Author: Travis Keune

Hopeless film enthusiast; reborn comic book geek; artist; collector; cookie connoisseur; curious to no end

Actress Marilyn Chambers dies at age 56

marilynchambers2

Actress Marilyn Chambers was found dead at her Los Angeles home late Sunday night at the age of 56. The adult film star’s real name was Marilyn Taylor, but made a name for herself in the adult entertainment business with a few firsts, including her starring role in ‘Behind the Green Door’, one of the earliest pornographic films to receive a wide theatrical release in the United States. She was also one of the first adult stars to be portrayed having interracial sex, causing an uproar amidst critics, prudes and racists. So, it sort of makes her a champion of civil rights. In all seriousness though, Chambers will be missed by Movie Geeks across the globe who remember her starring role as Rose in David Cronenberg’s 1977 classic horror film ‘Rabid’. The Los Angeles Coroner’s office say an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

[source: Reuters]

Review: ‘Sauna’

saunamovie02

‘Sauna’ is an eerie tale of two Swedish brothers in the 16th century who are part of a small Swedish and Russian team of former soldiers attempting to outline a border between the two countries after a long and bloody war.

While this film is classified as horror, this is accomplished mostly through the psychological turmoil that the two brother endure as they cope with the mistreatment of a young farmer’s daughter they encountered on the journey into a mostly uncharted swamp.

‘Sauna’ is creepy and mysterious, much in the same way most Asian horror films approach the concept of a “scary” movie. It’s all about the unknown and the unseen, not revealing much of anything until the end and even then keeping the pay-off low-key, allowing for the viewer’s mind to do most of the work for the film.

Erik (Ville Virtanen) is an experienced soldier with a long tally of bodies on his conscious from the war. Erik is well aware of the blood on his hands and the sins he will undoubtedly pay for in whatever afterlife lies in wait for him. His brother Knut (Tommi Eronen) is a much more timid and peaceful man, but the two of them are equally responsible for the young girl that may or may not have survived their encounter.

Director Antti-Jussi Annila’s vision for ‘Sauna’ comes through vividly, despite the occasionally slow pace. The landscape is bleak and gray, but beautifully mystic at the same time. Erik is a man who toils, internally and externally with his past actions and now wishes finds himself thrown into a metaphysical allegory by which he believes he can make some amends by saving another little girl from a mysterious force in a strange little village located dead in the center of this swamp.

The outcome is disturbing, metaphorical and to some extent open-ended to interpretation. ‘Sauna’ achieves it’s success by not succumbing to the typical formula of period horror. I recommend this movie for those who enjoyed ‘Crimson Rivers’ and films of a similar type.

[Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5]

‘Venom’ is getting a Spider-Man Spin-Off Movie!

venomspinoff

Sony will be developing a ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off movie that will focus on the Venom character, which has apparently been confirmed by it’s writers. The writing team of Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Zombieland) have been hired to produce a screenplay for the project.

“We read [Venom] growing up, but we were not experts,” Reese said. “We certainly know the mythology of Venom, but went back and learned more when it became clear that we could actually get this job.” — Sci Fi Wire

Writing is already underway and Wernick and Reese are well aware of the egg shell they are walking on with this project. Sam Raimi was allegedly not a fan of the Venom character, which may have played into why ‘Spider-Man 3’ was not a big success with fans, but Wernick and Reese are approaching this script from a different angle.

[source: Sci Fi Wire]

Children of the 80’s Rejoice, “Our” Cartoons coming to DVD!

gijoecartoondvd

For all my fellow children of the 80’s I bring good news. Two of our most beloved animated cartoon shows from our childhood are getting a respectable DVD treatment. Shout! Factory and Hasbro are teaming up to bring the original ‘Transformers’ and ‘G.I. Joe’ episodes to DVD.

The first of these epic DVD releases scheduled to hit store shelves will be ‘The Transformers: The Complete First Season — 25th Anniversary Edition’. This is set for June 16, 2009, a week before Michael Bay’s live-action sequel ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ hits theaters on June 24, 2009.

The 3-disc DVD set will include the original 1984 broadcast version of all 16 episodes of season one, in the intended story line order. The DVD will feature a remastered picture and a new stereo soundtrack created from it’s original audio recordings, unlike the original Rhino DVD release made from incomplete work prints. Shout! Factory will release DVD sets of the complete series of ‘Transformers’ and ‘G.I. Joe’ later this summer.

This anniversary edition of season one will sell for $29.99 and tentatively include the following extras:

  • Triplechanger: From Toy to Comic to Screen: The Origins of the Transformers featurette
  • Printable Script
  • Rare PSAs
  • Toy Commercials
  • Concept Art
  • Limited Edition Autobot Magnet

[source: Hollywood Reporter]

‘The Simpsons’ get the mugs on U.S. Stamps

simpsonsstamps

If you weren’t already aware of this, the U.S. Post Office will be hiking up the price of stamps, once again. The new run of first-class stamps will go from $0.42 each to the new rate of $0.44 each. However, to ease your troubled minds about this economically-relevant news, the Post Office revealed on Thursday a sneak peek at their new ‘Simpsons’ stamps, which will be available starting May 7, 2009.

“This is the biggest and most adhesive honor ‘The Simpsons’ has ever received,” said creator and executive producer Matt Groening. — Hollywood Reporter

Fans are encouraged to vote for their favorite ‘Simpsons’ character on the website and they can also pre-order the stamps and register to win a limited edition ‘Simpsons’ poster, signed by Matt Groening.

Excited? Buy your stamps here.

[source: Hollywood Reporter]

Review: ‘Legion of the Liar’

legionoftheliar

‘Legion of the Liar’ is an independent experimental film I picked up on DVD while at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors. The movie is less traditional horror as it is a sort of spiritual, psychological experiment in audio/visual storytelling. The movie is 60 minutes in length and directed by Daniel McLemore Stanton.

Described as such by the director himself, ‘Legion of the Liar’ is “a very unique theme of abstract images – more of an atmosphere for Good versus Evil, with out a lot of character dialog.” This is a fairly straight forward and accurate description of the movie, which plays with the senses and succeeds at being moody. The overall concept is meant to convey an exorcism through sights and sounds combined to evoke an emotional response, while underscored by the dialogue of an exorcism.

Whatever story may have been intended has unfortunately been lost amidst the experimentation. With that said, Stanton is creatively free and uninhibited with his camera. His eye for effective lighting is precise and the editing of the film is both confrontational and energetic. The narration, or dialogue of the exorcism, that accompanies the vivid and creepy music and sound design, feels forced and unemotional from the exorcist and at times the voice of the possessed leaves much to be desired.

In the later half of the film, Stanton introduces some scenes that are a welcome change of pace but questionably appropriate to the story. The film ends in a way that presents a significant shift in mood and attempts to convey the victor of this epic battle with a message. ‘Legion of the Liar’ is an experience that must be had with a few things in mind.

First, it’s length perhaps should have been less, whereas the movie would have worked better as a short(er) film. Much of it plays like a dark, twisted music video. Also, watch the movie without expectations of a story developing. With these two things in mind, ‘Legion of the Liar’ does have many redeeming qualities and is certainly an interesting experience for the eyes and ears.

Check out the Official Website.

[Overall: 2.5 stars out of 5]

Rob Zombie approached for segment of ‘Heavy Metal’

heavymetal

Thanks to Ryan Rotten, from shocktillyoudrop.com, we’ve learned that Rob Zombie has apparently been approached by David Fincher and Kevin Eastman to possibly direct one of the segments for the new remake of the ‘Heavy Metal’ animated anthology film. Rotten has been visiting the set of ‘H2’ and spoke with Zombie’s producer Andy Gould, who laid out the news. It was also mentioned what they had in mind, that Zombie could do “something that could fuse his story with his music.”

[source: Shock till You Drop]

Yim Soon-rye: Women in Korean Cinema 2009

yimsoonrye

With the rise of popularity both here and abroad for Korean cinema, Washington University-Saint Louis will present the films of acclaimed Korean filmmaker Yim Soon-rye. She will be making a stop in Saint Louis as part of her five-stop tour that includes the Smithsonian. Two of her films will be screening during her visit, each followed by a questions and answers session with the director herself. This event is free and open to the public.

See the schedule below for more information:

Waikiki Brothers (2001), Brown Hall 118 –
Waikiki Brothers is a band going nowhere. A!er another depressing gig, the saxophonist quits, leaving the three remaining members (lead singer and guitarist Sungwoo, keyboardist Jungsuk, and drummer Kangsoo) to continue on the road. The band ends up at Sungwoo’s hometown, Suanbo, which was a popular hot spring resort in the ’80s. Set in an era long before Karaokes, the band tries to break in at the Waikiki Hotel, and their gig at the hotel nightclub starts well, until Jungsuk and Kangsoo start to indulge their worst vices. April 14 (Tue), 7pm

Forever the Moment (2006), Brown Hall 100 –
The Athens Olympics are approaching and Korea is looking for gold in every sport. Korean women in particular have done well in almost all areas except for the overlooked and stigmatized sport of Team Handball. And when the team is assembled, it doesn’t look promising when the players who show up are women in their 30s and teens with piercing. Can this oddball group overcome their personal differences and hardships and somehow come together as a team? “Forever the Moment” features some of Korea’s most famous actresses, including Moon So-ri, Cho Eun-ji, Kim Jung-eun, and Kim Ji-young. April 15 (Wed), 7pm

48 Hour Film Project is Getting Bigger

48hourfilm

The ninth running of The 48 Hour Film Project will kick it’s 2009 tour off in Las Vegas, Nevada on from April 17-19 at the NAB Show. The event, which is considered the world’s largest timed filmmaking competition, will expand in 2009 to almost 80 cities worldwide. Newly added cities on the tour this year include Beijing, China; Lisbon, Portugal; Savannah, Georgia; and Paducah, Kentucky.

This challenging project, which requires the filmmakers to finish the entire filmmaking process from concept to completion in just 48 hours. This includes writing, casting, shooting and editing and everything in between. This year’s project is estimated to challenge up to 35,000 filmmakers across the globe.

The 48 Hour Film Project began in 2001, having kicked off in Washington by filmmakers Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston. Since then, the project has had more than 130,000 participants who made almost 9,000 short films. These past films can be seen in the project’s archive.

[source: Hollywood Reporter]

Schwartzman and Cuomo on Alt Nation!

jasonscwartzmanatlnatriverscuomoaltnat

This isn’t movie news, I know. But, who cares? Besides, Jason Schwartzman is an actor, so it counts. The point is, two of the coolest geeks on the planet will be joining forces for a special one-hour show on Alt Nation. This Geek-tastic event will air tomorrow night, Friday, April 10 at 8:00pm ET, 7:00pm CST on Sirius radio’s Alt Nation. Oh yeah, and apparently Rainn Wilson is stopping in as well. That’s three super cool geeks, all in one shot!

Weezer front man and solo artist, Rivers Cuomo along with actor/musician Jason Schwartzman of Coconut Records take over the Alt-Nation playlist, perform acoustically and interview each other in this exclusive Alt-Nation special! Rivers will talk about his work with Weezer as well as his second solo release Alone II: The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo. Jason Schwartzman will talk about his solo project Coconut Records and how Rivers’ music has influenced him over the years. Rivers will also perform songs acoustically with various friends including actor Rainn Wilson of The Office on bongos! – Sirius.com

Scheduled Rebroadcasts: Sat 4/11 3:00 pm ET; Sat 4/11 9:00 pm ET; Sun 4/12 9:00 am ET; Sun 4/12 6:00 pm ET

Check out the website for more info.