If you haven’t been to the main site for a while, or have been following along on my rants via an RSS feed, I invite you to come back and take a look at the new layout which also features a new comprehensive archive page with collapsible thumbnails by month.  Now you can explore two years worth of posts that include commentary on technology, spirituality, society and culture, notes recording indie albums, and exclusive interviews with filmmakers, producers and more.

Thanks for you continued readership,

Keram

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Sunday night was all about celebrating blood, boobs and bombs as the Midnight Madness pirates stormed the bastilles, er, whatevs, and we were introduced to Mark Hartley’s self-proclaimed “rockumentary” Not Quite Hollywood – about Ozploitation cinema – that is to say – the non-existent Australian film industry doing whatever it could, back in the late 1960’s and 70’s to get even a modicum piece of the Hollywood pie.

Thinking they were at the edge of a wave of a global revolution that was really only happening on a farm field in Woodstock, the Aussies took to disrobing like it was the job.  Then, when a little horror and post-acid-trip surrealism was the where the registers were clinking, the blood was introduced, in bucketloads.  Add some semi-retired bona fide Hollywood star power to the mix and you had to have a recipe for cinematic world domination, rendering such masterpieces as Turkey Shoot (aka Escape 2000 in the US), Dark Age (really bad alligator horror flick), The Man From Hong Kong, and ultimately Long Weekend and Mad Max.

The beauty of it all of course was that there really were no scruples.  It was – whatever it takes to get the shot, even if it meant firing live ammo at the actors (I guess squib explosives attached to rock-faces were out of the budget range?) or hoisting a guy 70 feet in the air on a cherry-picker without anything to fall back on (um, no pun intended?) since helicopters were definitely out of the question.

But as Quentin Tarantino, who claims the lion’s share of the commentary in this doc states – Aussies can shoot car chases without equal.  Their cars look nicer than American cars, their chase scenes are way more fucking crazy, and the shots are without equal.

Anyway, it was a good romp, director Brian Trenchard-Smith was in attendance and the audience applauded at the suggestion that a revival festival should be erected at Cinematheque (as opposed to grindhouses) for this pioneering ouevre.

The Rock-U’s visual effects were terrific, the pace was good, we laughed, we cried, we missed Russ Meyers.

My only question is – 8am screenings – what?

Remaining Screenings:

Friday September 12    |  06:15PM     |  VARSITY 2

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Monday night – the Ecstasy Films Inc. party at Empire in Yorkville was bloody crowded.  That’s about all I can say about it, except for the free drink ticket and Bedouin Soundclash who sounded amazing despite the fact that we ultimately had to enjoy their set from outside in the rain because literally, not a deflated blow-up doll could fit in that room.

As I mentioned previously, Ecstasy, adapted from the book by Irvine Welsh (who wrote Trainspotting, in case you are just on a short stay to planet Earth) is a film about to go into production directed by Rob Heydon and set to star Richard E. Grant (yes he of Withnail and I), Billy Boyd (of hobbit fame) and Erica Durance (of Maxim cover fame).

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In non-TIFF film news – the very long awaited sequel to Boondock Saints that will star the original cast and be directed by Troy Duffy himself is gearing up for production.  Holy f$%in s%$^!!!

The post TIFF’08 – Exploitation Movies, Over-packed Ska shows and Ecstasy- ho! appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.

In other years I have either done the rush line thing, that is, standing in line an hour before a screening hoping that there are enough no-shows that ten minutes before the precious screening starts a few of us get hail-mary’d in.  Usually works but it’s a lot of work and a lot of snacks; sure it’s fun meeting people, but sometimes it isn’t and sometimes it rains and sometimes you just don’t get in.

Still other times, I have had the benefit of a media pass for reasons I won’t get into, and so was able to forego all of the other stuff and just walk into whatever I damn well pleased.

But this year, I have neither patience, desire to leave things to chance, or a golden ticket so I had to do things just like anyone else with an unhealthy passion for cinema might.

Here’s what you need to know.  If you want to be 90% sure that you will get into the movies you actually want you will likely buy a 10 or 25 ticket set.  The 10 ticket, which is what I purchased, set me back about CDN $165.  Then I researched whatever I could, went on some hunches, looked for things that seemed rare, underground or unlikely to get wide release, and created an early list.  See earlier entries in this blog for my pre-print-mags-lists – short list.

Then I went to the new box office location for the festival on the 2nd floor of the AMC theaters building on the northeast corner of Dundas and Yonge St. opposite Dundas square, and handed them the ticket voucher they had sent me in the mail.  They gave me a booklet with all the movies, each with a pair of boxes labeled 1 and 2.  1 = first choice.  2 = second choice.

I then find my movies, my preferred screening times and mark the number of tickets I want (up to 4 per screening) with a yellow highlighter in box 1 and the same for my alternate choices in box 2 with a green highlighter, up to the number of passes I have, which is, in my case, ten.

The festival then goes through all such booklets and assigns tickets from all the screenings to these early pass-holders, starting at one, moving up to sixty, and if a screening still isn’t full, going back to one and going through the booklets again until any given show is sold out and then you get a crack at the next available screening.

Today I was emailed what I managed to get.  Not all first choices, but most.  So the cool thing is, now I can just go to the movie 15 minutes before (any later and you risk giving up your precious seat to someone in the rush line) and I am guaranteed a viewing.

The second stage of all this, is that on September 3rd, single show tickets go on sale online.  That is when the bumrush happens and shows sell out uber-fast.

Failing that, it’s time to stack up on trail mix, bottles of Fiji water (or tap-water if you are a true Torontonian) and get to the back of the line.  If this is you, bring some business cards and/or your screenplay synopsis, you’d be surprised who you will meet at TIFF standing out in the rain.

The post TIFF’08 – How To Get Tickets You Want – in layman’s terms appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.

So the last day we had available to record in the sauna with our Avalon pre’s AKG’s and Rode NTs, we threw down. Eight songs in all. The album, which will precede the “studio” record is code-named “box”. It will likely still be called box when it’s released which should be within the month.

Lots of red wine, starry nights pacing around The Balcony, and shoving audio cables in boxes that squeak and grind more than S.A.M. the robot from Sesame Street and we are starting to find something pretty darn interesting.

My dad also bought one of those vinyl to CD thingies from a Skymall catalogue and I went totally apeshit digging through all the warped 45’s from my childhood. I have to say, the two and a half decades worth of dust buildup and scratches make them sound way better. Some of that may find its way onto the acoustic record. I can’t help myself.

So in a few days I fly back to LA – land of Sushi, chronic perfect weather, and SocialNetworkObsessedMeloDrama. And then I can hear what this all really is; framed by the boundaries of marketability and cult of personality, the experience Outside will finally show its strength or weakness.

Either way, this thing is coming out in a month.

I hope it makes you feel something.

ps. Josh, you rule for putting up with this crazy shit we do.

The post The unexpected arrival appeared first on TheCulturepin.com.

Tonight we saw “American Venus” starring Rebecca de Mornay as a freakishly control-crazy mother and Jane McGregor who plays her anxiety-ridden but highly sympathetic daughter.

Pic starts off as a dark comedy in the spirit of American Psycho before taking a more serious turn that examines topics – addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression and type A domination over another.

The film’s score sounds like a direct Thomas Newman lift, which was my primary complaint seeing as the title already feels derivative of the Allan Ball pic. The other point of contention however – the unusual, deliberate pacing of the scenes, where the simple act of going through a stack of cheques unfolds as it would, rather than time-cutting, ultimately won me over.

Rebecca de Mornay gives a tour de force performance. She digs in and commits fully – giving us full reason to believe that she indeed is addicted to unloading a mag from a 40 .cal just because it helps calm her nerves, and will go to any length to get her fix, even in a place like Canada where getting hold of a gatt isn’t so easy.

Jane McGregor, as her daughter is heart-achingly fragile and ever so lovely. I can’t to see more from her as her star inevitably rises.

All in all, an engaging and unconventional perspective on an old idea, I’d tell friends to put down a ten piece for it. 3.5/5

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Monday we go see Manny’s other pic from Brightlight – “They Wait” – a psych thriller featuring James King (oops, it’s Jamie now).

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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – I auditioned for the role of Robert Ford while I was shooting the L Word in Vancouver. I wanted it something firece. Lost the part to a better man. But this one will do well, I think. Of course because of Brad Pitt, but it’s a solid script and a great take on an old legend. Top five for buzz at this festival.

Lars and the Real Girl – I think the journalist who implied Ryan Gosling might smell Oscar hype over a role wherein he is myopically in love with a silicon blow up doll is a bit of a reach, but I certainly must believe that director Craig Gillespie must have done something right. Yep you guessed it – I read for this part as well, when I was shooting “Cake” with Heather Graham in Toronto back in 2004. I don’t think I quite understood how this was going to play – as a Farrelly Bros. comedy or as a straight piece like Edward Scissorhands. I am hearing it’s somewhere in between. Worth checking out either way. High on the buzz meter at the fest among critics.

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