February 2008
After Party: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I had the most fun at this Cinequest Opening Night party than I’ve had at any previous ones, but it could be because my son has had his driver’s license for a year now so I was able to have a few drinks. It definitely was less crowded than previous years, possibly there were less people or maybe the good weather just allowed a lot of us to mingle outside.
As soon as we walked through the doors we were presented with table after table with drinks set out just asking to be drank. I had to oblige, they were too pretty! I passed the table of pink vodka and went straight to the table of a dark colored liquid with cherries in them. I figured, Must be some kind of cherry drink! *BZZZZ* Wrong! From what we could tell, it was straight whiskey. Not really my thing, but… it was free and there were cherries waiting for me at the bottom! So, drink number one: check!
My daughter hung out at the chocolate fountain, and my son and his friend wandered around waiting for real food to appear. I’m not entirely sure if they found any – I know John had some toast with mushrooms on it, and we were all served many chicken shishkebobs, and I did manage to find a table with sandwich fixings but the bread was gone…
But I do know I decided to try one of the pink vodka drinks when the whiskey was gone. Now that drink I can get behind. I wish I knew exactly what drinks these were so I could give them a shout-out, but I have no idea. I just know that pink vodka = good. Drink number two: Check!
So the two boys and my daughter and I all hung out on the patio, chatting with various filmmakers and Nathan Louie, and the well-known Jason Wiener. And eventually my pink drink was gone and I wanted another. Drink number three: Check! And mom gives up the car keys.
So of course the party seemed awfully fun, to ME, but the kids were also having fun and so were the boys, and so were a lot of people I talked to that night. It was really nice not being packed in like sardines like in previous years, the music was nice, and it was just a pretty fun night.
Finally we all walked back to the parking garage and John drove us home. It was a good night – until I woke up this morning with a raging hangover. Heh.
The only drinks drunk tonight will be Starbucks and Diet Coke.
Cinequest 2008
Great Opening Night
Awesome party last night leads to massive hangover this morning, and also having to delete drunken after-party posts. heh. I’ll just say there were free drinks: I had one whiskey with cherries and two of some pink vodka. They were delish. Not so much this morning.
Cinequest 2007
Goodness, today was a good one for movies.
I brought the kids to see You Are Here even though I already saw it. I loved it just as much the second time around, maybe even more. The kids both loved it too. It’s definitely in my Top Five from the Festival.
Then my son brought us and a few of his friends to see Blood Car. The movie was advertised as a comedy and John told me it was a comedy. But when I visited that website and saw the trailer, I saw an extremely bloody horror film. John just kind of chuckled, re-confirmed that it was a comedy, and said that the trailer just showed every single bloody scene. I can’t say I believed him.
The movie was great. The movie could easily become a cult classic in the Evil Dead style. It was awesome – and not that bloody, although there certainly was blood, but it was not scary in any way, not really gross (most of the violence is completely off camera), and very, very, very funny. I was cracking up the whole time – but it was also GOOD. And remember sweet little Anna Chlumsky, from My Girl? She co-stars in it – and she’s still sweet and very pretty.
I really do recommend this movie – now, it’s not for everyone, but it is a great campy cult-like horror film ~~ if you like the Evil Dead movies you would totally appreciate this film.
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Then I saw A Dog’s Breakfast. This was an hilarious movie about a man who doesn’t like his sister’s new fiance, then believes the fiance is trying to kill the sister, so the man tries to kill the fiance. Got it so far? Well, he doesn’t succeed. Because the fiance kills himself when he accidently falls off a ladder. Man has a guilty conscience and tries to hide the body. But the damn dog keeps dragging it back to the house. And on and on and on. It was very funny and very well acted, and gave an open nod to “The Tell Tale Heart”. Also, if you watch “Stargate” – you may find yourself confused. Every character in the movie is from one of the Stargate series.
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And finally, Trained in the Ways of Men. This documentary went over the background and case of Gwen Araujo, a transgendered teen from the Bay Area who was brutally beaten and strangled by four men who were surprised to discover she was a biological male. It was truly heartbreaking, and I was glad I brought both my kids and one of John’s friends with me. Both of my kids loved it, and the friend (a male) said it “freaked him out”. I asked him why, and he said “It just gave me a whole lot to think about.” Which is exactly what it should do. There was just no way to come away from this movie thinking that Gwen a) had no right to call herself a female, or b) deserved what happened to her. Much of the story was told through interviews with Gwen’s mother, her family, and all the attorneys involved in the case. Gwen’s mother was in the theater and got a standing ovation. The theater itself was completely packed.
It was a very well done documentary and an important story that deserves to be told – I am sure it will be picked up by some television station and shown in that manner – you should all see it when it comes out.
Now available on DVD and Amazon Instand Video!
Cinequest 2007
This is a teenage movie set in the 80’s in the John Hughes vein – but with a gay character as the star. Although slow to start out (it is missing the quick and snappy dialogue of John Hughes’ films) it quickly gets up to speed and is hilarious and poignant at the same time, without ever being sad. The three teens I brought went CRAZY over this film and gave it a standing ovation. Truthfully, gay teens don’t get to see images of themselves on film like this – oh yes, you have the serious films, and gay porn, but you don’t get just happy, fun, gay teenage movies [edited: back in 2007 you didn’t]. My three teens were just dying for more and wouldn’t stop talking about it until the next movie started.
It wasn’t just for teens though, and it appeared that the audience who was mostly older adults also loved it.
Now available on DVD and through Netflix.
Cinequest 2007
Today is the first time this Cinequest that I HATED a movie.
American Losers (documentary)
This is what the blurb about the movie says:
American Losers chronicles the lives of two New Yorkers on the fringe. Kimberle is a member of an aspiring band who moved away from the Bible Belt to spread her wings and give her dream a living chance in the glow of big city lights. Kevin is a shut-in of sorts on the threshold of jump starting his life after a series of stumbles. He lives in the woods north of New York City and has returned to school after initially dropping out of high school over 20-years-ago. By society’s norms, they are “losers”, but through Ada Bligaard Søby’s lens they become larger than life heroes—wise, humorous, slightly manic individuals just trying to grab their piece of the American pie.
But that’s not what it was about. They were both the most annoying people EVER, people I would never choose to be friends with, but I was stuck with them for an hour of my life.
The girl was an aspiring rock star, yes. She also had racked up thousands of dollars of credit card bills that she no longer even opens. She seemed quite proud of that. And the debt wasn’t from things like food, or diapers, or electric bills … No, she got a new credit card and went to go buy a new pair of boots – and she was going to limit herself to spending $1200. For a pair of boots. Because she wanted enough to also buy makeup and pantyhose. Okay, that? Is stealing. She has no way to pay that money back and no desire to pay it back and no intent to pay it back. Yes, she is indeed an American Loser. And although she was never shown using drugs and I don’t think she was – she had the brain cells of a long time user.
The man was a barely functioning genius. You see these people all over school, students who are indeed geniuses, of the type that live in their own world and can’t seem to adapt to ours. It’s difficult for them to make friends because they have no social skills. You never see them as professors because they don’t have the attention span or discipline to correct papers. In his case, I wouldn’t call him a loser – he was going to school and doing well and seemed to have some way to pay his bills. Or at least he wasn’t advertising that he wasn’t paying them. I don’t fault him his genius or his eccentricities, but I wouldn’t spend a lot of time with him.
And yet there I was stuck with the two of them for an hour.
Thank gosh it was only an hour long.
I can’t recommend this movie in any way. Neither one of the characters was a “larger than life hero” in any way at all. All three teenagers I brought with me agreed it was a wasted hour of their lives.
However, the short before it, Marrying God, was absolutely incredible. So you could always go in, see the short, and then leave to see another movie. That’s what I would recommend.
Cinequest 2007
Dimension – I gave this a “Good” rating. My daughter gave it “Excellent”. It was an awesome idea (God gives you the chance to change any three inches of your life – three inches taller, thinner, “longer”, some people chose a 3 inch stack of $100 bills, some made life saving changes) but it was halfway poorly executed. By this I mean that the first half of the movie was ALL OVER THE PLACE. So many people walked out of the theater, and I thought that was kind of strange because trust me, I’ve seen much worse movies. But halfway through a film festival we can lose patience with waiting through bad movies. Anyway – it was all over the place, and too slow, and the sound was not great. But the second half was pulled it all together, the ideas and themes came through, and then it became a totally awesome movie. However, it was also poorly filmed – almost every student film I’ve ever seen has been much better quality than this.
That said, the Director (Matthew Scott Harris) was there for questions, and again I was surprised by his age but this time for a different reason – he was older than I am. It turns out he had this idea on his last day of college, but went on to become an environmental engineer. After ten years of that he became a bartender. Then he finally decided to make this movie. The sound problems were due to them not knowing what they were doing – it was truly a do-it-yourself film school in the making. So we’re talking no real film school, twenty years of doing non-creative things, and then a sudden desire to make this film that gives a great message.
It really was a great idea, and like I said my daughter gave it an excellent. But I could not in good conscience, given the other truly excellent movies I have seen at Cinequest, ignore the fact that the first half of the movie was really bad. And then there were the quality and other problems. So I give him a “Good” and wish this guy well (I truly do) and hope he comes out with some more great stuff in the future. Given that this is his first film, I would definitely go see his next ones.
Cinequest 2007
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Full Grown Men. We all liked this movie a lot. Everyone who saw it really liked it, it just wasn’t what we expected. I think probably because Alan Cumming is listed in the cast along with Amy Sedaris who is even showed in the ad for it. So everyone was expecting something really funny. And it was more of a very thoughtful, sweet and troubling journey into adulthood for this man who should have grown up years before. I think everyone really loved it and recommend it, we all just had to take a step back and think about it first. When you are expecting a comedy and instead get handed something semi-serious, it takes a moment to re-evaluate the film.
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All the Days Before Tomorrow. This was a really great movie that involved a lot of talking and I was reeeeeeally tired. I sat next to the writer/director’s mother and she was very proud of her boy. But I was just too tired to really love the movie. John said he thought it was great, so you should go by his approval – I thought it was good, just too tired to enjoy it. Also, Alexandra Holden was in the theater, and she is way way way beautiful in real life. She was just adorable.
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MONSTER CAMP. I am putting this one in Bold and CAPITALS because if you go to Cinequest you should see this movie. It is the one that I enjoyed the most – and it seems everyone in the theater really loved it too. It’s a documentary about people who LARP – or Live Action Role Play. You can watch the trailer HERE.
It was hilarious, but it was great too. I went there to laugh at the silly nerds, but you can’t help coming away from it thinking – So what? So they have a hobby that gets them out of the house, it’s no different really from me being addicted to school, or my family being addicted to movies, or others being addicted to football. At the same time, Cullen shows a few players who maybe need to put a little more reality into their lives – two players are in their fifth year of being a Senior in High School. Actually, this was one of my favorite conversations in the movie:
Player #1: He’s just jealous because I have more time to play World of Warcraft.
Player #2: That’s because I have a JOB.
Player #1: Yeah, but you don’t have a LIFE.
Player #2: That’s because I have a JOB.
Cullen Hoback is the director of Monster Camp, and last year he brought his film Freedom State to Cinequest. You can see the preview for that film here – but it doesn’t do the film justice. At any rate – if you can get to Cinequest or Seattle International Film Festival in May or June, or Swansea Bay Film Festival when it comes out, try to see this movie. (Now available on Netflix, or you can purchase it on the website)
Cinequest 2007
Today was FUN FUN FUN.
I saw two great movies and two okay movies. Yes, I changed my schedule and was able to fit in FOUR movies today. My old boss Jim was there too, the one who used to loan me his Cinequest passes when I couldn’t afford them myself. Now I joke with him that my name is above his on the contributor list. But he and his wife were at the last film with me and we had a good time chatting about what we saw. So let’s get this started. I’ll go from worst to best.
Not Good: Imitation: It wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t great. It was slow, confusing, irritating sometimes, and left you with no one to root for. Plus, WRONG ENDING. If this is on your list and there’s something else you want to see, skip this one. It wasn’t as bad as the French short film, it just wasn’t really good.
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Good: Mas Que Nada en el Mundo (More than Anything in the World):
This movie was really, really good, it just wasn’t something that made you feel good about the world when you left. Single mother who isn’t really taking very good care of her daughter, but it is obvious that the mother does love her. The girl who plays the daughter however was FANTASTIC. That girl could act rings around Abigail Breslin AND Dakota Fanning, and she’s gorgeous too. I wish she was American so she could be in more movies I could see. The movie is unfinished: there are no end credits, the sound editing has not been done, and the one scene that required special effects still had the green screen visible so there was no special effect. It was kind of funny, but you knew what was supposed to be there and sometimes this happens for Film Festival movies. I didn’t think the ending was terribly realistic – the daughter only THINKS she fixed everything, so really nothing was changed. If you don’t mind seeing a very mildly disturbing film that has incredible actors (mamma, daughter and her friend), I do recommend this one.
Best Foreign Film of the Day: Courthouse on Horseback (Mabei shang de fating) I loved this film. I’m going to take the description right out of the Cinequest site: Winner of the prestigious Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival, and based on a true story, Liu Jie directs the story of an old circuit court judge, whose dispensation of justice for the various squabbles and transgressions he finds are reminiscent of Mark Twain in both their fairness and humor. I thought it was great, it was a very nice surprise and the first really good film I saw so far. This is the kind of festival film the rest of the world really misses out on – a nice quiet foreign film (from China) that is really really great.
Best Film for a Fun Move Ride: You Are Here (Now on Amazon Instant Video, new title “SPIN”). This was a direct rip-off of GO complete with requisite British bloke, dangerous drug dealer, and the multiple view points. But it was a REALLY fun movie. I totally loved it and so did the whole audience. The good news is, this one will have at least a one week showing in LA and New York, which means it could be picked up cross-country and will at least go to video/DVD. So keep your eyes out for this one – or go see it if you’re at Cinequest. It also had a great cast: Katie Cassidy, Bijou Phillips, Adam Campbell, Lauren German, Patrick Flueger, Chris Lowell, Danny Masterson, Michael Biehn
Cinequest 2006
Last night we saw Freedom State and hit the jackpot again. Shot beautifully, and the characters were played by such likeable people. You just didn’t want it to end because you were in love with watching these “crazy” people in their adventures. And a real message of love and living happily. Again, the director comes out and he’s all of 16 years old. Okay, he can’t possibly BE 16, but he certainly looked it. I am amazed that so many good movies are being made by kids who can’t be out of their early 20’s. Anyway, view the trailer and keep your eye out for this one because I think it may make it.
The only criticism – it was slow in the very beginning, and it was almost too quirky – but everyone I spoke with agreed that the movie itself was so good that we didn’t care about the quirky parts we didn’t understand – we loved watching it anyway.
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Dirty Mary, the short before this was okay. It had a great plot and was pretty hysterical, but again, editing. No one wants to listen to the drunk girl screeching at the bar, and no one wants to listen to so much screeching on screen either. If the screeching was cut down, the rest of the movie was pretty fucking hilarious. And if you’re a girl and ever wore your stained granny panties and neglected shaving your legs to assure you didn’t bring a guy home after a date, then you would totally love this short.
Cinequest 2006
We all stayed up late to watch the special added viewing of Á Colombia and we are all three SO GLAD that we did – even Catalina was in love with the movie. We didn’t get home until midnight, and it was worth it. The star (and hot guy) of the show was actually Terrence Bergeron, not writer/director Ryan Byrne, but Ryan co-starred in it and Catalina elected him to be the hottest. Those two are very very lucky they weren’t hit over the head and stuffed into our trunk to be brought home with us. It was truly an incredible movie, about two guys who take a trip to Columbia and have adventures and fall in love.
Surprise of the night – the main character in the movie was suffering from Crohn’s disease – that’s what my mother had, and it was her birthday yesterday. SPOILER — there is a death in the end and so that was pretty traumatic, but it really worked in the movie and I really loved it. Yeah, it made me cry, but I got over it, and I loved it.
So then during the Q&A period after, we found out that Terrence – the incredibly HOT but also incredibly fantastic actor – this was his first real acting gig. And then… Ryan… picked up a camera for the first time 3 years ago. Those two men are definitely the Vince Vaugn/Jon Favreau of their generation and you should look out for them in the future.
Most hilarious part of the night – Ryan explaining that he didn’t really recommend flying to a foreign country where you did not speak the language to try to shoot your first ever film. But Ryan and Terrence? You guys did a fabulous job. GET YOUR DAMN WEBSITE UP! This is Silicon Valley! If you have a website we will promote you to the world!!!! (Darn slacker kids!)
Popcorn and Vodka 
