Hello ladies and gentlemen, your pal Muldoon here, and welcome to 2014! I hope you fine folks had a rockin' holiday full of fireworks, gifts a plenty, and tons of trips to your local cinema. I started SATURDAY SHORTS pretty much 2 years ago right around this time and never thought I'd see it live more than a few months at best. Oh silly and naive Muldoon... While things change, numbers go up and down, one thing's for certain: talented filmmakers flock to this site and have been cool enough to show off their work here in this forum. SATURDAY SHORTS is and will always be a place of discovery. I've debated doing a "Best shorts of 2013" or similar article once 2013 was winding down and then thought "Just how in the hell am I going to dwindle that list to match some arbitrary number? Top Ten... Top Twenty..." How about "Top 52 chunks of fun... the exact same number of SATURDAY SHORTS I've put up this year?" I'm a fan of each and every film I get to screen here, so if you've submitted something - thank you. Now let's kick 2014 off right with some fresh films from some fine creators!
Go grab yourself some popcorn, lock your kids in a closet, kill the lights, relax and check out this little weekly film fest we've got ourselves here:
THE AWARENESS
TRT: 17:37
Up first we have a film from writer-director Henry Dunham. "An insignificant janitor and a prominent computer engineer are faced with a decision that will alter the course of humanity: the release of the first aware computer system into the world." It starts off a little slow, but builds to something worth watching. I'm anxious to see what he's got next.
The Awareness from Henry on Vimeo.
THE 4TH RULE OF GREMLINS
TRT: 3:29
Dear jeebus is this next one wrong, but it's executed so freaking well. Zoran Gvojic and the gang at Low Carb Comedy have created the most blasphemous short I've seen in quite some time. I love it. Careful, this one will absolutely smack you in the childhood.
THE SIMPLE CARNIVAL - "A GEEK LIKE ME"
TRT: 3:58
Care for a fun music video? Hey, me too! Thats exactly what we've got lined up next with Jeff Boller of The Simple Carnival's new video. Bonus points: the thing's in old school 3D, so if you happen to have any of those sweet SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL glasses lying around... Dig them out and slap 'em on!
PEREZ HILTON: SHOWBIZ LEECH
TRT: 1:56
The comedic geniuses who brought us FUTURE DUCK are at it again, this time with their eyes locked on the new STAR WARS flick that everyone's dying for info on. (I don't get it, ironic forum to ask, yes - but why would you want to see spoilers? I'd rather have my mind blown in the theater than know Han Solo is really Luke's cousin and that he's resurrected Jar Jar and put his brain in the body of an Ewok in order to save the federation one more time.) At any rate, "CopeandDalton" (Paul Cope and Henry Dalton) once more shove a heavily saturated bit of funny into your face with their latest video. It's got a bite to it.
THE FALL AND RISE OF MICKEY
TRT:20:25
And here's Ken Simpson's film to take us out. Here's ths cool thing about technology - it makes it possible for creative folks to rock the hell out of a story without needing to rely on big money. Simpson seems to be guy like me, someone who will go out and make something instead of sitting at home with a pile of scripts saying "Damnit universe, magically make my stuff happen." If you're at all curious of how he pulled this film off, be sure to hit up The Chris Jones Blog for some fun behind the scenes breakdowns.
The Fall and Rise of Mickey - A Headcase Prequel (Canon 5D Mrk II - 20:00) from Ken Simpson | Director on Vimeo.
Bam! That's it for this week's picks folks. I'll see you all next week, same time, same place. And hey, if you're in the mood for more shorts then click one of the two links below to have your cinematic face rocked!
SATURDAY SHORTS 2012
SATURDAY SHORTS 2013
If you have a short and think it belongs here or are on the fence about whether to send it in, please do send it in - I'd love to see what you've put together. I've already seen hundreds of fresh new filmmakers' shorts and like any good addict, I need more!
Shoot me an email at "Mike@aintitcool.com"
In the subject line include:
“SHORTS” + “Your film’s name” + “The film’s genre”
Then, in the body of the email, please include a synopsis of the film and any contact information you might think I need or would want published. The more info you send my way, the more info there is to put with your short.
Please don’t feel the need to submit multiple times.
Remember, the filmmakers might still be in the audience, so feel free to share your thoughts in Talkbacks below. (JUST DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE). I picked them, so you know I think highly of all of these, but how about you fine folks? How'd you like 'em?
BY THE WAY: If you've had a short featured here, that means that I personally am a fan of your work, so feel free to shoot me any kind of news on new projects/films/whatever. I can't say I'll be able to help or in what capacity, but I'm interested in your work and am always down to see more! (Keep making cool stuff, everyone!)
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
