Friday, January 28, 2011

KOB Shot of the Day #92: Sundance Part(ay) #1

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Hey all,

Saturday. Exhausted. Totally fine with that.

Friday night the first IndieVest/Knights of Badassdom party was in full swing. When we walked in they already had a mini-red carpet, complete with a "Step and Repeat" backdrop…with a KoB logo! Was NOT expecting that, nor was I anticipating the many signs wagon-wheeling around the room. Having not even finished the film yet-even though we're on schedule-it was a little unreal that people would already be here, discussing it, psyched for it. Met so many of our supporters and investors as well, who are also here enjoying the many movies programmed at Sundance and just talking movies all night. Needless to say, my kinda soiree; when a 45 minute discussion on the filmography of John Carpenter is the table topic over dinner, it's good times. It's a shame we couldn't show anything form the movie while here but everyone seems extremely excited about the film which was a great charge. Met SO many great people that my head was spinning, which is a nice segue to mention Tommy Lee was scheduled to spin at the party immediately after. Um, what? That Tommy Lee? OK, this could be interesting.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

…and boy can the guy spin. Everyone was impressed, and while there was a slight tinge of disappointment over the false rumor he'd use his dong on the 1's and 2's, it was a fantastic mix of deep house, hip-hop, pop and even some metal (the remix of Rage's "Killing In The Name" was an awesome capper. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and even though Im not a really a partier (to me, a jumpin' Friday night is being home with 3 Giallo flicks) I had a great time with everyone. But I also had to call it a night sooner than later as I scored a ticket to Paddy Considine's (the fantastic actor from DEAD MAN'S SHOES, BOURNE ULTIMATUM & HOT FUZZ) feature directing debut, TYRANNOSAUR. At 9am?! Oof. Better get to bed. Of course i stayed up and watched Louis CK's HILARIOUS again till 4:30am.

Thankfully, the screening was in the hotel we were at, the Yarrow. Actually, it was literally 100 feet away from my room. As bad as I wanted to walk in in my Hotel robe and slippers, I ended up dragging ass and plopping it front row center just as it began, barely able to keep the eyes open. But within 3 minutes of the movie's open, I was kicked squarely in the chest and from there I was wide awake. TYRANNOSAUR is a sad, sobering and pretty spectacular film, but as grim and often-times brutal as a Brit drama can get. Peter Mulan as the angry old man who befriends an abused wife is fantastic, and the movie reminded me of old-school Mike Leigh. It also reminded me of Gaspar Noe's I STAND ALONE, which is also intense but a little more cinematically assaultive. I knew nothing of the movie before it started other than the talent involved, but by the end I knew this movie would stay with me for a long time after. Knowing I had ANOTHER screening directly after I bolted before the Q&A but when I left, outside was Paddy and Peter and knot knowing what compelled me, with hands still kinda shaking from the film and a little teary, I just shook both their hands and said "Thank you, that was amazing" before walking off. Paddy called back "Mate! Thank you that's so great of ya". I've been in that position before, where you don't really know if your ideas and on-screen storytelling works with an audience or not, but its such a strange, unique feeling when an anonymous person comes up to you and compliments what they saw. I hope KNIGHTS does that to a few people too, something we'll know soon enough. But there was genuine graciousness when I I went up to him and he deserves it for sure. The film is not for the faint of heart, but its scarred heart is beating strong and Paddy is a hell of a director himself. Very glad I work up for it.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Trying to shake off the intensity from TYRANNOSAUR (wait till you hear how the title came about, film nerds) I met with a few friends (some old some new) who were going to see the CORMAN documentary. Roger Corman is 80-something and still gore-ing strong (Zing!) and this doc reveals his career spanning almost 60 years in and out of the Hollywood grind. How they got so many huge names to do it is a testament to Corman's legacy, so when you see Jack Nicholson, Joe Dante, Peter Fonda, Dick Miller, John Sayles, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme & Martin Scorsese (all graduates from the "Corman School" of filmmaking) lamenting about the man who taught them the ropes, it adds such a legitimacy to a man who is usually the butt of B-movie jokes. It was such a great palate cleanser from TYRANNOSAUR and one hell of an entertaining time. MUST see.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

When we walked out, we discovered the sky was dumping snow. I was thrilled to see it because it was like a little slice of home, especially since we didn't have any snowfall when we went back east to NY for Christmas. It was chilly but worth the wintery mise en scene.

…and now Im back at the hotel, promising myself I'd give myself a break and rest before the 2nd IndieVest party tonight, but nope; Have MIDNIGHT RUN playing on Netflix Instant in the BG while I sit here and write this. Miss my family so badly right now but duty calls. I hear some of the KNIGHTS are actually showing up tonight too...one more night!

Joe

Sunday, January 23, 2011

KOB Shot of the Day #93: Sundance Part(ay) #2

Shot with iPhone, not yours.

Hey all,

Sitting in the Salt Lake airport about to leave Park City after one hell of a whirlwind tour. My head is spinning (and SLIGHTLY throbbing) from last night's 2nd IndieVest party and where I didn't think it could get any bigger…it did!

Shot with iPhone, not yours.

Whereas Friday night had the rocket sauce of Tommy Lee behind the wheels, tonight touted Jermaine Dupri, someone I haven't said out loud since 2002 (when I shot an artist of his and stepped on his toe by accident, mah bad), as the house DJ. But what I didn't expect was I will now refer to as The Lure of the Dupri; as dinner ended and the party began, a cavalcade of scantily clad women began showing up from all corners of the room. The silicone levels in the room went up considerably from the previous night, but the dance floor filled up immediately. Our first DJ, Clinton Sparks, did a fantastic set to kick things off with a great house mix, and once Sir Dupri hit the vinyl, the place was (as they say) SLAMMIN'. Seriously, there was a crazy electricity in the room as he spun 80's to now tracks and there was more grindage than a screening of LAMBADA: THE FORBIDDEN DANCE at the New Beverly. It was a sight to behold. Hell, we even had a fight on the dance floor, which usually means…."GOOD PARTY". So great to see so many of our friends and IV family gettin' fah-reaky, and rightly so! It was a fantastic set by Jermaine, who won me over for sure.

Shot with iPhone, not yours.

An extra thrill was that two of our Knights, Brett Gipson (Gunther) and Peter Dinklage (Hung) got to stop by since both of them had films showing. So great to have them out and catch up; Peter's hair is practically shoulder-length and Canary colored from his work on GAME OF THRONES, so he hid it under a long snowcap, which added to the cool factor I must say. Brett, who had transformed from his Thor-like visage in KoB, was handsomely dressed and visibly excited about the movie. Both were even more jazzed when they got a little taste of the film that I had with me; Seeing their faces brighten and wide-eyed was the best swag I could have gotten up here, gave me hope and a charge.

The beat's didn't stop till 1:30 or so and I quickly split back to the hotel to TRY to get some sleep before the next day's flight….and then my time was consumed by web-surfing and GEORGE CARLIN: YOU ARE ALL DISEASED (hilarious), still reflecting on the movies I saw today and the night we had, still not believing I was at Sundance for the first time in 10 years...and that as soon as Im finally settling into the snow, we're out!

…and here we are. Even with 3 hours of sleep (again) I got up charged since I was going home and seeing my family again. I even joked with Bri, I wish I had a Flux Capacitor app on my ipod to go into the future and get home sooner, but I guess Im a slave to Father Time. Someone please get on that app, stat.

So, that's Sundance 2011. We didn't show anything, but we definitely made our presence known and it only got everyone more excited to experience this kick-ass ride we're crafting. It certainly got me jazzed to jump back into the edit again! See you Monday, Howard!

Shot with iPhone, not yours.

Park City, Peace out!

Joe

Friday, January 21, 2011

KOB Shot of the Day #91: Sundance Squinting

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Hey all,

Hello from breezy, sunny, snowy Park City, UT! The IndieVest Knights (sounds like a bowling team) are invading Sundance again this year and they invited me along, which is very cool (thanks guys). We've been hunkered down in the EditCave since the new year, hacking and slashing away, so its a nice diversion from the darkened room for a weekend. I haven't been here since Sundance '00 and just having been here half a day, tons of memories are flooding back…like the time I was dressed as Toxic Avenger and threw up on James Woods' shoes in '99 or when I got to see Trey & Matt's band DVDA play live (where I made my first music video out of it as per their request for "What Would Brian Boitano Do?") or seeing Robert Altman slip on the ice (poor guy) or even the last movie i saw here 10 years back…a Japanese Sci-Fi porno Sequel to BLADE RUNNER. (Yup). Its all sensory overload in the thin, crisp air filled with insiders, media, filmmakers and lovers of the medium all shoved into one place relying on warm hats and over-crowded busses. But its always good to be anywhere where people are celebrating film, and there's a real sense of excitement here. Maybe its the air or the swag people are getting…or could it-gasp!-actually be the movies playing? We'll see…

Today I was lucky enough to catch an actual screening too! Didn't think I was gonna be able to see any movies here since most are snatched up weeks ago but thanks to Akua, she gave me a pass to UNCLE KENT, a "mumble-core"esque flick that was….quite revealing (in many ways). After the film I got to meet up with some friends also in town for the FESTivities, and now Im back at the Yarrow hotel dropping off some essentials (water, toothpaste, etc) before the IndieVest soiree tonight where Tommy lee is DJ'ing (!!!) and a slew of our IV fellowship will be there to whoop it up and maybe talk about the movie a bit. Sadly we're not showing anything yet, but Gonna be a great time for all from what I hear.

Hopefully I can check in over the weekend more and maybe the other guys will too. If I have any interesting pictures other than icicles and snow, Ill be sure to post it.

For now, I think I need some new sunglasses.

Huzzah,
Joe