boston Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Remember that incident a few months back involving the city of Boston and a marketing idea gone wrong? In case you're totally oblivious or have a bad memory, it consisted of a silly stunt to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force that accidentally caused a terror alert. In the end, the mistake resulted in two men facing felony hoax charges, the head of Cartoon Network resigning, Turner Broadcasting paying out $2 million in restitution and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino hating the surreal animated series forever. Unfortunately for Menino, the cinematic spin-off of the series, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, opens this Friday around the country, including in two theaters in his city. Menino has made attempts to convince these locations to boycott the film, "out of respect to the people of Boston," but obviously the theaters are not willing to meet his demands. The thing Menino doesn't appear to realize, which doesn't take an expert in marketing communication to point out (though the Boston Herald quotes one, just to go with an official perspective), that any negative attention he can give the movie will help in its appeal.

In unrelated news, Menino has also attacked the marketing of another film this week. He has ordered the removal of advertisements for Fracture, which contain written in big letters the phrase "I Shot My Wife" superimposed over Anthony Hopkins' face. The fifty posters, which are part of a reported $52,000 ad campaign, have been on display in bus shelters for nearly a month, and apparently they have caused a lot of complaints. A statement from the mayor's office claimed the ads promoted a negative and violent message, which makes me wonder what Menino would have thought if Boston had been included in the controversial campaign for Captivity. He might have gone and banned all movie marketing within city limits for good. Well, except for maybe those promoting seemingly harmless Tim Allen comedies. After all, in case anyone thinks that the mayor has a thing against Hollywood in general, recall how much love he showed to Wild Hogs last month.

If you make short films, it's often difficult to get exposure - and therefore feedback - for your work. Boston short film makers, however, have another option: Open Screen, a monthly event at which anything - in any format - can be screened, as long as it runs less than 10 minutes. Coordinated by members of the Roadside Pictures film and video collective, Open Screen has existed for about two years, and offers a much-needed, much-appreciated outlet for for both film school grads and filmmakers with no training whatsoever. Despite the fact that nothing is prescreened, the event almost always consists of 90 or so minutes (there are usually 10-15 films every month) of surprisingly accomplished films. Though the creators suggests "themes" for each month (this month's is to make a trailer for a 2007 Oscar nominee), the films don't have to conform, and generally run the gamut from slapstick comedy to experimental.

Admission to the event is a mere $7.50; this month's Open Screen takes place on Tuesday night.

I wish I had the time and money to travel around the country (or the world) attending crazy movie marathons that glut the audience with so-bad-it's-good or underrated science-fiction, horror, and cult movies. I would probably look like an albino toad, but I'd have a wonderful time.

I hadn't heard before about the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, a 24-hour marathon of films that's been occurring annually since 1976. The only Boston Marathon I knew was the one where people run around town until they drop. This marathon is more to my taste. This year's test of film-geek endurance takes place Feb. 19-20 at West Newton Cinema. The programming is a well balanced combination of classic fantasy (the 1933 King Kong), cheesy 50s sci-fi and horror (Fire Maidens from Outer Space, William Castle's The Tingler), cult favorites (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, George A. Romero's The Crazies), and contemporary films (12 Monkeys, Serenity). The features are interspersed with cartoons, serials, trailers, and other neat stuff. If you live near Boston and like science-fiction films, this might be your idea of a fun weekend ... and the chance to meet people who feel the same way.

[via Sitting in the Dark]

Since I couldn't find any nationwide Curse of the Ware-Rabbit preview screenings, I selected the next best thing. Most likely less funny, but still cool and cartoony. Go and marvel at how deeply weird it would be to spend time inside Tim Burton's head.

If you want a chance to attend these screenings, you have to enter by tomorrow (9/18).

• Los Angeles (9/21)
• Chicago (9/22)
• Detroit (9/22)
• New York (9/22)
• San Francisco (9/22)
• Atlanta (9/22)

Why are the women in Brothers Grimm so incredibly hot, while the men have Dumb and Dumber-style haircuts and stupid expressions? Even Matt Damon can't look good under those conditions.

• The Cave (8/24)
• Brothers Grimm (8/25)
• The Constant Gardener (before 8/31)
• Sound of Thunder (8/31)
• The Baxter (9/6)
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose (before 9/9)
• Just Like Heaven (before 9/16)

(Thanks, Boston Screening Community.)

All the screenings in today's edition are for Boston, MA readers.

• Fantasic Four: Fox 25 is giving away four packs of tickets to an advance screening on Thursday, June 30 at 7:00pm.
  

WildAboutMovies is having a bunch of screening contests:

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Enter before 7/12/05.
• The Bad News Bears: Enter before 7/18/05.
• The Dukes of Hazzard: Enter before 8/01/05.
• The Island: Enter before 7/18/05.
• Hustle & Flow: Enter before 7/10/05.
• March of the Penquins: Enter before 6/23/05.
• War of the Worlds: Enter before 6/25/05.

Selectees must respond to a notification email within 72 hours of reciept, or forfeit their passes.

NOTE: We are not the ones holding the contests or giving away the tickets, we're just providing you with the information. Have fun and good luck. Thanks to danm519 and The Boston Screening Community for contributions.