OUT TO SEE: SUPER 8
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On the rare occasion, I find myself writing out my thoughts/review of a movie while I’m watching the movie. This was one of those movies. This movie sends you back to a childhood where imagination can turn into reality and CGI takes a step back.
Summary. As is well documented, this movie is a J.J. Abrams tribute to Steven Spielberg. Within minutes, you recognize elements of “The Goonies”, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Jurassic Park.”
It is 1979. The last day of middle school is in the rear view mirror. A group of friends are putting the finishing touches on a “zombie movie” that Charles (Riley Griffiths) wishes to submit for competition. His best friend, Joe (Joel Courtney), is his right hand man. Charles and Joe, along with a group of friends, sneak out of their homes at the all important hour of midnight and head out to a train station to film a pivotal scene. As luck would have it (or not), they see a train approaching in the distance and scramble to start filming. A truck collides with the train and the train derails. It isn’t long until the military shows up at the scene. Instead of sticking around, the kids jump into their car and head home. Soon afterwards, weird events happen in the town like the disappearance of car engines and even a few humans, and the dogs decide it is time to abandon their owners. Why? I’m not exactly spoiling anything here: the US Air Force was transporting a monster.
Elle Fanning. The leads in this film are Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, and Kyle Chandler (Jack Lamb – Joe’s father and a town deputy). Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning); however, steals the movie. (Charles convinces Alice to play the role of the “wife” in his zombie movie.) There are two distinct pieces that highlight her acting chops. One is at the train station. As she does a run through of the scene, the boys are in awe and I do believe that those of us watching in the theater are, as well. If that scene doesn’t leave you breathless, you’ve got to be brain dead. I’m betting that certain scenes were re-written just so that Fanning could shine. And here’s another bet: ten to fifteen years from now Elle and Dakota Fanning will battle it out for an Oscar (similar Oscar battles happened in 1942 and 1966).
Innocence. As I left the theater, I did have one major complaint about this movie. Why did they make the summer of 1979 seem so, dare I say, innocent? The history side of me felt this was a major disconnect. There was Three Mile Island (a news clip is shown and one can’t help but also think about Japan’s current nuclear disaster). Iran was going to the fundamentalists and the Iran hostage crisis was just around the corner. As I drove home, I started to have a change of heart. For anyone trying to make a living, recent years are all about economic chaos and terrorism, but what about for a twelve year-old? What’s happening now is all background noise – just like Three Mile Island is televised but largely ignored by our hero Joe – right? Thirty years from now someone might look back and remember listening to music on an Ipod (versus a 1979 walkman), creating a virtual world (model train) and filming a movie on a 5D Canon camera (8mm). And there will always be that memory of Joe’s “Alice” and Alice’s “Joe.”
Image originally published here
FREE SCREENING (LOS ANGELES) THURSDAY 4/27: ‘NEW GARAGE EXPLOSION!! IN LOVE WITH THESE TIMES’
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For those that love to learn more about their favorite bands and their everyday ordeals as well as the passions that drive them to continue making music day after day, the folks at Scion AV have via their documentary “New Garage Explosion!! In Love With these Times” have given everyone a fly-on-the-wall type of opportunity to learn more about bands/artists such as: Black Lips, Davila 666, The Dirtbombs, Girls, Hunx and his Punx, the late Jay Reatard, Pierced Arrows, Smith Westerns, Vivian Girls, and many more.
Scion AV in keeping with the “broke musician” attitude is putting on 6 major city (Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco) Free Screenings of the doc.
The L.A. Screening with yet to be announced Guest Speakers takes place next Thursday April 27th from 7pm-9pm.
Location:
The Landmark Theater
10850 West Pico (at Westwood Blvd.)
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Although this is a FREE event, RSVP is required. Early arrival is advises as RSVP does not guarantee entrance.
To RSVP go here: http://www.scion.com/filmscreening/
A little about the film (from the Scion AV website):
To find out what American garage rock looks like (and to know what it’s like to be in an independent band) right now, VBS and Scion A/V toted a bunch of cameras around the USA and found a scene that was vibrant, loud, eloquent, effed-up, and nearly impossible to define. The musicians, artists, writers, deejays and label owners that we talked to could only be united by a single common thread—their commitment to music that they enjoyed, on their terms, at whatever cost necessary (or, in some cases, unnecessary). We met nice, smart, funny people who love rock and roll, don’t traffic in B.S., and had the wherewithal to pick up a guitar (or complementary instrument) at some point in their young lives, put their face to a microphone, and manage to not think too hard about what was going to come out. Join us for Part One of New Garage Explosion!! With a nod to the genre’s founding fathers (bands like The Lollipop Shoppe and MC5), we travel first to Memphis to mind-meld with Magic Kids and to go head-to-head with Jay Reatard in the last interview he filmed before his death in January of this year. Next we hit Detroit, where watch The Dirtbombs wreck a bowling alley and talked to Dave Buick about the power of the hand-printed record. Hear bands like the Black Lips, Davila 666, Pierced Arrows, and the Dirtbombs discuss the appeal of using a four-track, the freedom of recording in your bedroom, the perks of installing a vinyl-cutting machine into your den, and the unique satisfaction that comes from seeing your own record. We also get treated to wild, wonderful, and exclusive live performances from rippers like the Clone Defects, Vivian Girls, and Thee Oh Sees. We step into the kitschy pink playhouse that is Oakland’s Down at Lulu’s, the record store-slash-vintage boutique-slash-hair salon-slash-lifestyle emporium owned and operated by Hunx and His Punx’s Seth Bogart and his business partner Tina Lucchesi. Here we address tough topics like how to negotiate the itinerant rock and roll schedule with petty worries like paying rent. Also, tour: is it work or play? We learn about important things like steering clear of “band rooms” in punk houses, and that you needn’t worry
OUT TO SEE: A FILM…’SOMEWHERE’
Somewhere, written/directed by Sophia Coppola. The writer/director who brought us Lost in Translation now brings us Somewhere. The two movies are connected by the disconnect that is felt by the characters. In Lost in Translation, we have characters that are lost in a culture that confounds them. In Somewhere, we have a character that is lost in his own self.
Boredom. The film opens with our main character Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) racing around a circular road in the desert. It is the summer of 2009. Perhaps a vibrant neighborhood was supposed to surround this road, but such plans were abandoned after the housing market crashed. The camera does not move. His car comes in and out of the frame not just once or twice but to the point where you lose track. I am bored and perhaps that is the point, because so is Johnny Marco. He is an action movie star with too much time on his hands. He lives in the Chateau Marmont Hotel. He parties with girls and takes the occasional pill. Women love him and yet despise him. They throw themselves at him and then later send him nasty anonymous texts. (One must ask who the predator is. Is it Johnny or Johnny and the women? The women are the ones flashing their breasts at him.)
Disconnected. After one particular night while watching twin strippers pole dancing in his bedroom, he wakes up to his delightful 11-year old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) writing on his arm cast (in an earlier scene, we see him stumble down a stairwell). Cleo is being dropped off by her mother to spend the day with her father (considering the house the mother and daughter live in, I’ll assume she is Johnny’s ex-wife and not just a former lover).
And so this is the life of Johnny: making action films, having sex with various women and being a father.
His life is largely without meaning and yet he seems grounded in reality. He still hangs out with his life long friend, Sammy (Chris Pontius), who appears to be his only friend. He does promotional duties for his movies without complaint. You almost expect to see him pull the stereotypical Hollywood stunt such as skipping out on an interview or screaming profanities at an error prone movie executive, but he never does so. And though he isn’t involved in his daughter’s life (it takes him a couple years to learn that she is taking ice skating lessons), he still adores her.
Resolution/My Interpretation. An unexpected twist happens that makes him question his life’s path. His ex-wife decides she needs to find herself and tells him that he’s now fully responsible for their daughter. He could have argued with his ex-wife, telling her that he was leaving for a promotional tour in Italy. He could have asked Sammy (who connected well with Cleo) to baby sit for a few days. He could have even called the studio and request that they find a nanny. Considering his lifestyle and the pressures related to promoting a movie, you’d probably not hold it against him if he had chosen one those options; but he doesn’t, he accepts the situation and takes his daughter to Italy with him.
From there, events unfold and he sees the pain (fear, potential future resentment) in his child’s eyes, which causes him to re-assess himself – to find himself.
In the end, Sofia Coppola gives us a minimalist movie layered with depth.
WingSpan Pictures Party and Love Is All You Need Benefit Gala
“Love Is All You Need“
How would you live if you couldn’t Love? A conceptual film that reverses what is known as ’straight’ and ‘gay’….
Join Wingspan Pictures for their Party and Benefit Gala!!!!
Come have some fun and “be a special part of a good cause!!!!!!”
Location: The Other Door (formerly Moonshadow Bar)
10437 Burbank Blvd.
Burbank, CA
Time: 9pm
$5 door cover
$5 suggested donation to WSP towards www.loveisallyouneedthemovie.com
Drink Specials
Raffle
Photo Booth
The SWEETS TRUCK and Frysmith Truck will be on also be on site
Visit the official website for more info : LOVEISALLYOUNEEDTHEMOVIE.COM
If you can’t make it to the event, you may also donate via their Indie Go-Go Fundraiser page: http://www.indiegogo.com/Love-Is-All-You-Need-
Watch the video below for more info about the film from Producer Rachel Diana and Director/Writer K.Rocco Shields
WHERE WE’RE HEADED…’STRANGE POWERS’
Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields and STRANGE POWERS co-director Gail O’Hara will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:40 screenings at the Sunset on Friday and Saturday, November 5th and 6th.
Film Summary
“FANS WILL DROOL AT THE ACCESS… AND SURE TO TURN ON NEW LISTENERS.” – Variety
“EXQUISITE AND WELL-BALANCED.” – KEXP
“INTIMATE AND REVEALING” – Toronto Now
With his unique gift for memorable melodies, lovelorn lyrics and wry musical stylings that blend classic Tin Pan Alley with modern sounds, Stephin Merritt has distinguished himself as one of contemporary pop’s most beloved and influential artists. Both a prolific recording artist and composer of theater and film scores, he performs most famously as the Magnetic Fields, whose 1999 three-disc opus 69 Love Songs is widely considered a masterpiece of traditional songcraft and irresistible synthpop.
Ten years in the making, Strange Powers explores Merritt’s songwriting and recording process, and focuses on his relationships with his bandmates and longtime manager Claudia Gonson, revealing an artist who has produced one of the most engaging and confounding bodies of work in the contemporary American songbook.
“An artfully rendered spin on the familiar…Strange Powers doesn’t necessarily take the kinds of risks that Merritt does, whether in his art, in his career or on his bike. But even with the narrative stacked in his favor, Merritt is no less fascinating a figure — and a few stars in its eyes doesn’t make this look at his life and his work any less engaging.” (Ian Buckwalter, NPR)
For more info visit the official film site
JOIN US TONIGHT!!! ADVANCE SCREENING OF ‘THE RUNAWAYS’ & Q&A w/ CHERIE CURRIE
“The Runaways” Advance Screening
See the film before it hits theaters & Q&A with Cherie Currie
Tonight!!!!Tuesday, March 9th
In August 2010, Siria along with some other fabulous women will be bringing to LA it’s own version of the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls that has been implemented in cities like Seattle, NY, Austin, Chicago, etc.
Anyhow, the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles has teamed up with Apparition Films to present an advance screening of “The Runaways” movie at the Los Angeles Film School TONIGHT (Tuesday, March 9th). ALL PROCEEDS from this event benefit Rock n’ Roll Camp! Cherie Currie (lead singer of The Runaways) has been gracious enough to honor us with a Q & A session before the screening.
This is your chance to see it before it premieres!
We hope to see you all there!!!!
Date: Tuesday, March 9th
Time: 7pm doors / 8pm movie starts
Location:
Los Angeles Film School
6363 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Tickets: $15
Buy online: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/102852
Or by phone: 1-800-838-3006
IMPORTANT NOTE: Tickets must be purchased in advance, they will NOT be sold at the door (venue policy). Seating is limited.
Bring cash to enter the raffle for fun Runaways and Rock n’ Roll Camp
swag!
Please do not bring video cameras – this is an ADVANCE screening and bags
will be checked for sneaky bootlegging action.
About THE RUNAWAYS Movie:
Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning star in this music-fueled story of
the ground-breaking, all girl, teenage rock band of the 1970s: The
Runaways. The film follows two friends, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie,
as they rise from rebellious Southern California kids to rock stars of
the now legendary group that paved the way for future generations of
girl bands. This flim is rated R.
All proceeds benefit Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles and your money is helping create future awesome lady-musicians and helping to keep the art of music alive for our youth. Also, if you attend you’ll have the chance to enter to win fun raffle prizes. YAY!
Visit www.rockcampforgirlsla.org for the most up-to-date information regarding this event. Friend us on Facebook.