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“Your’e Tearing Me Apart Lisa!” – THE ROOM Midnights This Weekend at The Tivoli

“I got the results of the test back – I definitely have breast cancer.”

THE ROOM plays this weekend (August 5th and 6th) at the Tivoli as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.

There are different types of ‘Bad Movies’. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is.

Fans of bad cinema who live in the St. Louis area have something to celebrate this weekend. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM, crowned as ‘the Worst Movie Ever Made’ by pretty much everyone who has seen it, will be playing midnights this Friday and Saturday (August 5th and 6th) at the Tivoli. Last summer we had Tommy Wiseau’s triumphant return to the Tivoli to host two screenings of THE ROOM .

THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans. It’s been playing midnights in larger cities for a couple of years now, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes (think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). I’ve seen THE ROOM many times (the first was from Netflix, when I watched it twice because I thought I had dreamed what I watched the first time) and can’t wait to see it again with a live interactive audience so I too can shout out “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!” I won’t bother reviewing THE ROOM because there’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation.

A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the creepiest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).

It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof, or dark comedy all along. I’m not buying it. I’ve read and seen too many interviews with Wiseau. I’ve interviewed him myself (he called me and said “You have twenty minutes of my time!”….an hour later I said to him “Dude, I have to go – gotta to make dinner for my kids!”). I’m convinced he really was trying to make a serious drama with THE ROOM. Watch the extras on the THE ROOM DVD and you’ll observe a man who just isn’t all there. I’ve never seen someone with such a complete lack of self-awareness and oblivious narcissism. Sorry Tommy, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you. I don’t mean to begrudge the guy, as I understand it takes a lot of hard work to get a feature film made and he should just be glad he’s managed to turn himself into something of a cult figure. Wiseau says THE ROOM was based on his unpublished novel and never-performed play (!). Wiseau also claims the film’s budget was 6 million dollars but I’m sure 95% of that went to pay for the billboards he posted along Sunset Boulevard for four straight years promoting THE ROOM that show a huge close-up of his foul mug and the purchase of a full page “for your Oscar consideration” ad in Variety. Wiseau’s film failed to receive any nominations but he has self-published a glossy commemorative hardback book on the making of THE ROOM. I must have that book! It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.

Now you can find out what all the fuss is about when THE ROOM plays on the big screen this weekend (August 5th and 6th) at the Tivoli as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.

The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!

The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the Reel Late at the Tivoli Line-up for the next few weeks:

August 12-13 – ENTER THE DRAGON

August 19-20 – THE SANDLOT

August 26-27 – EVENT HORIZON

September 2 – 3 – PRINCESS MONONOKE

September 9-10 – THE BIG LEBOWSKI

September 16-17 – PSYCHO

Reel Late at the Tivoli takes place every Friday and Saturday night and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman (that’s me!) is there with custom trivia questions about the films and always has DVDs, posters, and other cool stuff to give away. Ticket prices are $8. We hope to see everyone late at night in the coming weeks.

Cartoonist Jack Davis dies at age 91

So, wise reader, you may have heard of the passing of this giant in the world of cartooning, and are now wondering what he has to do with the world of motion pictures. Well, Mr. Davis did have one screen credit, which we’ll discuss in a bit. No, more importantly John Burton “Jack” Davis, Jr. has added to the fun, or to use an old term “ballyhoo”, of promoting movies for well over fifty years. It’s difficult not to think of his work when recalling so many classic films.

First, a little bio background. He was born on December 2, 1924 in Atlanta Georgia. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Jack landed several cartooning gigs including a stint with the newspaper comic strip based ion the classic character “The Saint”. Then in 1950 he joined the staff of the legendary comics publishing company Entertaining Comics (EC). Jack produced amazing art for titles like “Frontline Combat” and “Two Fisted Tales. But the big sellers at EC were the horror anthologies, and Jack was one of the most popular artists, helping to design the host character, the Cryptkeeper, for “Tales From the Crypt” (some of its stories were adapted into films by Britain’s Amicus Studios in the 1970’s in TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE VAULT OF HORROR). But the work that truly showcased Jack’s incredible talent was his contribution to the then color comic book “Mad” in 1952. He led his penchant humor run wild with memorable pieces like “The Lone Stranger” and “Hah Noon”. Soon Jack was doing lots of work outside the comics: advertising, magazine covers, record albums, bubble gum cards, and movie posters. His most famous movie poster wasn’t his first, but this one established him as the “go to” guy for promoting comedy films. Behold the majesty of…

Jack’s art promised zany mayhem which the film nearly delivers. But most flicks couldn’t truly present the stunning spectacle of Mr. Davis’s designs. I recall buying that record album and just staring at that beautiful cover literally for hours. From the 60’s, Jack kept producing masterpieces of mirth into the 1970’s as the perfect match for another comedy master….

Perhaps you noticed the tribute to this poster in the recent film WIENER-DOG. A character played by Danny DeVito is depicted in a poster for the flick, “Apricots”. In 1973, Jack drew up a movie poster similar to his work in Mad Magazine for Robert Altman’s take on the classic private eye….

The flick’s a lot darker than that. Still Jack nails the likenesses of Gould and company. Another iconic image was seen in 1976 with one of the greatest sports comedies of all time….

Okay, about that screen credit. In the mid 1960’s , Jack did character sketches and model sheets for TV cartoons “King Kong” and “The Jackson Five” from the Rankin/Bass Studios, the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” folks. When R/B decided to make a feature-length stop-motion animated comedy starring the classic movie monsters, Jack was tapped to design them, including one voiced by Karloff himself. Here’s the trailer for MAD MONSTER PARTY…

…and the model sheet sketches of Count Dracula…

Now his most famous monster art may be this nifty poster offered in the back of Warren magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland back in the 60’s. How many lucky “monster kids” had this taped to the inside of their bedroom door? Sorry, the coupon’s been invalid for fifty years…

So, here’s a big movie geeks thank you, Jack D! And there’s a lot of his art floating around out there that many of his biggest fans (like yours truly) have never seen! This prolific master is the gift that just keeps on giving! We’re sad that he’s left the art studio at age 91 and we extend our sympathies to his family, but hey, aren’t we all unbelievably lucky to have had nearly a century of Jack Davis?!

REEFER MADNESS August 4th at Schlafly Bottleworks – “Weed from the Devil’s Garden!”

“The motion picture you are about to witness may startle you. It would not have been possible, otherwise, to sufficiently emphasize the frightful toll of the new drug menace which is destroying the youth of America in alarmingly increasing numbers. Marihuana!”

REEFER MADNESS screens Thursday August 4th at 7:00pm at Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Avenue Maplewood, MO 63143). $6 for the screening.

In 1932, Harry Anslinger was named head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The position was not much more than a figurehead because all the bureau was involved in was the amount of morphine etc. that were in medicine like cough syrup. Anslinger wanted more power and the best way to get power was to put more “narcotics” under his control. So he set his sights on marijuana. He met and became friends with Charles Randolph Hearst (the Citizen Kane guy!) and they talked about their shared dislike of cannabis. During this time, there was a real movement to make paper out of hemp. Hearst didn’t like this notion because he owned so many timber yards and such, so he and Anslinger agreed to work together to get hemp criminalized.First Hearst started publishing false and sensational stories about the effects of marijuana, then Anslinger hooked up with a film producer and the end result was REEFER MADNESS.Crazy as it sounds, the scheme worked. The year after REEFER MADNESS was released, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act which made possession and/or use of marijuana a criminal offense. Mission accomplished!

Now 80 years later, we can look back at REEFER MADNESS and have a good laugh. It might be one of the worst ever made but it’s also one of the most entertaining thanks in large part to its way too serious look at marijuana. If you’re watching REEFER MADNESS it’s almost hard to believe that there was a time when people took this film serious and thought it spoke the truth about the little green plant. I guess it’s scary that people still think that one puff can turn you into a sex-craved maniac.

REEFER MADNESS, on a technical level, is quite awful as the performances, the direction, the editing and just about everything else is pretty bad. Where the entertainment level comes from is just how laughable its views on smoking marijuana is including some hilarious scenes where the actors take a couple hits and turn into Mr. Hyde in regards to their sinister behavior. The party scenes in the film are certainly the highlight because of how crazy and funny they are. So show up Thursday August 4^th at Schlafly Bottleworks and if you have the munchies, there’s a yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen (and plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed suds.)

A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

“Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together(http://www.helpingkidstogether.com/) a St. Louis based social enterprise dedicated to building cultural diversity and social awareness among young people through the arts and active living.

The films featured for “Culture Shock” demonstrate an artistic representation of culture shock materialized through mixed genre and budgets spanning music, film and theater. Through ‘A Film Series’ working relationship with Schlafly Bottleworks, they seek to provide film lovers with an offbeat mix of dinner and a movie opportunities.

New Images And Trailer From MASTERMINDS Released

Relativity Studios has just released Four BRAND NEW Images, as well as a new trailer, for their upcoming film, MASTERMINDS.

In this action comedy inspired by true events, directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite; Nacho Libre), David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. Along with a group of half-brained criminals led by Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and an absurdly faulted heist plan, David manages the impossible and makes off with $17 million in cash…only problem is he foolishly hands the money over to this wild group of double crossers and has been set up to take the fall.

MASTERMINDS hits theaters everywhere on SEPTEMBER 30, 2016!

Synopsis:

In this action comedy inspired by true events, directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite; Nacho Libre), David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) discovers the true meaning of adventure far beyond his wildest dreams. He is an uncomplicated man stuck in a monotonous life. Day in and day out he drives an armored vehicle, transporting millions of other people’s money with no escape in sight. The only glimmer of excitement is his flirtatious work crush Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) who soon lures him into the scheme of a lifetime. Along with a group of half-brained criminals led by Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson) and an absurdly faulted heist plan, David manages the impossible and makes off with $17 million in cash…only problem is he foolishly hands the money over to this wild group of double crossers and has been set up to take the fall. With the bandits blowing the millions on lavish and ridiculous luxuries, they leave behind a glaring trail of evidence. Now on the lam and in over his head, David must dodge the authorities, evade a hilarious hit man, Mike McKinney (Jason Sudeikis), and try to turn the tables on the ones he trusted most.

THE GREAT WALL Starring Matt Damon – New Trailer

The new trailer for Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures’ THE GREAT WALL has just debuted online.

Check it out here:

Starring global superstar Matt Damon and directed by one of the most breathtaking visual stylists of our time, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers), Legendary’s THE GREAT WALL tells the story of an elite force making a valiant stand for humanity on the world’s most iconic structure. The first English-language production for Yimou is the largest film ever shot entirely in China.

The Great Wall also stars Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau.

The film will be released in 3D by Universal Pictures on February 17.

Genre: 3D Action-Thriller

Cast: Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Hanyu Zhang, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Kenny Lin, Junkai Wang, Zheng Kai, Cheney Chen, Xuan Huang and Andy Lau

Directed by: Zhang Yimou

Story by: Max Brooks and Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz

Screenplay by: Carlo Bernard & Doug Miro and Tony Gilroy

Produced by: Thomas Tull, Charles Roven, Jon Jashni, Peter Loehr

Executive Producers: Jillian Share, Alex Gartner, La Peikang, Zhang Zhao, E. Bennett Walsh

Co-Producers: Eric Hedayat, Er Young, Alex Hedlund

WAMG EXCLUSIVE: IT’S SO EASY AND OTHER LIES Interview With CHRISTOPHER DUDDY

IT’S SO EASY AND OTHER LIES, based on Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan’s New York Times best-selling memoir, is in theaters now. The film chronicles Duff’s rise to fame, his near fatal struggles with addiction, and his transformation into the person he is today.

Recently, I had the chance to speak with director Christopher Duddy. Check it out below!

The doc also features exclusive archival footage and interviews from Duff’s closest friends including fellow GNR band member Slash, PEARL JAM guitarist Mike McCready, and MOTLEY CRUE bassist Nikki Sixx.

How do you adapt a book into a film? That must have been quite the undertaking at the start… What was your approach, and did it stay the same throughout?

It is a tricky undertaking but I had an extra template with the story telling besides the book and that approach was through the live performance Duff gives in the movie. He reads from the book as his band scores his spoken word in a very fucking cool way. Duff enlisted a steel slide guitar and a string quartet and arranged all these iconic Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver songs with classic orchestration specifically for the movie and that is the catalyst for the whole journey throughout this documentary. It’s more a hybrid of a concert film and a documentary. We even use a lot of animated sequences. We really wanted this film to be out of the box and not make it self indulgent and not make it a Guns N Roses doc. Now this didn’t make the executive producers or distributors very happy but we made the film Duff and I wanted to make.

You deal with some pretty heavy material, such as addiction and recovery. How did you find the balance as a storyteller while navigating through footage?

Good question, making a documentary like this is really an investigation into someone’s life and its a scary thing because as a film maker you are asking someone to pull the curtain back exposing themselves enough for other people to see into their shit, good or bad, enough to make it interesting also and Duff was very adamant about showing not only the good, but also the bad shit a lot of bad shit that he went through and struggles he had with addiction. Most people want to hide behind the good so people don’t think bad about them. I think we balanced it well but you know, this is his journey and I hope it inspires people that they too can overcome struggles with addiction.

I was impressed by your interviews with some of the Sunset Strip royalty – Nikki Sixx, Slash… A lot of people would consider it a dream to interview them. How did you find it, and what were some highlights for you?

Those are the perks when you get the opportunity to make a film like this. I’m a fan of those guys, I’m the same age as Duff so I grew up on their music. It was a real pleasure to get to meet and interview Slash and Nikki, they were both really cool dudes. I went to both their homes to shoot and Slash’s was classic. When I got to his house I asked him where he wanted to shoot his interview and he said in his studio. So his assistant takes us down to his studio and we walk into this all black leather room with a brass stripper pole right smack dab in the middle of the fucking studio. Even the ceiling was covered in black leather. I was like “this will do just fine!” I’m a big Pearl Jam fan so meeting and shooting Mike McCready was also a treat. That’s the cool thing about Duff, he is really well liked in the music world and with fellow rock stars so it wasn’t hard to get these guys onboard. That did make this a fucking cool experience making this movie.

Was there anyone you didn’t get to interview that you would have liked to?

Yes for sure. When we started out I made up a wish list of potential interviewers but as the film started to find it’s own narrative the movie takes over and determines what stories your telling and who to interview. That’s the nature of documentary filmmaking and you can’t force anyone into that narrative if it is not justified. So there were some interviews we shot and didn’t end up in the movie and then there were some guys I had on the wish list that we ended up not going after because it didn’t work.

What do you hope audiences take away from this film?

Like i said earlier, we wanted this to be a different and unorthodox film so I hope they are first entertained and enjoy the experience and I hope the audience is inspired by Duff’s story of struggle and recovery and perseverance through the dark parts of his life and that we all have it in us to win against our demons and to follow our dreams and passions and find happiness and success no matter what you do. An uplift of human spirit. We need it these days.

SDCC 2016 : Chris Hardwick, Kevin Feige Intro and BLACK PANTHER Cast

Despite not having footage, the cast of BLACK PANTHER stormed Hall H to talk about their new film. Check out the footage below as the director and cast talk to an excited crowd.

The panel kicked off with surprise guests from BLACK PANTHER, including cast members Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger), Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia), Danai Gurira (Okoye) and director Ryan Coogler, making their first official appearance as a cast.

Stay tuned for more info as filming of BLACK PANTHER progresses.

SDCC 2016: Marvel Studios DOCTOR STRANGE Footage and Trailer

Saturday, Hall H was a treat for us boys and girls lucky enough to be in that air-conditioned goodness! The Marvel Studios panel never seems to disappoint, and after a riveting light/hologram show (that we were not allowed to film…Sorry kids, but I follow orders!), Mr. Benedict Cumberbatch appeared mid-stage. Here’s the footage I caught from the press pit of the panel…

(Apologies if there are times where the focus messes up a bit. I’m 5’10’ 1/2 and still had to fight a few obstacles!)

For the first time, fans were introduced to the cast of DOCTOR STRANGE: Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Mordo), Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One), Rachel McAdams (Doctor Christine Palmer), Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius) and Benedict Wong (Master Wong) along with director Scott Derrickson and treated to brand new never-before-seen footage from the film.

DOCTOR STRANGE is in U.S. Theaters November 4, 2016

THE LOBSTER Arrives On Blu-ray & DVD on August 2

“If you encounter any problems you cannot resolve yourselves, you will be assigned children. That usually helps.”

Golden Globe^® winner Colin Farrell (In Bruges) and Academy Award^® winner Rachel Weisz (Best Supporting Actress, The Constant Gardener, 2005) star in the 2015 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winner The Lobster, arriving on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD) and DVD (plus Digital) on August 2 from Lionsgate. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the director behind the Academy Award^®-nominated Dogtooth (Best Foreign Language Film, 2010), this provocative, edgy, and wickedly hilarious film is a story about love, relationships, and societal conformity. Universally loved by critics and audiences alike, The Lobster was a festival favorite when it was released theatrically from A24 and is Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh.

In this highly imaginative, delightfully absurdist comedy, Colin Farrell stars as David, a man who has just been dumped by his wife. To make matters worse, David lives in a society where single people have 45 days to find true love, or else they are turned into the animal of their choice and released into the woods. David is kept at the mysterious HOTEL while he searches for a new partner, and after several romantic misadventures, decides to make a daring escape to abandon this world. He ultimately joins up with a rebel faction known as The Loners, a group founded on a complete rejection of romance. But once there, David meets an enigmatic stranger (Rachel Weisz) who stirs up unexpected and strong feelings within him.

The Blu-ray and DVD releases both include an all-new featurette, “The Fabric of Attraction: Concocting The Lobster,” taking viewers behind the scenes of the film. The Lobster will be available on Blu-ray and DVD for $24.99 and $19.98, respectively.

BLU-RAY/DVD/DIGITAL HD SPECIAL FEATURE*

“The Fabric of Attraction: Concocting The Lobster”Featurette

This Week’s WAMG Podcast – STAR TREK, CAFE SOCIETY, BAD MOMS, and More!

This week’s episode of our podcast WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS The Show is up! Hear WAMG’s Jim Batts, and Tom Stockman talk movies. Our guest in the studio this week is Sam Maronie, author of the book Tripping Through Pop Culture. We’ll discuss the weekend box office on the phone with Michelle McCue and we’ll review CAFE SOCIETY, BAD MOMS, STAR TREK BEYOND, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, LIFE ANIMATED, and the new documentary about Frank Zappa. We’ll then talk to Sam about his book and a life of celebrity encounters, and we’ll pay tribute to the late Garry Marshall.

Here’s this week’s show. Have a listen:

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Stay tuned for more info as filming of BLACK PANTHER progresses.

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DOCTOR STRANGE is in U.S. Theaters November 4, 2016

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