Jason gets excited about the first annual Bean Bag Film Fest in San Jose

So I get e-mails fairly regularly from new, small film festivals wanting a little publicity. Normally, while I am interested I'm busy with other things or they conflict with a big film fest I'm already preparing for. But I got an e-mail today for a nice little event to tide me over until SFIFF. And even though I've seen every movie they're playing, it's a pretty awesome lineup and should be a fun three days--if people show up (nothing's more depressing than holding a film festival with no attendees). So here's hoping my friends--particularly my South Bay friends--show up. Below is the full press release e-mailed to me:

The Landmark Ballroom Will Host Inaugural Bean Bag Film Fest in San Jose

San Jose, CA – March 22, 2011 – Giant Creative Services in conjunction with the Landmark Ballroom at the San Jose Woman’s Club, presents the inaugural Bean Bag Film Fest, taking place Thursday, April 14 – Saturday, April 16. The Bean Bag Film Fest will feature three consecutive days of memorable films showcased in the retro Landmark Ballroom at 75 South 11th Street in downtown San Jose. The event, filled with bean bags for patrons to lounge on, will offer a unique social movie going experience where attendees can see films, mingle and enjoy eats from gourmet food trucks and beer and wine for purchase. Each night, the festival will showcase a double feature for $10 with a special $5 discount for patrons who come dressed in character. Nightly themes include “Life After Death,” with Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland; “Story Telling,” with Harold and Maude, andRushmore; and “You’re So Money, Dude!,” with Swingers and The Big Lebowski. The Bean Bag Film Fest is the first of a series of events at the Landmark Ballroom that encourages community members to visit this historic San Jose venue by way of diverse social and cultural experiences.

Event Schedule:

“Life After Death” ~ Thursday, April 14

Ages: 18 years and older

First Showing: Shaun of the Dead, 2004, 99 minutes, R

Time: 7p.m. Doors Open, 7:30p.m. Movie Begins

In Shaun of the Dead a man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead, to eat the living.

Second Showing: Zombieland, 2009, 88 minutes, R

Time: 9:15p.m. Doors Open, 9:30p.m. Movie Begins

In this horror-comedy, two men, Columbus and Tallahassee, find a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. As they join forces with two others, they will have to come to terms with which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies.

Gourmet treats will be on sale from Tikka Bytes (http://twitter.com/TikkaBytesTruck), fresh, Indian street food served with an American twist. An assortment of beer & wine will be available for purchase. Attendees who come dressed in zombie attire will receive a $5 discounted ticket.

“Story Telling” ~ Friday, April 15

Ages: 18 years and older

First Showing: Harold and Maude, 1971, 91 minutes, PG

Time: 7p.m. Doors Open, 7:30p.m. Movie Begins

Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.

Second Showing: Rushmore, 1998, 93 minutes, R

Time: 9:15p.m. Doors Open, 9:30p.m. Movie Begins

Rushmore chronicles a year in the life of Max Fischer, a student at one of the finest schools in the country. In the midst of dealing with school, Max and his tycoon mentor become interested in the same woman, triggering a war between the two.

Gourmet taco truck Tac Gos (http://tacgos.com/) will be selling fresh favorites. An assortment of beer & wine will be available for purchase. Attendees who come dressed in theme from the night’s featured films will receive a $5 discounted ticket.

“You’re So Money, Dude!” ~ Saturday, April 16

Ages: 21 years and older

First Showing: Swingers, 1996, 96 minutes, R

Time: 7p.m. Doors Open, 7:30p.m. Movie Begins

Mike came to Hollywood to pursue his career in acting, leaving his girlfriend behind in New York. Instead of stardom, he finds loneliness. After six months of dealing with Mike’s depression, his pal Trent decides it’s time for a change.

Second Showing: The Big Lebowski, 1998, 117 minutes, R

Time: 9:15p.m. Doors Open, 9:30p.m. Movie Begins

The Coen Brothers and their agreeable cast make more fun than sense with this scattered farce about a pothead bowler who is mistaken for a deadbeat philanthropist and drawn into a cluster of kidnappers, nihilists, porn mobsters and Busby Berkeley beauties.

Gourmet eats from BBQ Kalbi (http://www.facebook.com/BBQ.Kalbi.Tacos) will be on sale along with specialty movie themed cocktails. Attendees who come dressed in theme from the night’s featured films will receive a $5 discounted ticket.

Bean Bag Film Fest tickets will be sold at the door and in advance. For additional information, please visit:http://sjwomansclub.org/.

Jason shows you how to see everything at Indiefest

Or rather, how I plan to see everything at Indiefest. It's actually pretty easy, what with it going on for 2+ full weeks, and the weeknight films not starting until 7:15. As you can see below, there are many time slots when I have a choice of two movies (although those choices affect what I see later). Considerations that went into this schedule:

1. Start with the films that only play once (that's a given)
2. Try to make time to attend more parties. This is still difficult, but I managed to not schedule an 11:45 movie during the Lebowski party. So I can party with the dude!
3. I had a special commitment on Sunday, Feb. 15th from 1-4 pm. This made me juggle my schedule a little bit and add two shows at the Shattuck on the final weekend. This will actually cause me to miss 1 (or maybe just 1/2) of a show at the Niles Film Museum Midwinter Comedy Festival. And it'll cause me to miss the live Oscar telecast. But I've already determined that I don't care about the Oscars this year, so no big deal.

Anyway, if you want to stalk me from Feb. 5 to Feb. 22, this is how to do it:

Jason previews upcoming event--Indiefest, Cinequest, SFIAFF, and more

So much coming up.

Noir City continues through the weekend, but I'm out of town.

Indiefest starts next week Thursday. The schedule is out, and as always it's possible but not trivial to see everything. There's also a special free screening of the skateboarding movie Mind Field this Sunday (Feb. 1). However, again, I'm out of town. I suppose this might count as the first Indiefest film I've missed since I started going in 2002. On the other hand, maybe it doesn't really count as being "in the festival" since it's a special free screening a good 4 days before opening night. Also, for the film fans who ski, Indiefest is taking the show to Sugarbowl on Feb 27-28. They haven't announced what films they'll play yet, but as soon as I know I'll let you know.

Overlapping the final 3 days of Indiefest my local Niles Film Museum is doing a Midwinter Comedy Festival. I'm contorting myself in a pretzel to see both (and fulfill other commitments). I think I can still see everything in Indiefest and all but one of the Niles shows (the late show Saturday night I might have to miss).

Oh yeah, and that weekend is also the Oscars. I should comment on what's been nominated, what was snubbed, what should win, etc. Here's my comment: I don't care. This might be the first year since 1997 that I don't even see all Best Picture nominees before the ceremony (I haven't seen The Reader, and I might not have any time to do so. Nothing personal against that movie, though). The fact is, traditionally I knock myself out trying to see as many nominees as possible, then after the ceremony I don't care anymore. This year, I'm saving time by jumping ahead to not caring.

Cinequest starts on Feb. 25th, and their schedule is out earlier than ever. I haven't had time to study it, but I did get a pile of screeners at the launch party last night. So I'll have more to say about it later. I will say that I'm already excited for two things: 1) the silent film night double feature of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, and 2) a live interview with Diablo Cody, the writer of Juno. That should be cool.

Then looking way ahead, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (abbreviated SFIAFF, pronounced "Asianfest") plays March 12-22. The schedule isn't out yet, but will be out in the middle of Indiefest (I believe the schedule is announced Feb. 10). So that gives me something to study (alongside the Cinequest schedule) between movies at Indiefest.

It's exhausting being me. I need a vacation. Oh yeah, I'm going on vacation tomorrow!

Jason looks at all the movie events happening around the Bay Area

And then his head explodes.

So now that Docfest is finally over, I thought I'd look and see what movies to watch this weekend. Maybe catch a few general release movies, but also check out what's going on in film fests.

Well, both the American Indian Film Festival and the Latino Film Festival opened today (Friday). I've wanted to go to the AIFF for several years. Maybe I'll make it up a night or two next week, but I can't this weekend. I finally made it to some of the Latino Film Festival last year (when it came down to San Jose). Hopefully I'll make a little more of it this year. But I do want to tell all of my readers to go see my favorite movie of the year. Sunday night, 8:30 at the Brava Theater is "La Antena (The Aerial)", which I saw at Cinequest (scroll to the bottom of the page) and is brilliant.

Right in my backyard, the Niles Silent Film Museum is holding a 90th Birthday Bash for Baby Peggy. That's all day Saturday and a matinee show on Sunday. I'm planning on doing that Saturday.

Then I've already missed half of the Silicon Valley (formerly San Jose) Jewish Film Festival. But I plan to make up for that by seeing a few films on Sunday and maybe a couple more next weekend.

I'm sure I've missed some. I haven't even looked at the new schedule for the PFA. And I still have general release movies I want to see. And I might just want to get some rest. I remember what rest feels like.

Anyway, happy movie watching and good night!

Jason previews upcoming events--Jews, Arabs, Docs, and Dead Channels

Hmmmm...must be fall in the bay area. Let's see what's happening soon, in no particular order.

First up, the second annual Dead Channels Film Festival. Fresh off winning a Best of the Bay award (best On-Screen Mind Warp) from the SF Bay Guardian, they're back with their solid week of fantastic film. The schedule isn't up yet, but I have an abundance of faith that it'll be great. They're hosting a kick-off party at the Vortex Room (7th and Howard) Sept 20, where they'll unveil the schedule. Should be a good night (and conveniently, the one Saturday night this month when the Quakes aren't playing at home).

Next up is Docfest, Oct. 17-Nov. 6, put on by the team that does Indiefest. Their schedule isn't officially up yet, but I got a sneak peak at it. First impression--it's huge. Spanning three weeks (2 in SF at the Roxie, one in Berkeley at the Shattuck) and about 50 different film programs (not counting all the shorts), I believe it's actually bigger than Indiefest this year. If I've done my math right, in order to see everything I'd have to go to shows both in SF and in Berkeley, and I'd have to go to shows either on my birthday (Halloween) or on election day (and possibly both). Some highlights I'd point out. They're giving Melody Gilbert a "Someone to Watch" award, and showcasing her past favorites--"Whole", "A Life Without Pain", "Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness"(which I saw at Cinequest last year)--as well as a couple new ones--"Disconnected" and "Married at the Mall". They're also showing "Dear Zachary", possibly the best and definitely the most heart-wrenching documentary from Cinequest this year (which reminds me, I meant to write a letter to the Canadian Minister of Justice , and never did that). There's one about Bigfoot, that sounds fun. And there's one called "Bunnyland" which made me smile until I realized, of course, it was about dead bunnies (or at least in part about a mystery involving 70+ dead bunnies). And they're showing "Anvil! The Story of Anvil!" which I missed at Jewfest.

Which reminds me, The Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival (previously the San Jose Jewish Film Festival, but to me always "Jewfest South") starts up again, from Oct. 26 to Nov. 19. Like years before, it plays Wednesdays and Sundays at the Camera 12, but this year they're also adding Thursday nights at the Cubberly Theater in Palo Alto. Actually, I haven't really looked closely at this schedule yet (they're schedule is up already), so I can't tell you what the "must see" films are, but they usually have a pretty good schedule.

And, while I'm promoting Jewish film, in the interest of bridging differences, the Arab Film Festival runs from Oct 16-28 in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose, and Los Angeles (LA is a development that started last year). Their film list is up, but no descriptions or schedule yet, so I can't tell you what to look for. And, as you can see, I'll be pretty busy with other film events around the same time, so I can't guarantee that I'll have the time or energy to attend this. However, in the past I've had a pretty good time at this festival. And I feel that by supporting both the Arab and the Jewish film festivals, I'm doing my part to foster Mideast peace in the Bay Area. Seriously, to my knowledge since I started attending this festival a couple of years ago (when it was called Cinemayaat), there have been no incidents of Mideast violence in the Bay Area--it's all been in the Middle East.

One thing, in the past there has been at least one weekend when both the Arab Film Festival and South Jewfest have been playing at the Camera 12. However, they've never played on the same day--Arabs on Saturday, Jews on Sunday. That always disappointed me (but in my optimism, I pretended it had nothing to do with competition or ethnic tensions--maybe it was just that the Camera 12 didn't want to rent out two screens at the same time when they could play general release movies instead). I thought it would be really cool to plan a day when I could attend both festivals, jumping back and forth between them, and either inspiring or confusing the heck out of everyone. Anyway, this year it looks like South Jewfest won't come to the Camera 12 until after the Arab Film Festival has left (if they repeat the schedule from last, the end of the Arab Film Fest is in Los Angeles). So once again, I can't do it.

Wow, and with all that stuff going on, I almost forgot that thing they do up in Mill Valley. Yeah, that's a big festival, put on by the California Film Institute. I don't have a lot of interest in going up there to see films that will play everywhere the next week (or day, sometimes). But I have been there before and had a great time finding some lesser known films. I haven't made it back in a couple of years, and this year my only chance would be the final weekend. We'll see if I can make it.

And that's (some) of what's coming up. At least, it's what I'm keeping my eye on.

Jason previews upcoming events--Santa Cruz Film Festival, Holehead, and stuff at the PFA

SFIFF winds down tonight. I'll finally sleep well, but here are some things that will keep me awake soon.

If I were truly, truly crazy, tomorrow night the Santa Cruz Film Festival starts. I'll sleep rather than going to opening night. Then Saturday there's a Quakes game, so that's out. Possibly I'll go Sunday. During the week it's a bit of a trek to go down to Santa Cruz, but there's always the possibility I'll go for the closing weekend. But just because I won't be there, it doesn't mean you shouldn't. There are some great movies playing there. Here's a rundown of the ones that jumped out at me (mostly because I've seen them before):
"2nd Verse: The Rebirth of Poetry" plays Sat, May 10, 4:30 at the Riverfront. Great doc I saw at Indiefest.
"Abie Nathan--As the Sun Sets" Fri, May 16, 1:00 at the Riverfront. Haven't seen it, but it's co-presented by the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival
"The Art of Travel" Sat, May 10, at the Del Mar. One of my favorites from Cinequest
"Fantasie in Bubblewrap" part of the Animazing! shorts program. Fri, May 9 2:00 at the Riverfront. You'll never look at bubblewrap the same.
"Jetsam" Thu, May 15 8:45 pm at the Riverfront. Cool little low-budget thriller I saw at Indiefest.
"Les Paul--Chasing Sound" Fri, May 16, 8:00 at the Rio. Good doc on Les Paul from Cinequest.
"The Metrosexual" Mon, May 12, 9:15 at the Riverfront. I actually missed this when it played at Cinequest. Any of my readers know if it's worth the drive to SC on a weeknight?
"Row Hard, No Excuses" Fri, May 9, 4:30 at the Riverfront. Amazing doc I saw at Indiefest, about a rowboat race across the Atlantic.
"Shuteye Hotel" also part of the Animazing! shorts program. Fri, May 9 2:00 at the Riverfront. I haven't seen it, but it's a Plymptoon, so it's gotta be cool.
"Sliding Liberia" Fri, May 16, 9:00 at the Cayuga Vault. Excellent social issues/surfing doc. My surprise hit of Indiefest.
"The Village Barbershop" Sun, May 11, 9:15 at the Del Mar. Good funny movie, one of the hits of Cinequest.
"Summer Scars" Fri, May 9, 9:15 at the Riverfront. I know nothing about this, other than it's by Julian Richards and I've liked his previous work.

In fact, "Summer Scars" would almost get me to come to SC on Friday when I should be sleeping off SFIFF. I was temped...seriously tempted...and then I was saved when the schedule came out for Holehead.

Holehead (or more appropriately, "Another Hole in the Head") is Indiefest's genre program, and it plays June 5-21. Since I saw "Starslyderz" last night (I'll post on that event soon), I've now seen everything that's played at Holehead since it started in 2004 (or 2003, if you count the all-genre weekend of Indiefest as the first Holehead).

I don't spend a lot of time researching the schedule, since I'll just see everything anyway. I am, as I explained above, excited about Julian Richards' "Summer Scars". I also met Robert Pratten, the director of "MindFLESH" at the "Starslyderz" experience last night, so now I'm excited about his movie. So apparently I'm really looking forward to the British horror this year. Neat!

A little note about the Holehead schedule. It's two weeks long, but the second week is all repeat screenings. You can see everything in the first week, which is good for me because I'll be out of town for the second week (up in WA to see my little bro' graduate, followed by a week-long family reunion). It's also a win for my local readers, as you'll be able to read what I like and what I didn't in time to catch the repeat screenings. It'll be interesting to see if attendance is up during the second week from word-of-mouth or if horror fans don't really care what other people think (which is kind of my suspicion).

On final note. If you buy the pass to see everything at Holehead, the new policy is that it only gets you in for the first week (through June 12). The repeat screenings are not included in the pass. This is new this year, and I expect people to be confused/not notice until it's too late. So I'm trying to do my part to spread the word (and biting my tongue about my opinion of this policy).

While that's going on, there's also some cool stuff happening at the Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley. Most exciting is the Johnnie To series--cool Hong Kong action flicks. I'm definitely going to as much of that as possible (some screenings conflict with Holehead and with my vacation). There's a couple of other cool things I'll try to check out. "Berlin Alexanderplatz" I'll miss, since I can't make all of it--a 16 hour epic in 13-14 parts? No thanks, at least not if I'll only catch half. I know nothing about Zeki Demirkubuz, but I might at least try a taste and see if I want to see more. The punk series "Louder, Faster: Punk in Performance" looks cool, as does the Joan Blondell series. In fact, I'll mark it down right now: June 26th Joan Blondell in "Nighmare Alley" followed by the canonical punk doc "The Decline of Western Civilization" (and Penelope Spheeris is scheduled to be there)

And finally, I keep mentioning I saw the "Starslyderz" experience last night at the Hypnodrome. Well, that's a sneak peak at a Dead Channels summer series of White Hot Wild Wednesdays (or something like that). The series kicks off June 18th with "Socket" (in honor of gay pride month). They showed the trailer before "Starslyderz" and it looks to be a twisted queer story of people who shock themselves with electricity for kicks. Some even grow electrical plugs out of their wrists and plug in to their partners "sockets." I'm so sad I'll miss it for my family reunion. Yeah...sorry to miss that.

Anyway, that's what's coming up soon in the world of indie and weird films in the bay area.

Jason previews upcoming event--Zombie Strippers, Starslyderz, and oh yeah, the big Film Festival.

This one is for my loyal, local readers, let's look at what's going on movie-wise in the bay area.

In my previous post, I mentioned "Body of War" is opening tomorrow (April 18), and Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue will be at the 4:45 show at the Clay on Saturday, and the 4:50 show at the Shattuck on Sunday.

But I can tell some of you aren't interested in a moving anti-war documentary. I hear a deafening roar of people crying out for a horror-comedy about zombie strippers--based on a classic French existential Theatre of the Absurd play Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco--starring Robert Englund and Jenna Jameson. If your voice is part of that roar, boy are you in luck! Starting tomorrow (really tonight at midnight), Jay Lee's "Zombie Strippers" makes a limited run at the Lumiere Theater. And if you want to meet Jay Lee ("Noon Blue Apples", "The Affairs of God", "The Slaughter"), he'll be at the Saturday 7:30 and 9:45 shows. Important, some of you might've heard that he'll be there Friday night, this is a last minute change, he'll be there Saturday.

Of course, the Hypnodrome is always cool, and their "Flaming Sin" show plays Fridays and Saturdays through at least the first two weekends of May. But I know there are people out there demanding to see something, anything, at the Hypnodrome on a Wednesday. Well, you're in luck, too! "Starslyderz", from the 2006 Another Hole in the Head Festival, is playing as a special "experience" on Wednesday, May 7 only. Directors/writers/stars Garrin Vincent and Mike Budde and their "randy alien puppet pals" are scheduled to be there. This is actually a very, very important screening for me. In 2006 I missed nearly all of Holehead so that I could go to the FIFA World Cup in Germany (which was awesome!) I since, in one form or another (screener, purchased DVD, crappy ex-rental VHS), have seen everything from the festival, except "Starslyderz". In fact, this is the movie that keeps me from being able to say I've seen everything that has ever played at Holehead--in its entire history. Come May 7, I'll have a clean sheet again! (oh yeah, that reminds me, Holehead is coming up June 6-22, trailers are up at their MySpace page, but that's too far off for me to write about yet).

In fact, I'm so excited about "Starslyderz" I'm going to miss a day of the SF International Film Festival for it. That starts next Thursday, April 24th, and it's the granddaddy festival of the bay area (and the country, it's celebrating its 51st year). I've splurged for a pass, again, and my task for the weekend is to plan out at least my first few days of the festival. All I know so far is I'm gonna get a lot of Asia Argento (she's my pretend girlfriend!). Not only is she in two of the Late Show movies--her father's "Mother of Tears" on April 25th and Abel Ferrara's "Go Go Tales" on April 26th (with extra screenings on the 28th and 30th), but she's also in the opening night film, "The Last Mistress". This is so much Asia, it's like the festival is just pandering to me. And let me tell you something about pandering to me--I like it, keep it coming!

Now the pass doesn't get me into opening night, so I splurged extra on a high-level membership that got me a pass, a VIP opening night film and party ticket, and 10-movie Cinevoucher. I suppose I could give these 10 free movies to my friends, but screw them (actually, most of them are either South Bay losers who don't like going up to the city every night just to watch movies, or they've already bought their festival tickets). I'd rather give them away to a loyal viewer, as a reward for reading through this entire post.

So here's the deal. You get the entire 10-movie voucher, I'm not dealing with splitting them up for several people. But you have to answer this trivia question: This blog's tagline is "the cinematic equivalent of trepanning a mermaid". That is because early in its life I was looking at my traffic to see how people got here, and someone had found it by googling "trepanning a mermaid", and I was the number one result (I'm also the number one result for "Richard Elfman's taint", but that's another story). I decided right then and there that I always wanted to be able to tell people they could find my blog by googling "trepanning a mermaid". So, for the 10 movie cinevoucher, answer this: What movie or movies did I blog about that originally made a search for "trepanning a mermaid" find my site, and during what festival or festivals did I see the movie(s)? The first person to leave a comment to this post (don't write me an e-mail) with the correct answer wins. Then we'll have to figure out how I deliver it to you, but we'll worry about that later.

And I suppose if, as I kinda fear, I don't actually have loyal readers, I guess if it gets to the start of the festival and we don't have a winner, I'll divvy the vouchers up among my friends.

Jason previews upcoming events--SFIAAFF, Tiburon, Sonoma Valley, SF International...

Okay, Cinequest is over, including my write-ups. So it's time to look forward.

And just in time, because the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival starts tomorrow! Call it SFIAFF, call it Sfee-Ahf, or call is Asianfest (like I do), it's a great party. And it's the only one coming up I've planned for. Here's my schedule:



I know it might be dangerous to publish exactly where I'll be for the next week and a half, but if anyone attacks me, I figure I'll have learned enough Kung Fu from watching these movies I'll be able to fight them off.

By the way, notice that Cinequest films "Glory Boy Days" and "Amal" are on my schedule. That's specifically why I didn't see them at Cinequest.

If Asian film is not your thing, but you're a fan of peninsulas, the Tiburon Film Festival is going on at the exact same time (March 13-20). Ummm...obviously I won't be there, I'll be at Asianfest. But I will note the films playing there that I've seen: "Becoming John Ford", "Bomb It", "I Hate Musicals" (short), "Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa", "Personal Spectator" (short, and Cinequest award winner), "Row Hard, No Excuses", "Ruby Blue", "Salim Baba" (Oscar nominated short documentary), "Take", "The Stone Child", and "The Toll" (short). I think that's all. If I had to recommend just one of those movies to see, I'd recommend "Row Hard, No Excuses". It's an amazing story.

Well, if you still want to go to the north bay and watch movies, and you're a fan of wine, the Sonoma Valley Film Festival films " is coming up soon (April 9-13). This looks a lot like a mini-Cinequest, even down to giving Michael Keaton an award. And they're playing CinequestAmal", "The Village Barbershop", "The Art of Travel". They're also playing "Row Hard, No Excuses" (man, that film gets around) and 2007 Docfest movie "Golden Days". Good program, and I have it on good authority that there will be plenty of wine and cheese. What there won't be (probably) is me. It's a long way away, so the only way I'd go is to get a group together and rent a hotel there for the weekend. But this year, that Saturday, April 12, is the home opener of my beloved reborn San Jose Earthquakes. I simply can't miss that party, the first true Quakes tailgate in over two years. And as a result I assume I'll be too hung over to make it up for any movies on Sunday, April 13.

With that said, I'd like to make a plea to any of my readers who might be there. You see, for the screening of "The Village Barbershop" (which I totally recommend), John Ratzenberger is actually scheduled to appear. He wasn't at the Cinequest screening, and apparently director Chris Ford heard the joke about the priest and the nun from him. So if you're there, and you get a chance, can you please ask John Ratzenberger how that joke ends, and let me know?

And finally, looking waaaay into the future the big grandaddy, the SF International Film Festival starts April 24 and runs until May 8. The whole schedule isn't up yet, but they have announced the directing award (Mike Leigh) and the opening night film. Normally I don't go to opening night, because it's expensive. But this year the opening film is "The Last Mistress", directed by French director Catherine Breillat, who specializes in explicit sexuality (often female sexuality). That normally would not be quite enough to make me shell out the big money, but this movie also stars my pretend girlfriend Asia Argento. I know the price is steep, but sometimes a guy just has to spend a little on his pretend girlfriend. Otherwise, he doesn't really care and doesn't deserve to pretend to be with her.

See you at the movies!

Jason previews upcoming event--Noir Fest, Indiefest, and Teeth

Okay, I'm all caught up writing about movies I have seen, so I can look to the future and tell you about upcoming events.

First up, starting Friday, January 25th at the Castro is Noir City, the SF noir film festival. I've heard good things about this festival, but I've actually never been. So I hope to make it this year.

Whether or not I see the rest of Noir City, I will miss opening night, because I'll be at the Rickshaw Stop for the Indiefest kickoff party. Indiefest is the festival that started it all for me, and it's always a good time.

The actual Indiefest festival starts on February 7th at the Castro and plays through February 20th at the Roxie and Victoria theaters. As usual, I am planning to see everything (it's possible, but not trivial, I'll tell you how shortly). So I can list the movies I'm most excited about seeing, but this comes with the caveat that I've barely skimmed the program guide, I just figured out how to see everything. My favorite movies are always ones that I didn't notice when I first read the guide. So this list of movies I'm excited about is really a list of movies that have the greatest chance of disappointing me:
Being Michael Madsen--that looks fun.
A Big Story in a Small City--Always love the Eastern European dark comedies.
Never Belongs to Me--You had me at "From the director of Teenage Hooker Becomes Killing Machine in Daehakroh", but what's it doing as the midnight screening both Friday nights? Are you trying to let me go home early one of those Fridays?
Paranormal Activity--looks creepy. I detect a bit of a theme in my preferences.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation--This actually played at Indiefest a couple of years ago. A shot for shot remake (minus the airplane fight scene) of "Raiders" done by kids. Awesome!
Sexina: Popstar, PI--What's not to love?
Stuck--I remember hearing about this when it actually happened. And it's directed by Stuart Gordon? Awesome! And if you only think of Stuart Gordon as making cheesy horror comedies like "Re-animator" (one of the all time greats, by the way), check out "Edmond".

Anway, see you at Indiefest!


And finally, I want to make a rare mention of an upcoming movie that's playing in general release. When I heard about Teeth, a modern re-telling of the vagina dentata myth, I couldn't wait to see it. Well, it's finally coming to theaters in a limited release, including the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley on January 25th. Now, normally I wouldn't mention this, I'd just write about it after I saw it. But a few days ago I got an e-mail from a promotional company called deep-focus.net, informing me about it. Here's the e-mail in entirety (with the e-mail address removed):

*** WARNING: SHE’S A MAN EATER ***

Next week, TEETH opens in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Boston, Philly, Portland, Houston and Denver. The much anticipated film from last year’s Sundance.

Roadside Attractions Presents TEETH:

Synopsis:
TEETH tells the story of High school student Dawn (Jess Weixler) works hard at suppressing her budding sexuality by being the local chastity group's most active participant. Her task is made even more difficult by her bad boy stepbrother Brad's (John Hensley) increasingly provocative behavior at home. A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she becomes the object of violence. As she struggles to comprehend her anatomical uniqueness, Dawn experiences both the pitfalls and the power of being a living example of the vagina dentata myth.

The film stars Jess Weixler (GOODBYE BABY, THE BUG BAD SWIM), John Hensley (TV’s NIP|TUCK, FIFTY PILLS), Josh Paris (PHONE BOOTH), Hale Appleman, Ashley Springer, Vivienne Benesch, Lenny Von Dohlen, Nicole Swahn, Julia Garro and Adam Wagner. TEETH was written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein (RESURRECTION, PATRIOTIC).

*************************************************************************************************************************************************
*** TEETH opens in Seattle, Austin, Boston, Philly, Portland, San Francisco, Houston and Denver on Friday, Jan. 25th***
*************************************************************************************************************************************************

Meet Dawn on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/dawnokeefe

Digital EPK can be downloaded at:
http://link.deep-focus.net/roadside/TEETH_EPK.zip

Trailer can be downloaded at:
http://link.deep-focus.net/roadside/Teeth_Trailer_500.zip

Onesheet can be downloaded at:
http://link.deep-focus.net/roadside/Teeth_Teaser_OneSheet.zip

Publicity Stills can be found at (Please register to log in):
http://www.roadsideattractionspublicity.com

I couldn't have said it better myself. More importantly, getting stuff like that makes me feel like I've arrived. I mean, someone who works in promotions thinks that getting a mention on this blog will help their movie. And hopefully it does. I hope the movie's good, because I'm really excited about it.

Jason previews more upcoming events

So Docfest starts tomorrow, but as I look beyond to what else is coming up, I realize I forgot to mention many things. Turns out October is chock full of movie madness, and there's no way I'll be able to see it all, but here's a look at some other events:

First up, on Saturday night/Sunday morning October 6/7th starting at midnight at the Del Mar theater in Santa Cruz, there's a 5 movie secret film fest. The Del Mar actually has my favorite midnight series in the area, but it's a bit far from me so I don't go as often as I wish. This is also right in the middle of Docfest. So my plan is too see Docfest movies all day on Saturday, go to Santa Cruz for 10 hours of midnight movies, then come back up for Docfest on Sunday. It'll be 14 movies in a 36-hour period with no sleep--awesome! Of course, I might turn sane before then and decide to rest instead, but that seems pretty unlikely. By the way, last year I used this to set a new personal record of 9 movies in one day--pretty easy when you start with 5 movies by 10 am. This year I plan to break that with 10 movies on Sunday, October 7th.

Also coming up, not quite movies but absolute awesomeness is the Thrillpeddlers Shocktoberfest program! Running Thursday, Friday and Saturday starting on October 4th and currently scheduled until November 17th. This is guaranteed to be awesome, at least based on my past experiences there. Tickets are available here. There's also, of course, a special Halloween show. Perhaps I'll treat myself for my birthday.

On the Halloween/horror movie scene, Screamfest is happening. This is actually in LA, and might be tough for me to make with everything else happening. On the other hand, I hopefully have a free pass to it, so I'll try to check it out.

And finally, "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" are trying to reinvigorate the Western. Well, the Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley are doing a retrospective of the man who invigorated Westerns like no one before or since--Sergio Leone! It's from October 12 to the 28th, and sadly there's almost no chance I can make it, but my local readers should totally check it out.

Jason previews upcoming events--Docfest, MVFF, and more

I've had a bit of a lull in movie-watching, but that's going to end pretty soon.

First up, next Friday Docfest begins at both screens at the Roxie. Presented by the good people who brought you Indiefest, this is two full weeks of documentaries. In the past, circumstances have forced me to miss at least part of this festival, but this year might be the first time I see absolutely everything presented by Indiefest. For the most part, you can see everything by just staying in the Big Roxie, but the "Blues Fest Films" program only plays at the Little Roxie. Right now my plan is to see that Monday, Oct 1.

I also want to mention one film in the program. Since I can see everything, I just looked at the calendar and figured out the schedule. I didn't read the film descriptions, but there was one title that jumped out at me--"Wiener Takes All". I'm sure it's actually about wiener dogs or something like that, but as a Wiener myself, and one who sees all, I'll labor under the delusion that it's about me.

It actually should be pretty easy to see everything at Docfest, if I so choose, but it overlaps with the Mill Valley Film Festival, starting October 4. Mill Valley is a little far away from me, so I've only ever been to the weekend programs. Still, I haven't been back in a couple of years, and I miss it. So I'll have some hard decisions to make the first two weekends of October. There's also a movie that features the great Parkway Speakeasy Theater, "Go Together", so if nothing else I'll try to make it up there on Saturday, October 13 (which fortunately doesn't conflict with Docfest).

The Weekend of October 5 is actually an embarrassment of riches, as the Castro Theater hosts a weekend of classic horror movies called Shock It To Me! Again, it's unlikely I'll make it since it conflicts with Docfest, but I figure plenty of my readers will be interested, and depending on how much energy I have, I could check out the midnight movies Friday and Saturday night ("Killer Klowns From Outer Space" and "Re-Animator").

It would normally be an easy decision to go to Mill Valley at least the second weekend on Oct 13 and 14, but Oct 14 is the opening of the San Jose Jewish Film Festival. This is kind of a different type of festival, playing every Sunday and Wednesday for a week. And that opening Sunday includes an afternoon with Judd Hirsch! Other programs that excite me: The Israeli Oscar winner "Sweet Mud" which I missed at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and "The Discovery of Heaven", which was one of my favorites at their festival a few years back (they've recently started to revivals of their most popular past movies). Also, it ends with another chance to see "Black Book", one of the best movies of the year and Paul Verhoeven's best movie in...I don't know how long.

And finally, concurrent with the SJJFF, the Arab American Film Festival runs from Oct. 18-28 in the SF Bay Area (and this year they've added a Los Angeles leg of the festival. Or maybe it's been there before and I haven't noticed). So I'll do my part to promote Mideast peace--in San Francisco.

And that's it for now. If we look forward to November, there's the Latino Film Festival and the American Indian Film Festival--two festivals I've been interested in but never been to. But their schedules aren't even announced yet, so I'm not thinking about them yet.

Jason previews upcoming events--Dead Channels

Those who read the last post carefully will notice that I said there were a couple of film festivals coming up that I'm excited about, and then I went on to only talk about the SF Jewish Film Festival. The other upcoming event, right after Jewfest, is Dead Channels, the San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film. Their schedule just came out, here.

Dead Channels is the brain child of Bruce Fletcher, former programmer of Indiefest and Another Hole in the Head festivals. I've enjoyed his programming over the years, so I'm very excited to see what happens when he has full, unfettered control and is programming only horror/fantasy/sci-fi films. Plus, he's the guy who programmed Indiefest so it's possible--but not easy--to see everything. I assume he's done the same for Dead Channels. More info on that soon, including my planned schedule.

A couple of extra news bits. Dead Channels are teaming up with the Thrillpeddlers before, during, and after the festival. Although I don't see it on either website yet, starting next Wednesday, July 18th, and every Wednesday leading up to the festival they'll be showing "Live Acts and Dead Channels" at the Hypnodrome. Earlier I reviewed Hypnodrome Head Trips and bemoaned the fact that I saw it near the end of their run and therefore didn't have a lot of time to tell everyone to see it. Well, they're reprising the longest of the plays from that show, "The Revelations of Jean Vadim: The Oracle of the Cephalic Vivarium", and showing a different cult film every night, as follows:
July 18th: Terror of Tiny Town
July 25th: Witchcraft Through the Ages
August 1st: White Zombie
August 8th: Creation of the Humanoids

Plus during the festival they're hosting two nights:
August 13th will be "Spookshow Salute!" featuring Dick Newton, an original spookshow cast member of "Dr. Ogre Banshee's Chasm of Spasms" ('47) and "Den of Living Nightmares" ('48), followed by a screening of the Boris Karloff film, "The Sorcerers".

August 15th will be "Thrilpeddlers Flashback" featuring a reprise of another "Hypnodrome Head Trips" play, "The Empress of Colma" with some psychadelic shorts of some sort. This is a fundraiser for their trip to Burning Man. Awesome, I hope I see you guys there!

And finally, they're hosting a post-festival "Rock n Roll Wrap Party" on August 17th, with glam rock and a screening of the Brian De Palma classic re-working of the more classic "Phantom of the Opera", "Phantom of the Paradise".


And, of course, the festival features gobs and gobs of films. I know a bit about some of them, but for now I just want to mention one of them--the opening night gala presentation of "Postal" by Uwe Boll--the crapmeister behind "House of the Dead", "Alone in the Dark", and "Bloodrayne" has allegedly made a great pitch black politically incorrect comedy, and he'll be there for the screening. I've heard this from multiple sources now, so I'm holding out hope. We'll see. But more importantly, you have to understand the history behind this. You see, back in 2003, before anyone knew who he was, he came to Indiefest to present his high school shooting drama "Heart of America: Homeroom" and the World Premiere of the uncensored director's cut of "House of the Dead", and I was there to see it. Now I know this was a) cut down from the version I saw, and b) went on to be one of the most universally reviled films ever. Now I didn't know b) would happen when I saw it, but in that spirit I reach waaaay back into my archives to find out what I wrote back then. I'm afraid to look:

Then I went to the world premiere of "House of the Dead", based on the Sega video game of the same name. This was directed by Uwe Boll, who also did "Heart of America: Homeroom", and I think it's wonderful that he can do a thoughtful, political movie like "Heart of America" and follow it up with a brainless shoot-em-up zombie movie. "House of the Dead" is very close to a deal for distribution (if they haven't signed by now), and I'm sure when it's released, it'll be savaged by the critics. I don't think it's entirely unfair, it is a pretty brainless movie, with little plot and even less character development. But I believe video game movies should be held to a different standard (that is, if you accept the dubious prospect that they should be made at all). You don't make a video game movies for the plot or character development, you make video game movies to recreate the fun of playing the video game in live action. "House of the Dead", the video game was about zombies jumping out of everywhere and you shoot at them. "House of the Dead", the movie, had zombies jumping out everywhere, and the heroes had to shoot them. Perfect. One thing I'll note, like "Hell's Highway" [author's note: think the original "The Hills Have Eyes" with raver kids], the heroes were a bunch of raver kids (this time the zombies attack the rave, instead of them getting lost on the way home). The ravers in "Hell's Highway" were a lot more convincing. "House of the Dead" had raver "kids" who looked more like young adults on their way to a cocktail party. Oh, one other thing of note, Uwe Boll used a lot of the same actors in both movies, including Jurgen ("Das Boot") Prochnow and Clint (brother of Ron) Howard. Clint Howard (along with Uwe and a lot of the cast was at the Q&A session afterwards), and he was pretty funny.

So, that gives you an idea of my compulsion to find something nice to say about any movie, and hence I've now lost all credibility as a critic. So what, I've never claimed to be a real critic. But if you want to see me really lay into a crappy film, remind me to dig up my review of "Bettie Page: Dark Angel".

See you at Dead Channels!

Jason previews upcoming events--SF Jewish Film Festival

So my regular readers might notice there's been a slight downturn of activity here. Basically we're in the summer blockbuster doldrums. Yeah, I still watch some blockbusters, if I'm interested, but typically in the summer I fall off to 1-2 movies a week. And now I have to remind myself that 1-2 movies a weekend is still a lot to most people, just not to me.

Anyway, these summer doldrums are a combination of a number of things: A bit of fatigue, a bit of 'not much watchable in theaters', a bit of 'better things to do while the weather is nice', and a whole lot of 'not many big festivals that really interest me'. You see, the major film festivals (at least for me) in the area are mostly loaded into the front of the year, with Indiefest, Cinequest, and Asianfest all nearly back-to-back-to-back, then a little breather and SF International. There still are some in the summer. Holehead of course, which I attended. There's also Frameline, the LGBT festival, which I skipped this year because it was right after Holehead and I was exhausted (literally, Frameline's opening night was Holehead's closing night), but I've seen some movies there before. There are also the silent film fests, both in the Niles district of my hometown of Fremont (where Charlie Chaplin had a studio way back when) and this upcoming weekend in San Francisco. But I missed the first and looks like I'll be busy this weekend (possibly I'll see the Sunday program, but I'll be busy Friday and Saturday).

Well, the point is there are a couple of upcoming events that I'll attend and I'm excited about. And the first one is the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, starting a week from tomorrow. This is the oldest Jewish film festival in the world, celebrating its 27th year. The nice thing for me personally is that I'm actually kind of in the demographic for this festival. I'm Jewish, or half-Jewish (dad's Jewish, so technically I'm not really Jewish at all since it's a matrilineal culture), or not religiously Jewish but dig that part of my heritage. It's pretty clear at the Asian American Festival that I'm not really Asian, I just enjoy their movies--and I should emphasize that everyone's really friendly about it. At Frameline, I've occasionally had to explain that I'm not actually gay, but when you're desperate any film festival will do (and again, they're very friendly about it, too). But here I'll get to jew out with my tribe, and that's cool.

I'll actually be out of town for the first week, so I'll miss most of the San Francisco shows (I might come to opening night, unless the film plays again at a more convenient time for me), but I'll be back for most of the Berkeley and/or Palo Alto section of the festival. I haven't worked out my entire schedule or bought tickets, but I'll probably be spending most of the time in Berkeley at the Rhoda Theater.

There is one film I'm very specifically looking forward to. A few years ago, Dani Levy got the film world talking by making "Alles Auf Zucker!" ("Go For Zucker!"), the first post WWII German Jewish comedy to win best picture at the German Film Awards (their equivalent of the Oscars). That ended up opening the SF Jewish Film Festival a couple years ago (where he claimed that Germans don't have a sense of humor of their own, they have a Jewish sense of humor, hence it was natural for him to make a Jewish comedy in Germany). His follow-up sounds way more outrageous, "My Fuehrer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler", a wacky slapstick comedy about the final days of Hitler, and from the moment over a year ago when I heard he was making this, I was dying to see it. Can't wait, I'm planning on seeing the July 31 show in Berkeley.