Cat's Blog

The Pee Wee Herman Show is wrapping up it's run at Club Nokia this weekend (Sunday, February 7 is the last day).

I went to the show this past Tuesday, February 2 with my sister, Sara, her best friend and my roomie. It truly was one of the best times ever!

This was my first time at Club Nokia and it was cool and swanky. The floor was set up with folding chairs, and our seats were pretty close to the stage though a bit off to the left side. All four of us were more then a little excited and anxious for the show to begin. I must say that my sister and her best friend are a crazy pair of Pee Wee fans and I was so happy to be there with them that night as it really added to the fun! And it was an extra special suprise, also proving just how small a world it is, as I was surrounded by more familiar faces in my row and the row in front of me, they were all fellow BNATTERS!!!

The show started a bit after 8, Pee Wee came on stage, said hello and had everyone join him in the Pledge of Allegiance. He went behind the curtain and the show began! I have to say when the curtain went up and the Playhouse was revealed there as a surge that went through the crowd, everyone just gasped. I was giddy and grinning ear to ear.

The show is very similar to the HBO special with Pee Wee giving his wish away to Miss Yvonne with Jambi's help. This time though it also features more TV Playhouse regulars like the King of Cartoons, Cowboy Curtis, Conky, Magic Screen, and Chairry. It's funny, silly and fantastically awesome. I loved seeing the original Jambi (John Paragon), Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart) and Mailman Mike (John Mooy) up close. Honestly, seeing Pee Wee was better then I could have imagined.

All in all it was an extra fun blast seeing just how much fun my sister had, she was laughing away again and again.

Since we had bought tickets for the original run which was supposed to be at the Fonda and dealing with the location/ticket change drama-rama we were treated the Pee Wee meet and greet after the show!!!!!



This was sort of a dream come true, especially for Sara because she's always wanted to meet Paul Rubens / Pee Wee Herman. I am serious when I said she was a fan! She even had a card for him, which her daughter Celia drew and Celia is totally a P.W. fan herself.



The Q&A started a while after the show, Pee Wee / Paul Rubens came on stage and then wandered through the audience taking questions and telling stories. It was a real treat and fun when he found a few kids and asked them questions. Imagine being a kid and you can say you've had a conversation with P.W. Herman!



Paul explained why the theater was so cold, because he doesn't want to sweat and be sweaty like he was in the HBO special. He is not taking the show on tour but has looked into a Broadway run or a PPV event, but most of all hopes this will help him get motion on his two Pee Wee movie projects.



I may be biased but I'm so glad Sara got to ask her questions and share a statement before the night wrapped up, they were the best. She shared a dream story (ok a bit geeky, but FUNNY), asked about his big long smooch in Big Top Pee Wee (which we saw in it's full version at a test screening) and gave him that super cool card! I was ecstatic just watching it all happen.

As Paul said goodnight he sincerely apologized for the ticket mess up and expressed how happy and honored he was to see so many people come out and enjoy the return to the Playhouse. He really meant it all, you could tell.

Now I only wish I could go back and watch the show again a few more times! I really do hope a new PEE WEE movie happens because who couldn't use a good laugh and silly fun?

Thank you Pee Wee! It was FUN - AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (Yes, FUN was the word of the day!)

As January 2010 comes to an end I've seen lots of movies and have managed to stay true to my movie a day goal. Last year in 2009 I had seen 40 new movies and 7 re-sees by the end of the month.

Now in 2010 it's 41 new and 17 re-see, a grand total of 58. I'm glad I'm ahead of last year but also feel like I should be watching even more...I know my fellow Tallyteers have been mighty busy.

2010 New Movie Total: 41
35. Pickpocket – 1/26/10 – New Beverly
36. Diary of a Country Priest – 1/26/10 – New Beverly

37. Reflections of Evil – 1/27/10 – Egyptian

38. The Hindenburg – 1/28/10 – New Beverly

39. Gone in 60 Seconds – 1/29/10 – VHS
40. Hurt Locker – 1/30/10 – DVD
41. Happy Birthday To Me – 1/31/10 – New Beverly


2010 Re-See total = 17 movies
11. Blazing Saddles – 1/24/10 – New Beverly
12. Cat Ballou – 1/24/10 – New Beverly

13. Tapeheads – 1/25/10 – IFC
14. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three – 1/28/10 – New Beverly

15. The Goonies – 1/29/10 – Nuart

16. 500 Days of Summer – 1/31/10 – New Beverly
17. High Fidelity – 1/31/10 – New Beverly


Also a bonus to my big screen viewings - I got to see 3 Clu Gulager shorts at the Egyptian:
John and Norma Novak – 1/27/10 – Egyptian
A Day With the Boys – 1/27/10 – Egyptian
Fucking Tulsa – 1/27/10 – Egyptian

John and Norma Novack (A ROCK OPERA) and Fucking Tulsa were actually made to pitch a full length film.
I had seen two of them at the New Beverly while FUCKING TULSA which was a new view. The short A DAY WITH THE BOYS can be found on the DVD of GEORGE WASHINGTON, which I still need to pick up myself.
I took notes of Clu's Q&A and will have to write that up soon.

February is already shaping up to be a solid month and word on the street is my birthday movie at the New Beverly (come March) is going to come through and I couldn't be more excited. (I am so spoiled!) Stay tuned film fans and I hope you can join me at the movies!

Two weeks ago in this month of January, at the New Beverly, director Stuart Gordon presented a few of his favorite films programming a couple of nights. He even came on out to watch them and share why he chose the films he did.

It all began on January 15th with a triple feature: NIGHTMARE ALLEY followed by THE SWIMMER and a midnight screening of Irréversible.

It was an excellent night and as memory serves, a good crowd came out, more folks showed up just for THE SWIMMER and the midnight line for Irréversible was long...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Stuart Gordon came down to the front to kick of the show, he introduced each film offering some insight as to what he liked about the movies. First off he thanked the New Beverly and said he felt like a kid in a candy store very excited to be seeing movies he had chosen on a big screen.

With NIGHTMARE ALLEY Stuart admitted he had never seen it projected and he called it "one of the weirdest films ever made." He talked about Tyrone Powers, who's the lead in the film, it was Tyrone who got the rights to the book to make the film. I didn't know much about NIGHTMARE's director, Edmund Goulding, but Stuart said he was actually known for having orgies where he'd hire men and women for orgies and then direct them.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY is quite good, I saw it last year at the Egyptian and am a fan of the Carny element and Tyrone Powers. Tyrone is Stan, a man with big ambitions to be famous, but ego is a dangerous thing! Convinced he can use his "mentalist" act for big bucks his con game is turned back on him and he's crushed. When one climbs so high they have a long way to fall and NIGHTMARE shows just how low can a man can go. It also shows what a "GEEK" really is; would you bite the heads off chickens? NIGHTMARE ALLEY is absolutely a great noir tale. (On another side note, Clu told me he hadn't seen it before and really dug the film!)

Next up THE SWIMMER, starring Burt Lancaster. The tagline for the film is "When you talk about THE SWIMMER will you talk about yourself?" Burt is Ned Merrill and he's a man facing a crisis which doesn't become evident right away. He has returned to his old neighborhood of rich folks and suddenly decides to swim his way home, using the stream of pools that lead to his house. Along the way Ned interacts with those from his past and we get a glimpse of the man he was and the memories he clings to. It's a very personal journey and a heartbreakingly sad. I had never seen the film before and was rather stirred up by it.

Stuart said he first saw the film when he was 21 years old and has been living the movie ever since. He mentioned how the director Frank Perry was fired from the film over creative differences and Sydney Pollack was brought on board.

As midnight rolled around a mostly new crowd filled the theater to see Irréversible. Stuart said he first saw the film on DVD with his wife and felt that director Gaspar Noé had "raised the bar" while his wife offered "or lowered it." Stuart shared the times he met Gaspar Noé and talked to him about his first film and later Gaspar told him their conversation inspired the next film which was I STAND ALONE.

"Time Destroys Everything" is the quote that starts Irréversible and that quote actually fit very well with the previous two films as Stuart also mentioned. It's interesting how Stuart's picks of his favorites were sort of randomly paired and that first night really all meshed.

I had never seen Irréversible, I missed it when it first came out and then never felt like watching it on video. I had heard the hype, all the talk of a long rape scene and wasn't afraid to watch the graphic subject matter, I just knew I'd rather see it on a big screen when I could. (SPOILER WARNING - IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN Irréversible - I'M TALKING ABOUT THE PLOT POINTS)

It's a very harsh, raw and graphic movie with all it's violence. The backwards storytelling was well done and extremely effective. It's hard to say "like" with a movie that has such violence and the rape scene. It's extremely intense, though I felt much more disturbed with the beginning (which is the end) where the rapist is being smashed with a fire extinguisher. It's a revenge film and then as you see what comes before all that, those first words "Time Destroys Everything" make it all more heartbreaking when you reach the start. It's amazing storytelling and while that impact can be overwhelming intense it's a movie that should be seen. It gets a 5 rating on my scale of 5 (best).



Stuart's next movie night was TRUE GRIT with A.I. and truth be told I'd never seen A.I. all the way through before!

Stuart was there on Sunday for the show and said how he's a big fan of John Wayne and TRUE GRIT. He talked about the book on which it was based and mentioned the Coen Brother's upcoming adaptation. He then shared stories he heard about Wayne and Dennis Hopper working with director Henry Hathaway. Stuart was most excited that his daughters had come out to join him in watching TRUE GRIT as they hadn't seen it before and he dedicated the screening to them.

TRUE GRIT is a good western and you can't go wrong with John Wayne! Wayne is Rooster Cogburn and he's a marshal who's been hired by Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to find the man who killed her father. Mattie is in charge on this journey really pushing Rooster around but Rooster does admire her spunk. I really do enjoy watching Westerns and this one was solid.

I have to say finally watching A.I. from beginning to end I really got caught up in it and then wished I had my own Teddy Super toy. In A.I. David is a robot child who loves unconditionally and wants love back. When his mother pushes him away he goes on a journey to find the Blue Fairy to be a real boy to earn the love he wants in return. By the end I was teary eyed.

Stuart said there were two things he knew about A.I. that #1 it would make him cry and #2 it's like one more Kubrick movie which he is glad to have.



The finale night of Stuart's picks was AMADEUS the director's cut. During Stuart's introduction he talked about the mystery that surrounded Mozart's death at the age of 35 and how he had written 600 pieces of music by that time. Stuart felt the movie really humanized Mozart who was like the first rock star.

Now, I always dug this movie and had seen it when it came out on T.V. (Thank you Cable and uncensored viewing habits!) Tom Hulce is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and F. Murray Abraham is Antonio Salieri. It's Salieri who's telling the story of Mozart and how their lives paralleled while he was so jealous of Mozart's talent. The laugh that Tom Hulce uses throughout the movie is what most remember about it and people were giggling before and after the movie. (New Beverly Julia was with Stuart during his intro and she asked the New Bev crowd to do the laugh and a few folks were brave enough to do so.) Seeing AMADEUS on the big screen was excellent, the music, performances and acting all come together so well and they don't make them like that anymore.

It truly was great to see Stuart Gordon at the New Beverly and I hope he makes a return too with more of his favorites! He was so nice and chatted with folks while he was there. His picks were fun and I really did enjoy hearing what he liked about each film.

In February the New Beverly will present a few films programmed by Jason Reitman starting on the 19th thru 25th and I'm most excited for the BREAKING AWAY and BOTTLE ROCKET double on the 24th! Stay tuned and come on out to watch movies!

Time to do a little cross promotion! This year I decided to start up a new blog all about comic books so that I can get my act together and make some progress in my constant resolution to read more of my comic books! Yup!

Thus: CAT READS COMICS is my place to rattle on about comic books and my collection. I've put up my weekly pull list and so far have written a few pieces the past few Wednesdays:

KRYPTON CHRONICLES

THE DESTROYER

2010 - Marvel Movie Adaptation

Please check it out and tell me what you think! I do love my comic books and just want to share the love!

YUP!

Remember: COMIC BOOKS KICK ASS!

Total Movies Seen in 2010 = 44

New Movie total = 34
23. Killer’s Kiss – 1/16/10 – VHS
24. Marked For Death – 1/17/10 – New Beverly

25. Revolt At Fort Laramie – 1/17/10 – DV-R
26. True Grit – 1/17/10 – New Beverly
27. A.I. – 1/17/10 – New Beverly

28. The Mighty Peking Man – 1/18/10 – VHS
29. City of the Walking Dead – 1/19/10 – New Beverly
30. Night of the Zombies – 1/19/10 – New Beverly

31. Freeway (1988) – 1/21/10 – VHS
32. Experiment Alcatraz – 1/22/10 – DV-R
33. The Blue Dahlia – 1/23/10 – New Beverly

34. Dread – 1/24/10 – New Beverly

Re-See total = 10 movies
8. Roadie – 1/18/10 – VHS
9. Amadeus The Director’s Cut – 1/20/10 – New Beverly

10. Double Indemnity – 1/23/10 – New Beverly

Actor and New Beverly Regular Clu Gulager is offering an eight week Acting Workshop beginning February 13th, 2010.

The course will offer:
On camera
On location
Weekly scene study (often written specifically for actors by Mr. Gulager)
Film exercises (matching, hitting marks, more)
Final Project –a short film involving all actors in the class. The New Beverly Cinema has expressed interest in adding a screening of the class short to their scheduled program.

For more info go here: http://gulager.com/acting/about/

Mr. Clu Gulager has been telling me about his workshop as we hang out at the New Beverly and I want to help pass on the news. I think it would be a good class for actors and filmmakers, without a doubt!! Clu's got the experience, knows plenty of stories and is ready to share and pass it on! Clu is awesome!! Seriously! Check it out!!

Yes, I must admit that I have more then a few movie stories to share and I'm gonna share 'em! Right now it's all about the Grindhouse Film Festival presentation of some Italian Horror fare.

I got to the New Beverly just after 6:45 p.m., there were people milling about and the line wasn't too organized yet. Slowly the line grew, and once inside there was a very big crowd in attendance (especially without a guest announced). It seems the L.A. Grindhouse fans had been waiting to come out for some Italian Horror on the big screen. It really had been a while since a double like this had been featured.

Brian and Eric came on down to the front, made their announcements and held the raffle. My number was called and I was awarded with a few DVD screeners of porn which Eric picked up at the Adult Entertainment Expo that was just in Vegas the other weekend. Aren't I lucky?

There were some special trailers before each movie, now I didn't scribble them down, but they were all part of SHOCK FESTIVAL, a DVD of exploitation trailers, trailers for fake films. I was most fond of the one about a girl in love with the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe.

Now onto the ZOMBIE movies! And remember folks these are shown in 35mm!! When it comes to Italian Horror, I've seen my fair share and have been lucky to see a bunch on a big screen with a crowd. Honestly, Italian horror with a crowd is how it should be seen. The audience reactions to the ridiculous people acting dumb against zombies makes these bad movies good.

First there was CITY OF THE WALKING DEAD (1980) as directed by Umberto Lenzi. A reporter is at the airport waiting to interview a scientist. A mysterious plane lands on the runway, the doctor comes out and so do a bunch of zombie-fied folks! These zombies move fast and they can get around in planes and cars and they use weapons to kill, slice and dice and then they drink blood or chomp on the flesh.

Mr. Reporter tries to notify the world but the Army folk stop him saying they need to keep things quiet and under control. Well the zombies make their way South (I think it was South) and soon the city is surrounded and overrun! Following few different characters, the reporter and his doctor wife, the Army Commander, another Army dude with an artist girlfriend Sheila and a lot of zombies. These gross looking zombies are running rampant, biting, killing, chasing and of course no one is safe.

I was most amused when the reporter and his wife are at a gas station, they get trapped inside and the zombies try to take their car! I swear that's totally true! Thanks to a well thrown molotov cocktail the couple ran away!

The ending of the film (which I won't spoil) got everyone pretty riled up! I think the whole theater actually groaned!

NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES (1980), directed by Bruno Mattei, is ridiculous, seriously ridiculous and BAD, but I really had fun watching it. There seemed to be a few different movies going on as things didn't make much sense. A great deal of stock footage was used throughout to pad things out.

It all starts at a chemical factory, there's a leak and the main scientist records a message apologizing for his error of Sweet Death. Then we get introduced to our hero soldier team, 5 gun wielding guys who take out a gang of terrorists and then make their way to an island jungle. On that island there's some reporters looking into strange events with the local tribes.

The reporter lady and her camera guy meet up with zombies and then the soldiers. A soldier discovers head shots are the only way to take out the "monsters" and then of course when they meet up with more "monsters" later they seem to forget the head shot rule and waste a lot of bullets. No one is smart in this movie. Zombies are everywhere, between the shots of wildlife and tribal rituals.

Oh look, a monkey jumping in a tree! Group driving in the car! Oh look, tribe folks boating down the river and then we go back to the car on the road. It's a new morning, see the elephants? Oooh, see the bats flying in the sky! Whatever the mission is, where ever the group stop zombies attack. One of the most insane things was the tribal footage and the realization that the reporter lady had spent a year with the tribe, so to make contact she strips, paints herself and goes to talk to the tribe people to figure out what's going on! Cue more tribe stock footage: dancing, funeral ceremony, dancing, dead bodies...WEIRD!

(Sitting next to Clu we each made a few comments here and there about the film. It was nice to know he was just as confused as I was.)

It was all extremely laughable and WTF!?!? All in all, it sure was an entertaining Grindhouse night, yup.

If you want a taste of NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES watch this, a dumb solider plays dress up instead of searching for zombies and some other randomness:



The next GRINDHOUSE night is a tribute to Dan O'Bannon on February 7th with Lifeforce and Return of the Living Dead.

I'm going to be at the Beverly this Wednesday (1/20/10) night for the director's cut of Amadeus and Stuart Gordon is scheduled to appear and introduce the film at 8 p.m.. Come on out if you can! If you find me I'll tell you more about the insane stuff that went on in the zombie films! yup!

Still watching movies and I have seen at least one movie everyday since the year has started, so far sticking to my New Years Resolution!

Don't think I'm stopping with my regular posts about my viewing adventures, I've got a few in the works, including last nights trilogy as presented by Stuart Gordon at the New Beverly! In the mean time here's a round up of what I have seen since my tally report last week!

13. Fever Night – 1/9/10 – New Beverly
14. Bitch Slap – 1/19/10 – Nuart

15. Flying Deuces – 1/10/10 – VHS
16. Monster Dog – 1/11/10 – VHS
17. Monsieur Verdoux – 1/12/10 – New Beverly
18. A New Leaf – 1/12/10 – New Beverly
19. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassuss – 1/13/10 – Arclight

20. Getting Even – 1/14/10 – VHS
21. The Swimmer – 1/15/10 – New Beverly
22. Irreversible – 1/16/10 – New Beverly

TOTAL NEW = 22

RE-SEES = 7
6. Santa Sangre – 1/10/10 – New Beverly

7. Nightmare Alley – 1/15/10 – New Beverly

Sunday night I was at the Viper Room to see one of my favorite bands, TRAINWRECK. With only my iPhone handy I took some pics to document the night! It was an absolute blast!



I was rather surprised by the opening band, SCHWARZENATOR, who are a metal
Schwarzenegger tribute band. They were totally metal, loud and rockin'! (My ears are still ringing!)



The next band was called KIDNEYS and they were cool too!! The bassist looked a bit familiar...



Then it was time for TRAINWRECK to RAWK! And it was awesome! The crowd was loud, and the room was packed!















Thanks to Trainwreck: Klip Calhoun, Darryl Lee Donald, John B. Shredman, Boy Johnny, and Dallas St. Bernard for RAWKIN' my Sunday night! Whoooo! Hoooo!

The movies keep on screening and there I am a watchin'. This year I will continue to tally up all the movies I've seen; new and resees. I'm planning on writing up more regular reports on what I've watched sharing my tally as it all adds up, I think a week in review post, perhaps.

While I'm tallying up all my cinematic adventures I know a few others are doing the same and we've gotten together and dubbed ourselves TALLYTEERS. Yup!

Here's a list of who's on board so far:

BTS Junkie
ReelDistraction
Schofizzy's Movie Tally
Noahphex
Goddamn Brownies

I've also linked their blogs here to right over on that side there --->
Check them out often, see what we've seen, get inspired to tally up too!

Now here's my January Tally list so far with movies on DVD, TV, VHS, or in theaters; new and re-sees!

New = 12
1. The Brain That Wouldn’t Die – 1/1/10 – DVD
2. A Serious Man – 1/1/10 – Fairfax Cinema

3. Brothers – 1/2/10 – Fairfax Cinema

4. TerrorVision – 1/2/10 – New Beverly
5. Up In The Air – 1/3/10 – Paseo Colorado

6. Nob Hill – 1/3/10 – DV-R
7. Dead Scare – 1/5/10 – New Beverly
8. Aces Go Place 4 – 1/5/10 – New Beverly

9. Hour of the Wolf – 1/6/10 – New Beverly

10. Eaten Alive – 1/7/10 – IFC
11. Indiscretion of An American Wife – 1/7/10 – TCM
12. Daybreakers – 1/8/10 – AMC Burbank 16


Re-sees = 5
1. Inglourious Basterds – 1/1/10 – New Beverly
2. The Breakfast Club – 1/2/10 – New Beverly
3. Weird Science – 1/2/10 – New Beverly
4. Chipmunk Adventure – 1/4/10 – VHS

5. Anti-Christ – 1/6/10 – New Beverly