Zatoichi the blind swordsman is an iconic character that has never quite seen the poplarity outside of Japan. He has been the inspiration for many charcaters. Inspired filmakers like Robert Rodriguez. There was even a fun, if uneven, American take starring Rutger Hauer called Blind Fury which features Terence O’Quinn and a swordfight between Hauer and Sho Kusgi!
     The movies are basically a variation on a theme but they feature some amazing fight seqeunces. Some great ones include the inevitable group of bad guys getting completely owned by the seemingly harmless blind man. If you liked Kill Bill you will have a very good time following the exploits of one of Japan’s most enduring film series. There have been 27 films in all. Oh..and the best part is this is all possible due to a partnership with Criterion.

So revisit or begin your journey with Zatoichi.

     Catch them while you can… and if you can,,, it is Hulu after all.

Yeah, so we interviewed a LOT more people than just Lloyd Kaufman, and we couldn’t possibly be happier about it.  Joining us for the interview (from left to right) are Matt Morris, Lindy Starr, Richard Taylor and Zach Beins.  What results can only happen when visiting with denizens of Tromaville.

Just in case you aren’t familiar with Troma films, you probably shouldn’t listen to this interview if you’re offended by jokes about Michael Jackson, Pat Robertson, various projectile body fluids and…oh yeah, plenty of swearing.  If you ARE familiar with Troma films, you’ve probably already started listening to the interview half way through this paragraph.

We had a great time talking with everyone and can’t thank everyone enough for taking the time to talk with us!

You’ll notice Ink alumni Chris Kelly, Jeremy Make and Quinn Hunchar return in this fun short that needs to be seen by as many people as possible.  You won’t regret watching this.

Archangel

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H48VtETngA

Being at least somewhat of a hipster, I was legally obligated to post this trailer. This is not really a film but a “visual album” from the best band in the world, Animal Collective. Just judging by this if you’re one of the people who’s only knowledge of the band is through “My Girls” you might be a little freaked out by what you’re seeing. This looks far more “Hollinndagain” than “Merriweather Post Pavillion” and I guess I’m open to that.

ODDSAC is currently playing at Sundance and for all we know could become the next “The Wall“…but it’s far more likely that it will just be some art project that a few weeks from now won’t see more than the closet of Noah Lennox/Panda Bear.

by Dave Minkus
Dave’s Score: 7.5/10

It’s really nice when I get the chance to see a movie that lets me take off my critic’s hat and just enjoy it for what it is. For me, that kind of movie is a true story that’s well made. It isn’t about the “film”, it’s the story that’s important. Extraordinary Measures is exactly that kind of film. I understand people’s trepidation at the commercials that have been airing on CBS seemingly non-stop for the past few months.

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Our thoughts and prayers also go out to Tee Morris and his daughter during this tough time.  If you want to help the family, you can chip in with the below widget set up by Phillipa Ballentine.

Thanks to Jonathan Coulton for recording the awesome song Chiron Beta Prime.

You can listen to all of the Adam Baldwin interview that Chris did at the Jonja.net site.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of remakes. However, there are times where an idea intrigues me enough that I really want to see how it turns out. Darren Aronofsky’s Robocop is one of those projects. Aronofsky has never once struck me as the kind of guy who will do any project if there are enough zero’s in the paycheck. If he takes on a project, he has a specific vision and idea of what he wants to do.

Well, it looks like he may be walking away from this project now, according to Moviehole.  Apparently, the project is on hold because the studio wants the film to be in 3D and Aronofsky isn’t interested in going that route.  I have to say that I applaud Mr. Aronofsky for willing to stick to his guns.

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Congrats, WB.  You’ve just found a new way to alienate part of your customer base.

Engadget has posted an article talking about how Netflix has agreed to let Warner Bros. delay getting them copies of new releases until 28 days after they’re made available for sale.  Even worse, Netflix is apparently in talks to have similar arrangements with other studios.  The upside is that Netflix will be getting more catalogue streaming content from WB.

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The people who complain about Avatar’s story being “Dances With Wolves meets Ferngully” are like people who claim they don’t like John Goodman because he’s overweight. Goodman’s weight serves his persona as the lovable and funny guy who could very well be your zany Uncle. Ignoring his dominating screen presence and talent just because he doesn’t look like a typical handsome leading man is flat-out dumb. Avatar’s simplistic story serves it’s themes and visual splendor. We don’t need a twist ending where everyone is a robot for a movie to be good, it’s fine to sometimes just have something standardly play out in front of you just so that you can further appreciate what extraordinarily is being done. I don’t need John Goodman to lose 200 pounds and have a shirtless scene to appreciate what he’s doing while watching an episode of Roseanne. (more…)

I haven’t heard Barry rave about a movie like this in awhile.  He’s already seen Everybody’s Fine twice and is planning on taking his whole family to see it when it releases.  Obviously, we jumped at the chance to speak with director Kirk Jones when he brought the film to the Starz Denver Film Festival.  It was a fun interview and we thank the good folks over at Miramax for the opportunity to talk with Mr. Jones.

Even with cold weather, guaranteed snowfall and the temptation to blow $10.00 to see Roland Emmerich destroy the world, audiences still flocked to this year’s Starz Denver Film Festival, and with a line-up of films this great, who could blame them? This is still the best way for movie buffs to get a fix of films they’ve never heard of before but will be raving about for months. You also get a chance to be up close with some excellent filmmakers on the rise and actors and actresses like Rachel Leigh Cook, J.K. Simmons, Hal Holbrook and the fest’s Achievement Award winner, Ed Harris. It also gives film fest junkies a chance to see an acclaimed Oscar hopeful, like Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, which was this year’s SDFF opener.

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Quint’s holiday geek gift guide

We’ve still got a couple more interviews in the works from the Starz Denver Film Festival.  Getting to talk to Jessica Oreck, the writer and director of Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, was a real treat.  This is a fascinating and beautifully shot film that definitely needs to be seen.

Elisabeth Rappe from Cinematical and The Flickcast is kind enough to slum it and join us for all sorts of fun.

By Dave Minkus 
Score:  7/10

It’s been over a week since I saw Precious, and I’ve been dreading writing this review, frankly.  I honestly don’t know what I think about it.  The film definitely has a lot going for it, but it also has a bit working against it.

Precious follows the excruciating life of Clarice Precious Jones.  She’s dark skinned, obese and just got pregnant with her second child by her father.  That’s just the first 5 minutes of the movie.  Her mom abuses her as well, she’s miserable and only remotely happy when escaping into fantasies when real life is just too much.  Actually, too much might just be the perfect description of Precious.

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by Dave Minkus
Score: 8.5/10

I’m going to say it right here and now:  Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is going to BOMB at the box office.  This isn’t because it’s a bad movie.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The fact is that Bad Lieutenant is TOO good a movie.  The American movie audience doesn’t derserve this surreal masterpiece, and they’re going to turn their backs on it because it’s too wierd.  I had not idea what to expect going into this film, but I was open to whatever ride it was going to take me on.  Nothing could have prepared me for the glory I was in for.

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The Starz Denver Film Fest interviews just keep coming!  This time, Barry had the privelage of talking with Logan and Noah Miller, directors of Touching Home.  Barry talks to them about casting Ed Harris as their dad and how they came to make their first feature and even write a book about it.  It’s a fascinating listen!

And the hits just keep on coming, kids!  This time up, Barry got the chance to talk to Louis Lapat, director of Win or Lose: A Summer Camp Story.  One of the things both Barry and I love about the Starz Denver Film Festival is the chance to discover great movies like this.  There’s really no other way that we can find these gems and we love talking to the filmmakers because we’re fans of good film and want to get the word out as much as possible!

Also…I had to bleep an f-bomb from Barry for the first time in our podcasting career together.

You can also find more information at the film’s official Facebook page.

So far, our interviews at the Starz Denver Film Festival have been the most fun we’ve ever done.  This time around, we’re honored to speak with Dr. George Hardy and Micahel Paul Stephenson from Best Worst Movie and Troll 2.  I can’t even begin to say what a pleasure this interview was.  We had a great time talking with these gentlemen about what it means to be in the worst movie ever made and how they came to embrace it.  We hope you have as much fun listening to it as we had recording it.

One of the great things about the Starz Denver Film Festival 2009 isn’t just the great movies.  It’s getting to meet the great people behind some of these great movies.  On Saturday, Barry and I had the great privelage of talking with the director of Official Rejection, Paul Osborne.  The film and interview make for a brutally honest, yet funny look at the festival world and why not getting into one of the big festivals doesn’t necessarily spell failure for your movie.

We’ll have a couple reviews of this up later this week, but Official Rejection is definitely one of the must-see films of SDFF this year.  If you aren’t near Denver, don’t fret.  The film releases tomorrow on Amazon via a 1-disc and 2-disc release along with being available on Amazon On Demand in the near future.  You can also pick up the film’s subject, Ten ‘Till Noon, while you’re there.

Anywho, me and Dave had previously discussed the idea of me starting a Screen Geeks-sponsored blog that would contain my incoherent ramblings about movies. He had the idea of hosting a blogspot thing-y, but I wanted Tumblr seeing as how that’s what all the cool kids use these days. Dave could not use his technical wizardry though to have SG host it though. So we kind of both lost our enthusiasm on the idea and didn’t discuss it again. But on a whim (the whim being browsing the Tumblr of the illustrious Hunter Stephenson) I buckled down and finally started my own Tumblr account.

Before I link to it I should prepare you for what exactly it contain. It will obviously center on pop-culture, but it was also probably range into bizarre personal stuff that are only hinted on my Twitter account. But here’s the damn thing in all it’s infantile glory : http://ethanves.tumblr.com/

First of all, here’s a brief recap of what’s been going on with Ink, confirmed with director Jamin Winans.  These are hard facts.  The Winans’ sales of their film have been rising noticably.  Amazon.com is sold out and is currently quoting a 1-2 week wait before shipping the DVD.  Sales at the official Ink site have gone up.  Both Blockbuster and Netflix have doubled their orders to keep up with demand for rentals.  What is unclear with these instances is how much impact the file sharing phenomena has contributed to this.  Jamin thinks that all this would have eventually happened, but the piracy probably stepped up how quickly everything came about.

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It’s been a longstanding debate online.  Does internet piracy help or hurt a movie?  On one side, you have filmmakers and studios talking about how internet movie piracy is killing box office and dvd sales/profits.  On the other side, you have the pirates trying to justify the practice by saying that the advance word can help a movie and actually increase sales.  The problem is that there is very little data to support the pirates’ stance…until now.

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By Dave Minkus 
Score:  8/10

If you’re anything like me, the name Bill Withers doesn’t mean anything to you.  At least, it didn’t before seeing Damani Baker and Alex Vlack’s film, Still Bill.  It was shocking and I’ll admit that I was ashamed for not knowing the name of the man who brought us musical greats like Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean on Me.  Still Bill sets out to change the fact that Bill Withers is an unknown name to most of the country.

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We’ve been given a great opportunity at ScreenGeeks.com.  Last year, we were able to go to the Starz Denver Film Festival and Barry had a great writeup of everything he saw.  This year, the good folks at SDFF have given us even more access to more amazing films and interviews.  Starting tonight, you’ll start seeing reviews of varaious films we’ve seen and interviews with various filmmakers.

This is going to play havoc with our ability to get regular shows out over the next couple of weeks, but we’ll be putting up plenty of content between reviews and varioius bits we’ll be recording and posting in the RSS podcast feed.  Let us know what you think of our coverage.  We hope you enjoy it!

I had the great privelage of getting to talk with new media author JC Hutchins again last week about his old/new novel, 7th Son: Descent.  We talk about the process of bringing his first book to print and some nightmare possibilities of casting the clones.  It’s a great chat and I had a great time talking with Hutch!

You can find out about all the different things JC Hutchins has in the fire at his official site.

I know that we always talk up Criterion discs, but I also know that they tend to be significantly more expensive than regular DVDs.  Well, if you’ve been tempted to try the waters on some of our past recommendations, you aren’t going to get much of a better chance than this to build up your library!  This much advance notice should hopefully give you a chance to save up some money ahead of time and not abuse your wallet.

Let us know if you’d like us to give you some ideas on good films to pick up and we’ll be happy to give you some options in the comments!  The DVD Talk thread will be good for that as well. 

 GeekLabel T-Shirt Sale

JC Hutchins

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The world premiere of Lars von Trier’s Antichrist this year at the Cannes film festival is now the stuff of legends. Critics who had attended this first ever screening were disgusted, shocked, terrified, angry, excited, bewildered but most importantly…buzzing. This very buzz on the internet the day of release was splitting people into two sides. Those who boasted about how they supported more edgy cinema welcomely hollered “BRING IT ON!”. Those whose favorite movies consist of the filmographies of Tim Burton and Ron Howard sat back and shook their heads in disgust. Those in the middle? The ones who can enjoy both Werner Herzog and Preston Sturges? They were just confused about what side to support. But now as the film has screened more and now finally awaits its theatrical exhibition, it comes the time to seriously examine it. What made Lars von Trier make this particular film? His excuse was that this film was the answer to his years of depression. But are talking foxes, smashed genitals, cut-off clitorises and satires of Baz Luhrman really an answer to depression? Well, it’s probably just as much of a response as jerking off a horse, wearing the skin of a dead deer, licking a compound fracture and wearing a cheese helmet.

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By Dave Minkus

Dave’s Score:  8/10 

Whether you like or dislike a film made by Joel and Ethan Coen, you have to admit that every film they make is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.  If you’ve listened to our podcast very long, you know that I have a theory that a Coen Brothers film is going to fit into one of two genres:  we have their gritty noir films like Fargo, Miller’s Crossing and No Country for Old Men, and then we have their absurd films like The Hudsucker Proxy and O Brother, Where Art Thou?  Yes, Barton Fink crosses both quite sublimely, but most of their films fit into one of the two categories.  A Serious Man is gloriously absurd.  As with the crossing of downhome southern Christianity with Homer’s The Odyssey in O Brother, A Serious Man crosses 50’s suburban Jewish culture with the Biblical story of Job.  I know, it’s abstract, but it works!

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Our thanks to Paul and Storm for giving us a drop (even if Dave did a crappy job of recording it) and letting us use one of their songs after the show ends.  They are currently on tour with Jonathan Coulton.  If they come near you, you REALLY need to catch their show.  I’m working on the bootleg of their set as well and will post it when finished.

Many thanks to Jonathan Coulton for giving us a drop.  You can find all his music at his website.  If you’d like to know what his live show is like, you can download the entire show in one convenient .zip file from his concert in Denver that I recorded.  If he’s coming to your neck of the woods, I can’t recommend you catch him enough.  You’ll have a great time.

Episode 8 : This was probably my favorite episode so far. It basically concerns Larroquette in love. And how the girl he likes doesn’t like him back and it evolves into a big complication involving Harry, Bull and concert tickets. Basically, this episode delivered on the Larroquette front. And that is what I watch this show for.

I’m guessing at one point during the series’ 9-Season run that Harry will hook up with that girl on the show who’s name I’m forgetting. I’m sure that if this is true and you’re a fan of the show, you’re rolling your eyes or something. It would be like staring to watch Seinfeld from the beginning and saying that you’d predict there would be an episode about jerking off.

Episode 9 : This episode was Lana acting crazy after taking some medication to treat her sickness. I now remember her name because it was said a million times during this episode. Funny thing about that is during the cold opening it’s constantly mentioned how awful and sick she looks. She doesn’t really look that bad. She just looks pissed off. And how I said that her and Harry would hook up in the write-up for the last episode? WOAH IT KINDA SORTA HAPPENED IN THIS ONE.

There’s a subplot in this episode concerning the latest prosecuted guy being a man dressed as a clown. This made me only think more of an alternate version of Tim Burton’s Batman where Larroquette played Harvey Dent. But did Jack Nicholson and Billy Dee Williams have any scenes together? Well in this alternate version, it would be the entire movie.

Episode 10 : This episode felt a little different. It had a slightly different opening credits sequences, slightly different haircuts for some characters and Bull wearing a differnet uniform. Crazy! And I read that this was Lana’s last episode. This makes me wonder if this was the beginning of the Network retooling the show a bit to make it more popular. What also makes me think this is because the episode features super special guest star Yakov Smirnoff as you guessed it…a wacky Russian. It makes me wonder if the network wanted a zany big-name guest star for the first episode of the “retooled” Night Court. They figured that the zany guest stars what drew people into the show in the first place. That of course is wrong. It was always Larroquette. But I’m interested to see where it goes from here.

]]> http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/22/night-courtin-episodes-8-10/feed/ http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/16/night-courtin-episodes-5-7/ http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/16/night-courtin-episodes-5-7/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:59:08 +0000 ethan http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/16/night-courtin-episodes-5-7/

Episode 5 : This episode was centered around the village idiot (aka the “Screech”) of the series, Bull. It was serviceable. But the subplot involving porn was what brought most of the laughs. Larroquette spends a good portion of the episode just watching a porn tape. And what do you know? It’s easily the funniest thing of the entire episode. And I figure porn being used in the plot must’ve been pretty taboo in 1984? Am I right?

That brings me to another thing. There’s a The Elephant Man reference when Bull says “I am not an animal, I am a human being!”. Now, it’s kind of cute. Seeing as how that movie is 30 years old somehwhat forgotten by the mainstream. But back then, it would basically be like using “I wish I knew how to quit you” from Brokeback Mountain now.

Episode 6 : This was kind of a meh episode. It concerned Harry getting a death threat…yadda yadda yadda. Basically I kind of zoned out a bit. This came after a part where a bomb difusal guy came in to take care of a threat. It made me create a backstory in my head where he was basically Jeremy Renner’s character from the best picture of the year (tied with Inglourious Basterds) The Hurt Locker. But instead of Iraq he did all that stuff in World War II. Of course I would zone back in whenever Larroquette was on screen. So yeah, that says all you need to know.

Episode 7 : This had a Larroquette-centric subplot where it’s election night for the position of district attorney. This got me thinking about an alternate universe where Larroquette played Harvey Dent in Tim Burton’s Batman instead of Billy Dee Williams. Nicholson would’ve tried to steal the show, but Larroquette would’ve had it locked up in a vault.

For a few episodes it seemed like the show was going in a zanier direction. But this harkened back a bit with the main story being about a prostitute who’s in love with Harry. It also brings back the joke of Bull using big words to make up for his lack of education. This seemed to be a joke set up in the pilot episode that they never really continued on. But here they did it!

]]> http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/16/night-courtin-episodes-5-7/feed/ http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/15/night-courtin-episodes-2-4/ http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/15/night-courtin-episodes-2-4/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:14:07 +0000 ethan http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/15/night-courtin-episodes-2-4/

Episode 2 : The sign that this episode was going to work for me was when in the first image of the episode, a man dressed as Santa Claus in court, did not garner any laugh track reaction. In fact the overall episode lacked the laugh track overkill. I really appreciate that in this day and age of iCarly. Okay yes, I have overheard episodes that my little sisters have watched. I don’t actually seek them out on my own, that’s more of a Barry thing to do.

But anyway, this episode is surprisingly dramatic. It concerns a man who may or may not be Santa Claus and a troubled teen played by super special guest star Marty McFly. Whom you may remember from Casualties of War. The plot is kind of silly and cliched in a lot of ways. But I really appreciated it for trying to be a little dramatic. I guess you could say the same thing about that episode of Saved by The Bell where Jesse becomes addicted to diet pills. But we all know that episode is a classic anyway.

Episode 3 : The image of John Larroquette smoking a pipe is one that makes me want to do two things. One of those being taking up smoking pipes, other being dressing up as John Larroquette for Halloween. I had already promised a friend that I would be sporting a Short Round costume, but the call of the Larroquette is too small.

Anyway, this episode was about some of the mystery surrounding Judge Harry Stone. In a rather dramatic moment (Why so serious Night Court?), he reveals the one crime he committed. I said before that lead actor Harry Anderson bore a strong resemblance to a Dana Carvey/Ted Danson hybrid-being. But I realized that he also looks like Nick Nolte at angels. We just need a mugshot to know how true that really is.

Episode 4 : Maybe it was just my ADD kicking in, but this episode felt a little slow-paced at times. It features Judge Harry Stone dealing with his mom and stuff. I like both the character and the actor. But I watch this show for Larroquette. And I do appreciate the show’s attempts at drama. But that is becoming such a cliche for me to say that I think I will stop.

During the episode I thought of a haiku about Larroquette that I could compose. But I decided to save that for later. Probably when I get to the end of the first season. Ya dig?

]]> http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/15/night-courtin-episodes-2-4/feed/ http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/13/sgr-episode-88-summer-09-wrap-up/ http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/13/sgr-episode-88-summer-09-wrap-up/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:56:54 +0000 Dave http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/13/sgr-episode-88-summer-09-wrap-up/ We’re back!  Barry and Dave are joined by Chris Stipp from Quick Stop Entertainment to talk about the movies from the Summer of ‘09.  Also make sure to catch Chris on Monday night as he guests on the /Filmcast!

Discussion of the Disney/Marvel purchase by Steve from Collider and Peter from /Film.

]]> http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/13/sgr-episode-88-summer-09-wrap-up/feed/ 00:01:01 We're back!nbsp; Barry and Dave are joined by Chris Stipp from Quick Stop Entertainment to talk about the movies from the Summer of '09.nbsp; Also ... We're back!nbsp; Barry and Dave are joined by Chris Stipp from Quick Stop Entertainment to talk about the movies from the Summer of '09.nbsp; Also make sure to catch Chris on Monday night as he guests on the /Filmcast! Discussion of the Disney/Marvel purchase by Steve from Collider and Peter from /Film. Episodes admin@screengeeks.com no No http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/13/tiff-day-3-bright-star-and-about-half-of-valhalla-rising/ http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/13/tiff-day-3-bright-star-and-about-half-of-valhalla-rising/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:49:13 +0000 ethan http://www.screengeeks.com/2009/09/13/tiff-day-3-bright-star-and-about-half-of-valhalla-rising/  

Score : 8/10

Often the traditional romance is one that relies on a backdrop of epic scale to entertain viewers. Or one that at least depends on pratfalls, wise-cracking best friends and contrived circumstances. And even if you can get past those, are they really about more than lust? Often it seems like romance is just built upon the sex appeal of the stars. We’re forced to believe that these people are really enamored with each other. But Bright Star, the newest film from Jane Campion concerns entirely the idea of longing. And this is where its power comes from. There is not a single sex scenes. Barely even any of the two leads kissing.

But what is done in this film is that we have atmospheric and visual storytelling. I’m a huge fan of this kind of filmmaking. This movie in fact reminds me a lot of Wong Kar Wai’s masterful In The Mood For Love. In that film we had the backdrop of 60’s Hong Kong and an apartment building. In this we have 1800’s England. The story concerns poet John Keats and his love affair with the rather ordinary Fanny Brawne. At first you’d wonder why they’d be attracted to each other. But they have more in common then you would think. They both have passion for the creation of art. On one hand for John it’s poetry. On the other hand for Fanny it’s fashion. But their love is always tested. In that John’s financial situation often leaves him having to go away with his friend Brown to earn money. Usually something like this is a pretty typical romantic plot mechanic to create tension. But in here it’s different. The idea of longing is splendidly realized through beautiful images set to Keats’ poetry. And when John and Fanny are together, it’s not over-the-top love. It’s two young people realizing who they are and being unsure. The performances by Ben Whishaw and Abby Cornish are wonderful in that they feel completely real. Often period pieces have a reputation for being having stuffy characters and performances to reflect the time period. But Campion makes these characters completely relatable.

I will say that Bright Star is a definite slow burn. Even though it seems like I’m jizzing all over it, my patience was a little tested at times. But I appreciate films that take their time to build an atmosphere. I may have wanted things to pick up the pace a few times, but I loved letting the beautiful images and poetry wash over me.

Now the other film…I’ll save that for next week’s podcast.
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