Tag: Film

Trailer for Grant High football movie released

The trailer for Give Us This Day, a film about the Grant Pacers, was released today. Down to the local sports radio voice over, the trailer really plays up the “Friday Night Lights” connection well in covering the emotional highs and lows at Grant over the last few years. Can’t wait for a big local opening for this film!

The film follows two seasons inside one of the nation’s top high school football programs. Two years removed from a State Championship, the Grant Pacers are poised to make another run. But fierce opponents, the neighborhood, and a major tragedy all stand in their way.

Hat tip to Chris from North Sac Beat who shared this link on his great blog today.

Award-Winning Documentary Showing Tomorrow

At the heart of Sacramento’s contemporary arts scene is an outstanding start-up nonprofit called Verge Center for the Arts. It’s where all the cool kids convene, and some of this town’s hippest entertainment takes place there.

One of Verge’s best-kept secrets is its Film Series. It’s a mere $7 to watch one of their award-winning picture shows.  Tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:30 p.m., they’re showing “Marwencol,” a film that won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the South by Southwest Film Festival (talk about cool!), Best Documentary of the Year from the Boston Society of Film Critics and Rotten Tomatoes, and two Independent Spirit Awards. New York Magazine reviewed the film and raved, “About as fascinating as a documentary can get.” Fancy film!

The documentary features the life of Mark Hogancamp, who is beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five teens outside a bar–and lives to tell about it. Continue reading “Award-Winning Documentary Showing Tomorrow”

Coexist? Comedy Tour film needs a kickstart

Keith Lowell Jensen

My favorite local raconteur Keith Lowell Jensen is seeking funds through Kickstarter to finish a Coexist? Comedy Tour documentary the troupe has in the works. Looks like they have about 2 days left to make about $5,000.

If you’re in the dark, The Coexist? Comedy Tour was a tour made up of a Jew, a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu, a Budhhist and an atheist comedian, the atheist being your’s [sic] truly.

The way Kickstarter works is that the pledges will be returned if the sought goal is not met.

Kickstarter: The Coexist? Comedy Tour Documentary Film

New Movie Theater Opens with Red Carpet Flare

The Crest, which its grand architectural detail.
The Crest, which its grand architectural detail.
Palladio 16 in Folsom.
Palladio 16 in Folsom.

Last night marked the grand ribbon cutting and opening of the new Palladio 16 Cinemas in Folsom. The event offered much pomp and circumstance, complete with a limo loop to drive attendees from parking lot to red “carpet” (which is actually a sparkly, red, stone addition to the actual sidewalk).

The theater seats are spacious and cozy—they even recline. The digital picture quality was sharp and pristine. The entire place still smells of plastic and new—except for the entrance, which obviously smelled of freshly popping, buttery corn.

Overall, it’s certainly a quality viewing experience. Yet, for the $19 price tag you’ll pay to experience it, you won’t find any of the exquisite character of The Crest with its grand architecture and artistic detail. Aside from the fancy red sidewalk, it’s just a basic, dark, nondescript theater. You won’t be hearing the classic Annie song “Let’s go to the Movies” with images of Broadway tap dancers floating through your head. It’s just another movie theater with an ultra-high ticket price.

A Christmas Tale: DVD Review

Looking for a good holiday movie? Stick to the classics. Whatever you do, skip A Christmas Tale by Arnaud Desplechin. This newly released DVD can be found tucked alongside The Grinch that Stole Christmas, Elf, Home Alone, and dozens of other feel-good standards. But don’t be duped. This film doesn’t deserve such good company. The DVD jacket is dressed with quality quotes of positive film reviews, one going so far as to name it “#1 film of the year.” Let’s be honest. This is the #1 yawn of the year.

The movie takes place in France, so you’ll need to read subtitles. It’s about a dysfunctional family: the sister banishes a brother from her life; the mother is diagnosed with a terminal illness; and the grandson is sent to a mental institution. Then the whole family comes together for the holiday, and the viewer must endure their puffy speeches and trying interactions. The only likeable moments are those shared between the outcast son and his mother, whose constant banter about hating one another is clearly their distant manner of sharing affection.

Despite the jacket’s description of the film as a “black comedy,” Continue reading “A Christmas Tale: DVD Review”

Chris Jericho/Mr Lobo controversy hits TMZ

Chris Jericho
Creative Commons License photo credit: Will Beardmore

Sac For Tourists noticed that an incident between homoerotic entertainer Chris Jericho and the inimitable Mr Lobo has put Sacramento on TMZ once again:

Jericho was at the Sacramento Horror Film Festival two weeks ago … for a screening of a movie in which he appears. During a Q&A session, Jericho referred to the moderator several times as “Hadji” — a term sometimes used as a racial slur against Middle Easterners.

After the first wave of slurs — and a random shot at Paris Hilton — the host jokingly takes Jericho’s drink to sniff it for booze, when Chris chimes back, “it’s apple juice … fag.”

Continue reading “Chris Jericho/Mr Lobo controversy hits TMZ”

No Impact Man: Film Review

NoImpactManCould you live one year without electricity, toilet paper, toothpaste, or your car? One New York City man embarked on this seemingly impossible journey with his family. The results were filmed for the documentary No Impact Man, which opened at the Crest Theater yesterday. The film compliments the best-selling book by the same name.

Colin Beavan is a history writer with an environmental worldview. When he realizes that his lifestyle doesn’t live up to his own expectations, and that his writing falls short of fully expressing his passions, he embarks on the potentially crazy adventure of becoming No Impact Man: diminishing his environmental footprint. His wife, at first begrudgingly, must join him for the wild ride along with their toddler daughter.

Continue reading “No Impact Man: Film Review”

Double dose of the walking dead at MOBS

A zombie-themed double billing at Movies On a Big Screen Friday:

7 and 8:30 pm, “Dead Exit” (2009)
This is a locally produced and shot zombie horror flick, and it was actually filmed primarily on location at the Movies On a Big Screen theater. It’s a short film (about 20 minutes) that is being presented as a “Sneak Preview” before it heads out on the festival circuit. The cast and crew will be in attendance, and you can bet some of them will be dressed as reanimated ghouls.

The reanimated infestation has reached a crisis point, overwhelming both local law enforcement and federal agencies. Designated evacuation and quarantine sites, known as “green zones,” were developed to protect the few survivors and strategic assets that remained. … In the midst of the chaos and confusion caused by the latest collapse in the perimeter, three lone survivors rush to the final evacuation point.

Continue reading “Double dose of the walking dead at MOBS”

New film blog/community debuts

eraserhead
Andy Richter Jack Nance in “Eraserhead”

Film critic extraordinaire and die-hard zydeco apologist DB, launches a new site Monday (November 10), The E Street Film Society. DB writes:

Any of you who have followed my other blogs (The Barnesyard and Movie City USA) know what you are in for, but this blog will lean much heavier towards movie reviews, discussion, and interactivity. My goals are threefold:

Continue reading “New film blog/community debuts”

Sacramento Film Festival – This Sunday!

fishy
This Sunday, The Crest will feature the 9 winning films of the 2008 ‘A Place Called Sacramento’ Film Festival. For 9 years, local filmmakers have had their work featured by the Sacramento Festival of Cinema that points the camera on the people, places and events of our river city. Local music is featured in several of the films.

Tickets are $10 for the show and an extra $5 for the premiere party. Call 456-8600 extension 0 for more info.