This is kind of an old short, but it's one I stumbled across the other day for the first time and absolutely loved. Super Powers, directed by John Mitchell and Jeremy Kipp Walker, tells of a young married couple who turn to dressing up as super heroes (specifically Batman and Wonder Woman) to spice up life in the bedroom. However, when a situation forces them out of their apartment and onto the streets, these two may just wind up saving a lot more than their sex life. Super Powers won Best Narrative Short Film at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, and trust me when I say watching this short will totally make your Monday. Check it out below and let us know what you think ...
Note: Film does contain mild foul language (two F-bombs, to be exact), so beware.
The guy is busy making his first romantic comedy, but that didn't stop Hatchet / Spiral director Adam Green from calling a few friends up and delivering his tenth Halloween short in as many years. (You may remember previous entries like King in the Box or The Tiffany Problem.) Green's latest is a brief horror satire called The TiVo, which shows what happens when a young man (Parry Shen) allows a TiVo into his life. The short also features a gorgeous brunette and an awesome kitty cat.
If that sounds a little odd, it should be noted that Green was once a stand-up comedian, and he has a knack for comedy to match his passion for horror. (I never knew that the TiVo's sound effects could be funny!) Click right here to wander around Adam's newly-redesigned arieScope website, and then click on "view the short films" to pick through Adam's shorts. (Ewww.)
And if that doesn't satisfy your craving for silly short films with a horror slant, then you definitely have to check out this series of geek-tastic clips that Green and joltin' Joe Lynch put togther for UK FrightFest. Funny stuff. And you guys thought slasher directors were creepy freaks, didn't you?
(Thanks to Dread Central for letting me steal their pic without permission.)
For a while now, Glamour has been pulling various actresses into the directorial fold with their Reel Moments series. Last year brought the likes of Kirsten Dunst and Jennifer Aniston, and this year, Demi Moore. Now Demi's short is online, along with shorts from Courteney Cox and Kirsten Smith (writer of films like Legally Blonde and The House Bunny).
This has been a pretty kickass project, one that will hopefully get more women behind the camera and making names for themselves. As for the latest bash of shorts -- one is uplifting, one is plain wacky, and the last is a good kick in the shins to the overly weight-conscious. Check them out here for yourself, and keep reading for a rundown of the latest three.
The Monday Before Thanksgiving -- Courteney Cox's short casts her alongside Laura Dern and Rosemary Harris in the story of a woman who loses her mother right before Thanksgiving. But rather than focus on grief and loss, the short focuses on the the insistance to be coupled and being happy single.
The Spleenectomy -- In a role that only Anna Faris could pull off, Smith's short follows a terrible aspiring actress who gets mistaken for her doctor twin sister at the hospital and has to pull off an emergency spleenectomy. Oh, only in the movies.
Streak -- Demi's short, which features daughter Rumer, focuses on comfort zones and college girls strapped and tied down to the worries of weight, fat, and (omg) calories and cankles -- until it's time to streak.
I've been a fan of Joss Whedon ever since I sat down in the sun, flabbergasted at the thought of a Buffy television show, to catch a re-airing of "Welcome to the Hellmouth." Once I was hooked in permanently, it became clear that the man loved not only the idea of defying stereotypes and praising strong women, but honoring his cast members. When Firefly fell, a few found themselves in the Buffy and Angelverse. But one who didn't, Summer Glau, had already popped up as a ballerina on Angel (look above!). But it looks like that wasn't enough for Joss, because now Glau is getting a short film, Whedon-style.
MTV reports that Joss has written a short film/ballet called The Serving Girl for the current Terminator, full not only of Whedon plot, but more Whedon music. This entire project is completely at the whim of scheduling, but the pair have teamed up with a choreographer, so that's promising for the short. Also promising -- the fact that Terminator might get canceled and leave Glau open to dance her toes off for the short.
What say you? Should Glau stay on TV kicking butt, or head to the short film world to dance once again?
Sixteen years ago, we got Beethoven -- not Ludwig, but rather the big ol' St. Bernard. Just in case four sequels and a stint on television wasn't enough for you, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Universal is releasing yet another direct-to-DVD sequel on December 30 -- Beethoven's Big Break. I guess they gave up punning on Ludwig with their titles. But just because it's not going to the big screen doesn't mean you can't see the pup in huge glory -- it seems that a giant Beethoven balloon will be part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year. I bet it'll be cuter than the movie.
In other DVD news: Have you ever scoured the DVD shelves, discovered some strange, old film with current stars, and comment on how someone unearthed the crappy flick to make money on the actor's newfound fame? Well, this next bit is something like that. THR also reports that ex 90210 gals Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty are hitting DVD shelves with Kiss the Bride and Kiss Me Deadly(respectively, and I don't think connected) to tap into some of that spotlight currently shining once again on Beverly Hills High. Ever watch either flick? Thumbs up ... down?
Finally, James Gunn's PG Porn has debuted. You can check it out after the jump. Remember -- just because Aria Giovanni is in it doesn't mean that it's going to be explicit. So, check out Nathan Fillion acting like a porn star who doesn't get the goods -- it's not quite Funny or Die funny, but I'll definitely keep watching.
I'm just over a week away from experiencing my very first Fantastic Fest at the fairly awesome Alamo Drafthouse in the fairly awesome town of Austin, Texas. Word from attendees of the past couple of years, including our own S. Weinberg, suggests that this year's Fest will itself be -- you guessed it -- fairly awesome.
On the one hand, FF is infamous for selling, and selling out, its badges for the following year during the current year's festivities. On the other, they've teamed up with sponsors AMD and B-Side to offer up five short films and five full features for free upon their website from September 14th through the 20th. You must sign up for the B-Side community in order to partake, but that's easy enough (and similarly free of charge), and then you get to cast a vote for the 'online audience favorite' award to be given out at the formal ceremony come the 22nd.
As far as the features offered go -- Dr. Infierno, I Think We're Alone Now, La Creme, Rule of Three, and South of Heaven -- I've only seen the second one, and when it comes to the shorts, among them is a killer Christmas tree short from the minds behind Hobo with a Shotgun that sounds too tempting to wait a week for. Should any of you indulge in the whole nine well, ten yards, do let us know what you think of which titles.
When was the last time you saw a short film in the theater? I don't mean an 85-minute animated movie; I mean an actual short, like they give separate Oscars to. Otherwise known as a short subject, defined (by the Academy) as anything with a running time less than 40 minutes. Chances are, unless you attend film festivals, go to see the toured screenings of Oscar shorts, or bought a ticket to Paris, Je T'Aime, it's been awhile since you actually saw a short film on a big screen.
Or, maybe I should specify that it's likely been awhile since you purposefully went to see a specifically timed screening of a short film or compilation of shorts at the theater. Technically some ads for Coca-Cola and other companies, the ones made by novice filmmakers as part of a competition or something, count as shorts. And, I'm fully aware that some arthouse cinemas, such as NYC's IFC Center, run a short film in place of pre-show commercials. But as far as I can tell, such shorts are not specifically advertised as screening at a designated time. Sure, you can go on the IFC Center's website and find out that Erik Rosenlund's Looking Glass is the short currently being shown (as it was this past week when I saw Trouble the Water there), but for most people (myself included), it's a surprise. And I doubt anyone has trekked to IFC just to see that particular film, unless anyone is a huge aficionado of frightening black and white Swedish animation.
You might think Fantastic Fest announces their annual line-up in three big chunks so they can get a little extra press, right? (Hell, if that technique is good enough for Toronto, then it's good enough for Fantastic Fest!) That's a small part of it, but the main reason Tim League announces his slate in three big chunks -- is because he's busy trolling the planet up until the very last minute, looking for good movies. (In the past month he's been to Korea, Turkey, and PORTLAND!)
If you're looking for FF Batch One or Batch Two, you can find those here and here OR at the official FF website ... but if you want the final batch, well, you'll find that right here. As usual I'll include the full press release after the jump, but not before mentioning new Fanty* additions like Fanboys (my review here), JT Petty's The Burrowers, The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (which is so good it's playing Telluride, Toronto AND Fantastic Fest), Alien Raiders (aka Supermarket), and the long-awaited Repo! A Genetic Opera from Saw-lord Darren Lynn Bousman.
Woohoo! Not one holocaust documentary or 165-minute French political drama at this festival, folks! And of course you should expect a few last-minute surprises. This is, after all, the festival that scored (way) early screenings of Apocalypto, Persepolis, Southland Tales, Pan's Labyrinth, There Will Be Blood, and ... um ... Postal. FF begins on September 18, and you know who'll be covering for us? The ultra-mega-stellar awesome team of Goss, Martin, Kernion & Weinberg. And we take our genre stuff very seriously.
Prior to our interview with Anna Faris earlier today, Cinematical managed to spend some time with three of her co-stars in The House Bunny, namely Rumer Willis, Emma Stone and Katharine McPhee (who's recording an album now for a Spring '09 release, in case you happen to be a die hard McPhee nerd). And, yes, it's true what they say about sitting next to an American Idol finalist -- those butterflies in your stomach are real and they desperately want (and need) to hear a Whitney Houston cover for some odd reason.
In speaking with Rumer Willis about her upcoming projects, she mentioned that her mother, Demi Moore, had just finished work on her directorial debut -- a short film for Glamour Reel Moments called Streak. While Willis was tight-lipped on the film's plot, she did say it starred herself, Brittany Snow and Sarah Wright (who also has a role in The House Bunny). Other women who've directed shorts for GRM include Jennifer Aniston, Bryce Dallas Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow. You can find out more about the program over on its official website, and one imagines we'll catch Streak a little later this year.
The other day we wrote about the new horror flick Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer(which hit theaters this past weekend), and Cinematical reader Aaron L. (who also happens to be a very good friend of mine) pointed out the fact that Jack Brooks director Jon Knautz had helmed a very cool short back in 2005 called Still Life. I forget exactly when I first saw this short (probably during one of Gen Art's many, many functions/contests/parties), but I remember absolutely loving it over and over again. And we've actually written about it on at least two other occasions, though it's been awhile and, well, I felt our new (and old) readers would like a little something to watch while you eat lunch/surf the internet, etc ...
The short, which runs about eight minutes, follows a very sleepy driver who's in desperate need of a rest and some gas. When he pulls off into a small town, however, he notices that it's populated by mannequins. And that's all I'll say about that. Definitely check it out if you've got a few minutes free, and then hunt down Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (read our review here) -- a film most of our team here at Cinematical dug quite a bit.
We're well into August, and here in Austin it's hot and dry and the last thing most of us are thinking about is anything going on next March. But over at SXSW, they're ignoring the dog days of summer and preparing like crazy for next year's interactive, music, and (of course) film festival / conference. The 2009 South By Southwest Film Festival is scheduled for March 13-21, as you can see from the new site for next year's festivities, and you can start submitting your films now for consideration. You've got until December to get your short or feature film to the festival if you're dreaming of seeing your name in lights (or at least your film's title) at the Paramount next year.
A few films are already scheduled to be screened at the 2009 fest: the SXSWclick winners, which were recently announced. The Grand Jury award for the short-film contest went to Peter and Ben, by Pinny Grylls, which also won in the documentary shorts category. Little Pumpkin, directed by Tiffany Bartok, took home the Popularity Contest award. You can watch these films and the winning shorts from all categories on the SXSWclick site. In fact, you can watch all the finalists online if you like. So if you want to pretend it's March in Austin, crank up the air conditioning a bit, sit back in a comfy chair with a beer or milkshake (in tribute to Alamo Drafthouse, a favorite SXSW venue), and enjoy the SXSWclick shorts. Then hike a mile back to your car with Scott Weinberg or Will Goss next to you, scarfing down hot wings from a Sixth Street bar and speculating on how many screeners they can watch that night before they pass out from exhaustion. (Okay, maybe you do have to wait for March for that last experience.)
A few weeks back we learned that flicks such as Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, Let the Right One In, The Tingler and Eagle Eye would be playing at the fourth annual Fantastic Fest in Austin -- and now we have batch number two! (And if you're wondering why I give a little genre fest so much blog-love, all I'll say is "I guess you had to be there." But that phrase could easily translate into the present-tense "I guess you have to go there," if you catch my meaning.)
If you attend this year's event, you'll not only get to mock me -- to my face! -- at the infamous Fantastic Feud, but you'll also be able to catch movies like Acolytes, Wicked Lake, JCVD, Surveillance, Deadgirl, Santos, and Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds! Plus one of this year's themes is a very fun one: That of indie Australian cinema, especially stuff from the '70s and '80s. Of particular note in this department is the new doco Not Quite Hollywood, which looks to be sixteen flavors of Aussie insanity. Full press release on the newly-added features is available after the jump, but for a lot more information (including all the short films!), check out the Fantastic Fest website.
You know how all the horror geeks get extra-nervous when someone starts talking about a remake of John Carpenter's The Thing -- despite the fact that (as awesome as it is, and boy is it awesome) it itself is a remake! Doesn't that create some sort of retroactive mega-paradox: That if a REMAKE is that damn good, doesn't it stand as final proof that remakes ARE good?? In theory, anyway. I'm not talking about freakin' Prom Night here.
Anyway, it looks like some loyal monster fans took the job into their own hands, and have thus created their own rendition of The Thing ... using only G.I. Joe action figures. It's really nifty, and the music is pretty cool too.
From Troma to indie superheroes to to cartoon adaptations to big-time monster-fests, James Gunn is a filmmaker I like to keep an eye on from time to time. I find his Slither to be a supremely entertaining mixture of comedy and horror, his The Specials a very funny little comedy (at least a whole lot funnier than the similar Mystery Men), and his Tromeo & Juliet the finest thing ever produced by Lloyd Kaufman's Troma team. And while director Zack Snyder did a great job on the Dawn of the Dead remake, let's not forget who penned the adaptation: Gunn did it. Basically, if I had the skills required to write and direct movies, they'd probably look a lot like James Gunn's flicks -- only with more nudity. (Oh, and check out LolliLove some time. Funny little film.)
So when we got a late call during Comic-Con asking us if we'd like to do a brief sit-down with Jimmy Gunn, I said "Heck, yeah. That guy's a nut." (That was literally what I said. Ask Erik.) And since I'd actually met James once before, it was much more laid-back than your typical interview. James Gunn is sort of like a grown-up child, which I mean as a compliment, and that always makes an interview a bit more entertaining. Plus he has great taste in schlock.
Aw yeah, this is just about my own personal version of Christmas Eve. The first wave of titles for the Austin's lovely Fantastic Fest has splattered into my inbox, so instead of me rambling on about how great Austin is in late September, especially if you're a massive fan of films gory, scary, sexy, twisted and weird, I'll just direct you to a very handy FF press release.
But not before I say this: Of the flicks chosen already, I've seen precisely five: Let the Right One In, Donkey Punch, Spine Tingler, Terra, and Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. A Swedish vampire coming-of-age story, a British thriller about boat-bound terror, an American documentary about a beloved schlock-slinger, a multi-national animated adventure story, and a scrappy little indie full of monsters that Rick Baker would adore. So from just one random sampling, this is one eclectic mixture of movies. Oh, and for the Hollywood fans: DJ Caruso's Eagle Eye will have its premiere at Fantastic Fest. By only a few days but damn cool anyway. Oh, and a screening of The Tingler? Beyond cool.
Click on in for the first full press release on Fantastic Fest 2008.
The guy is busy making 
For a while now, Glamour has been pulling various actresses into the directorial fold with their Reel Moments series. Last year brought the likes of 
Sixteen years ago, we got Beethoven -- not Ludwig, but rather the big ol' St. Bernard. Just in case four sequels and a stint on television wasn't enough for you, 
I'm just over a week away from experiencing my very first 
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Prior to our interview with Anna Faris earlier today, Cinematical managed to spend some time with three of her co-stars in 
We're well into August, and here in Austin it's hot and dry and the last thing most of us are thinking about is anything going on next March. But over at SXSW, they're ignoring the dog days of summer and preparing like crazy for next year's interactive, music, and (of course) film festival / conference. The 2009 South By Southwest Film Festival is scheduled for March 13-21, as you can see from the 
From Troma to indie superheroes to to cartoon adaptations to big-time monster-fests,
