Tag: Film

“Breakfast At Tiffany’s” invades, thousands flee

Mickey Rooney as Mr Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Russia caught a break this weekend in its quest to start World War Three (Four?) when it was eclipsed by the most important news story to hit Sacramento in decades: Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Racist?

The Bee’s Stephen Magagnini sure made the most of having to work the weekend.

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“Big Love” sightings

The internets were all abuzz with rumors of a Chloe Sevigny sighting at midtown vintage boutique Bows & Arrows on Saturday. Word from the Woodland Daily Democrat is that miss Sevigny was in the area filming “Big Love” for HBO:

[C]ast and crew arrived in Woodland Thursday night as part of a plot line that involves a family road trip retracing the steps of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism. …

Additional scenes will be shot over the coming week in Grasslands Regional Park in Davis, and in various parts of Old Sacramento, he said.

So the bigger story is that this is your week to get a Bill Paxton or a Jeanne Tripplehorn sighting in Old Sacramento! I’m clearing my schedule as we speak.

Note to “Big Love” writers: Please, please, write a scene in which one of the younger wives is bossy and Bill Paxton says to the first wife, “Why don’tcha put HER in charge!!?”

Tonight at Shiny Object: “The 39 Steps” (1935)

Tonight at the “Movies on a Big Screen” at 4th and F Street in West Sacramento, the 1935 Hitchcock thriller “The 39 Steps.”

This 1935 UK Alfred Hitchcock film was the first to really attract US audiences to his work. The tightly-plotted screenplay was loosely based on the 1915 novel of the same name by Scottish author John Buchan.

I’ve actually never seen this one, though I remember it being my grandpa’s favorite film. Enjoy the trademark cameo by Hitchcock himself as Step #14.

MSA Reviews: August Rush

August RushI realized a fun local tie in to your movie watching is to pay attention to films that prominently feature blurbs by CBS/CW’s own Mark S. Allen. One such piece of crap is “August Rush,” which I’m embarrassed to say I rented with the wife. We thought it would be a charmingly flawed popcorn rental, and we’re suckers for the Felicity and the Rhys-Meyers. And yes, we knew that Robin Williams made an appearance. Allen’s quote, on the cover of the DVD, is “Your heart will be singing and your spirit will soar!” Replace heart with bowels, and spirit with desire to physically damage your television, and you got yourself a quote.

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Local panhandling film premieres Friday at Crest

Friday night the Crest is hosting the premiere of Keith Lowell Jensen’s documentary about his experience at pretend(?) panhandling, “Why Lie I Need A Drink.” Keith’s invitation reads in part…

For the last three years Jonathan Morken, John Astobiza and myself have
been working on a funny and accidentally poignant documentary about panhandling. Now we present the world premier of our film Why Lie I Need A Drink. I hope you all can make it. My birthday is March 5th, and I’m celebrating my birthday at the Premier. The greatest present anyone can give me is to help me fill up these 1,000 seats and get our documentary off to a good start.

In case you were wondering if it is funny, just ask KLJ! 🙂

Netflix has no limits (sort of)

Popular video rental company Netflix apparently is offering its subscribers unlimited access to movies and television shows to watch via the Web on their personal computers (NOTE: This feature is only available to folks using IE 6 or higher!).

The feature will be open to all subscribers already on one of their unlimited monthly video rental plans, with no extra charge.

I currently subscribe to the “2 at-a-time (Unlimited)” plan and am still limited to 14 hours of online viewing. But with instant access to A Fish Called Wanda, Real Genius, and Zoolander, who is complaining?

On a local note, it is always fun to check out what folks are viewing in Sacramento (via Netflix)…

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“Rocky Horror” at Big Screen (West Sac)

I do not, repeat: do not, swing this way but it has been a long time since I have mentioned the Movies on a Big Screen series (which has moved to West Sac, but still) and since the curator mentioned that he’s been lax in getting the word out I wanted to pitch in. Starting Friday at 10 pm Shiny Object will be screening “Rocky Horror Picture Show” in their new location at 600 4th Street in West Sacramento. I have yet to attend an indie flick screening at Shiny Object but I love knowing it is there.

So if you’re into that whole Rocky Horror thing, check out Shiny Object Friday night. And stay away from me and my family. 🙂

DB comes back to life with Movie City USA

DB, creator of one of my former favorite local blogs, The Barnesyard, has come back to the personal publishing world with a new film reviews/lists/humor site Movie City, USA

Many of you may remember that I used to run a little film criticism blog called The Barnesyard. It provided me with an informal setting where I could “rap” with the kids about the real issues facing today’s youth – the validity of the auteur theory, the effects of the monolithic American movie distribution model, early Ozu vs. late Ozu, peer pressure, bullies, and the like. I shut down The Barnesyard almost one year ago due to pressure from
Homeland Security – apparently The Terrorists were so disemboldened by my tales of freedom that they had become lazy and uninteresting – but I’m ready to restart it under a different banner – Movie City USA.

The new site will publish a different type of post every weekday. I look forward to more of DB’s keen film sensibility and devilish wit.