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Just a reminder that if I can tear myself away from the MTV Movie Awards show long enough, I'm chatting online with HorrorMovieFansRadio.com at 10 p.m. They should be very excited about the awards bestowed upon Twilight by then.
Realize that for both events I'm postponing the viewing of the season finale of Breaking Bad, hands down the only TV series that deserves to be a movie.
If you're otherwise occupied, I'll let you know tomorrow how all three turn out tonight.
Forget making braided key rings and Popsicle stick trivets. The Sunscreen Film Festival is planning a two-week summer camp where aspiring teenagers will make movies.
Running weekdays from July 6-17, the Sunscreen camp offers instruction in story structure, cinematography, lighting and sound during the first week. The next week begins with three days of video shoots for the stories that teams developed, then two days of editing and post-production.
The camp wraps with a mini-festival of screenings for family and friends.
The camp is open to ages 14 to 18 although its "Morty" -- Sunscreen rep Harry Chittenden -- says exceptions may be made.
"If a 12 year old has been walking around the house with a camera for years, we would definitely give them consideration," he said.
Chittenden said that a half-dozen slots have been filled so far. Tuition is $500 covering instruction and equipment. Classes will be held at Studio@620 in St. Petersburg from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
For information and enrollment, log on at this link or contact Chittenden at (727) 420-0566 or harryc@harryc.net.
The camp continues Sunscreen's commitment to nurturing new filmmaking talent around Tampa Bay, according to executive director Tony Armer.
"A kid with a camera and a passion can bring a special energy to film," said Armer, a worthy adversary during our time Tuesday on Kathy Fountain's Your Turn TV show. "We want to provide youngsters with the knowledge to create good work with a beginning, a middle and an end that the audience can't wait to see."
(Image: abc.net)
Cue the scary music. Get that screeching cat ready to leap from the closet. And for Rob Zombie's sake, get those meat cleavers sharpened.
Like Ash in a Sam Raimi Evil Dead flick, I'm going where things may get a little hairy.
Got an invitation from Mike Olsson, host of HorrorMovieFans.com Radio, to discuss my recent posting on the slasher-sex flick Black Devil Doll. You know, the one that inspired dozens of gorehounds, including one of the movie's producers, to respond with, shall we say, colorful vitriol.
"I have some differing opinions on the film and I believe we could have an interesting and respectful discussion," Olesson messaged.
And I'm always up for that.
So, Sunday night at 10 p.m. EST -- I should've told Mike that's too late for a fuddy-duddy like me to stay up -- I'll spend 30 minutes to an hour swapping thoughts on Black Devil Doll and why I believe that the freedom of expression that so many BDD supporters cited doesn't necessarily mean freedom of exhibition, especially in a community like St. Pete where racial division simmers each day.
You can eavesdrop by clicking this link: BlogTalkRadio.com and turning up the volume. Should be fun. Especially since Mike accepts listener calls (646-716-7438) and there's no 7-second delay.
Let me say right off the bat that WTVT talk show host Kathy Fountain is a brave woman for inviting me to appear for a half-hour on her show today, talking about summer movies and the box office sailing through recessionary times. (Ch. 13, 12:25 p.m. or so, for a shameless plug.)
We still joke about her former afternoon show, in front of a live studio audience, and my first time on it that also turned out to be my last. About 10 years ago, I joined former Tampa Tribune movie critic Bob Ross and freelancer George Meyer to discuss the upcoming Academy Awards with Kathy. Turned out to be a good show, informative and fun.
It also turned out to be Kathy's final show in that format. She got the word soon after taping that WTVT was canceling her program.
Of course she rebounded and thrived in her later slot under the banner Your Turn with Kathy Fountain, daily during the noon news report. But it has become a kind of mock threat: Do what I want or else I'll come on your show. I've done a half-dozen or so shows with Kathy since then -- my favorite was a tribute to the late comedy genius George Carlin -- without anyone losing their gig.
Of course, when you figure that the 4 p.m. newscast on WTSP where I appeared weekly for more than seven years just got axed, Kathy's invitation could be tempting fate.
Your Turn invites viewers to chime in with questions and comments. E-mail them at yourturn@wtvt.com or call (813) 875-8255 or (800) 826-4434. If you can't make it to a TV, Kathy's show is streamed live online at MyFoxTampaBay.com. I'll be the one with the red rose behind my ear.
Today we pause to reflect on the men and women who have defended and sometimes died for our nation through two centuries of wars. But since this is a movie column, we'll focus on World War II.
Why? Because that's when wartime involvement by movie stars was at its peak. There weren't many legitimate stars, much less those who enlisted, during World War I, and by the time Korea and Vietnam rolled around the notion of defending your country pretty much lost its appeal for celebrities who didn't want to risk their careers by facing bullets or the fractured support of an increasingly war-weary populace.
Think we'd ever convince Shia LaBeouf, Robert Pattinson or any of today's young self-lebrities to sign up for duty in the Middle East? Fat chance. They would be tweeting "I'm a celebrity, get me outta here" faster than Arlo Guthrie bolted from the Group W bench in Alice's Restaurant. That's a song and movie about dodging combat for principled reasons and not because it's fashionable. Look it up sometime, kids.
Anyway, I uncovered an interesting Web page at www.combatfan.net, a tribute site to the 1960s TV series Combat, listing dozens of Hollywood stars who proudly served during World War II, who believed in that fight's cause enough to risk life, limb and career to enlist, some at the height of their screen popularity and others displaying traits that would later make them stars. Luckily, I can't find anything about movie stars actually dying in combat but each of these men, like their brethren, left something else behind.
So, in the memory of all, here are a few:
Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein) cleared land mines after the Battle of the Bulge and organized USO shows. When Germans began pumping propaganda over loudspeakers, Brooks responded in typically irreverent fashion with an amplified performance of Al Jolson's peppy tune Toot-Toot-Toosie.
Charles Durning (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) landed on Omaha Beach during D-Day and was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and later became a prisoner of war. Durning was presented with three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star.
Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath, On Golden Pond) won the Bronze Star for valor in the U.S. Navy.
Glenn Ford (Experiment in Terror, The Courtship of Eddie's Father) was the rare celebrity who served in WWII then made himself available for duty in Korea and Vietnam, as a captain in the U.S. Naval reserve.
Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind) became a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps after enlisting for WWII duty when he was 41 years old.
That memorably mean look on the face of Jack Palance (Shane, City Slickers) was partly due to reconstructive surgery received in 1943 when his B-17 crashlanded in England, serving in the Army Air Corps.
Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night) lied about his age when he was 16 in order to enlist as a U.S. Navy torpedoman.
James Arness (The Thing and TV's Gunsmoke) was wounded at Anzio and earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Audie Murphy (To Hell and Back, The Red Badge of Courage) did the celebrity service but the other way around, becoming the most decorated American soldier of World War II (21 medals including the Congressional Medal of Honor) then parlaying that into a successful movie career, mostly in war flicks and Westerns.
Eddie Albert (The Longest Yard and TV's Green Acres) lost most of his hearing and gained a Bronze Star for his Navy duty, rescuing wounded Marines from beachheads at Saipan and Tarawa.
The list goes on and on, including Oscar winners Jack Lemmon, Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, James Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Art Carney, George Kennedy, Jack Warden and Jason Robards Jr., plus top box office draws Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, William Holden, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen and some actor named Ronald Reagan.
To all of them, and millions who shared their sense of duty and patriotism, we offer our heartfelt thanks on this Memorial Day.
Cleaning up a few things before the Memorial Day break. I'm taking a personal day on Monday to spend it with Princess Di, who gets the day off, anyway. Government job, you know.
Have a couple of Weekend things to finish, and a morning screening in Tampa of My Life in Ruins, which I've been assured isn't my biography. Actually, it stars Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) in a romantic comedy set in ... wait for it ... Greece. It's about time Vardalos found herself another baklava project. Opa!
After that, I'm ducking over to Channelside to visit the Lebowski Barber Salon, for reasons that are clear to anyone who has been reading this blog, or has seen that nifty Times ad for me, standing in front of Beach Theatre dressed like the Dude, with "Steve Persall is The Big Lebowski" on the marquee. I'm taking along my Little Lebowski Achiever shirt (and proud we are of all of them) for a photo op with the lovely barbers to send to lebowskifest.com (it's a tradition for Achievers worldwide).
If that paragraph means nothing to you, obviously you're not a golfer. (Another TBL reference. Sorry.)
Anyway, before heading out, here are a couple of things to chew on:
* There's nothing like discovering terrific entertainment in the least likely places. Of course, I'm talking about television. Di and I caught up with our TiVo stash last night, including Tuesday night's premiere of Glee, which is officially my favorite show that I have to wait until September to see again. As a former high school teacher, I'll testify that it gets the details right while satirizing teacher-student insecurity to perfection. The writing is dagger sharp, the musical numbers jaw-dropping good -- I'm still hearing that chorus line take on Rehab and grinning -- and the performances, especially Lea Michele as a type-A teen with the voice of a fallen angel, are spot-on. We'll watch Glee again this weekend with, well, glee.
* Uncovered a fun blog created by the folks behind the in-production documentary The People vs. George Lucas, in which they encourage the Star Wars Grand Moff to stop making movies. It features interviews with the creators of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation that I profiled last year, a nearly shot-by-shot re-creation of the Indiana Jones adventure created by a ragtag band of Mississippi teenagers. There's also a link to a cool blog titled Nuke the Fridge, which refers to Indiana's escape from a nuclear blast in last year's Crystal Skull flick, by ducking into a refrigerator. Kind of like this century's "jump the shark." Check it out.
Putting together an article advancing next weekend's Sideways@620 events in St. Petersburg, bringing together the Academy Award winning screenwriting team Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, plus Oscar-nominated actor Virginia Madsen. They're coming to town in support of Studio@620 and longtime friend and artistic director Bob Devin Jones.
Payne, Taylor and Madsen will show their 2004 vintage film Sideways at 7 p.m. on May 29 with a catered reception at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club (tickets are $50). The next day, they'll appear free at 1:30 p.m. at Studio@620, discussing their crafts.
These folks are so close that they have crises at the same time. When I called Taylor, he was caring for his flu-sickened wife, director Tamara Jenkins (The Savages). "Not the swine flu," Taylor assured me.
Payne declined requests for interviews since he's caring for his mother Peggy during her serious illness.
Madsen had just returned from the grocery store, stocking up supplies for friends who fled the recent Santa Barbara fires to stay in her home. Apparently the nurturing characters she often plays aren't far off the mark, a trait evident in her acceptance speech posted, picking up the Spirit award for best supporting actress, for her work in Sideways.
Madsen reminded me that she spent time around Tampa Bay in the mid-1980's, making an HBO movie with William Petersen called Long Gone. "They remade it into Bull Durham," she said."We had a pretty good time there. I’m wondering if we’re going to be anywhere near Ybor City. I would love to visit the Salvador Dali Museum. My Mom knew Salvador Dali."
Mostly we talked about Payne and Taylor's uniquely long and fruitful partnership, including Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt and Sideways. Madsen says it all comes down to the comfort those two have with each other, and pass along to the rest of the cast and crew. As a director, Payne is likelier to gently whisper than yell on the set. That got Madsen talking about other directors; the kind of insight that she'll bring to Studio@620 next week:
"To me, barking orders is just a sign of insecurity. When someone comes and takes you by the hand, that means they have strength within, and that’s a better leader.
"The best directors I’ve worked with have a happy set. It’s warm, with a real camaraderie, and a comfort level that allows everyone to flourish. I’ve often heard that Clint Eastwood has a set like that.
"I worked with Rob Reiner once (Ghosts of Mississsippi), a very long time ago. He had a happy set. I had a brand new baby and really didn’t want to go back to work but I had to, financially. Fortunately, Rob was the only one interested in hiring me at that time. I told him: ‘I’m a little concerned. I’ve done so many independent films and I’m concerned about the hours because I’m still nursing.’ That was too much information but he said: ‘Oh, no, we only work about 10 hours a day. Who wants to work longer than that?’
"I thought, my God, that’s confidence. This is someone who must really know what he’s doing. It may sound like they’re happy-go-lucky but there’s a method to their madness. They know exactly what they want to shoot that day. They’re highly organized people, which allows them the freedom to be completely spontaneous.
"That sounds like a juxtaposition but the day runs so smoothly that if the unexpected should come up, they’re more than ready to embrace that and see what they can make of it."
 Steve Persall is the movie critic for the St. Petersburg Times. He was conceived behind a drive-in movie theater his father operated and raised in projection booths and concession stands. He doesn't care how you did it up north.
E-mail Steve Persall: persall@sptimes.com. |
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