Rob’s Finds
A special weekend edition of Rob’s Finds, the curious and intriguing stories Rob Fuller digs up on the Web. And since the SXSW Festival kicked off in Austin this weekend, let’s start with this little gem Rob discovered: “Space Ships, Aliens And Comics To Watch at SXSW’s Film Fest” from io9.com:
This year’s annual South By South West film festival in Austin, Texas has picked up some heavy-hitting foreign science fiction, with the industrial Cargo, not to mention Star Wars finger-pointing, and vampires.
Here are a few of their picks:
Cargo
The Swiss film, which has been getting some positive attention on the internet, will be premiering on U.S. soil at SXSW. The film takes place in the future, after the Earth has been ruined, and the human race now lives in orbit. A giant spaceship clunks to a stop eight years into an unknown future. The main character, a woman, awakes from hyper-sleep — but even though the rest of the crew is still slumbering, she’s not alone on this vessel.
http://www.youtube.com/v/TZnLZmfwbhU&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22
Screening: March 17 @ 09:30 PM.
Mars
Filmed and produced to look like a graphic novel, we’re pretty intrigued with Geoff Marslett’s romantic comedy in space. Especially because it stars Mark Duplass, who can do no wrong, whether acting in The League or directing and writing, which he earned a lot of recognition for at Sundance this year.
Synopsis:
A new space race is born between NASA and the ESA when Charlie Brownsville, Hank Morrison, and Dr. Casey Cook compete against an artificially intelligent robot to find out what’s up there on the red planet. Mars follows these three astronauts on the first manned mission to our galactic neighbor. On the way they face adventure, self doubts, obnoxious reporters, and the boredom of extended space travel.
http://www.youtube.com/v/8DASBmOnuCI&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22
Screening: Saturday, March 13th @ 04:30 PM, 18th @ 06:30 PM, and the 19th @ 06:30 PM.
The People Versus George Lucas
Alexandre O. Philippe’s fan-driven documentary asks the people what they think of George Lucas and what he’s done to and for the Star Wars legacy. Plus a few “famous” people weigh in as well, like the honorable Neil Gaiman.
http://www.youtube.com/v/vcqztlNAICY&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22
Screenings: March 13 @ 06:30 PM, the 16th @ 03:30 PM, and the 18th @ 01:45 PM.
But for kicks, perhaps my favorite:
Star Wars: Retold By Someone Who’s Never Seen Star Wars
Exactly what the title says. You can watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Hb2GmBkkaTU&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22
Screenings: March 13th @ 06:30 PM, the 16th @ 03:30 PM, and the 18th @ 01:45 PM, same time as People V. GL.
I’ve never heard of the website alwayswatching.net, but Rob has — and he found this interesting post: “25 Fantastic Indie Gems Made For Less Than $1 Million”:
Behind every outstanding Hollywood blockbuster, there’s a film director who had to work their ass off to helm that project. And though their early work is not often seen by the public eye, that doesn’t mean it’s not accessible to those who are interested in seeking it out. Usually, these films can be found gathering dust at the bottom of a video store shelf, overlooked by most in favor of generic Hollywood productions like Rush Hour 3 (cost: $140 million), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (cost: $85 million), Evan Almighty (cost: $175 million), the soon-to-be-released-on-DVD The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (cost: $145 million), and other such over-budgeted cinematic drudgery. But to the small-time filmmakers that made them, they’re a labored amalgamation of all the sweat and tears they had to invest before hitting it big. And to the audiences willing to forgo any preconceived notions about independent cinema, they’re some of the best surprises you can find in the movie world, making up for their lack of budget with originality, creativity, intelligence, and damn fine filmmaking.
A few of their selections:
EL MARIACHI
Budget: $7,000 (before additional post production work)
Behind every outstanding Hollywood blockbuster, there’s a film director who had to work their ass off to helm that project. And though their early work is not often seen by the public eye, that doesn’t mean it’s not accessible to those who are interested in seeking it out. Usually, these films can be found gathering dust at the bottom of a video store shelf, overlooked by most in favor of generic Hollywood productions like Rush Hour 3 (cost: $140 million), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (cost: $85 million), Evan Almighty (cost: $175 million), the soon-to-be-released-on-DVD The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (cost: $145 million), and other such over-budgeted cinematic drudgery. But to the small-time filmmakers that made them, they’re a labored amalgamation of all the sweat and tears they had to invest before hitting it big. And to the audiences willing to forgo any preconceived notions about independent cinema, they’re some of the best surprises you can find in the movie world, making up for their lack of budget with originality, creativity, intelligence, and damn fine filmmaking.
CLERKS
Budget: $27,000 (before additional post production work)
A god amongst film geeks, beloved filmmaker and comic book writer Kevin Smith has amassed an arsenal of 6 movies to fit into his View Askewniverse, and that world begins and ends with Clerks. Though many people have an almost instinctive adverse reaction to black-and-white cinema nowadays, Clerks proves that when it comes to comedy, a strong focus on dialogue is almost always the primary route to success. And with the film taking place almost entirely within a convenience store where Kevin Smith worked at the time, the concentration staying on dialogue above anything else allowed for the young filmmaker to keep the budget as minimal as possible. That’s not to say paying for the movie was an easy task. According to Wikipedia, in order to acquire the funds for the film, Smith sold a large proportion of his extensive comic book collection, maxed out eight to ten credit cards with $2000 limits, dipped into a portion of funds set aside for his college education and spent insurance money awarded for a car he and Jason Mewes lost in a flood.
FOLLOWING
Budget: $6,000
From the co-writer and director of The Dark Knight.
Hopefully that’s all that needs to be said to convince any hesitant viewers from checking out this black-and-white neo-noir directorial debut from master filmmaker Christopher Nolan. As has been proven with Memento, Batman Begins, and The Prestige, this is a man who can do no wrong. With Following, Nolan (who in addition to writing and directing, also filmed and co-produced the film) tells the fascinating story of a struggling young writer who tries to find inspiration by following people, and is eventually taken under the wing of a professional thief. Not unlike Memento, Following uses a non-linear plot structure to tell its story, explained by Nolan as a means to “emphasize the audience’s incomplete understanding of each new scene as it is first presented.” This plays into a recurring trademark of Nolan’s, as the themes of his films always go hand-in-hand with the style in which it’s presented.
Rob really outdid himself with this next one: “Seven Songs About Movies” from IFC.com:
Guyz Nite — “Die Hard”
Inspired by: “Die Hard” (1988), “Die Hard 2” (1990) and “Die Hard: With a Vengeance” (1995)
While this 2006 song already sounds oddly Fall Out Boy-era dated, the chorus is still fist-pump catchy: “We’re gonna die (DIE!) die (DIE!) die (DIE!) die hard!” Guyz Nite, who label themselves “Beer Metal” and have testosteroned-out stage names like Guy Manley and Bear Woods, sometimes cheat on their rhymes (“The good cop wouldn’t miss this / Even though it wasn’t Christmas”), but deserve extra points for covering the first three “Die Hard” films (“Live Free or Die Hard” hadn’t come out yet) and working John McClane’s signature profanity into a downright lovely bridge.
http://www.youtube.com/v/R5in09EwYV0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0
Greenskeepers — “Lotion”
Inspired by “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
The Chicago-based Greenskeepers had the ingenious revelation that Buffalo Bill’s famous “The Silence of the Lambs” line to Catherine Martin, imprisoned in his basement, scans perfectly, no edits or additions necessary: “It rubs the lotion on its skin / Or else it gets the hose again.” Combine that with a slinky bassline and you have something that could outlast its own serial killer song novelty potential.
http://www.youtube.com/v/9ToNZHG5KHw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0
Finally Rob uncovered a video featuring District 9 co-writer and director Neil Blomkamp in which he muses about the possibility of extraterrestrials. From the website BeholdTheDestryoer.com:
http://www.youtube.com/v/tripD00-9zU&hl=en_US&fs=1&
Once again, thanks to Rob for boldly going where no web denizen has gone before!