An early screening of local comedian and filmmaker Keith Lowell Jensen’s new feature-length documentary, “Why Lie? I Need A Drink,” based on his blog of the same name, is being presented tomorrow night at Fools Foundation. KLJ will be in attendance to answer your questions and will take your comments on the rough cut of his film. Chances are he won’t be wearing the banana costume for that.

Looking for fun and free stuff to do with the kids on a hot day? Free family movies are back at Regal Cinemas through August. Looks like we missed “Curious George” and “Charlotte’s Web” but there’s still “March of the Penguins” next week and “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit” the week after. And a few others I don’t care about. Why is “Happy Feet” rated PG? Don’t get me started…

Seating is first-come-first-served and the shows start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Beginning at 11am this morning, Tower Records will be auctioning off their equipment from the recently shut down stores.

Boxes of DVDs and CDs along with forklifts, desks and file cabinets are some of the items that will be up for grabs.

The proceedings will be webcast by Great American. Online bidders have to register at the Web site.  A quick browse of the auction catalog finds lots of standard office equipment.  You know, air compressors, banding machines, label makers, printers, pornography, etc.

“What!” you are saying to yourself.  I know, I know.  Who couldn’t use a banding machine, huh?  Totally.

Oh, the porno you say?  Yeah, well it appears that, for the right price, Lots 38 and 39 can be yours.  With such hits as “Spanish Fly” and “Deep Inside” topping the list.

Man, it’s worth going just to be there to hear the auctioneer play those up…

Metropolis

Shiny Object and Fools Foundation are presenting a screening of “Metropolis” this Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at Fools Foundation. Admission is $5.

Fritz Lang’s silent science fiction classic from 1927. Mixing workers’ rights with science fiction, this masterpiece had some of the most amazing sets of the time and remains breathtaking to this day. It also influenced countless later films including Dr. Strangelove, 2001, Star Wars and many, many others.

They will follow this classic up at 5:30 with “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” a documentary for movie buffs that promises to “lift the veil on the practices and membership of the MPAA.” Admission also $5. Get out of the rain and see a bargain flick!

Fools Foundation
1025 19th St, Sacramento
19th & K - in the alley, in the basement
www.shiny-object.com

If you’re like me you’ve been hurting for new content on The Barnesyard. Well, turns out his old Blogspot blog was hijacked by spammers, so his archived content is available on a new URL. DB tells me he is putting the site on permanent hiatus, but says he might give it another go in the next year or so. I think The Barnesyard was one of the most enjoyable blogs in town so I can’t wait. With no new posts this month on “Film For Tourists” as well, that makes two smart, well-written local film blogs off the radar for the time being.

In the meantime though you can catch DB’s reviews (attributed to his much longer and harder to remember full name, Daniel Barnes) in the News & Review.

Via the Causeway Film & Television Forum, I’m sure many of you will enjoy this list of local films and film people. Who knew Carlos Alazraqui, Garcia on TV’s “Reno 911!” was a Sacramentan? I do, now. And I can’t believe I forgot that LeVar Burton, my daughter’s favorite person right now, is one too.

(At this time I would like to grant full leeway for thread creep about “Reading Rainbow” nostalgia.)

Received via email:

Shiny Object and Fools Foundation will begin an on-going weekly series of film screenings at Fools Foundation every Friday night at 7 PM. Most films are $5.00 unless otherwise noted in advance.

This all kicks off on Friday Sept 8 with a screening of “We Jam Econo: The Story of The Minutemen,” a feature-length documentary on the seminal 80’s punk band. The rest of the Sept schedule is below:

Continue reading “Offbeat film series at Fool’s Foundation” »

Regal Cinemas, operators of Natomas Marketplace 16 and Laguna Village 12, has free G and PG rated movies at 10:00 am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this summer. So if the heat comes back and you need something cool to do with the kiddies they’ve got “Rugrats In Paris The Movie” and “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory” (I think this is the Burton one, because the Gene Wilder one is a G and it’s actually titled “Willy Wonka and…” according to IMDB) this week, and “Muppets From Space” and “Two Brothers” (I assume it’s this one) next week.
Continue reading “Free family movies!” »

By now we’ve all seen that UA Market Square is going retro with “Top Gun” and now “The Goonies.” In case the list wasn’t readily available I thought I’d pass it along, courtesy of the same alert reader who got us all excited about ice skating again…

2/16 - Top Gun
2/23 - The Goonies
3/2 - Army of Darkness
3/9 - The Big Lebowski
3/16 - The Fifth Element
3/30 - Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
4/6 - Back to the Future
4/13 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
4/20 - The Godfather
5/4 - Spaceballs
5/11 - Scarface

I’d like to open up the comments box on this entry for answers to the following question: “What retro movie would it take for you to actually consider seeing a movie at UA Market Square?” For me it’s a double feature: “Baron von Munchausen” b/w “The Dark Crystal”…

In your enjoyment of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” don’t miss the conspicuous presence of a prop with a local angle. In the book collection of Steve Carrell’s Andy character are a few shelves filled with video game strategy guides from Roseville’s Prima Games. The can’t-miss red bar on the bottom of the spine shows you you’re looking at a ginuwine Prima guide, an industry standard. I think you can see them best in the scene where Catherine Keener has broken into his apartment and accused him of being a serial killer. So before you shut off the movie at that point because all of a sudden it sucks and you can’t believe how frickin long it is, take a look at the books.