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August 31, 2008

BabyMommaGate

So apparently, agitators on the left side of the blogosphere think they've found a possible scandal. The idea being that Sarah Palin's youngest child,a four-month-old Down's Syndrome baby might actually be that of her underage daughter, and Sarah lied to pretend it was her own.

Let me say this, right now, to my fellow lefties: Even if it's true, it does not help us.

Why? Name me any mother you know who would not lie to save her child from disgrace, and I'll show you a bitch. Even if it were true, all it would say about Palin is that she lied to protect her daughter, which is MORE defensible than lying to your wife about a blowjob from an intern.

There are many legitimate ways to attack Palin -- she's a creationist, she's anti-choice, she doesn't know what the vice-president does, she says she's paid little attention to the Iraq war, as mayor she left her town $20 million in debt, she supported the "bridge to nowhere" before she was "against" it...but this, no matter how it shakes out, will only win people's sympathies. Don't go that road.

Posted by LYT at 10:00 PM | Comments (17)

Happy birthday to she that birthed me

Posted by LYT at 2:18 AM | Comments (1)

August 29, 2008

Official flier for the cast signing

The ad mentions Al, but most of the cast will be there too. Come out and see us!

Posted by LYT at 7:33 PM | Comments (0)

E! review of BABYLON A.D.

"If we could give incomplete as a grade, it would be appropriate here..."

Posted by LYT at 1:45 PM | Comments (3)

McSame tries to be hip

So Johnny Mac chose the young female governor of Alaska to be his running mate. Who has only one and a half years executive experience running a sparsely populated state.

She's also a creationist, and involved in a scandal over firing a state trooper for personal reasons. In an interview recently, she said she doesn't even know what the vice-president does.

But here's what I haven't seen people mention: This puts the South in play.

As I said before, if McSame picked a woman or black running mate, he would automatically lose a portion of the bigot vote. He's clearly calculating that by picking a woman, he can grab some disillusioned Hillary voters, even as Hillary made it clear she does not want any of her supporters to vote for him.

And I haven't heard Sarah Palin speak, but unless she has a Southern accent, that leaves Obama as the most Southern-sounding guy in the race. Yes, I know he's from Illinois, but the way he talks definitely has the inflection.

I'll hand it to Johnny, he actually managed to spring a surprise. But that's all.

Posted by LYT at 1:26 PM | Comments (8)

The full text of Barack Obama's speech tonight

If you didn't see it, please read it.

If Obama were white and southern, I would call this election in the bag as of now. As things are, it'll still require hard work.

But goddamn, I'm proud to support him, no matter what. And I can't remember the last time I said that about a Democrat.

Also, here's video:

Posted by LYT at 3:03 AM | Comments (3)

August 28, 2008

Disastrous

Nikki Finke brings up the fact that DISASTER MOVIE is actually coming out on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It's not like Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer's godawful "MOVIE" series could get more offensive, but damn, it seems they've bottomed themselves (I would say "topped," but, y'know, it'd seem wrong).

It's true that the end of August, much like all of January, is the standard dumping ground for shitty movies not shown to press and marketed on very simple hooks. But damn, they couldn't have moved it by one week? Or even called it something else -- based on all the ads, it appears that the main movie being satirized is JUNO. Why not EMO MOVIE?

Eventually, of course, it is inevitable that we'll get MOVIE MOVIE, a bad parody of bad parodies. Maybe the double negative will result in some actual laughs.

Would it be mean to hope for SNUFF MOVIE, in which Friedberg and Seltzer actually die? Yeah. But at least Uwe Boll finally made POSTAL and gave us all a scene of himself getting shot in the nuts. I'd like to see these two as victims in a SAW sequel, at the very least.

And say what you will about Fox, at least they finally dumped this diabolical directing duo, leaving then to Lionsgate. I like Lionsgate as a company -- they're usually good to horror fans, THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN excepted -- but also admit that they know how to market utter crap sometimes.

One small blessing about being unemployed right now -- I GUARANTEE you that if I were still on staff, I would be the one assigned to DISASTER MOVIE.

Posted by LYT at 4:19 PM | Comments (2)

John Kerry makes me proud I voted for him

If only he'd been this good four years ago...

Posted by LYT at 1:45 AM | Comments (0)

Site ads

I really don't like how official-looking ads for the candidate I detest keep ending up on this site. I suspect it's from bots analyzing my content. So, from here on out, I will not be referring to the candidate I hate by his given name. We will call him "McSame" instead.

Any comments including his real name may be modified. Sorry, but that's my liberal fascism at work.

And just in case this influences the ads otherwise:

Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama

Posted by LYT at 12:38 AM | Comments (4)

August 27, 2008

Douglas, picking up the damn phone

Good ol' Douglas really shows his range in this one...

Posted by LYT at 8:29 PM | Comments (0)

Racial anger and gen-X

More-or-less an actual conversation I had with an older, more conservative friend.

Him: "The Jeremiah Wright thing really hurt Obama."

Me: "I don't think it's gonna bother people my age as much. We grew up listening to rappers like Ice Cube saying things like 'Fuck Amerikkka, still with the triple-K.'"

Him: "But would you vote Ice Cube for president?"

Me (after a beat): "Against McSame? Absolutely."

I think he was disappointed in me.

UPDATE: Looks like McSame digs him some nasty-ass rap lyrics too.

Posted by LYT at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)

Lamest wanna-be tie-in

I was perusing DVDs the other day and saw a copy of CHARLIE BARTLETT, the movie about a high school student who dispenses psychiatric drugs to his classmates.

The DVD had a sticker on it that read "starring IRON MAN's Robert Downey Jr."

In the movie, Downey plays an alcoholic principal who tries to kill himself and nearly succeeds in shooting Charlie instead.

Real great movie to co-promote to kids that love superheroes. How about a similar sticker on LESS THAN ZERO?

Posted by LYT at 4:09 PM | Comments (2)

Score a copy of WICKED LAKE 2 weeks early and meet Al Jourgensen!

MEET MINISTRY’S AL JOURGENSEN & CAST OF WICKED LAKE
7PM SEPT. 25TH @ VIRGIN MEGASTORE IN HOLLYWOOD!

Fever Dreams LLC. is proud to announce an exclusive in-store event to celebrate the DVD release of WICKED LAKE. In a rare personal appearance, Al Jourgensen and the stars of WICKED LAKE will sign advance copies of the WICKED LAKE DVD at the Virgin Megastore on Hollywood Boulevard in downtown Hollywood at 7pm on Thursday, September 25th. The WICKED LAKE DVD will be available at stores everywhere on October 7th. The killer soundtrack CD will be forthcoming from Al Jourgensen’s 13th Planet Records at a date yet to be announced.

For those asking if there'll be another LA screening of the film, I don't know yet...

Posted by LYT at 1:43 PM | Comments (1)

August 25, 2008

Oh, and...

Be sure to check out this site's newly revamped Message Board (see link at the top of the page). Matt did a heroic job bringing it up to speed and more spam-proof than before.

Also, check out Matt's new blog. He's a better movie critic than at least 80% of those working today.

Posted by LYT at 6:54 PM | Comments (2)

Plugs

A guy I'm Myspace friends with wanted me to post his press release about a new horror movie. So here it is (note: I don't do this for everyone):

While Uwe Boll's controversial movie "Postal" releases on DVD this week, a real mailman turned filmmaker tweaks his independent violent revenge film "One Long Day" for its world premiere at a Las Vegas casino in December.

Keith Mosher, who is writing a book on his film’s journey from dream to screen, has spent the past five years as a Las Vegas city carrier for the United States Postal Service working 11-hour shifts. Stuck in the rut of his job, Mosher decided to do something about it. Instead of arming himself and "going postal," Mosher picked up a camera.

So while he still made sure to delivery mail to residents of Sin City, the 37-year-old has also been busy working on his dark comedy/action film "One Long Day" when he's off the clock. With a budget of roughly $3,000, "One Long Day" was shot in 28 days extending over a 12 month period, with most shooting taking place on Sundays.

The film, which is getting quite a bit of buzz online and almost guaranteed to be a cult classic, features a cast of nearly 30 players, Hollywood-esque stunts, sex, violence, guns, thugs, strippers, explosions, Jehovah’s Witnesses, ball gags, fast cars, Jesus and more.

"One Long Day" stars Dean Mauro ("Entourage," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"), Chris Gabriel ("21"), Rob Marrocco Jr. ("The Sopranos"), George Miklos ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "V," "Hunter") and introduces pinup model Rebecca Edwards and mailman Chris Schaub. The film, shot and edited by Jason Coblentz, also features cameos by postal workers Toni Diaz, Sherm Reaper and David Sharp, film critic Chad Clinton Freeman and members of the Che’Lu motorcycle gang. Also apart of the project were stuntmen Marque Ohmes (“Half Past Dead 2”) and Jason Barker (“Cold Case”).

Schaub plays the lead character Gruff, who not only breathes fire, but also gets shot and has a 2X4 smashed over his head. The story centers around Gruff being mistaken as somebody that owes a lot of money to a crime family. When they kill his beloved pet Fluffy, all hell breaks loose as Gruff has one hell of a day seeking revenge “Desperado” style, settling the score with someone... anyone... everyone.

Schaub, a weightlifter and restorer of classic cars and trucks, works in the same office as Mosher and was the first person that was cast in a role.

"Almost two years before we started filming I remember telling Chris I was going to cast him in a movie one day," Mosher told PollyStaffle. com "He probably thought I was nuts, but I knew way back then, if I ever made 'One Long Day,' he would have to play Gruff. Physically, it was a no-brainer. Chris stands 6’4" and is a very imposing guy."

Currently available for preorder on its official site, "One Long Day" will screen early scenes of the movie at the High Desert Shorts International Film Festival on November 6. The film will have its world premiere and be available on DVD in mid December.

Posted by LYT at 6:42 PM | Comments (0)

McSame 'n' Able

I have to laugh when I see on conservative blogs that John McSame now has to pick a woman or a minority as his VP in order to compete with Obama. Please.

Tactically, McSame knows full well that he has the bigot vote all sewn up. He knows about the bigot vote, because Rove used it against him in 2000. He won't acknowledge it, but to throw away that advantage, however noxious, he'd have to be either crazy, or so principled he'd rather lose an election than do things dishonorably. And despite the mythmaking, he sure ain't the latter.

Here are things that are true:

-Senators rarely become president when compared to governors, because being in the Senate involves compromises that can be labeled flip-flops, and governors can stick to platform more easily. There is, as yet, no governor in this race.

-It's very hard to win an election without winning the South. Last non-Southern Democrat president? JFK, I believe.

Put those two factors together, and I say McSame picks Huckabee. If he's playing the odds on this one -- there is a chance he'll be hard-headed and try to do something sorta-mavericky.

And the biggest maverick move he could do would be to choose Ron Paul.

I don't know that Paul would accept - they're pretty much opposed on many major issues. But such a move would win over voters who will not vote for McSame right now. The only question is how much it would alienate the base.

Posted by LYT at 4:20 PM | Comments (1)

August 24, 2008

Must-read article on McSame

Matt Welch is author of a book on McSame, and in this new editorial, sums up why I think a Johnny Mac presidency would be very dangerous indeed:

The case against neoconservative foreign policy has never been about an insufficient store of knowledge. You couldn't, for example, accuse Paul Wolfowitz of inexperience with the Middle East. Neoconservatism's problem, and electoral advantage, is one and the same: By escalating international problems into monumental crises and impending threats, interventionists such as John Mc[Same] have been able to appear knowledgeable, "serious," and presidentially tough, all at once. Any competitor preaching policy restraint and rhetorical prudence looks like a wuss in comparison.

I doubt many of my readers need convincing, but please, read it all and pass it along.

Posted by LYT at 2:30 PM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2008

Obama-Biden 2008

It's official. I just got Obama's message via Facebook.

I was hoping for Hillary, actually. Don't like her much, but she would have been a great attack dog.

Posted by LYT at 2:35 AM | Comments (0)

Free Crap That Came In The Mail

If you want seven words that arguably sum up why I was totally wrong for OC Weekly in its current incarnation, those above might just do it.

See, I thought the weird shit that companies occasionally send me unsolicited was worth blogging about. OCW, being a super-serious publication, seemed to frown on that after a while.

I've always felt a healthy sense of self-absurdity is good for the soul. But not everyone agrees. Anyway, I still get sent strange stuff, and here's some recent offerings:

First, the HAMLET 2 "Sexy Jesus" figurine. I say "figurine" rather than "action figure" because it is unarticulated. Nonetheless, it is Jesus making devil horns with his fingers, which no doubt pisses off the easily offended.

For those of us who came of age under Type O Negative music, it's nothing new. But points for trying. And if any of my readers would like to own this Sexy Jesus, make me an offer.

Jesus rose from the dead, but most corpses stay in their coffins, which brings me to this (note the size of my hand in the picture, for a scale comparison)

DJANGO, for those who don't have my cultural background, was originally a spaghetti western about a cowboy who walked around handcuffed to a coffin, inside which were many, many guns. EL MARIACHI and its sequels were essentially remakes (Jango Fett in STAR WARS is arguably another cinematic descendant). But now Takashi Miike has done his own crazy version, with Quentin Tarntino in the cast, and that's what this real wood coffin is promoting.

So what's inside?

Well, you can see here a press kit. And a ceramic bowl with plastic chopsticks. Oh, and a full size karate gi with the movie logo on the back. Because if and when I ever take up martial arts, I'll be sure to kick some ass while promoting a Japanese remake of an Italian version of an American western. That is, of course, how I roll.

Posted by LYT at 2:02 AM | Comments (5)

August 22, 2008

A couple of quick reviews

Rainn Wilson is THE ROCKER

Cthulhu is...er...mostly absent in CTHULHU

Posted by LYT at 1:01 PM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2008

Downtown Film Fest...

...was fun. Particularly great to see so many longtime friends who I don't talk to as much as I'd like.

I did two blog posts (with photos!) for the Weekly, and you can find them on this blog page somewhere.

Posted by LYT at 12:47 AM | Comments (3)

August 18, 2008

Public nudity

Image hosting by Flickr, because Buzznet isn't cooperating with me today.

Posted by LYT at 5:40 PM | Comments (1)

August 16, 2008

My Grandfather's Column (this one's a bit "inside baseball")

The Lambeth Conference

It was widely expected that the Lambeth Conference of the bishops of the world-wide Anglican Communion would be a disaster and mark the final splitting up of this brotherhood of Churches. The fact that over 200 of the bishops invited declined to attend because of their doctrinal disagreements with other Churches was a sad blow to the hoped for unity often achieved by these conferences. But the split didn't happen and the vast majority of those who did attend clearly felt it was a success.

Of course the differences of belief still remain, but heed was paid to our Archbishop's appeal for restraint and patience. It's noteworthy that at the final press conference he was warmly applauded by the gathered reporters, many of whom had previously seemed to scorn him. Rowan Williams is clearly a star and a good leader as well as a wise and saintly man.

What then are the bones of contention? On one side are the liberal thinkers, chiefly those of the United States and Canada but with much support from the U.K. and some from many other parts of the world. On the other are the conservatives, notably from South America, African countries that were once our colonies and the Diocese of Sydney in Australia. A sizable minority in our own Church of England must also be included.

The conservatives on the whole base their position on a fundamentalist reading of the Bible. Their particular hates just now are homosexual practice and the ordination of women as priests and – worse still – as bishops. Many of them believe they are justified in interfering in other Churches of the Communion and in other Dioceses where “false” teaching is being given.

The liberals are generally in favour of an inclusive Church, in which homosexual partnerships are honoured and the place of women in ministry is guaranteed. The Church of England on the whole probably stands behind the Archbishop of Canterbury in being liberal in its thinking but cautious about changing the customs we have inherited from earlier and less enlightened times. When Archbishop Rowan asks for restraint and patience he is seeking a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex partnerships. It takes time for new ideas to be fully grasped and our forward thinkers simply have to be patient while the slower ones catch up, as no doubt they will in time. I myself believe that we can survive and love each other in spite of the fact that we shall remain of different opinions for a long time to come.

-Peter Graham
e-mail peter.graham[at]bucklandnewton[dot]com

Posted by LYT at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2008

Matthew, King of the blogosphere

Our webmaster and BFF Matt King now has his own blog, with a URL I'm surprised nobody took yet.

Some samples:

"Dr. Phil is a quack: "We are talking about when it's time to take a hike and butt out of someone's life." That sounds like my step father's advice right before he beat me."

"A vampire bat attacked my dog. At first it was "pecking" its eyes and neck and my dog kept getting weaker. Then it turned into a vampire goose and continued to attack & peck my dog. My dog was laughing because it tickled, but then blood was flowing and it was wounded. I grabbed the vampire goose by it's neck and held it like a baby cat. It started to attack my arms so I threw it over the fence where it attacked my dog again, this time my dog "deflated" and ended up dying, I grabbed the vampire goose again and took it to the shed and cut it's head off with an ax."

Go check out the rest of his unfiltered thoughts.

Posted by LYT at 2:50 PM | Comments (0)

INDIEFEST 2008: My Last Day

Tonight I move on to the Downtown LA fest. But there's just enough time to recap one more day.

I came in late to the shorts program, and so probably missed one or two. The first one playing when I got in was an animated piece called "Hiccups," about a kid with dramatic hiccups trying to cure them. Now look, for every new generation of kids, this kind of hiccup joke is new to them, but it's old to me, and not especially funny. But submitting an animated short to a festival that has an award for Best Animated Short, when there aren't many other such submissions, is a smart move.

Brad Crowe's "Control" was a standout -- a cubicle worker bullied by a mean boss, starts drawing cartoons of himself kicking the boss' ass, and in reality the boss starts feeling the blows. Simple idea, nicely executed.

"Whitebread and Goatman" is an equally simple idea, but with a disappointing punchline. Two guys are on a stakeout that they discuss in deliberately vague detail, so you just know it'll turn out to be something less-than-serious...but they almost bury the joke at the end.

"The Bath" gives us a naked woman in the tub, which is one way to grab our attention. As she lies there and relaxes, she recalls her abusive boyfriend, drug addiction, and various other nasty things. A little over the top, but the final blow is solid, twisting the punch at the very end.

"Shooting Jill" is a fake behind-the-scenes documentary on the set of a medieval movie. The documentarian, Jack, has an unrequited crush on the female lead ("Jill," natch) who in turn is hooking up with the star. Obviously from their names, you know Jack and Jill are meant to be, but having been the "Jack" in real life more than once, I don't quite buy how it all shakes out.

"Dog te Ching" could be a Youtube series. Footage of a dog acting lazy while a voice-over recites Eastern philosophy about simplicity. Got a good laugh when the crowd realized that was all the movie is.

In "A Beautiful Day," a woman about to O.D. on pills gets a visit from a mysterious and overly precocious child -- her own inner child, it seems. A typically cutesy and mannered child actor, seems to me.

And then the main event -- "OMgasm." As I wrote before Alexandra Fulton is really selling her own sex appeal in promoting the short, and she's very good at it. Even talking to her, she can make you feel like she's really interested in every word you say. Well, turns out she's been both a Vegas dancer and a yoga teacher, and these skills are showcased to the max in her short, a non-dialogue piece ("peace"?) in which her character goes to a yoga class, becomes entrances with a cute guy, and imagines the two of them as Indian deities, dancing dirty and doing a few Kama Sutra positions (she is clad only in jewelry and strategically placed flower petals; he's painted blue). It's hot. And there's a decent punchline too.

Separately, I saw another short by Stan "The Hu-MAN" Harrington entitled "It's All A Game." Like most of Stan's stuff, it uses Hollywood locales to full effect, as it tells the tale of a dense but appealing New York actor (think Friends' Joey) who moves west to make it as an actor, but mostly ends up going on lots of Internet dates (his are even stranger than mine). The actors, as always, are well-chosen, and most of their shtick genuinely amusing. I think Stan over-relies on music, though -- wish he'd have held back just a bit.

Features after the jump...

FROM KILIMANJARO, WITH LOVE
Well, there inevitably had to be one dud, and this is it -- the worst action movie of the year. From the title, you might guess it's set in Africa or somewhere, but no: the action all takes place in and around a small farm in Oregon.

This movie is Stan Harrington in reverse -- where Stan focuses on script and acting even if the tech is shaky, this movie managed to obtain the use of two helicopters and a charter jet, without the filmmakers seemingly knowing the first thing about writing or how to direct actors. The needlessly convoluted set-up involves a lost treasure, "The Heart of Injaro," being sought by various relatives of a dead man. And not to spoil things too much, but when it's found, enemies suddenly become friends, despite such minor instances along the way as a castration and a molestation.

There are a couple of decent bad guys named Harley and Trevor, but our idiotic heroes never manage to subdue them. Sure, they'll engage in long fistfights where nobody appears to take any damage, and occasionally knock the guys out, but then they don;t ever call the police or properly secure them, so the villains always end up getting back up and fighting them again.

Other random thoughts on the movie...

-Why does only one person have a gun?

-Whose idea was it to give the old woman a character quirk of garish eyepatches?

-How can she be a decent pilot if she always wears eyepatches? Wouldn't her depth perception be hopelessly screwy?

-Why does she wear open-cockpit biplane gear to fly a modern helicopter?

-Are we really supposed to be intimidated by a guy who looks like a fat Bill Engvall sporting a tattoo drawn on with marker?

-Is "Blow it out your bunghole!" the best line in the movie?

-Why is it that all these characters couldn't just have sat down and talked about the treasure, thereby solving any need for all the stupid chases?

Anyway, enough on that. They went all out with an actual lobby standee for this movie; would that they had simply paid a good writer instead.

LONG PIG
Long movie. Interesting credit on this one: it's "a film by George H. Russell," yet it was written, produced, and directed by Carlos Rodriguez. Russell apparently was the original idea man, and he's quite the character: a white-haired preacher of a liberal interfaith congregation that's primarily pro-environment, he says he came up with this movie to attack the kind of organized religion he hates. As such, he stars as a perverted cannibal preacher with some sort of Illuminati thing happening.

The movie is stylish and well-shot, but it doesn't know what it wants to be. It begins like a HOSTEL type butchery flick, then becomes a kind of hypnotic visual-poetry piece in which a girl tells us of her quest to find a group of environmental protesters who mysteriously disappeared (the incessant monotone voice-over seems like an excuse for not telling the story more visually). Then, it becomes a standard terror-in-the-woods movie, as a huge frat party takes place near the congregation of the evil church. Finally, we get some SAW-style morality plays, as an unseen woman forces kidnapped victims to hurt their fellow captives in order to survive.

It's too much, and too long at two hours twenty minutes, but that doesn't mean it's without charms. The characters are all well-drawn out, though I could have done without the title cards announcing all their names. The kills are intense, and there's lots of nudity, but not gratuitously so -- these characters get naked when bathing, showering, and having sex -- JUST LIKE REAL PEOPLE WOULD! You don't get the sense that actors had to be bribed for these token scenes -- they just play it like real life, and I appreciated that.

(The woman who wakes up with semen stains on her chest, though...a bit much there)

I know the whole premise originally was the global conspiracy angle, but it's the weakest part of the movie, and should have been cut at an early stage. Keep it simple -- a crazy church in the woods where captives have to sell each other out is good enough.

Posted by LYT at 2:02 PM | Comments (5)

Happy B-day to Jaye!

Sometimes she uses her powers of invisibility for quite a while, but we're always happy when she reappears...

Posted by LYT at 12:20 AM | Comments (3)

August 12, 2008

WICKED LAKE confirmed for Fantastic Fest

Fantastic Fest runs Sept. 18-25 in Austin, Texas, and is partially run by the Aint-It-Cool-News gang.

I'd love to make it out there. I don't know if I can. But as all of you probably know, Austin is home to the movie's editor Kevin Ford, and its special guest star Angela Bettis. So I'd expect you'll see them there.

Posted by LYT at 1:03 PM | Comments (1)

INDIEFEST 2008: Odds and END

Okay, Indiefest. I'm gonna get the bad stuff out of the way right now.

When I go to see a Thai horror movie, I expect subtitles. I don't want to have to hear, "Oh, the sample copy had subtitles, but I guess this screening version doesn't." A majority of the problems you've had in the past could be cleared up if you would simply check all screening copies before showing them. If Disney/AMC is not making that possible, they need to. Unless they enjoy giving refunds.

Gottit? Good. Because the rest of the day was pretty enjoyable. Things kicked off with a block of short films, most of which showed some potential.

"The Hope Ruby" is basically Alfred Noyes' famous poem "The Highwayman" (you know, the one with Bess the landlord's daughter) set in both colonial times and a modern update. Problem is, this was already done perfectly well as a short by Fleetwood Mac on the video for "Everywhere." So, good try, but you're up against that hurdle and can't clear it.

"Slightly Super" deals with the runt of a superhero family, whose power is that he can sweat profusely on cue. It's a fun idea, but I wished that when the inevitable situation comes up that his power is perfect for, it were something funnier.

"Tag" goes for IRREVERSIBLE-style reverse-chronology, beginning with the death of a young tagger's girlfriend, and scene-by-scene going back through time to the beginnning of where it all went wrong. Props for ambition, with okay execution and an overly melodramatic twist that goes just a bit too far.

"Beneath the Tides" - Drowning as a metaphor for remembered abuse, I think. Didn't do much for me.

"Dark Chocolate" - A dark little portrayal of a bartender tempted by his alcoholic past. Nicely played, except for the gratuitous "one year later" happy ending that rings false.

"The Thing in the Corner" - Perfectly told short horror piece about imaginary monsters that don't stay imaginary. Thumbs up.

"Jakob and the Angels" - a man's attic is infested with angels, so he calls an exterminator. Great premise, but where do you go from there? As far as you can, I suppose...could perhaps have been tighter but the concept is so good you forgive it any executional flaws.

"Apparition" - A film so nice they showed it twice, because the projectionist wasn't paying attention. Oh well, bathroom break time. A couple are haunted by the memory of a friend who died in a car crash. It seems like the set-up for something, but just when the premise is established, it ends. I suspect the filmmakers may be hoping to raise funds to turn this into a feature. For now...good job staging that car crash.

Feature reviews after the jump...

THE END
I can't recall any movie that I've gone from hating to loving in the middle quite like this one. Writer-director Jeremy Thomas stars as a teacher named Joseph Rickman who has strange hallucinations, some of which have led him to discover the location of crime victims in the past. He also has a habit of explaining every little thing that's happening in overly expository dialogue, and I frankly thought the acting was really weak at first. About 40 minutes in, I was ready to walk out.

And then, suddenly, Thomas flips the script on us in a way it would be unfair to spoil, on the offchance you ever get to see this thing. Thomas introduced the film with a warning that there'd be a surprise in the middle, but all along I was expecting it to be a particularly lame-ass development -- a masked character walking with a cane would inevitably turn out to be his best friend who also walks with a cane, I thought, but no, he delivers a much bigger change than that, totally altering the genre of the movie midway through. You thought the Charlize Theron thing in HANCOCK was a twist? It pales next to this one. (That said, HANCOCK is a better movie still...but this one, for its budget, is impressive).

I do think Thomas went a bit long. In his intro to the crowd, he actually boasted about the length to "prove" that it's a real feature, but I think he's off-track on that one. Your goal should be to keep things tight, not extend them forcibly, and while many scenes could use a trim, the ending also features two separate climaxes where one would suffice.

Thomas' future as a screenwriter should be assured. As an actor...depends on the role.

BROKEN FENCES
Not to be confused with the Toby Keith vehicle BROKEN BRIDGES, this modern western from writer-director Troy McGatlin (a former assistant accountant on SPIDER-MAN 3 and ALMOST FAMOUS) could just as easily star a country singer, or, hell, be a country song. It's about a grizzled rancher in Colorado, still in mourning for the wife who died a decade ago, who starts to pull things together when his ne'er do well, vaguely retarded son gets out of prison and comes to help out on the ranch. There's also that MILFy new general store owner he has his eye on...

If this did star a country singer, it would no doubt be a tale of redemption. But the movie isn't called "Mended Fences," and things take an ugly turn. This is one of those country songs where you drink because you lose everything.

Again, I think it could stand to lose ten minutes or so -- when your movie is a simple drama with only four major characters, it shouldn't go over an hour and a half unless your script is Shakespeare. This isn't that, but it is a good country yarn, and one that should please any good ol' boys who don't expect a tale of Christian uplift.

Chutzpah moment of the festival -- the filmmaker who wanted me to buy her DVD or rent it from Netflix in order to review it. No thanks -- I'll stick to the stuff people actually want to give me. If you want me to pay for your publicity, you'll be waiting a while.

Posted by LYT at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2008

INDIEFEST 2008: Stan, in the place where you film

Is it a rule that everyone named Stan has to nickname themselves "The Man"?

Stan Lee does. And so does Stan Harrington. But you've probably not heard of the latter, unless you're a regular attendee of Indiefest. A Greek-Australian who now literally lives in the Stella Adler Theater in Hollywood, Stan cranks out movies every year, usually shorts, cast with actors he meets at his, uh, place of residence. He's always quick to note that his films may not be the most technically sound, but he makes sure that the story is good every time. And he usually wins an award or two at the festival, last year for a Spanish-language short entitled "El Percanse Perfecto" (The Happy Accident).

This year, he's done a documentary. I don't know quite whether to call it a short or a feature, since it's 55 minutes long. He made it hoping to sell to cable TV, hence the hour-slot running time, but may end up cutting or extending it. The documentary is called SO YOU WANT MICHAEL MADSEN, but its real subject is the one dearest to most director's hearts...himself. Fortunately for us, Stan is also an actor, and an agreeable on-camera presence.

Here, he mostly discusses how to get name-talent for your no-budget film, something he knows a bit about, having cast the likes of John Saxon and Adrian Zmed in his own films. And yet this movie is also an example of what it's talking about, as Stan is constantly trying to find a big-name celebrity to interview on the subject of how to get a celebrity to be in your movie. Initially he seeks out Harvey Keitel, but ultimately finds a connection to Michael Madsen instead. It's almost anti-climactic when they finally meet...one moment, Madsen's not returning his call, and the next, here he is on camera. Having made the quest the dramatic thrust of the movie, I think Stan could have milked it just a little more.

Technically, the movie is about the level of a DVD extra you'd find on a B-movie disc, but the content is fun, with interviews from the likes of Paula Jai Parker, Doug Huchison, Holland Taylor, the ever-self-promoting Lloyd Kaufman, and a bunch of people Stan met at Indiefest last year like Pericles Lewnes and Kely McClung. And lots of Stan himself, being interviewed by someone unseen (or maybe just pretending to be...he is an actor, after all).

To tell you how you can get a name actor would be to spoil it, but one hint, that ought to be obvious -- offer a black celebrity a role that a black person wouldn't normally be considered for.

Stan tells me that now that the movie is done, he's had interest from other celebrities who want to be interviewed, and thus he may be able to expand it to feature length. I don't know if it needs that or not...while, as I said before, I think he could milk the Madsen Quest element just a bit more, the length is about right now, as the film never outstays its welcome.

Posted by LYT at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2008

My friend Hal Crowther on Obama

I don't always agree with Hal -- he's a bitter old man sometimes -- but I recommend this piece. A sample:

But what about his minister, what about his wife? Does he sing "America the Beautiful" in the shower, why is his lapel unadorned with stars and stripes? The blustering, McCarthy-era chauvinism that animates these inquests would be nothing but rich grist for the Comedy Channel if the electorate was more sophisticated, but the Right is smugly confident that it isn't. When Michelle Obama told Wisconsin voters, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country," it was a heartfelt burst of optimism that reflected the feelings of a majority of thoughtful, educated Americans, black and white. Race entirely aside, we live in a country where elected leaders endorse and encourage torture, where the same leaders have squandered most of America's international prestige and moral capital, where we're currently reading about American soldiers hanging Afghani prisoners by their wrists from chains. We all know exactly what Michelle Obama was thinking, but none of us are married to someone—someone nonwhite—who's running for president. The cable news shows played her innocent outburst like a message from Tokyo Rose. As a consequence she's been compelled to repeat, in public, so many times it's embarrassing, "I'm very proud of my country."

Read it all. Seriously.

Posted by LYT at 11:35 PM | Comments (4)

Pics o' Porn

[that header alone is gonna draw so many spam comments, I can feel it...]

Wanna see some images from AMATEUR PORN STAR KILLER 3-D? Hot naked and scantily clad chicks, plus me looking demented (alas, not in the same scenes -- I have yet to meet any of these ladies) can be found over on director Shane Ryan's site.

Posted by LYT at 6:38 PM | Comments (0)

August 9, 2008

Edwards Schism-Hands

I always liked John Edwards. Shame he turned out to be a big cheater. I speak from experience in knowing what parental adultery does to kids, and it isn't pretty.

With that said, I would still vote for the guy, because his politics align with mine. I'm sure my friends on the right can say the same about someone like Newt Gingrich.

Unless you can prove that he lies about his beliefs too.

People often say that it's particularly cold to cheat on a very sick wife, and I agree. But I imagine also that the temptation to cheat is probably highest during those times. That isn't an excuse, but it is a common failing, I think.

Would it be cold to say that I don't care about a politician's crappy home life if they get the job done? President is the most stressful job in the world, and if getting a blowjob from an intern eases the stress and makes you less of a hair-trigger berzerko, then by all means git-r-done.

Which is to say that if John McCain wins in November, then sorry Cindy, but I hope he cheats on you regularly.

Posted by LYT at 8:50 PM | Comments (1)

I'm gonna miss this guy

I never cared much for the other "Original Kings," particularly Cedric the "Entertainer," but Bernie was a comedic master. HEAD OF STATE is still an under-appreciated gem, and considering the theme, I'm particularly sorry he couldn't live to see an actual black president make it.

Who would have guessed he'd be the first of the OCEAN'S franchise cast to kick it? Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould outlived him.

Posted by LYT at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

Indiefest 2008 begins at Downtown Disney

One of my favorite events from last year in OC was Indiefest – it was small, scrappy, and hardly anybody came, but the vibe from those who did show was cool, all young (and not-so-young) filmmakers who’d scraped together everything to make a movie. The movies ranged from excellent uses of low-budget situations to downright disasters, and I don’t know that many of them from last year will get picked up for distribution, but there’s an appeal to this kind of filmmaking that’s quite different from the vibe at a bigger fest, like you’re a family showing off your best home movies to each other.

And at Downtown Disney, no less.

What I’ve seen so far of the films this year, however, is a big step up. More on that in a moment.

This year, of course, I’m not at OC Weekly, and I don’t expect the Weekly to cover the festival at all. But I offered to cover the fest anyway, and those in charge agreed...if I would agree to write the script for the closing night awards show (mostly light, partly self-deprecating jokes for the celebrity hosts). This I did. So...if you think that’s a conflict of interest, read me with a handful of salt. But I don’t think it’ll affect my opinions of the movies themselves.

I could tell almost immediately this year that the fest was going to be much bigger. The check-in desk alone for the opening night party looked like it cost more than anything in last year’s show.

And it was a unique opening night party – normally at a film fest, you open with a high-profile movie, then have an after party to mingle. Friday, though, there were no movies being shown – just partying to be had. The movies don't start till Monday, but music and fashion-related stuff is ongoing

Drinks at the House of Blues aren’t cheap, and nearly all their special house cocktails contain Southern Comfort, which I still do not get the appeal of. But free food was coming, not that everyone could wait – filmmaker Stan Harrington and his party just had to have the nachos, and I think regretted it.

Here’s how the menu describes the nachos: “Tri-colored tortilla chips, topped with mozzarella, sliced jalapenos, black beans and cilantro and served with salsa.”

Here’s the truth: The salsa served with it is a little sealed container of Heinz salsa. The black beans look like they were individually counted and rationed out. And mozzarella? That’s a lie. It’s typical nacho sauce, which certainly disappointed Stan, but as I told him, orange nacho sauce is the fake tits of the food world – wrong in many ways, but still totally awesome.

Not worth seven bucks. When the free food came, it came in three varieties – chicken skewers (a bit dry, but tasty), veggie spring rolls (greasy good and hot), and corn muffins topped with shrimp (odd combo, but acceptable – really needed cutlery for that one, though).

Working the party and the press most effectively was actor-director Alexandra Fulton, whose short film “OMgasm” has a mostly-nude picture of her on the poster. She was dolled up like a pin-up girl in person, flirting and striking poses for everyone in the room (she even asked for my phone number, and I doubt I was the only one). If I were beautiful, I’d do the same – I recall numerous movies playing Laemmle theaters that got an audience simply by having a shirtless dude on the poster. I don’t know if Alexandra’s nude in the movie or not, but she’s topless (in pasties) on her own website.

["OMgasm" plays as part of SHORTS BLOCK 7, Tuesday at 5 p.m.]

I did manage to acquire a couple of screeners, and I’m going to review them right now.

“Money Bone” (short)
A young man lives with an obnoxious older man who likes to play mean pranks, but then while the young guy is out buying apples, the ol’ bastard dies, and his daughter accuses our hero of neglect. In the will, the daughter gets everything, except for a big elk bone that her dad treasured, which goes to the guy. Turns out there are directions to hidden treasure etched on the bone, and now it’s a race to find it.

Shot in Montana, the movie has a great look to it, but the 26-minute length is, I think, a mistake. We need either more, or less. Edited tightly as a short-short, with more broad-strokes storytelling, it would have more momentum; but if it’s going to breathe and be moody, we need more information, such as: what is this young guy’s relationship to the old guy? Why do they live together? What possessed him to carve directions on the bone, and where did he get the bone anyway?

“Money Bone” is the sort of movie that I think will make for a good reel for all involved, or possibly as a pitch for a longer movie. On its own, it’s well-made but narratively incomplete.

["Money Bone" also plays as part of SHORTS BLOCK 7, Tuesday at 5 p.m.]

RANCHERO (feature)
It sounds like a bad cliché – hard-working, clean-cut country boy moves to the city, is troubled by what he sees and tries to “save” a woman he falls for from her gutter life. But make the guy a rockabilly-Mexican with a thing for photography, and suddenly you’ve got a whole new twist. Jesse Torres (Roger Gutierrez) is his name, and after his father dies, leaving the NoCal farm behind and moving to Hollywood is his game.

Jesse’s “in” to the big bad city is a childhood pal named Tom (Brian Eric Johnson), who flakes on him almost immediately, then asks to borrow money. Not a good sign. He also seems to be constantly strung out, and has a penchant for starting fights with women, one of whom, a neighbor named Li’l Bit (Christina Woods) catches Jesse’s eye in more ways than one.

But Li’l Bit has her own problems – most notably a wheelchair-bound pimp named Capone (Danny Trejo, maximizing his star cameo in one complete scene and lots of voice-over). Can good-guy Jesse’s farmboy old-fashioned values save the day?

The actors all do a great job. If I have any criticism, it’s that Li’l Bit seems just a li’l bit too together, when her character should probably be more strung out. I’d have suggested a less tidy hairstyle, dirtier clothes, and a few Red Bulls for enhancement. As is, she doesn’t come across as someone who needs saving, except that the story makes it clear in other ways.

I’m not fond of the black-and-white flashbacks – since nobody deliberately shoots B/W video, it generally takes me out of a movie shot on video when B/W is used. Had those scenes been shot on Super-8 instead, or at least processed to look that way, it would have worked better.

I do kind of like the fact that by the end of the movie, Jesse is more or less where he started. In film school, every teacher hammers home the notion that a character has to change and develop, and certainly you don’t send them back to square one. So I enjoy when people do it, and do it well. You do have to know the rules before you break them, and it’s a decision that feels real, like almost everything else in this movie. The Hollywood represented here is, in many respects, the Hollywood I know.

Gutierrez should have some good possibilities after this. Like Trejo, he’s the kind of guy who will likely get labeled as a character actor, but I’d rather see a character like him playing the romantic lead then, let’s say, Ethan Hawke. Putting him front and center is slightly reminiscent of Robert Forster getting the lead role in JACKIE BROWN; it’s a hero who could have been horribly white-bread as written, but you get a guy whose face says it all, and so much is added.

[RANCHERO screens Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.]

Yes, Stan, I know I didn’t get to your movie yet. I will.

Here’s Indiefest main man Ray Gibb, chillin’.

Posted by LYT at 2:44 PM | Comments (0)

August 7, 2008

Believe it or not...I didn't write this

But I give my former employers kudos for running it...

Some of you may lament my rather quick exit and brief tenure at the Weekly, while others may be rejoicing and bellowing, “Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.”

Well, I tried. I tried to get into the OC mindset and explore its music scene, but after a year and a third, I came to the conclusion that things here are just not weird and edgy enough for my warped sensibilities. Or, perhaps more accurately, I’m too weird for OC’s conventional soundscape. However you view it, OC and I are a bad match. But, you know, I hope we can still be friends. I’ll call you—no, really....

I moved here in March 2007 thinking that there had to be some amazing underground activity happening in Orange County, that it simply had yet to reach my radar. Well, I took my radar out four or five times a week for 16 months, and that awesome hive of musical activity I imagined in my most optimistic moments never materialized, although I hasten to add that I truly appreciate the bold rogue souls here who did cut against the prevalent OC grain. I knew the politics here tilted toward conservative; I didn’t realize the musical environment would also be similarly inclined.

Posted by LYT at 4:27 PM | Comments (0)

August 5, 2008

Email issues

Due to some pernicious spamming and masking, we are experiencing some issues with all lytrules-dot-com accounts.

Naturally, the problem could be solved fairly quickly with the payment of more money, but I don't have any to spare.

So, for now, please use my gmail and/or hotmail addresses instead, if you have them. If you sent anything recently to the other address, please resend.

Thank you.

Posted by LYT at 7:05 PM | Comments (0)

Rick Astley, savior of the universe

Cheesy as it is, this video makes me feel like the originator of the Rick Roll is my hero...

Posted by LYT at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)

August 4, 2008

The latest in Christian cinema?

I'm surprised the rightie blogs aren't all over this...

(note: a commercial plays first)

Posted by LYT at 8:34 PM | Comments (10)

The Midday Mello Mirada Train

Take a look at the gentleman in the picture below.

His name is Vinnie Jones. In real life, a soccer player who got suspended for kicking guys in the nuts. In THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, he plays a butcher named Mahogany.

[note: theme tune of movie MAHOGANY, starring Diana Ross, prominently features the line: "Do you know where you're going to?" Definite relevance to this story, but not sure it's deliberate]

Let's say you see this guy out on the streets of New York at night. You take his picture. He notices, and without saying a word, makes it very clear that he resents the intrusion. You also have good reason to suspect that he may be a mass murderer.

Do you:

(a) Thank Jesus he didn't cave your testes in with his boots, and stay far away;

(b) Go to the police with what you have, and let them take care of it;

(c) Buy a gun in case he follows you home;

or...

(d) continue to follow him wherever he goes, surreptitiously taking photos all the while even though he's already demonstrated an uncanny ability to tell when he's being followed?

If you're the movie's main character, Leon (Bradley Cooper), then OF COURSE you take the stupidest fucking course of action imaginable. What could possibly go wrong when you stalk a gigantic evil butcher?

Now, before we go any further, I have to qualify something:

I LIKED THIS MOVIE. Really, truly, genuinely. But it is not without its flaws, and I'm not going to remain silent on them. Because whether or not I liked it, my goal, as in most reviews, is to try to give you sufficient information to decide whether you'll like it.

So back to Leon. He's a photographer who wants to "capture the city" the way it "really is," which, in typical pompous artist fashion, he claims has never been done before. Offered a meeting with a high-level curator played by Brooke Shields -- in what may be the first of many "cougar" roles for her (and let me add I'd gladly play the antelope) -- he gets only partially shot down. She finds his work promising but not gritty enough, so one night at 1:10 a.m. he goes out to captures some true street grit.

[side note: is 1:10 a.m. really late enough for that? I mean, all the bars are still open and everyone's still partying. This is New York, right? Plus, this guys a young aspiring artist with a hot girlfriend, and they're already asleep long enough that he actually wakes up at 1:10 a.m.?]

The plot set-up here takes longer than expected, but anyway...Leon sees a hot Asian girl being mugged. He takes pictures of the muggers, then shows them the security cameras. They leave, pissed off. The girl gives him a thank-you kiss, then boards the subway.

Next day, Brooke is loving the mugger pictures, but the Asian girl turns out to be a supermodel who has vanished. Leon gives his photos to the police, who assume him to be a stalkerazzi. He starts to figure that the disappearance might have something to do with the surly butcher, whom he has also photographed at this point.

All of which is a whole lot of set-up to what should be the log-line of the entire movie, which is this -- every night, a certain subway station takes the wrong turn into a mysterious tunnel, and anyone still riding the train at that point gets butchered by Vinnie Jones. Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura goes way over the top with the violence in some of these scenes, and also revels in giving us subjective victim POV shots, notably including one particular unfortunate soul whose eyes we see through as she's being decapitated and afterwards, only gradually realizing that our spinning point-of-view is due to the severed head rolling across the floor.

Kitamura is best known in this country for VERSUS, a movie way-overrated by Asiaphile fanboys for its violent death scenes, despite a paper-thin plot that can be summed up as "people walk through a forest and kill each other. The end." I don't think he's much of a storyteller, and there are moments to this movie that can feel a bit amateurish, like one scene where Leon stares at one of his photos of Vinnie and imagines it looking back it him. Kitamura simply chooses to go closer and closer on the photo to make sure we get the point, when a wide shot actually conveys the information just fine.

That said, he does make an interesting choice that will probably not work for the casual viewer, but is at least something different. As mentioned in my intro, Leon seems incredibly foolish to keep stalking Mahogany even as he learns more about how dangerous the guy is. We get the sense that it's an obsession or metaphorical addiction, but we don't know why -- Kitamura gives us the character from the outside looking in.

Where this gets interesting is that it forces us to identify with the girlfriend, Maya (Bibb). In most horror movies, she would be the annoyingly dense character who can't see the horiffic truth and thinks her boyfriend is crazy. In this movie, though, it's easier to agree with that perspective. It certainly makes her less of a prop, but in doing so makes the main guy less likable, which will not be a huge problem for horror fanatics, but maybe for the casual viewer.

And make no mistake, when it comes to scenes of slaughter, Kitamura is very much in his element. And not a bad match for writer Clive Barker, though the butchering tools involved also recall the gynaecological instruments in David Cronenberg's DEAD RINGERS. When it comes to the utterly insane ending, there's a big challenge there in that what was written in the original story is the sort of thing that works better in the imagination than when actually shown, but all told it's passable, and wins points for being so out of left field.

I don't remember if the original short story featured Mahogany cutting warts off his own chest and saving them in jars -- it feels like a really gratuitous gross-out without payoff (plus they don't look all that real), but it will make you think twice about your appetite for popcorn, I'd say.

Another thing: If you're in a secret society -- not just something like a Shriner Lodge, but a conspiracy that conducts highly illegal acts -- why the hell would you blatantly wear a shared logo on a ring, or a huge-ass necklace? Seriously, Kitamura seems to think it's a subtle thing, but it ain't.

Final verdict: An efficient slasher with a surprisingly slow build-up and a decent amount of originality. Plus the best use of Vinnie Jones in any movie -- he utters exactly one word, and is utilized as a force of nature, much like Arnold in the first CONAN movie.

Now, we must at least touch on Lionsgate's bizarre treatment of the movie. They had a panel for it last year at Comic-Con, then this year word came down that -- probably due to a regime change at the studio -- it was getting the big brush-off. There was apparently a screening at Comic-Con this year, but the studio, who are usually very friendly to me as they know I'm a supporter of their horror stuff, never responded as to whether I could attend or not. Even when I asked what theaters it would open in, the appropriate people never got back to me.

Now, if I ran Lionsgate, I would probably not screen THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN for review. It seems more likely to elicit prudish scorn from mainstream critics than anything.

But I would have given it a decent push. Here's what happened instead: The only LA area theater playing the movie is in La Mirada. Making this perhaps the first time that I live nearer a given movie than my Angeleno colleagues do. It's just on the other side of the county line from me.

It's playing twice a day at a $2 theater, sharing a screen with SON OF RAMBOW. At least when they buried MAY, it played the Beverly Center.

It was a good day out. The same mall has a 24-hour drugstore, which surprised me, as nothing near me is 24-hour except Norm's diner. I wonder if there's some sort of OC rule, but honestly, I don't feel like looking it up. I ain't no OC news journo no more.

And a Chuck E. Cheese's. Holy crap, I haven't been inside one of these since the '80s. It's kind of sad. Sort of like a really run-down, low-rent version of what Dave and Buster's does better, only with giant scary animatronic things that jerk back and forth every so often.

Except...HOLY SHIT THEY HAVE MELLO YELLO! Nowhere in California has Mello Yello, but they do! I had heard rumors but never believed...normally when someone tells me they've seen it, it's some cruel illusion and they actually mean Sun Drop. But this was real. So even though it was two bucks for a soda, it was well worth it.

As for the bargain multiplex, I'm pleased to say the sound and projection were fine. The only problems with it were the sort that are inherent to such places -- people theater hop constantly, and as such may come strolling in to the auditorium at any time during the movie. Also, homeless people who want cheap AC buy a ticket, then loudly pop open beers and sinus-snort throughout the thing. And people bring in their lunch. The employees aren't paid enough to care.

But it's cheaper than DVD rental. So go see the movie before it inevitably gets pulled on Friday.

Posted by LYT at 7:26 PM | Comments (12)

August 1, 2008

A trailer for Lucky McKee's new short

Posted by LYT at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)