Tampa Film Fan

filmmaking competition at www.filmaka.com

I received the following via email.  It was either composed by someone unfamiliar with English or in a big hurry.  It barely made sense.  (I’ve cleaned it up quite a bit.)  As always, I’m merely presenting the info and can’t vouch for its veracity.  I was pleased to discover, however, that there is a real website at the given URL.

Our company has launched a website called www.filmaka.com.

We are providing a platform to filmmakers/people/students to grow and evolve their skills, talents and values. This is the only contest that presents an opportunity to people worldwide. It’s a monthly contest based on a particular theme. Make a film not more than 3 minutes.  The first 15 winners would get a $500 cash prize and $1,000 for a follow up film, plus could possibly win a feature film contract with Hollywood filmmakers.

Log on to http://www.filmaka.com for complete contest rules and deadlines.  Membership is free for students all over the world.

Visit www.filmaka.com for more info.

dvd review:aurora borealis

What do you think of when you hear the name Donald Sutherland?  His smart-a$$ performance in M*A*S*H*?  The memorable scene at the end of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers?  His son Kiefer?

Watching Aurora Borealis reminded me what a talented actor Donald Sutherland is.  Somehow I had missed hearing about this movie when it came out in 2005 and knew nothing about it when the DVD review copy arrived in the mail.  In one word:  WOW. 

Joshua Jackson plays a guy in his mid-twenties who is still mourning his father’s death, even after ten years.  He can’t quite get his act together and drifts aimlessly from one job to the next.  While visiting his grandparents (Donald Sutherland as the ailing grandfather with Alzheimer’s and Louise Fletcher as his long-suffering wife), he falls in love with their quirky, free-spirited home healthcare worker (Juliette Lewis, who is always free-spirited and quirky in every role) and begins rethinking his life choices.  Sutherland is magnificent as the elderly grandfather with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, who still feels like himself on the inside, even though his failing physical body has betrayed him.  He won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and the Best Actor Award at the RiverRun International Film Festival.  He deserves those awards and more.

Aurora Borealis is not your standard film about The Tragedies of Life with cardboard characters in predictable circumstances.  It’s a genuine, moving examination of the unpredictable fragility of life and the choices we all encounter.  How do you honor a loved one’s memory while moving on with your life?  Do you take a chance on love if it means leaving your lifelong friends behind and moving to a new town?  How do you live out your remaining days with dignity when illness and old age have robbed you of so much of who you are?

Despite being absolutely heart-wrenching in places, Aurora Borealis is also sweet, funny, hopeful…and WOW.  Just WOW.

Film Fan Finding: A

DVD Extras:

• interviews (three separate interviews: with cast; the writer and director; and the producers)
• audio commentary with the director, writers and producers
• photo gallery
• trailer

five questions with actor/choreographer jesse “casper” brown

I recently had a chance to play Five Questions with actor/choreographer Jesse “Casper” Brown.

1.  What’s the last movie you’ve seen?

Grindhouse.

2.  Which movies have meant the most to you and why?

I like movies with powerful, strong characters. Reservoir Dogs. Scarface. Anything by Quentin Tarantino…he’s got good stories. His films catch your eye. I love his movies.

3. Which movies could you watch more than once and still enjoy?

Kill Bill.  Kickin’ It Old Skool.  Any Kung Fu flick.

4.  If you could meet any film character, who would you choose?

R2D2.  He’s shorter than me, so I’d feel tall.  He could get you a drink of water.  He’s a funny guy.

5.  If you could meet any filmmaker — living or dead — who would you choose?

Quentin Tarantino.

Brown makes his acting debut in Kickin’ It Old Skool, which opened April 27.

five questions with maria menounos

I recently played Five Questions with actress/journalist Maria Menounos:

1.  What’s the last movie you’ve seen?

Dark Victory.

2.  Which movies have meant the most to you and why?

The Wizard of Oz.  Because she’s over the rainbow!

3.  Which movies could you watch more than once and still enjoy?

The Wizard of Oz.  Kickin’ It Old Skool.  Freaks.  The Hustler.

4.  If you could meet any film character, who would you choose?

Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz.  My publicist can’t believe I just said that!  But it’s true….I’d like to meet Dorothy and Toto.

5.  If you could meet any filmmaker, living or dead, who would you choose?

Martin Scorcese, for lunch.

Menounos’ new movie Kickin’ It Old Skool opened April 27.

kicking around with the stars of kickin’ it old skool

In the new film Kickin’ It Old Skool “a freak break dancing accident put Justin Schumacher in a coma in 1986. Now, 20 years later, he (Jamie Kennedy) is waking up to a new world and discovering that the more things change, the more he’s stayed the same. With the girl of his dreams (Maria Menounos) engaged to marry his grade-school nemesis (Michael Rosenbaum), and his parents drowning in the debt of his medical costs, Justin must rally his former squad, bust a move, and win back the girl of his dreams.”  

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to interview Kickin’ stars Jamie Kennedy, Maria Menounos and Jesse “Casper” Brown over the phone.  Kennedy plays Justin “Rocket Shoe” Schumaker, the lead character; Menounos is Jennifer Stone, Schumaker’s dream girl who’s engaged to someone else; and dancer/choreographer Jesse “Casper” Brown makes his acting debut as Cole, the lead dancer of the Ice Cole Krew.

I was expecting the wild and crazy Jamie Kennedy I’ve seen on TV, but the guy I spoke to was the sleep-deprived, tired, jet-lagged Jamie Kennedy who had been doing press interviews in Miami for about five hours straight.  The poor guy had been up since about 4 a.m. that morning and sounded absolutely exhausted.  He still took the time, though, to call me by name and to ask me the name of my blog.

Tampa Film Fan:  What appealed to you about Kickin’ It Old Skool?

Kennedy:  The chance to wear parachute pants.  I couldn’t pass that up!

TFF:  So, was it all fun and games on the set?

Anytime you can talk about the 80s, work with friends and break dance, it’s fun.

TFF:  How much break dancing did you do yourself?  What kind of training or preparation did you do?

I did a fair amount [of dancing].  I did popping and I could already do the worm before the movie.  I went to a break dancing class, which was very difficult.

TFF:  What do you think it is about the 80s that appeals to people so much?

It was a really, really fun time.  The fashion, the music, the excess, the money.  It was the Reagan era!  The 80s made their mark and people like to revisit that time.

TFF:  Your film features cameo appearances by classic 80s icons like David Hasselhoff and Erik Estrada.  Who’s your favorite 80s icon?

Emmanuel Lewis; he’s my favorite.  I was really glad to meet him.  They were all real cool…really nice and down to earth.  They feel they’re just normal and don’t think of themselves as “icons.”

TFF:  Your documentary Heckler sounds very interesting.  Tell me a little about that.

It’s an expose into the ever-critical world we live in.  It starts off…anyone can heckle a comedian or sports player, and then the critics come in.  They’re even harsher and the public just eats it up.  Why do those films that are critically bashed make money?  Now there are bloggers as well as critics.  The bloggers are really getting powerful.  Who are these people?

TFF:  So you read reviews of your work, then?

Of course!  People sometimes go out of their way to be mean, to be negative at first.  Sometimes it’s to create traffic or readership.  [Heckler] is about these people.

TFF:  How do you get your ideas for characters, like on The Jamie Kennedy Experiment?

I see people in the world and think “that’s funny…a good character….I could imitate them.”

TFF:  So what’s next for you?

Just the Kickin’ It Old Skool tour.

**********************************

Maria Menounos was an absolute doll: very gracious and sweet.  Towards the end of our conversation, the publicity people around her tried to get her to wrap things up quickly so she could go on to the next interview.   We were on question #4 of my Five Questions game, so she told them to wait a minute until she’d finished answering all of my questions.

Tampa Film Fan:  What attracted you to Kickin’ It Old Skool?

Menounos:  My agent sent me to the audition.  I loved the script — it was funny and sweet — and I really wanted this part.  I kept letting Jamie know that too.  I basically stalked Jamie for this part!

TFF:  What was it like to work with Jamie?

He is sensitive, sweet and fun.  He never lost his cool, even under pressure.  As a producer, I know how stressful things on set can be.  He had a lot on his plate, but he was calm and so chill.

TFF:  I know that you’re younger than Jamie and me.  How familiar were you with 80s music and TV and 80s nostalgia?

I saw alot of the TV shows as reruns in the 90s.  I was a big Knight Rider fan.  I got to drive the KIT car!  I love 80s music.

TFF:  Did you get to do any dancing in the movie?

No.  I was the only one who didn’t…I was left out.

TFF:  Do acting and directing give you a different perspective as a journalist?

It makes me more sympathetic.  Jamie and I had a scene on a hill…we were on a date.  It was freezing and we had to pretend it was warm.  [Actors] go through so much.  Knowing this helps me when reporting about and interviewing actors.

TFF: Did you get to meet some of the 80s icons who have cameos in the film?

I got to meet David [Hasselhoff] and Erik [Estrada]. 

And Rowdy Roddy Piper!  I’m a HUGE wrestling fan…I asked him to punch me in the stomach on camera.  My abs are in really great shape.  I talked him into it.  He hit me!

TFF:  And you got that on film?

Yep!  It was one of my favorite times on any set, anywhere!

TFF:  Are you interested in writing, as well as directing, producing and acting?

My plate’s pretty full right now.  I think I might want to write a book one day, but not a film.

TFF:  Tell me a little bit about your non-profit group Take Action Hollywood!

Sure.  Take Action Hollywood! was formed after I returned from a trip to South Africa, where I was doing a story on the AIDS epidemic there.  I really wanted to do some charity work, something meaningful that I could get really involved in.  [Take Action Hollywood!] uses the medium of entertainment and film and the power of Hollywood to effect social change, not just one cause.  We’re working on a Holocaust documentary called Paper Clips and there’s the CosmoGirl! project…helping young girls get involved [in charity work].  It’s a really small group.  It’s a miracle that we’ve been able to do what we’ve done.  We’re going to do more.  In fact, we just shot a public service announcement for a local…{TFF note: our call was interrupted by someone telling her our time was almost up.  I think she said the PSA was for a local animal shelter.}

*************************************

Jesse Brown danced at the 2002 VMAs at the age of 14 and has been dancing, choreographing and writing continually since then.  He makes his acting debut in Kickin’ It Old Skool.  On the phone he was like a kid on Christmas morning, all happy and excited.

Tampa Film Fan:  I understand that all of your dancing skills are self-taught.  Have you been dancing all of your life?

Brown:  My whole family is musical.  My father’s a musician. {TFF note:  Brown’s father is Gordon James Brown.}  I grew up listening to Edwin Starr, James Brown, Dusty Springfield…

TFF:  How did you come to be involved with this film?

I auditioned for it and Jamie liked me.  I got the job because Jamie liked my performance.

TFF:  How does acting compare to dancing, as far as preparation, fun, etc.?

I was a little nervous, because this was my first acting role.  It’s very different from dancing, but I liked it.

TFF:  Are you interested in acting again (in other roles)?

No doubt!  I’m gonna keep on doing it.  This is not the last time you’ll see me.

TFF:  I understand you were born in 1988.  Were you familiar with 80s TV and music and 80s nostalgia?

My sister was brought up in the 80s.  She enjoyed the fashion and music and so on.  We watched TV shows and movies from the 80s together growing up.  I like 80s music…I grew up with all kinds of music in the household, plus my sister’s tastes.

TFF:  What was it like to work with Jamie?

He’s fun and down to earth…a good guy and fun to work with.

TFF:  Is he a good dancer?

Terrible dancer! (laughing)  He’s got two left feet.  Nah, seriously, he did alright.  He had a double for the really complicated stuff.

TFF:  Did you get to meet any of the 80s stars who were in the film?

Nah…I was at home, so I didn’t get to meet Hasselhoff or Estrada.  I wanted to meet them.  I did meet Emmanuel Lewis.  He is the man!

TFF:  What’s next for you?

I’m working on some things, but I don’t want to say anything or take anything away from this movie.  It’s all about Kickin’ It Old Skool right now.  But this is definitely not the last time you’ll see me!

Kickin’ It Old Skool opens today.

five questions with actor jamie kennedy

I recently played Five Questions with actor/comedian Jamie Kennedy:

1.  What’s the last movie you’ve seen?

300.

2.  Which movies have meant the most to you and why?

Midnight Cowboy.  Caddyshack.  Stripes.  Coming to America.  Return of the Pink Panther.  I like the actors — the comedians — that are funny and fun to watch.

3.  Which movies could you watch more than once and still enjoy?

Great movies, always.  Godfather.  Old Skool [Kickin’ It Old Skool, his new movie].  Swingers.  Coming to America.

4.  If you could meet any film character, who would you choose?

The gingerbread man from Shrek…he’s got a lot of personality.

5.  If you could meet any filmmaker, living or dead, who would you choose?

Spielberg.

Kennedy’s new movie Kickin’ It Old Skool opens April 27.

film fan finding:made in korea:a one-way ticket seoul-amsterdam; the proper care and feeding of an american messiah; mojave phone booth; the last western

(Screened at the Sunscreen Film Festival.) 

Made in Korea:A One-Way Ticket Seoul-Amsterdam is a documentary that relies more on a moving, memorable story than advanced filmmaking techniques. A Korean guy in his mid-twenties tells the story of his adoption by a Dutch couple and documents his heart-wrenching search for his birth mother in Korea. I got caught up in his story and enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would.  Even though the film is mainly about the man’s search for his birth mother, it touches on topics such as cultural taboos about adoption and the emotions felt by the adoptive parents as they watch their son on his search.

The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah – I really liked this movie. It’s a quirky “mockumentary” about a guy who thinks he’s a messiah (not The Messiah) and rents the local civic center so he can share God’s message (assuming God gives it to him in time). His “miracles” include such wonders as catching fruit in his mouth. Very, very funny.

Mojave Phone Booth was my least favorite of the feature-length films that I saw at the festival. Four characters (whose lives are connected in unknown ways, as they always are in movies like this) rely on late-night phone conversations with a caring stranger at a deserted phone booth to help them sort out their troubled lives. The movie raised some great philosophical, metaphysical questions, but overall, I found this disjointed and a little boring.

The Last Western is a documentary about the residents of Pioneertown, California, a town originally built as a backdrop for B-movie westerns and now populated by eccentrics and has-beens. It was a bit of a downer, but I enjoyed learning about this town that I had never heard of before.

catching up on some film news:bob ross, roscoe lee browne, 100 tears, gasparilla film festival

Between being under the weather last weekend and processing reams of real estate paperwork at my Real Job this week, I’m WAY behind with my blogging.  And the stack of DVDs on my floor keeps getting higher. Here are a few things that have been on my mind:

• Damn you, Tampa Tribune, for laying off some of the Bay area’s most respected and well-known writers, including film critic Bob Ross.  And what’s wrong with the Friday Extra insert?  It’s invaluable and the first part of the office-purchased newspaper to disappear at work every Friday.  Fans of Ross’ writing don’t have to jump off the Sunshine Skyway bridge just yet, because he’s now blogging at www.sticksoffire.com.
• Emmy-winning actor and writer Roscoe Lee Browne (The Cowboys, The Cosby Show) died earlier this month.  Read the full obit here.
• Local filmmakers Joe Davison and Marcus Koch are getting some well-deserved media attention for their new horror film 100 Tears.  I saw a preview a couple of weeks ago and can’t wait to see the whole film.  Even though we’ve seen the killer clown idea before, this film promises terror, suspense and great gore.  (If you’re not a horror fan, skip that last sentence.  Liking “great gore” doesn’t make me weird, I swear.)
• Photos from the Gasparilla Film Festival have been posted on the festival’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/gasparillafilmfestival.

dvd review:turistas

The previews of Turistas promised suspense, terror and gore.  The film itself delivered none of those.  We’ve all seen this story before: a group of young, attractive Americans traveling cross-country (through Brazil this time) find themselves separated, stranded, robbed and hunted for their body parts.  Some of them survive; some don’t.  Some of the actors are decent; some aren’t.  Ho-hum.

Film Fan Finding: D

DVD Extras:

• deleted scenes
• commentary with director John Stockwell and producer Kent Kubena
• featurette The Bloody Truth:The Special Make-Up Effects of Turistas
• previews/trailers

highlights of the ybor festival of the moving image, part two

*Cough.*  I’ve been under the weather the past few days with some sort of pox or plague, so I didn’t make it to Ybor City for the Ybor Festival of the Moving Image, dammit. Today’s the last day, but I doubt I’ll drag myself out of bed in time to catch any screenings.  For those of you who are healthy and able-bodied, however, here are some of today’s festival highlights:

• 1:30 p.m. — a repeat screening of A Moving Feast, local filmmaker Victoria Jorgensen’s documentary about the history and influence of indie filmmaking in the Tampa Bay area.  (I’m so mad at myself for being sick and missing this; I hope to see it some day.)  Cuban Club Theater; tickets $5.00.
• 2:30 p.m. — screening of The Ghosts of Ybor:The End is Blossoming, an entertaining short romance/drama set in the Spanish Mafia-controlled Ybor City following World War II; by local filmmakers Guzzo Brother #1 (Paul, the writer) and #2 (Pete, the director).  Cuban Club Theater; tickets $5.00.
• 3:30 p.m.  — screening of Ten at the Top in Tampa Bay, a well-done documentary about ten local women currently in top governmental positions.  First-time filmmaker Renee Warmack interviews these women about the good and bad they’ve encountered along the way: their goals, mentors, challenges, obstacles, advice, supporters, heroes and more.  Cuban Club Theater; tickets $5.00.

Visit www.yborfilmfestival.com for more info.