tagged w/ delgo
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Of course, we can't just have five favorites. So what else did 2009 bring into my life like a sickness before rapidly consuming and taking over my immune system?
5) Paranormal Activity and Paramount's Marketing Department
"Because You Demanded It" became a staple phrase starting in September and it completely overwhelmed the country by the time Paranormal Activity came out. From Eventful into an orchestrated PR campaign launched by Paramount's Digital Marketing department. So, why did we take part in it?
In a sick way, it's good to be wanted. And for the first time since the Saw franchise came bleeding and slicing into the world, horror fans were given a sense of self-importance and worth. This was a film that spoke to them because they had pretend power over its' release. Never mind that Paramount sat on the film for two years just to make a re-release. Not to mention that literally everyone reminded you to demand it, which is all in thanks to Paramount's awesome PR.
They're so awesome, in fact, that they've likely crippled the future of independent release structures and will shift us into the glorious future of "Indie"--BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO DEMAND IT.
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4) Avatar/Delgo Mash-Ups
The dust has settled: Avatar is now cool to like! You can want to watch it without irony and excitement. But I like to remember the days when blue CGI creatures were interchangeable with other blue CGI creatures.
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3) 2012/Collapse trailer
In a moment of marketing kismet in release karma, Roland Emmerich's diaster flick unspooled the same day as Chris Smith's documentary that was also about the actual end of the world as we know it. Then the trailers happened to run into each other at the theater. One thing lead to another and boom goes the dynamite.
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2) After Last Season
Perhaps a true legitimate independent film that found marketing through the Internet, Mark Region's After Last Season got a four-screen release in four different states for one week. It spawned discussion of it being viral marketing, an art project and even inspired rumors of an infamous festival programmer with a penchant for karaoke to steal a print from one of the theaters. The same infamous festival programmer said it was akin to a true cinematic experience, since it inspired such a cult frenzy.
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Chaos Reigns (Antichrist)
While Lars Von Trier's latest got basic VOD distribution, it burned through the online film community faster than you could drink a milkshake. The spark happened at Cannes earlier and gradually came across the rest of the community until a full-blown forrest fire happened in Austin of epic meme proportions. But even then, this didn't spread nearly as wide as There Will Be Blood's iconic line. Instead, Chaos Reigns became a film nerd joke that the rest of the population could only squint at.
img uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
Of course, we can't just have five favorites. So what else did 2009 bring... more
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It's a sad day as people sing the praises of Basterds, we lose the final member of the Big Studio Indie Arm gang. The last victim film to be released under the now-defunct Paramount Vantage label was also released last Friday, but you'll never hear or see it unless you're in Chicago, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco or Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
We're talking, of course, about The Marc Pease Experience, which stars Ben Stiller and Jason Goodman and is co-written/directed by Todd Louiso (Love Liza). It drew a 31 from Metacritic and 25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. So what's the big deal then? Well given its' limited release, The Experience came away with $3,000 for the entire weekend. On 10 screens.
This jogged the old memory as we recalled other Great Moments in Quiet Releases:
[youtube 2Kp8ycMhvO8]
Zyzzyx Road
Where It Was Released: 1 Theater (the Highland Park Village Theater, Dallas, Texas)
How Much It Made: $30 US after a 6 Day showing paid for by the producers.
Why It's A Great Moment in Quiet Releases: It's the stuff that legends are based on. Brought to light originally by Devin Faraci at CHUD, this was a film that featured Katharine Heigel, Tom Sizemore and one of the strangest legal battles in history. Of course, it went on to make some money in the international market ($300,000+) and off home video release, but it was in part thanks to Devin Faraci learning about this movie that one of the recent cult fads could be born.
[youtube UJz5vURvEAQ]
After Last Season
Where It Was Released: 4 Theaters (Lancaster, CA; North Aurora, IL; Rochester, NY; Austin, TX)
How Much It Made: Unknown (No record exists of the film's week long run at the four theaters.)
Why It's A Great Moment in Quiet Releases: Season wasn't "quiet" per se, but it spawned enough of an Internet Shitstorm that people became obssessed with the trailer (myself included) and trying to discover the back-story of the film's director, Mark Region, and his production company, which also served as the location for the film shoot. Regardless of a $5 million budget claim, Last Season did the impossible and opened on a four screen theater across four states for one week. This is a mildly important thing to consider when most independent films can't even show in one theater in the director's home town for a week. Yet no one but Region knows how much the film made. Season inspired rabid speculation among even hardened cinephiles, prompting one rumor that one man, while on vacation in California, drove nearly 4 hours to the location in Lancaster to barter for a print of Last Season that was being thrown out.
[youtube EgQ_ichSL9A]
Delgo
Where It Was Released: On 2,160 screens nationwide
How Much It Made: $694, 782 (or $237 per screen)
Why It's A Great Moment in Quiet Releases: Delgo is one of the best loud-yet-quiet releases ever. It was once championed as the future of independent animation and CGI, but soon became one of the saddest $40 Million productions that gestated for over 11 years in production. Not to mention it seems errily similar to Avatar.
[youtube nAloQYjWmFI]
Bandslam
Where It Was Released: 2,1,21 theaters nationwide
How Much It Made: $2,231,273 (Opening Weekend)
Why It's A Great Moment in Quiet Releases: For a critically praised tween comedy about music and friendship, it was used as nothing more than a dumping ground for The New Moon teaser trailer. Mis-marketed to the High School Musical fanbase, this film wound belly-up the second it fell out of the gate. Maybe not a "quiet" release, but it sure played itself off rather quickly.
-John Lichman
It's a sad day as people sing the praises of Basterds, we lose the final... more
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On Tuesday, I normally wake up and say: "What could I do without today?" Today that answer is simple. I will join a non-news event where we will not cover a certain starlet on this blog or Current.com/Movies. Also, a cast-member of Heroes takes a strange mash-up of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy and apparently adapting Warren Ellis' works leads to comedy. Oh joy. Oh boy. Oh Tuesday.
Betty White is the hot, young starlet you should focus on today. [Asylum]
Milo Ventimiglia takes on the famous "Hammer Fight" from Oldboy, but includes AIG workers. [Cinemash]
Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler's Wife) confirms the adaptation of Warren Ellis' Red, about a retired government assassin who comes back in after an attempt on his life, will be "very funny." Ellis, meanwhile, is likely to close his side of the Internet upon hearing this quote. [MTV Splash Page]
Hugh Jackman will play P.T. Barnum in the musical The Greatest Showman on Earth. More like...uh...eh. [Variety]
The best news? Renny Harlin's new feature will focus on the Russian-Georgia conflict and journalists. OMG. [Variety]
Delgo has been released on DVD this week. TELL YOUR FRIENDS. [Movieline]
-John Lichman
On Tuesday, I normally wake up and say: "What could I do without today?"... more
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Avatar finally ended its stretch as America's #1 movie, but people are continuing to point out sources that James Cameron borrowed from. It's become a national pastime, our version of Banshee-catching. We've rounded up 16 sources that Cameron allegedly nabbed.
http://io9.com/5460954/the-complete-list-of-sources-avatars-accused-of-ripping-offAvatar finally ended its stretch as America's #1 movie, but people are continuing... more
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The great film flops, Stuart Klawans writes in Film Follies, "string together one spectacular sequence after another, rarely troubling the audience with the demands of logic or inner development." But not all flops are that good: some are merely commercial misjudgments, others spectacularly unwise expressions of unfettered ego.
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/01/the-11-biggest-flops-of-all-time.htmlThe great film flops, Stuart Klawans writes in Film Follies, "string together one... more
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Finally, what started as a joke about two CGI movies is now possibly going to become a lawsuit.
Never change, Hollywood. Never change.Finally, what started as a joke about two CGI movies is now possibly going to become a... more
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Rejoice! Delgo, one of the longest gestating independent animated films, is on DVD.
It's also one of the biggest box office failures ever.
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With no advertising and virtually no support from its voice cast (including Kilmer, leading man Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Burt Reynolds), Fathom Studios’ labor of love about a lizard-manchild framed for a crime he didn’t commit — in a society where bipedal blobs live apart from winged blobs — probably should have gone straight to DVD in the first place. But then we’d have one less legend in Hollywood, so no second guessing here.
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I actually watched this horrible event with a theater full of like-minded, morbidly curious people on a Friday morning.
It was like being a part of a crowd watching a car crash.Rejoice! Delgo, one of the longest gestating independent animated films, is on DVD.... more
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Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox join forces with bloggers, comedians, students and citizen critics to review "Battle for Terra."
The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a movie review show that airs on Thursday nights at 10:30 e/p on Current TV. From reviews of the newest releases to commentary on cult favorites and movie trends, each episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a fast-paced, comedic journey through the week in cinema.
For more from the Rotten Tomatoes movie show: http://current.com/the-rotten-tomatoes-show
For more about movies from Current: http://current.com/moviesBrett Erlich and Ellen Fox join forces with bloggers, comedians, students and citizen... more
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