Remembering Rogert Ebert- the Great American Movie Critic

With an image of the Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah, we are honoring Roger Ebert. He was an inspiration to all of us 'movie people,' and his show "At the Movies" which he hosted with his fellow Chicago film critic the late Gene Siskel gave attention to many small films such as "The Brother from Another Planet," "Paris, Texas" and "Roger and Me."

He also championed films such as "Aguirre, Wrath of God," "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Monster" while remaining  equally outspoken about movies he despised, such as the infamous rape revenge movie "I Spit on Your Grave!" (1978; amazingly enough, it was remade just a few years ago).

I had the chance to meet Ebert at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville some 20 years ago, and I am very thankful I had a few minutes to tell him how much I admired him.

Here is one of his more famous quotes:

"No good movie is too long and no bad movie is too short."

Let the final credits roll for this remarkable man.

http://www.virginiafilmfestival.org

http://www.saltlakefilmsociety.org

Quote of the Day/Week-Simon Pegg

We continue quoting people born in 1970, the year that this blog's managing editor Tilly Gokbudak (ok, that is me) was born, with a quip from the British comic actor Simon Pegg who turned 42 a month ago on Valentine's Day.

Pegg is known for many comedy roles with a sci-fi or horror angle, including "Star Trek," "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and "Paul."

His nickname is The Fresh Pegg, and he apparently likes "Star Wars" and "Doctor Who;" here is his quote:

"American audiences tend to be more expressive than British ones."

Tweet of the Moment_ Singer Moby Talking Film

Last night, we caught this tweet from a guy calling himself (his words) The Little Idiot. I completely forgot that was the moniker for the techno instrumentalist Moby who happens to have over 1.25 million followers on Facebook!

Here is the tweet, and I am not using proper punctuation as Moby didn't in his tweet:

"i think my life will be perfectly ok without ever seeing human centipede."

This tweet was in reference to the 2009 cult shock horror film "Human Centipede" which involves a very extreme, over-the-top, sick and demented plot. Of course, a sequel came out earlier this year and a third one is on its way.

The film was shown at the Shadowbox Microcinema in Roanoke, Va., which is getting ready for the "Time Warp" as they will screen "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at 9:00 and 11:59 p.m. on Saturday night.

The Last Ten Films I've Seen

Here they are, first to last:

#-Movies I saw in a cinema
*-Movies I saw in a microcinema
^-Moives I have previously seen

1.# "The Trip" (UK. 2010. Dir- Michael Winterbottom. W/Steve Coogan)

2. "Dogtooth" (Greece. 2009. Dir- Giorgis Lanthinos)

3. # "Tabloid" (doc. 2010. Dir- Erroll Morris)

4. "Halloween 2" (2009. Dir- Rob Zombie)

5. "A Little Trip to Heaven" (US/Iceland. 2005. Dir- Baltasar Kormakur. W/Julie Stiles)

6. *^ "Trollhunter" (Norway. 2010. Dir- Andre Ovredal)

7. "The Age of Ignorance" (Canada-in French. 2007. Dir- Denys Arcand)

8. "My Winnipeg" (Canada-in English. 2007. Dir- Guy Maddin)

9. "The Seventh Continent" (Austria. 1989. Dir- Michael Haneke)

10. "Marwencol" (doc. 2010. Dir- Jeff Malmberg)

Brief Notes:

"The Trip" is sort of like a cross between "Easy Rider" and "My Dinner with Andre." It's a witty and funny film.

"Dogtooth" is a film with every taboo subject one can think of, but it is well-made. Amazingly enough, it got a foreign-language Oscar nomination. It is definitely not like the Greek melodramas of yesteryears.

Another person who was actually watching "Tabloid" at the Apeture Cinema in Winston-Salem, NC, scorned at me for laughing, but the film is quite amusing, especially given that it is a documentary.

Yes, "Hallloween II" doesn't really belong on this list, but Rob Zombie makes interesting films. Alas, the cliches of the Michael Myers serial killer series entrap the film's plot considerably.

I saw "Trollhunter" at the Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va. It is definitely a fun film.

"My Winnipeg" is as anyone who has seen a Guy Maddin film will know is quite surreal.

"The Seventh Continent" is perhaps the most depressing film I've seen since "The Bridge," a documentary about people commiting suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

"Marwencol" is simply awesom.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Jaaack-O-Lantern

For those of you who reside in a remote village in Azerbaijan, this image above is of Jack Nicholson who played Jack Torrence in the Stanley Kubrick film version of "The Shinning," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

King is to this day reportedly displeased with the Kubrick film. Interestingly enough, Kubrick would frequently call King when it was the middle of the night in Maine, where King still resides, and ask him absurd questions like: "Do you believe in God?"

"The Shinning" is currently showing (at least of tonight) at the famed Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Tex., which is about as close to us as a remote village in Azerbaijan (we are on the east coast).

According to the IMDB, King also professed a preference for actor Jon Voight, now known more for his radical transformation from post-Vietnam hippie to a right-wing Tea Party extremist than his still emmence on-screen talents, to play the title role instead of Jaaack Nicholson.

The title of the book apparently came about when King was listening to or thinking about the John Lennon song "Instant Karma" and the line: "We all shine on."

Program Reminder- Hostel 2 on IFC This Week

For those of you who may be either sick and demented people or normal people interested in sick and demented films, there is good news for you!

IFC will be airing the 2007 shock horror/torture porn film "Hostel 2," helmed by Eli Roth, the director of the original "Hostel."

The basic plot line is that three American college girls study art in Rome and they are drawn into the world of suffering and torture.

The films airs at midnight.

Have your microwave popcorn handy!

On Fridays, IFC is also airing reruns of the wonderful 1999 series "Freaks and Geeks" about high school life around 1980 which featured a very young Seth Rogen and James Franco, among many other future stars in its cast. I just watched an episode, which reairs Sunday night at 10:00 pm tonight, and it was great. The show only lasted 18 episodes. I was among those who missed out on it the first time around.

And, this is a good moment to segue-way to our upteenth High School of the Week, which is........Hamden High School from Hamden, Conn., where the school motto is 'to everyone there openth a way.' The school mascot is The Green Dragon?! And, the school's principal is Gary Highsmith.

Of course, every student there is too young to watch "Hostel 2," but alas most of them have probably seen it five or six times anyway!

Program Alert- "Saw" on IFC- Midnight/Friday

Perhaps, it was Christopher Sharrett who said it best in a recent issue of "Cineaste," a publication which unapologetic film snobs such as myself really adore (having said that, I am openly debating whether I should add "Soggy Bottom USA"- a 1981 film which isn't exactly "Rashomon" to my Netflix que), when he said the following statement regarding the 2004 horror film "Saw" and its many sequels:

"The latest in fashion in fear or politically toxic mortality tales? Make your choice."

Sharrett then added the following sentiment about Jigsaw, the engaging mass murderer in films who 'welcomes guests' into his house or horrors:

"Jigsaw, the disgruntled, middle-class white male professional, fits in a long tradition of male characters fed up with democratic institutions, determined to set their own rules."

"Saw" will air at midnight as part of IFC's midnight pulp series this Friday. I've seen the film and many of its sequels (I think there are five or six films in the series) though I've often wondered why I am lured to this exercise in torture porn- and, in fact since the film series is now a billion dollar franchise so have many other people around the world!

According to the IMDB, the original "Saw" (2004. d. James Wan) was originally rated NC-17 before cuts were made after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (of all places!). Pre-production for "Saw" was a mere five days. The shoot lasted just 18 days. "Saw II" was green-lighted after the original's opening weekend. And, the film's puppet Jigsaw (pictured here) was made from scratch by the filmmakers.

Even though the film has a subversive far-right message that those 'who do bad things' bascially deserve to be gradually be sawed or hacked to death or beheaded......(hmm, perhaps they should show this film at a radical Southern Baptist Church in a town like War, W.Va), one of the orginal film's stars Danny Glover is known for being one of Hollywood's leading liberal activists.

"Saw" also features Leigh Whannel (who co-wrote the screenplay), Monica Potter, Cary Elwes and Tobin Bell as Jigsaw. Ironically, Bell is not a fan of horror films!