Before getting into the returning mess that we love to see unfold, Everything Is Terrible Festival 5, we'll go over some special screenings in LA and some sad news for the freedom of film in China, no not Transformers 4 cross-promotion.
Young Frankenstein 40th Anniversary
Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 pm
Samuel Goldwyn Theater
8949 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
$5
This special screening doesn't just hold Mel Brooks, its got Cloris Leachman;Frau Blücher, Teri Garr;Inga and producer Michael Gruskoff. They will most likely joke non-stop on stage.
This comedy is probably one of the funniest films ever made, though it may have done better in October for the special screening, who doesn't want to see Frankenstein dance, damn you, dance during Halloween! Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman alongside Peter Boyle as The Monster tear up Transylvania in this farce making fun of the constantly redone Hollywood monster franchise. Everyone of the actors captures your attention from their hilarious scenes, their personality to their characters own screw-ups and foibles.
Gene Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein is summoned back to his ancestor's work and revives a new monster. Every scene is a send-up, every moment a modern day meme. Shot in black-in-white and using the original sets from Frankenstein the film captures the style of the Georgian while exuding Mel Brooks outlandish comedy style.
Here's a quote from the LA Times with an interview on how the film came to be
"I was in the middle of shooting the last few weeks of Blazing Saddles somewhere in the Antelope Valley, and Gene Wilder and I were having a cup of coffee and he said, I have this idea that there could be another Frankenstein. I said not another — we've had the son of, the cousin of, the brother-in-law, we don't need another Frankenstein. His idea was very simple: What if the grandson of Dr. Frankenstein wanted nothing to do with the family whatsoever. He was ashamed of those wackos. I said, "That's funny."
On a sadder note, we have Levitated Mass opening next weekend.
Starts September 5
Nuarte Theater
Remember the $10 million spent on putting a giant boulder at LACMA? Levitated Mass is a documentary of how the boulder got there. If you're white and love watching documentaries on Netflix then I suggest you wait until it's on Netflix.
Director Doug Pray, and I pray he is an eccentric weirdo to hear, will be at two showings Fri & Sat, September 5 & 6 at the Nuarte.
The film follows the boulders journey and the eccentric artist Michael Heizer, the man behind the boulder, sadly not crushing him. Hey, why not have that as his final piece, have the boulder crush him! Pray tells us the tale that we saw on local news as the boulder made it's way through LA, finally resting at LACMA, not being very interesting or inspiring.
We have a tiny hope the film makes fun of the whole thing.
If it doesn't, we truly hope you don't take anyone not particularity interested in art as it will only push them further away. You're frankly a monster to make anyone go to this who thinks it's something more fun.
The Beijing Independent Film Festival, though far from LA is a way to connect with other lovers of film across the world. That's why it's appalling that the Chinese government stopped the festival from happening yet again this year. Strange rules and childish actions by the government have stopped it in the past. In 2012, power was cut to the screening venue. This year men were just blocking the entrance for the venue with a note saying the festival was no longer allowed by the Xiaopu Village Committee.
Films weren't approved by government censors, which due have strict policies.
Where it attempted to be held was no large venue. China is undergoing a huge transformation of entertainment with brand new theaters popping up for it's huge population. These theaters will only play what the government allows.
via
On that terrible going on in China, let's go over Everything Is Terrible Festival 5. It starts this week at the Cinefamily. Changed to the Everything is Festival, in some sort of lame attempt not to hurt the feelings of the films and people involved the festival, it will always be the Everything Is Terrible Festival.
Everything Is Terrible Festival 5Aug 28-Sept 1
The Cinefamily
611 N Fairfax Avenue
$12
In the years past we've seen a women on stage eat a burger from McDonald's and spit it out, then it was passed around to the audience. That was Thu Tran of Food Party, and the eccentric and strange moments should continue on this year. Semi-celebrity types and comedians behind the scenes from big name comedy projects have special events. They'll be showing some of the worst films ever made to your delight to laugh at all over memorial weekend.
There's so much to highlight from just going to be gross to might bore you to death.
No live streaming, like last year, for shame Cinefamily. It let TTDILA fall asleep and have the weirdest dreams.
One of the starting films, Samurai Cop, is so beloved for it's badness that fans wrote to the Red Letter Media team to tell them it's star, Joe Marshall, was still alive. Considered the crown jewel of bad 90's movies, Samurai Cop is a tale of two partners tackling the Yakuza with bad jokes and puns slicing you throughout the film. Those jokes may not be funny, but the acting and everything else in the film is.
You could possibly piss yourself while seeing it with a big audience. The film takes on elements of 80's genre classics such as buddy cop, Yakuza, martial arts and action all rolled into one.
The film is attempting for a sequel decades later over on Kickstarter. Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance looks to be the perfect SyFy channel action movie with out any sci-fi elements.
This special showing will have a cast reunion.
Thurs, 8/28, 10:30pm: Samurai Cop (star Matt Hannon in person)
Getting over to what these movies inspired we have Cinefamily’s Most Outrageous Video Games 2 and man was it boring last year. Technical problems aside, those hosting had minimal personality, if you called what they did hosting.
Showing off the worst in gaming is done numerous times online, why no online entity of game smack-downs was asked to show off is bothersome to think about. What they'll show this year and let the audience play is anyone's guess.
This year it's presented with Glitch City LA, indie game making dudes based in Culver City.
Fri, 8/29, 7:30pm: Cinefamily’s Most Outrageous Video Games 2
Kyle Mooney & Nathan Fielder’s YouTube Treasures with Schrab & Harmon’s Found Crap + The Search For Weng Weng (L.A. premiere!) let you look at what comedians laugh at.
Mooney and Fielder both known for getting stuff to go viral and winning the award for most awkward to be around will be showing off what they've found on YouTube. They'll also be guest judge for the Found Footage Battle Royale. Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon have been making funny shows and hosting Channel 101 for years. They'll be showcasing a film with internet fame about the shortest man shooting a gun on screen. The Search for Weng Weng will most likely have you falling out of your seat about the history of a short little dude who made very bad Bond spoofs.
Oh, the ol' codger Dr. Demento is showing off too
Sun, 8/31, 7:00pm: Kyle Mooney & Nathan Fielder’s YouTube Treasures
Mon, 9/1, 6:30pm: Schrab & Harmon’s Found Crap + The Search For Weng Weng (L.A. premiere!)
Prison Pit might gross you out enough to become an Adult Swim show. I'm sure Johnny Ryan has tried pitching the adventures of a horrible mutated monster man creature trying to survive a prison world inhabited by other horrible mutated monster men. If you though bad hentai could be gross, you've never seen Ryan working it with his cartoony style and simple language of "f-word" and "c-word" being used in his comics. Ultraviolence is on the menu!Sat 8/30, 2:45pm: Prison Pit: Book One panel/screening (Johnny Ryan, Blake Anderson and more in person)
My Lunch With Kobayashi features the L.A. premiere of Hungry, a film about that guy who can eat a lot of hot dogs. They stole his title and won't let him participate in the hot dog eating championship anymore, because he wouldn't sign a contract with the food eating league. It may sound like a comedy film, but it isn't, it's a documentary on Takeru Kobayashi and two other prominent competitive eaters. Just writing that was hard to do.
Sat, 8/30, 11:45am: My Lunch With Kobayashi (feat. L.A. premiere of Hungry)
Check for even more of the most terrible here