Nice one DC.

As the story goes, Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy & Firefly) was out walking the WGA picket lines when inspiration struck him. He would make a musical web series about a villain trying to take over the world and impress the girl (haven’t we all felt that way). Well he made it and it is truly wonderful. So good that apparently it crashed its servers within moments of being posted. But you can see it now on itunes (if you can’t find it other *wink* places)… and see it you should!

Can’t we all just sing-along?

I know I have been pushing The Wackness a lot a lot - but here is more. The film finally drops in limited release in NY and LA on Thursday. Hopefully it will hit Seattle not long after. I should also mention that it just won the Audience Award at the LA Film Fest (with other top honors going to personal faves Man on Wire and Anvil).

So for some pure marketing and publicity gold, Sony has whipped up some awesome web shorts under the auspices of the main character starting a cable access show dubbed Luke’s Dope Show in his basement. They’re great. Check em out after the jump.

See the vids

We are 6 episodes into Italian Spiderman and the action is really heating up! This series has got to be one of my favorite web shorts ever done. It has lore, style, effects, and amazing dubbing. On top of all that it is frickin hilarious. Check out the Wiki for the whole story on the production. It is, of course, all available on YouTube, or just follow the jump below for the first 6 eps posted here (episode 3 is my fave).

Watch Italian Spiderman pussycat, pronto!

This animated documentary was the most interesting film I read about coming out of Cannes. From the sounds of things it tells a story in a way I have certainly never seen. From the Variety review:

Here, video-filmed interviews were used as visual references to create reportage focusing on one key historical event: Israel’s 1982 invasion of Beirut and, more specifically, the massacres of Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Shatila camps by the Christian Phalangist militia, which Folman and his fellow Israeli soldiers witnessed and failed to stop, that happened in the wake of Lebanese president Bashir Gemayel’s assassination.

Folman is effectively an onscreen (but animated) narrator and reporter here, whose interviews with other soldiers (voiced by the real people themselves, apart from two individuals) form the film’s narrative spine. Each interviewee’s story is illustrated, with often startling results.

I’ll be keeping my eye out for this one.

Site - Trailer

The LA Film Fest starts rolling today and runs through next weekend in Westwood and, new this year, at the Landmark. Featuring a number of Sundance faves and a few new indies, the rather select lineup is really quite good. It seems the documentary competition is especially interesting this year. Kudos to the folks behind the website for the fest - write-ups are packed with useful info on the film and filmmakers, links, and trailers. Here are some of the flicks I am most excited about. Check out the full post after the break for more notes.

Dirty Hands: The Art & Crimes of David Choe
David Choe is famous for his dirty style of art and graffiti that I have long been a fan of. This docu looks at his life and career and chronicles a recent stint in Japanese prison for vandalism. (Photo above)

Wonderful Town
An interesting looking Thai drama about a couple finding love in post tsunami Thailand.

Let the Right One in
Let me take this opportunity to most heartily recommend this Sundance flick, which I caught at the Seattle Fest a few weeks ago. It is a touching a brilliant coming of age story of a young boy who falls in love with the new girl next door in a Swedish suburb, only to discover she is a vampire! The story unfolds in a stark and subtle way that makes the eventual action so much more effective. I can’t say enough good things about this film. It has quickly joined The Wackness as one of my very favorite films of the year.

Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog’s new docu examines the lives of people living in Antarctica and looks fantastic.

More, more, more!

Reprise, a Norwegian film by director Joachim Trier, was probably my favorite film I saw in 2006 (it premiered at that year’s Toronto fest). Now it has finally come out in theaters (thx Miramax) and will be gone before you know it. I am planning to go see it tomorrow, Tuesday 6/17 at the Regency Fairfax (oh I’m back in LA btw). Anyone who wants to take this chance to see a truly innovative narrative on the big screen should come along.
Norwegian Trailer - US Trailer

Hello from Seattle!!

Close on the heels of my arrival in the NW is this years Seattle Int’l Film Festival. Welcome SIFF. The following are the highlights, according to me. I’m planning to check out a few flicks during the time I am in and out of the city (see below in bold). Lemme know if you wanna join or if you catch anything cool.

The Wackness
My favorite film at Sundance – this fantastic coming of age story follows a high schooler (Josh Peck) as he slangs dope to his shrink (Ben Kingsley) and gets his heart broken by the shrink’s daughter (Olivia Thirlby). All of this is set to a bumpin early 90s hip hop soundtrack. Check this flick out for sure! (It’ll be out in theaters this summer).

Man on Wire
This docu is definitely one of the year’s best. Unfolding like a crime thriller, it tells the story of a high wire walker as he plans and carries out his famous World Trade Center feat of 1974. I highly recommend this.

Ploy
I’m going to give Thai auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang another shot after his disappointing Hidden Waves. Seeing this Weds. 5/28 at 9:30P.

Love and Honor (Bushi no Ichibun)
I was so excited when I saw that Yoji Yamada’s final chapter of his samurai trilogy would be at SIFF (I was lucky enough to catch the other two on the big screen) until I discovered both screenings are Memorial Day Weekend and I can’t make it!

Battle in Seattle
After premiering at SXSW, this dramatization of the 1999 Seattle WTO protests makes its hometown debut in a Gala screening. Will local audiences find it authentic? I am curious.

Continue to plenty more of my highlights of this year’s SIFF

This weekend marks a big test for the Judd Apatow camp. His last two (produced) films (Drillbit Taylor and Walk Hard) were box office flops. Can the man with the comedy Midas touch gain a little cred back with a comedy that is more in the vain of mega hits Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin? If it fails, don’t blame the quality (amazing 85% on RT) - blame this HORRIBLE ad campaign. Does anyone think this an effective campaign - black on white, no photos, no sign of stars? Walk Hard (much funnier than the credit it is given) also suffered from a horrible campaign. John C. Reilly’s shirtless chest and ugly mug didn’t make anyone want to go see what was probably the slapstick comedy of the year. And this… does the casual observer even know what this is for?

Where is Mila Kunis? Where is Kristen Bell? Does anyone disagree? Regardless, I am excited for the film (written by Jason Segel) and hope to check it out this weekend.

Official Site

Van Damme seems to be everywhere right now (see last week). More about the movie. Unfortunately he is about the funniest thing around. Well, maybe I am out of the loop…

Hey enderzero.net readers! If you find a funny web video - send it my way… that way the weekly videos will actually be funny.

One more

South By Southwest Film and Music fest cranks up this Friday. Although I will not be attending, I took a quick look at the film lineup. A lot of good flicks - some of the best of Sundance, a few premieres, a ton of documentaries, and a whole lot of very indie films that fly under the radar. Here’s the full list and here’s what caught my eye:

American Teen Nanette Burstein’s docu about a group of high school seniors in Indiana was one of my favorite films at Sundance. The film raises interesting questions about the line between documentary and reality programming - but what really stands out is the incredible personalities of the kids Nanette follows. I am dying to find out what these kids do in their lives.
Site

Nerdcore Rising A look into the hottest form of hip hop music (at least for nerdy white kids) and the movement’s figurehead, MC Frontalot.
Trailer/Site

Assassination of a High School President Another fave from Sundance, this hilarious high school genre mashup turned out much better (and funnier) than the script. It isn’t Brick, and it isn’t Rocket Science, but it is a pretty good flick.

Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet A docu about artists who use old videogame hardware to create new music.
Great Trailer

Lots more after the jump

I know there is an unwritten rule about not talking about last year’s films after the Oscars… but my site wasn’t done - so screw it. Here then are my top 3+7 films of 2007. Top 3 and next 7 in alphabetical order:

Top 3:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Julian Schnabel, for all of his bizarre idiosyncracies as a person, has crafted a beautiful and innovative film unlike any other I’ve seen. It is, in my mind, the perfect marriage of art and cinema.

I’m Not There Pretty much everything Todd Haynes does pushes boundaries and it is no stretch to call this the most innovative biopic ever. Six actors play different aspects of Dylan’s personality that interweave but never interact. Cate Blanchett’s segments alone are enough to swoon over, but as a whole it coalesces into an incredibly dense and interesting piece of work. If you weren’t into it the first time (or if you were), see it again and I promise you’ll get a lot more out of it.

There Will Be Blood I don’t know what I can say that hasn’t already been covered by this Best Pic nom’d, Best Actor and Best Cinematography Oscar winning masterpiece by the brilliant Paul Thomas Anderson. Congrats.

Next 7:

A Mighty Heart Starting with a controversial pick, many derided director Michael Winterbottom for casting Angelina Jolie in a role overwhelmed by her star power. It didn’t bother me at all. I thought her performance was great and this film did plenty to keep Winterbottom amongst my very favorite directors.

Knocked Up Very rarely does a comedy come along that nails it as well as Judd Apatow’s fresh and hilarious movie does. With scenes and quotes that have already embedded themselves in our culture, this will be one of those movies I can watch over and over again for years to come.

Lars and the Real Girl This would be on the list even if I didn’t work for the company that made it. Gossling’s performance along with a fantastic (nom’d) screenplay and pitch perfect soundtrack make this one of the most touching films in a long time.

Margot at the Wedding Many people hated this film (even though very few even saw it), but I loved Baumbach’s biting dialog and stunningly realistic writing. Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, and Jennifer Jason Leigh each turn in some of the very best performances of their careers. I can’t be the only person who liked this way more than The Squid and the Whale.

No Country for Old Men Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh will certainly go down as one of the best screen villains ever. Sure the film leaves you feeling bleak and empty - but that is exactly what the Coens set out to do - and they succeeded wildly.

Rocket Science Smarter and funnier than Superbad, this very indie high school comedy is an incredibly well written and directed story about a kid with a stutter who joins the debate team to get a girl. Anna Kendrick does an amazing job as the love interest with more up her sleeve than the protagonist, played by Reece Thompson, knows he is in store for. This is Jeffrey Blitz’s first dramatic turn after directing the Oscar nom’d documentary Spellbound. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Sunshine Danny Boyle’s sci-fi flick does a really impressive job of switching genres as the story unfolds. I was captivated by the filmmaking and amazed by the visuals. This must be seen on a big screen to really be appreciated - and my prediction is that it will be the kind of movie that will pop up in theaters every decade or so for the big cult following it will likely amass.

Now go out and see em all and let me know what you think.

WELCOME TO THE ALL NEW ENDERZERO.NET!!
This has been a really long time coming. Thank you for your patience.

This site is built on Wordpress, a great free piece of software for highly customizable blogs. I hope to use the site as a homepage, a weblog, a place to share all the funny shit we find on the web, etc. The site is all designed from scratch in fireworks and written by hand in css (thx to the early assist from j.me che - w00t!). I have tried to do as much cross browser testing as possible, but things are bound to slip through. If you see any weird behavior or graphical glitches pls email them to me.

Explore the site (tho there’s not much yet). You can leave comments for any post. The forum is still up and running. I hope to do to a big update over there too someday soon.

Thanks for stopping by and please let me know what you think of the site.

peeec
Ryland