Greetings, citizens! ROBOGEEK here, coming to you live from Butt-Numb-A-Thon 2 at Austin's famed Alamo Drafthouse Cinema!
Well, we just got through our first film of the 24-hour marathon -- the premiere screening of DESTINATION MARS, a truly marvelous lost 50s sci-fi gem. Check out www.destinationmars.net for more info on it.
Periodically members of the AICN crew will be posting additional reports here throughout -- hopefully with some photos and maybe (just maybe) some video. Stay tuned. (We may also be popping into the chat room from time to time.)
Anyway, there are a lot of great people here having a great time, including such luminaries as Cartuna himself -- who premiered the first ever Harry animation with SOUND. There was much jubilation.
Well, Harry's just taken the stage again to introduce the second film. More later!
-Robogeek
El Cosmico here, check out our first pic from the madness! Okay, it's pretty damn boring. Hopefully we'll have something better soon. But maybe not. Anyway, here's pic number 1.
Okay, we just saw a bunch of trailers, and an excellent short called INFECTION, which Robo mentioned in Talkback, and now we're into THE HOBBIT. Here are a few stills from the previews...
Well, we just got through Sam Raimi's THE GIFT, which was fairly good, Giovanni Ribisi was excellent, and before that, we watched the TEDIOUS HOBBIT. Otherwise known as THE HOBBIT. God damn.
Here's a fun pic of the Alamo Drafthouse for you...
Oh, and here are some stills from a certain preview we watched!
Well, now we're into a fine film, THE SEA WOLF...pics below, along with still more preview stills...Oh, and to the talkbacker who asked about Ms. Holmes, yes, she did, as do we all, with results ranging from the similar to the strikingly dissimilar.
Now we're into Busby Berkeley's WONDER BAR.
Wow. THAT was about the most racist stuff I've EVER seen in a movie. You've got to give it to Al Jolson, the guy doesn't hold back. Well, at least I know why we'll never see it on TV or video. Cleansing our palates, we moved on to some more previews, and Guy Ritchie's outstanding new feature, SNATCH. All of the cast turned in wonderful performances, but Brad Pitt's babbling was about the best I've ever heard. I wasn't particularly thrilled with LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, but SNATCH is a definite winner. Truly, not to be missed; good fun from scene first to scene last. Also, Tyrone from the flick was in attendance, and had many kind words to share with us. Below are the appropriate snapshots, including a shot from a Sammo Hung preview we watched, for a film called PEDICAB DRIVER, that looked great. Enjoy...
Now, we move right into a flick we just saw a preview of, Russ Meyer's BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRAVIXENS. A film I find a bit better than I was expecting. At the very least, it has some material that will help keep folks awake at 3 in the morning.
We watched ROBOCOP, which is a fine film, but which many have seen a million times, in any case, it allowed a much-needed break for me to go outside and get some fresh air. There was a blurry area somewhere around here. My memory is breaking down. Further along, we watched the excellent (if not a bit plot-lacking) SHOGUN ASSASSIN, a short version of Lone Wolf and Cub.
If I'm remembering correctly, this is when Tim League, the truly outstanding owner of the Alamo Drafthouse, whipped out one of the many gems of film that almost nobody has seen in a DAMN long time...it was a short about Santa Claus, wherein Santa, speaking to two small children, compares humans to monkeys in every imaginable way, including descriptions of how monkeys, like humans, construct brick and mortar edifices. I daresay, this was the most incredibly amazing and appreciated of all of the items during the afternoon-evening-night-morning. It is impossible to describe, it is simply one of the most bizarre and entertaining bits of film I've ever seen. The audience went absolutely nuts during this one. Praise Tim for showing it!
PEARL HARBOR has such an excellent trailer...just wonderful.
Oh, and the TOMB RAIDER trailer kicked a LOT of ass. I can't WAIT to see this flick now.
Our final film was the excellent, VERY disturbing, marvelously acted and written ED GEIN, the story of a real fellow, the fellow who inspired aspects of PSYCHO and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. More than just a horror film, ED GEIN is an intelligent, complex look at the real character of a man plagued by a mixture of a harsh upbringing coupled with severe schizophrenic hallucinations and paranoia. Steve Railsback, the actor who played Ed Gein, is also well-known for his portrayal of Charles Manson in the 1976 movie HELTER SKELTER, and was in attendance, taking a great lot of questions after the film. A fine fellow. The website is at http://www.edgeinthemovie.com/, check it out. I'm tired, and glad to be home. Now, to sleep. Many more remembrances to come later, I'm sure.
-El Cosmico
