WEB FILM - Batman: Dead End
In honor of tomorrow’s release of The Dark Knight (which you might not get to see until next weekend if you haven’t bought your tickets already), let us share with you one of the coolest fan-produced tribute movies — or “fan films” — we have seen to date: Sandy Collora’s Batman: Dead End. It’s about — well, just watch.
Original post by Robert Newton
WEB FILM - Sweep The Leg!
There are quite a few ’80s fans among us here, which is why we were so joyful when we discovered the video for Providence, RI-based rock band No More Kings’ song, “Sweep The Leg,” written by Pete Mitchell and Neil Robins. The video, directed by William Zabka, is a total salute to the 1984 teen martial arts drama, The Karate Kid. The movie starred a dreamy post-Pony Boy Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, the new kid in Reseda, California who runs afoul of a local bully named Johnny Lawrence, befriends building super Mr. Miyagi (the late Pat Morita) from whom he learns to kick Johnny’s mewly butt (and score with Elisabeth Shue). Zabka actually played Johnny in the movie, and has a great sense of humor by reprising his role in the video as both a cartoonish version of himself and his character from the movie. The video also features […]
Original post by Robert Newton
WEB FILM - Six And The City
I’m one girl who doesn’t idolize Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her gross gang of grandmas, but when I saw Hanelle Culpepper’s short “Sex And The City” parody, Six And The City, I smiled. And I laughed. And I forwarded it to a whole bunch of people I knew. It features a young Carrie (Adair Tishler), blogging her young life on the playground in the city. Naturally, giantess Samantha (Channing Nichols) has the jump on the whole kissing-of-boys thing, and of course, there’s the prissy prude Miranda (Melia Lockwood), and tomboy Charlotte (Sierra Wingert). It’s brief and smart and the girls are all cute as can be, and for once, strangely enough, it’s not creepy seeing kids playing grownups (see Bugsy Malone for a great example of that). And if Culpepper’s spoof is too much estrogen richness for you to take, check out her antidote, How To Wait In […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Web Film - When Video Rental Stores Become Extinct…
Speaking as a former Worcester video store owner (remember Starship Video on Park Ave.?), I can tell you that the fear of obsolescence was a pretty big one for me and the dwindling base of independent store owners. Heck, even the big boys like Follywood and Lackluster have taken hits in the last five years. For me, the writing on the wall was Netflix and the reality of digital downloads replacing that trip to the video store. While I miss my customers a whole lot, I am happy I got out when I did.
The wacky folks over at The Onion have posted the video story below, detailing a historical attraction that recreates the video store experience for an America that no longer has them. Before you send it off to someone whose sense of funny you may not be familiar with, let them know that it’s a joke. I […]
Original post by Robert Newton
WEB FILM - MTV Takes On The Holocaust
A good short film should communicate its key point within its abbreviated time span. That considered, the two spots that MTV’s “Think” initiative has produced to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day are great short films. In 30 seconds, they lodge an uncomfortable nugget in our craws; in one, “Subway,” a metropolitan underground commuter train delivers its passengers to a modern-day concentration camp. In the other, “Family Room,” a family enjoying a quiet evening at home is carted away by jackbooted thugs. Both end with the tag, “The Holocaust happened to people like us.” For the millions of people that only know the word Holocaust second- or third-hand (and routinely employ the words “Nazi” and “Gestapo” as if they were punch lines), these spots help make the events real. You know what the teachers say: “Whatever it takes to get the kids to read Shakespeare.” Check out the shorts and discuss […]
Original post by Robert Newton
WEB FILM - New England, The Patriots and We
Attention all New England Patriots fans! With the Super Bowl fast approaching, now come the inevitable pre-game war cries. We’ve got one for you – a painful music video called “New England, The Patriots and We.” It is a seemingly endless parade of local color showing their hometown pride, much like the “Super Bowl Shuffle” from 1986. Oh, did we forget to mention that this Patriots video was also from 1986? It aired on the short-lived Boston music video channel V66, and thanks to filmmakers Christian de Rezendes and Eric Green, whose documentary Life On The V is now in pre-production, it and the long-unseen exploits of WVJV can be seen again. Scientists now attribute all the hairspray used by the high-haired women in this seemingly endless musical torture as the main cause of global warming (and nostalgic embarrassment). Watch for a fresher-faced Bob Lobel in the mix, along with […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Web Film - A Fair(y) Use Tale
In an attempt to explain the “fair use” loophole in copyright law to his students, Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University created a brilliant summary of fair use copyright principles…by letting clips from Disney animated features do all the talking for him. Faden’s conscription of such clips falls under fair use, much to the chagrin of The Mouse, a company known for vehemently defending its copyrights and sponsoring legislation that prevents its characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy from entering the public domain after the standard period of 75 ears…er, years. According to the bogus FBI warning at the beginning of the 10-minute film, “Federal law allows citizens to reproduce, distribute or exhibit portions of copyrighted motion pictures, video tapes or video discs under certain circumstances without authorization of the copyright holder. This infringement of copyright is called ‘fair use’ and is allowed for purposes of criticism, news […]
Original post by Robert Newton
Web Film - Women In Film
With a $30 software program, Missouri-born Philip Scott Johnson created a short film called Women In Art, a roughly 3-minute collection of 500 years of gorgeous painted portraits of women, one morphing into another and set to a Bach Sarabande. Four million views later, the 40-year-old corporate financeer by day, film director by night has released Women In Film, a similar but just as lovely tribute to more than just the beauty of the last century’s most lovely belles of the Hollywood ball. From Mary Pickford to Halle Berry to the scores in between, Johnson does more than just upload photos and let the computer do all the work. His visual sense, choice of photographs and the great taste in using a Yo-Yo Ma recording of the Bach make this one to share and watch anytime the need for an inspiring diversion arises. This is the kind of thing that […]
Original post by Robert Newton