Cat's Blog

Michael Jackson has died. He was 50 years old, my brother is the same age. I grew up on Michael Jackson music, and music videos. My sister is an even bigger fan and all who know her know of her Michael Jackson fandom. My sister and I were the right age, growing up in the golden age of MTV, watching all the Jackson videos when they premiered, it was an event. I have memories of watching THRILLER that first time, in 1983, sure I was just 6, but I remember it well. My nieces and sister and I would watch MOONWALKER on VHS again and again. And I can't forget about THE WIZ, Ease on Down the Road! I LOVED that movie as a kid, as scary as parts were to me, like in the subway and the ugly witch, but Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow, he danced and danced Yup.

In 1986 CAPTAIN EO came to DISNEYLAND. My folks happened to take us the day the CAPTAIN EO TV special was being filmed. (Soleil Moon Frye was there that night too as I recall.) We got some tees, my folks bought us Hooter, Idee and Odee and Fuzzball toys, which I still have. We stayed late and that night we were treated to CAPTAIN EO in 3D before it's official opening day. My dad and I got in before my sister and mom because they went on the Submarine ride, we were even directed for a quick commercial shoot, told to put on the glasses and sways left and right on cue, and then EO hit the screen! It was amazing, and then we watched it again with my sister and mom. It was the BEST and from that day on we watched CAPTAIN EO everytime we went to DISNEYLAND, the day my sister found out it was gone, she cried.



But there was still so much more to Michael Jackson then just EO. We all saw him live his life and change through the music videos and the media showed another side when things went bad. I remember watching his MTV press conference at the start of his trail, him talking about the allegations. It was intense and sad. But I don't want to focus on the bad because the Michael Jackson I want to remember is the beautiful and talented singer, dancer, musician, that he was. Jackson deserves to be treated like a human being for what he gave to all in the world and no one else can do what he did. It's a great loss knowing Michael Jackson is no more. May he rest in peace.

I like seeing movies and sometimes that includes movies I'm not too crazy about, like TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, which I saw Wednesday morning at 10:10 a.m. in the Dome at the Arclight.

Now, I saw the first TRANSFORMERS when it came out, and I only saw it that once. I just looked back at my recap, from 2007 and I really did enjoy the movie. What I enjoyed most was the TRANSFORMERS themselves, especially Optimus Prime. I ended my review saying; "it's not perfect but then again it's a summer blockbuster worth the big screen time." I know I meant it...I cannot in good faith say the same about TRANSFORMERS REVENGE OF THE FALLEN.

My initial feeling as soon as it ended was "yuck". Man I was so glad it was done. Once again I was excited seeing Optimus Prime, he was good, my favorite thing. Most of the robot action was great, this time you could almost actually make out which bot was which during the battles. BUT some of the caricatures that brought the Decepticons and Autobots to life really annoyed me, almost offended me, it was just all comic relief and petty jokes at the expense of intelligence. I found the Sam and Mikaela thing lame, and their new friend Leo annoyed me even more. I just rolled my eyes, kept looking at my watch and generally was feelin' pretty ansty. Ugh! So, in the end, I did not like TRANSFORMERS 2.

Oh, on a side note, I was amused by some overheard pre movie conversation, it was a few girls in the row behind me, and one of them mentioned Megan Fox had ugly fingers which got a prominent shot in the first film. Dude, I thought I was the only one who was bothered by that back then and was quite amused to hear they had found it distracting too. Seriously, the girl has ugly thumbs. HAH! yup.

Hey! Hey look! The cars are pretty bad ass in real life!

























Then to cleanse the movie pallet I made my way to the NEW BEVERLY for a double dose of Roman Polanski. The two films were The Tenant and
Fearless Vampire Killers neither of which I had seen completely before. It was a good night.

The Tenant trailer is one that I have seen a lot, at the Bev and other places. It's unusual, moody and ends with the great line: "Nobody does it to you like Roman Polanski" and now having seen the movie I know it's true. Polanski takes you for a ride through a mental breakdown. Polanski is Trelkovsky and he moves into the apartment of a woman who committed suicide. After visiting the woman in the hospital and upon hearing she died he slowly begins to unravel. Trelkovsky believes that his neighbors and landlord are out to get him, blaming him for noisy evenings. Trelkovsky insists he's being transformed into former tenant Simone Choule to be driven to suicide as well. It's a tripy and great film. Slowly the tension and confusion settles deep within Trelkovsky and he continues to fall further and further into a mystery perhaps all his own making. Whew, it's all pretty crazy.

Fearless Vampire Killers is on the other side of the spectrum. A comedy about two vampire hunters, one Professor Abronsius and Alfred, Abronsius' Assistant (Roman Polanski) who are in Transylvania. The two are a bumbling pair, trying to find vampires and dispose of them. Of course neither is very good at the killing part as the Professor is sidetracked by the science of it all and Alfred wants to just save the pretty girl Sarah (Sharon Tate). It's all quite cheesy but cheesy good and cheesy fun. I laughed along lots. I'm a "sucker" (pun intended) for most vampire fare anyways.

Glad I'm finally rounding out my Polanski movie viewing and on the big screen to boot! Thanks again NEW BEVERLY! Classic film fare does make up for not so good summer action flick. Yup! Yup! Yup!

Picture sharing time is here again, a round up on recent movie events! Movies Movies Movies, always on my mind...More from PHIL'S Film Explosion nights. Yup!

Clu Triple Feature Night






















THE WIZARD ROCKS!





































Phil's Heavenly Night

Last Tuesday at the Silent Movie Theater I finally got to see all of SHAKES THE CLOWN. Now I remember when that film came out, it caused a little stir, clowns didn't like it, but it kinda came and went. I'm not meaning to knock the film in any way. I'm just sayin' it's what I remember and besides I'm a Bob Goldthwait (a.k.a Bobcat) fan.

So, Bob Goldtwait was in attendance, and he professed his love of the Silent Movie theater, quite happy to share his work there that night before a packed theater. He also brought some "found footage" from his own personal collection, some odds and ends of film stuff he enjoys and it played on the big screen.



First up there was a short film about a very real and frightening problem, worms and worm eggs. The short features a frog warning all watching that "Dirt might have worm eggs in it." God Forbid those worms make their way into your belly! ICK! Yeah, it's totally serious with animal puppets and kids eating dirt.

Next he showed a DOGVILLE Short film, which was made for MGM, with a cast of dogs, all kinds of dogs within a dog world where they talk and socialize. Here's a look at one, I remember seeing these on TCM now and again.



These days Bob is still a filmmaker, behind the scenes, and he has directed a new movie called WORLD'S GREATEST DAD. He showed us the first 5 minutes and it features Robin Williams as an aspiring writer and single father. His son is quite unusual and Robin is trying to figure him out. Actually the red band trailer for the film has just been released, I'll let that do the talking. The first 5 minutes we saw though delivered the laughs, yup.



Lastly there was a short film of Bob's own making, Goldthwait Home Movies using his own childhood home videos of him and his family and he had a commentary track over it done by himself and two other actor folks Tom Kenny and Jill Talley. Very Funny.

There was a little break before the film and I saw ROBIN WILLIAMS was in attendance too to watch the film. (He is in SHAKES after-all! It was cool to see him.)

Bob gave an introduction to SHAKES and talked about the release of the film, his appearance on Katie Couric's show where he debated a clown and admits he's still no sure what he was thinking when he made it but was ready for all to see it.

SHAKES THE CLOWN, Bob is SHAKES, a clown with a drinking problem. His girlfriend Julie Brown is a bowler and his other clown buddies, one played by Adam Sandler try to keep him in line but it doesn't last long. All the clowns live in this city of Palookaville and hang out at their respcitve clown bars, like rival clown, Blinky (Tom Kenny) who now hosts a local TV show but no one likes him. This is a dark comedy, and silly, but I did dig it quite a bit.

After the film Bob called out a few actors from the film, Tom Kenny, Greg Travis, Paul Kozlowski and pointed out that Robin Williams took off. They talked about working on the film, and how Bob and Tom met back in catholic school as kids. Bob mentioned how Martin Scorsese actually admitted to liking SHAKES and it was one of his proudest moments. The film was really inspired by the comedy club circuit making fun of comedians. yup.



After the show I did get to talk to Bob a little bit and he was super nice and happy about how the night turned out. I told him I had a good time too. Yea!

Flashing back to May 31st, I was at the SILENT MOVIE THEATER attending the POPCORN MAFIA's live podcast event with their special guest ANDY DICK. It was a very funny evening.

But let me explain a bit first...THE POPCORN MAFIA is site where "a trio of film nerds" talk and review movies, trailers and DVD's. Two gals host the show; Gariana Abeyta and Grae Drake - Would you like to learn more? POPCORN MAFIA ABOUT US

I mentioned the site earlier this year when my roomie was their first guest of 2009: My Popcorn Blog. Since then I have gotten to know Gariana Abeyta a bit more as she's a projectionist at the SILENT and because I like to share the cool things I come across and like to help spread the word too I offer up my rambling here.

POPCORN MAFIA's live show with ANDY DICK was extremely funny! They trio were seated on the Silent's stage and they talked about STAR TREK! They also showed off a crazy film trailer to something called GOOBY, which was rather disturbing! Everyone laughed a lot that night! Now you can give it a listen too and experience the funny too.

ANDY DICK and the MAFIA gals!

They're workin' on getting some video up too, so stay tuned.

And to keep pluggin' the girls work I actually have know more then a few of their guest on their show and will share the links below, and yes I've listened to these myself...yup...Check it out:

JASON MARSDEN

Ariel Schudson

Michael Monterastelli

Joshua Lou Friedman

Enjoy!

Earlier this month I went to see FELLOWSHIP! The Musical Parody of "the Fellowship of the Ring" at the Falcon Theater and had a really good time! I actually am a silly FELLOWSHIP! fangirl as I caught FELLOWSHIP! back in 2005 more then a few times. I was introduced to it by my friend Cory Rouse who happens to play FRODO in the production. When FELLOWSHIP! first came out it continued with many extended runs at the theaters where it was performed and they even took the show on down to COMIC-CON that summer! It is a lot of fun and extremely catchy. I would round up friends to go and they would return again introducing others to the show. So, I was very happy when I heard FELLOWSHIP! was returning to the stage once again.

The production is just as fun this time out, everyone from the original cast returned to fill their parts. As soon as the lights when dark and the music started a smile crossed my face as I remembered just how much I liked this production. It's still a lot of fun and brings back fond memories of when the LOTR films were the big buzz. (You know you remember too!)

If you are a LORD OF THE RING FAN, having read the books and seen all variations of the movies you're sure to enjoy this musical parody! I highly recommend it! So if you're in the area do go and check it out! The show will end it's run on JULY 12! So get your tickets here and have some musical fun!

A cool FELLOWSHIP Review!

I finally got my 35mm rolls developed and got some pictures scanned in! Now it may seem like a lot but I do like taking pictures and it's fun to show them off...I've got some more pictures of the FREAKED duo, Back to the Future Folks and more from Phil's awesome birthday week, all at the New Beverly Cinema! And so here they are:

FREAKED IS FREAKIN' AWESOME YO!















BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY!







LEE VING June 5th!



















CLASS OF 1984 Screening



















WITCHBOARD and WITCHTRAP evening!





Ok, I think that will do for now, though I do have more, yup! I shall put together a proper internet album as well, but for now I do like this. Now, I'm off to scan a few more pictures, POLAROIDS, and focus on my blog writing...lots of topics, so little time, or is it too many distractions? "Don't nobody go nowhere."

So I am still watching movie and have stories to tell but have been a bit distracted! I hope you all do stay tuned though because I'll be putting up some Polaroid pictures and recapping movie outings, like SHAKES THE CLOWN and then there will some Comic Book Relating things too! I just have to get focused, like Daniel San!

One of the causes for my distraction:



DISNEYLAND!!! and ICE CREAM!!!

The recent Film Explosion that came to the New Beverly this past week was all because of one man: Phil! Phil is the man behind the New Beverly Saturday Midnight films which I attend and enjoy quite regularly. It was Phil who has helped me have two super fun birthday bashes at the New Beverly and so I'm very happy that I was there to help him celebrate his too!

Once again Phil has screened his favorite film HEAVENLY BODIES just like last year but he first paired it up with a screening of HARDBODIES and the actor Courtney Gains from HARDBODIES was also in attendance to join in the celebration!

HARDBODIES was a new movie for me, but I knew of it thanks for the poster and had seen bits on TV.



I have to say I rather enjoyed HARDBOIDES a lot more then I expected to. Scotty Palmer (Grant Cramer) is a young local beach boy who helps three middle aged guys score chicks by teaching them about BBD (Bigger and Better Deal) and the way of dialoguing. Rag (Courtney Gains) is Scotty's pal who knows how to flip people off in 40 different languages and is always around to help in all the schemes. So there's a lot of parties and sex on the beach but also some lessons to be learned about relationships. Yup!

Courtney Gains came on down to talk about the film!



HARDBODIES was Courtney's second film after CHILDREN OF THE CORN, and he was just out of High School when he made the film. Courtney said wardrobe he wore in HARDBODIES is what he put together, a lot from his own closet. When it came to his "flip off" bit (which is something very well known from the film) it was a routine he got to put together himself but he wouldn't perform it now. HARDBODIES was a 4-5 week shoot and actually was a Corman film. They also used the "student filming" bit to get a lot of stuff done. Courtney continues to act, recently on an episode of MY NAME IS EARL and he's got a film coming out which he produced and stars called Benny Bliss and the Disciples of Greatness.

Phil came on down to introduce HEAVENLY BODIES and he was quite pumped. Actually there were more then a few girls in the audience dressed up in leotards and leg warmers, all inspired by the film that is HEAVENLY BODIES! Phil had a letter from the writer of the film, Ron Base, which he read in it's entirety. Ron recounted how HEAVENLY BODIES came together and how it affected his career. It was an awesome letter! He was surprised and happy to hear about the screening that night.

HEAVENLY BODIES is a big workout! It's full of dance/work out montages as three girls open up their own studio and quickly gain some popularity. Samantha Dale (Cynthia Dale) is the lead instructor and soon has her own show on a local TV channel. Everything seems to be pretty rosy too as she's being romanced by football player Steve and Sam's little boy happens to like him too. But the real conflict comes in when Sam has to deal with the rival workout studio lead by Jack Pearson! Cue the "Dance Marathon" showdown and grand montage moment! We're talking montage within a montage! You'll be pretty pumped through it all with workout songs and all the dancing! There's nothing else quite like HEAVENLY BODIES, it's Aerobicsploitation!



TRAILERS: SPRING BREAK (the reason kids go to college in the first place.), FRATERNITY VACATION, REVENGE OF THE NERDS II: Nerds in Paradise, FOOTLOOSE, FLASHDANCE, POTATO BUG (I want on Potato Bird!), HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PHIL! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! The Film Explosion was awesome fun! THANK YOU for sharing so many movies and so many good times! I'm ready for more! See you back at the theater real soon! Yup! Yup! Yup!

I LOVE THE WIZARD! I really really do, and I always have! So nothing would keep me from this evening at the New Beverly to again watch this film and enjoy it with a crowd. The theater really packed up with WIZARD fans and Phil even brought out his very own POWERGLOVE!



Now, I will say it again, I LOVE THE WIZARD! I remember the buzz it had coming out, though the movie did sort of fizzle. But I was a gamer and a Nintendo fangirl, I had the NES (Zanac is still a favorite) loved my SUPER NES and played all the Super Mario Bros. games ultimately mastering all of SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 too. THE WIZARD featured SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 and being the age I was when the film came out I'll admit to being a Fred Savage fan.

But I digress...THE WIZARD at the New Beverly. For his introduction Phil came down with his POWERGLOVE on his hand. The director Todd Holland and THE WIZARD himself LUKE EDWARDS were there to watch too and helped with the intro. Both were excited to watch the film again and thanking Phil for playing it.



THE WIZARD, little Luke plays Jimmy Woods and Jimmy wants to go to "California". Jimmy's half brother Corey (Fred Savage) wants to help him get there. On their way Corey discovers Jimmy's natural gamer talent. With the help of Haley (Jenny Lewis) the trucker smart girl they all make the trek to the VIDEO GAME CHAMPIONSHIP out in California at Universal Studios. The rest of their family which includes Christian Slater and Beau Bridges are following to get them back home...what a family unit.

The Bev crowd was totally into the movie, there was clappin going on as the kids rode with the bikers to the song SEND ME AN ANGEL, and there were constant cheers for the games like TMNT, and during the competition itself. Oh it was a blast was, everyone was filled with power up energy!!



After the film Luke and Todd returned to the stage along with editor Tom Finan to tell their stories.

Luke said the game play footage was someone else playing, he liked where he would walk away from the games and they'd keep going. Todd said he didn't know much about the video games when he made the film and that the Power Glove seemed cool but actually wasn't cool at all. During filming the POWERGLOVE was brought in under lock and key by Nintendo. (Todd did get a GameBoy for free though.)

Tom Finan really enjoyed watching it with the crowd and was glad how the gameplay all came together in the film. One of the difficult edits was synching up the Powerglove with the gameplay, they had to run that scene by Nintendo too. (By the Way, Tom was an editor on THE LION KING!)

Luke says he was promised a copy of SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 and never ever got it! He really hated his wardrobe, the tight clothes, ("I fuckin' hated it!"). He needed baggy clothes and Todd called him morbidly unhappy until they made the change.

Phil mentioned that Fred Savage wanted to be at the screening but was out of town and Jenny Lewis was on tour or would have been there too.

Luke said he really liked working with Jenny, they were best buds on the set and got along great. He then called Fred awesome and cool but you could tell there wasn't a whole lot of love. Todd did say Fred had quite an entourage and girls would be screaming for him when he came into the Arizona town where they filmed. Later on Luke said he was very excited himself to be kissed by and kisssing back Jenny. Oh, and the scene with the cows in the truck really freaked Luke out.

Todd talked about a longer cut of the film, a whole hours worth, that filled in more about the family and there were scenes with Fred's best friends in the town. Todd felt so bad about the boys who were cut out that he sent them each letters of apology. Luke says he really appreciated that Todd did such a thing because he was cut out of AMERICAN PIE and no one had told him, he was at the premiere, with a date and watched the film where he didn't show up at all.

It was rather amusing to hear that Todd caused some controversy and ruined his relationship with Universal due to his sense of humor. In THE WIZARD he made a joke about the Universal Studios Park. During the end on the tram there was a little girl who says "Mom, I like Disneyland better" and it was in the final mix of the film and when Universal caught it they had to re-mix the whole thing to take it out and Todd was totally busted.

Those of us at the Bev were lucky enough to hear Luke to say the line "CALIFORNIA", which Todd says he wouldn't even do at their screening in Austin. In fact when it came to the "CALIFORNIA" plot point Todd had a big fight to keep it in as in the original ending Jimmy was just going to toss his lunchbox with his sister's photos out of the car window into a river. Todd's dinosaur ending tested real well and they couldn't take it out.

As soon as the Q&A ended I dashed over to Luke Edwards to talk to him. I turned on the fangirl mode because he was in my favorite little sitcom, which no one else seems to remember, DAVIS RULES. I told Luke how my sister and I watched every episode, then I got my super duper Polaroid pic! Yea!



JOYSTICKS was the next film. Phil played it back in '08 and I missed out. Now I know what I missed, a crazy sex romp at an arcade where there's "TOTALLY AWESOME VIDEO GAMES". There's some pretty cool actors like Jon Gries and Joe Don Baker, then the guy from GREASE 2, Leif Green who played Eugene Groebe. But it is all pretty ridiculous and just silly and I know that's the point. My mind is still focused on THE WIZARD!



TRAILERS: Milk Duds Commerical (MADE WITH REAL MILK), THE DUNGEONMASTER, Cracker Jack Commerical (It's all about Sharing!) and WEIRD SCIENCE. Then there was THE LAST STARFIGHTER, Chips Ahoy Commercial (16 chips in each cookie), SUPER MARIO BROS. (I saw it in theaters!), and OREO Cookie Commercial.