screening Tagged Articles at Cinematical

So I sent my wife out to a 7-Eleven by my apartment yesterday in hopes there would be something Simpsons-related left for me to devour, and all she came back with was two cans of Buzz Cola and a couple of weird twisty straws. Looks like this is going to be tougher than I thought. Anyone manage to grab a Radioactive Man comic? How is it? Can you send me one? While the 7-Eleven/Quik-E-Mart promotion has been the talk of the town this week, some more news regarding plot for The Simpsons Movie has arrived via The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently, a 10-minute clip of the film was recently screened in London and a majority of the scenes suggested the film will carry plenty of environmental and religious themes. Not to mention there's one scene featuring Bart's private area.

Although folks have been talking up Bart's so-called full frontal nudity for quite some time now, some have suggested that you don't actually see anything. Instead, all the talk was more of a marketing ploy to get people in seats. Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that's definitely not the case. In describing the scene, they note (possible spoilers ahead): "Perhaps the biggest laugh was for Bart, who skateboards through town naked after being challenged to do so by Homer. After a series of scenes where strategically-placed extras and props protect his modesty, the audience gets a full view of his private parts through a gap in a hedge." Poor Bart. Speaking at a post-screening Q&A, Matt Groening said he expects some people to be a tad miffed by what they see. "In America there's someone willing to pretend to be offended by everything and so we annoy people and that's part of the appeal," he said. "It's to entertain people and also to annoy a certain segment of the audience as well."

Apart from the brief nudity, Simpsons family members will also be tackling some of the world's more pressing issues. For example, the band Green Day is booed by Springfield residents when it starts talking about the environment following a performance. Also, Lisa becomes a green campaigner and gives a lecture called 'An Irritating Truth,' based on Al Gore's Oscar-winning doc An Inconvenient Truth. But that's just the tip of the melting iceberg; I'm sure there's a lot more heading our way when The Simpsons Movie lands in theaters on July 27.

Considering the lengths that David Lynch has gone to while promoting his latest film Inland Empire; a simple announcement about a screening almost seems like a letdown. The Carolina Theater in Greensboro, North Carolina announced the screening of Lynch's latest film on March 16th as part of their Cinematique Series. The 79-year-old vaudeville house turned performing arts center seems a fitting location for Lynch's fun house of a movie. Tickets are going for the modest price of $7 or $5 for students and seniors, and the website promises the cryptic running time as "7:00PM until ...", so you never know what the organizers might have planned -- this is the same film that used a cow as a marketing device after all.

The film stars Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, and Justin Theroux; but even after repeated viewings of the first and second trailers, I really couldn't tell you what it was about. Although, Ryan's review does a better job of explaining the plot than I ever could, so I'll just leave it at that. The film premiered at the San Francisco Indiefest and was one of the more high profile selections at the festival, Inland Empire is slowly working it's way through the US, so I guess if you are a fan, you are just going to have to be patient and hope the film makes it's way to you.

[via Huliq.com]

So here I am, down in beautiful (yet horribly humid) Austin, Texas, enjoying my "vacation festival" after the arduous "work festival" that was Toronto '06. I'm flipping through the pages of the festival guide, wondering what I'm going to see on Saturday afternoon when someone informs me that there will be a "super secret" screening later in the day. I rattle off the possibilities in my brain. Since Fantastic Fest is a genre festival, I immediately assume that the "secret" screening will be The Grudge 2 or Saw 3. The FF website indicates that the screening will run 130 minutes, so my next guess is Zack Snyder's 300 -- which would have been awesome. But then while I was outside grabbing a smoke, I hear the gossip:

The "super secret" screening will be Mel Gibson's Apocalypto -- and the director would be on hand to hold a Q&A session when the movie ends. Hey, cool. Aside from a promo clip I saw about four months ago, I knew next to nothing about Apocalypto except that: A) It takes place in 1502, B) the dialogue would be in ancient Maya, and C) it was a pretty violent flick. Needless to say, I was intrigued. So I got in line ... with about 400 other curious movie nuts.

I wouldn't feel comfortable penning a full-bore review of Apocalypto, as the cut we saw was a workprint: It had "temp track" music, unfinished sound effects, incomplete special effects, and a few sequences that were bound for the cutting room floor. But the meat of the movie was still there, so I suppose it's cool to share a few early reactions...

This upcoming Monday evening (May 15) in New York City, Cinematical will be hosting a screening of Independent Spirit Award Winner Cavite, to be followed by a Q & A with filmmakers Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana -- all lead by yours truly.  Maybe you saw Cavite at festivals such as SXSW or New Directors/New Films -- or maybe you heard everyone talking about it at said festivals, but didn't get a chance to catch it yourself. It's opening in selected markets at the end of this month, as the first feature to be released via Magnolia's Truly Indie initiative, and as excited as I am about all forms of alternative distribution, we at Cinematical wanted to do something to get the buzz rolling before the release. This is the first of what will hopefully be a series of screening events hosted under the auspices of Cinematical.

If you're in New York, we'd love to see you there. If you're interested in attending, please RSVP ASAP, sending plus +1 information, to karina AT weblogsinc DOT com. If you keep a blog, please include the URL -- there's limited space in our current location, so if demand provokes a seating crunch, we'll reserve space for those with the ability to spread the meme first. If you're not going to be in NYC on Monday, please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone who may be interested in attending. Info on the film, dragged over straight from the press release, follows after the jump; you can watch the trailer here.