Saturday, April 22, 2006

IFFB today + more advance tix than I thought!

Happy Earth Day, all!~

This makes me kinda happy...

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MORE TICKETS!

It turns out that when a film at the IFFB site is marked as "DOOR ONLY," that does NOT necessarily mean ONLY rush tickets are left. I found out last night that for both EDMOND and B13, there were still dozens of pre-rush, ADVANCE tickets available, but only at the venue box office. I'm sorry if my email yesterday discouraged any of you from seeing a movie - my badd : P

If you DO see something on the schedule you like... and it's marked DOOR ONLY, I recommend giving a call to the venue and asking about ticket availability at the box office...

The numbers for the festival venues...

Somerville Theater in Davis Square, on the red line (this is IFFB "central")...

(617) 625-4088
(617) 625-5700

Coolidge Corner Theater in Coolidge Corner, Brookline, on the C line...

(617) 734-2501 (human being)
(617) 734-2500

The Brattle Theater in Harvard Square, Cambridge, on the red line...
(617) 876-6838 (human being)
(617) 876-6837
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IN THE DARK ALL DAY...

Today I'm gonna hit...

SHADOW COMPANY - documentary on the privatized military in play around the world...

DEADLY ENCOUNTERS - short films package... w DAILY SHOW's Ed Helms...

THE LAST ROMANTIC - a young poet hits NYC looking to make his mark, but can't actually seem to get to the WRITING part...

COMIC AVENGERS - short films package... w ARRESTED D's George Michael Bluth...

DEATH TRANCE - at midnight at the Brattle, a super-stylish Japanese samurai action flick...

All of those are at Somerville except for the midnight show at the Brattle. If you're hittin any of them, feel free to give a txt to let me know.
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YESTERDAY I SAW...

ANIMATED JOURNEYS - See these! They play again today at 12.15pm and tomorrow at 7.30pm. This short film package features equal parts beauty and hilarity (both ridiculous and offensive) and wit spread out over its 8 films. It's all good, something for every palate, but I'll quickly push two from diff ends of the spectrum here...

The Oscar nominated MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO is a gorgeous hybrid of 3-d and 2-d animation styles that create a new kind of shadow puppet theater, used to tell the steampunk adventure tale of a navigator on a steel dirigible in uncharted air. Also, there is a kee-RAY-zee rap song that reveals untold depths about our larger-than-life founding father, George Washington, in COX & COMBES' WASHINGTON. Barely animation, but pretty darn crowd-pleasing. =)

EDMOND - Only played this one showtime. William Macy does David Mamet, with a high-powered but very subtly employed ensemble supporting cast. After visiting a fortune teller one day after work, Macy's Edmond starts doing things he'd never typically do, tell his wife how he really feels, proposition a stripper, pawn his ring, pick a fight with a pimp... You can see how it would be fun for the whole familiy, no? =)

Chock full of the Mamet-ese, dialogue that seems intentionally written to throw a good actor, but when delivered gets the audience to really listen, and usually wins a most shocked, dismayed, even disgusted, reaction. But what a great way to set you up for a disturbing laugh, no? Offensive stuff. Like CRASH, or YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS - unflinching in its head-on glare at prejudice, hate, and hipocrisy - but without the hope. AMERICAN BEAUTY on crack, even, I believe, borrowing a line and an actress from BEAUTY to push that button. I dunno how to recommend it except to tell you that it's Mamet with an excellent cast. Don't quite know where it will play in wider release... Probably just the Landmark theaters, and maybe Harvard Square and the Brattle.

DISTRICT B13 - If you love action movies, and you can stand reading subtitles, SEE THIS MOVIE (if you're not already seeing DEATH TRANCE =) Plays again tonight at midnight at the Coolidge.

Gotta motor to catch SHADOW C...

Keep on keepin on~

2 comments:

zorknapp said...

I'm always consistently impressed with how you're able to write about movies. I just don't have the reviewer's instinct, but you're able to just peel off a lot of paragraphs about films, characters, relationships, etc. Very cool...

cabinboy said...

Thanks, Z.

Honestly, I don't think I could cut it as a real and true "reviewer," and don't really consider myself one. I feel like my rambles on movies aren't all that useful unless the reader is familiar with me and calibrated for my movie habits and likes and dislikes, y'know?

I make an effort in my emails, and now here, to avoid spoilers whenever possible, so when I write and rave about a movie I love, I often feel like I'm dodging, more than plugging and promoting, y'know? How many different ways can I tell someone that Peter Jackson's KING KONG as an excellent amusement park ride of a movie (and it KNOWS it)? And how can I describe how it's so, without giving away any of the jaw-dislocating specifics?

With all the screening time I've logged by now, I feel like I should have learned more about the craft of how these things that I enjoy so much are made, but I don't know how to talk very well about lighting and wardrobe and sound engineering... I feel like I go at my movie explorations with a sledgehammer, when I should be able to tackle it with some fine specialized tools...

Eh. I'm just sayin. Of course, none of that negative talk keeps me from pushing the films that I dig on any poor bastard who will read or listen. =)