FrightFest 2013

FrightFest is an annual horror movie festival held in Leicester Square in London. On Sunday 25th August 2013, I got to attend the festival for the day and help out James from Tastic Film by conducting on camera interviews with the stars and directors in attendance. I also managed to sneak in a quick screening of a film called Dark Tourist but I was so knackered that I could barely stay awake for most of it I'm afraid.

First the stars and director of In Fear showed up. I'd heard a bit about this film and that it might be one of the best in the Fest so I read a bit about it before coming up with some questions for director Jeremy Lovering and stars Alice Englert and Allen Leech. Lovering has done all sorts of stuff in TV, most notably a recent episode of Sherlock and Alice Englert is from the recent Beautiful Creatures, while Leech is from Downton Abbey. Check out the video below this picture for the full interview:

Very poor pic of Alice Englert and Allen Leech

After that Anthony Di Blasi, the director of Missionary came and chatted for a while. Though I haven't seen his film, it sounds very interesting and Di Blasi was great fun to talk to.

Anthony Di Blasi (R) and his producer (L)

Next up I got to question Dark Tourist director Suri Krishnamma and lead actor Michael Cudlitz (from TV's Southland). This was the film I managed to sneak in to see and though it had a very intriguing premise about grief tourism and a guy who wants to visits locations where serial killers did their deeds, it didn't really grab me.

Suri Krishnamma and Michael Cudlitz

Finally it was time to interview the judges and winner of the 666 Short Cuts to Hell competition. Entrants were given a whole list of restrictions in which to make their own horror short film and I also managed to get to watch the six finalists on the big screen at Empire Leicester Square. All the finalists I saw were incredible; brilliantly crafted and often packing some hilarious punchlines. The judges included Tom Six, the director of the Human Centipede trilogy and Rosie Fletcher, the associate editor of Total Film magazine. Tom Six was too busy editing HC3 to be there so he sent star of HC2 Laurence R. Harvey. So the highlights of my day were asking Harvey about HC3 and also bugging Rosie Fletcher with loads of questions about how I get myself into Total Film one day!

Competition winner and judges

Here is a video I shot of Laurence R. Harvey talking about HC3 in front of the packed FrightFest audience. All the interviews will be up on Tastic Film soon and I will post links to them as soon as they are up.



Anyone else attend FrightFest 2013? What were your picks of the Fest?

More on past FrightFests from I Love That Film:

Tower Block Trailer Shoots to Kill

Where are the Dead?

Zombies Attack London! 

10 Things I'd Rather be Doing than Marking

It's the first day of half term and I've got a shed load of marking to do so here's 10 things I'd rather be doing:

1. Watching Django Unchained before the Oscars on Sunday

2. Watching Zero Dark Thirty, another best picture nominee I need to see

3. Watching Lincoln, because I haven't seen this best picture nominee either

4. Watching more episodes of The Walking Dead Series 2 which I started last night by watching the first two episodes

5. Finishing my review of Stoker for Filmoria which I saw the other day

6. Writing the second chapter of my thesis on how found footage films prime the spectator for their distinctive viewing experiences

7. Writing the second chapter of my book on The Blair Witch Project all about the aesthetics and how they impact the viewing experience

8. Reading the rest of The Hobbit which I started at the beginning of this year but have only managed to get up to chapter 6 so far

9. Reading the latest issue of Total Film that looks packed full of good stuff as usual

10. Getting a much needed haircut

What would you rather be doing than working today?

Personal Highlights of 2012

2012 was an incredible year for me. Basically a big part of starting this blog was to share some of the cool film related things I had been doing. I was desperate to tell anyone and everyone that I got to ask Danny Boyle a question at a 127 Hours screening organised by Lovefilm at the end of 2010. Since then things have gotten better and better and although I may not be getting paid for my efforts yet, I am living the dream of what I have always wanted to do, writing constantly about films!

My 2011 was very exciting filled with highlights like these but 2012 was even better and below are links to posts about some of the highlights of my year. With 2013 starting with having a chat with Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis on the red carpet of the Flight premiere for my Filmoria premiere report, I hope that things are going to get even more exciting as the year goes on so please join me on the adventure!

If anyone reading this hates those self-indulgent blog posts where people look at their successes or cannibalize their own work instead of writing something new and original then please look no further. This is as much for me as it is for anyone who reads this. I feel like looking back into the past to see how far I've come this year and this will be my hopefully permanent record of what has been achieved.

Anyway here are the highlights of 2012:

Taking my college media students to New York got me all excited and prompted this post on my favourite New York movies.

Two articles published in Media Magazine.

Made it through my first year of blogging in March.

An independent film called One by One that I worked a lot on got a trailer.

In May I got to sit down and have a chat with legendary Oscar winning production designer of Titanic, Peter Lamont.

Andina at Inspired Ground invited me to write my first ever guest post on her blog. I chose to write about Fight Club as the film that changed my life. 

I finally got the scope and aims of my PhD thesis on found footage horror sorted.

My first ever article for Splice Cinema Journal on Documentaries and star directors was published in June.

Write my first article for Filmoria on the use of The Pixies Where is My Mind? at the end of Fight Club. Here is the full article. Had no idea that Filmoria would provide me with such amazing opportunities in the future!

Director of Storage 24, Johannes Roberts came to my college to give a brilliant talk to our students in June.

David Jackson wrote his first post for this blog on why he loves Aliens, the first time I've had a guest writer!

Wrote my first piece for Boolean Flix on Finding the Fun in Found Footage

In July I got married to the love of my life and went on the best honeymoon to Costa Rica anyone could ever ask for.

Got a letter published in Empire Magazine

Had my first article published on Static Mass Emporium on the director Michael Moore. This was the beginning of another great writing adventure and opportunity to work with more talented writers.

Filmoria sent me to interview the directors of Untouchable, Olivier Nackache and Eric Toledano. I had to rush out and buy a recording device that has become an essential tool in my work for Filmoria! It was a nerve wracking but incredible experience.

Took part in my first of many From the Red Carpet film clubs for the film Premium Rush.

Filmoria sent me to a gala screening of Paranormal Activity 4 where I got to interview actress Katie Featherstone.
 
Got a letter published in the 200th edition of Total Film.

I had my radio debut on Amazing Radio talking movies with Ruth Barnes on her breakfast show in November. You can listen to my second appearance here.

I love stats so was very happy for I Love That Film to hit 100,000 page views in December!

Had my second article on Will Ferrell's sports movies published in Splice Cinema Journal.

I decided to keep a record of all my writing at other sites. So here's links to all my Static Mass Emporium writing, Filmoria news, interviews and reviews.

Finally here are the top ten films I watched in 2012.

This year I intend to continue taking all the opportunities I can get and seeking out more ways to get paid for doing what I love. I hope that you will continue to stick with me.

What were your 2012 highlights?

Total Film Letter in the 200th Edition

After recently getting a letter into Empire magazine, this month I saw a letter published in my other favourite movie magazine, Total Film.  This is exceptionally exciting for me as it was the 200th edition of the magazine that I first bought issue number 4 while I was over in England on holiday.  I used to live in Australia and at the time I bought issue 4 with Donnie Brasco stuff and Mr Freeze on the cover because we had a long car journey visiting my sister in Wales.

Then when I moved back to England years later, I picked up Total Film again from issue 28 which had The Faculty stuff on the cover.  Since then I've never missed a copy.  So to get my first letter in is very exciting for me.

It's a shame that I had to lie.  Please don't judge me but I thought my story needed a little embellishment to give it more entertainment value and a bit of a punch line.  So the letter is all about movie locations I have visited.  All the stuff about the locations I visited while in LA is true.  However that was back in 2007 and not my honeymoon.  But I thought it would be more amusing if I said it was my honeymoon.  So that's what I did.  I feel a little ashamed but not too much.  It turns out lying does pay because I got in the magazine!  Winning!

Then again fate is chuckling at me.  As soon as I saw the letter, I was like 'sweet what DVD are they going to send me for getting in the magazine?'  Men in Black 3.  Somewhere the Gods are definitely laughing at me.  Maybe lying doesn't pay after all.

Anyway congratulations to Total Film on their 200th edition!  Keep up the great work!  I hope they can one day forgive my deceit.

The Curious Case of Casa de mi Padre

I just scored a couple of tickets to a preview of Casa de mi Padre (Matt Piedmont, 2012).  Will Ferrell stars in this Spanish language spoof of Latin American soap operas/telenovelas.  Yes that's right Ferrell is starring in a subtitled film.  Made for $6,000,000 and only getting a limited release, this has to be a bit of a risk in anyone's book, despite the popularity of Ferrell. 

It's not doing terribly well in the IMDb ratings or on Rotten Tomatoes but its spoofing of poor production values sounds like a lot fun in the same sense as Black Dynamite and Grindhouse were.  I can't say the trailer made me laugh or even elicit a small giggle but I like the sound of it and some of the reviews make it sound right up my street.

Total Film say:  'Revelling in the gloriously tacky excesses of telenovelas, Casa features a procession of unabashedly crappy sets dressed with fake plants, painted backdrops, stiff staging and ‘animals’ including a D-grade animatronic white cougar.'

Sounds silly but that's what a Will Ferrell film is all about!  Here is the trailer:



OK rewatching that did just make me chuckle a little bit. I guess it all depends on how much Ferrell you can tolerate.  So what say you?  Dumbest movie idea ever or risky business resulting in comedy gold?

Hunger Games Gets Tasty Reviews

The reviews are in and the odds are forever in the favour of director Gary Ross, author Suzanne Collins and stars Jennifer Lawrence and co... thank the MovieLord!  Sorry if this just looks like a rather large movie poster but  I'd just like to share with you some of the good stuff the occasionally lovely people of movie criticism have been saying.

The Telegraph says: 'That Bella Swan; she’s no Katniss Everdeen. Both teenage heroines journey deep into the woods at dusk, but while Twilight's Bella returns flanked by bickering supernatural beefcake, Katniss emerges alone, smeared in blood and muck and gnawing on the charred remains of a spatchcocked squirrel... The Hunger Games is an essential science fiction film for our times; perhaps the essential science fiction film of our times. Whatever your age, it demands to be devoured' (5 stars)

Empire says:  'There’s no required reading before entering the cinema in order to ‘get it’, and it’s well above the ‘all your favourite bits but with pictures’ business that has become the accepted standard... The Hunger Games as a novel has been dissected, expanded and retooled into something intelligent, immersive and powerfully current... As thrilling and smart as it is terrifying. There have been a number of big-gun literary series brought to screen over the past decade. This slays them all' (4 stars)

The Guardian says: 'The Hunger Games is that rarest of beasts: a Hollywood action blockbuster that is smart, taut and knotty. Ably filleted from the Suzanne Collins bestseller, it's a compelling, lightly satirical tale of a post-apocalyptic entertainment industry, set in a dystopian US in which the terrified contestants are selected via lottery and second place does not exist' (4 stars)

Total Film says: 'There’s still plenty of what the censor calls ‘injury detail’ plus enough clever editing to make you feel the pain. Prime example? The grand, grisly start to the Games themselves, where it’s everyone vs everyone and bodies drop like dominoes. Ross mutes the sound effects and chops the carnage into almost subliminal flashes, avoiding explicitness without losing the horror... What’s remarkable is the lack of cheese. Tacky effects, corny dialogue and creaky performances are all shown the door. We repeat: not the new Twilight.' (4 stars)

The Hollywood Reporter says: 'Lawrence remains compelling all the way. As in Winter's Bone, she's onscreen alone, or nearly so, a great deal, and she holds one's attention unselfconsciously, without asking for attention or even doing much other than the task at hand. Lawrence is one of those performers the camera loves; her appearance alters in different scenes and shots -- lingering baby fat shows here, she resembles a Cleopatra there -- and she can convey a lot by doing little. An ideal screen actress'

See Front Room Cinema's review here.

But don't listen to me, them or anyone else.  Go see it for yourself and help make it one of the biggest films of the year!  Could this be bigger than The Dark Knight Rises?  I'm looking forward to the movie blogging community sharing their reviews so please post links in the comment box and I'll be sure to read them!

2011 List #6: Highlights

Beginning the year with an advance screening of 127 Hours followed by a Q&A with one of my favourite directors, Danny Boyle, was my absolute highlight of the year.  Not only did I get to see one of the best films of the year, I also got to ask Mr Boyle a question.  My career in film journalism failed to take off immediately as I'd hoped but my burning desire to tell everybody about this incredible moment was what got me starting this here blog.  Thanks again to Lovefilm for organising this event and for giving me the opportunity to speak to one of my heroes.  See the video of my nervous question-asking here.  That's me asking the first question.


Here are some frankly pretty poor photos of Mr Boyle I took with my crappy camera.  

 

My other highlight was an advance screening of Attack the Block followed by a Q&A with director Joe Cornish and stars John Boyega, Jodie Whitaker and Luke Treadaway.  Here's another pretty poor photo featuring from left to right: John Boyega (Moses the badass), Luke Treadaway (the posh one), Jodie Whitaker (the nurse in distress) and Joe Cornish (debut director extroardinaire).

Another excellent screening organised by Lovefilm that I was lucky enough to get myself tickets to, the film is another of my favourites of the year and it was great to ask the cast what Joe Cornish was like as a director.  Sadly there is no video evidence of this.  However what was cool was that more of the cast were in the audience and so was a certain Mr Edgar frigging Wright, producer of the film and director of Shaun of the Dead!!!  Here is possibly the worst quality photo of Joe Cornish ever taken. 





After the film and Q&A, I managed to get a few sneaky photos of the cast outside the cinema.  I was convinced this film would be easily as big as Shaun of the Dead and really enjoyed seeing the young cast members hanging around outside like ordinary mates before they get super famous.  John Boyega seems to be on the way to doing bigger things with Spike Lee's new TV series Da Brick already in the can.  As for Franz Drameh and Alex Esmail (also pictured here), the future looks less bright for now.  But here's hoping at least Esmail who played Pest, the comical runt of the gang, can get more work.

And here is the mighty Edgar Wright, who I managed to sneak a quick handshake with before he disappeared.










So those were my two main highlights of the year.  As I have posted about before here, this is the year that I tried really hard to get to as many preview screenings and Q&A's as possible.  Lovefilm, Total Film and ShowFilmFirst have been brilliant, but also Paramount Pictures put on a couple (Footloose and Tomorrow When the War Began) too.  Like an astronomer, I got to see the stars up close including Anna Faris, Jessica Brown-Findlay and Rachel Hurd Wood and I also got to review some films before they actually came out such as Bridesmaids, Stake Land, What's Your Number?, Real Steel and Life in a Day. 

I also got to go to a test screening of the directorial debut of Ben Drew (aka Plan B) which was a really interesting experience, particularly as I teach about these to media students and have recently written an article for Media Magazine about them. 

I only got up to the London Film Festival once but I got to hear a talk from Kevin MacDonald (director of Life in a Day), Asif Kapadia (director of Senna) and Carol Morley (director of Dreams of a Life) on the boundaries between fact and fiction.  I also met Jonothan Rhodes in the audience; star, producer and co-writer of the great short film Big Society. 

Another very personal highlight is that this year I started my PhD.  My supervisor introduced me to the director of supremely sick but hugely influential masterpiece/abomination Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deaodato, before a special screening of the film in London.  Here's a sneaky picture I took.  The girl in the background is his grand daughter who I can thankfully add did not stay for the screening.






Finally, every time I get a comment or I see that the pageviews on my blog posts have gone up has been a highlight for me.  I love writing about films and I love doing this blog.  I'm sure many people would think I'm far too old to be starting a blog but it is giving me great joy and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon.  So this a massive, huge, incredibly soppy thank you to anyone reading this, and to everyone who has read, commented on or left a link to one of my posts this year.  Special mention must go to Scott at Front Room Cinema who seems to comment on everything I write and every other blog I read and to CS at Big Thoughts from a Small Mind who has posted many a link to my blog. These guys have fantastic blogs and their encouragement makes me feel stronger when I worry that my words will not be read.

And if anyone has any advice about how to get in to more preview screenings, I will be eternally grateful.  Happy New Year everybody and here's to all the film bloggers and makers out there, may you live long and prosper!

Loving free screenings

Just a quick one to spread some love for ShowFilmFirst, Total Film Magazine, LoveFilm and Paramount Pictures. So far this year I've been to free preview screenings of '127 Hours', 'The Fighter', 'Tomorrow When The War Began' and just last Sunday, 'Water for Elephants'.

Total Film Magazine has a screening club run in association with ShowFilmFirst and because of this I got a pair of tickets to 'The Fighter' (very good) before it's national release. I also got tickets for Hall Pass but couldn't go (and judging by the trailer... I think this may have been a good thing!) and have tickets in my posession for new Paul Giamatti film 'Win Win' on Tuesday. I just love a free film especially because of the hideous prices of cinema tickets and look forward to spreading the word on films that need a word of mouth push.

I also get updates from ShowFilmFirst just by 'liking' them on facebook. This lead to the recent grabbing of a pair of tickets to 'Water for Elephants' This was a film I had very low expectations of. It just didn't sound like my kind of thing. Robert Pattinson... blah... Reese Witherspoon... blah blah. But I don't know if I get blinded by the thoughts of not paying for a film or if it really was good but I quite enjoyed it. It's not a masterpiece or anything but it was very engaging and kept me interested throughout. However no tears were shed so it's definitely not up there with the greatest dramas.

I have entered 3 competitions so far this year. One with Paramount to see 'TWTWB' with introduction from Rachel Hurd Wood which I won 2 tickets for and even got fed free popcorn and coke!!! The other two were with LoveFilm. One for '127 Hours' (outstanding) with Danny Boyle Q and A where I got to ask the director a question and the other was for an 'Attack the Block' screening followed by Q and A with director Joe Cornish and actress Jodie Whitaker. This is on Monday in London and I can't wait. I've been looking forward to this film for awhile now and hope it lives up to the very funny, exciting looking trailer.

Also, while I'm praising all these wonderful film-related companies, I've got to mention the Empire cinema chain that now do cheap tickets on Tuesdays. It costs anybody who wants a ticket £2.95 to see a film in the cinema (but only Tuesdays!). Along with Orange Wednesdays, this is the best promotion I've seen and is the only way film studios, distributors, exhibitors are going to lure tight-ass people like me back into cinemas. With Lovefilm servicing my filmic needs, I'd almost forgotten the cinema existed. Forget 3D, digital screens, extra comfy seats and waiter services or whatever cinemas are all now offering... I JUST WANT CHEAP TICKETS! Or free ones if there's any going...

Everyone’s a critic!

Film critics… what are they good for and who do they think they are? Film lovers that didn’t make it in the production side of the industry? Failed journalists looking for an easy ride? Film snobs? Just people that love movies? Experts on film? Entertainers? Artists?

And what gives them the right to pass judgment on any film that producers, directors, writers, countless crew members have sweated over, poured their hearts into?

Well… as I can’t think of a more perfect job than sitting and watching films and then writing my thoughts down, I’m a bit bias.

So, how do I become a critic and is there any nobility in it? I got a book out called ‘Five Stars: How to Become a Film Critic, The World’s Greatest Job’ by Christopher Null. He says to become a critic you need to have ‘seen a ton of movies’ and be able to ‘separate them into good and bad’, ‘have the ability to write well’, ‘watch and review five or more films a week’ and find ‘an outlet for publishing your work’.

Seen a ton of films. Know which ones I like. Can’t get through 5 a week unless I quit my job. Can write ok. Could publish my reviews on this here blog. So I’m nearly ready.

But what gives me the right to say what I like and dislike when people have sweated over making these films? Can’t I just write reviews of films I think are great? After all, I was always taught if you got nothing nice to say, don’t say nothing at all!

But then I kept reading Null’s book. He says: ‘there are critics who strive merely to entertain us… there are those that deeply analyze a movie… and there are those rare critics who do both. This is when criticism becomes an art form on par with the movies themselves’.

Not sure I quite agree with that but instead of thinking about the negatives… I’m going to consider reviewing movies an attempt to entertain other movie lovers. After all I’ve read every issue of Empire and Total Film for over a decade now and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Negative reviews and all.

So for now I’m going to concentrate on reviewing movies I like. Movies I respect, love and have positive things to say about. Probably not too many rom-coms.