Tampa Film Fan

local film news:joe sanchez productions, students of the unusual, tampa film review, tampa film network

*Joe Sanchez Productions has some new trailers available on the website.

*Terry Cronin from Students of the Unusual tells me that he and fellow SotU filmmakers will have an exhibit at the upcoming BioniCon.

*Reviews of the films shown at last month’s Tampa Film Review can be found on the Crazed Fan Boy website here. Next month’s Tampa Film Review is June 9th. Keep an eye out for the screening schedule at www.thetampafilmreview.com.

*The Tampa Film Network has started a Yahoo email group (received via email):

We want to let you all know that we started a Yahoo group for The Tampa Film Network. This will make communication between us much better than our Myspace page. By joining the Yahoo group you can post casting, crew calls, premiere dates, or just talk about film. Once you’ve posted, it will appear on the site and an e-mail will be sent to each of the members. So, we ask you all to join today. if you’re not all ready a Yahoo member, it’s easy and free to sign up.

Here’s the link to the site: http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/TampaFilmNetwork/

a little bit of film news

*www.greenroomorlando.com reports that a Sarasota student has won a Student Academy Award.

*Local superhero Rick Gershman of the St. Pete Times wrote a splendid article about summer’s cinematic superheroes.

*Speaking of summer…and cinema…and the St. Pete Times…Steve Persall has mapped out our summer viewing for us.

film fan finding:united 93

I’m not bothered by the fact that Hollywood has already started making movies depicting the events of 9/11. I’m not bothered by the fact that some of my friends don’t understand why I’m not hesitant to watch United 93. What does bother me is that I didn’t like the movie as much as I feel I should have.

The first third of United 93 shows the various air traffic control centers and the myriad procedures and people involved in regulating our air space on a daily basis. Interspersed with those scenes are brief snippets of the people waiting for their flight — ordinary people on vacation or a business trip on just another ordinary day.

Even though you know what’s going to happen, the tension is inescapable. you think if only the military had coordinated better with aviation officials, perhaps fewer hijacked flights would have gotten in the air. If only the United passengers had acted sooner, perhaps they might have been able to bring the plane up out of that fatal nosedive. If only, if only.

The director made an interesting choice in having many of the air traffic controllers and military personnel play themselves. This unpolished presentation and the shaky hand-held camera style create a documentary, real-time-action feel. Although the onboard cell phone goodbye scenes were gut-wrenching as expected, the overall emotional impact was diluted somewhat by the cuts back and forth from aboard the plane to the air traffic control towers. Perhaps this was a deliberate attempt to soften the viewer’s emotional trauma, but to me it somewhat diminished the film’s impact.

I caught one of the United 93 TV movies on cable a few months ago and found that TV movie more emotionally resonant and moving than this very valiant attempt.

Film Fan Finding: B+

i’m voting for pedro

You might remember that I love the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Now there’s a new DVD to love — the Like, Best Special Edition Ever Napoleon Dynamite DVD. It’s got new outtakes and deleted/extended scenes, Napoleon and Pedro sightings (their TV appearances), and much more.

And if that’s not enough for you, there’s an online team devoted to all things N.D. Simply go to www.m80teams.com to register and sign up for various online teams devoted to various movies and music.

Whatever I feel like I wanna do. Gosh!

film fan finding:poseidon

Whether or not you like a film remake depends on your familiarity with the original. I’m old enough to be familiar with the original The Poseidon Adventure (I even own the DVD), so all the modern special effects in the world couldn’t redeem the Poseidon remake in my eyes.

Poseidon follows the same basic plot as the original: a luxury ship is overturned by a large wave while most of the passengers are ringing in the new year in the ballroom, which makes for a dramatic disaster scene of people being tossed about and dying in all sorts of not-very-fun ways. A handful of people ignore the captain’s orders to stay put and start climbing up to the bottom of the ship (the ship’s upside down, remember).

In this version, however, most of the survivors have annoying personality traits that don’t endear them to the viewer. Hmmm…sit tight in the ballroom and die sooner, or go with these annoying, selfish people and probably die anyway, just a little later? I think I’ll stay in the ballroom, thank you very much.

All the thrilling, scary, death-and-destruction scenes couldn’t save Poseidon from being predictable and unbelievable. There were a couple of characters who might as well have been wearing signs that said “I’m Going To Die In The Next Five Minutes.” It was nice to see Kurt Russell back in action, although his character was one of the most annoying. Tied for that most-annoying-character slot was the womanizing yet caring, ex-Navy gambler action-hero type played by Josh Lucas. If I’m ever in a life-or-death situation, I sure hope there’s a complete stranger around who knows everything about flash fires, pressurized ballasts, access hatches and cruise ships who can hold his breath underwater for long periods of time. (Although his knowledge of first aid seemed to be sorely lacking.)

Poseidon is Titanic minus the engaging characters and compelling love story — the affluent and the working class living on different decks of the same great ship who all become equals when the ship tosses them around before sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Unlike Titanic, however, Poseidon alone will sink to the bottom of the discount DVD sales bin in a few months (where it will join the recent Poseidon TV movie).

Film Fan Finding: C

film fan finding:the sentinel

I didn’t think Michael Douglas could pull it off, but he did. He took a role we’ve seen a thousand times — the seasoned old pro so dedicated to the company (in this case, the Secret Service) that he’ll sacrifice his reputation and his career for the greater good — and made it work. In The Sentinel, Douglas plays a Secret Service veteran revered for taking a bullet for President Reagan in 1980 who is having an affair with the current First Lady (played by Kim Basigner) who he’s sworn to protect. When his estranged protege (Kiefer Sutherland) is put in charge of the investigation to find the CIA mole behind the plan to assassinate the president, Douglas becomes the main suspect rather than confess his affair with the First Lady.

After establishing the main characters, the movie shifts to the standard uncovering-the-dark-secret-while-running-for-your-life plot. I got caught up in it and thoroughly enjoyed it, although I felt like I shouldn’t have because I’ve seen it done a thousand times before. The Sentinel rises above the stereotypes to become an engaging and suspenseful thriller.

Film Fan Finding: B+

slayercon in tampa in july

Christmas has come early to the Tampa Film Fan household. SlayerCon is coming to Tampa in July! (July 28-30.) As many of you know, I freely and openly admit to being an avid fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and pretty much anything writer/director Joss Whedon can dream up. (This is America; I’m free to be a crazy sci-fi fan if I want.)

Vulkon, the sci-fi convention king, is hosting SlayerCon in Tampa July 28-30. So far, Amy Acker and Vincent Kartheiser are the only “big” stars to sign up, with five other “bonus guests” signed on. Now, if only James Marsters would sign on (it’s probably best that he not, because I would just die on the spot).

Ok, enough of the crazy rambling fan bit for now…

no carnivale of horror this weekend

A couple of days ago, I visited the Carnivale of Horror website (www.carnivaleofhorror.com) to check the screening schedule for this new local horror film fest (originally scheduled for today through Sunday). Imagine my horror (pun intended) upon discovering that (a) the film fest has been postponed to November 3-5 and (b) it’s now called Something Wicked This Way Con (well, the renaming part didn’t bother me so much).

I don’t have any other details at this point. If I find out anything else, I’ll post it here.

film fan finding:friends with money

Friends With Money is about four female friends and their problems. Frances McDormand’s character is a bitter, angry, depressed fashion designer happily married to a man her friends think is gay. Catherine Keener’s character is a writer stuck in a loveless, stressful marriage to her writing partner. Jennifer Aniston tries playing a regular, non-glamorous woman again — a la The Good Girl — who works as a maid and obsesses over her last boyfriend. Rounding out the friendship foursome is Joan Cusack’s character — the rich, successful, happily-married woman who secretly feels guilty for having more than her friends do.

This film explores our society’s problematic relationship with money. Friends can discuss their innermost secrets and share every intimate detail of their sex lives, but hesitate when it comes to discussing how much money they make and how they spend it. The friends are so unsettled by Aniston’s character’s choice to work as a maid that they have trouble relating to her and don’t seem to remember that she’s the exact same person she was when she was working as a teacher.

McDormand and Keener give raw, powerful performances that are amazing to watch. Friends With Money ultimately falls prey to one of my major pet peeves, however, by ending rather abruptly without giving any real closure to the multiple vignettes I’ve spent the last two hours learning to care about.

Film Fan Finding:B

update on local filmmaker melissa webb

Local filmmaker Melissa Webb has been on the go. Her 7-minute short film The Unconscious Disease played at the New York International Independent Film Festival on May 6, screened at the Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Pete earlier this month, and is screening on the Horror Channel this month. In addition, Independent Film Quarterly magazine recently wrote about Webb’s film.

Way to go, Melissa!

Webb is currently in Europe promoting her film, but when she returns, she agreed to an interview with me for my In The Spotlight series. I’m looking forward to finding out more about Webb and her work.