Came across this, it's interesting :)

A brief history of the Los Angeles Film Festival (1971-present)

delete this it was an accident!

FILM SCHOOL’S TORCHLIGHT PROGRAM TO PRESENT SNEAK PEAK OF Jane Campion's ‘BRIGHT STAR’ at Student Life Center

Dear colleagues, friends & students,

As the director of The Florida State University Film School's Torchlight Program I am thrilled to have been asked to present a Sneak Preview of Jane Campion's "Bright Star" at Florida State University through this program and my relationship with the distributor. On Thursday, September 24th at 7 P.M. The Torchlight Program will proudly present an Apparition Release of a Jane Campion (Academy Award winning screenplay for "The Piano") film, "Bright Star". Seating will be first come first serve as we are expecting record attendance at the Askew Student Live Center (SLC), 942 Learning Way, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4172. Special thanks to the SLC, Apparition and especially to Jane Campion!.

Based on the true story, Bright Star chronicles the passionate love affair between the 24-year-old British poet, John Keats, and his 18-year-old enchanting muse, Fanny Brawne. Academy Award winner Jane Campion's (The Piano) return to the big screen features outstanding performances from Abbie Cornish (Stop-Loss) as Brawne, Ben Whishaw (I'm Not There) as Keats and Paul Schneider (NBCs Parks & Recreation) as Keats's friend, Charles Armitage Brown. Rated PG. In theaters including the Tallahassee AMC 20 on October 2. www.brightstar-movie.com

See you at the movies,
Paul Cohen
Director
The Torchlight Program
FSU The Film School

The next few weeks at the SLC!

HEY ALL!

Hope you've been keeping an eye on the schedule, it's got a baby on the cover!  We're hard at work on the next schedule [Public Enemies, The Jerk, The Godfather, Evil Dead 2, etc] but for the next few weeks we have several things going on.

1)  First off, THIS Saturday is Mario Kart Wii!!!  

September 19 (Sat) 2:00PM - 6:00PM

We've got the theater all to ourselves to race Mario, Wario, Yoshi, Peach, Bowser, and all the rest on the BIG SCREEN. Winners will receive awesome prizes.

2) Next up: BRIGHT STAR

The FSU Film School's TORCHLIGHT Program 

brings us a special screening of the new Jane Campion (The Piano) film, Bright Star.  

This drama is based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25.

TORCHLIGHT brings us this film as a SPECIAL screening.  This is the Tallahassee PREMIERE and is FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC (including students).  

September 24th (Thur)  7:00PM

3) ZOMBIELAND!!!!

Here's a FREE ADVANCED SCREENING for YOU!  

Two men have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss -- but fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee is an AK-totin', zombie-slayin' badass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies.

October 1st (Thur)  7:30PM

You must pick up an Advanced Screening Pass at the ASLC Info Desk, passes are available starting one week before the screening (so come to BRIGHT STAR) and only FSU students are eligible.  

4) Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're combining events!

 Not only are we playing the first movie, the ORIGINAL, as a 

Midnight Movie 

October 16th,

 but earlier that night, most likely from around 6PM, we're playing the new game for Wii.

Come on out and have a KOWABUNGA time!

5) Last, but not least, we're showing our ANNUAL FAVORITE.  It's naughty.  It's crazy. It's got audience participation AND a Live Cast.  It's the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  

The Party starts at 11:30PM on October 23rd. 

This is the same day as the Union's Halloween events, and we're planning some as well, but start preparing your Rocky Horror outfit NOW!

SXSW Film Festival!

Just about two weeks ago, a few of us Film Commers journeyed to Austin, Texas for South By Southwest Film Fesival! We networked with filmmakers, saw tons of movies, learned about filmmaking, ate a lot of good food, and had a ridiculous amount of fun. A few of the groups favorite films were:

Best Worst Movie, which follows up with the castmembers and film makers of the cult favorite so-bad-it's-good movie, Troll 2.
Trailer

Humpday, a film by Lynn Shelton, tells the story of two old friends who's attempts to prove wrong each's opinion of the others' lifestyle ultimately leads them to decide to make an amateur porn together.
Trailer

Make Out With Violence, a film about grief, dealing with death, and secretly keeping a zombie girl in your house!
Trailer

Pulling John, a documentary about professional armwrestling!
Trailer

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle. This fast paced ride through the world of cookie addict janitors, their curious health problems, and the corporation that's to blame for it all was probably the weirdest film at south by southwest. Beloved by all who were lucky enough to catch it, this was my personal favorite of the fest!
Trailer

SPOILER!

It could be real, it could be fake, I take no responsibility for it, but hey, it could make you a couple extra bucks in that office pool...

JCVD ~ Jean-Claude Van Damme

Holy crap! It's better than seeing Liam Neeson do a Steven Seagal movie (cough, Taken, cough). This one is actually a real movie. With Jean-Claude. And acting.

Now, I'm not going to start quoting those nice praising reviews like "Must be seen to be believed", or that odd one like "Forces you to consider the star in a whole new light", or even "Maybe the year's most surprising movie." I just really enjoyed this movie.

Basically, Jean-Claude is himself, a lower than B-movie actor who runs into debt, child custody hearings, and a lack of love from his own agent. After heading home to Brussels (making this movie basically in French with English subtitles - but they don't talk fast), he finds out he really is broke as Steven Seagal steals his last role. Things get interesting when he's caught in a bank robbery while withdrawing cash and the whole city thinks he is the criminal.

This movie delivered all that I wanted. It had action, humor, clever writing, a soft touch, and interesting supporting characters. My one complaint is that after Jean-Claude does this movie, proves that he can act and show emotion, he goes and signs up for Universal Soldier 4.

As a side note, I didn't have to go to a Film Festival to see this either. The new FSU Film School Torchlight Program brought this movie, others, and more to come for FREE to Student Life Cinema on campus and played it back on January 13th.

Now, if you missed it a month ago, JCVD is coming back to Tallahassee. It will be at the Regal Miracle 5 on Friday, February 13.

I might actually go and pay for my second showing, so I expect to see you there. Don't forget, for more of these FREE movies in Tallahassee, keep an eye on Student Life Cinema at FSU, especially on Facebook at the fan page: Student Life Cinema

Old School Mortal Kombat Tournament

Oh yes, it is right around the corner. This Saturday, at 2PM, gallons of blood will be spilled in the theater. Contrary to earlier advertisements, we are playing the original arcade version of Mortal Kombat (Rev04 for the ROM nerds out there). This is the game that started it all, the worried mothers, the concerned government, and all other pseudo-science that blames video games for the world problems. Awarded most controversial game of 1993, it still stands as a testament to violence and gore. I spent four hours playing this game last night, learning all the special moves, and trying out all the fatalities, and it was absolutely glorious, both the blood and the childhood nostalgia.

Here's guide for the rest of you, to help level the playing field.
http://www.mksecrets.net/mk1/eng/mk-specialmoves.php

Specific rules for the tournament will be available on game day, but no worries, it's nothing to complicated (16bit, come on). It's a standard double elimination tournament, so start practicing now.

Florida State Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Start getting excited for the first Florida State Gay & Lesbian Film Festival February 23-25 in the Student Life Cinema!

Pride Student Union and the Student Life Cinema are teaming together to bring the FSU campus fresh and fun films with an LGBTQ twist.

The festival spans three days and has five films. Topics range anywhere from the Bible and homosexuality to fun and happy musicals. 

Check out the movies and the trailers below and also check out the website for the film festival: FSGLFF.ORG

We Hope To See You At All The Movies!

For The Bible Tells Me So: February 23rd 7:30

Love Songs: February 23rd 10:00

The Secrets-Co-Sponsored by the Jewish Student Union and Hillel with an introduction by Dr. Kavka of FSU and a panel immediately following the film: February 24th 7:00

Bi The Way: February 24th 10:15

Were The World Mine: February 25th 10:15

who else is surprised the dark knight isn't on here?

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863826_1863827,00.html#

Time's Top 10 movies of 2008...we've shown quite a few of them at the SLC (and are planning to show others)

The THC is in the House!

THC: Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive substance found in the cannabis plant, aka pot, aka weed, aka marijuana, aka wacky-tobacky.

As you all are enjoying your Thanksgiving breaks either in Tallahassee or far from it, I'd like you all to start preparing yourselves for what awaits you back at the SLC when you return. Namely The Wackness and Pineapple Express. Both of these movies contain lots of a little drug that contains THC. Now besides the probability that the SLC will sell a lot more concessions than usual, we can use these two movies as a barometer for the current acceptance level for marijuana use in the U.S. Drugs have always appeared in movies, but mostly they show the destructive properties of drugs. With regards to marijuana specifically most movies portray people who smoke pot as a "stoner" who provides stupid comic relief. Of course there have been a few exceptions like Reefer Madness which is a parody of the 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film. But now movies like The Wackness and Pineapple Express are viewing pot use as a normal everyday thing that many different types of people use recreationally.

So after you're sick of your parents nagging you and you're back at FSU, we'd like to encourage you to sit back, relax, laugh, and most importantly buy lots of concessions with the Student Life Cinema as we bring you two movies filled to the brim with plenty of THC.

Audience Pick Midnight! Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!

Quite honestly, I was thrilled with the choices for Audience Pick Midnight this semester. While The Game, The Thing, and Mystery Men would have all been fun choices, I was so happy that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was selected. What good taste our audience has!

For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to see the film, the story follows Harry Lockhart, a thief who inadvertently becomes an actor. Lockhart stumbles into an audition while running from the cops and finds himself swept away to Hollywood. There, he must prepare for a role as a Private Investigator with the real deal, a character referred to as "Gay Perry." Throw into the mix his childhood sweetheart, murder, sex, and lots of humor, and there you have Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. 

If the premise doesn't sell you on the movie, (and with my description skills, that is entirely likely) I present to you 5 other reasons you should see this movie.

1) Robert Downey, Jr!!!!!!

Everyone loves him. Seriously. He has a tendency to make every movie better. Case in point: Tropic Thunder, Iron Man, Heart and Souls, and Soapdish, just to name a few. (By the way, if you haven't seen some of those, you should see them too.) As the main character and narrator of this movie, it's impossible not to like him.

2) Val Kilmer!!!!!!

Love him or hate him for past roles, he has always maintained a place in my heart. Not to mention, he steals every scene and makes the audience laugh nonstop throughout the film.

3) Amazingly witty dialogue!!!!!!

The script to this movie is fantastic! You will walk out quoting it and find yourself looking up more lines on imdb for weeks following. If you have a good sense of humor, I have no doubt you will love the dialogue.

4) It's an audience pick!!!!!!

I've been on Film Committee for about three semesters now, and I though I believe we have always selected great films for our fellow FSU students, I also believe that there is no better indicator of what the people want then letting them select the movie themselves! So, have a little faith in your fellow classmates and trust their resounding majority vote!

5) Finals are coming up!!!!!

Everyone tends to get stressed out right before the semester ends and we hit finals week. Since we will not have any entertainment for that final week of testing, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is your very last opportunity to watch a movie at the SLC before 2009! Who wouldn't want to wind down with their friends and enjoy a hilarious film with a great cast?! 

So, end your semester with a bang!

A Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, that is.....*

*I apologize for using that atrociously lame joke, but seriously. Come see it.

Coraline

http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/?p=6346

The trailer speaks for itself. Stop motion animated film. Nightmare Before Christmas director. I couldn't imagine how awesome it's going to be in 3D. Take a gander...

Vuole lo, qui lo è! Felice Jarrod?

Questa settimana ho guardato il film Tropic Thunder dal cinema studenti con il mio ragazzo e la mia amica. Era il tempo secondo ho guardato. Il film è una commedia e una satira di film gruerra. Penso che il film sia molto divertente, ma delle barzellette sono inappropriato. Il regista per il film era anche un attore famoso, Ben Stiller. Per una scena il suo personaggio non aveva i mani perche di una esplosione. Nella intervista ho guardato Stiller ha detto che era stato difficile dirigere con non mani; oggi voglio guardare Ben Stiller prova di dirigere con non mani. Quello sono anche altre attori nel film. Jack Black è un attore chi dava dei film commedie. Mi preferisco attore nel film è Robert Downey Jr. Era un molto divertente attore e uomo. Penso che sia divenrtente che lui sia un uomo nero sebbene lui sia un uomo bianco. Nel film è tutti stereotipi del soldato nero.
Il film è la tema di delle gente chi volgiano fare un film di dei soldati in Vietnam. Ma il problema è che i attori vadanno a dove i genti sono attuale violenta e i attori non sapiano. I canzioni nel film sono i canzioni classico per i film guerre. Delle canzioni include “Stop, hey what’s that sound” di Buffolo Springfield.
Io preferito parte è quando Robert Downey Jr finge essere un agricoltore cinese quandi possano entrare il campeggio degli spacciatori. Amo il suo costume e la sua citazione, “Io sono un agricoltore piombo, motherfucker!” Amo questo film. Voglio comprarlo quando vado a negozio, particolarmente perche davanti del DVD ha la stemma di Tropic Thunder.

Guess the event

DSC02692
Originally uploaded by Student Life Cinema

Our Flickr and Blog are now linked!

Modern Midnight Movies: Tropic Thunder

Upon my first viewing I was thinking about tagging this as a midnight movie, but for some reason I had doubts. After viewing it a second time, I've definitely made up my mind. To what honor is it a midnight movie?, I'm still not sure. Midnight movies often feature bizarre sexuality, pathetic attempts at horror, or quintessential bad acting that is so bad its hilarious. Wait a minute! This movie is about bad actors. Actors so bad, they go full retard, don't know who they are, or are so hopped up on heroin the only thing they can do is fart. I'll even take it further, if you keep fueling the Rambo franchise with money, you'll only realize that the studio keeps making sequels because they're actually waiting for Stallone to die on the set as opposed to the belief they'll actually be any good.

It's Stiller's take on the Hollywood landscape that is just mind blowing. Obviously, Tropic Thunder was written with so much anger and disdain for Hollywood that I must think Stiller is trying to get himself blacklisted. Or is he a genius for pointing out Hollywood's shortcomings? In the movie the actors are portrayed as pathetic idiots, who are simply tools used by executives to rake in a profit, only to be slapped around or fed to the lions at the chance for a higher profit margin.

I'm going to continue to praise Stiller's genius, a midnight gesture in itself, for bringing up land mine politics in a most creative way. At the very moment Tropic Thunder's director within the movie is suddenly erased, we get a movie moment that should be remembered for a long time. Not only was the exit hilarious, but the silence and action from the actors following the disappearance is so well played out, that the audience itself gets loudly confused for a moment. Another credit to Stiller's genius is that every joke is not only is setup well, but also carried out to the fullest extent possible. It's likely this point that gives Stiller credibility, where he hasn't had any before. Believe me, I've noticed him playing the exact same retard role in too many films. I have heard there are some good ones, but I haven't seen them. I take that back, I loved him in Zero Effect. I will take further recommendations. But, for this film, Stiller shows he can excell at both acting and writing, ... and directing. Though, with so many A-list actors (real actors), it couldn't have been difficult.

One last note, Tom Cruise has a bit part in this film, which is a midnight performance in itself. Normally when I think of Tom Cruise, I think of a guy with an egotistical swagger in his voice, without any real hint of acting capability. Can you honestly name a film where Cruise isn't playing himself? Here we find him playing Les Grossman, a Hollywood exectutive, who is obsessed with diet coke, has fists that can be felt around the world, and has some fancy dance moves. It's nice that Cruise can push Scientology aside for a minute, and actually do what he gets paid to do.

Let's review now. Tropic Thunder makes fun of Hollywood, has well thought out and carried out jokes, is actually a cinematographic masterpiece, has an unforgettable Tom Cruise cameo, and just rocks in general. There's more I could cover, of course, but that's why movies are supposed to be watched and not just read about. There's two more showings at the SLC tonight (7 + 9:45). Now about those stars, originally when I saw it I gave it 4 because I just felt it was lacking a bit in the comedy department, but upon a second viewing I caught the stuff I missed before. So, I give this movie 5/5 stars, plus I give it my apporval as a midnight film.

Hungry for more?

Cheech and Chong was not an accident. From the first red eyed toke they took everyone was enamored watching their stumble into the clouds. They warmed the hearts of many Americans and set the stage for many more classic stoner movies.
Everyone was stoked for this summers "Pineapple Express." Stoners young and old became giddy and full of joy. Even Bill Clinton was reminiscing the awkward teenage days when some of us might of actually "inhaled."
Which leads us to the question of the day:
Do you have to "inhale" to truly comprehend stoner movies
and how did Bill Clinton like it?
Think about it.

Here Goes...

This is my first blog post. I am too tired to be creative right now. But I will say that I am really stoked to see Quantum of Solace. The trailers keep blowing my mind.

Sex

Where would the human race be without it? I'll show you where:



That's right. Now ponder this weary viewers: porn is a robot. Think about it, the systems that are currently in place, like the internet, and every kid ever having private access to the internet because of laptops and negligent parents, provide imitations of human behavior. PORN!

Enter James Gunn, the genius behind "Slither," which, by the way, is showing tonight at midnight at the Student Life Cinema.

“How many times have you been watching a great porn film - you’re really enjoying the story, the acting, the cinematography - when, all of the sudden, they ruin everything with PEOPLE HAVING SEX?” Gunn said on pgporn.tv.

That's right, James and his brothers Brian and Sean have created porn without the porn. It gets better, for the ladies and the gentlemen.

Episode 1 stars Nathon Fillion. And starring next to the male talent in these webisodes are the leading ladies of real porn (why bother mentioning names, you wouldn't recognize anything but their tits anyway).

Five episodes have been made to date and the first one is already up. Seriously, go check it out now. Oh, you're gonna do it later? You're so lazy, that's why I'm hooking you up with the video right here on the blog. Check out pgporn.tv for more.


Nailing Your Wife

Jesus Christ...is this necessary?

The Childcare Action Project (known on the streets as CAP...as in "I'll bust a CAP in yo' ass") has taken it upon themselves to tell the movie industry how much they suck at morality. This website is run by a "non-profit" Christian ministry that runs solely on funding by those who are morally insecure enough to assume they owe it to God and the children to keep this website up. The basic idea of it consists of some guy, Thomas A. Carder, watching movies and rating them based on a point scale made up of 6 criterion: Wanton violence/crime, Impudence/Hate, Sexual Immorality, Drugs/Alcohol, Offense to God, Murder/Suicide, which happen to spell out WISDOM. Each film is scored out of 100 and points are removed for each WISDOM offense. Here's an example:

The most intriguing part about this website, however, is their audacity to actually refrain from fully viewing a movie due to it's abhorrent themes. For example, The Birdcage: "I could not justify spending the time and effort necessary to do a complete analysis of The Birdcage.  After 25 minutes of the show I had one and a half recording logs of homosexual suggestions and activities. There were other examples of unacceptable material, but none so thick as homosexuality. I apologize if you were expecting to see a complete review of The Birdcage, but there are some things I can stand, and some things I cannot stand -- this movie was "cannot." It was glorification of homosexualtiy, pure and simple. Great scott!! Robin Williams, the voice of Genie in Aladdin who said "I love you too, Al" and acting with children in Jumanji was right there on the screen kissing on other men! I am aware of Williams' use of foul language and sexual material in some movies, but whodda thought? It may be illegal in Canada and other countries to speak out against homosexuality, but not in America. Not yet, at least. No...I am not a homophobe. I do not fear or hate the homosexual, I just hate homosexuality. My suggestion is...don't watch this movie." 

And thus, instead of simply not mentioning The Birdcage, the author of this glorious website informed us that he himself didn't even watch the movie in full and yet he is capable of giving us an analysis of its moral adequacy. I think anyone who uses the phrase "Great Scott!!" in any context outside of personal internal dialogue is morally inept in one way or another. 

The hands down best part about this website, though is the "Baby Miracle" series (volumes 1-3) and how somehow, one portrayal of a biblical story is morally superior to another. For instance, volume 1: The Story of Creation scored a whopping perfect score of 100 complete with a side note from the author, "By the way, that adorable little girl on the cover of the boxart looks exactly like one of our adopted daugthers." The misspelling of the word daughters and the italic "exactly" help me to imagine Thomas squealing for joy as he marks a red A+ on this cinematic masterpiece if only because the boxart reminds him of his adopted child who serves as his own personal conscience cleanser. Ok, now here's the best part...volume 3: Jonah and the Whale, received a 97 which is 3 points less than volume 1. Here's what Thomas had to say: 

Wanton Violence/Crime (W)

cartoon character being swallowed by a whale 

Impudence/Hate (I)

Jonah disobeying God 

Really? The cartoon character was swallowed by a whale? And Jonah disobeyed God? Holy shit! We can't show this to our children!! What if they learn from the mistakes of others?! The nerve of the Baby Miracle Learning Company for quoting the bible directly and telling a biblical story exactly the way it should be told! How immoral! 3 demerits! 

This website is literally a joke. I mean, I will be the first person in line to defend this guy's right to free speech but I've got to vent about how ridiculous this is. You simply can not just stamp a film moral or immoral (especially if you don't even watch the whole thing). Besides, wasn't it Jesus who said "turn the other cheek"? If you don't like it, don't watch it. There is absolutely no need to make an entire website about it. 

Here's the link in case you're interested in checking it out...or making a donation...

Childcare Action Project (CAP)