In honor of the upcoming Entertainment One DVD release of the Lifetime TV Movie Liz & Dickon May 14, 2013, WAMG is giving away a True Love DVD Prize Pack worth $50. As seen on Lifetime, the most anticipated and highly publicized role of Lindsay Lohan’s career and one of the most-watched cable original movie premieres of 2012 – Based on the true love story of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Glamorous. Infamous. Scandalous… For nearly a quarter of a century, Elizabeth Taylor (Lindsay Lohan) and Richard Burton (Grant Bowler) were Hollywood royalty and their fiery romance – often called “the marriage of the century” – was the most notorious, publicized and celebrated love affair of its day. Swarmed by paparazzi worldwide, their love affair was played out entirely in front of the media – from their meeting on the set of Cleopatra through their marriages and divorces. Despite their roller coaster romance, Taylor and Burton shared an undeniable love greater than most people could ever dream of.
DVDSRP : $19.98
Type: DVD Catalog #: EOE-DV-7470 Running Time: 90 minutes Genre: Drama Rated: Not Rated Aspect Ratio: 16×9 (1.78:1) Audio / Language : 5.1 Dolby Digital / English/English SDH Subtitles
Answer the following:
How many times were Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton married ?
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES.
2. SEND YOUR FULL NAME and ANSWER TO: michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com.
3. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PRIZES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED.
The Summer Movie season is officially here! With the release of IRON MAN 3 on May 3 and STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (May 17) and FAST & FURIOUS 6 (May 24) set to explode into theaters, audiences are ready for an action packed summer!
WAMG has an exciting giveaway just for you with
FANDANGO’S SUMMER OF ACTION GIVEAWAY!
Get your action movie fix this summer with Fandango!
Two (2) winners will receive a Summer of Action/Iron Man Prize Pack
$30 Fandango Bucks Iron Man Blu-ray Double Pack
Prize pack value $80 each
Answer the following:
Think you know action movies? In the original IRON MAN, Tony Stark meets up with Agent Coulson from the counter-terrorism agency S.H.I.E.L.D. What do the letters stand for?
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES. NO P.O. BOXES.
2. SEND YOUR FULL NAME and ANSWER TO: michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com.
3. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PRIZES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED.
Don’t miss any of the summer’s most explosive action movies. Start your movie mission now – find Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness plus more action movie trailers, showtimes, tickets and offers on Fandango!
What happens to a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub in Chile when a massive earthquake hits? Hint: Nothing good!
Well, except that it gave me the opportunity to sit down with Eli Roth to talk about his new movie AFTERSHOCK, in which he stars, co-wrote, and produced. I would say that’s a pretty darn good outcome! Check it out below.
In the middle of a night of wild partying, a hapless American tourist (Roth) and his friends are suddenly plunged into a living hell when a powerful earthquake rips through the coastal town of Valparaíso, Chile.
What do you think it is about travel that sets a good tone for a film?
Eli Roth: Well, travel – Everyone has fantasies of traveling. We all want to escape our lives and go somewhere fun. A lot of times we want to go as far away from our lives and comforts as possible, but that also sets up a great horror movie because all the things that are wonderful about travel – the isolation, being in a new place, not knowing anyone – that can all turn against you. Every time I sit down to write a movie I try to write something completely different. I go “Ok, I’ve never done this type of movie before!” and then, after the fact, I realize that every movie is about a bunch of people going to a new place, then something horrible happens… and I don’t try to do that! People say that no matter what you’re making the same movie. No matter how hard you try you are always making the same movie over, and over, and over – on some level. With travel – it’s always fun, when you are watching a movie, to see an exotic location. A lot of people don’t know anything about Chile, or have never been there, or maybe they know it from wine, or maybe they know the miners. That’s what Nicolás López would joke about – “Oh, you think this is the city of God, and we all live in a giant favela.” [laughs]
I went down there to write the movie with him, and it was so beautiful. It’s like being in Santa Barbara. Gorgeous vineyards, and oceans. Santiago is very similar to Los Angeles. It looks like here in Los Feliz. There’s a W Hotel, Starbucks, amazing restaurants… It’s a fantastic city. Valparaíso, where we shot the movie – they allow graffiti to happen so graffiti artists from all over the world have turned this town into a walking museum. It’s crazy. It was a wild experience shooting there. I think travel sets up a great – it’s such a perfect setup for a horror movie. Every one has that experience where they go to a different town and they go to the wrong store, or they say the wrong thing, or they have the wrong encounter – and you just get this feeling of people looking at you – and suddenly it’s terrifying. So, we wanted to make a movie about society, and the fragility of society – and what happens when it all collapses, which is what happened. It all came from real stories of what Nicolás told me it was like that night of the earthquake. We didn’t want to make the serious Oscar version, so we fictionalized the earthquake and the events, but all of the events happened. The friend getting the hand cut off, the speakers crushing people in the clubs, the tsunami, the prison breakouts – all of that really happened that night.
WIth all of those events actually happening, and shooting on the location of the actual earthquake, how was your reception in the town? Especially with the subject matter hitting so close to home?
Eli Roth: People loved it! People love movies, and they knew that it was fiction – but, when we shot the club scene, Lorenza Izzo, who plays Kylie was in the club, and her friend got his hands cut off. She was there when they were trying to find the hands, and she had to run through a plate-glass window. You either had to try to find the hands – and then the aftershocks hit, and they were like “The club is going to collapse! It’s going to collapse!”. Then, the cell phone service went out, so nobody had GPS. Everyone realized that they were so dependent on their phones that they didn’t even know where to go! You couldn’t call the police, you couldn’t call the fire department. When we were shooting that scene, people were covered in dust – and they were saying “This is exactly what it was like!”.
Wow…
Eli Roth: … but they knew we were fictionalizing it, so no one was offended by what we were doing. Nico is such a popular filmmaker down there – people were really excited. They love horror movies down there, so I had a huge, huge fan base in Chile. My films have done very well in Latin America, so people were like “I wanna be covered in blood!” [laughs]. People were excited to be in it. It was fun! It was a great energy.
How does being one of the writers on a film affect your acting approach? Does that give you more of a license to improv or change things around as you go?
Eli Roth: Absolutely! I remember after INGLORIOUS BASTARDS Quentin (Tarantino) said “Now you can write great parts for yourself” and “You’ve proved you can act. You’ve done it alongside the best, and you’ve done it under me.”. I trust Nico so much. Nico, our third writer Guillermo Amoedo, and I had such a great time writing this script – but a lot of the dialogue came from me going there on a location scout, and hanging out with Ariel and Nicolás Martínez, who plays Pollo. Pollo’s his nickname anyway. So, a lot of the dialogue is us just goofing around. We’d go “Oh, that’s really funny. Let’s put that in the movie.” By the time we had the script – it was so fast in the way we shot it, that we really had to be tight. We didn’t have a lot of time for improv, so the improv came in the weeks leading up to the shooting. One of the nice things about being the producer, and the writer with Nico, is that anything we came up with we shot. The whole opening, where we were at the Adidas party – Adidas was actually throwing a party and they were like “Do you want to shoot here?”. We weren’t suppose to start shooting till January 15th, and the party was December 15th, but it’s summertime there. So, I just got on a plane, took the cameras down, and we went in and just improved a whole bunch of stuff – that became the entire opening before the vineyard. That was the fun thing about the way we shot this movie. Nico pioneered shooting on a Canon 7D.
Really? A 7D? That’s impressive!
Eli Roth: It’s amazing what he’s done. He’s a genius! His first movie PROMEDIO ROJO, which is on Netflix – they call it Latin American Pie… He made it when he was 19 years old, and people are looking like him like he’s Robert Rodriguez. It’s so funny, and it’s on Netflix with subtitles. You’ve gotta see it! Then, he made a movie called SANTOS which, at 23, was a huge flop. Everyone was like “Haha. You’re washed up!”.
Nicolás had a show called PILOTO MTV that he dropped out of school at 15 for – because he was writing, directing, producing, and acting in it. It aired after JACKASS. It was a massive hit in Latin America. This is when he was 16 years old! You can look him up on YouTube. Look up PILOTO MTV. You’ll see fat Nicolás López at 16 years old with hair. They’re fucking hilarious! [laughs] I keep telling him he has to subtitle them. They’re so fucking funny! It’s totally ridiculous.
After that he did PROMEDIO ROJO. He was writing for the main newspaper in Santiago when he was 13 years old. He had a column in the main paper. He’s hyper-intelligent. So, after SANTOS failed he buckled down, got sponsor money, and he made this movie FUCK MY LIFE – QUE PENA TU VIDA. He did it for, like, $200,000, and he shot it on a 7D. He sent the footage to Technicolor, and they blew it up. They released it in theaters and it made more money that THE SOCIAL NETWORK and THE HANGOVER PART II. It was a huge hit. So, then was like “You don’t need a film camera anymore. You can shoot a feature film on an SLR. We tried the Canon 5D Mark II. I went down to Chile. We shot tests on it, we blew it up, and it looked like we had shot it on a Luxor 35mm. If you light it right, and put the right lens on it, and you know how to shoot it, it can look like expensive 35mm film. I said “Well, what about shooting on film?” and he said “Dude. My sister watches everything on her iPad. She’s 12. She doesn’t give a fuck. Kids don’t give a fuck.”. Say it’s in theaters. If you’re movie’s a smash hit it’s in theaters for 17 days, and then it’s on iTunes anyway, So, we wanted to make this in a different way. “Let’s shoot a movie in English for the world. Let’s shoot a mainstream genre movie ” and we sold it all over the world. It’s being released theatrically worldwide. In America it’s on 100 screens and on VOD, and iTunes. “Let’s see if that works.” We did the movie for so little. We financed it by pre-selling it to every other country. His movies – QUE PENA TU VIDA (FUCK MY LIFE), QUE PENA TU BODA (FUCK MY WEDDING/MARRIAGE) , and the third QUE PENA TU FAMILIA (FUCK MY FAMILY) I have a cameo in – they’re all on Netflix with subtitles. It’s a great example of how the new generation is making movies. I thought “Ok. Everyone is saying you need ‘this’ camera and you really need to do it ‘that’ way. Let’s go and see if we can pull off a movie on a 5D.” – and that’s how we did it. Part of the fun is that we didn’t use CG. We wanted to make it real. We really wanted to smash the ceilings. We really wanted to destroy the cemetery, and we did! That was one of the nice things about shooting down there. It’s so much cheaper to shoot, and with the 5D we had 5 or 6 cameras covering stuff, we really destroyed stuff. There’s very, very little CG in the movie.
Since you were destroying things, it had to be one shot, right?
Eli Roth: One shot. Destroying that club is one shot. I remember watching them rehearsing, and the ceiling collapsing, and 80 girls in high heels trampling over each other and I said “Wow. I didn’t realize Chile had this many stunt girls!” and Nico goes “Ah! Gringo! Stunt girls? These are extras!”. I was like “Are you serious dude? They could get hurt.” and he goes “Ahhh. Stop being such a Gringo!”. We would just close our eyes, and thank God no one got hurt. I remember firing a blank. There’s a scene where an actor gets shot with a gun, and we have a pregnant woman firing a gun. I said “López, it’s dangerous to shoot a blank at this…” – “Naw… Naw… It’s fine” and Pablo, the AD is like “Ah, here. Point the gun at me.” He points it, and fucking shoots at Pablo, and he’s like “See. I’m fine. All right. Let’s go”. It was that. The way we tested the gun was that the AD stood in front because we had to fire it, and he was like “Ok. We’re good!”.
The best example of Chile is shooting in the cemetery when I’m crushed under a rock. I looked around, and there were skeletons next to me, cracked open tombs, bodies… and I said “Man, the art department did an amazing job!” and he’s like [laughs] “Gringo! Art Department!” and I was like “What?”, and he goes “We haven’t dressed anything! They just opened this for us. It’s been closed since the earthquake.”. There was so much in Chile that was destroyed from the earthquake and wasn’t fixed that, so we could go to locations that were still destroyed, like the cemetery. It’s all real. There was just a piece of concrete on me. That’s it. That was the only dressing,
Not to give anything away, but I’ve always wondered… Is it strange to see yourself tortured, or even killed on film?
Eli Roth: Actors love to see themselves die. They love it. It’s the one thing in our lives that we can never see. Now, you could see your birth. Someone could videotape your birth. You could watch that and go “I don’t really remember that, but that’s what happened.” but our death, we’ll never know. We’ll never know what our death looks like. You’ll never see it. You can watch it, but that moment of dying – you’re never going to see that. So, watching yourself die, and seeing yourself dead is a fantasy that most people have. It’s a morbid curiosity. It’s natural to imagine what your funeral is going to be like. What you’re going to look like as a dead body? What’s going to happen to you after you die? All of the stuff you do – what does it mean? What happens to everything? Does anyone remember you? It’s all ultimately meaningless. Then you’re dead. End of story. Next. Nobody cares. [laughs] So people have a fantasy – for actors- to watch themselves die. People have come up to me and said “I don’t want to be an actor, but I’d love to be killed in one of your movies.” Everybody has that fantasy. As kids, when you’re playing games, when someone shoots you, you go “Aghhhhh” and you play dead. When you try to take the ketchup from the fridge and your sister comes home, and walks into the kitchen to see you playing dead… It’s something that everybody does. It’s a natural curiosity.
So, I got the chance recently to go to the Goretorium.
Eli Roth: You did?
I did. My twin sister and I went for our birthday. It was a great time… which leads me to my next question. I’ve heard rumors that you have dressed up and hidden in your previous haunted houses. Have you, or do you do this in the Goretorium?
Eli Roth: Of course. Any time I’m in Vegas. If I’m there, I’ll jump in and scare people. It’s as thrilling to scare people as it is to be scared.
AFTERSHOCK stars Eli Roth, Andrea Osvárt, Ariel Levy, Nicolas Martinez, Lorenza Izzo, and Natasha Yarovenko, and Selena Gomez.
It’s been two years. Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) are happily living uneventful lives at home. Tattoos have been lasered off, files purged. The last they heard from disaster-magnet Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong), he’d been tossed into a Thai prison and, with him out of the way, the guys have very nearly recovered from their nights prowling the seamy side of Las Vegas in a roofie’d haze, and being kidnapped, shot at, and chased by drug-dealing mobsters in Bangkok.
The only member of the Wolfpack who’s not content is Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Still lacking a sense of purpose, the group’s black sheep has ditched his meds and given in to his natural impulses in a big way—which, for Alan, means no boundaries, no filters and no judgment—until a personal crisis forces him to finally seek the help he needs.
And who better than his three best friends to make sure he takes the first step.
This time, there’s no bachelor party. No wedding. What could possibly go wrong? But when the Wolfpack hits the road, all bets are off.
THE HANGOVER PART III is the epic conclusion to an incomparable odyssey of mayhem and bad decisions, in which the guys must finish what they started by going back to where it all began: Las Vegas.
One way or another… it all ends here.
THE HANGOVER PART III will be in theaters May 23rd.
Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and WAMG invite you to enter to win a pass (good for 2) to the advance screening of THE HANGOVER PART III on May 20that 7:00 PM in St. Louis.
Answer the following question:
In the credits of every film Todd Phillips has directed, the picture is addressed as __________________.
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
2. SEND YOUR NAME AND ANSWERS TO: michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com
3. YOU MUST SUBMIT THE CORRECT ANSWER TO OUR TRIVIA QUESTION ABOVE TO WIN.
4. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN THROUGH A RANDOM DRAWING OF QUALIFYING CONTESTANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PASSES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED. DUPLICATE TICKETS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
This film is rated R by the MPAA for pervasive language including sexual references, some violence and drug content, and brief graphic nudity.
From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures comes THE HANGOVER PART III, the third and final film in director Todd Phillips’ record-shattering comedy trilogy.
THE HANGOVER PART III reunites stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha as Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug. Also returning to the cast are Ken Jeong as Leslie Chow; Heather Graham as Stu’s first wife, Jade; and Jeffrey Tambor as Alan’s father, Sid. Joining the ensemble for the first time is John Goodman, starring as the guys’ new nightmare, Marshall. Todd Phillips directs from a screenplay he wrote with Craig Mazin, who previously collaborated with him on the screenplay for THE HANGOVER PART III. The film is produced by Phillips and Dan Goldberg, with Thomas Tull, Scott Budnick, Chris Bender and J.C. Spink serving as executive producers.
The film also reunited key members of Todd Phillips’ creative team from the first two films: director of photography Lawrence Sher, editor Debra Neil-Fisher and costume designer Louise Mingenbach. They are joined by production designer Maher Ahmad (“Gangster Squad”) and editor Jeff Groth (“Project X”). The music is composed by Christophe Beck, who created the scores for “The Hangover” and “The Hangover Part II.”
Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Green Hat Films Production of a Todd Phillips Movie: THE HANGOVER PART III. It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of all-stars as the global blockbuster franchise built on speed races to its next continent in FAST & FURIOUS 6. Reuniting for their most high-stakes adventure yet, fan favorites Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Sung Kang, John Ortiz, Gal Gadot and Elsa Pataky are joined by badass series newcomers Luke Evans and Gina Carano.
Since Dom (Diesel) and Brian’s (Walker) Rio heist toppled a kingpin’s empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete.
Meanwhile, Hobbs (Johnson) has been tracking an organization of lethally skilled mercenary drivers across 12 countries, whose mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless second-in-command revealed to be the love Dom thought was dead, Letty (Rodriguez). The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again.
Building on the worldwide blockbuster success of Fast Five and taking the action, stunts
and narrative to even greater heights, FAST & FURIOUS 6 sees director Justin Lin back behind the camera for the fourth time. He is supported by longtime producers Neal H. Moritz and Vin Diesel, who welcome producer Clayton Townsend back to the series.
FAST & FURIOUS 6 opens Friday, May 24th!
Universal Pictures and WAMG invite you to enter to win a pass (good for 2) to the advance screening of FAST & FURIOUS 6 on May 21stat 7:00 PM in St. Louis.
Answer the following question:
Fast Five’s unexpected take on Dom, Brian and their extended family pulling off a daring multimillion dollar heist with a hardnosed federal agent hot on their trail, was the ultimate thrill ride for audiences in April 2011. The film debuted domestically to $86 million during its opening weekend and set a record best for Universal Pictures.
How much exactly did Dom, Brian and the crew heist?
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
2. SEND YOUR NAME AND ANSWERS TO: michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com
3. YOU MUST SUBMIT THE CORRECT ANSWER TO OUR TRIVIA QUESTION ABOVE TO WIN.
4. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN THROUGH A RANDOM DRAWING OF QUALIFYING CONTESTANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PASSES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED. DUPLICATE TICKETS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
FAST & FURIOUS 6 has been rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action and mayhem throughout, some sexuality and language.
Returning to this installment is a talented production crew of series’ architects led by director/executive producer JUSTIN LIN, who has directed the last three films in the Fast & Furious franchise that exploded in global popularity, and producers NEAL H. MORITZ (Fast & Furious series, I Am Legend, R.I.P.D.), Vin Diesel (Fast Five, Fast & Furious, Los Bandoleros) and CLAYTON TOWNSEND (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Bridesmaids, Any Given Sunday). CHRIS MORGAN (Fast Five, Fast & Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Wanted, upcoming 47 Ronin) is an executive producer and writes the screenplay based on characters created by GARY SCOTT THOMPSON (The Fast and the Furious).
Also coming back to the franchise is an accomplished behind-the-scenes team, including cinematographer STEPHEN F. WINDON (Fast Five, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), editors CHRISTIAN WAGNER (Fast Five, Fast & Furious, Mission: Impossible II) and KELLY MATSUMOTO (Fast Five, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), costume designer SANJA MILKOVIC HAYS (Fast & Furious series, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) and executive producers AMANDA LEWIS (Fast Five, Fast & Furious) and SAMANTHA VINCENT (Fast Five, Fast & Furious). Production designer JAN ROELFS (47 Ronin, Get Him to the Greek) and composer LUCAS VIDAL (The Raven, The Cold Light of Day) join Lin’s crew for Fast & Furious 6.
This summer director J.J. Abrams takes STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS as the young officers of The U.S.S. Enterprise set course for their most epic journey yet. Abrams reunites with the team that created the fun, the humor, and the spirit of 2009’s acclaimed hit reboot of the beloved franchise. On this second voyage, they’ve amped the action, raised the emotional stakes and launched the Enterprise into a high-wire, life-or-death game of chess with an unstoppable force of destruction. With everything the men and women of The Enterprise believe on the line, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn and sacrifices must be made for the only family Captain Kirk has left: the crew he commands.
It begins with a homecoming, as The Enterprise returns to earth in the wake of a controversial galactic incident, its brash Captain still itching to head back into the stars on a longer mission of peace and exploration. But all is not well on the Blue Planet. A devastating act of terror has exposed an alarming reality: Star Fleet is being attacked from within and the fall-out will leave the entire world in crisis. Captain Kirk leads the Enterprise on a mission like no other spanning from the Klingon homeworld to the San Francisco Bay. Aboard The Enterprise the enemy among them has a shocking talent for destruction. Kirk will lead them into a shadowy mirror-realm of doubts where they’ve never gone before – navigating the razor-thin lines between friends and enemies, revenge and justice, all-out war and the infinite potential of a united future.
For those of you familiar with STAR TREK lore, meet Dr. Carol Marcus.
Returning to The Enterprise is the crew that brought it so viscerally to life in Abrams’ “Star Trek”: Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as First Officer Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Simon Pegg as Chief Engineer “Scotty” Scott, Zoe Saldana as Communications Officer Uhura, John Cho as Helmsman Hikaru Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov and Bruce Greenwood as Admiral Christopher Pike. Joining the cast is Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the mysterious intergalactic terrorist John Harrison, Alice Eve as ship newcomer Carol Marcus and Peter Weller as the Star Fleet Admiral who comes into conflict with the Enterprise.
Shot with extremely high resolution IMAX® cameras and presented in an expansively detailed 3D conversion that pushes the technology, the film gives audiences a glimpse into the Star Trek universe as it hasn’t been seen before.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS opens in theaters everywhere May 16th.
Enter for your chance to receive a pair of passes to a special 3D advance screening of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS on May 15 at 9:00 PM in St. Louis.
Answer the following questions:
In STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, what’s the number on the hull of the U.S.S. Reliant?
Who is STAR TREK IV, THE VOYAGE HOME dedicated to?
In STAR TREK VI, THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, name the Federation ship commanded by Captain Hikaru Sulu.
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
2. SEND YOUR NAME AND ANSWERS TO: michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com
3. YOU MUST SUBMIT THE CORRECT ANSWERS TO OUR TRIVIA QUESTIONS ABOVE TO WIN.
No purchase necessary. Void where restricted or prohibited by law. At the screening seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Refer to screening pass for further restrictions. Screening pass winners will be drawn at random and notified via email. Limit two (admit-one) passes per person. Must be age 13 or over to enter.
The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence.
Paramount Pictures and Skydance present a Bad Robot production of a J.J. Abrams film, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. The film is written by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof based upon Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry. The producers are Abrams, Bryan Burk, Lindelof, Orci and Kurtzman and the executive producers are Jeffrey Chernov, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake.
The reuniting behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Dan Mindel, production designer Scott Chambliss, costume designer Michael Kaplan, editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey and composer Michael Giacchino – and the film’s interstellar visual effects and animations have once again been forged by the wizards at Industrial Light & Magic, under the aegis of Roger Guyett, who was Oscar®-nominated for his work on “Star Trek.”
EPIC is a 3D CG adventure comedy that reveals a fantastical world unlike any other. From the creators of ICE AGE and RIO, EPIC tells the story of an ongoing battle between the forces of good, who keep the natural world alive, and the forces of evil, who wish to destroy it. When a teenage girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she teams up with an elite band of warriors and a crew of comical, larger-than-life figures, to save their world…and ours.
Beyoncé voices the leader of this magical world – Queen Tara. Beautiful, agile and strong, Tara isn’t just the Leafmen’s Queen; she’s the life force of the forest, which she presides over with respect, compassion and humor.
Other members of voice cast are Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis and rock legend Steven Tyler.
EPIC charges into theaters nationwide on May 24, 2013.
Twentieth Century Fox Animation, Blue Sky Studios and WAMG invite you to bring the whole family to see EPIC. Enter to win a Pass (good for 4) to the advance screening on Saturday, May 18th at 10am in St. Louis.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: Beyoncé starred in what 2006 film?
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
2. SEND YOUR NAME AND ANSWER TO:michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com
3. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN THROUGH A RANDOM DRAWING OF QUALIFYING CONTESTANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PASSES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED. DUPLICATE TICKETS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
The film is rated PG for Mild Action, Some Scary Images and Brief Rude Language.
Get ready to experience EPIC in theaters May 24th.
Lionsgate’s upcoming film, PEEPLES is a hilarious new comedy, full of priceless laugh-out-loud lessons in what NOT to do when meeting your future in-laws, starring Craig Robinson (Wade Walker), Kerry Washington (Grace Peeples), and David Alan Grier (Virgil Peeples).
Sparks fly when Wade Walker (Craig Robinson) crashes the preppy Peeples annual reunion in the Hamptons to ask for their precious daughter Grace’s (Kerry Washington) hand in marriage. Wade might be a fish-out-of-water among this seemingly perfect East Coast clan, but he’s not about to let himself flounder. Instead, in a wild weekend of fun, dysfunction and hilarious surprises, Wade is about to discover there’s room for all kinds of Peeples in this family, no matter their differences.
Writer and first-time director Tina Gordon Chism joins forces with Tyler Perry to present a laugh-out-loud look at the family ties that freak us out . . . but bind us together with love.
PEEPLES stars Craig Robinson, Kerry Washington, David Alan Grier, S. Epatha Merkerson, Tyler Williams, Melvin Van Peebles, and Diahann Carroll.
Catch PEEPLES in theaters everywhere May 10, 2013.
Lionsgate and WAMG invite you to enter to win a pass (good for 2) to the advance screening of PEEPLES on May 7th at 7:00 PM in St. Louis.
Answer the following question:
Director Tina Gordon Chism wrote what 2002 movie starring Zoe Saldana?
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
2. SEND YOUR NAME AND ANSWERS TO: michelle@wearemoviegeeks.com
3. YOU MUST SUBMIT THE CORRECT ANSWER TO OUR TRIVIA QUESTION ABOVE TO WIN.
4. WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN THROUGH A RANDOM DRAWING OF QUALIFYING CONTESTANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PASSES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED. DUPLICATE TICKETS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
The film has been rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug material and language.
The French film industry has always been among the worlds most important……at least to film studies professors. Most French movies are either funded by the French government or made with the support of government-linked media companies. Filmmakers face little market pressure in the creative process. That helps explain why they’re so boring!
STARBUCK opens this weekend so we here at We Are Movie Geeks have decided to post this article about our favorite French films. Okay, so STARBUCK is technically a Canadian film shot in Quebec, but its French language so, in our eyes that makes it French! The Hollywood remake is already in the can. It stars Vince Vaughn. The remake was originally tilted DICKIE DONOR but they’ve changed it to DELIVERY MAN, so you just know they’ve screwed it up bad. This list may not line up with that of your typical French Cinema scholar. There’s nothing on it by Claude Chabrol, or Godard, or Louis Malle, or Jean Renoir. This is a list of French movies that are not only considered classics, but are actually fun to watch.
10. CACHE’
It’s hard to believe that the director of this year’s Best Foreign Film, Amour, also directed the movie Caché (2006). Austrian Michael Haneke is a truly masterful director in that he cannot be confined to a specific genre other than “excellent.” The word caché in French means hidden and applies to many aspects of this unique, mind-bending thriller. Daniel Auteuil plays the popular host of a television book review show; his wife played by Juliette Binoche also works in the literary field as a publisher. Along with their twelve-year old son, Pierrot,they enjoy a comfortable, upper middle-class, bourgeois, Parisian life. One day a videotape arrives at their doorstep. Another day, brings another videotape, and again another. Clearly, someone is watching them, but who and why? Each successive videotape increases the disharmy of their family life. The tapes reveal secrets about each that have been hidden. Caché haunts the audience because it initially shows how something fundamentally benign can unravel us.” (from culturesnob.net) The audience becomes unraveled as well, as Haneke doesn’t end the movie with a clear explanation like Matlock would. When this movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Roger Ebert observed the same disturbed uneasiness among his fellow critics who were frustrated at the film’s intentionally ambigious ending. Caché is a uniquely challenging thriller that has fortunately NOT been remade for American sensiblities. Just as in life, many things are hidden for which there are no clear answers.
9. THE 400 BLOWS
There are perhaps better foreign films: ‘The Bicycle Thieves’ and ‘8 ½’ come to mind. There are even better films by filmmaker Francois Truffuat (Jules et Jim and The Bride Wore Black would be my personal favorites), but the story of Antoine Doinel is one of the most poignant, heartfelt and sincere films ever made, especially by an avowed lover of Hollywood Product. For those that haven’t seen it, the desperate trials and tribulations of a young, 13 year –old French teenager who finds himself in and out of trouble with the authorities, is a film that will affect anyone with a pulse. The movie is supposedly based on the actual tumultuous adolescence of the director. Truffaut also used the character in many other films throughout the years, cinematically exploring the aging process and the conflicts that the character/actor encountered as he moved through life and film. For anyone who likes amazingly powerful motion pictures, this is a film that I sure wouldn’t miss.
8. AMELIE
AMELIE (2001) could easily be regarded as a romantic comedy. It makes the endless succession of Hollywood romantic comedies look dull and ordinary by comparison, but what a curious pedigree! The director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, gave us bizarre nightmares and post-apocalyptic alienation in DELICATESSEN and CITY OF LOST CHILDREN although it must be said that both of those films include beautiful romantic moments. AMELIE retains some of the surreal elements of the two earlier films, but there is a lightness of spirit about AMELIE that sets it apart and makes it something truly special. Audrey Tautou gives a magnificent performance as the quirky, clever, but intensely shy Amelie. We believe that we truly understand her as she secretly makes changes in the lives of those around her, playing matchmaker for some, bringing unlooked-for happiness, punishing the wicked with impish glee, but when it comes to her own pleasure and happiness, we see her torment and feel her pain as she is unable to make that crucial final step. How the Academy failed to recognise the quality of this performance with a Best Actress nomination is frankly incomprehensible.
7. BREATHLESS
Breathless (A Bout Du Souffle) captured a specific moment, the fledgling optimism emerging in post-war Paris. It is a classic film because it has retained its cutting edge for over fifty years. This abberant legacy perhaps explains why its director at the age of eighty renounced it, according to Richard Brody, author of “Everything is Cinema: The Working Life Of Jean-Luc Godard.” Certainly the most accessible, and consequently successful of Godard’s films, its celebrated cinematic innovations were almost entirely accidental. There was no shooting script; Godard wrote some lines of dialogue the night before or the day they were to be shot. Unsurprisingly, most of the dialogue was improvised on the spot; often Godard shouted lines from behind the camera. He could do that because the film he chose did not record sound. In fact, it wasn’t movie film at all. Godard wanted this movie to look like a documentary (reportage); the cameras were all hand-held and only available light was used. The only film that could reproduce the look he wanted was not made for movies, only for cameras. So Godard spliced the film strips into reels; all the dialogue was re-recorded after the movie was shot. The shooting schedule was unplanned; it depended on Godard’s mood on that particular day. A day’s shooting ranged from fifteen minutes to twelve hours. Breathless was the first movie to use “jump shots,” interrputions in dialogue and picture that were purposely inconsistent and confusing. While many film scholars wax luminous as to their inspiration, the real story is that producer Georges de Beauregard insisted Godard cut thirty minutes from the movie. Godard refused to cut any single scene, so he cut a little bit from each scene, literally going after the celluloid with scissors. It has been said that he was intentionally trying to ruin the movie to spite the producer. Breathless’ greatest appeal lay in its two leads. It launched the career of Jean-Paul Belmondo whose career continues to this day. It provided American actress Jean Seberg redemption from the disastrous receptions of her first two movies (Saint Joan and Bonjour Tristesse) and immortalized her as a fashion icon. She was the first actress to sport the pixie cut (long before Mia Farrow), and she sported formless, unconstrained clothes that evoked the spirit of Gabrielle Chanel, right down to the Breton (sailor) striped boatneck shirts and ballet flats. Sadly, Seberg never enjoyed the long, successful career as her co-star. Godard embraced the acclaim for his accidental innovations and has employed them with less sucess in his subsequent movies. The most enduring legacy of Breathless is Seberg’s legacy as a fashion icon. Her mien in this movie has been an influence in fashion editorals and for designers since the movie’s release.
6. EYES WITHOUT A FACE
Fantasy and horror movies have never been any classic French director’s forte but the haunting 1960 French horror film EYES WITHOUT A FACE manages to be both grotesque and beautiful in its imagery at the same time. It’s strangely poetic considering its plot; a mad doctor removes young girls’ faces in order to restore his daughter’s! People watching this in 1960 must’ve been startled by the bloody face transplant surgery scenes. The film is beautifully shot in the best haunting film noir/expressionistic style and it also delivers massive emotional impact. The haunting score, which sounds much like circus music, is a foreshadowing to the circus of horrors we witness the doctor perform. Furthermore, the gorgeous cinematography (thanks to Eugen Schüfftan) gives the movie a serene and melancholy feel but also gives the movie an eerie and creepy vibe. Black and white is used exceptionally well and complements the look of the film. Of course, Georges Franju should get a huge mention, as his direction is smooth, focused and flawless.
5. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946)
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, fairy tale films was made literally under the noses of the German occupiers of France during World War Two. Made in bits and pieces with very little money by an often exhausted cast and crew this movie is nothing less than a miracle. A Middle Ages French family faces ruin when the Father’s shipping business is destroyed at sea. He rides his horse through haunted woods from the seaport after learning of his business disaster. During a storm he seeks refuge in the castle of The Beast, a man animal like no other, who demands the merchant’s death when he takes one rose from his garden, all that Beauty asked him to bring to her. The merchant’s death or the death of one of his daughters. Belle has two sisters who care for nothing but themselves, a brother who tries to look out for her but is basically useless. Belle, without hesitation and thinking only of her Father willingly goes to the Beast and certain doom. Not to be, this is a fairy tale after all. The Beast’s first words to Beauty is that she is in no danger. The Beast falls in love with Beauty, of course, as do we. The scenes in the Beast’s castle are incredible, the special effects astonish after all these years and are breathtaking in their beauty after the cold, souless use of CGI these past years. Human hands hold the candelabra, human heads are embedded in the walls like statuary,(or are they living statues?) the Beast’s claws smoke after he has made a fresh kill, Beauty glides through the castle as if her feet cannot touch the floor. The black and white cinematography of Henri Alekan glows and sparkles, as few other films do. The Beast is truly magical, his glove, his roses and best of all his magnificent white horse all carry magic. Yet the Beast is lonely and wants to marry Beauty. Jean Marais endured hours of makeup to become the Beast. Taking it off was such a chore that he sometimes slept in the Beast makeup, and would get up and go back to filming to try and get as much footage shot as possible while he had the makeup on. And what a makeup! This is no werewolf, The Beast resembles a big kitty cat, which makes him all the more loveable. In some scenes his ears even lay back like a cat’s. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I defy anyone to see the last 15 minutes of Beauty and The Beast without crying. Jean Cocteau suffered with a skin disease his entire life and was miserable all through the shooting of this film. France had just suffered through another World War and much of Europe lay in ruins. Out of the ashes Cocteau and his crew worked very real and poetic magic. Beauty and The Beast is not just one of the greatest of Fairy Tale films, it is one of the greatest movies ever made, any where, any time. Criterion did another first rate job with this precious work of art, the special features are extensive and give an accurate history of the making of this film.
4. DIABOLIQUE
DIABOLIQUE is an elegant horror classic directed by French director Henri-Georges Clouzot, and one that is still as terrifying today as it was back when it was released in 1955. The plays like the best film Hitchcock never made – the French equivalent of PSYCHO. In fact, Hitch was inspired by this film to make his film. From the opening sequence with the creepy demonic chanting, you know you are in for a dazzling experience, and indeed, DIABOLIQU keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. Vera Clouzot gives a stunning performance as the fragile, abused wife of a headmaster, and Simone Signoret is cold as ice in the role of Clouzot’s partner in crime. For their performances and the script alone the film deserves its classic status. The twists serve as a suspenseful build-up to the mind blowing climax, that still ranks among the scariest scenes ever made. Overall, a definite must-see, even if you’re a fan of modern horror, you will certainly be surprised.
3. THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG
In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s MGM musicals, particularly those from producer Arthur Freed’s unit, dominated the US box office. Well it turns out that they were also pretty popular overseas . So much so that writer/director Jacques Demy created a French homage’ in 1964, THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (the middle film in a trilogy he began with LOLA). Unlike its American movie inspirations, this film’s dialogue was sung not spoken similar to an opera (most of the MGM flicks had several big song numbers bookended by spoken word). The music was courtesy of film tunesmith Michel Legrand three years before winning his Best Song Oscar for “The Windmills of Your Mind” from THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. He contributed two songs that would become easy-listenng radio favorites “I Will Wait For You” and “Watch What Happens”. The film’s title refers to the shop where young Genevieve (played by a breathtakingly beautiful Catherine Deneuve) works for her stern mother. Guy (Nino Catlenuvo) is the auto mechanic smitten with her, but military service and forceful parents conspire to keep the two lovers apart. Besides the music, the film also emulates the eye-popping color Technicolor cinematography of those Hollywood classics. For the final film in the trilogy Demy worked again with Deneuve and teamed her with gorgeous older sister Francoise Dorleac for 1967’s THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT along with WEST SIDE STORY Oscar winner George Chakiris and MGM song and dance superstar Gene Kelly (who would not dance again on-screen until 1976’s THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT II).
2. IRREVERSIBLE
IRREVERSIBLE (2002) is a profoundly unique and disturbing film, a cinematic experience in the truest sense of the word. The cinematography alone is a jarring experience equivalent to a seizure or a “bad trip”, and the subject matter only increases the viewer’s discomfort. Monica Belluci’s fearless performance should be especially commended; her infamous 9-minute rape scene will never be cleansed from the viewer’s mind, and neither will the matter-of-fact murder of her rapist which opens the film, two of the most unflinchingly stomach-churning scenes which have ever been filmed. These are not spoilers, because they are the beginning of the actual film, though the end, chronologically, of the story. And anyway, there is no way to “spoil” this film. It must be seen, but only by those with strong nerves and stronger stomachs, as evidenced by the many walkouts nationwide. The backwards temporal structure of MEMENTO was used to far more powerful effect in IRREVERSIBLE, though fewer people saw it.
1. THE WAGES OF FEAR
One of the greatest suspense movies, a grueling exercise in drawn out anticipation was not made by Alfred Hitchcock. His French counterpart, Henri Georges-Clouzot, director of the incredible Diabolique, has that distinction. Rumor has it that Hitchcock was so impressed with the ending of Diabolique that he tried to better that ending for the rest of his career. Wages of Fear is an even more impressive rendering of everything Hitchcock based his career on. The Hitchcock style was to work set pieces of suspense into the narrative. There was always humor in a Hitchcock film to lighten the tension for the viewing audience. Not with Clouzot. Wages of Fear is set in a South American shit hole of a town. Sort of living there is a motley group of European expatriates, French, Spanish, English, German. The town is owned and operated by an American oil company which led to the film being censored in America. In the restored version are many comments about multinational corporations and their pursuit of profits at the cost of lives. To the North oil well fires are burning, 4 men are hired to drive heavy duty trucks over 300 miles of primitive roads, mountain passes, rotted out bridges, all while carrying full loads of nitro glycerine, highly volitile and likely to blow up at any point if jostled too much. Clouzot takes his time with the setup, introducing us to the characters and their world weary cynicism. Once the two trucks get rolling it is edge of your seat tension until the final credits roll. Especially impressive are all four of the drivers, all of them need the money badly but are honest enough to admit this may be their last job. The stunt work and on location filming are incredible. This is down and dirty film making, all the actors look exhausted in the heat and dirt. Incredibly this is one classic film that had an excellent remake. William Friedkin’s Sorceror bombed at the box office but is in some ways even better that Clouzot’s. In addition to a worthy, authorized remake the basic set up of moving nitro over difficult roads was used in dozens of movies and television shows. I recall an excellent episode of Bonanza that used the concept. But for real thrills, accept no substitutes. If anything Wages of Fear is more relevant today than ever before. Worker safety takes a back seat to profits all over the world and petroleum remains one of the biggest issues facing humanity today, namely that we are running out of it and the continued use of it is apparently heating up the planet. But that is another story. Criterion’s dvd is excellent and has a second disc for all the extra features.
The star-studded 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival was packed with a plethora of great films and special legendary guests. Each spring, the TCM Classic Film Festival welcomes 25,000 movie fans from around the globe to Hollywood to celebrate the art and history of cinema and this year did not disappoint.
Being as this was my third year at the Festival, I was thrilled to see Oscar-winner, Cher, join Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne as a surprise guest at the opening night gala to kick off the 4th Festival in Hollywood. She joined Osborne onstage at the TCL Chinese Theatre for a short conversation about her love of classic film, her favorite era of films and those that have inspired her prior to the world premiere screening of a brand new 45th anniversary restoration of the musical Funny Girl (1968).
TM & (C) Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, which ran through Sunday, April 28, featured more than a hundred screenings of classic movies, along with appearances by legendary stars, live interviews, extensive panel discussions, special exhibits and more. The packed lineup for this year’s festival included tributes to Jane Fonda, Max von Sydow, Ann Blyth along with an extensive interview with Eva Marie Saint to air on TCM next year.
First up we attended a screening of the musical-comedy ON THE TOWN (1949), starring Gene Kelly (who co-directed with Stanley Donen), Frank Sinatra, Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett, Jules Munshin and Ann Miller. Before the film, TCM’s Robert Osbourne introduced Rob Marshall and the CHICAGO director talked about his upcoming project (and the long awaited) Disney’s INTO THE WOODS – tentatively starring Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp. The film is the adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical.
Next up was Bugs Bunny’s 75th Birthday Bash. Hosted by Leonard Maltin, the audience was treated to Bugs’ official debut in “Porky’s Hare Hunt” through his induction into the National Film Registry in Chuck Jones’ “What’s Opera Doc?”. Maltin presented some of Bugs’ most distinctive, iconic and entertaining films.
My personal highlight of the festival was Saturday’s screening of DELIVERANCE. In a pre-screening discussion, stars Burt Reynolds (yes…BURT REYNOLDS!!), Jon Voight and Ned Beatty reminisced with director John Boorman about the difficulties in shooting the iconic film.
Another personal favorite that was screened Saturday night was the film noir classic, MILDRED PIERCE. Special guest Ann Blyth, who at 85 didn’t look a day over 60, delighted the audience with her Hollywood Royalty and her experience playing one of Hollywood’s most hated characters, Veda in MILDRED PIERCE, opposite the great Joan Crawford (“she was very kind to me and we were friends for a long time”).
Finally, the most anticipated film of the festival, IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, screened at the Cinerama Dome. The film originally opened there in 1963 and played there for 2 years! The theater was actually commissioned by director Stanley Kramer specifically for this film because he shot the picture in 70mm widescreen and at the time, there wasn’t a screen big enough in Hollywood to show it! Before the film there was a discussion with special guests Karen Kramer (Stanley’s widow) and stars Mickey Rooney, Barrie Chase and Marvin Kaplan. An empty chair was left to honor the late great Jonathan Winters, who scheduled to attend before his death on April 11th. They also began the screening with a film tribute to Winters.
The Festival will return in April 2014 and the TCM Classic Cruise returns this year, Dec. 8-13. (Click HERE for details).
