Wow. Lionsgate bought Summit and is planning to extend the Twilight movies beyond the books.
I doubt they’ll get RPattz and KStew back, though.
Archive for the ‘movies’ Category
Even More Twilight?
Posted in books, movies, paranormal romances, vampires, wtf, tagged kristen stewart, lionsgate bought summit, lionsgate buys summit, Movies, Robert Pattinson, twilight, twilight movies on January 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Sharktopus! Cannibal Holocaust!
Posted in horror movies, movies, wtf, tagged B-movies, blair witch project, cannibal holocaust, found-footage films, found-footage horror, horror movies, monster movies, Movies, roger corman, shark attacks, shark week, sharks, sharktopus on August 3, 2011 | 2 Comments »
By far the most fun movie I’ve seen this summer is Sharktopus.
Granted, I really haven’t seen many movies this summer. I’ve mostly just been hanging out with friends, going out to lunch, and fighting with this young-adult paranormal romance I’ve been writing since January (the book is winning the fight, by the way).
As you know, I have to see EVERY horror movie known to man, so I did see an interesting one a few months ago: Cannibal Holocaust. Made in 1980, I think it was the first “found footage” film and an obvious influence on Blair Witch Project, which didn’t come along until 20 years later.
The premise is that a documentary crew goes into the jungle to film cannibals and, well, their footage is found a year later. The movie is notorious for not only its stark brutality, but also for the fact that several animals were actually killed on camera.
I am not necessarily recommending this film, because if it’s something you’d like, you’ve probably already seen it and I don’t want to be responsible for traumatizing any of you.
Also, the acting by the people who find the footage and watch it to see what happened to the crew is laughably bad. They give “who farted” looks while watching reel after reel of acts that are absolutely horrifying.
My First Bieber
Posted in celebrities, movies, music, tagged beiber, bieber, Bieber brat, bieber CSI, bieber helgenberger, justin bieber, Movies, music, never say never justin bieber, never say never movie, pop stars on May 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Until last night I didn’t know anything about Justin Bieber except for his haircut. (Pro tip: Having a mop-top hairdo and starting your band name with a bee-sound will equal fan mania such as the world has never seen.)
I always get a sense of people rolling their eyes about the Biebs, I guess because he’s a teenybopper and so insanely popular.
As usual what gets lost is the music.
I wanted to know more about him, so I watched Never Say Never, a quasi-documentary about his career leading up to a landmark performance at Madison Square Garden that sold out in 22 minutes.
I was surprised at how gifted he is. He’s an amazing drummer and guitar player, and of course can sing and dance. He started out as a street performer and on YouTube, and you don’t get much more merit-based than that. No, I am not joking. You can dislike his music or his persona, but you can’t argue with them–they weren’t manufactured; they were elected by popular vote.
Bieber himself is extremely engaging and seems to have fairly decent people around him, although I was appalled by his vocal coach who said he sometimes whines about not being a normal 16-year-old. She basically tells him to can it, because “this is your normal.” Yikes, he’s just a kid. An incredibly rich and famous one, true, but everyone should be allowed whining time, especially a teenager.
I would have liked to see an actual bratty, age-appropriate meltdown (but with power and money) in the film, but sadly none was forthcoming since Never is nothing if not promotional.
That doesn’t stop people from looking for bratty behavior, though. According to the HuffPost:
Bieber made his fictional TV debut with a two-episode arc on “CSI” last year, and according to co-star Marg Helgenberger, the kid who played a troubled teen was, off-camera, a trouble-making teen.
“I shouldn’t be saying this but he was kind of a brat [on the set],” Helgenberger told French Magazine Le Grand Direct Des Medias.
“He was very nice to me,” she continued, “but he locked one of the producers in a closet.”
Bieber had this–very mature–response via twitter:
“it’s kinda lame when someone you met briefly and never worked with comments on you. I will continue to wish them luck and be kind.”
I give the kid a lot of leeway. I know adults whose behavior at work is much worse than locking people in the closet as a prank.
Val Kilmer: Straight to DVD?
Posted in celebrities, movie reviews, movies, music, oldies but goodies, wtf, tagged actors, Blood Out, Bob Calhoun, Movies, salon, The Doors movie, Val Kilmer, Val Kilmer Blood Out, Val Kilmer Doors movie, Val Kilmer Jim Morrison on May 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Val Kilmer
If you’ve never seen The Doors, you should definitely see it for his performance as Jim Morrison (he does his own singing, too). He was also good in Heat and really cute in Top Secret!, a spoof that put him on the map.
According to his website, he thinks nudity is inappropriate, even “innocent” nudity.
I think I’m intrigued.
Ramon Stoppelenburg Wants to Break Into the Movies
Posted in author-ity figures, celebrities, Cinemas, Dating Amy, Internet shenanigans, movies, oldies but goodies, tagged cyberbegging, Dating Amy, internet beggars, internet panhandling, let me stay for a day, phnom penh cinemas, ramon stoppelenburg, the flicks cambodia, the flicks phnom penh on March 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I first found about about my friend Ramon Stoppelenburg when we were both Internet panhandlers in the early part of the decade. My site of course was Dating Amy, his was Let Me Stay for a Day.
Let Me Stay was a pretty amazing project–Ramon’s goal was to travel around the world for free and it took off immediately. His site caught the attention of the media and had millions of hits, which garnered the Dutch native 3,577 invitations from 72 countries. I think he visited about 24 of those countries.
Ramon and I are both too lazy to write this blog post, so from wikipedia:
The travels took Stoppelenburg through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, South Africa, Spain, Australia and Canada. Coverage by international media[1][2] and the number of visitors to the website allowed Stoppelenburg to have everything sponsored: his website, clothing, camera, backpack, shoes and even his airline tickets.
As I correctly predicted just recently, once a cyberbeggar, always a cyberbeggar: Ramon is back to his Internet begging ways. Sort of. He wants to buy The Flicks cinema in his new home of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It looks like he’s already raised a few grand. He is a good guy, so help him out if you have an extra dollar or two.
If you’re thinking of trying Internet begging, there is one caveat: To be successful you have to be born on December 20 as Ramon and I both are.
Neighborhood Blockbuster Closed
Posted in movies, oldies but goodies, Seattle, tagged abraxus books closed, blockbuster going out of business, mother nature's natural health closed, netflix sucks, queen anne blockbuster closed, queen anne businesses closing on March 2, 2011 | 1 Comment »
So my beloved Blockbuster suddenly closed down this week. I’m so bummed. I love going to the video (yes, video) store. I guess my days of spontaneously renting what I want when I want it are over.
I signed up for Netflix and I’m really sad.
Also, one block over from Blockbuster, Mother Nature’s Natural Health place and Abraxus Books lost their leases.
The really cool woman who started Mother Nature’s and has owned it for decades told me that the evil landlord (I may have inserted the word evil) is turning the block into a multi-use building, which means condos on top, commercial on the bottom. She said the rent is going to be really expensive, though, so I will look forward to more Subway sandwich places in my future.
Suck.
Kevin Smith Smonologue #9
Posted in books, celebrities, Dating Amy, movies, writing life, tagged ben affleck speech chasing amy, chasing amy, chasing amy speech painting birds diner of, Dating Amy, datingamy.com, holden's speech chasing amy, Kevin Smith, kevin smith boring ass life, kevin smith monologues, kevin smith smonologues, kevin smith twitter, kevin smith writing pep talk, smonologue, smonologue #9 on February 22, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I really like Kevin Smith. I like his attitude, I like his sense of humor, I like his rants. I sort of named Dating Amy, the blog that launched my career as an author, after one of his films (even though my name is Amy). I love his films.
He had me with Clerks, of course, but it wasn’t until Ben Affleck’s Chasing Amy speech about the painting of birds bought in a diner that I realized there was no turning back.
And now I am in Smonologue #9?
So excited.
Blockbuster Says Russ Meyer Films Too Explicit
Posted in bucket list, horror movies, movies, wtf, tagged antichrist, antichrist movie, blockbuster, bucket list, Deadgirl, exploitation films, faster pussycat kill kill, hostel, russ meyer, se7en, seven movie, tura satana on February 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
So my friends constantly appear dismayed, not to mention disbelieving, that I am the last person in the free world who still goes to Blockbuster. I go for the entertainment and not all of it is on the shelves.
As you know I’m doing this mini bucket list of things to accomplish before Mad Men comes back to AMC next summer. The first thing on the list, which is in no order at all, is: #1 See a Russ Meyer film.
So the other day I went to Blockbuster (and found out that their really cool manager that I loved isn’t working there anymore) and asked them about Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! because I didn’t see it on the shelves.
The new manager, who I also love, said it’s not even in the system and that several people were suddenly asking about that particular movie. I told him the lead actress Tura Satana had just died and that’s probably why, etc.
Me: You guys don’t really carry exploitation films, do you.
Him: No. Corporate is really careful about that. They want this to be a family friendly kind of place.
I love Blockbuster. I do. When I first moved to Seattle after 9/11 the employees there literally supplied some of the only interesting conversation I got in my first few years here.
But family-friendly standards, seriously?
I may not be online much this weekend because I’m getting my family together to watch Antichrist, Deadgirl, Se7en, and Hostel, which feature genital mutilation, teenage necrophilia, horrifying Biblical perversity, and, among other things, an eyeball hanging out of a woman’s head.
I will be renting them all at the big BB.
Kevin Smith’s Writing Pep Talk
Posted in celebrities, movies, writing life, tagged @thatkevinsmith, chasing amy, clerks, director kevin smith, Kevin Smith, kevin smith advice on writing, kevin smith amy dezellar pep talk, kevin smith on twitter, Kevin Smith Red State, Kevin Smith Sundance, kevin smith writing pep talk, Red State on February 17, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I was feeling discouraged about writing today, so I randomly wished that director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, the upcoming Red State) would give me a locker-room style pep talk about my writing.
Damned if he didn’t do it.
And then, because it’s Kevin Smith:
Self-Published Troll Book to be Adapted by ‘District 9′ Scribe
Posted in books, movies, paranormal romances, publishing news, tagged amanda hocking, amanda hocking switched, books, district 9, ebooks, film, hocking switched movie, Movies, self-published books, self-publishing, self-publishing amazon, switched film, switched film adaptation, terri tatchell, trylle trilogy, young adult books on February 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Huge Hollywood news out of the getting-hard-to-ignore self-publishing realm.
So when she couldn’t get a traditional book deal, Amanda Hocking wrote and self-published the Trylle trilogy. It’s a cute, fast-paced paranormal romance about trolls and a seemingly regular teenaged girl who gets called back to become queen of their kingdom.
Minnesota twenty-something author Hocking is a true self-publishing success story, and has sold something like 500,000 of her books directly through Amazon in less than a year.
Today she announced that the first book in the series, Switched, which I loved, by the way, is going to be adapted into a screenplay by Terri Tatchell, who penned Best Original Screenplay nominee District 9.
This kind of independent, enterpreneurial stuff just thrills me.
Congratulations, Amanda, and I cannot wait to see über dreamboat Finn on the big screen.
