rayâ„¢ high-definition, this touching sequel to Walt Disney’s original animated classic Bambi is finally releasing from the Disney vault on August 23, 2011 and will be available for a limited time.

Celebrate the unbreakable bonds of family and the power of friendship in this remarkable story, which reveals how Bambi was raised by his father, the Great Prince of the Forest. Perfect for the whole family to enjoy, this collectible release was packaged to include a variety of special bonus features including a new deleted song, interactive games, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and more.

Social Media:

Those who want to stayconnected with what’s happening with the upcoming release of

Bambi II are encouraged to:

“Like” the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DisneyBambi
Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DisneyAnimation
View exciting trailers, video clips and more at http://www.youtube.com/disneymovies

Bambi Voice Talent:

As with all of Disney’s animated classics, Bambi II is distinguished by an exceptional cast of voice talent including Alexander Gould (Finding Nemo, TV’s “Weeds”) as Bambi, Patrick Stewart (TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” The X-Men movies) as the Great Prince and Andrea Bowen (TV’s “Desperate Housewives”) as Faline. The charming original songs in Bambi II are brought to life by a who’s who of extraordinary vocalists including Alison Krauss and Martina McBride.

Bambi II Synopsis

Bambi, one of the silver screen’s most cherished characters, makes his triumphant return. The eagerly awaited next chapter of Bambi’s unforgettable story continues for a whole new generation in a film that’s sure to delight your entire family. Join Bambi as he reunites with his father, the Great Prince, who must now raise the young fawn and teach him the ways of the forest. But in the adventure of a lifetime, the proud parent discovers that there is much that he can learn from his spirited young son. Thumper, Flower, Owl, and your favorite characters return ““ and you’ll meet some wonderful new friends ““ as Bambi’s magnificent legacy continues. Illustrated in the breathtaking animation style of the original classic and bursting with new songs, Bambi II is truly a wonder to behold.

PROM: Follow the delightfully-fun – and often hilarious – journey of a group of young teenagers as they navigate through the most memorable and also difficult times of their lives in the original film PROM, arriving on Disney Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Movie Download and On-Demand, August 30, 2011. This enchanting coming-of-age story is the perfect family-friendly film that captures all the anticipation, excitement, drama, and humor that accompany every young person’s journey through high school.

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Consumers will not want to miss the chance to own the ultimate 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack that is exclusively packaged with bonus features including a hilarious, laugh out loud short “Last Chance Lloyd,” deleted scenes, music videos and more.

For more information on this release, please visit www.Disney.com/Prom.

PROM stars Aimee Teegarden (“Friday Night Lights”), Thomas McDonell (“The Forbidden Kingdom”), Danielle Campbell (“Prison Break”), Yin Chang (“Gossip Girl”), Nicholas Braun (“10 Things I Hate About You”), Jared Kusnitz (“The Secret Life of the American Teenager”), Jonathan Keltz (“Entourage”), De’Vaughn Nixon (“Sonny with a Chance”), Nolan Sotillo (“Corey and Lucas for the Win”), Cameron Monaghan (“Corey and Lucas for the Win”) and Raini Rodriguez (“I’m in the Band”).

About the Movie
At “Prom”, every couple has a story and no two are exactly alike. For Nova Prescott (Aimee Teegarden), it’s a classic tale of opposites attracting when she finds herself drawn to the guy (Thomas McDonell) who gets in the way of her perfect prom. Share the laughter and the drama as secrets are brought to light, seemingly steady relationships unravel and new romance catches fire. Get ready for this hilariously heartfelt date with destiny featuring a hot ensemble cast of rising young stars and cool bonus features. There are hundreds of nights in high school, but there’s only one Prom!

COUGAR TOWN: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON – DVD

Cougar-Town-Season-2-DVDI can’t believe how much time I spent with this set.

While I’m darn near close to finishing watching the whole first season after tearing through every episode of the second season here, there is reason to believe that this is a show that deserves some kind of rotation on your TiVo this fall.

A perfect entry point for anyone not familiar with this series starring Courtney Cox as a freshly 40 something divorcee there is the undeniable finger of creator Bill Lawrence’s sense of humor throughout the series. Best known for his work on Scrubs, Lawrence looks to have created a series that focuses on the more jovial aspects of getting older the series is harmless entertainment that knows what it is an excels at getting the chuckles.

It’s funny that we extol series that manage to break through and do incredible things but it’s good enough sometimes to just be a solid series that puts up solid numbers. Cougar Town is that .300 hitter in your lineup who is just able to be the kind of utility player that will always have a place on the team. The writing is snappy, the funny outweighs the bad, and, most of all, the series has genuine heart at the core of it. Being at an age when you’re supposed to be stable with a family doesn’t seem amusing when you factor in a divorce and broken family but there is gold to be had in situational comedy when you look at it the way the series’ writers did this season as they constructed nutty situations but put real people at the core of it.

I don’t know why this is such a novel concept but this is one show that has it down and God love ’em for being consistent.

More details about the show:

Travel back to Cougar Town this fall when the second season of the series ““ the last one for which the title will actually be “Cougar Town” ““ is released on DVD on August 30th. In addition to the twenty-two episodes from season two, the set will also contain bloopers, deleted scenes, and a featurette about the discussions between the first and the second season about changing the name of the series ““ something which didn’t come to fruition last year, but will this year. The set comes with an MSRP of just $34.99.

Weekend Shopping Guide 9/16/11: Rosebud

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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 FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

For a long time, I’ve looked to the original DVD edition of Orson Welles’ legendary Citizen Kane (Warner Bros., Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$64.99 SRP) as a brilliant representation of just how night and day loving restoration can make a film look and sound. Well, the new Blu-Ray trumps even that. This film has never, ever looked and sounded better than it does here. And if getting the film weren’t enough, the 3-disc collector’s edition also contains the 1995 documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane and the mostly-factual TV movie RKO 281, along with audio commentaries from Roger Ebert & Peter Bogdanovich, interviews, newsreels, featurettes, one-sheet/lobby card/correspondence reproductions, and a 48-page book. Truly a must-have set.

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If you’d like to organize your life a bit more like Dolores Umbridge, you can leave yourselves reminders and declarations via the Harry Potter Proclamation Board ($49.99), which is a scale replica of the ones featured in Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix, but features a white board (and hidden dry erase markers and an eraser).

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Oh, Community (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP). You really are the best written and performed show on television right now, and your second season has cemented you a position in the golden annals of comedy. From your epic Halloween show to your emotional Christmas Show, from pens and conspiracies to babies and paintball, every single episode brings it. BRINGS IT. And your new DVD set’s commentaries, deleted scenes, outtakes, and featurettes are just icing on the cake. Get this set. Get it now. AND CELEBRATE IT.

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It’s by no means a perfect film, and doesn’t reach the level of the first Iron Man film, but Thor (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$54.99 SRP) is an enjoyable adaptation of Lee & Kirby’s take on Norse mythology and its god of thunder. My one real regret is that it didn’t stay in Asgard more and away from the borderline dull Earth. Oh, and Volstagg wasn’t nearly big enough. The 3D presentation of the limited edition set is pleasing, particularly during the aforementioned Asgard sequences, when the depth has epic territory to play with. Bonus materials include an audio commentary with director Kenneth Branagh, featurettes, and deleted scenes.

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Speaking of Marvel films, another admirable effort makes its way to home video – X-Men: First Class (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). Considering I thought the previous 3 X-Men films were complete garbage, this retro rethink of the franchise is a welcome change, even if I wish it had just been a complete reboot that set the original core group – including Cyclops, Iceman, & Jean Grey – back in the swinging 60’s. Maybe they’ll do the right thing and retro-rethink the Fantastic Four, too. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted/extended scenes.

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It’s been quite a few year since Rhino released what many consider to be the series’ finest episode, but Shout Factory has decided to turn their release of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Manos The Hands Of Fate (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$24.97 SRP) into a truly special occasion. The 2-disc set contains the episode itself, and un-MSTied version of the film, a retrospective featurette (with Joel, Trace, Frank, & Mary Jo), MST Hour wraps, a documentary about the making of the film, a presentation of the shorts “Hired!” Part 1 & 2 back-to-back, and more. This one’s worth picking up even if you already own the original release. And speaking of re-releases, Shout is also making available single-disc releases of The Unearthly & Red Zone Cuba (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$14.99 each).

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The arrival of another Dalek storyline from the classic Doctor Who archives is always most welcome, including the dastardly mutants’ first arrival in the Jon Pertwee years in Day Of The Daleks (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP). In addition to the original version of the storyline, this 2-disc special edition also features the storyline with revamped special effects, sound, & Dalek voices, plus the usual complement of audio commentary and in-depth behind-the-scenes featurettes and rarities.

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I’m certainly not a member of the cult of Scarface (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), seeing it instead as a nice of enough piece of violent 70’s crime filmmaking with a memorably over-the-top performance from Al Pacino. But for those slavishly devoted, this new high definition transfer is ace, as are the bonus features and the inclusion of the 1932 version of Scarface.

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Even over 25 years later, the Coen Brothers’ debut Blood Simple (MGM, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP) is still a landmark piece of modern film noir, and it’s a pleasure to finall6y have it in high definition – even if the Brothers are nowhere to be found in the bonus commentary track.

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The 3rd season of Fringe (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$69.97 SRP) cranks up the drama as the team escapes from the parallel universe sans Olivia, whose double upsets things here before the original’s return makes things decidedly more awkward. Oh, and there’s lots of secrets. Lots. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, featurettes, promos, a gag reel, and more.

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Those gents over at the MOD MGM Limited Edition Collection are still churning out the catalogue titles, with the newest batch featuring Orson Welles in Tomorrow Is Forever (MGM, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98), Vincent Price in the Jules Verne adaptation Master Of The World (MGM, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98), and the big screen reunion of Bill Cosby & Robert Culp in the awkwardly titled Hickey & Boggs (MGM, Rated PG, DVD-$19.98).

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Continuing their stellar run of TV licensing, the fine folks at Shout Factory are releasing the first season of the groundbreaking 1970’s cop show Police Story (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.97 SRP). The 6-disc set contains all 22 episodes plus the pilot film, a movie of the week, and an interview with show creator Joseph Wambaugh.

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While it’s nowhere near as polished as the most recent big-screen adventure, the 1992 Captain America (MGM, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP) is at least more polished than the laughable late 70’s attempt at the character. Although, for the life of me, I still can’t figure out why the producers of this film made the Red Skull Italian.

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I think it’s about time for me to be quite plain in saying, as we come to the 7th season of The Office (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.98 SRP) and the departure of Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott, that I really don’t like what the show has become. In fact, I haven’t liked its overblown, disingenuine cartoonishness for the last couple of seasons. Now, however, enough is enough. In the UK original, a fine line was walked between the humanity and the comedy, and you never lost sight of those people as real. In the US version, and realism has been sacrifices at the altar of pure farce for the sake of keeping the show going. Sad, really. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, webisodes, a blooper reel, and more.

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You can certainly see a career ahead of him when you view the new high definition special edition of Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes (Image, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$17.97 SRP), about an all-American family who enter a nightmare when their car breaks down in the desolate southwest near a clan of cannibals. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, an alternate ending, TV spots, and more.

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Try as I might, even three seasons in I still can’t get into Parks And Recreation (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), which still feels likes its trying too damn hard to be The Office (which, considering how interminably goofy that’s become, really shouldn’t be a goal). The 3-disc set contains extended episodes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, featurettes, and more.

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I’m not much of a fan – no matter how many times I try – but I there are plenty who will eagerly devour The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$54.97 SRP), which sports all 24 episodes plus featurettes, a live taping, and a gag reel.

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Not content to let other studios ramp up their catalogue high definition releases, the folks at MGM have dropped another pair of much-requested titles with Dustin Hoffman in Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs (MGM, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP) and Michael Caine in Brian de Palma’s Dressed To Kill (MGM, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP). While Dogs only gets a trailer & TV spots, Dressed To Kill sports a making-of documentary, a featurette, and the theatrical trailer.

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The mild, inoffensive comedy of it all is nothing compared to the fact that the 8th season of Two And A Half Men (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP) is the swan song for Charlie Sheen, during which his mind went bye-bye. See if you can spot the moment!

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Amanda Tapping and her crackerjack team of scientists continue to track down, study, and protect a whole new lot of off creatures in the complete third season of Sanctuary (E1, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$64.98 SRP), containing audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and outtakes.

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I’ve always been a fan of her witty, acerbic writing (and yes, her many film roles), so it’s a special treat that Carrie Fisher’s first live show is such a delight. Wishful Drinking (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is a biographical one-woman show based on her most recent book, and the DVD also contains an interview with her mother, Debbie Reynolds, and deleted footage.

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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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Party Favors: By Bogdanovich

Filed under: Joe Corey's Party Favors — UncaScroogeMcD @ 12:31 am

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WINSTON-SALEM – Peter Bogdanovich is cinema. He went from being an entertainment reporter to an Oscar nominated director thanks to a degree from Roger Corman University. He and Polly Platt (they were married at the time) teamed up to create four hit films (Targets, The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc? and Paper Moon). He directed and she was production designer (among her many roles). But Bogdanovich is a passionate man which explains why he had an affair with Cybill Shepherd during The Last Picture Show. Platt stuck around for two more films. His directorial career proved rocky after Platt stopped working with him. He lost a fortune releasing a movie featuring the ill-fated Dorothy Stratten. He found second life as an actor including his time as Dr. Melfi’s shrink on The Sopranos. Now he’s teaching film students at the North Carolina School of the Arts. The man has a lot to talk about.

Recently Adam Hulin sat down with Bogdanovich for an interview that covered the director’s career. Hulin should be known to Party Favors readers as the co-curator of the thrilling Cinema Overdrive film series in Raleigh, NC. He used to run a drive-in theater in the middle of Texas so he understands the terrain of The Last Picture Show. By Bogdanovich covers the filmmaker’s career from his early time with Corman to his friendship with Orson Welles. The special is now available for viewing on Youtube as a 12 part series. I had a chance to swap email with Hulin about talking cinema with the ultimate cineaste.

Party Favors: What inspired you to want to conduct a career survey interview with Peter Bogdanovich?

Adam Hulin: Originally, Second Cinema’s Matt Hayhurst wanted to shoot a 15-30 minute interview with Peter for Second Cinema and Time Warner On-Demand. He knew that I’d gotten to know Peter a little since he’d moved to NC to teach at the School of the Arts and asked if I could set something up for him. Not long after, Matt suggested that I should helm the interview and gave me carte blanche (but not a blank check) on the format. Once everything was agreed on, I prepared to do a career retrospective.

Party Favors: What did he think of dedicating so much time to the interview?

Adam Hulin: You don’t have to twist Peter’s arm to get him talking. He’s an amazing raconteur. I think he appreciated having the chance to talk about some of his lesser known films.

Party Favors: Had you met Bogdanovich before contacting him for the interview?

Adam Hulin: Yes, I had met and talked to him several times before we conducted the interview. He’s always been extremely polite and generous with his considerable knowledge of cinema history.

Party Favors: Were there any ground rules?

Adam Hulin: The only constraint I had was a 2-hour time limit due to his schedule. There were no rules regarding subject matter whatsoever.

Party Favors: How was it talking about Polly Platt with him? (Platt recently passed away after battling ALS for years).

Adam Hulin: He didn’t mind talking about her, but Peter and Polly definitely had a very complicated relationship. It seemed like it was the most strained of his previous romances. In contrast, he’s maintained strong ties with both Cybill Shepherd and Louise Stratten.

That being said, he gave her credit for important suggestions and contributions she’d made early on in his career like pushing him to do Paper Moon after his epic western fell through. She and Sal Mineo were the two key people who convinced him that the novel of The Last Picture Show could be turned into a great movie.

In any case, it’s tragic when anyone has to deal ALS, so my heart goes out to Peter and their two daughters.

Party Favors: What question were you most eager to ask?

Adam Hulin: I didn’t have a prepared list of questions, but the two topics I was most eager to talk to him about were his two biggest flops (At Long Last Love and Illegally Yours) and his two favorite films (Saint Jack and They All Laughed).

Party Favors: Was there an answer he gave that was completely unexpected?

Adam Hulin: I don’t know about unexpected, but I appreciated the fact that he was willing to talk about some extremely painful experiences, namely Dorothy Stratten’s murder and its effect on his desire to continue making movies. He’s never gotten over her death, he’s just learned how to live with it.

Party Favors: Did you consider shooting the interview in black and white?

Adam Hulin: It probably occurred to me at one point. Ultimately, I figured since the vast majority of his pictures are in color, the interview would play better if it matched up to most of the clips. Besides, you couldn’t tell what color neckerchief he’s wearing if it was in black and white.

Party Favors: Will there be a transcript of your interview?

Adam Hulin: I haven’t planned on it. Perhaps one day I’ll transcribe the unabridged version of the interview, not that there’s much missing from the finished film.

Party Favors: Which of his films are your favorites?

Adam Hulin: In chronological order: Targets, The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, Saint Jack and They All Laughed.

From his later work, both Noises Off and The Cat’s Meow are very good. What’s Up, Doc? and Mask were both successes and hold up well. Daisy Miller is perhaps his most underrated film.

Party Favors: When you tell people you interviewed Bogdanovich, do you list his films or just cut to “He was Dr. Melfi’s shrink on The Sopranos?”

Adam Hulin: If they’re under 30, I mention The Sopranos. If they’re over 40, I mention Picture Show, Doc and Paper Moon. For some reason, possibly because they’re black and white, Picture Show and Paper Moon don’t get anywhere near the same kind of TV play films like The Godfather, The French Connection or American Graffiti do.

Party Favors: How is he liking life in North Carolina?

Adam Hulin: He seems to be getting along fine in NC. He frequently travels on weekends to make Q&A appearances at film festivals and screenings of either his own or his favorite directors’ movies.

Party Favors: His documentary about Tom Petty was well received. Do you sense he’ll do another rock doc?

Adam Hulin: As far as I know, he doesn’t have any plans to make another doc, but one can never tell. As of right now, the two projects he’s concentrating on are his screwball comedy, Squirrels to the Nuts, and completing the edit on Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, which Peter co-starred in around 1972.

Party Favors: Who do you think had a bigger influence on him as a filmmaker: Orson Welles or Roger Corman?

Adam Hulin: Welles influenced his use of extreme depth of field photography, but I’d say Howard Hawks’ understated directing style has had the greatest influence on his filmmaking. Peter is a master of filming lengthy and difficult shots that don’t draw attention to themselves.

Party Favors: Do you think it helped that his first film’s star was Boris Karloff so his career as a director nearly spans the history of cinema when it comes to actors?

Adam Hulin: He’s always been outspoken about how much he adored working with Karloff. He also appreciated getting the chance to work with other classic Hollywood actors like Ben Johnson and Mildred Natwick. One of his biggest regrets is that he never got to film his version of Lonesome Dove starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda. Like many filmmakers, Peter feels like he was born a generation too late.

Party Favors: Will he ever work with Ryan O’Neal again?

Adam Hulin: He always says that he never had to deal with a problematic Ryan O’Neal on the set. Apparently Ryan was very cooperative on the three pictures they made together. After Nickelodeon some bad blood developed between Peter, Ryan, and Burt Reynolds. I think this mostly had to do with the film being a tough and physically arduous shoot. After it opened and didn’t do well, there was some finger-pointing going on all around. Peter’s biggest problem with Ryan has a lot more to do with his abusive behavior towards Tatum.

Party Favors: When you were done running the drive-in, did you run Last Picture Show as the finale?

Adam Hulin: I never ran Picture Show at my drive-in, even though the film’s location, Archer City, was only 80 miles away. I will say that I had a much deeper understanding of the book and the movie after having lived in the same area for four years. Honestly, not much has changed.

Targets was the movie I seriously considered running at my theatre since it’s the greatest film to use a drive-in as a primary location. What could be more exciting than watching a film about a sniper hiding behind a drive-in screen while sitting in your car at a drive-in? It’s a shame I never got around to booking a print of it.

Party Favors: After the entire experience, do you still have questions for him?

Adam Hulin: He’s pretty much an inexhaustible resource of all things cinema.

LENNY BRUCE?

Why is Nik Richie of the dirty website pimpin’ his book proposal by calling himself the 21st Century Lenny Bruce? Cause the harsh truth is that Nik Richie isn’t even the 21st Century Larry the Cable Guy. Has he read How to Talk Dirty and Influence People? Has he heard Thank You, Mr Masked Man? Has even watched Lenny? Cause then he’d be forced to admit that he hasn’t a clue as to what Lenny Bruce has to do with his website.

Does Nik Richie know who he really is? He’s Ralph Cirella from Howard Stern’s posse. He makes little wisecracks about how a woman thinking she belongs in Playboy has a botched boob job. That’s what Ralph does to those women who swear they’re ready to be a centerfold. But being the 21st Century Ralphie isn’t as hot as being the new Lenny Bruce. Calling yourself the 21st Century Ralphie makes it sound like you’re the lead in A Christmas Story 2: I’ll Shot My Eyes Out. Nik ought to wear a bunny suit on the cover of his book. It’s what Lenny Bruce would have done.

THE BALLS OF CHARLES NELSON REILLY

Celebrity Bowling was Match Game with balls in the ’70s. The program brought together four well known stars to hang out at the gutter. The dvd contains 15 match ups featuring bigger names than the history of Dancing with the Slugs. Supposedly this recently aired on ESPN Classic, but all I ever saw on that channel was forgettable college bowl games. This is a series that ought to be airing on ME-TV or Antenna TV. I’d be up for Celebrity Bowling after an episode of Love American Style. They made 144 episodes. Break out a six pack of Schlitz and take in the pin busting action. Where else will you see Billy Barty, Charles Nelson Reilly, Nipsy Russell, Roy Rogers, John Saxon, Angie Dickinson and George Foreman in rental shoes?

BLU-RAY HEAVEN

Bambi II Special Edition isn’t quite a sequel to the Disney classic Bambi so much as it’s a middle-quel. Instead of starring the grown up deer, we’re taken back to the time when Bambi has to deal with growing up mother-less. His dad tries to pawn him the kid off on another lady deer, but there’s no takers for various reasons. Thus dad has to raise the child. The two learn about relying on each other even though the little one is still sad about mom’s end. Thumper shows up to make sure Bambi isn’t that good of son. Purists will moan about this not being canon. Parents will rejoice that they can put this in the rotation rather than have to watch and hear Bambi on constant repeat. The soundtrack includes a song by Alison Krauss to please the grown ups. The Blu-ray also contains the DVD so you can have it to watch in the house or the mini-van without a care. The bonus features include a deleted song, a making of and an interactive game featuring Thumper. The image looks good since the film was originally released in 2006.

MST3K SOLO LAUNCHES

DVDs will go out of print for various reasons. Nobody cares too much most of the time and you can find them used for less than their original retail price. But there are those special titles that soar out of control. Such is the fate of several Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes that originally came out on nearly a decade ago. Thankfully Shout! Factory is re-issuing them so MST3K fans won’t have to sell too much plasma. Red Zone Cubaand The Unearthly are the latest. The Unearthly is a poverty row quicky with John Carradine as the mad scientist dealing in mutant life. His assistant is the immortal Tor Johnson (Plan 9 from Outer Space. Tor is red hot in his role. The Bots point out his emotional range. He’s a regular Richard Burton. The invention exchange features the mad scientists evil plans for pills that are hard to swallow. Joel and the Bots create a destructive entry for America’s Funniest Home Videos. There are two educational shorts: “Posture Pals” and “Appreciating Our Parents.” Don’t fall for these lies. You should always slouch and expect mom to do your laundry without thanks. What good is unconditional love if you care?

Red Zone Cuba is a fine piece of “torn from today’s headlines” filmmaking. In this case director Coleman Francis claims that escaped convicts were sent down to the Bay of Pigs to fight Castro. There must have been a conspiracy to make this film really bad. Which means it’s prime for Mike and the Bots to riff wild on the political intrigue. Mike and the Bots dress up in tuxedos. Mike flips out and disguises himself as Carol Channing. There’s even a T-Bone Burnett joke long before T-Bone became an Oscar winner. This is the first Mike in the lead episode released in a long while. It’s good to see him back in the jumpsuit. Along with the feature is the educational short “Speech: Platform, Posture and Appearance.” The title spoils the surprise of the film.

Both The Unearthly and Red Zone Cuba are available only through Shout! Factory’s website (http://www.shoutfactorystore.com).

CORMAN CORNER

Roger Corman’s Cult Classics All-Night Marathon Sword and Sorcery Collection is four movies about the time when barbarians and magic rule the world! Or at least ruled the videostore so that kids with polyhedral dice could figure out what to do with their slave girl fantasies. These four classics are packed with metal, loin clothes, bare torsos and even a few chests with extra breasts. Back in the mid-80s, Dungeons and Dragons players would go to Videorama looking for Conan the Barbarian starring Arhnuld. Odds are they only had one or two copies and they were always out. So what did you do? Rent Benji? Nope. You searched the covers for another box covered in Boris Vallejo art. That’s the shelf bait Roger Corman did with a majority of these titles. Deathstalker is Conan-esque. Rick Hill is the blond with massive pecs who has to uncover three magical objects before an evil sorcerer. His big help includes Playboy‘s Barbi Benton and Lana Clarkson. It’s something for all the viewers in that lusty trio. What the producers spent in sets, they saved in a lack of wardrobe for the actresses. Deathstalker II is director Jim Wynorski’s cheeky sequel. John Terlesky is now Deathstalker. He’s got to deal with Monique Gabrielle (Emmanuelle V, Bachelor Party and Penthouse Pet). Have I told you the story about how she came up to my college radio station wearing a tank top and silver parachute pants? She was hot in person. You can experience her hotness on this transfer. The evil sorcerer is played by John Lazar. He’s cinema royalty for being Z Man in Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. This is cheesy fun in furs.

Barbarian Queen gives the leading role to Lana Clarkson. She’s unfortunately best known for being the actress killed by Phil Spector. In the movie, she must defend her people against evil. Even though a woman is in charge, there’s still a lack of clothing for the female characters. What these films lacks in plot, it makes up in nudity. The Warrior and the Sorceress is almost like a diabolical version of Kung Fu. David Carradine plays Kain, a warrior-priest. This almost sounds like his warrior-priest character in Kung Fu named Caine. He ends up in a town playing two rival tribes against each other as they battle for control of the central well. This duo of film were originally released as Shout! Select titles. If you already bought them last year, you can loan them out to any college kids that want an old school D&D weekend. You might want to throw in a couple Rush albums. The four films are charming cheesefests that don’t pretend to be Game of Thrones.

MORE KROFFT FUN

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters Season One contains more of Sid and Marty Krofft’s Saturday Morning Puppet weirdness from the ’70s. Unlike previous shows, the child star doesn’t fall into an alternate universe. The puppet comes to the real world this time. Sigmund isn’t like the rest of his sea monster relatives. He hates to scare people. He roams away from his aquatic home and into the lives of Johnny (Whitaker of Family Affair) and Scott (Kolden of The Mystery of Dracula’s Castle). The beach-loving brothers have to hide Sigmund from their housekeeper (I Love Lucy‘s Mary Wickes) and a nosey neighbor (The Wizard of Oz‘s Margaret Hamilton). Luckily they have a cool clubhouse to hide him inside. They boys parents are on a constant vacation which explains their disappearance. They also have to deal with Sigmund’s monster relatives. They’re the original Squidbillies. Belated ’70s crush Pamelyn Ferdin guests on a couple episodes. Season One has 17 episode of coastal subterfuge. The video masters have a better resolution than the previous release. There’s a twenty minute interview with Whitaker and Kolden about their lives, the shows and Billy Barty. Whitaker shows off his double take lessons learned from Mary Wickes. They’ve got cool Sigmund stuffed monsters. They included 8 mp3s of Johnny’s songs from the series. Rock out! Coverage of Sid and Marty with Olivia Munn is included. Sid tells the tale of the time they met Walt Disney. I’ve never seen Munn so wrapped up and proper. They have Sigmund skateboards. No news as to when they’ll release Season Two. That’s when Rip Taylor arrived. Just bring on more of the Krofft freaky fun.

DVD SHELF

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension wins bonus points for mocking the 3-D craze. My five year old nephew went nuts when the hype for this TV special started. Forget Phantom Menace – this is what excites the little ones. The Disney Channel show is a huge hit. Naturally the mouse had to give P&F a 77 minute movie. Phineas, Ferb and Perry the Platypus follow Dr. Doofenshmirtz into an alternate universe. It’s the universe where the Doc is worshiped like a god and he has a cool dueling scar. The visit turns nasty since the evil Doc has plans to invade the other dimension with his robot army. Only the Platypus can save humanity. The big advantage of the DVD is 8 deleted scenes sure to excite a five year old. They also throw in the “Attack of the 50 Foot Sister” episode. Along with a digital copy of the movie, there’s an 8 song soundtrack. Kids can sing this songs all weekend long. The big bonus is a Platypult. You can build a game that lets you launch pog like discs. This is perfect for annoying the co-worker on the other side of the veal pen wall.

The Perfect Host marks the glorious return of David Hyde Pierce. He smartly twists around his Dr. Niles Crane persona from Frasier. Pierce seems to be just the same fuddy duddy snob from Seattle. He’s in the middle of readying the house for a dinner party when a Clayne Crawford interrupts. Clayne just robbed a bank and needs a safe haven till the cops split the scene. He thinks Pierce is the perfect mark. Except what he sees isn’t what’s really happening. It’s a fine twisty film that will freak out your mom if she somehow thinks this is the Dr. Niles Crane movie. In fact, you should tell her this was a pilot film for a spin-off and watch her reaction. Fans of ’70s music will get a buzz out of seeing Helen Reddy return to the screen. She is woman, hear her roar.

Troll Hunter is coolness from Norway. A group of kids track a man they think poaches bears. As they sneak up on the guy in the wilderness, they realize he’s not into slaughtering Gentle Ben. Nope. He’s after a much bigger critter: Trolls! It’s shot through the kid’s video camera. Think of it as Cloverfield except not nearly as annoying. The effects look convincing when the troll attacks. If you’re addicted to SyFy original movies, you really need to go hunting trolls in Norway. There is an English dub track for people who don’t understand Norwegian.

BKO: Bangkok Knockout is a film as badass as its title. The plot is simple as a fist to the head. A group of pals reunite. They were a fight club that would test their various martial arts skills on each other and others. Someone crashes their party and along with stealing the fun, there’s a kidnapping. It’s up to them to rescue their friends and kick lots of ass. This is so much better than Nic Cage’s Bangkok Dangerous. What elevates BKO is Panna Rittikrai. He was the stunt coordinator on Ong Bak. His direction on BKO is simple – give the viewers the goods. This is the kinda film you’d want to name your band after.

The Police Story: Season One arrives in time to stop my thinking about what’s dad going to get for Christmas. This was the best police anthology show ever on TV. Creator Joseph Wambaugh was an ex-LAPD cop. He understood the true personalities and lives of cops and wasn’t merely recycling what he’d seen in other shows. The series didn’t have any central characters like Hill Street Blues or The Wire. Each week would give us new characters with badges, although a few would recur. Major stars would show up to be the leads. The pilot TV movie “Slow Boy” could be mistaken for a theatrical release with Vic Morrow (The Bad News Bears) part of an elite unit that’s pursuing Chuck Connors (The Rifleman). Get a taste of what happens with Vic and Chuck face off in a supermarket. Clean up on aisle 13.

“Dangerous Games” gives us Fred Williamson as a pimp marked by the vice squad. Can he outsmart them and find out which of his ladies is a snitch? “The Ten Year Honeymoon” lets Claude Akins shine. For those who merely know him as a comic Sheriff Lobo, Claude had some serious cop chops. “Death on Credit” gives the triple thrill of John Saxon, Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island‘s Ginger) and Rory Calhoun. Mr. Burns shall be pleased. “Line of Fire” blasts Jan-Michael Vincent and Alex Cord with Cameron Mitchell. Coincidentally, Vincent and Cord meet up later for Airwolf. Vic Morrow returns for “Countdown” with Tige Andrews (Mod Squad). Good to see Vic’s finest work coming back onto the screen thanks to DVDs. “Cop in the Middle” squeezes in Sid Haig. “Country Boy” teams up Kurt Russell with Gary Collins. Keep Gary away from your RV. “The Runners” has the cool mix of Frankie Avalon, Jackie Cooper, Dandy Don Meredith (Monday Night Football), Sal Mineo (Rebel Without a Cause, Jack Soo (Barney Miller) and Nehemiah Persoff (every cop show of the ’70s). Smokey Robinson acts in “Wyatt Earp Syndrome.” “The Gamble” is what turned into Police Woman with Angie Dickinson flashing the badge. Bert Convy’s her boss. The lack of a central character helps makes things on the series more realistic. Cause all this action couldn’t happen to the same police squad. The big bonus is an interview with Joseph Wambaugh about the series. Get your dad and yourself a copy of Police Story: Season One.

Airwolf The Movie features the original pilot with more violence than was allowed on American TV. It’s 82 minutes long with a few extra violent moments that weren’t good for broadcast TV back in the early ’80s. Airwolf is a billion dollar helicopter that can do everything from the speed of sound to explosive power of a battleship. Things go wrong when it’s tested out by the CIA for a powerful congressman. Turns out the creator (Blow Up‘s David Hemming) has sold America out for an offer by Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi for the chopper. He can’t have that weapon. The CIA’s Alex Cord must get it back. His only hope is luring the original test pilot, Jan-Michael Vincent. He’s extremely reluctant to get back in the game. But after a major arm twisting, he takes on the mission with his pal, Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy). There’s air battle action in the desert that make this feel like a great low budget action film and not a cheap TV pilot. The big bonus feature is the immortal Ernest Borgnine discussing his time on the show. When will the Kennedy Center honor Ernest?

NCIS: Los Angeles: The Second Season will please the ladies with more sweaty action from LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell. The duo continue to go undercover on various military oriented missions. Linda Hunt keeps them in line. Alan Ruck moves things along on “Human Traffic.” Star Trek: The Next Generation Fans will get a peek at Jonathan Frakes on “Disorder.” He also directed the episode. How come there aren’t any other rappers or hunks of the ’90s making cameos on the show? Why isn’t LL Cool J forced to take down Busta Rhymes? The show works the military operation angle properly to keep up the tension. There’s 24 episodes this season. Claire Forlani gets a recurring role towards the end of the season.

NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: The Complete Eighth Season proves Mark Harmon is a very smart guy. At this point in a dramatic series, the star is aching to break free of his bread and butter character. Think of all the shows lately that swap out lead actors for various creative reasons? Harmon’s been around long enough to know not to get out of the roller coaster while the ride is still going. Cause a majority of the time it isn’t pretty for the actor or the show. This season focused on the CIA meddling in NCIS’s operations. They’re not happy at being out done by Harmon’s crew. The final episodes focuses on the Port-to-Port homicidal manic. This guy is the killer that they fear the most – cause he’s good and doesn’t like to make mistakes. He’s the kinda killer that has you turning one episode into a marathon night that ends right before you have to get up for work. You might want to wait for the weekend before hitting play on this storyline.

Politics of Love finally sexes up the ’08 election. Mallika Sherawat is an Obama supporter who finds love in an unusual place. She runs into Brian J. White who doesn’t quite seem her type since he’s all about McCain-Palin and is a minority. How can he support the grumpy old man and youbetcha lady? How can she fall for the guy? Will their politics pull them apart or make their sexual chemistry more explosive? Ruby Dee and Loretta Devine are their to make sense of their hearts. I’m more excited about the fact that Tracey Walter (Repo Man) arrives on the scene. He knows his presidential action. He ought to be running this year. How does Malika not run off with Tracey?

September 15, 2011

A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Megan Ganz 2

Filed under: A Bit Of A Chat With Ken Plume,Interviews — Tags: , , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 11:58 pm

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, I have another chat with COMMUNITY writer and former ONION editor Megan Ganz about insanity, pillow talk, marble jars, furniture, crossing the stream, and sausage pails.

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Megan Ganz 2“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-megan_ganz_2.mp3]

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You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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September 13, 2011

A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & DC Pierson 4

Filed under: A Bit Of A Chat With Ken Plume,Interviews — Tags: , , , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 3:00 am

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, I have yet another chat with writer and actor DC Pierson about emotional scars, chin beards, writer’s tables, megaphones, deer, and the FYIndex.

Be sure to visit his official site at www.DCPierson.com.

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & DC Pierson 4“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-dc_pierson_4.mp3]

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Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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Drop Ken a line HERE.

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You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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September 9, 2011

FREDagator: 2011-09-09

Filed under: FREDagator — UncaScroogeMcD @ 5:05 am

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Why not spend some time watching the New York Public Library’s tribute to George Carlin…

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A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Sylvester McCoy

Filed under: A Bit Of A Chat With Ken Plume,Interviews — Tags: , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 12:29 am

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, I chat with Time Lord emeritus Sylvester McCoy about fake names, spoons, roadshow bombs, Doctor Who, King Lear, and Hobbits. Recorded LIVE at DragonCon 2011.

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Sylvester McCoy“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-sylvester_mccoy.mp3]

SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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Drop Ken a line HERE.

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You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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September 3, 2011

FREDagator: 2011-09-03

Filed under: FREDagator — UncaScroogeMcD @ 12:45 am

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I asked the 7th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, about sonic screwdrivers, and to read the Stonehenge Pandorica speech from Doctor Who…

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September 2, 2011

Weekend Shopping Guide 9/2/11: There’s Something On The Wing

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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 FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

While I’ve become quite a fan of him during his tenure as a Daily Show correspondent over the past few years, it wasn’t until Wyatt Cenac: Comedy Person (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$14.95 SRP) – his first special – that I discovered what a brilliant stand-up he is, too. Go. Discover it for yourself.

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Although I loathe JJ Abrams Trek refute, I’m a sucker for a prop replica such as the screen-accurate Phaser Replica ($39.99), which is a metal-plated reproduction of the weapon found in the film. The styling is influenced by the TOS phasers, with cluttery geegaws added.

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We’re over halfway done, and have moved into the last 20 years of the strip with the release of The Complete Peanuts: 1981 to 1982 (Fantagraphics, $28.99 SRP). Can you believe how fast time is flying? Kudos to Fantagraphics for maintaining the incredibly high standard of quality and presentation they established at the outset, with this entry featuring an introduction from cartoonist Lynn Johnston. More!

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I’ve been waiting for ages – okay, to be honest, only about a year – for my absolute favorite episode of The Twilight Zone (Image, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$99.98 SRP) to make its high definition debut, and with the release of the complete 5th season, I finally have it. The episode? William Shatner as the gremlin-spotting passenger in “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet”. Yeah, I’m a sucker for a carpet monster. As we’ve come to expect from these brilliant upgrades, the already massive amount of bonus features have been substantially bolstered by new commentaries, interviews, and much more.

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One of the loveliest cinematic experience I’ve ever had was during a trip to LA during which I partook of the recent 3D conversion of Tim Burton & Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (Walt Disney, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray- $49.99 SRP) at the impressive El Capitan theater. While the home 3D experience isn’t quite as impressive, seeing the added dimensions combined with Selick’s magical stop motion animation in the comfort of your own home is well worth it. All of the bonus features carry over from the previous Blu-Ray release – in fact, the bonus Blu-Ray disc in this set is that previous special edition – so you get all of the featurettes, short subjects, and other ephemera you expect.

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If anyone is set to inherit the legacy of Carl Sagan when it comes to making the Wonders of the Universe (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP) as fascinating as they rightly should be to the general public, it’s Brian Cox. In his new series, he asks the big philosophical questions and presents the hard scientific answers of where we – and the universe around us – came from.

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Lionsgate recently made a distribution deal with Miramax, which means that many titles not yet available on Blu-Ray are soon going to be coming fast and furious. The highlight of the first clutch of titles is John Favreau’s Swingers (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$14.99 SRP), which sports an audio commentary, a documentary, featurettes, and the “Swingblade” short film. Also available from the catalogue are Matt Damon & Edward Norton in the poker flick Rounders (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$14.99 SRP) and Bruce Willis in Hostage (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$14.99 SRP).

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The bargain-friendly folks at Mill Creek are unleashing a massive clutch of multi-disc classic TV sets, including Bonanza: Adventures Of The Cartwrights (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), Lucy: A Legacy Of Laughter (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), Heroes Of The Old West (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), The Legend Of Rin-Tin-Tin (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), The Beverly Hillbillies: Meet The Clampetts (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), and Family TV Classics (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP).

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It was inevitable they’d get their shot at the big time, which brings us Phineas & Ferb The Movie: Across The 2nd Dimension (Walt Disney, Not Rated, DVD-$26.99 SRP), which finds our hapless heroes transported to another dimension ruled over by an evil Dr. Doof. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, Perry-oke, a bonus episode, and more.

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How about another much-requested Nickelodeon animated title courtesy of the fine folks at Shout Factory? This time, it’s the complete first and second season of The Angry Beavers (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.93 SRP). The 4-disc set contains all 26 episodes.

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Despite a stellar cast and a workable premise – a pair of average means parents desperate to get their pre-K daughter into an exclusive NYC private school – The Best And The Brightest (Flatiron, Rated R, DVD-$26.95 SRP) never manages to give that stellar cast terribly strong material to work with. A shame. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, interviews, audition footage, and a Q&A.

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I know all of those involved in the production of the traditionally animated feature are quite proud of the word they’ve done, but there’s no getting around that Bambi II (Walt Disney, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is a wholly unnecessary sequel. I really don’t need to see Bambi reunite with his father for adventures and learning. Nope nope nope. Bonus materials include featurettes and a deleted song.

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After months of quickie single disc releases, fans will finally be able to pick up iCarly: The Complete 3rd Season (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP), which features 10 episodes, including the movie iParty with Victorious plus a trio of featurettes.

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More Miramax catalogue titles are making their way to high definition via the Lionsgate deal, the newest being the Academy Award-winning Good Will Hunting (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP). Re-watching it after all these years, I do find it to be even more cloying that I remembered, but there’s a genuine earnestness to the story, and nascent Matt Damon remains a treat. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.

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I suppose the tween audience that still view it as a magically romantic event still in their future as opposed to an anticlimactic night of drama and angst probably love the goofy, rose-colored sweetness of Disney’s Prom (Walt Disney, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). I hope they enjoy it while they can. Bonus materials include a short, featurettes, deleted scenes, music videos, bloopers, and more.

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Oh, A&E. Now you’ve got people digging into repossessed storage units and calling it a reality series? Have we sunk so low as a culture that we’ll actually sit through a whole season of Storage Wars (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP)? As if that weren’t enough, The History Channel continues to be intent to prove their name a farce by putting on Only In America With Larry The Cable Guy (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP), which finds the comic touring the country and nattering on about something they try desperately to spin as informative.

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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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August 29, 2011

Ken Plume & FRED: The Official DragonCon 2011 Schedule

Filed under: Articles — UncaScroogeMcD @ 4:48 am

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Heya folks! Ken Plume here.

As has become an annual tradition, I will find myself well busy at this year’s annual DragonCon convention in Atlanta, GA, which runs this very weekend (September 1st – September 5th).

In hopes you’ll stop by one of the many panels I and FRED will be doing, please find my official schedule below… (Ask me for a FRED badge!)

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Title: A Bit Of A Chat with Sylvester McCoy
Time: Fri 11:30 am Location: Centennial II – III – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Ken Plume has an in-depth chat with entertainer and Time Lord Sylvester McCoy about Doctor Who, The Hobbit, and much more…

Title: Geek a Week Podcast Reunion
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Regency VI – VII – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Join artist Len Peralta as he talks with geek superstars that were featured on the Geek A Week Podcast.

Title: FRED Panel-Palooza-Extrava-Thingee-a-Doodle
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Regency V – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Ken Plume (asitecalledFRED.com, SModcast.com, Ken P.D. Snydecast), special guests, & an Irishman in a panel of frolicking, bantering & prize-giving.

Title: Down In Deep 13: Dr. Forrester & TV’s Frank
Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: Regency V – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Join Ken Plume as he brings together the Mads of Mystery Science Theater’s Deep 13, Trace Beaulieu & Frank Conniff, for a descent down memory cave.

Title: Celebrity Quiz-o-Tron 2000
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton (Length: 1)
Description: Rebecca Watson hosts a panel quiz show. With Bill Corbett, Drew Curtis, Ken Plume, James Urbaniak.

Title: James Urbaniak: How I Became Dr. Venture, Robert Crumb etc.
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Regency V – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Actor James Urbaniak discusses his life and career as a “modestly successful character actor” and beloved internet presence.

Title: GONZOROO
Time: Sat 08:30 pm Location: Atrium Ballroom – Marriott (Length: 2.5)
Description: Join Jonathan Coulton in his Dragon*Con debut on stage with a cavalcade of other musical delights, including Paul and Storm and more! Hosted by Ken Plume and Widgett Walls.

Title: Rifftrax Is Five Years Old
Time: Sun 10:00 am Location: Centennial I – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Bill Corbett of Rifftrax.com & MST3K chats about the site as it turns 5yo. Highlights reel, Q&A, a quiz for prizes, laughs, & tears.

Title: FRED Presents Yet Another Panel About Doctor Who
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: International North – Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: Ken Plume & special guests rant/rave/giggle/titter about Doctor Who as only enthusiastic/opinionated/reasonably well-informed geeks can.

Title: Venture Brothers!
Time: Sun 04:00 pm Location: Atrium Ballroom – Marriott (Length: 1)
Description: Join cast members of the Venture Brothers to hear about inspirations, upcoming news, and more!

Title: Gonzo Quiz Show III: BEYOND THUNDERQUIZ
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Regency VI – VII – Hyatt (Length: 4)
Description: Join teams of our celebrity guests as they are led through a series of panel show game by your hosts, Ken Plume and Widgett Walls.

Any questions about any of this? Ask me on Twitter @KenPlume

And let’s wrap things up with the aforementioned Time Lord I’ll be chatting with on Friday morning, Sylvester McCoy…

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August 28, 2011

A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman 4

Filed under: A Bit Of A Chat With Ken Plume,Interviews — Tags: , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 2:24 am

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, I have another chat with musical genius Mike Phirman about diaper dirigibles, Dollywood, Magic Mountain, PhirmiLab, do-nothing Edison, music, and Chapins.

You can pick up his album at www.MikePhirman.com

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Mike Phirman 4“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-mike_phirman_4.mp3]

SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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Drop Ken a line HERE.

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August 27, 2011

My Favourite Things – August 2011

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August

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I don’t know about your area, but the weather this summer has been crap. August especially so. Which means there is no better reason to revel in some of the madness the internet has brought us in the last month.

It beats going outside.

1) Astronaut Suicides

No, I’m not sick. I don’t revel in the death of others. This is actually the title of an art project by Neil Dacosta, a photographer with a point to make about NASA’s lack of moon exploration.

It’s a series of photographs taken of an astronaut who isn’t taking the news very well. Here we see the astronaut reading about the story.

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Then, as the title suggests, we are shown a number of different attempts to end it all. Here are two of my favourites.

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You can see all the pictures and in their full size by clicking THIS LINK. Despite the dark subject matter, they’re really fantastic looking photos and make an interesting protest towards the NASA budget cuts.

2) The Lonely Island – Threw It on The Ground

I’m probably not exposing a hidden gem, considering that at the point of writing this the video has accumulated 4,444,404 views (wow, that is a lot of fours) but this is a list of my favourite things after all and for that reason, it qualifies.

It’s not the best Lonely Island song either, not by a long stretch, but like others it is an ear-worm that you’ll find yourself humming a lot. I also actually laughed out loud at the phone bit. Enjoy!

3) Mattias Inks

Remember Jesse Lonergan and his comic sketches I had talked about before? Well he tipped me off to another sketch blog which he adores and now I do to. http://mattiasa.blogspot.com/ is the home of Mattias a Swedish illustrator with an amazing talent.

Just check out this “doodle” in his moleskin book.

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Click here for the large size so you can really see all the detail.

And this traffic scene. Look at all the car designs and other crazy things.

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Click here for the large version.

Or how about this for insane design?

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Click for enormo vision. Find the hidden crocodile.

For more of this brilliance go to his blog!.

4) Civilization Wars

Miniclip has created another game this month worthy of wasting your time. This strategy game is based around the idea of raiding buildings and controlling the land. It pits the Aztecs, the Romans and the Chinese empire against eachother in some sort of strange alternate universe where this was going to happen.

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Unlike some stategy games, you have to be quick on your toes if you want to win. Each level starts with a mad dash to cover as much ground as possible and steal the empty buildings before your enemy does. Then it’s time to try and take your opponent’s base with an attack dependant on having the most troops.

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You can employ some magic attacks too but I found that building up the stats of your troops after each round can be sufficient in taking down most enemies.

There are some big bosses which are quite difficult because they are timed challenges. So again, a frantic gameplay experience can be found at every turn with this one.

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There are lots of extra modes that you can unlock along the way, like Zombie mode, which really stretches the replay-ability of the game. To give it a go and waste away the hours, like I did, click this link here!

5) Shameless Self-Promotion Time!

Coming up very soon is Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia. This year once again both myself and Ken Plume will be doing some panels for your entertainment. I’ll just quickly plug the two we’re doing together as to give you the full list of our individual ones would take far too long.

So if you’re there please pop in to say hello at the following:

FRED Panel-Palooza-Extrava-Thingee-a-Doodle
Time: Fri 04:00 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: Regency V – Hyatt

FRED Presents Yet Another Panel About Doctor Who
Time: Sun 01:00 pm (Length: 1 Hour)
Location: International North – Hyatt

Rumour has it we’ll even have an actual dragon there. Rumours.

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And that’s it! My favourite things of the last month.

– Aaron Poole is the creator of birthday balloons. He is also more acurately an internet whore and rarely leaves the house. If you like what you read here check out his blog http://aaronfever.blogspot.com

August 26, 2011

Trailer Park: Ryan Kwanten of GRIFF THE INVISIBLE, The Vicious Brothers of GRAVE ENCOUNTERS, NORWEGIAN NINJA, and SCARFACE

Filed under: Trailer Park — admin @ 5:11 am

By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on TWITTER under the name: Stipp

SCARFACE – GIVEAWAY

scarface-blu-ray-cover-01First it was the The Dude’s turn to get the royal treatment, now it’s Tony Montana’s time.

Coming to Blu-ray on September 6th, this is, perhaps, one of those releases that will now compliment any Blu-ray collection worth bragging about. The new edition is packed with enough new features that makes this a must buy, even for someone like me who hasn’t revisited this masterpiece in some years, while also being something that will make die-hard loyalists of de Palma’s coke fueled gangster reach for their wallets.

To that end, not only am I going to be giving away some copies when the Blu-ray drops but I am, this week, offering a pair of tickets to two people in order to enjoy Universal Pictures’ one-night-only event that will see the man who made the line “Say hello to my little friend” something worth quoting up back up on the big screen.

I have one pair of tickets for this upcoming August the 31st’s showing of the film at the Deer Valley 17 AMC Theaters and the Mesa Grande 14 AMC Theaters at 7:30.

So, if you would like this film with a crowd who will doubt be into the movie drop me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll put you into the running to win a pair of these tickets. Good luck!

SYNOPSIS:

With machine guns blazing, the explosive underworld epic Scarface arrives on Blu-ray TM Hi-Def September 6, 2011 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Considered one of the most influential gangster films ever made, Scarface’s gritty depiction of Tony Montana’s lethal ambition has made it a cultural touchstone that spans generations. Now, fans can experience the film’s raw power in the newly restored, high-resolution, high-definition picture and explosive 7.1 audio for the first time ever. Exclusive new bonus content created especially for this release reveals the film’s iconic legacy as one of the greatest crime sagas of all time. For a limited time only, Scarface Special Limited Edition Blu-rayTM comes with collectible SteelBookTM packaging, ten exclusive art cards, a digital copy of the film and a DVD of the original 1932 Scarface, making it a must-own addition to every film fan’s library.

“Nearly 30 years after it first exploded onto the screen, Scarface stands as a cultural icon with a passionate and growing fan base that continues to exert an enduring influence on not just moviemakers but artists across the entire pop-culture landscape,” said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. “Now, for the first time ever, fans of this jewel in the Universal crown can enjoy Scarface with the spectacular picture and sound quality that only Blu-rayTM provides.”

A masterful collaboration between acclaimed director Brian de Palma (The Untouchables, Carlito’s Way) and Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Oliver Stone (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Platoon), Scarface features extraordinary performances from a powerhouse cast that includes Academy Award® winner Al Pacino (The Godfather), Academy Award® nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (The Fabulous Baker Boys, Hairspray), Academy Award® nominee Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (The Color of Money, The Perfect Storm), Academy Award® nominee Robert Loggia (Jagged Edge) and Steven Bauer (Traffic). The film was nominated for three Golden Globe® Awards (including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Score), and was named one of the Top 10 Gangster Films of All Time by the American Film Institute.

BONUS FEATURES

· The Scarface Phenomenon – This all-new documentary presents Scarface as a unique phenomenon in cinema history. It explores how a film plagued by controversy leading up to its release has become a Hollywood classic, influencing a whole new generation of filmmakers and leaving a lasting imprint on popular culture.

· Deleted Scenes

· The World of Tony Montana – Experience the world of the ultimate gangster and hear from experts on the real world violence, fear and paranoia that surrounds a drug lord.

· The Rebirth – Director Brian De Palma, producer Martin Bregman, actor Al Pacino, and screenwriter Oliver Stone revisit the history of Scarface, from the inspiration of the original Howard Hawks classic to the evolution of the script.

· The Acting – Join the filmmakers, Al Pacino and Steven Bauer to discover how each of the roles was cast and how Brian De Palma worked with his actors to get unforgettable performances.

· The Creating – A fascinating, controversial and definitive journey through the making of the film, which began with the production being forced to leave its initial location in Florida. Discover how the chainsaw scene was filmed, learn about the production design, the photography, and the struggle to get the film an “R” rating.

· Scarface: The TV Version – A revealing and hilarious montage of film clips comparing the theatrical version to the network television version of Scarface.

· The Making of Scarface: The Video Game: Immerse yourself in the world of Scarface in this behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the video game.

· U-CONTROL FEATURES ON THIS BLU-RAY DISC:

· Scarface Scoreboard – Watch Scarface like never before. Keep track of the number of times the “F” word is used and monitor the bullets fired!

· Picture in Picture – Access interview footage of Brian De Palma, Al Pacino, Screenwriter Oliver Stone, and others without interruption to the movie experience. Also featured is a scene comparison between the 1983 version of Scarface and Howard Hawks’ original film.

· BD-LIVEâ„¢ – Access the BD-Liveâ„¢ Center through your Internet-connected player to get even more content, watch the latest trailers and more.

· pocket BLUâ„¢ app – USHE’s groundbreaking pocket BLUâ„¢ app uses iPhoneâ„¢, iPadâ„¢, iPod® touch, Smartphone, Androidâ„¢, PC and Macintosh to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-rayâ„¢ player and offers advanced features such as:

o Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-rayâ„¢ player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Liveâ„¢ functions with ease.

o Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the movie.

o Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-rayâ„¢ discs to save to mobile devices or to stream from anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy exclusive content on the go, anytime, anywhere.

o Keyboard: Enter data into a Blu-rayâ„¢ player with your device’s easy and intuitive keyboard to facilitate such Blu-rayâ„¢ features as chatting with friends and sending messages.

SYNOPSIS

In the spring of 1980, the Mariel boatlift brought thousands of Cuban refugees to the sun-washed avenues of Miami in search of the American dream. From acclaimed director Brian DePalma, Scarface is the rags-to-riches story of Tony Montana (Al Pacino), who finds wealth, power and passion beyond his wildest dreams”¦at a price he never imagined. Tony Montana’s meteoric rise, lavish life and soul-destroying fall anchor an epic film that inspired a worldwide following. Pacino is at his most memorable as Montana, blasting his way to the top of Miami’s drug underworld in a bravura performance.

Rating: R

Running Time: 2 Hours 50 Minutes

Number of Layers: BD-50

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

###

GRIFF THE INVISIBLE – Ryan Kwanten

griff_the_invisible_ver2Before talking with Ryan Kwanten, star of Leon Ford’s ode to the postmodern superhero, GRIFF THE INVISIBLE, the man was coming off a Comic-Con appearance that saw the requisite female population shriek in visual ecstasy at the man who has already stolen some hearts and minds with his role on True Blood. This role represents a true departure for the man that people think they know.

What separates Ryan’s character, Griff, from other mild mannered individuals who find the strength to combat not only crime in the streets but to find someone with which to share his ideas about what is right and just there is a genuine heart at the center of the madness. While there have been plenty of movies that show what happens when average Joes take to the alleyways and side streets none have turned inward to see what it means to try and express feelings of vulnerability in the middle of story about one man trying to give power to the powerless. Ryan talked to me about his role and what it meant to him to play a character with such clear motivations as Griff.

GRIFF THE INVISIBLE is now playing. To see if it’s playing near you, look at the film’s official site for more information.

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Thanks for talking to me today.

RYAN KWANTEN: You are absolutely welcome.

CS: I actually got to talk with [director] Leon [Ford] at the Comic-Con. If fact, I was there as you were just leaving the booth as people were going nuts, taking pictures, screaming your name. What has it been like, going out there hustling for a movie that may or may not have ever gotten out of Australia?

KWANTEN: Extraordinary. I guess I like to pick films that obviously appeal to me more than just the character sense. You like to think that you can pick a film that will travel too. But you just never quite know how an audience is going to receive it. But, the first time I ever saw Griff was actually in Berlin. So technically it was a foreign audience for us and they received it really, really well. So it was at that point that I knew it was not just an Australian story. It has a universal resonance.

CS: Hearing about how you essentially came aboard on the project after you had sent in some film tests, only knowing the movie by looking at the scripts and as you were here shooting True Blood while Leon was doing his thing in Australia. What was it about the film that made you think, “You know what, I want to test for this”?

KWANTEN: It was somewhat a cathartic experience. I tend to be a little bit of an introvert and I was very bashful in my younger days. So my release was sport and as I guess acting discovered me I found that acting was my release now, very much a sense of therapy in doing this film for me. It was a rather tough one too because it is closer to who I am and I find it sometimes a real challenge to play characters that encompasses who I am.

CS: And to that point, the film itself is great ““ it’ not action, it’s not comedy, it’s not a romance ““ it’s a little bit of everything. The material itself ““ what drew your interest the further along you got in the script?

KWANTEN: I think it was at that exact point you just made ““ that it was really hard to pigeon hole and say, ok, this is obviously a hero film, or obviously it’s a comedy or drama. I think that you couldn’t pin it down. It stands on its own. I think it’s a good story and I think that to me is all about quality ““ it’s not the latest horror film you have to see ““ this is just a good story. There are lots of things in there that are relevant to this day and age. Like the bullying thing. Everyone knows what it’s like to feel like an outcast at some point in their life.

griff-invisible-ryan-kwanten3CS: I know it’s funny I wrote a review and said essentially in an age when superhero films have been shoved down our throats this year this one is an antidote to that. It’s about something more than just feeling strong. It’s something more personal and certainly your performance speaks to that. I am amazed and the question here is dealing with Leon’s script, he doesn’t have a lot of credits to his name, was there a risk that you knew you were taking when you were thinking “The guy hasn’t done a lot but I see something in the script that I just have to attach myself to”?

KWANTEN: Yes. You couldn’t have said it better. There’s a certain amount of trust that one views in filmmaking and movies. Even if it’s Spielberg and the vast amount of experience he has you still have to ““ as an actor you have to put your ego and all your reservations aside and be prepared to be vulnerable and leave yourself hopefully in the capable hands of the director and writer. I felt like that the story would be good but I can see in the quality of the story that he was the guy who understood the character and understood emotion and it was ““ sure it was a risk but very soon after talking to Leon I realized we were on the same page.

CS: I brought this up with Leon a little bit, and I’d like to get your take on it, it’s been a little bit of a renaissance of films that made their way from Australia to here in terms of films like Animal Kingdom and a few other films that have come ashore here ““ what kind of frame of mind are you in when you film something like this, knowing the film may never have gotten further than Australia’s borders?

ryan-kwanten-griff-invisible1KWANTEN: Oh, I’m an ambitious guy, Chris. You want the film to get to as many people as possible. And I think this is the kind of film that has a good positive message. It’s not like its going to scaring people if they see it. I really think there’s something beautiful that comes from being affected by this story. In that respect I hope it gets to as many people and as many theaters as possible.

CS: To the point of this being one of Leon’s first featured films, how was the experience on set? You have the script, everything was a go, you believe that everything was put in motion”¦how was it that this guy was learning on the fly as it were?

KWANTEN: First of all, Leon is an actor. So he very much understands the process for us. And I didn’t really study acting. Most of my experience has been either life experience or on set experience. There’s also a transition point that happens with the director and the actor where I take ownership of the character and the character, once we start shooting, it’s me. It’s whatever I portray. And Leon would come in and give notes on who I portray. So, that experience was really smooth. Like Leon gave me an enormous amount of leeway. That was an already really tight script.

CS: One of the last questions I have for you ““ seeing the film, the old adage that a film is made once on paper, second when it’s shot, and third when it’s edited ““ what’s it been like to actually see Griff all the way through? Is it exactly the way you envisioned it or do you see inspirations where perhaps you didn’t see them on paper?

KWANTEN: Very good question. Shooting it is a different face and then watching it is a different experience. I try not to connect the two. I had such an enormous amount of fun shooting this. Reading it and then shooting it and then watching it too ““ it’s still a little bit hard because you’re filming and there’s things I’d like to tweak as an actor and a performer but in time I’m learning to let that go and enjoy the experience. Personally, it’s just nice to hear people being affected by it. I consider it a good film but it’s hard for me to be subjective about that.

NORWEGIAN NINJA – DVD REVIEW

norwegian-ninja_2d_hThis is a movie that confounds but delights. The warning label that should wrap this film’s DVD release ought to read: Not for those with a weak sense of humor. Heavy doses of absurdity awaits.

The thing about director/writer Thomas Cappelen Malling’s feature film is that even describing this film is certain to turn some into disbelieving nonbelievers but, yes, the film is about blonde looking ninjas looking to bust up a conspiracy that threatens to disrupt the very sanctity of Norway unless our protagonist, Arne Treholt, who in real life used to be a politician in the 1980’s before he was sent to prison for, of all things, treason and espionage.

The movie goofs on the idea of spy spoofs better than later versions of AUSTIN POWERS ever could. While POWERS certainly wanted to go for the funny in a comedic fashion, NORWEGIAN NINJA flips the script by being completely obnoxious with the way it supposes those trained in the black arts would be able to move through space and time. You see, there are large leaps of faith you have to take in order to enjoy this film which mixes intentionally bad model work, scuffed up footage, and impossibly improbable acts of physical endurance the film about our protagonist who is tasked with making Norway a safer place, using a rather confounding kind of logic that both defies you to try and understand what elements are really real and what are the insane ramblings of a man allowed to run wild with a script that is both hilariously shoddy yet easily one of the most entertaining movies you’ll see all month.

The movie deserves your time, it deserves your attention, and it certainly deserves your ability to try and figure out why this so damn entertaining.

More details about the film:

FROM THE PRODUCERS OF “˜DEAD SNOW’ (THE “˜CITIZEN KANE’ OF NAZI ZOMBIE MOVIES) COMES THE LATEST GENRE-BUSTING NORDIC TRIUMPH

NORWEGIAN NINJA

A Scandinavian Diplomat Becomes a Soviet Spy ““ or Is He Really His Country’s Most Kick-ass Patriot? This Wild Ride of a Movie Telling the (Somewhat) True Story of a Great Cold War Scandal Hits Dark Sky Films DVD on August 30, 2011

“Hilarious and menacing.” ““ The Wall Street Journal

“A wonderful bonkers pastiche of James Bond, eastern mysticism and Cold War movies.” ““ Moviegrrl Reviews

The true story of Norway’s biggest traitor gets a hilarious and thrilling reimagining in the no-holds-barred NORWEGIAN NINJA. Created by the producers of the Norwegian cult hit Dead Snow, about Nazi zombies, the movie will thrill both ninja action fans and (alternative) history buffs when Dark Sky Films releases it on DVD, via MPI Media Group, on August 30, 2011.

In 1984, high-ranking Norwegian diplomat Arne Treholt was tried and convicted of acting as a spy on behalf of the Soviet Union. But what if the courts got it wrong? What if the case against him was a sham? What if ““ dare we consider ““ Treholt was not a spy at all but a patriot of the highest order and the leader of a secret ninja force created by King Olav? A ninja force locked in a secret battle against all who would challenge Norwegian sovereignty?”¨”¨A fictionalized account of the most notorious political scandal in Norwegian history, NORWEGIAN NINJA is a deliciously tongue-in-cheek spoof of the Cold War spy movie, with added ninja action. Blending historical events and actual newsreel footage of the Treholt affair with his own less-than-historical elements, debuting writer-director Thomas Cappelen Malling (a contributor to the upcoming horror anthology The ABCs of Death) creates a film that wryly questions just how truthful the truth really is. And then sends a ninja to punch the truth in the face.

NORWEGIAN NINJA is “hilarious and menacing, absurd and insightful, and an accomplished work of genre film making that authoritatively upends the cold-war spy thriller,” novelist J.S. Marcus raved in The Wall Street Journal. 24framespersecond.net said the movie is “a loving tribute to all things Bond, with gadgets, aging ninjas and sky cars aplenty.” Robert Koehler of Variety wrote, “Thomas Cappelen Malling’s debut feature indeed delivers as expected in an intentionally cheesy sendup of espionage thrillers, old TV and Cold War politics.”

Provocative in the vein of the “autobiographical” Chuck Barris tale Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, NORWEGIAN NINJA has helped lead to a reopening of Arne Treholt’s case. The DVD brings the wider movie public into the loop of one of modern European history’s most notorious events.

NORWEGIAN NINJA SPECIAL FEATURES

– 3 Deleted Scenes
– 6 Bonus Scenes
– 6 Featurettes Including Interview with actor Mads Ousal, writer-director Thomas Capplen Malling, and producer Eric Vogel
– Music Video
– Trailer

GRAVE ENCOUNTERS – The Vicious Brothers Interview

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The Vicious Brothers are neither.

What had started out as a found footage production, spawned a trailer that has garnered almost ten million views, a following that demanded to know more and resulted in getting the chance to play the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.

Getting a chance to talk to the duo about their experiences shooting in a psych ward, trying to do something new with the genre, and making this movie the most original production it can be was one of the more satisfying talks I had with some filmmakers at the Comic-Con. While some are polished and are sticking with the party line no matter how hard you try and get someone to be honest, the Brothers Vicious were more than happy to talk about what it took to get this from where it began to where it is today.

I talked with them about the process of moviemaking, how these two found one another, and how the creative process differs when you have two minds trying to get to one outcome.

GRAVE ENCOUNTERS is now available via Video On Demand.

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: So, the film got accepted at Tribeca?

VICIOUS BROTHERS: Yeah.

CS: Is this really your first feature that you’ve gotten acclaim for?

ORTIZ: It’s just our first feature period!

MINIHAN: It’s our first feature ““ it’s our fourth script we’ve written together and our first one that we just decided to say “Fuck it” and go shoot it.

CS: What was the budget? I don’t want to know the exact number but was it something like, I have a Visa so let’s just run it up?

MINIHAN: It might as well have been. It’s well under a half million dollar movie. It’s Stu and I running around with cameras in our hands in an abandoned mental institution.

CS: Talk about that a little. The collaboration you two have ““ how does that work? In partnerships there’s give and take ““ like I have an idea ““ I have an idea ““ how long have you two been working together creatively?

ORTIZ: We met on the internet actually when we were both in high school. That’s how we met. He’s from Vancouver, Canada and I’m from California. We actually met on this filmmaking forum. And we started sending each other clips and sending movies that we’d shoot in our backyards and stuff like that. And it’s like, hey, this stuff is cool and we kept the relationship up and we met and just kept friends basically. This guy here is the only guy I ever met that I ever thought was on the same wave length as me in terms of what we thought was cool and just what we were doing. We’ve always had some weird click there where we have an understanding basically.

MINIHAN: It ties into the collaborative process as far as the writing goes and stuff like that. I’ll have an idea and if it’s not quite there yet, Stu will elevate it and vice versa and we always find eye to eye and even editing the film and directing the film, we share such similar mindset that it’s really a great collaboration.

The Vicious BrothersCS: In pre-production, production, and then editing, I have to assume the two of you disagreed on a few things here and there or not?

MINIHAN: Not so much disagreements sometimes it will be like, I have an idea and he would be like I don’t know about that, prove it. And then it’s like I basically have to prove it is a better idea.

ORTIZ: Like sell me on the idea or I sell you on the idea. If your idea is better, we always end up agreeing in the long run.

MINIHAN: And we’ve been doing this for a while now. We’ve written four scipts ““ at some point, the trust factor comes into it. You do away with your ego. This obviously works and we just always end up with something way better than if it was just him, or just me writing. We kind of balance each other out.

CS: And in the collaborative process with the actors ““ were they given ““ you obviously wrote the script but did you keep it loose and not letting them know ““ it seems like a movie that’s reactionary and try to get a naturalistic a response. Anything you kept them in the dark about?

ORTIZ: When we wrote the script we wrote a full 90 page script but we wrote some of it so loose that we left a lot of room for the actors to bring a lot of improvs to the table. There’s a certain scene in the film where we didn’t tell them what was going to happen and we basically had this whole set built that was blocking off a staircase that they are trying to run to and we just said, you are going to be filming this scene and you think there’s an escape route on the top of the building and you are going to run up the stairs and we just want it to be real. And something’s going to happen. So when they got up there you are seeing their genuine reaction to it.

MINIHAN: And we did some stuff also in the movie where we would just basically devise hallways of four ““ we’d start them on one end of a really long hallway ““ and granted they are completely in the dark, the only light they have is literally from their camera ““ and we said, OK, you need to walk from point A to point B and just react to stuff.

ORTIZ: We basically created a haunted house for them to walk though.

MINIHAN: Quite literally. We would be running around waiting and watching them on the monitors ““ we knew where they were and waited until they were next to a door or a window or something and we’d slam it or make a loud noise ““ we got a lot of hilarious reactions from them. They were freaked out.

CS: Was it hard ““ shooting in the dark presents its own challenges of trying to get the lighting right when there’s not a lot of lighting to give especially when you want it to look as natural as possible ““ was it something you were comfortable with?

ORTIZ: We were super comfortable with the idea of shooting the film in a gorilla-style. I think even if we had a ton of money we would have wanted a minimalist DP that would have wanted to light and shoot in a similar fashion just because with the sound producing thing ““ if it feels too studio you kind of get removed from the reality of it so when we made the film we wanted an aesthetic that really felt like it shows which is basically shot in the dark, very low light and they are not slick and rough around the edges.

MINIHAN: There is just something scary about going down a dark hallway and the only source of light is just one light source that is right in front of you. It’s just dark and things come into the light only about 10 feet in front of you.

ORTIZ: I hate horror movies when everything is over-lit and the moon is just lighting up the woods perfectly. It’s like, why is that guy using a flashlight, I can see everything perfectly.

CS: Exactly. It was like in the 70’s when horror movies felt more real because they weren’t well

viciousbrotherspremieregraveencounterstd5r24apum0lMINIHAN: For sure the ghetto nature helps sell the reality of it.

CS: And to that point ““ the scares that you wanted to put into it ““ I’m reminded of James Wan’s Insidious which I am a huge fan of ““ PG 13, to boot. Say what you will about the man but he was able to create scary moments. How do you work with that when you know you want to get something scary? Not everything the actors are seeing is happening in front of them. How were you working with effects to enhance the scare and still capturing it naturally?

ORTIZ: I think it’s a rhythmic thing and has to do with timing. In terms of something jumping out and scaring at the appropriate moment ““ something that was a combination of all of that in the movie is ““ have you seen this movie?

CS: No…

ORTIZ: OK, there’s a scare that happens where there’s a bathtub and something scary happens and having to do with the bathtub and when we shot this thing on the day it took a real long time to set up so we were only able to do it twice. It was an important scare to get right. We didn’t really get the timing right on the day. But on the computer we chopped out a section of about 2 to 3 seconds of this dead time when we were waiting for the scare to happen but it didn’t come and we were able to past them together so you can’t even tell. The scare works perfectly.

CS: Really?

MINIHAN: It’s very timing oriented achieving the right scare. And with the sound footage film you can’t rely on the score to just go bam and shock you at any given moment so a lot of the creepiness has to do with the sound design that the building is slowly coming to life and the ambient drones of the building give a sense of uneasiness throughout the film and act as the score in essence.

CS: And then after you cut it all together and set your sights to getting it released, how was that process of letting go of your movie to be shown at a festival? Was that an easy process for you?

ORTIZ: One thing we did early on when we were still editing the film, my job in LA is that I actually edit trailers so we just started collaborating putting the trailer together. Even before the film is finished, we’re like the trailer is going to be a huge tool to just get us visibility basically to get some interest in it. So we put together a trailer, put it up on YouTube to just see if people would check this out and what would their reaction be and the reaction was pretty huge. At this point we have close to 6 million views now.

MINIHAN: It was made before the film was done. It really kicked started everything. I think Tribeca approached us after that and the wheels started rolling. The film came out in Italy recently and it did very well there theatrically and it’s going to be released in the US through Tribeca Film on video on demand on August 25 and we are going to be doing midnight screenings leading up to that in LA and New York on August 19. We’re running a Demand It campaign at the same time so if you go to Great Encounters.com and demand it in your city, Tribeca will actually bring the film to your city. So you can experience it that way.

Party Favors: Todd Phillips

Filed under: Joe Corey's Party Favors — UncaScroogeMcD @ 5:02 am

partyfavors1.jpg

TOKYO – Ever fight the urge to puke your guts up when staring at the magazines along the supermarket checkout?

The sensation nearly got the best of me last week when I was stocking up on Throwback Mountain Dew. There was Todd Phillips the director of The Hangover sucking face with Paris Hilton. Why? Why would he do such a thing with such a thing?

Why should I care?

Back in the ’90s, I met Todd through our mutual friend John Pierson. We were the bad boys of Pierson’s Split Screen series. Both of us had upset the executives at IFCTV. He for his love of porn king Seymore Butts. My troublemaking involved scenes of highway deaths, live birth and the gassing of puppies. I enjoyed Todd since he ran the NYC Underground Film Festival and made the documentary about G.G. Allin. He was f’n hardcore in a Film Threat way. Once when he and John were in Raleigh, I bought Todd a beer at a bar. I felt good for his success that came from his chance meeting with Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) on a snowy Manhattan street. I didn’t even complain when his shooting of the Wedding Chapel scene stopped my Deuce bus in Las Vegas. Although we thought it was a CSI shoot.

I was a starving film student living on Top Ramen and tuna. But I didn’t mind breaking the bank to pick up the round of beers for him and John. It was a warm memory of cold goodness. Now that Paris’ friends are swearing that Todd might be her future husband, I feel cheated. I’d rather have bought a beer for Stalin, Bucky Dent or CarrotTop.

Why would he be seen in public with her? She’s last decade’s Khloe Kardashian. Maybe some hickish goofball that made an infomercial would be impressed with her in the passenger seat. Todd’s a bigger name than her when it comes to a paying crowd. He’s worth more than her with his Hangover paydays. Her latest reality show tanked. Her time on talkshows is excruciating. There’s nothing beyond her mug shots.

Perhaps Todd can’t get enough of her droning on about how she’s a hard worker. Or maybe her thrilling tales of days inside jail when she felt like a criminal. Or how about memories of her last boyfriend taking the rap for the accidental cocaine that was in a purse that she swore wasn’t really hers. Who wants to take a felony rap for her? She’s like a rental moped at St. Barts. No matter what you imagine, you’re kissing a lot tourist ass on her leathery cheeks.

How could Todd have done this? I would been more understanding if he had been busted for cornholing the rotting corpse of Bea Arthur. What man couldn’t understand the urge to be an Excitable Boy?

I wandered out back to my Beautiful Mind shed to contemplate the abyss. After hours connecting magazine articles with string and breathing in rubber cement,
the truth hit me. Todd Phillips that drank my beer isn’t the Todd Phillips that sucked Paris Hilton’s face.

What really happened on the legendary snowy night when Todd shouted to Ivan Reitman that he was a better filmmaker than Robert Simonds? The myth is Ivan set up a meeting with Todd and thus Road Trip was born. But that’s part of the mystery. How can Todd Phillips go from Hated and Screwed to making mediocre Hollywood comedies? It’s not even like he makes big dumb Hollywood movies to pay the bills and small subversive projects to feed his soul. He’s all about the mindless popcorn chuckles. What did Ivan Reitman do to Todd during the meeting? I think the answer is obvious: Ivan Reitman killed, dismembered and ate Todd Phillips.

It’s a well known rumor that Ivan Reitman into eating people. How do you think he was able to capture such realistic scenes in Cannibal Girls? What do you think happened to John Candy? Afterwards Ivan realized he’d dined on the wrong guy since people would notice Todd Phillips being dead with teeth marks on his skull. So he hastily found a replacement: Philip Todd, a major Hollywood weasel who dreamed of turning Inch High Private Eye into a Bruce Willis blockbuster. This is kinda what the Beatles did after Paul McCartney was murdered by Orson Welles in a Hamburg brothel. It’s Philip Todd that’s cranking out Due Date and Starsky & Hutch. It’s Phillip Todd that’s a Red Bull and vodka lover’s Shawn Levy. Philip Todd doesn’t mind partying with Paris Hilton cause he doesn’t have any aspirations other than being a major Hollywood phony. He’d date a Teen Mom if it meant the lead at TMZ.

I feel bad now about buying Todd Phillips the beer. I should have smashed that bottle over his skull and saved him from the fate of being replaced by Philip Todd. If only there was a Hot Tub Time Machine, I could have prevented his Paris Hilton fate.

Did you know you can also use rubber cement as an adhesive?

KIDS GO CABLE

Doug Block’s The Kids Grow Up demonstrates how fast kids grow up. On the verge of his daughter leaving for college, Block pieces through video of her life to ponder their relationship over the years. The documentary has been showing on HBO lately. Here’s a little chat I had with Block at 2010’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C.

SCREW THE ACADEMY

The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences has extended membership to Russell Brand. They want him to be an Oscar voter. Why? What exactly has this Mighty Boosh wannabe done in cinema to be worthy of such an honor? Was it his playing himself in Get Him to the Greek? Or maybe it was dragging Helen Mirren through that painful remake of Arthur? Or how about his voice work on Hop?

Let’s put this into perspective: The Academy refused to let Rodney Dangerfield join. They didn’t think Rodney’s career was up to their standards. Rodney made golf cool in Caddyshack. Is there a better film about an old guy going back to college than Back to School? What about Rodney’s turn as the molesting father in Natural Born Killers? He knew how to play creepy. He wasn’t a one note performer. And yet the Academy told him to go away.

Now they extend a membership to Russell Brand? The only career accomplishment he’s done is get Katy Perry to marry him. But because he’s British, Russell must greater than Rodney as a movie actor.

As long as Russell Brand votes for the Oscars, I’m not watching. If even they invited me to host, I’d wear a blindfold so I could maintain my promise not to actually watch the ceremony.

BLU-RAY HEAVEN

Better Off Dead in Blu-ray means Curtis Armstrong in 1080p. Sure most people will claim this is a John Cusack film, but Curtis makes the film. Cusack gets dumped by his high school girlfriend and everyone wants a shot at her. He can’t deal with the despair. He’s Mr. Glum even with his best friend being Curtis. The only thing that slaps him almost out of it is a cute French foreign exchange student. She’s stuck with a family that feeds her french fries and french dressing. There’s plenty of weird jokes including how Cusack’s younger brother uses the mail to upgrade his life. Writer-director Savage Steve Holland was denied Oscar glory in 1985 when Better Off Dead was released. Does anyone care about Out of Africa anymore? Or Color Purple? But you’ll be howling at the weirdness when you bust out the Blu-ray of Better Off Dead. Unlike the John Hughes films, this movie improves with age. Why? Cause Curtis Armstrong rules the screen. His instructions on how to ski the K-12 are legendary. “Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn,” he says. The transfer looks so good that you’ll want to have $2 to pay off the paperboy. Did you know that Slash from Guns N Rose stole his hat look from Curtis?

CORMAN CORNER

Roger Corman’s Cult Classics: Streetwalkin’ reminds us that Melissa Leo didn’t start out a middle aged actress. Like so many major stars, this year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for The Fighter got her start in the Roger Corman universe. She was a fresh face that found a lead role walking the streets of Manhattan. She and her brother get tossed out of their father’s house. They take the bus into the Big Apple only to find that mom doesn’t want them either. Luckily she meets a guy at the bus station and he’s got a job for her that doesn’t require too much experience. She takes well to being a hooker and putting money in her man’s pocket. She works the area around Time Square before it became a TGIFridays. One of her corner pals is Julie Newmar (Batman‘s Catwoman). She’s an older woman looking to save up enough to retire. Newmar looks good working in her lingerie. Another one of Leo’s co-stars is Khandi Alexander. They team up to torture a submissive businessman. The duo would reunite 25 years later on HBO’s Treme. Trouble happens when Leo’s pimp tangles with Antonio Fargas (Starsky and Hutch‘s Huggy Bear). Things get good and violent on the street when the pimps battle. The cool thing is that while this is a low budget Corman film, they really did shoot around Time Square. This isn’t a couple establishing shots and the rest of production made at the lumberyard in Venice, CA. Melissa Leo struts around the real streets of Manhattan in her pumps. Streetwalkin’ is a classic of the ’80s hooker flicks.

O TIBBY

Mystery Science Theater 3000: MST3K Vs. Gamera – XXI is the boxset that only the extremely optimistic fan thought would ever be legally released. Why wouldn’t these five episodes of massive turtle action remain off the schedule? Because both distributor Sandy Frank and Daiei Motion Picture Company were upset at MST3K poking fun at their beloved rubbersuit superstar. Frank was extremely pissed off at all the jokes about him. But with the optimism of a kid called Kenny with a baseball hat, MST3K Vs. Gamera has arrived. Gamera starts the series as a bit of a Godzilla tale of how nature hates being trashed by man. Gamera Vs. Barugon is the non-kid storyline about greed, mega Opals and monsters. Barugon shoots a rainbow of death out of his back. Gamera Vs. Gao is the first one I ever saw. A Rodan-like flying reptile attacks a town in the Japanese countryside. He fires lasers from his mouth. This is when the movies focused on the kid angle. Gamera Vs. Guiron makes the kids meet weird lady aliens that have a sword headed monster terrorizing their planet. Gamera Vs. Zigra makes the turtle battle a monster that can transform from a spaceship to a swordfish. It’s as warped as it can get. This allows Joel and the Bots to go wild mocking the weirdness. For those upset that this is another non-Mike set, let it be known that Mike Nelson gives his legendary performance of the Gamera theme song. Here’s a clip of it.

Now you can buy all eight Showa era Gameras and the five MST3K episodes from Shout! Factory. If only Godzilla could have such completeness to its classic films. The boxset comes in a fancy tin box. If you order from Shout! Factory’s wesbite, they’ll throw in a pack of Gamera postcards and an MST3K stress ball. Shame they don’t throw in a few tissues so you can wipe up the tears at the beauty of Tom Servo singing to TIbby the turtle. There’s lots of bonus features including a history of Gamera, the Chiodo Brothers and the MST Hour wraparounds featuring Mike Nelson as Jack Perkins. MST3K Vs. Gamera deserves a place of honor in your house.

DVD SHELF

Conan the Adventurer: Season One animates the daddy of fantasy fiction. They toned down Conan for Saturday morning. No longer is he a great thief that slaughters folks and loves the ladies. He’s not even an orphan. He’s a nice kid trying to free his family after they’re turned to stone by Serpent people. Even his pals aren’t so cold blooded in their attack methods. One is an actual prince and the other is a circus performer. They’re all well mannered. Since it’s a cartoon, they have a talking animal character. This time we get a magical bird that lives on Conan’s shield. This kinda makes this less tough than the books and Arnold’s live action movies. All 13 episodes from season one are featured on 2 DVDs. Watch this with your favorite polyhedral dice.

Melrose Place The Sixth Season, Volume Two brings to an end the penultimate season. Amanda (Heather Locklear) gets involved in a nasty plane crash. The tenants put together a search team to come after her. There’s a lost love return from the Iraq war to haunt a resident. Michael gets screwed on his practice thanks to a drunk woman. It doesn’t help when he goes nuts at a stripclub. Amanda and Kyle keep up their plans to get married. There’s a lot of people wanting to bust up their nuptials. They must have spread the rumor of a cash bar at the reception. The mystery daddy nearly gets exposed by one pregnant resident. How can there only be one last season to go? There’s so many questions. The 12 episodes are spread over 3 DVDs. With the upcoming demise of SoapNet, you’ll be wanting to create your own Melrose Place marathons for the weekend.

Dennis the Menace: Season Two continues the comic page fun from 1960. Jay North brought the character to life in his striped shirt, overalls and iconic haircut. This was the salad days for the series with the show understanding itself and the kids still looking like kids. Puberty hadn’t destroyed the childish fun. “Out of Retirement” gives Mr. Wilson (Joseph Kearns) a chance to go back to his old company. What makes the choice hard is gig will be in Pittsburgh. He seems eager to flee Dennis (Jay North). Can the boy do the right thing and make the old guy stay? “Dennis and the Ham-pher” reminds parents to make sure your kids buy the right pet. He thinks he’s raising a hamster, but it’s a gopher. Big difference. “Paint-Up, Clean-Up Week” is another classic tale of Dennis doing too much to improve the neighborhood. “The Christmas Horse” proves a pony isn’t a great holiday gift. Kearns keeps up the crotchety nature to Dennis’ well meaning mayhem. There’s 38 episodes in this collection. Season 3 will be released on Oct. 25. They only made four seasons before the kids grew up.

August 25, 2011

A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Doc Hammer 3

Filed under: A Bit Of A Chat With Ken Plume,Interviews — Tags: , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 5:57 am

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, I have another chat with The Venture Bros. own Doc Hammer about shirtlessness, humidity, four voices, sports, and vaudeville.

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Doc Hammer 3“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-doc_hammer_3.mp3]

SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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Drop Ken a line HERE.

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You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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August 23, 2011

FREDagator: 2011-08-23

Filed under: FREDagator — UncaScroogeMcD @ 12:01 pm

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OK Go re-creates their videos with Muppets…

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August 22, 2011

A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Graham Linehan 3

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, I have another chat with the co-creator of FATHER TED & creator of THE IT CROWD, Graham Linehan, about motivation, restroom attendants, French IT, proper exits, and killing little old ladies.

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Graham Linehan 3“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-graham_linehan_3.mp3]

SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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Drop Ken a line HERE.

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You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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August 19, 2011

Weekend Shopping Guide 8/19/11: Of Mice & Paul

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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 FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

For all its desperation to make itself a loving homage to Spielberg, Super 8 is a crass wannabe next to Nick Frost & Simon Pegg’s alien road trip Paul (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), as it evokes all of the loving geek warmth the former wanted to evoke without the effort and with the added bonus of being funny. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, galleries, bloopers, and more.

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Adding to the mystery presented to viewers all those years ago, the introduction of River Song in the episode “Silence In The Library” found the enigmatic Dr. Song in possession of her very own Sonic Screwdriver, given to her by The Doctor in the future and an advanced version, no less. Now you can own your very own Doctor Who: Future Sonic Screwdriver ($19.99) featuring both a blue AND red setting.

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If you tend to think of Mickey Mouse as nothing more than a bland corporate spokesman, prepare to be both fascinated and delighted by the incredible comic strip adventures of the 30’s by Floyd Gottfredson, collected for the first time in Mickey Mouse: Race To Death Valley (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP), the first volume of hopefully the entire run. Get it! Now!

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Oh, they’re coming fast & furious now. What, you ask? More classic Doctor Who adventures – this time the Tom Baker story The Sun Makers and the Sylvester McCoy story Paradise Towers (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP each). Both are loaded with the usual complement of commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and more. We’re so close to having all of the extant classic Who stories on DVD that you can almost taste it.

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Let’s all forget about the American abomination and just re-watch the from-front-to-back enjoyable 16th season of the original UK Top Gear (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which finds Jeremy, James, & Richard crossing the US, and then find themselves in Albania later in the season. Bonus materials include chats, behind-the-scenes footage, a studio tour, outtakes, and more.

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Although only one of them was made as a period piece, enough time has passed that both Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Dazed & Confused (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$ 26.98 SRP each) are now both snapshots of their respective eras, and both making their high definition debut. Fast Times features a documentary, an audio commentary, and in-film behind-the-scenes materials, while Dazed has featurettes, deleted scenes, and retro PSAs.

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If you’re a big fan of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett’s post-MST3K endeavor Rifftrax, you owe it to yourself to partake of the heightened energy of a pair of recent live show releases that were originally beamed to theaters around the country – Rifftrax Live: House On Haunted Hill Riffed Live From Nashville 2010 & Rifftrax Live: Reefer Madness Riffed Live From San Diego 2010 (Legend Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$17.95 each), both of which are now available in high definition. Heck, the Nashville show even has a special set from special guest Paul F. Tompkins.

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With the recent resurgence in popularity of Nickelodeon’s 90’s line-up – or, at least Nickelodeon’s acknowledgement that there is a fanbase out there – it should come as no surprise that those fans will now be able to pick up the complete first season of Hey Arnold! (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.93 SRP). The 4-disc set contains all 20 episodes.

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I’ve made no secret of my intense hatred – borne of even more intense disappointment – in Torchwood (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$129.98 SRP). Still, I know that there are wrongheaded fans of the ongoing mess who will probably want to snap up the complete series box set, featuring seasons 1 & 2 and the Children Of Earth miniseries, plus all of the bonus features from the original releases. So for you fans – have at it.

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If Pineapple Express was a stoner action flick, than the rather obviously named Your Highness (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP), you’ll not be surprised to learn, is a stoner swords & sorcery flick, which finds Danny McBride’s pampered prince forced to join his brother James Franco’s quest to find the bride stolen by an evil wizard. It’s got Toby Jones, Charles Dance, and a mechanical bird, so it’s at least worth a spin. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and outtakes.

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While Pixar and Dreamworks get most of the attention, let’s not overlook the equally enjoyable films from other studios that don’t get the attention, like Blu Sky Studios fun, funny tale of a domesticated macaw intent on returning to his roots in South America in Rio (Fox, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). Bonus materials include featurettes, deleted scenes, music videos, and more.

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I admit, there’s a fondness in my heart for The Fox And The Hound (Walt Disney, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), as it was one of the first Disney films I saw as a kid. Now, don’t mistake that fondness for any belief that it’s one of the studio’s best animated films, as it’s often a plodding affair, but it does have some flashes of charm and I’m happy whenever a classic Disney flick makes its way to high definition. They also very rightly are packaging this with the high-def release of the forgettable sequel The Fox And The Hound II, as that’s the only way anyone would buy it. The 3-disc set also carries over all of the bonus features found on the original DVD release.

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Get your fix of manly-man movies in high definition with the release of both The Magnificent Seven & The Return Of The Magnificent Seven (MGM, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP each), as well as Sergio Leone’s Clint Eastwood classics Fistful Of Dollars & For A Few Dollars More (MGM, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP each). You know you want them all.

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I’m a big fan of Berkely Breathed’s children’s book Mars Needs Moms (Walt Disney, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), in which a young boy’s mother was kidnapped to the red planet. The movie version would have been a fun flick if not for producer Robert Zemeckis’s godawful motion capture animation, which despite his mighty protests to the contrary STILL have dead eyes and dwell firmly in the uncanny valley. The 3-D effects in the home theater are impressive, which is a shame, because they really deserve a better design style. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, and deleted scenes.

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During that period when Hanna-Barbera was just crankin’ out feature-length specials of just about all of their characters, George & Jane Jetson’s eldest daughter got her own, featuring a witch, a teen idol, aliens, and even Elroy. And the folks at the Warner Archive Collection have made Rockin’ With Judy Jetson (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.95) available.

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Oh, the 80’s was just packed full of mediocre animated series that inspired dedicated fans who’ve grown up to have disposable cash and a desire to relive their rose-tinted memories – Which is why we have MASK: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$99.99 SRP), which features guys in masks who drove cars and trucks. And the good guys had a robot that looked like an ambulatory egg. So, yeah. Bonus materials include retrospective featurettes.

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It’s still not The Hudsucker Proxy, but I’m still happy about the high definition arrival of The Big Lebowski (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP). The real key is the improved presentation of the film itself, as the bonus features are carried over from the last DVD special edition. So, yes – The Dude still abides.

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Get your literary drama on with a pair of releases from A&E sure to delight the higher-brows amongst you. The first is the Thomas Hardy Collection (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP), featuring adaptations of both Tess Of The D’Ubervilles & The Mayor Of Casterbridge. If adventure is more your speed, there’s Horatio Hornblower: The Further Adventures (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$14.95 SRP), which contains the feature-length films The Duchess And The Devil & The Wrong War.

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Curious how timing works out such that the 5th season of Spin City (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.93 SRP) gets its release during the year of Charlie Sheen’s flameout, as the 5th season is when Sheen was brought in to take over the lead from the ailing Michael J. Fox, carrying it on for a few more years.

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See Brits survive a post-apocalyptic wasteland and make the journey to a distant planet to make a new start in Outcasts (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.99 SRP). Suffice to say, life on the new world isn’t a cake walk, as events both natural and interpersonal threaten to destroy humanity’s future. Bonus materials incl7ude interviews and a featurette.

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My nephews will be delighted to see another volume of the Frosty Freezy Freeze fans and crime-fighting duo back for another batch of episodes in Fanboy & Chumchum: Brain Freeze (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which contains 7 episodes plus an animatic.

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Some are fascinating, but I’m not one for re-living that horrible day, but from a historical perspective the documentaries collected in the September 11th Memorial Edition (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$24.95 SRP) are pretty comprehensive and are thankfully free of editorial or agenda.

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If I were to choose the giant robot cartoon that left the biggest mark on my childhood psyche (after Transformers), it would have to be Voltron. Watching the 7 remastered episodes contained in Voltron: The Legend Begins (Vivendi, Not Rated, DVD-$12.99 SRP), the show still holds up as a fun adventure romp, supported on this new disc by a clutch of retrospective featurettes.

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For the most part, I loathe the Spider-Man feature film franchise, but I will give them credit on one detail they nailed – the Spider-Man costume itself. One just has to watch previous attempts at making a real-world version of the costume in other productions to see just how poorly things can go, and see just how right they went in this instance (as opposed to the horrid redesign being employed in the upcoming cinematic reset of the franchise). Well, the costume I love has now been made into a Spider-Man 12″ Figure ($149.99) from the fine folks at Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles. Packed with a clutch of alternate hands (ranging from swinging to web-firing), a pedestal, and numerous web lines – and outfitted in a pretty snazzy small-scale version of the film’s costume – it’s a welcome addition to the collection of any diehard webhead.

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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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August 18, 2011

A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Rebecca Watson 4

Filed under: A Bit Of A Chat With Ken Plume,Interviews — Tags: , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 10:44 pm

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, I have another chat with author, presenter, and skeptic extraordinaire Rebecca Watson about apples, booze quizzes, t-shirts, unbirthdays, and more apples.

And be sure to visit Skepchick.

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Rebecca Watson 4“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-rebecca_watson_4.mp3]

SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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Drop Ken a line HERE.

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You can also find more of my interviews by clicking HERE.

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A Bit Of A Chat with Ken Plume & Jackson Publick

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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.

In this episode, Ken Plume chats with Venture Bros. creator Jackson Publick about writing, Edith Ann, pee jars, smoking, dead air, shoebox bases, and box furniture.

Hope you enjoy…

Download “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume & Jackson Publick“:

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/bitofachat/bit_of_a_chat-jackson_publick.mp3]

SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to this Podcast via iTunes

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Drop Ken a line HERE.

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August 17, 2011

Contest Round-Up: 2011-08-17

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Welcome to our weekly round-up of featured giveaways here at FRED. Every week, we’ll present a new clutch of DVDs, books, and other cool stuff you can take a shot at winning. All you have to do is click on the graphics below to be taken to their respective contest pages. And good luck!

In conjunction with BBC Home Video, we’re giving away two (2) copies each of OUTCASTS on both Blu-Ray & DVD.

In conjunction with BBC Home Video, we’re giving away two (2) copies each of WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE on both Blu-Ray & DVD.

In conjunction with BBC Home Video, we’re giving away two (2) copies each of ZEN on both Blu-Ray & DVD.

In conjunction with Cartoon Network Home Video, we’re giving away three (3) copies of BEN 10 ULTIMATE ALIEN: VOLUME 2 on DVD.

In conjunction with A&E Home Video, we’re giving away three (3) copies of THE THOMAS HARDY COLLECTION on DVD.

In conjunction with A&E Home Video, we’re giving away two (2) copies of HORATIO HORNBLOWER: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES on DVD.

In conjunction with New Video, we’re giving away three (3) copies of THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST on DVD.

In conjunction with Universal Home Video, we’re giving away five (5) copies of DAZED & CONFUSED on Blu-Ray.

In conjunction with Universal Home Video, we’re giving away five (5) copies of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH on Blu-Ray.

In conjunction with Universal Home Video, we’re giving away five (5) copies of ANIMAL HOUSE on Blu-Ray.

In conjunction with Universal Home Video, we’re giving away five (5) copies of THE BLUES BROTHERS on Blu-Ray.

In conjunction with Thinkgeek, we’re giving away three (3) DOCTOR WHO: MY MYSTERIOUS DOCTOR posters.

Win a DOCTOR WHO: MY MYSTERIOUS DOCTOR poster!

Filed under: Contests — Tags: , , , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 7:12 am

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In conjunction with Thinkgeek, we’re giving away three (3) DOCTOR WHO: MY MYSTERIOUS DOCTOR posters.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.

Enter the contest!
Email:
First name:
Last name:
Street Address:
Address Line 2 (if needed):
City:
State/Province/Whatever:
Zip Code/Postal Code:
Country:
Birth Month:
Birth Day:
Birth Year:

Official Rules

No member of FRED 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, September 15th.

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

Win THE BLUES BROTHERS on Blu-Ray!

Filed under: Contests — Tags: , , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 7:04 am

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In conjunction with Universal Home Video, we’re giving away five (5) copies of THE BLUES BROTHERS on Blu-Ray.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.

Enter the contest!
Email:
First name:
Last name:
Street Address:
Address Line 2 (if needed):
City:
State/Province/Whatever:
Zip Code/Postal Code:
Country:
Birth Month:
Birth Day:
Birth Year:

Official Rules

No member of FRED 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, September 15th.

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

Win ANIMAL HOUSE on Blu-Ray!

Filed under: Contests — Tags: , , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 6:57 am

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In conjunction with Universal Home Video, we’re giving away five (5) copies of ANIMAL HOUSE on Blu-Ray.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.

Enter the contest!
Email:
First name:
Last name:
Street Address:
Address Line 2 (if needed):
City:
State/Province/Whatever:
Zip Code/Postal Code:
Country:
Birth Month:
Birth Day:
Birth Year:

Official Rules

No member of FRED 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, September 15th.

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

Win FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH on Blu-Ray!

Filed under: Contests — Tags: , , , , , — UncaScroogeMcD @ 6:52 am

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In conjunction with Universal Home Video, we’re giving away five (5) copies of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH on Blu-Ray.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, September 15th.

Enter the contest!
Email:
First name:
Last name:
Street Address:
Address Line 2 (if needed):
City:
State/Province/Whatever:
Zip Code/Postal Code:
Country:
Birth Month:
Birth Day:
Birth Year:

Official Rules

No member of FRED 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, September 15th.

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

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