For three decades, we’ve been treated to numerous looks-back on the Dan Aykroyd -John Belushi comedy team, and the one perfect film they managed to make, 1980’s The Blues Brothers . So much dirt has already been dished over the decades that it almost feels like we know everything we’ll ever need to about the hard-partying tendencies that ultimately killed Belushi in 1982. We would be mistaken, as a new Vanity Fair profile will no doubt demonstrate that however many skeletons you think might have been unearthed, there’s always room for one or two more in the mass grave of a dead celebrity’s life story. The January issue features a new and very detailed look into the making of The Blues Brothers . Part fond remembrance, part cautionary tale, and part “Jesus H Christ, seriously. You seriously did all that,” it delivers absolutely delicious — and absolutely tragic — stories from Belushi’s friends, family and former coworkers about that film’s troubled production. We’ve culled a few choicer nuggets from the online preview: * The ’70s were even more decadent than we think. According to Dan Aykroyd, “We had a budget in the movie for cocaine for night shoots” during the making of > em> The Blues Brothers. And just like that, films like Zardoz suddenly begin to make more sense. * Belushi’s drug problem had gotten so out of hand that they actually asked Carrie Fisher – Carrie Fisher! – to keep him from consuming. I wonder if they also asked Chevy Chase to keep Dan Aykroyd from making bad decisions about the roles he intended to take during the late ’80s and early ’90s. * Belushi and Robert Downey, Jr. have a lot in common: Apparently Belushi disappeared from the set one night, and Aykroyd found him at a nearby home where, the homeowner told him, Belushi had just showed up, raided the man’s fridge like it wasn’t even a thing, and passed out on the couch. Obviously, this thing just became required, end-of-the-year reading. It goes without saying also that we’re very glad this kind of addiction is no longer enabled so blatantly. [ Source: Vanity Fair ]
Can’t make it out to Park City, UT for the Sundance Film Festival this year? Let Sundance come to you. The Sundance Institute announced today 10 independent cities that will screen selections from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival this year with the filmmaker present. Ten filmmakers will travel to one of the following cities: Ann Arbor, MI; Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Chicago, IL; Houston, TX; Los Angeles, CA; Nashville, TN; Orlando, FL; San Francisco, CA; and Tucson, AZ. “Sundance Film Festival USA celebrates the theaters and audiences that are an integral part of supporting and encouraging the work of independent filmmakers,” said Sundance President and Founder Robert Redford. “By extending the Festival to these 10 cities, we will create a larger shared experience and dialogue around the issues of our time, as explored in these films.” [ Related: Sundance Film Festival Reveals 2013 U.S. & World Competition Slate ] Titles and locations follow with descriptions and information provided by Sundance Institute: The East / U.S.A. (Director: Zal Batmanglij, Screenwriters: Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling) — An operative for an elite private intelligence firm goes into deep cover to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist collective attacking major corporations. Bent on apprehending these fugitives, she finds her loyalty tested as her feelings grow for the group’s charismatic leader. Cast: Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page, Toby Kebbell, Shiloh Fernandez, Patricia Clarkson. Ann Arbor, MI – The Michigan Theatre . The Lifeguard / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Liz W. Garcia) — A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager. Cast: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, David Lambert. Boston, MA – Coolidge Corner Theatre www.coolidge.org Kill Your Darlings / U.S.A. (Director: John Krokidas, Screenwriters: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas) — An untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944, providing the spark that led to the birth of an entire generation – their Beat revolution. Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHann, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen. Brooklyn, NY – BAM Touchy Feely / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lynn Shelton) — A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother’s foundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his “healing touch.” Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, Scoot McNairy, Ellen Page, Josh Pais. Chicago, IL – Music Box Theatre [ Related: Sundance Film Festival Unveils Star-Studded Premieres & Documentary Premieres Lineup ] Ain’t Them Bodies Saints / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Lowery) — The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine. Houston, TX – Sundance Cinemas Houston . Afternoon Delight / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jill Soloway) — In this sexy, dark comedy, a lost L.A. housewife puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny. Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch. Los Angeles, CA – Sundance Sunset Cinemas . Mother of George / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Dosunmu, Screenwriter: Darci Picoult) — A story about a woman willing to do anything and risk everything for her marriage. Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Danai Gurira, Tony Okungbowa, Yaya Alafia, Bukky Ajayi. Nashville, TN – Belcourt Theatre . A.C.O.D. / U.S.A. (Director: Stuart Zicherman, Screenwriters: Ben Karlin, Stuart Zicherman) — Carter is a well-adjusted Adult Child of Divorce. So he thinks. When he discovers he was part of a divorce study as a child, it wreaks havoc on his family and forces him to face his chaotic past. Cast: Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Catherine O’Hara, Amy Poehler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clark Duke. Orlando, FL – Enzian Theater . In a World… / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lake Bell) — An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation. Cast: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed. San Francisco, CA – Sundance Kabuki Cinemas . The Spectacular Now / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber) — Sutter is a high school senior who lives for the moment; Aimee is the introvert he attempts to “save.” As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, and “saving” and corrupting become inextricably blurred. Cast: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler. Tucson, AZ – The Loft .
The Sundance Film Festival completed its 2013 roster with 65 short films announced Tuesday. Veteran filmmakers Albert Maysles and Morgan Spurlock are among the filmmakers that will screen their latest in shorts programs or before features at the celebrated event. The list includes titles that will screen in the U.S. and International Narrative, Documentary, Animated and New Frontier short films. [ Related: Sundance’s U.S. and World Competition Films & NEXT Lineup ] Sundance received 8,104 shorts submissions, 427 more than 2012 vs 4,044 feature-length submissions. “The Short Film section of our 2013 Festival is comprised of bold works by adventurous filmmakers who have mastered creative ways to embody their unique perspectives in the short form onscreen,” said Sundance Director of Programming Trevor Groth in a statement. “The selections represent the immensely varied and dynamic approaches to storytelling that will inspire audiences with their huge accomplishments within a limited timeframe.” [ Related: Sundance’s 2013 Premieres and Documentary Premieres lineup ] Sundance Film Festival Shorts lineup follows with information provided by the event: U.S. NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS The Apocalypse / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Zuchero) — Four uninspired friends try to come up with a terrific idea for how to spend their Saturday afternoon. Black Metal / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kat Candler) — After a career spent mining his music from the shadows, one fan creates a chain reaction for the lead singer of a black metal band. Boneshaker / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Frances Bodomo) — An African family lost in America travels to a Louisiana church to find a cure for its problem child. Broken Night / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Guillermo Arriaga) — A young woman and her four-year-old daughter drive across desolated hills. Everything looks fine and they seem to enjoy the ride, until an accident sends them into the nightmare of darkness. The Captain / Australia, U.S.A. (Directors: Nash Edgerton, Spencer Susser, Screenwriters: Nash Edgerton, Spencer Susser, Taika Waititi) — A man wakes up with a hangover, only to discover the consequences of his actions. The Cub / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Riley Stearns) — Wolves make the best parents. GUN / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Spencer Gillis) — Roy purchases a handgun to protect his wife and newborn baby after a terrifying home invasion. The newfound sense of power Roy feels carrying the weapon becomes an obsession, leading him down a reckless path that may have tragic consequences. Karaoke! / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew F. Renzi) — On a night out in New York City, a young man tries to avoid his problems. K.I.T. / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michelle Morgan) — A guilt-ridden, but well-intentioned, yuppie goes to great lengths to prove she is a decent person. Movies Made From Home # 6 / U.S.A. (Director: Robert Machoian) — Debbie is good at playing hide and seek – so good she is often hard to find. Movies Made From Home # 15 / U.S.A. (Director: Robert Machoian) — Robert attempts to keep himself healthy and fit so he can live as long as possible, unaware of what that really means. Palimpsest / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Tyburski, Screenwriters: Michael Tyburski, Ben Nabors) — A successful house tuner provides clients with a unique form of therapy that examines subtle details in their living spaces. #PostModem / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Jillian Mayer, Lucas Leyva) — A comedic, satirical, sci-fi pop musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists, #PostModem is the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with technological singularity, as told through a series of cinematic tweets. Record/Play / U.S.A. (Director: Jesse Atlas, Screenwriters: Aaron Wolfe, Jesse Atlas) — War, fate, and a broken Walkman transcend time and space in this sci-fi love story. Skin / U.S.A. (Director: Jordana Spiro, Screenwriters: Jordana Spiro, David Pablos) — A young taxidermist and small town loner is entranced by a girl who finds his work beautiful. Just as their relationship begins to progress, he does something that drastically changes everything. Social Butterfly / France, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lauren Wolkstein) — When a 30-year-old American woman attends a teenage party in the south of France, guests wonder who she is and what she is doing there. What Do We Have in Our Pockets? / Israel, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Goran Dukic) — A most unusual love story unravels when the objects in a young man’s pockets come to life. Based on a short story by Etgar Keret. Whiplash / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Damien Chazelle) — An aspiring drummer enters an elite conservatory’s top jazz orchestra. [ Related: Sundance 2013’s Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontiers lineups ] INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS The Companion / Peru (Director and screenwriter: Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio) — On the outskirts of Lima, a young prostitute tends to his father, a fallen-from-grace artisan. However, the young man feels that his efforts are never enough. He tries to break free, but his father’s dependence is stronger than his son’s will. The Curse / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Fyzal Boulifa) — Fatine has ventured far from the village to meet her older lover. When a small boy catches her, all she wants to do is go home. The Date / Finland (Director and screenwriter: Jenni Toivoniemi) — Tino’s manhood is put to the test in front of two women when he has to host a date for Diablo, the family’s stud cat. Le Futur Proche / Canada (Director: Sophie Goyette, Screenwriters: Sophie Goyette, Madeleine David) — A French immigrant pilot receives an unexpected phone call that changes his life forever. He must deal with the emotional consequences of the call while still completing his work duties in this impressionistic depiction of an all-but-ordinary day. Jonah / Tanzania, United Kingdom (Director: Kibwe Tavares, Screenwriter: Jack Thorne) — When two young men photograph a gigantic fish leaping from the sea, their small town becomes a tourist attraction in this story about the old and the new. Magnesium / Netherlands (Director: Sam de Jong, Screenwriter: Shady El-Hamus) — A talented gymnast makes a life-changing discovery as she prepares for an important tournament, which is her last chance to reach the top. Night Shift / New Zealand (Director and screenwriter: Zia Mandviwalla) — Salote, an airport cleaner, starts another long night shift. She keeps her head down, does her job, and gleans the means for her survival from what others leave behind. On Suffocation / Sweden (Director and screenwriter: Jenifer Malmqvist) — This dialogue-free film about an execution describes what happens when the system becomes more important than human life. Scrubber / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Romola Garai) — A mysterious and disturbing suburban narrative about a listless young mother who is torn between family duty and self-serving fantasies. The Song of the Mechanical Fish / Russian Federation (Director and screenwriter: Philipp Yuryev) — A fisherman who lives in a deserted village in the far north receives an invitation to the wedding of a son he has never seen and decides to make a redemptive journey. Summer Vacation / Israel (Directors: Sharon Maymon, Tal Granit, Screenwriters: Tal Granit, Sharon Maymon) — The family summer vacation: sea, sun and sand, and all Yuval wants is to get the heck out of there. Today and Tomorrow / Netherlands (Director: Aaron Douglas Johnston, Screenwriter: Jesse van’t Hull) — Iranian and Afghani political refugees make a life for themselves in Holland as they anxiously await word if they will be granted political asylum or sent back to their native countries. Volume / United Kingdom (Director: Mahalia Belo, Screenwriter: Ingeborg Topsøe) — Sam’s perfectly polished world is upended when Georgina goes missing. As everyone acts like nothing has happened, Sam drifts back into his memories of Georgina and realizes he may know more than he wants to remember. You Are More Than Beautiful / China, Hong Kong (Director: Tae-yong Kim) — A man arrives in beautiful Jeju Island and pays a woman to act as his partner while he visits his ill father in this tale of beauty among base human acts. [Related Interview: Sundance Director John Cooper Says ‘Fearlessness’ Distinguishes The Festival’s 2013 Slate ] DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS 30% (Women and Politics in Sierra Leone) / United Kingdom, Sierra Leone (Director: Anna Cady) — Oil-painted animation brings to life the stories of three powerful women in postconflict Sierra Leone, revealing the violence and corruption women face as they fight for fairer representation in the governance of their country. The Battle of amfAR / U.S.A. (Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Screenwriter: Sharon Wood) — When AIDS strikes, two very different women – Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor and research scientist Dr. Mathilde Krim – join forces to create America’s first AIDS research foundation. The fight against HIV/AIDS has never been the same. Catnip: Egress to Oblivion? / U.S.A.(Director: Jason Willis) — Catnip is all the rage with today’s modern feline, but do we really understand it? This film frankly discusses the facts about this controversial substance. Endless Day / Germany (Director: Anna Frances Ewert) — For most people, sleep comes naturally, but for others, the night turns into an ongoing struggle to drift off into oblivion. This film explores what it’s like to be awake involuntarily and the feelings that accompany the passing of sleepless time. Fall to Grace / U.S.A. (Director: Alexandra Pelosi) — Former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey famously resigned from office after declaring himself “a gay American.” Since then, he has continued to use his connections to help rehabilitate women and to make peace with his journey from married governor to gay suburban priest. Irish Folk Furniture / Ireland (Director: Tony Donoghue) — In Ireland, old hand-painted furniture is often associated with hard times, with poverty, and with a time many would rather forget. In this animated documentary, 16 pieces of traditional folk furniture are repaired and returned home. Outlawed in Pakistan / Pakistan, U.S.A. (Directors: Habiba Nosheen, Hilke Schellmann) — Kainat Soomro, a Pakistani teenager, accuses four men from her village of gang-raping her. She takes her case to the Pakistani courts and faces a deeply flawed criminal-justice system. Paraíso / U.S.A. (Director: Nadav Kurtz) — Three immigrant window cleaners risk their lives every day rappelling down some of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers. Paraíso reveals the danger of their job and what they see on the way down. The Roper / U.S.A. (Director: Ewan McNicol) — A black man with hip-hop and zydeco roots hard grafts through the local, all-white rodeo circuits in the Deep South, as he dreams of competing in the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. The Secret of Trees / U.S.A. (Director: Albert Maysles) — What do trees know that we don’t? Thirteen-year-old inventor Aidan has discovered that trees use a mathematical formula to gather sunlight in crowded forests. Now he wonders why we don’t collect solar energy in the same way. Skinningrove / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Almereyda) — Photographer Chris Killip shares unpublished images chronicling time spent among the fiercely independent residents of a remote English fishing village. A Story for the Modlins / Spain (Director: Sergio Oksman, Screenwriter: Sergio Oksman) —The tale of Elmer Modlin, who, after appearing in Rosemary’s Baby, fled with his family to a far-off country and shut himself away in a dark apartment for 30 years. When the Zombies Come / U.S.A. (Director: Jon Hurst) — At a remote hardware store, fans of the walking dead have turned their love of zombies into an obsession, warping the way they see the store and its customers. The Whistle / Poland (Director: Grzegorz Zariczny) — Marcin, a lowest-leagues football referee who lives in a small town near Krakow, dreams of better times. At his mother’s urging, he decides to change his life and find himself a girlfriend and a better job. You Don’t Know Jack / U.S.A. (Director: Morgan Spurlock) — Jack Andraka, a high school sophomore, has developed a revolutionary new test for pancreatic cancer, proving the future of science is in the hands of our youth. ANIMATED SHORT FILMS Benjamin’s Flowers / Sweden (Director and screenwriter: Malin Erixon) — Lovelorn and lonely Benjamin lives on the blurry borderline between fantasy and reality. Bite of the Tail / South Korea, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Song E Kim) — Life is a constant struggle for a husband and wife. She is suffering from stomach pain, and the doctor has no clue about a cure. Meanwhile, her husband is on his own journey of hunting a snake. The Event / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Julia Pott, Screenwriter: Tom Chivers) — Love and a severed foot at the end of the world. Feral / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Daniel Sousa) — A solitary hunter finds a wild boy in the woods and brings him back to civilization. Alienated by his strange new environment, the boy tries to adapt by using the same strategies that kept him safe in the forest. In Hanford / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Chris Mars) — This heartbreaking true story of a town poisoned by Cold War–era nuclear-arms manufacture is told through firsthand accounts and fantasy scenes, which empathize with the victim’s plight. Marcel, King of Tervuren / U.S.A. (Director: Tom Schroeder, Screenwriter: Ann Berckmoes) — In this Greek tragedy – as acted out by Belgian roosters – Marcel survives the bird flu, alcohol, sleeping pills and his son, Max. Oh Willy… / Belgium, France, Netherlands (Directors and screenwriters: Marc James Roels, Emma De Swaef) — Willy returns to his naturalist roots as he bungles his way into noble savagery. Seraph / U.S.A. (Director: Dash Shaw, Screenwriters: John Cameron Mitchell, Dash Shaw) — A boy’s childhood scars his life. Thank You / U.S.A. (Directors: Pendleton Ward, Tom Herpich, Screenwriters: Pendleton Ward, Tom Herpich) — A pack of fire wolves attack a snow golem in the forest and accidentally leave a cub behind after their retreat. The golem’s life is thrown into chaos as he attempts to reunite the cub with its family. Tram / France, Czech Republic (Director and screenwriter: Michaela Pavlátová) — The humdrum daily routine of a tram conductress is jolted when the vibrations and rhythm of the road turn her on and take her on an erotic and surrealistic fantasy journey. NEW FRONTIER SHORT FILMS An electrifying celebration of innovation in filmmaking, these New Frontier shorts energize the mind through bold aesthetics and thought-provoking content. The Capsule / Greece (Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Screenwriters: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Aleksandra Waliszewska) — Seven young women. A mansion perched on a Cycladic rock. A series of lessons on discipline, desire, discovery, and disappearance. A melancholy, inescapable cycle on the brink of womanhood – infinitely. Century / U.S.A. (Director: Kevin Jerome Everson) — Filmed in Charlottesville, Virginia, and starring a General Motors automobile – the titular brown Buick Century – meeting its fate. Datamosh / U.S.A. (Director: Yung Jake) — A contemporary rap video that explores the glitchy video art trend “datamoshing”. All geeked up, Yung Jake glitches out your computer and celebrates nerdiness and getting money. Iyeza / South Africa (Director and screenwriter: Kudzanai Chiurai) — An allegory of the Last Supper depicting the establishment of a new nation-state, Kudzanai Chiurai’s Iyeza explores the African condition by juxtaposing the past and the present of a continent in the grip of violent civil wars. Primate Cinema: Apes As Family / Scotland, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Rachel Mayeri) — Chimpanzees, our closest relatives, like to watch television. What would a film made expressly for chimps look like? Created with a primatologist and actors in chimp suits, a primate drama is presented to chimpanzees at the Edinburgh Zoo. Reindeer / United Kingdom (Director: Eva Weber) — A lyrical and haunting portrait of reindeer herding in the twilight expanses of the Lapland wilderness. Sirocco / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Hisham Bizri) — A detective is sent to the desert to investigate a murder only to find out he’s been investigating his own death. Until the Quiet Comes / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kahlil Joseph) — Shot in the Nickerson Gardens housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles, this film deals with themes of violence, camaraderie and spirituality through the lens of magical realism.
We’ve come to expect high-concept portrayals of the human condition from the Sundance Film Festival , but next year, virtual humans will get some art-house love, too. I’m talking about G.J. Echternkamp’s feature-film debut, Virtually Heroes , which will get a Park City at Midnight premiere at the festival in January. This is the Sundance synopsis for the film: Two self-aware characters in a Call of Duty -style video game struggle with their screwy, frustrating existence. To find answers, one abandons his partner and mission, seeking to unravel the cheat codes of life. Soldiers searching for meaning as they try to escape an endless cycle of pointless violence? If screenwriter Matt Yamashita set the story in Eastern Europe and Echternkamp shot it in black and white, you’d probably already be hearing Oscar buzz. But Virtually Heroes is set in a video game, which is why it will be a lot more fun. I’m going to see as soon as physically possible for the following four reasons: 1. Produced by Roger Corman Roger Corman has propagated the careers of a a remarkable array of filmmakers via his prolific B-movie production. I’m talking such little-known directors as James Cameron , Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese and low-level actors Jack Nicholson , Dennis Hopper and Robert De Niro . So when he decides that Virtually Heroes director Echternkamp and screenwriter Matt Yamashida are worth a chance, you should too. 2. Expert Video Gamers You know a film is low-budget when it doesn’t have a trailer. But like any upcoming video-game release, the producers have been flooding the Internet with screenshots, many via the movie’s Facebook page . And these shots show they know what they’re talking about. You also know the director knows video games when he laments that he couldn’t afford as many rocket launchers as he wanted. Also, Virtually Heroes doesn’t just incorporate the standard gaming status display on the screen, which you can see in the above shot. That display features a baseball bat with the infinity symbol, which is a classic shooter-game conceit. Every other weapon has limited ammunition, but the melee weapon — in this case, the bat — can be used forever. Oh yeah, and anyone who includes teabagging in a live-action movie knows what they’re doing. For those who haven’t been beaten in Halo , teabagging is a gamer taunt that involves repeatedly crouching your character over the body of a defeated enemy. That’s the closest you can come to sexual innuendo when your character has a smooth armored crotch and a “crouch” button. 3. Parody Plot Virtually Heroes isn’t set in a specific shooting game, which means it can effectively be set in all of them. With no established canon to respect, it can hop from setting to setting, reference to reference — each scene in a different level in video game lingo — to make whatever jokes it wants. The movie’s settings range from Vietnam to the Old West to Pirate-themed combat and it appears that the damsel in distress is immediately re-kidnapped every time the soldiers in question save her. This requires them to trek through another level, questioning their existence while taking the piss out of Nintendo’s Mario. The parody theme is continued with Mark Hamill turning up as “The Monk”, a wise, brown-robed hermit the heroes consult in search of true wisdom. When you can ask Luke Skywalker to make fun of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he says yes, that’s worth the price of admission alone. 4. The Director Knows His Satire This may be Echternkamp’s first feature film, but his directorial debut was another sharp parody project. His 2002 short Resurgence II is about an inept film director dedicated to creating an avant-garde masterpiece by using, it’s revealed, a mail-order “Art Film Flo-Chart” Corman must have seen that and thought: Yes, this man is ready for the B-movie big time. I agree. Luke McKinney loves the real world, but only because it has movies and video games in it. He responds to every tweet . Follow Luke McKinney on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Cannes , Sundance , Toronto , Berlin , San Sebastian, Hong Kong, New York , Telluride – and Pyongyang? The end of Summer brought on the annual big tentpole festivals in Venice and Toronto as well as industry and celeb-heavy Telluride, ushering in the annual awards race and many of this year’s fall releases. But don’t expect North Korea’s international film festival, which opens Thursday to factor too deeply into Oscar. In fact, Americans are apparently banned. Held every two years, the Pyongyang International Film Festival is a chance for residents of the so-called Hermit Kingdom to view foreign films on the big screen. One romantic comedy, Comrade Kim Goes Flying actually had its world premiere at the recent Toronto International Film Festival. The joint North Korean and European production took almost seven years to make. The romantic comedy centers on a coal miner who dreams of becoming an acrobat. North Korean filmmaker Kim Gwang Hun shot the film in the country, which is considered one of the world’s most isolated, which is still considered in a “state of war” with its nearby democratic rival South Korea. “It’s not what you expect from North Korea, and it’s not something people have seen before,” British filmmaker Nicholas Bonner,” told A.P. about the film, which took three years to get the script both “entertaining and palatable” to authorities for viewing in North Korea. “In the end, you’re dealing with professionals. They do their job. You’re in the film world, and we’re all making a film.” The event’s first edition took place in 1987 under the country’s late founder – who holds the lofty title in the country as the “Eternal President” – Kim Il Sung. Then known as the Pyongyang Film Festival of the Non-aligned and Other Developing Countries, it came back in 1990 and is now a biennial event. Though in 2008 the event showed 110 films from 46 countries, the titles are often censored and emphasize themes of family values, loyalty and the vices of money. Its mantra reads: “For Independence, Peace and Friendship” and the event hosts a Feature, Documentary and Short film competition. Though tightly controlled, North Koreans are reportedly film-crazy. The late “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il was an avid film fan, reportedly owning a huge library of films in his private library, including American titles. When he was seven, he saw his first film, My Hometown , the first pic made by the government-run Korean Film Studio. It centers on a young man who returns to his village after it is liberated from Japan. The late leader wrote On the Art of the Cinema in 1973, which cites filmmaking as a method to “aid the people’s development into true communists,” according to A.P. Along with Comrade Kim Goes Flying , audiences in Pyongyang (which will also include some foreigners) will have the chance to see another North Korean production – made along with a Chinese studio – aptly titled, Meet in Pyongyang . Like their late leader, well-off North Koreans are film fans, paying as much as $5 at official exchange rates to see new releases from the Korean Film Studio as well as fare mostly from Russia and China. Television stations, however, have offered some past popular features that made big box office returns in the West, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Bend It Like Beckham . This year’s edition of the Pyongyang International Film Festival takes place September 20 – 27. [ Sources: A.P. , Wikipedia ]
It’s turning out to be a great year for nudity at Sundance- or as I like to call it, Skindance- this year. First we got nudes of Laura Prepon’s nude debut , and now our Skin Skout has sent us this breaking nudes from Park City: Gentlemen, Lake Bell has officially broken the seal. After finally making her nude debut last year on How to Make It in America , she’s following up with a topless scene in the thriller Black Rock. Lake, Kate Bosworth , and The League ‘s Katie Aselton (who also directed) co-star as old friends forced to run for their lives on a hiking trip. Bosworth keeps her boulders in her bra, but Lake and Katie both bare boobs as they strip out of their wet clothes 52 minutes in, marking Lake’s second career nude scene and Katie’s nude debut . But that’s nothing compared to Helen Hunt , who returns after five years of non-nude fare like Soul Surfer (2011) with a fantastically full-frontal turn as a sex therapist in The Surrogate . We counted four skinstances of Helen’s cunt (a first for the As Good As It Gets star) in the nudity report, along with an impressive nine breast-baring scenes. She’s Mad about Pubes…and so are we! For more breaking nudes from Sundance, check our reviews of festival flicks 28 Hotel Rooms , V/H/S, and Simon Killer right here at MrSkin.com!
It’s turning out to be a great year for nudity at Sundance- or as I like to call it, Skindance- this year. First we got nudes of Laura Prepon’s nude debut , and now our Skin Skout has sent us this breaking nudes from Park City: Gentlemen, Lake Bell has officially broken the seal. After finally making her nude debut last year on How to Make It in America , she’s following up with a topless scene in the thriller Black Rock. Lake, Kate Bosworth , and The League ‘s Katie Aselton (who also directed) co-star as old friends forced to run for their lives on a hiking trip. Bosworth keeps her boulders in her bra, but Lake and Katie both bare boobs as they strip out of their wet clothes 52 minutes in, marking Lake’s second career nude scene and Katie’s nude debut . But that’s nothing compared to Helen Hunt , who returns after five years of non-nude fare like Soul Surfer (2011) with a fantastically full-frontal turn as a sex therapist in The Surrogate . We counted four skinstances of Helen’s cunt (a first for the As Good As It Gets star) in the nudity report, along with an impressive nine breast-baring scenes. She’s Mad about Pubes…and so are we! For more breaking nudes from Sundance, check our reviews of festival flicks 28 Hotel Rooms , V/H/S, and Simon Killer right here at MrSkin.com!
Chuck D is here at Sundance to promote Something for Nothing: The Art of Rap. Hollywood.TV caught up with him at the after party. Check back for more Sundance Footage.
You heard it here first, folks: our Skin Skout is at the Sundance Film Festival this week, and he reports that That ’70s Show and Are You There, Chelsea? star Laura Prepon makes her nude debut in the indie flick Lay the Favorite ! Based on Beth Raymer ‘s memoir about her adventures as a bookie, Lay the Favorite stars Rebecca Hall as a down-on-her-luck stripper who gets skinvolved in a gambling ring after relocating to Vegas. But Rebecca never actually bares her moneymakers, so our favorite lay is still Laura and Love and Other Drugs (2010) co-star Jo Newman , who both bare boobage sunbathing topless at the eight-minute mark. Lay the Favorite is currently playing film festivals, so for all the nudes on where to catch Laura Prepon ‘s lovely peaches, stay tuned right here at the Mr. Skin blog!
Mr. Skin’s been a fan of busty Kiwi act-chest Melanie Lynskey ever since she took a lesbian bubble bath with Kate WInslet in Heavenly Creatures (1994). But unfortunately Melanie has spent most of her career as a character actress and hasn’t been able to spread her wings as a leading lady…until now! Melanie’s starring in the new movie Hello I Must Be Going , which premieres this week at the Sundance Film Festival. She plays a 35-year-old divorcee who moves back in with her parents after being suddenly dumped by her husband; at first she’s wallowing in her misery, but ends up wallowing in the sexual attentions of her father’s 19-year-old business colleague. Cougarrific! Melanie reportedly has several scandalous sex scenes in the film, as reported in Entertainment Weekly : Melanie Lynskey strips naked and sings the Canadian national anthem to a 19-year-old lover during a playful skinny-dip in the family swimming pool.There were more passionate scenes where that came from: late-night sex in her parents’ car, a tryst on a couch at a family party, sneaking into her young boyfriend’s room when his folks (who mistakenly think he’s gay) are away… To get a sneak peek of Melanie’s sweet teats, check out our Melanie Lynskey page right here at MrSkin.com!
