Newest articles on The Sacramento Press written by Tony Sheppard

Film Review: Big Miracle

2012-02-03T07:41:41Z

Big Miracle
Directed by Ken Kwapis

One film this week has noteworthy political content and the most surprising thing is which film it is. From a casual distance, “Big Miracle” looks like a very generic animal rescue story, essentially “Free Willy” x2.5, as assorted people try to help two adults and one juvenile whale escape from behind an ice barrier in the Beaufort Sea. It’s based on a true story of an event that captured national attention in 1988, and the film makes use of news footage from that period, with every major network anchor commenting on the situation as it unfolds.

It also embellishes the story with various formulaic characters and circumstances, including a love story, a somewhat precocious local boy, and an evil “big oil” tycoon. The basic storytelling is no less unsubtle than the recent “The Muppets,” for example. However, what’s surprising, and where the movie manages to shine on some level, are the moments during which several of the major players’ motivations are explored.

It would have been very easy to show involvement from the White House as being a matter of national pride or jingoism, especially in a movie aimed mostly at kids, but it’s described as much more of a compromise of conflicting interests. This was the end of the Reagan administration and we’re given staff who want to send Reagan out with an episode that might help cover for a bad environmental record, while also boosting (the senior) Bush’s election chances, but only if it won’t go bad and cause an even larger stain on the legacy. Similarly, we’re shown conflicts involving the use of a Russian icebreaker ship (in reality there were two) and standoffs between the political interests and Greenpeace (as embodied by an activist played by Drew Barrymore).

Another episode depicts the oil company boss (Ted Danson) being manipulated by his wife into realizing that he can appear friendly to the environment in a way that will probably make it easier to rape it later. It’s a retrospective, narrative example of ‘greenwashing’ a company’s image at a point in time that’s almost as early as the phrase was coined.

This might actually be a good movie for kids, not just as predictable entertainment, but as a way of educating them about how the media and various political interests operate. We see rival television outlets and personalities more interested in ratings than the story, and clear conflicts between local and wider cultural perspectives, along with the other interests already outlined. The film also delivers little after-the-fact nuggets, like the quadrupling of Greenpeace's membership following the incident.

As a story, it offers relatively little that hasn’t been done multiple times before, although this time there might be a little nostalgia for those parents who remember the story. But as a surprisingly nuanced examination of questionable motives, especially for a children’s movie, it exceeds expectations.

Film Review: The Woman in Black

2012-02-03T07:36:20Z

The Woman in Black
Directed by James Watkins

Daniel Radcliffe has made nine theatrical movies in the last decade and eight of them have been episodes in the “Harry Potter” saga. So it’s hardly surprising that when he first appears onscreen in “The Woman in Black,” you find yourself expecting his Hogwarts sidekicks to show up, or a wand to appear in his hand (not helped by an early train journey). But that slight disorientation passes and he turns in a fairly solid performance as the young father who has been sent by his London firm to settle the paperwork of a dead woman who lived in a fabulously spooky house on the far side of a remote tidal causeway.

Outside of the “Potter” films, he’s proved himself to be a versatile performer, probably more lauded on stage than on the big screen, but also willing to throw himself into almost anything as demonstrated in a recent “Saturday Night Live” (including playing the part of Casey Anthony’s yorkie). In interviews, he has described “The Woman in Black” as simply being the best script he'd read at the time he chose to get involved. And it’s a very interesting project, not just for a prospective lead actor, his fans, and genre aficionados, but also for filmmakers and those who are intrigued by the way films are made.

This is a creepy film.

I’m not an easily scared person but there was no shortage of squeals and jumpiness among the audience at the press screening. Which is only to be expected from a film about disappearing children and a haunted house. But what’s noteworthy is how that level of creepiness is achieved. There are virtually no elaborate special effects – it’s almost exclusively an outcome of camera angles, makeup, and timing. This is a $17m production that, in the hands of a different production team could very easily have cost two or three times as much, without being any better at establishing an atmosphere. And that also makes it a good pick for Radcliffe, who gets to headline a film that doesn’t require him to stray far from his comfort zone, and which won’t need to measure success in hundreds of millions of dollars.

That’s not to say it doesn’t have any problems – it does. You can’t afford to think for more than a moment about almost any of the plot details. And much of the logic appears to have been sucked into the marshes on either side of that tidal causeway I mentioned earlier. It’s a brief film at 95 minutes and it doesn’t pause to explain very much: It’s not a complicated story but we’re never told how or why Radcliffe’s character decides what to do or, for example, why residents of the local village never seem to ponder the possibility of moving away despite it clearly being the worst possible location in which to raise a family.

But for the right audience, none of that will matter. It’s creepy and it stars Harry Potter…err, Daniel Radcliffe.

"The Grey" - Part 2: Interview

2012-01-27T09:23:33Z

INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR JOE CARNAHAN AND ACTOR FRANK GRILLO

[NOTE: THE INTERVIEW CONTAINS SOME MILD PLOT SPOILERS FOR “THE GREY”.]

Recently, in San Francisco, I had a chance to chat with co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and actor Frank Grillo about their new release “The Grey” which opens this week. The film, which is reviewed in a separate article, tells the story of a group of oil workers whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, where they find themselves stalked by a pack of almost mythically large wolves. Joe is a Sacramento native and we’ve known each other for several years through the local film community and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival.

As we were setting up for the interview, Joe happened to make a self-deprecatory joke about his own intelligence, which led to an interesting opening:

Tony: You see I would counter that right away. I watched “The Grey” a few weeks ago - I don’t like to read production notes before seeing a film and I knew virtually nothing going in – but I knew it wasn’t going to be “Alive” meets “Cujo”… [they both agree] … because I don’t think you’re capable of writing a script that’s that one dimensional.

Joe: Right. You may hate it for its other dimensions but it won’t be mono-dimensional.

Frank: [laughs]

Tony: The other things you’ve written – even a film like “Smokin’ Aces” which is a ‘shoot-em-up’ has a very intricate story.

Joe: “Smokin’ Aces” to me, the construct, was Iraq. I based the movie on Iraq. It starts with misinformation, it leads to this kind of heedless violence, a bunch of people who shouldn’t die do, they make a better deal at the end, and it’s over – that’s it.

Tony: Let’s come back to the war topic later. As I said, I watched “The Grey” knowing nothing about it and had to write my comment for the studio, and I said this isn’t a film about men and wolves, this is a film about life and death, and going out on your own terms.

Joe: Yes. 100%.

Tony: So, I was intrigued as to whether when you read the short story if it came out of nowhere and grabbed you or if you were already thinking of this as a subject you wanted to tackle.

Joe: No, you know what Tony, I responded to the short story because I was on “Mission Impossible 3” and I was going to quit before I was fired. I had run my course on that and here I was presented with this very simple, spare, kind of bare bones survival story - versus where I was at that moment which was a big star, big franchise, big studio, with a big budget at 33 years old and feeling I didn’t deserve any of that….

Frank: No, by the way you do.

Joe: …at the same time “The A-Team” represents me finishing that business on “MI3” – doing a big popcorn movie. So it [“The Grey”] appealed to me in every way that it could, because its simplicity was beautiful to me. But then Ian [Ian Mackenzie Jeffers who co-wrote the screenplay and wrote the short story “The Ghost Walker” on which it is based] did a draft of his own short story and I took that, and over the next 4-5 years rewrote it, fashioned it, and fine-tuned it.

[Joe continued by describing how, with the passage of time, topics which might not have developed quite so readily in a more rushed circumstance, including religion and spirituality, evolved as the story became more polished.]

Tony: So, you guys met on “Pride and Glory” [for which Joe co-wrote the screenplay]?

Frank: A little before that.

Tony: [To Frank] When this first came to you, did you see the script first or was it still an idea? How close was it to the final script?

Frank: I think it was fairly close to what we actually shot by the time I saw it.

Joe: Yes, I gave it to you in September and we were shooting in January.

Frank: Yeah. He had seen some of “Warrior” and I had said to him “I want to work with you, just whatever it is, find me something, I’ll do anything – I’m a huge fan” and he sent me this script. He said to me “January we’re shooting this movie and that’s the role!” And he could have had anybody he wanted for the role, obviously, and he said “It might take me some time but you’re doing the movie – January – don’t take a job!” And I said “Joe, I can’t…” He said “January, don’t take a job! Go gain some weight, beef up, this is what we have to do.” And there we were in January.

Tony: Although underneath something like three parkas…

Joe: Yeah – I had three parkas on but Frank didn’t!

Frank: [laughs]

Joe: You said you wanted the role pal!

Tony: It’s such a neat story and neat characters. I was interested in what drew you to it. The Ottway part [Liam Neeson’s character] is interesting – he’s watched somebody who didn’t have the opportunity to go out on her own terms and he respects that opportunity when it arises. There’s a scene in the wreckage where a guy is dying and the others are saying “You’ve got to do something” and he goes over and says [paraphrased] “You’re going to die – but that’s OK” You don’t see that often.

Joe: No. You see a lot of people killed but you don’t see a lot of people die.

Frank: In the original script – and at first I was kind of upset that we took it out – but when he says that to him, my character says “What are you doing?” But there was such a rhythm, there was such a gorgeous poetic rhythm to the connection that these two guys had that if I had interjected, interrupted, and taken it away from that, it would have destroyed the scene. And that’s my favorite scene in the movie.

Tony: It reminds me - and I don’t think this is a comparison you’ll dislike [to Joe] given that you say you don’t see people die very often - it reminds me of Giovanni Ribisi in “Saving Private Ryan.”

Joe: Which is a brilliant death scene.

Tony: It’s the best scene of the movie.

Joe: And he says “Tell me, tell me what’s wrong” and the blood is almost black and he’s asking for his mother.

Tony: And he basically instructs them to overdose him on morphine. He’s a medic….

Joe: Right, he’s a medic, he knows he going to die. But that’s … anytime there’s a Spielberg comparison, I am firmly in your camp.

Frank: I got a chance to work with him and he said when he saw that scene he actually went back and wrote more for Giovanni earlier in the movie, so there would be more of him in the movie.

Joe: Oh, wow!

[The three of us then went off on a tangent for a minute or two about Giovanni Ribisi’s career starting as a child actor in the sitcom “My Two Dads.”]

Tony: In “the Grey” it seems to me that there were at least quadruple threats: There’s the location that they’re in, there’s the lack of any kind of supplies they would need to survive in that location, the climate obviously, and the wolves. But this isn’t about the wolves, the wolves are just part of that.

Joe: Tony, you see that – but you’re literally one of the only people that has ever said that, right there.

Tony: It’s an obstacle, of which part just happens to be the wolves. They could have just been eyes in the distance and mysteriously, every now and then somebody dies and you never know how they die. It’s almost a MacGuffin.

Joe: Right – they’re as close to a MacGuffin as a traditional film like this would have. Because essentially it’s a plotless movie.

Tony: In fact, to some extent, the whole bundle of obstacles: location, supplies, climate, wolves altogether are a MacGuffin.

Joe: Absolutely

Tony: It’s just there to cause these people to think about the meaning of life.

Frank: Exactly. That’s an accurate reading of the script. You asked what attracted me to the film. As a middle-aged man – this is what I think about all day.

Joe: And also that the wolves are just a force of nature – like the cliff, like the blizzard, like the river.

Tony: Have you been following the news – the timing is really interesting.

Joe: Oh – OR7 – the wolf that’s crossed into California. Yeah, I invited him to the premiere. It’s a very elaborate joke, a very elaborate stunt when he shows up and around his neck he’s got a little pass, a VIP pass.

Frank: It’s a great story

Tony: You clearly wanted something more profound than an action film and you succeeded. But do you worry about the apparent dichotomy between what films are and how films are marketed?

Joe: You know what, Tony, I don’t because what I would like, in fairness to an audience, this is something where I’d like them to cast as wide a net as possible – to get people who are even casual genre fans, who are casual Liam Neeson fans into the theater. Because I swear to God it will become the water cooler talk for days to come. I really believe that. What I’ve said about this film, my ultimate goal, is that it plays for you for longer than the two hours it took to watch. That’s what I want – because I think so much of movies today are just disposable experiences.

Tony: I guess my question is that we’re sitting here saying this is a profound movie about life and death and the human experience….

Joe: Right.

Tony: …so do you worry that the people who do in fact want to see a profound movie about life and death and the human experience are not going to come and watch “The Grey” based on the trailer somebody’s cut of the film that makes it look like “Alive” meets “Cujo”?

Joe: No. Unfortunately, if those people you just described were in the majority, we wouldn’t all be about to speak Mandarin in the next ten years. You know what I mean? If we had that level of engagement or that level of high mindedness, without trying to sound snobbish or arrogant about it, if those kinds of people were in the majority then I think it would be a radically different marketing angle.

Tony: If you think of film classics like 1936’s “Modern Times” or 1957’s “12 Angry Men” – those were mainstream films because you didn’t have studios, indies, direct to cable, and all those kinds of things, so those were films people were going to watch. They were deep films – but they were either social satires or social commentaries. We’ve had this conversation before – now you see things like “Lions for Lambs” [written by Joe’s brother Matthew Michael Carnahan] which is a brilliant piece of writing and “In the Valley of Elah,” and films like “The Company Men” about unemployment and layoffs. I’ve heard it said that folks on the left don’t want to go and see these stories and be reminded of what they already know and folks on the right don’t want to go and get lectured by Hollywood.

Joe: Yes.

Tony: So, do you think there’s a political divide – is it that we’re telling the wrong stories or are we telling the right stories but telling them too soon?

Joe: Well listen, you mentioned “Lions for Lambs” and “In the Valley of Elah” – those are movie about hot button issues. My brother had written “The Kingdom” which in a lot of ways to me was a knock on the Saudis and the Saudi royal family. It was meant to be, not a condemnation but he was certainly taking a shot – it wasn’t just this kind of prosaic look at a different culture – he was going after them. But if you don’t mix in gunfights it becomes this almost geopolitical…whatever. I found, and I got this from my benefactor Ridley [Scott] – I loved the filmmaking in “Black Hawk Down” but it became very jingoistic. And the part about the Somalis and what they were dealing with … and I understand why that was jettisoned. I get it, but it was also a case of looking at how much more money that made than a film like “Lions for Lambs” which was more about talking points.

Tony: If you get me on “Black Hawk Down” we’ll be here all day. But “The Kingdom” and “Lions for Lambs” are an interesting comparison because they’re both good scripts and they both have a lot to say politically….

Joe: Yes.

Tony: ...and I don’t remember the box office….

Joe: “The Kingdom” made a lot more money.

Tony: “The Kingdom” has a lot of shooting and action and “Lions for Lambs” is more like a play

Joe: Yeah, it’s a three act play. It’s a play.

Tony: So if you want to have political content and you want to get something out there and you want to hit a mainstream audience….

Joe: Good luck

Tony: …do you have to disguise it as something else?

Frank: I think you do.

Joe: Oh, absolutely.

Frank: You have to, not sneak it in, but you have to….

Joe: It’s everything short of sneaking it in. It’s very difficult to come straight at somebody with that kind of argument being that political, spiritual, whatever it may be that you’re trying to tackle. In this country more so than any other in the world – we love to slap labels on as quickly possible. And if you’re doing that it’s a “specialized” kind of film.

Tony: [To Frank] In the film, you’re the tough guy’s tough guy. It reminded me of this kid I knew at summer camp who was tough and would never let his guard down – and then I saw him break down completely riding a roller coaster.

Frank: That’s a great analogy.

Tony: Did you know those guys growing up or were you that guy?

Frank: I wasn’t that guy – I was on the other end of it. But I did know those guys and I also spent some time visiting some jails around New York because I wanted to talk to some guys on the other side of that reality. And they all seemed to be the same – you’re right – it’s the big bully who goes on the roller coaster and that was my jump off point. It’s such a cool journey that this guy makes and we all know those people. And how did I get to the point where my hands are always up and I’m threatened all the time. When you’re afraid you get angry and Diaz [his character in the film] is angry all the time. Why? Because he’s afraid all the time. And it was a gift to me as an actor to get to explore this character.

Tony: The amazing thing about “The Grey” is that I don’t think there’s a weak link in the film. The problem with an ensemble movie is that there’s often a character that you want to get eaten by a wolf early on in the movie just so that you don’t get to see him for the next hour. And this movie doesn’t have that.

Joe: I think you really do come to fall for those guys and you appreciate those guys and you pull for them. And that’s as it should be.

[At this point we discussed several characters and their unusual paths in the movie, including specific outcomes for some of them.]

Joe: But there’s bravery and heroism that isn’t always obvious and that you don’t see coming from a mile away

Frank: But we can talk about this all day – this guy [his character] finally got a chance to be part of something. That’s the beauty of it.

Joe: Yeah – absolutely man

Tony: What’s next for you Joe?

Joe: If I get any real run off the Grey, if it allows me to do something else, I’d like to put all those chips toward “Killing Pablo.” For me that particular project is like this vastly undernourished orphan and I need to get this kid a meal.

Tony: That’s Pablo Escobar?

Joe: Yes. I’ve been to Colombia three times, I’ve been to Medellin three times and I love it – as attrition goes it getting pretty close. Somebody asked me why do you want to make that project so badly and I was interviewing this 78 year old man who was there at the time it happened, and I asked him if he remembered anything that day, when they got Pablo. And he said “I was sitting in my house and I thought it was an early winter thunder storm” because the level of gunfire was such that the guy couldn’t discern individual shots and I thought “I’m ****ing making this movie!”

Tony: And anything back in Sacramento – are we going to see you back in town?

Joe: Tony if I could just get, and I’ve said this before – what you need is a full time film commissioner and we need to quit dicking around. And in that City which is one of the great untapped shooting locations – in two hours you can be in the snow, you can be on the river….

Tony: And the neighborhoods can be anywhere.

Joe: Dude, the Fabulous 40’s – all you have to do is switch the cars out and you could be in the 1950’s. I would love to do it. I think the City has to get a lot more aggressive about what it wants to do. You know Kevin Johnson kept the Kings – and that would not have happened with Heather Fargo, they would have been gone. So if he can apply that kind of determination to getting movies shot there….

Tony: You know the “For Arts Sake” manager just left, this week.

Joe: Really? Well you know I’m looking for a job!

Disclosure: The author is co-director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and Joe Carnahan is a former special guest of that event.

"The Grey" - Part 1: Review

2012-01-27T09:22:47Z

The Grey
Directed by Joe Carnahan

The promotional materials for “The Grey” would probably cause you to believe that this is a “Jaws”-like adventure, with sharks replaced by wolves. And that’s certainly an easy way to sell a movie – but the truth is somewhat more complicated and worthy of greater respect.

This isn’t just a movie about men and wolves, and the conflict between them after a plane of oil industry workers crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. Underneath that surface, it’s more about life and death and our ability to determine our own fate. Liam Neeson plays Ottway, a man whose job is to shoot wolves and remove other threats to the men who work in this desolate place. But he’s also a man with tragedy in his past and consequently empty eyes. When the plane goes down, it triggers in him the need to survive – not so much because he has things to live for, but because he isn’t willing to let anybody or anything else dictate his fate.

It’s an interesting and quite profound premise for what might otherwise seem like a shallow action adventure. But it’s also in keeping for co-writer and director (and Sacramentan) Joe Carnahan, who tends to favor stories that are more complex than they appear.

Some detractors have complained that the behavior of the wolves in “The Grey” is unrealistic, but this isn’t a nature documentary. And the wolves themselves are not the only complication in the men’s lives, existing as they do alongside the extreme cold, remote location, and lack of supplies that they're faced with. As such, the wolves are simply a part of a bundled obstacle, and no more or less a force of nature than the blizzards and low temperatures. They exist as a test within the context of the movie, increased to almost mythical size and actions. They're simply something to be overcome - and they might just as easily have been bears, ghouls, or invisible beings.

Within this premise are some of the best on-film encounters with death – not simply in the sense of the staged violent ends that we've come to expect from the action genre, but philosophical contemplations of what it means to recognize and sometimes accept death, even when it isn’t sought out. And these are genuinely thought-provoking moments: As Carnahan himself said during a recent interview, “...it will become the water cooler talk for days to come. I really believe that. My ultimate goal is that it plays for you for longer than the two hours it took to watch. That’s what I want – because I think so much of movies today are just disposable experiences.” And it succeeds.

The outcome is quite remarkable in that he’s made a film that can satisfy those who are simply looking for a solid roller coaster action adventure, but also those who like to ponder the deeper meaning of a film and the lessons it might evoke, over dinner afterwards, or the next day. It might even cure a dysfunctional family’s inability to choose a movie that appeals to both the parents and the teenagers.

Disclosure: The author is co-director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and Joe Carnahan is a former special guest of that event.

We're #10

2011-11-05T06:29:48Z

The Forbes magazine list of dirtiest cities, with respect to air polution, is out and Sacramento is #10, with 6 other CA cities in the top 10.

Here's the list with comments taken directly from the source material (including an unfortunately worded remark about San Diego) - more details can be found here.

#10 Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA-NV

A little better than Bakersfield and Fresno, but Sacramento still suffers stagnant air stuck in the San Joaquin Valley.

#9 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA

There's no dirty coal plants here, and you'd think the ocean breeze would keep the air clean, but San Diego has a big port and busy highways that lead to and from Mexico.

#8 Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ

Heat plus cars equals ozone. Epic dust storms also regularly engulf Phoenix.

#7 Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL

Pollution levels have improved a lot, but Birmingham suffers from being located in a valley that tends to trap stagnant summer air. Two interstate highways don't help either.

#6 Modesto, CA

Home to E&J Gallo Winery, which also operates the largest wine bottle manufacturing plant in the world.

#5 Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA

This old steel town is a new boom town for natural gas drilling, and downwind of coal-fired power plants in Ohio and West Virigina.

#4 Fresno-Madera, CA

San Joaquin Valley air might be getting better; last August, for the first time in recorded history, Fresno had no days with unhealthy ozone levels.

#3 Visalia-Porterville, CA

Proximity to the giant trees of Sequoia National Park isn't enough to clean Visalia's smoggy San Joaquin Valley air.

#2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA

Millions of cars, a huge port in Long Beach, busy airports -- at least L.A.'s smog is better than it used to be.

#1 Bakersfield-Delano, CA

Hot, dusty and surrounded by California's biggest oil fields, Bakersfield has all the ingredients for the worst air in the nation.

Disclosure: Armchair journalism at its laziest.

Slow news day

2011-09-25T07:15:51Z

But you can always count on craigslist for a chuckle.

Nothing else to see here, move along....

Hollywood to Dollywood ... to Sacramento!

2011-08-20T16:01:17Z

The Saturday lineup at the 12th annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival includes 28 films spread over 14 hours of programming, the Sacramento Bee Fashion Challenge results, and a live performance by alumni-musician Stephan Nance. The films include a full length musical about a reluctant monster, 16 films from some of the best student filmmakers in the world, and several short films from Sacramento-based filmmakers. And at 7pm, the Festival hosts "Hollywood to Dollywood" and filmmakers Gary and Larry Lane. This is the fourth festival of 21 who currently have scheduled screenings of this highly sought after independent documentary and the brothers are in town for approximately 12 hours before flying on to their next screening, tomorrow in San Diego.

The film documents a journey, both metaphorical and literal, in which the gay twin brothers write a screenplay for their idol Dolly Parton and then drive across country in a rented RV named "Jolene" to deliver the script to Dolly, in person, on the 25th anniversary of the opening of Dollywood. Along the way, they get writing advice from Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black ("Milk") and actor/producer Chad Allen, share the stories of their lives and the lives of those they encounter on the road, and battle severe weather that threatens the road trip. All in the hope that they can get close enough to Dolly to hand over their work and be noticed by their heroine. The film also includes 17 songs by Dolly Parton herself.

"Hollywood to Dollywood" screens at 7pm at the historic Crest Theatre and will be followed by a Q&A session with the directors and stars of the film, Gary and Larry Lane.

The full Festival schedule can be found here. Passes and tickets for the remainder of the Festival's eight screenings can be purchased online at tickets.com or at the Crest box office.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

Mediation and conflict resolution featured at the Crest Theatre

2011-08-19T19:42:47Z

The third night of the 12 annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival brings a solid lineup of three narrative feature films to the Crest historic main screen. The first of these, "Face to Face," is an Australian drama that can only be seen at film festivals and which isn't even scheduled to open theatrically in Australia until next month.

"Face to Face" is reminiscent of the classic film "12 Angry Men," with the action moved from a jury room to a mediation session. Ten people and a mediator meet to discuss an employment dispute, but it soon becomes apparent that there is far more at stake and more shared history than one young man's rash actions. The screenplay was adapted from a stage play that was originally written based on actual transcripts of mediation sessions and the result is both powerful and genuine in the relationships and interpersonal dynamics in the room.

"Face to Face" is followed by the dark romantic comedy "Stan" and the horror film "The Corridor." The Festival recommends the later films for adult audiences only. Trailers and synopses for all three films can be found by selecting film titles on the Festival's schedule page here.

The Festival continues at the Crest through Sunday.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

"Beautiful Youth" premiere draws a crowd at the Crest

2011-08-19T08:07:20Z

Just a week ago, the Sacramento Press reported on a local documentary about youth homelessness and on Thursday, "Beautiful Youth" screened for a packed house as part of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival SummerFEST. The Festival contacted the filmmakers as a result of that article and, given only a week of lead time, the size of the audience was both noteworthy and a testament to the interest in the topic. The film itself has a running time of 47 minutes and was followed by a Q&A session with filmmakers Jennifer Lystrup and Mackenzie Long which lasted equally long. Even more remarkable, almost the entire audience stayed throughout the post-screening discussion and asked questions of both the directors and several of the individuals who were interviewed during the making of the film.

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival continues through Sunday evening. Friday evening's lineup consists of three narrative feature films: "Face to Face," "Stan," and "The Corridor" at 7pm, 9pm, and 11pm respectively.

The full Festival schedule can be found here.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

French Film Fest Director to be honored as Film & Music Fest Opens Tonight

2011-08-17T18:22:05Z

The 12th annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival opens its SummerFEST program tonight by honoring another long time Festival director. This year's Film Arts Service Award will be presented to Cecile Mouette Downs, director of the Sacramento French Film Festival. Cecille has worked previously for the Film Department of the French Embassy in New York City, and as a Press Officer for the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel in Paris. She has a master’s degree in history, is a regular contributor to “France Today” magazine, and was the 2010 recipient of the Arts Executive of the Year Award from the Sacramento Arts & Business Council.

This is the fifth Film Arts Service Award to be presented. The first went to Shawn Sullivan, who teaches animation at Sheldon High School and has a remarkable record of placing students in competitive college and industry positions. Subsequent recipients have included: Bill Bronston, CEO of Tower of Youth which showcases and advocates for youth filmmaking; Ron Cooper, Executive Director of Access Sacramento and the "A Place Called Sacramento" screenwriting competition and filmmaking program; and Sid Garcia-Heberger, Managing Partner of the Crest Theatre, co-founder and co-director of the Sacramento Jewish Film Festival, and a Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commissioner. As last year's recipient of the Award, Sid Garcia-Heberger will present this year's Award to Cecile Mouette Downs.

Additionally, this year's opening night features the runway portion of the Sacramento Bee Fashion Challenge. The Bee partnered with the Festival to give local designers the challenge of creating a red carpet worthy outfit from newspaper and no more than $50 worth of additional materials. Winners will be announced on Saturday, August 20th at 6pm.

Tonight's opening night feature film is a documentary about Japanese-American animator and film director ("When the Wind Blows") Jimmy Murakami, who spent part of his childhood with his family at the Tule Lake internment camp in Northern California. "Jimmy Murakami - Non Alien" shows the continuing effects this experience has had on his life and explains his discomfort in living in America. This film is an interesting counterpart to the final feature documentary that will play on Sunday, August 21st. "Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football" explores the American Muslim experience, as seen through the eyes of the football team at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan - a public high school that is 98% of Arab descent and overwhelmingly muslim. 2011 is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the 10th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 and these two films remind us of the impacts of how we collectively treat people who look like, but who aren't, our enemies.

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival SummerFEST opens tonight at 6pm, with a reception catered by District 30 and Pizza Rock, and runs through Sunday. 65 films represent 13 countries, including 23 from this year's 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge - in which local filmmakers are given 10 days to make a 10 minute film. The program also includes an exclusive screening of "Beautiful Youth" at 6pm on Thursday, a film about homeless youth in Sacramento and which has been written about previously in the Sacramento Press. The full schedule and more information, including film trailers can be found online at sacfilm.com. All screenings take place at the historic Crest Theatre.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

Sac Film & Music Fest - Programming Notes

2011-08-14T22:28:29Z

Programming a film festival is an odd and varied process. Some events go out and pro-actively seek the best films that they can find, in an extensive search process – and we see this approach in such local great events as the Sacramento Jewish, French, Japanese, and Gay and Lesbian Film Fests. Other events are submission-based: A call for films is distributed, and filmmakers from a given area submit their works in the hopes of making it to the top of the pile. This latter approach, perhaps best exemplified on a grand scale by the Sundance Film Festival, is also used (on a more modest level) by the Sacramento Film & Music Festival and that given area is the entire world.

This year, films were submitted from almost 30 countries and in just about every conceivable format or genre. Which means that picking through them is an interesting task – one moment you’re watching a cute music video featuring animated vegetables and the next, you’re watching a feature length psychological thriller. The goal is to find the best and fit them into an appealing program that audiences will want to see. However, the problem with a submission-based Festival is that you never know what you’re going to get. Last year, for example, we had a full program of animated short films, whereas this year we have only one animated film within a program of student shorts. And films are often grouped more by general category than by subject matter – so you get narrative short films, international short films, etc. – rather than programs defined by comedy, or drama.

So, at the end of the process, it’s interesting when you sometimes find that you’ve chosen films that seem to follow a common theme. This year’s program includes three feature length documentaries, each of which stood out from the crowd and were selected on their own merits. Only later did we realize that they shared the theme of being “different” in America.

The first of these, “Jimmy Murakami – Non-Alien,” recounts one of the worst times to be different in American history. Jimmy Murakami was born in California and probably would have had a fairly ordinary American childhood had he not been Japanese-American and born in 1933. At the age of eight, he was transported with his family to the Tule Lake internment camp, and spent the next four years there, learning to resent his own government. After the war the family moved to Los Angeles and Jimmy eventually went to art school and became an animator, going on to great success in the film industry and directing such films as “The Snowman,” “When the Wind Blows,” and “A Christmas Carol.” But he never felt comfortable in the country that imprisoned him as a child and never fully came to terms with that experience. The film shares his experience, after 40 years of living in Ireland, of his trip back to California and a pilgrimage to Tule Lake.

In “Hollywood to Dollywood,” twin gay brothers from Tennessee escape their childhood home (for all the reasons you might expect) and move to Los Angeles. There, they spend five years writing a screenplay for their idol Dolly Parton – only to head back across country in a rented RV in the hopes of handing that screenplay to Dolly on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of her theme park, Dollywood. The film contains interesting commentary on the process of writing, including contributions from actor Chad Allen and Academy Award winning writer Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”), shares the adventure of the open road, and includes multiple personal stories of exclusion and coming out.

The last of the three, “Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football,” focuses on a community on the west side of Dearborn, Michigan. Here, after decades of immigration, the local population has changed so much that Fordson High School is now 98% of Arab descent, and overwhelmingly Muslim. But their other defining characteristic is their love of football, with boys following older brothers, fathers and uncles onto the high school squad. The film follows the team over a period of ten days, considering the question of what it means to be Muslim in a post-9/11 America through personal stories, as they prepare for their big cross-town game with Dearborn High. This is complicated by Ramadan, and a month of afternoon practices and evening games following days of fasting.

Each of the three films is a fascinating depiction of a specific experience but, taken as a whole, they are a compelling account of what it means to fit in, or not fit in, in America. They are three out of 42 films, representing 13 countries (we lost half the countries in the selection process), programmed into 13 unique screenings at this summer’s Festival – including locally made short films and student films, and the Festival’s 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge which will include another 25 films (that’s a guess – they haven’t been finished yet…) made in just 10 days, in and around Sacramento.

Each of the 12 screenings costs $10, but you can buy passes (at the Crest Box Office) for all 13 screenings for only $30 if you mention Sacramento Press, or for the low, low price of $20 if you’re a student.

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival continues its 12th season with SummerFEST is at the historic Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento, from Wednesday, August 17th to Sunday, August 21st. The full schedule, including trailers for all three films described here, can be found at www.sacfilm.com and you can follow further developments at facebook.com/sacfilm.

Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

Review: Conan O'Brien Can't Stop

2011-06-23T09:44:12Z

by Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
Directed by Rodman Flender

Last summer, Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium was one of the venues for Conan O’Brien’s “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.” That tour is now the focus of the behind the scenes documentary “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” – a somewhat unflinching look at an attempt to make show business lemonade from a deluge of unwanted lemons (or perhaps, in some opinions, a single unwanted Leno).

For those who live in caves, go to bed at 9pm, or go to bed at 9pm in caves, last year saw messy contract negotiations over late night programming at NBC. Years earlier, O’Brien had been promised the holy grail of talk shows, “The Tonight Show” at 11:35pm. However, when the moment arrived, incumbent host Jay Leno made it clear that he wasn’t ready or willing to retire. Rather than risk the possibility of having Leno end up with a competitive show on another network, NBC created an earlier 10pm talk show for Leno, and simultaneously attempted to cash in on the fact that shows of this nature also happen to be cheaper to produce than hour-long dramas, traditional favorites in that time period.

But the experiment failed. Leno fans, and other fans of “The Tonight Show” who preferred to get to bed sooner, now had a favorable option 95 minutes earlier in the evening. Meanwhile later night audiences and O’Brien fans watched the traditional timeslot, with both shows generating what were considered by the network to be disappointing ratings. Leno was still reluctant to walk away and NBC pitched a desperate attempt to solve the problem by suggesting that Leno return to 11:35pm, but in a truncated 30 minute format. O’Brien would then follow at 12:05am, with Jimmy Fallon’s later show being pushed back from a 12:35am start to 1:05am, and Carson Daly going even later.

O’Brien rejected this plan, saying at the time that he didn’t want to be the host who took “The Tonight Show” into a timeslot that meant it was no longer “tonight.” He also clearly felt that his contract was being breached and that there was a lack of good faith in both the way that he was being treated as well as the ripple effects that would impact the hosts of the later shows. And so he walked away from the prize franchise, leaving himself out of work, contractually prohibited from appearing on television, heavily compensated, but also overwhelmingly angry. And the short term result of channeling that anger was the aforementioned tour.

The film goes behind the scenes as the tour is planned and executed, and examines the dynamics of life on the road – in this case for someone unused to that schedule. Fans of O’Brien get to see a side normally hidden from view, as he works with his creative team, not always entirely positively – and he doesn’t attempt to hide his feelings about the situation. Non-fans will likely find it a fascinating examination of celebrity, including the difficulty of remaining upbeat in front of adoring fans. It’s not unusual to hear fans of certain artists complaining about abrupt or inhospitable encounters with their idols. What this film illustrates is how remarkable it can be that any celebrities ever manage to avoid that kind of behavior in the face of constant demands for their time, regardless of what else is happening. At times, O’Brien seems like he won’t make it, not because of the already grueling schedule of the shows themselves, but because of the endless extra commitments: Meet-and-greets, private parties, extra shows, hordes of adoring fans, and even his own college reunion at Harvard.

The title of the film is taken from an exchange in which it becomes apparent that O’Brien can’t imagine not working and, as was reported at the time, some of his motivation also came from trying to keep at least some of his production team employed. The end result is a neat film about a funny guy dealing with a difficult period in his career in what appears to be the only way he knows how – by laughing about it, and hoping others will too. It’s insightful, personal, and well worth checking out.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop opens on Friday, June 24th at the Crest Theatre. Information and showtimes can be found at www.thecrest.com.

The film's official website, including the trailer, can be found at www.conanobriencantstop.com.

They're Playing Our Song

2011-03-18T21:19:53Z

Currently in its second weekend (of four), New Helvetia Theatre’s production of “They’re Playing Our Song” is another winner from the young company. Founded two years ago, NHT has received high praise for productions that have included “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “tick…tick…BOOM!” and “[title of show].”

“They’re Playing Our Song” should appeal to fans of both musicals and plays, as a musical that probably has more distinctive dialog than production numbers. It’s not that the songs are weak, it’s just that the rest of the material comes from the pen of Neil Simon, and so it has that tone that makes it somewhat like watching a Woody Allen movie with musical interludes.

The songs themselves are particularly interesting in the context of the show, in that they are co-written by Carole Bayer Sager (lyrics) and Marvin Hamlisch (music) who are also the inspiration for the story which is based on their 1970’s romance. In it, Vernon and Sonia are a composer and lyricist respectively, who meet to collaborate as songwriters. However, they are both somewhat sensitive and perhaps a little high maintenance, while also being both critical and defensive. Continuing the Woody Allen comparison, it’s like a working relationship and budding romance in which Woody Allen meets his gender-opposite counterpart. In other words, it’s funny.

“They’re Playing Our Song” unites two NHT “veterans” Nanci Zoppi and Jerry Lee as the leads, each of whom are well suited to the roles. And the character’s similar temperaments are also reflected in their respective three-member greek choruses that act like combination muses and personal backup singers (and who very efficiently become the stage crew between scenes). The set is simple but effective, with crowded shelving units creating a sense of divided spaces and also semi-shielding the full band that accompanies the show, and two of the hardest working folding chairs in theater.

Direction is by NHT Founder and Artistic Director Connor Mickiewicz, musical direction by local cabaret mogul Graham Sobelman, choreography by Kiera Anderson, stage management by Caitlin Sapunor-Davis, and collateral material design (poster, tickets) by Paul Le. Additional cast members, familiar to local cabaret and theater fans, are Rosemary Babich, Joseph Boyette, Rebecca Mason, T. Patrick Van, Hilary Wells, and Mike Yee.

“They’re Playing Our Song” continues with shows Thursdays-Saturdays through April 2nd – with an 8pm show each day and an additional 2pm show each Saturday (with the exception of theSaturday, March 19th matinee which starts at 1pm). All shows are at the neat Artisan Building at 1901 Del Paso Blvd, and tickets are available through brownpapertickets.com.

More information at www.newhelvetia.org

Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/153042

Note: The show photographs were taken, with permission, during the dress rehearsal - some set and/or costume details may have changed.

Joan Rivers at the Crest Theatre - Slideshow

2011-03-14T08:13:30Z

Opinion: Voluntary Foreclosure

2011-03-01T07:03:20Z

The subject of mortgage foreclosures is obviously one that has received a great deal of attention in both the media and in private conversations. The economy has tanked and people who are struggling financially are clearly going to have problems paying their mortgage. And many of us have seen friends, acquaintances, or family members granted loans that were never sustainable, based on poor or non-existent reviews of circumstances.

But what of the rest of us?

I have a mortgage that I can comfortably afford to make payments on. But I’m surrounded by foreclosed properties and loans that are being adjusted to make them more affordable. I bought my house eight years ago for a total price of approximately $168k. I currently owe approximately $103k. There’s a house close to me being sold for $34k and several in the $50-60k range. There are similarly sized condominiums in the same range.

The industry seems to be banking (pun intended) on homeowners who can afford their payments feeling honor-bound to do so. We made an agreement, we took a gamble, and the value of our homes have fallen. In theory, nobody owes us anything anymore than we would feel like we owed the lenders money if fortune had swung the other way.

Except for one thing: Many of the loans that have failed, and which have caused foreclosures and helped drive down home values, should never have been written. The system is counting on homeowners acting in a more honorable and conscientious fashion than the manner in which the industry acted towards homeowners.

Everything I was taught as a kid about honoring commitments and being honest would suggest that I should stay in my home and make payments into a financial void. But everything I have learned since about mathematics, finances, and common sense suggests I should walk (or run) away from the loan and default on it as fast as humanly possible. Even the ruined credit rating isn’t that much of a hardship if one has good cash flow.

But if I jump from my sinking house, I add to the overall problem, adding another vacant property to the existing glut. And so there’s another layer of guilt contributing to the pressure to conform with respect to my conforming loan. If I had made a bad decision or taken on too much debt or a massive balloon payment, somebody would probably be offering to help, but I apparently made the flawed choice to live within my means.

If I move out and stop paying the mortgage, I doubt the bank could get an appraisal of much more than 50k. And with the house in its current condition, needing a little tender loving care from a somewhat more conscientious homeowner, it would probably be significantly less, further driving down local prices. After all, when you walk away, you’re far less likely to spruce things up than when you’re selling.
So what’s the solution?

Banks and lenders write off bad debt all the time, and take losses by selling off foreclosed homes in down markets. But why do so? Why wait for somebody to choose to move out and incur that kind of loss and that kind of logistic hardship, of having yet another home to sell in an already down market?

I called my lender today, offering to make a deal – to negotiate a payoff closer to market value. I was told about a program that would have reduced my interest rate if I was struggling to pay. I doubt I would have qualified. I was told there was nobody able to discuss any other possibilities with regard to adjusting or closing out the account. I have emailed them today also, asking if I could buy my own house from them for what it’s currently worth, in cash, and avoid a voluntary foreclosure. I’m not holding my breath.

From what I have read, California is a no-fault state for loans of this nature. The only thing tying us to our homes is a sense of duty instilled at a young age. But it’s a duty we are expected to uphold in honoring contracts with lenders who didn’t do their own duty, who made countless unsustainable loans and, apparently, who didn’t even keep all of the paperwork that documents those loans.

And so I’m deciding whether to be the good kid I was taught to be, or the self-preservationist adult the world seems to reward. It seems like a fight the good kids are going to lose.

Which side are you on?

Original "Survivor" Richard Hatch in Sacramento this weekend

2011-01-12T21:52:15Z

Richard Hatch is one of the featured interviewees in the locally produced documentary "Death or Taxes: The Sad Truth About Our American Taxation System" that will be screened as part of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival's WinterFEST this weekend. Mr. Hatch will be attending the screening in support of the film and a question and answer session with the filmmakers will follow the screening.

About the film - from the producers:
With a run time of 78 minutes, Death or Taxes takes a hard look at the horrifying realities faced by the millions of taxpayers who owe back taxes, many of whom are forced to make life-changing decisions. Should they pay their rent or pay their back taxes? Put food on the table or pay the often exorbitant fines issued by IRS agents in the name of Uncle Sam? Death or Taxes tells the story of the good, honest people who get caught in IRS quicksand—some of whom are pushed beyond hope into the last decision they’ll ever make.

About Mr. Hatch:
Richard Hatch is best known for winning the first ever season of Survivor. Following his success on the reality television show and his $1,000,000 prize, Richard worked with attorneys and accountants to determine his tax obligations for the prize money. In spite of his best efforts, Richard was accused and convicted of tax evasion. Richard served 52 months in federal prison, 4 months spent in solitary confinement, without ever having been assessed a tax debt. Richard’s ongoing battle with the tax and legal systems continue today, as Richard works to clear his name, and come to a settlement with the IRS.

Death or Taxes screens at 1:30pm on Sunday, January 16th at the Crest Theatre.

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival WinterFEST is at the Crest Theatre from Saturday, January 15th - Monday, January 17th and the full schedule, with ticketing links and links to individual film pages can be found online at www.sacfilm.com/schedule.html

See also the overview Sacramento Press article about the Festival: LINK

Disclosure: Tony Shepppard is a Festival Co-Director.

Sacramento 9th dirtiest city

2010-11-19T06:37:49Z

In April 2009, I summarized a story from Forbes that listed Sacramento as America's 6th dirtiest city for air polution, primarily ozone. We were also ranked sixth in short-term particle pollution.

That brief story can be found here.

The latest list still has us at sixth for short-term particle pollution, but Sacramento has dropped to 9th dirtiest overall. Meanwhile, California has gone from having 6 cities in the list to having 7/10 of the dirtiest cities, including the top 5.

The ten dirtiest (in terms of air quality) cities in America, according to the American Lung Association and as reported by Forbes:

1: Bakersfield, Calif.
2: Los Angeles - Long Beach - Riverside, Calif.
3: Fresno - Madera, Calif.
4: Visalia - Porterville, Calif.
5: Hanford - Corcoran, Calif.
6: Phoenix - mesa - Scottsdale, Ariz,
7: Birmingham - Hoover - Cullman, Ala.
8: Modesto, Calif.
9: Sacramento - Arden-Arcade - Yuba City, Calif.
10: Pittsburgh - New castle, Penn.

The online story link is here.

2,500 sq.ft. Playground to be Constructed by Volunteers

2010-11-08T21:20:20Z

THE HOME DEPOT, KaBOOM! AND ASPIRE PUBLIC SCHOOLS JOIN FORCES TO BUILD A NEW PLAYGROUND ON VETERAN’S DAY

WHAT: More than 200 volunteers from The Home Depot, Aspire Public Schools, and organizers from the nonprofit organization KaBOOM! will join together to build a state-of-the-art, 2,500 square foot playground in one day. The playground will provide a safe, fun environment for the children in the community. The playground will also celebrate Veteran’s Day as veterans from the area will assist in the building of the playground.

When a former private high school on El Camino Avenue in Sacramento closed, the Aspire Public Schools organization purchased the 9 acre campus and opened Alexander Twilight College Prep Academy, one of the newest charter schools in the region. As a former High School only, the campus lacks playground equipment for the younger children, which will be remedied thanks to this project.

The playground is funded through a $65,000 grant from The Home Depot Foundation and the parents and community volunteers from Aspire Schools/Alexander Twilight College Prep Academy also raised $7,500 to support the playground construction. As a founding partner of KaBOOM!, The Home Depot provides financial support, materials and numerous volunteers for playground projects across North America as part of its ongoing commitment to give back to the communities its stores serve. As official Sustainability Partners, The Home Depot and KaBOOM! work to make sure each playground project is as environmentally friendly as possible as well as educating children and communities about this important issue. For this project, all materials will be recycled and any unused materials remaining after the completion of the build will be donated to other organizations.

WHERE: Alexander Twilight College Prep Academy ● 2360 El Camino Avenue ● Sacramento

WHEN: Thursday, November 11

8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Project Kick-Off
9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Best visuals of playground construction
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Final construction phase and adjustments
2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. “Board-Cutting" closing ceremony
(Note: All times approximate)

INFO: About The Home Depot Foundation
Created in 2002, The Home Depot Foundation supports nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating and preserving healthy, affordable homes as the cornerstone of sustainable communities. The Foundation’s goal is for all families to have the opportunity to live in healthy, efficient homes they can afford over the long-term; to have access to safe, vibrant parks and greenspaces; and to receive the economic, social and environmental benefits of living in a sustainable community. Since its formation, The Home Depot Foundation has granted $190 million to nonprofit organizations and supported the development of more than 95,000 homes, planted more than 1.2 million trees, and built or refurbished more than 1875 playgrounds, parks and greenspaces. For more information, visit www.homedepotfoundation.org and follow us on Twitter homedepotfdn.

About KaBOOM!
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization dedicated to saving play. Through community building, the organization is focused on giving every child in America a great place to play within walking distance. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,900 new playgrounds, skate parks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, free online trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and Playmakers – a national network of individual advocates for play. KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

Disclosure: This is content from a press release, not authored by Tony Sheppard - but it seemed to be of relevant local interest.

500 Needed for Galleria cleanup

2010-10-24T00:41:58Z

A local company will take resumes on Sunday and Monday to find cleanup workers.

Details here.

Sac Film & Music Fest: New dates and a new "Pitch Sacramento" competition

2010-10-21T09:02:55Z

Sacramento Film & Music Festival
New dates and “Pitch Sacramento” filmmaking competition for 2011

For the past 11 years, the Sacramento Film & Music Festival has screened the best indie films from around the country and the world. And for the past 7 years, it has established a reputation for local filmmaking competitions, with approx. 150 music videos made for the Sac Music Seen program and 100 short films made for the 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge.

For 2011, the Festival is making two major changes: A split into two separate seasonal events and a new competition for local filmmakers.
Rather than continue as a 10-day Summer Festival, the 12th year for the Sacramento Film & Music Festival will be presented as a shorter “Winterfest” in January and a complementary “Summerfest” in August. This better serves audiences and filmmakers by avoiding the daunting 10-day schedule and continues to provide the programming opportunities for the same quantity of exceptional films, including the popular student film category, with continuing sponsorship from Sony Creative Software. The dates for the first Winterfest program are January 15th-17th, 2011 at the historic Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento.

The 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge will continue as a Summer program at the Summerfest, and Sac Music Seen will be join the Winterfest program in 2012. But for Winterfest 2011, a special filmmaking competition “Pitch Sacramento” will help promote Sacramento as a filmmaking community and destination.

During Mayor Johnson’s Arts Initiative discussions, a recurring theme emerged in the need to spread the word about Sacramento as a great place to both shoot films and to be a part of the thriving film, video, and television arts community. With that in mind, the Sacramento Film & Music Festival is calling for short films of no more than five minutes that promote that message for its “Pitch Sacramento” competition. It is expected that these will be of an informative and factual nature, expounding on the locations, resources, cast and crew talent, and opportunities that Sacramento has to offer filmmakers.

Completed films will be accepted through December 31st on miniDV or DVD (two copies: both a data disc and a playable disc) with alternate formats to be approved in advance with the Festival directors. Cash prizes will be awarded to at least the top two films, with a prize of at least $500 being given to the first place winner. Cash prizes funding has generously be provided by the Capital Film Arts Alliance and the Crest Theatre. If more funding is forthcoming, the cash prize pool will be increased. Completed films will be screened during the 2011 Winterfest (if more than 24 completed films are submitted, the festival directors reserve the right to screen only the best 24 entries). There are neither submission fees nor complimentary tickets associated with submitted films for this competition.

Contacts:
For alternate formatting and submission questions: Festival Co-Director Nathan Schemel – nschemel@aol.com
For other questions: Festival Co-Director Tony Sheppard – tony@csus.edu

Completed films must be accompanied by the following information:
Name of primary contact person;
Contact information to include phone and email contacts;
Title of project;
Total running time (not to exceed 5 minutes);
A short statement from the film’s primary producer stating that the film does not contain any offensive or legally protected content;
A short statement granting permission to the Festival to screen the film.
Completed films should include a single credit at the end (in addition to any other credits) that states “Produced for the Sacramento Film & Music Festival’s Pitch Sacramento Program.”

Films should be sent to:
Sacramento Film and Music Festival
10445 Ambassador Dr.
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

Film Industry "Boot Camp" with award-winning Producer

2010-10-12T04:28:01Z

Film studio heads rarely make general public appearances, let alone teach. Larry Meistrich, head of Nehst Studios and producer of the Oscar winner Sling Blade, turns that concept on its head!

Coming to Sacramento October 15,16 & 17, Meistrich presents the acclaimed, weekend-long Aspiring Filmmakers Boot Camp so those interested in film careers can get the rare opportunity of educatation and interaction with a film industry leader who is running a film financing, production and distribution company in today’s entertainment world. At the boot camp Meistrich shares a lifetime of insights, knowledge and powerful tips to help successfully navigate the film business – whether as a writer, director, producer, actor or other interest. Attendees will emerge changed and ready to tackle the film world, armed with the know-how, motivation and tactics to succeed.

Film Boot Camp attendees will:
* Learn the necessary steps and secrets to successfully produce a feature film or series.
* Understand the business side of filmmaking - including financing, packaging, marketing & distribution.
* Get an unprecedented opportunity to learn to pitch scripts & ideas, with an opportunity to make a deal.
* Have an open forum of communication to an industry leader for 3 days.

Filmmakers can learn the skills of their craft in a variety of places - but the only way to learn to enter and navigate the business is from someone who has done it successfully – and who continues to do it. Larry, known for his no-bull, take-no-prisoners approach to teaching, will equip you to swim with the sharks, dive for treasure, and come back alive to talk about it. At the same time, attendees receive valuable access and personal interaction with Larry for the entire 3 days in a comfortable and casual atmosphere – so all questions can be asked and nothing is off the table. Attendees will come out of this camp changed and ready to tackle a variety of film careers, armed with the know-how, motivation and tactics to succeed. Spending an intensive weekend with Larry, learning the thinking process and tools you need to succeed in the complex and competitive film business – attendees will learn to produce a feature film or TV series from beginning to end - securing the script to financing to distribution, and the highlight of the weekend is a pitch session on Sunday where attendees will learn how to pitch scripts, ideas and TV show concepts, and then have a chance to pitch ideas in a safe, comfortable environment - where there is an actual opportunity to make a deal with Meistrich’s company.

Boot camps have already been the source of successful talent ‘finds’. Michael and Daniel Carberry, 19, attended a recent boot camp, showed their reel, and were hired to direct Nehst's national series for Mountain Dew. Kevin Kerwin and Kate O'Neil were‘discovered’ at a recent boot camp and Nehst hired them to direct and produce the feature length documentary "Running America", now in distribution.

Larry Meistrich launched Nehst Studios at Cannes in 2007, creating a cutting-edge film financing, production and distribution company that integrates entertainment with today’s technology. Nehst has offices across the country and a production studio in Cleveland, Ohio - with several films in various stages of development, production and distribution and is always looking for the next great idea or talent! Current films in production include “Lilith”, “Strangeland II: Disciple”, “The Kid Who Only Hit Homers” and more.

In addition:
* Meistrich has produced more than 100 films, commercials and music videos including the Academy Award® winning Sling Blade, the Academy Award® nominated You Can Count on Me, Henry Fool - winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, Croupier, and New Jersey Drive.
* His pictures have won the gamut of international awards including Golden Globes, SAG and DGA Awards, Top Five category awards at Cannes, Sundance and Berlin.
* Meistrich has taught master classes at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University of Miami, Syracuse University – Newhouse School, and University of Austin; and has been a guest speaker at the Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Berlin and New York Film Festivals, as well as Sacramento's own Film and Music Festival.

Details: The Aspiring Filmmakers Boot Camp is co-sponsored by The Art Institute of Sacramento and the Capital Film Arts Alliance, and will be held in Sacramento on October 15-17, 2010 at the Art Institute campus, located at 2850 Gateway Oaks Dr., Sacramento CA 95833. The cost to attend the 3-day film boot camp seminar is $395 for general public, $300 for CFAA or other film organization members, or only $150 for students or military active or veterans (contact us by phone at 916-600-6477 or email info@nehst.com for specific discount codes). Because of the small group format, seating is limited – so reserve your seat today. For more information or to register, visit: www.filmboot.com

AND – Friday Oct 15th is the opening night for the boot camp and is open to the public at no charge, featuring a discussion on the state of the film industry with Larry Meistrich. All are welcome as Meistrich presents ‘Successful Filmmaking in the 21st Century’ - at the Art Institute of Sacramento. So for all who want to know more about this exciting industry and how to position themselves for success, this is the chance you’ve been waiting for.

Photos:
1) Larry Meistrich, Tony Sheppard, Joe Carnahan at the last Sacramento Aspiring Filmmakers Boot Camp
2) Larry Meistrich takes questions from Jonathan Kieffer at the 8th Annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival, at the Crest Theatre, August 2007.

Sleepaway Camp: The Musical

2010-09-09T20:45:16Z

Sleepaway Camp: The Musical

Amongst Sacramento’s varied, thriving, and disparate art scenes are large and passionate audiences for both live theater and the trashiest of trash films. Finally, those two audiences can co-exist, and pairs of significant others with significantly different tastes can find a mutually satisfactory outlet in Sleepaway Camp: The Musical.

Officially entry #62 (or rather LXII) in the hit midtown cabaret series Graham-A-Rama, this is a new and original musical adaptation for the stage of the campy and bloody 1983 film that spawned five sequels, Sleepaway Camp. I had the opportunity to sit in on one of the final rehearsals (OMG: ROTFLMAO!) and to bounce a few impromptu questions off the exhaustedly dazed and confused (another potential musical?) creative team: Rob Bean, Freddy Molitch and Andrew Heringer (the twisted trio who adapted and musicalized Robert Hiltzik’s original film screenplay), and Graham Sobelman (producer, music director, and the Graham of the fabulously narcissistically titled Graham-A-Rama).

Q: How did all this start – Why Sleepaway Camp?

Freddy:
The whole Sleepaway thing started really when Rob, Andrew and I were on the staff at a summer camp together. Out of the three of us I am the biggest horror movie fan, so every year I would bring weird movies for the staff to watch after the campers had gone to sleep. Sleepaway Camp has always been one of my favorite movies so I couldn't wait to show it to them AT a summer camp. I brought it back to camp every summer to watch and pretty early on I was trying to convince Rob and Andrew that it would make an incredible musical. One night they jokingly started to riff on a love song sung to the main character Angela and it snowballed into a really great song. We tidied it up a bit and it was that moment that really convinced all of us that it could actually be done.

Watching Sleepaway Camp I always felt that it had such rich and bizarre subtext which made it into almost a Greek-level tragedy if you actually focus on why these characters do what they do. At first glance it seems like some of the actions in the movie are unexplainable but once you dig deep into the story you see that these people have twisted and passionate reasons for falling in love, killing or just acting almost cartoonish.

Rob (clarifying the timeline):
Freddy and I starting creating theatre pieces together in 1997 when we met in college in Seattle (Cornish College of the Arts). In 1999 we met Andrew because he was one of our students at a fine arts camp in El Dorado County, where Freddy and I were teaching theatre.... Andrew started teaching with us in 2002 and we've been a team ever since.

Andrew:
Freddy brought the film version of Sleepaway Camp one year for a group of to watch as it really is one of his favorite movies ever. Definitely a "so bad its good" type of movie. At some point we started joking about the concept of Sleepaway Camp as a musical - with absolutely no intention of making a full length musical. I remember grabbing my guitar and playing with the song that is now "Angela" coming up with ridiculous lyrics which slowly morphed into real lyrics that we actually enjoyed which in turn morphed into us writing more and more songs.

Q: What were each of your roles in as the project developed?

Freddy:
During work on the piece Rob was getting his Master's Degree in Theatre Management, so he started to work more on the business side of the production, I took a little more of the text and Andrew was our musical genius, though we all worked in little was on every aspect of it. Fairly early on Rob contacted the original writer/director of the movie Robert Hiltzik and he seems very excited and supportive about a musical based on his work.

Rob and I had gone to Cornish College of the Arts together, both studying Directing and Playwriting and at one point Andrew was one of our theatre students at summer camp. Those two are more fans of musicals where I am more the horror movie guy so we really worked toward a balance to please fans of either genre. For a while, teaching at camp was one of the only times that we could get together and work on Sleepaway Camp since I live in Seattle, Rob was working and going to school in Oregon and Andrew was going to college in California. But as the project got bigger and we got more excited about it, we would take retreats together to work on it throughout the year, usually in Lake Tahoe.

Andrew:
Rob brought Freddy down to teach at Sugarloaf and once I started working there we all hit it off really well. The idea of Sleepaway Camp as a musical is ironic to me as we all met teaching at a summer camp. The style of the songwriting reflects that folky, campfire feel. When writing the songs - we would usually watch the movie and pinpoint some ridiculous aspect of a certain character and try to play off that. We were all a part of the lyric writing.

Over the course of the last 6 years the show has been written with us living in three different states. This piece was written with all of us collaborating for a couple days at a time whenever we could find the time in Seattle, Eugene and Tahoe. The distance has been our biggest obstacle in getting the show finished and produced.

We owe a lot to Graham Sobelman for taking the initiative to help us get the first reading off the ground. He and I have been meeting for the last couple of months to write out the music for the cast and the band. He was instrumental in getting together this great cast and band for the reading.

Graham:
Andrew played me some demos of the songs from their musical one of the first times we hung out. I immediately loved the humor infused with more folky music. I absolutely loved the movie and was very excited when he told me they had musicalized it. When I found out the script was all written and he had demos of all these songs, I thought it would be a great idea to do a reading of the show. I loved how the musical stayed true to all the important elements of the movie, but capitalized on some perfect moments to create songs out of (sometimes bizarre) dialogue. The show is so fun, I can't imagine it won't go on to have a fully staged production in the near future. The music has to be some of the most clever of recent years. Sacramento will be the first audience to hear any of it!

Graham-A-Rama has been such a wonderful space to experiment with new material, I thought it would be perfectly appropriate to do a reading of Sleepaway Camp in lieu of one of the more typical shows. People already know (and love) Andrew's music, so having this event a week after his Andrew Heringer Band CD release is like finding out there's a whole separate bonus cd with all new songs on it! Luckily, I was able to utilize some of the Graham-A-Rama regulars and also find a couple newcomers to put on the reading.

Q: (To Freddy and Rob) What do each of you do when not setting bloody stabbings to music?

Freddy:
When I'm back in Seattle I act a little but my main job is being a DJ in Seattle nightclubs.

Rob:
I'm the Audience Services Manager for Cal Performances, running things like the Greek Theater, Zellerbach Hall and alike on UC Berkeley's campus.

Q: (To Graham) What else can we expect from Graham-A-Rama in the near future?

Graham:
Graham-A-Rama returns in October with some more "traditional" Graham-A-Rama fare: We will have a lesbian-themed night, a night for the cast of [title of show]* and a special Halloween show! Also, shows starring performers from LA and SF. And hopefully Graham-A-Rama will be returning to NY to do a show in late fall, early spring.

Photos:
Opportunistic low quality iPhone4 photos by Tony Sheppard :
1) The creative team of Heringer, Sobelman, Bean and Molitch pose gratuitously for an entirely inauthentic working shot
2) The Sleepaway Camp uniform t-shirt, modeled by Andrew Heringer

Other really important stuff:
Sleepaway Camp: The Musical is playing at the Geery Theater, on the corner of 22nd and L Streets.

Thursday, September 9th: 7:30pm
Friday, September 10th: 8:00pm
Sunday, September 12th: 7:00pm & 9:00pm (the regular Graham-A-Rama Sunday showtimes)

Tickets are available online here: Sacramento Press readers can use the code "murder" to get tickets discounted at $9.99 (regular price $15).

Notes:
This is a “reading” and not a fully staged show.
*[title of show] is, in fact, the title of the Fall production of New Helvetia Theatre

For more information:
www.grahamarama.com
www.andrewheringer.com
andrewheringer.bandcamp.com (for a download of “Under California Skies” – the new Andrew Heringer Band album)
www.newhelvetia.org (for information on the upcoming production of [title of show])
www.brownpapertickets.com (for all Graham-A-Rama and New Helvetia Theatre show tickets)
Sleepaway Camp: The Musical tickets (direct link)
[title of show] tickets (direct link)

Full disclosure:
The author is the regular photographer for Graham-A-Rama, a donor/producer of “Under California Skies” by the Andrew Heringer Band, a founding donor of New Helvetia Theatre, a veteran ex-employee of the children’s residential summer camping industry (11 years), and a local film festival director and film writer – and therefore the key demographic for Sleepaway Camp: The Musical.

Smashing Pumpkins at the Crest Theatre: Photo Album

2010-09-07T08:28:54Z

Photos by Tony Sheppard

Smashing Pumpkins
Crest Theatre
September 6, 2010

Immigration and Native Americans in Film - Tuesday Evening at the Crest

2010-07-27T07:53:49Z

Immigration is obviously both a hot button topic and the hot potato of American politics. It's also the focus of three short documentaries that play at the Crest Theatre on Tuesday evening on the fifth day (of ten) of the 11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival. Coincidentally, all three films were made by students at either Berkeley or Stanford and they complement each other to form a fascinating program.

"Iraq in the US" has a unique Sacramento connection, focusing on the lives of Iraqi refugees who have been relocated here to build new lives. "New American Soldier" tells the stories of several green card holders who joined the US military to become eligible for citizenship - complete with all of the hazards that entails. "Arpaio's America" investigates the policies of Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona who interpreted that state's Human Smuggling law to target the immigrants rather than the human traffickers. It also features Russel Pearce who authored the recent and highly controversial Arizona immigration law.

The three immigration documentaries are followed by an exclusive Sacramento screening of "Reel Injun" - a feature length documentary that examines how the Hollywood film industry has depicted Native Americans through the decades, including interviews with Jim Jarmusch, Adam Beach, Clint Eastwood and others.

The evening begins at 5pm with a complimentary dinner served by Rubios and the screenings begin at 6pm and 8pm. The double program of film, as well as the dinner, are covered by a single $10 ticket.

The full Festival schedule can be found at www.sacfilm.com/schedule.html.

Arts/Downtown Champion to Receive Service Award at Sac Film & Music Festival

2010-07-23T01:08:54Z

There are few people in this town who have consistently done as much to promote film, music, arts and Downtown Sacramento as Sid Heberger, managing partner of the Crest Theatre. Now, after years producing, hosting and promoting multiple film festivals, she is receiving the 4th Annual Film Arts Service Award during the opening ceremonies for the 11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival.

From the Festival Program:

Sid grew up in Sutter Creek developing an early love for film and historic architecture. She moved to Sacramento to attend college and in 1986 became involved in the re-opening of the historic Crest Theatre, leading to a management position two years later. Now CEO of the Crest’s operating company, Sid has overseen multiple renovations of both the marquee and the interior, including selection of historically authentic materials and design components. Sid has produced multiple classic film events, Trash Film Orgy, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Comedy, and the All-Sketch Festival. She co-directs the Jewish Film Festival, hosts and supports multiple other film festivals, serves on the board of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, served on the Mayor’s Arts Initiative Film Committee, and is a Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commissioner. She lives in Land Park with her husband Bill, son Nicolas, and Lhasa-Poo Dusty.

"Our Festival and many others would suffer without the Crest as the perfect downtown venue and Sid is a friend, a supporter, a sponsor, and an amazing resource for an arts organization such as ours" said Festival Founder and Co-Director Nathan Schemel.

Past Film Arts Service Awards recipients include Shawn Sullivan who has a remarkable track record teaching animation at Sheldon High School and watching his students go on to great success at companies such as Pixar, Bill Bronstein who has directed the Tower of Youth film festival for many years and championed the cause of youth filmmakers, and Ron Cooper, Executive Director of Access Sacramento and the force behind 11 years of their "A Place Called Sacramento" screenwriting and filmmaking program.

In a small-world connection, Shawn Sullivan is also credited as a mentor in the success of local performance artist David Garibaldi, who will be performing at this year's Festival on Thursday, July 29th, following a premiere screening of "Walking Dreams," a new documentary about his work. A charity auction of David's work follows the performance and benefits the Friends of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and the Festival.

The Festival opens with a reception catered by Festival Sponsor Rubios at 7pm tomorrow (Friday, July 23rd). The opening remarks and Award presentation are at 8:00pm followed by a screening of the documentary "Official Rejection" about the trials and tribulations of getting an independent film into film festivals. The screening is followed by an after-party at Festival Sponsor Cosmo Cafe.

Full Festival information and ticketing links can be found at www.sacfilm.com/schedule.html.

All-Screening Passes are $60 at the Crest Box Office (a 50% savings over those bought online) or $30 for students. Most individual screening tickets are $10. Opening night tickets that include both parties, the award presentation, and the movie are $15.

Photos:

1) Sid Heberger, recipient of the 2010 Film Arts Service Award

2) Festival mini-poster

3) David Garibaldi, who performs live on July 29th at the Crest Theatre

Disclaimer: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the 11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival

Dining Out Options: Good Friends

2010-07-16T09:35:53Z

by Tony Sheppard
Originally Published in Capitol Weekly

This may be the least comprehensive restaurant review ever. So don’t be surprised if I go off on a tangent or two.

Good Friends is located in South Natomas, in a small shopping plaza on the south-east corner of the I5 and West El Camino intersection. The location is close to several housing complexes and also the campuses of the University of Phoenix and the Art Institute of Sacramento. It’s a faculty favorite for the Arts Institute and, given that the Capital Film Arts Alliance meets there, also for some of the filmmaking community. For that reason, I’ve eaten there multiple times in the last couple of years, but I’ve never actually read the menu. Hence, the limited review content.

However, there’s a good reason to skip all but the back page of the menu – that’s where the combination meals are described. They’re enough of a good deal, that if you’re looking for a hearty meal and not jonesing for something too specific, that’s what to order. I’m fairly sure that the rest of the menu is quite comprehensive, given that there are several other panels in the brochure-style document, but I have no idea what’s actually in them. There’s also a lengthy sushi menu that gets placed on the table – but I haven’t read that either, for two reasons: It’s not the back page of the regular menu, and it’s sushi (*shudder*).

The combination meals have an extensive list of primary dishes to choose from and lunch also includes fried rice, chow mein, an eggroll, the appetizer of the day, and a choice of egg-drop or extremely hot and sour soup. All of this for $6.95-$7.25–it’s a lot of food. But the dinner combination is even more voluminous, as the daily appetizer disappears in favor of a full extra order of sweet and sour pork – all for approximately $9.95. It’s essentially enough for two meals in one. I have both shared a combination dinner with a friend on occasion, and taken half home on other occasions. It’s actually too much for me to eat before a discussion-based meeting as I end up feeling close to that post-Thanksgiving, loosened clothing, basking in a recliner like a beached, overfed-whale-state.

It’s a friendly little place, with these huge meals coming out of a small facility, occupying just one, narrow plaza storefront. If you go there with a regular, you’ll witness people being greeted by name and a strong sense that people keep coming back, time and time again.

And speaking of names, although Good Friends does seem quite fitting, it also breaks all of the Chinese restaurant naming ground rules. Somewhere out there, a man with the Chinese restaurant naming chart is weeping over one list full of panda, jade, dragon, and bamboo, and another list full of palace, garden, house, pagoda, and delights. There’s some irony in the idea that Chinese restaurants can be named by making one selection from Column A and one selection from Column B. Or the combo name that doubles them up – try for example the Dragon House of Panda Delights.

That said, check out Good Friends and try a combo meal - or perhaps even read the rest of the menu. Not that there’s really any need.

Good Friends
2600 Gateway Oaks Dr
Sacramento, CA 95833
(916) 568-5100
www.goodfriendssacramento.com

Photo: Combination dinner with mixed vegetables and a separate plate of sweet and sour pork (included)

Dining Out Options: IKEA

2010-07-10T20:46:57Z

By Tony Sheppard
Originally Published in Capitol Weekly

If shopping for a new Beddinge Murbo and a companion Glasört Kulle or maybe a couple of Pjätteryds makes you a tad peckish, fear not for IKEA will feed you just as happily as they’ll load you up with flat-packed Aspelunds and Trondheims.

The restaurant at IKEA is a simple, bright and airy cafeteria with limited, but also pleasant and cheap choices. The signature product is the Swedish meatball, served in a light creamy gravy and generally accompanied by the Swedish “go to” utility item, the lingonberry preserve. These lingonberries double as a relish or a jam, and also appear in a syrup that makes such a tasty drink you might inadvertently sue KoolAid for negligence. Nestled between the meatballs and mashed potatoes in preserve form, they make Reagan-era claims of ketchup as a vegetable seem even more overly desperate.

Alongside healthy salmon dishes and chicken alfredo are kid-friendly choices such as French fries, pasta with a simple marinara sauce, and appealingly multi- colored veggies. And one of the best deals around is the kids meal at only $2.49 for three small menu items, and no age check. It makes for a great light lunch as long as you don’t mind eating out of brightly hued plastic containers. I recently had the pasta, veggies, lingonberry drink, and a slice of almost cake for just over $4. That almond cake is a neat extra at just $1.29, rather than the $8 dessert options that require a team to eat them at so many restaurants these days.

Each IKEA store has menu specials that can be checked online. At West Sacramento, the 15 meatball special drops from $4.99 to an even more special $2.49 on Tuesdays. And Wednesdays are rib days, with a half rack of baby backs for $7.99, complete with cornbread and fries.

But perhaps my favorite treat, for the rare times that I’m out of the house in the morning hours, is the IKEA breakfast. The regular breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and French toast sticks is just $1.99. However, for only 99c, you can skip the French toast and still get a decent plate of food that makes Denny’s look like wanton extravagance. Best of all, nobody looks down on you when you each order two of the 99c plates.

If you take a liking to Swedish grub, you can also buy items to take home, downstairs in the supremely awkwardly positioned market area. It’s best to have somebody run over there and grab a few things while you’re waiting for the regular registers* or you’ll find yourself past the point of paying and either having to line up again or needing to pay for your food products at the downstairs snack bar (which has even cheaper food than the restaurant). And it’s also good to know in advance that IKEA will charge you for a plastic bag – so bring your own.

*I can’t remember the last time I saw a person actually operating a register – so be ready for the self-check option.

The IKEA restaurant opens 30 minutes before the store opens and, you guessed it, closes 30 minutes before the store closes. The West Sacramento store is open from 10am-8pm, 362 days a year. It’s closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas and closes one hour early on July 4th. And take note, the salad dressing is over by the drinks and ketchup, not near the salad.

IKEA, West Sacramento
700 IKEA Court
West Sacramento, CA 95605
916-371-4532

Other store locations, opening hours, meal deals, and impossible to pronounce or spell furniture solutions can be found online at www.ikea-usa.com.

Photos:

1) Two 99c breakfasts (for one).

2) A kid's meal, chicken alfredo, and two slices of almond cake (for two).

26 Films in Production for the 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge

2010-07-09T20:24:06Z

If you happen to see people filming around town, and if they also seem to be in a hurry, there's a good chance they're making a film for this year's 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge, a program of the 11th Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival. Now in its 7th year, the 10x10 challenges filmmakers to make a 10 minute film in 10 days, on an assigned theme and using assigned elements such as quirky props and the Festival's mini-poster.

Last night, filmmakers and prospective cast and crew members arrived at the Art Institute of California, Sacramento (a Festival sponsor) in enough numbers to require a move to a larger room. In fact, the 26 teams that signed up to participate caused the maximum running time of each film to be truncated to 8 minutes for only the second time in the program's history.

After hearing the rules (make it quickly and make it clean!), teams used a pre-assigned number from 1-26 to select their props. They were also assigned two quotes from a well known movie which they are required to work into their scripts or otherwise include in the finished film, with each team's assigned movie being different. Props came in mismatched pairs and included such items as a teeny-tiny tea service and a lug nut wrench, a pair of foam swords, and a 54" inflatable shark and glittery apple. Quotes came from movies as diverse as Twilight and Gone With the Wind.

This year's 10x10 theme is "Lines" - chosen for its wide variety of potential interpretations, including such dissimilar contexts as ticket lines, airlines, electrical lines, family lines, political party lines, and stem cell lines. A quick search in wikipedia reveals approximately 50 different interpretations of the theme. Additionally, this is the Festival's eleventh year and the poster is designed around the parallel lines of the number 11.

Teams have until 7pm on Sunday, July 18th to complete their projects and the finished films will be screened at 5pm on Sunday, August 1st at the Crest Theatre, as the closing screening of the 10-day Sacramento Film & Music Festival. Films are judged on overall quality, and best use of theme, props, and quotes. And, for the first time this year, films will also be judged in several acting categories, thanks to the help of the Festival's newest partner Studio24, a full-service talent management company located in midtown.

The Festival runs from Friday, July 23rd to Sunday, August 1st, with 25 ticketed events and, at last count, over 140 films. The Festival is also hosting the world premiere of a new documentary about the work of Sacramento artist David Garibaldi, followed by a live performance and an auction of his work on Thursday, July 29th. Tickets and Screening Passes are available at the Crest box office and through tickets.com.

More Festival information and the complete schedule can be found at www.sacfilm.com.

Disclaimer: Tony Sheppard is Co-Director of the Sacramento Film & Music Festival

Photos 1-5 by Paul Le:

1: The Art Institute of California, Sacramento

2. A moment of shock as the Festival Directors realize how many teams there are

3. Filmmaker Jared Martin of Davis displays his props

4. Pre-numbered movie quotes wait to be claimed

5. One pair of props

6. Sacramento Artist David Garibaldi, who will perform at the Festival on Thursday, July 29th

7. Festival poster - designed by Paul Le of midtown's Sol Design

Multiple Award Winning Actor Hal Holbrook in Sacramento

2010-03-05T03:16:20Z

Hal Holbrook has over 120 film and television credits stretching back to 1954. In addition to his Tony Award for portraying Mark Twain and four Emmy Awards (with six additional nominations), he became the oldest male actor nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in 2007's "into the Wild."

His new film "That Evening Sun," a co-presentation of the Crest Theatre and the Sacramento Film & Music Festival, opens at the Crest on Friday, March 5th. Holbrook plays an aging farmer who escapes a nursing home only to have to fight to regain his family farm.

"That Evening Sun" has won at least 15 film festival honors, including two Special Jury Awards from South by Southwest. Joe Leydon of Variety describes it as "An exceptionally fine, richly atmospheric film. Holbrook is at the absolute top of his game. A career highlight star turn."

Mr. Holbrook will conduct a question and answer session following the 5pm screening on Friday, March 5th and will introduce the 7:50pm screening. Advance tickets for the special screenings are available at tickets.com and the Crest box office.

For further information visit: http://www.thecrest.com/calendar/expand.cfm?EventID=3349

Got plans tonight? Unique theater opportunity!

2010-03-01T21:32:18Z

Image 1: Composer John Bucchino works with actor Nanci Zoppi and Musical Director Graham Sobelman at the It's Only Life masterclass

Image 2: John Bucchino explains his process of writing and composing during the It's Only Life masterclass

Image 3: New Helvetia Founder and Artistic Director Connor Mickiewicz sings "Playbill", accompanied by composer John Bucchino at the It's Only Life masterclass

It's Only Life

After an amazing first year, which included the critically praised productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and also Tick, Tick...BOOM (so good they had to bring it back), New Helvetia Theater hosts a unique musical event tonight at the Crest Theatre.

Tonight's one-night performance of It's Only Life not only reunites some of the fledgling theater company's most admired performers (plus some great newcomers to the New Helvetia stage) but teams them with the work's composer/lyricist John Bucchino at the piano.

John came to Sacramento for this unique performance and has been working with the cast in preparation for the show. I had the privilege on Friday to watch them interact in a masterclass setting and it just made me even more eager to see the show. There's something special about watching actors interpret a song and then hear directly from the writer what motivated the song and lyrics: It's a transformative experience, both literally and figuratively, as the song is then re-interpreted and brought to life with a new level of emotional investment and authenticity.

It's Only life is tonight at the Crest Theater at 7pm, followed by an after-party around the corner at Parlare Eurolounge.

For more information:

www.newhelvetia.org
www.thecrest.com
www.johnbucchino.com

Review: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

2010-01-16T00:16:04Z

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Directed by Terry Gilliam

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

This is a movie that will be seen for two reasons: The movie itself and morbid curiosity associated with the death of its star, Heath Ledger. Ledger had completed “The Dark Knight” and was shooting this when he died of an accidental drug overdose, leaving Director Terry Gilliam with half a movie, no lead actor, and an uncertain future for the project.

Gilliam is still best known by some of us as the wacky animator for the original Monty Python shows. But he’s also an accomplished director of not just Python movies, but also “Brazil,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and “Twelve Monkeys,” amongst others. He’s also been trying to film “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” (currently back in production with Johnny Depp involved) for years, with a truly disastrous earlier attempt chronicled in the noteworthy documentary “Lost in La Mancha.” So he’s no stranger to adversity in production.

But a dead lead actor is extreme adversity. Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell all stepped up and agreed to fill in for Ledger. Gilliam was able to make that work in a manner that is far more successful than it might sound. The story revolves around the ancient and mystical Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) who, we discover, has spent a great deal of time making questionable wagers and agreements with the Devil (Tom Waits). He currently drags a ragtag group around in an amazing horse-drawn sideshow in which audience members are able to pass through a magical mirror into imaginary worlds. This is where the heart of the film lies, in Gilliam’s extraordinary view of a fantasy world – one that makes you want to peak under the rocks and into the crevices of his very weird mind.

Into this arrives Tony Sheppard—played mainly by Ledger and, yes, that’s really the character’s name!—a mysterious stranger who falls in with this odd group and possibly has an agenda of his own.

This is a very cool movie – both for the crazy visuals (Gilliam at his best) and for the extraordinarily effective writing that pulled such a winning outcome out of such tragic circumstances. It might be the morbid curiosity that drives you to see it, but the movie can capably take it from there.

Review: A Single Man

2010-01-08T09:30:12Z

A Single Man
Directed by Tom Ford

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Colin Firth plays George Falconer, a professor in 1962 Los Angeles who loses his long time partner in a distant car wreck and struggles through the lonely aftermath, trying to get through each day without him. There’s nothing unique about losing a loved one but Falconer, as a gay man in that period, has only one person he can share his feelings with, his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore) with whom he also shares a complicated past. At work and in his daily life, he maintains a stoicism that hides the lost romance that was always hidden.

“A Single Man” is based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood – the Chris of “Chris and Don” and the writer of the source material for “Cabaret.” The film is directed by fashion designer Tom Ford. There are some directorial choices that are a little too self-conscious at times, but the result is still powerful and one of the top picks of the year (it’s a 2009 film opening slightly late in Sacramento). Firth is excellent in the lead role [side note: Firth himself is the child of two college educators] and is supported well by Moore and by Matthew Goode as lost love Jim (seen in flashbacks – and also seen in another release this week: “Leap Year”). All grown up since 2002’s “About a Boy,” Nicholas Hoult plays a concerned student in one of George’s classes and rounds out the cast nicely.

It’s perhaps too easy to look at “A Single Man” in the context of the era depicted and sympathize with George for the time in which he lived. This was California a decade before Harvey Milk moved from New York City to San Francisco and a period when ‘moral turpitude’ was still very much an issue, especially for educators. But, almost 50 years later, and despite much greater acceptance of gays in society, many individuals still live in fear of adverse family reactions and even the loss of employment for simply being themselves. One of the complications for George is that he isn’t welcome at Jim’s funeral—and is only even aware of it because of the kindness of a single sympathetic family member. This is not something that will be hard to appreciate for gay members of the audience, especially those who have had to cope with similar inhospitality and homophobia. And the fictional George and Jim, as well as the real life Chris and Don, would still not be able to marry in today’s California.

But, politics aside, the movie is excellent and reminiscent of both “Lost in Translation” and “The Visitor” in terms of capturing a mood and a moment in the life of a middle aged man who no longer expects to form the type of personal connections he has previously. It would make an interesting double-header with the character study of middle-aged isolation, albeit more self-inflicted, depicted by George Clooney in the similarly excellent “Up in the Air.”

"A Single Man" opens at the Crest Theatre, January 8th.
For showtimes and other details visit www.thecrest.com.

Review: The Messenger

2009-11-27T09:26:35Z

The Messenger
Directed by Oren Moverman

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson are an Army Casualty Notification Detail, tasked with informing the N.O.K. (next of kin) when their loved ones have been killed in action. It’s a soul-destroying assignment and, as explained by the older man (Harrelson) to his younger colleague (Foster), it’s not one that can be made easier by staged shows of understanding. But it’s a necessary function in a time of webcams and cable news shows. They race to get to the N.O.K. before they hear the news from anybody else.

Foster has been on the edge of stardom for a decade and may be best recognized recently as Angel in “X-Men: The Last Stand” or as Charlie Prince in “3:10 to Yuma.” As staff sergeant Will Montgomery, Foster turns in a gritty and realistic performance that’s similar to Ryan Gosling’s career-altering “Half Nelson.” This is also Harrelson at his best in the supporting role, with the mentorship between the two men reminiscent of Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber in the woefully under-appreciated “Spring Forward.”

“The Messenger” is also a timely reminder of loss during a war in which we weren’t allowed to see flag-draped coffins and funerals. Harrelson’s captain Stone remarks that every funeral should be on live TV and laments: “…and then bullets fly and soldiers die and it’s such a shock – what did they think it was going to be like, ‘Fear Factor’?”

But the strength of the film is in its notion of what it means to be a casualty during wartime as the notification process produces even more casualties of war in the families of those who are lost. The notification detail themselves are also victims of time served in situations the rest of us will remain blissfully ignorant of. One wife explains that it’s hard to mourn the man who died during a third tour of duty in Iraq when you’re already mourning the man he was before tours one and two. They’re all casualties of lost lives, loves, and innocence and the movie is a remarkable portrayal of that harsh reality. “The Messenger” is vying with “The Hurt Locker” for this year’s top war film honors.

The Messenger was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and won both the Best Screenplay Award and the Peace Film Award at the Berlin Film Festival. For more information visit www.themessengermovie.com

The Messenger opens Friday, November 27th exclusively at The Crest Theatre. Opening weekend screenings will be on the historic main screen and validated parking is available in the 10th and L Street garage. For showtimes visit www.thecrest.com

Interview: Ian Shive, Conservation Photographer

2009-11-05T05:56:04Z

Photos: 1) Ian Shive at work; 2) Sequoia National Park; 3) Yellowstone National Park

Interview by Tony Sheppard
Originally published in Capitol Weekly

Ian Shive, the photographer behind the new pictorial book "The National Parks: Our American Landscape" recently spent a day in Sacramento, visiting a management class in the Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration program at Sac State. I asked him a few questions about his work and the value of parks in our lives:

Photography as a living is new to you – before it was more like a cell phone plan: Unlimited nights and weekends.

Very true [laughs].

What were you doing before and how did you get into this?

I was working as a publicist for Columbia Pictures, marketing mainstream films. I worked on at least 60 films for them. I worked on the “Spiderman” franchise. We broke some new ground. It was a time when grassroots marketing really became a critical part of that type of film. Photography for me was kind of a passion but never to the point where it is today. It was something that I enjoyed, it was something that gave me a creative outlet in an environment that was creative marketing, but not the same as creating something from scratch. As I entered into the world and made my photographs visible for people in the professional community I got a lot of response and that encouraged me to then do more of that and get more of a response and see how far I could take it.

In the world of photography, which could take you anywhere, why the National Parks?

They were the obvious place to go when I was a corporate, drone. I was looking for a much better word. They’re the obvious place to go because you know you don’t have the time to explore the entire coast of California and sure it’s beautiful but you have to go down to every beach and I had Saturday and Sunday. So the obvious choices were to go to Sequoia and to Yosemite, the places where you knew you could go into and you would at least have some great options in a very short period of time.

The other thing I have to say is that National Parks are crown jewels of what we have in wilderness. They are the best, they are the true icons of American culture. Also knowing that they’re so vast that the roads only cover a small part of it that there would still be room for exploration as well, that there would be a theme I could develop on.

You’ve described the National Parks essentially as islands of conservation in, presumably, oceans of disregard. What do you mean by that and how do we change our mindset?

Well, we have borders. National Parks have borders. They end, they have communities that build up around them, they have laws that only protect things up to that line. A good example is the Channel Islands in California. The marine sanctuary itself is just this little square and if you go on the edge of that square you can fish. What you see is boatloads on the edge fishing, right where the line ends.

Wildlife doesn’t understand what that means. How do you manage that, how do you effectively manage something when it’s the size of a tennis court? And that’s a sanctuary? For what?

And that’s always been a confusing thing to me and so I try and push an agenda that you can’t fence certain things in and they don’t work well if you do. I think a lot of biology and a lot of studies have proven that effective environment management has come in corridors.

You’ve called yourself a conservation photographer, rather than a nature photographer – how do you make that distinction?

Very simple. I feel the nature photographer does exactly what I do in the sense of photographing a beautiful landscape or wildlife or something like that. A conservation photographer takes those images and becomes an advocate for whatever they’re photographing. It’s advocacy that makes the difference – not just shooting something but working to protect it. The longer you spend in a place like Yosemite or anywhere wilderness…you realize that you’ve been borrowing from it: Maybe it’s solitude, maybe it’s a portfolio of images, maybe it’s “Grizzly Automotive” – you’re always borrowing from it but you’re never giving back.

When I was photographing in Henry Coe and a lot of other [California] State Parks, I had no idea that this issue would be happening – underfunding or cutting or closing them completely.

So what do you tell Californians now, who are watching this portfolio of extraordinary places at risk of neglect and underfunding?

We’ve got to fight it. We’ve got to find a way to fund it, find a way to fight it, and find a way to preserve it. I think the State parks are no less important than our National Parks. They’re not just about environment, they’re about culture, they affect people. The National Parks contribute $10 billion a year to their local economies. I believe State Parks have a major contribution in a similar way. I think the public needs to become stewards of these places and make sure they’re run properly. If we all contribute as a community because they’re for the community, then I think we’ll actually find some solutions that work and we can continue having these places.

Compromise media shield law seems likely

2009-10-31T02:25:03Z

According to the Associated Press, agreement has been reached between senate, white house, and press representatives on a new version of a media shield law "to protect reporters from being forced to disclose their confidential sources in federal court."

In brief, it would allow the government to seek a source's identity in instances of security leaks with national security implications, the burden would be on the journalist to justify non-disclosure of source identity in criminal cases, and the burden would be on the state to justify disclosure in non-criminal cases.

Of interest to Sacramento Press readers and writers, "The revised bill would also extend protections for freelance or citizen journalists by defining a journalist by the nature of activity engaged in rather than by the organization that employs the reporter."

Full story: Yahoo News

New Helvetia Theatre's "Tick, Tick...BOOM" - Preview, interviews, and photos.

2009-10-20T05:35:31Z

Rehearsal photos by Paul Le and Tony Sheppard – taken at the Artisan, 1901 Del Paso Blvd.

“Tick, Tick…BOOM”
Book, Music, and Lyrics: Jonathan Larson
Script Consultant: David Auburn
Directed by Connor Mickiewicz and Erin island

New Helvetia Theatre officially opens its second full production on Saturday, with previews starting Wednesday, of “Tick, Tick…BOOM.” The show is by Jonathan Larson, who won three posthumous Tony awards and a Pulitzer for “RENT.” I had the opportunity to sit in on a recent rehearsal and it literally had me both laughing and crying uncontrollably (not at the same time).

The timing was also interesting after the recent movie release of Jane Campion’s beautiful “Bright Star,” a film account of the end of the life of the poet John Keats. “Tick, Tick…BOOM” chronicles a period in Larson’s life when he was struggling with little recognition, unsure of his future, just as Keats died prior to his work receiving the acclaim that was later associated with it. Ultimately, Larson died before the first full production of “RENT” and its success has rekindled interest in his other works.

“Tick, Tick…BOOM” stars Tristan Rumery, Nanci Zoppi, and New Helvetia’s Founder and Artistic Director Connor Mickiewicz, who also co-directed the show with Erin Island. Between numbers, I bounced a few questions off Connor, his deserves-to-be-proud mother Erin Mickiewicz, and Music Director and destined-to-be-legendary cabaret impresario Graham Sobelman.

Connor Mickiewicz:

SacPress: “RENT” has become well known through multiple productions from Broadway to High Schools, as well as a film adaptation, but “Tick, Tick…BOOM” is less familiar to most people. Can you explain a little about the show and where it fit in Jonathan Larson’s career?
Connor: He had started developing it before “RENT” and with the success of “RENT” and his subsequent passing – there’s this voyeuristic sentiment that drives through it. This musical could not exist without the success of “RENT” and I think if it had been the other way around and this musical had been produced before “RENT” it would have been a lovely, moving show but I think part of the reason that people are interested in seeing this show is knowing the story of Jonathan Larson and what happened with “RENT” – which is still playing in San Francisco and around the country.

SacPress: So what made “Tick, Tick…BOOM” a good choice for New Helvetia’s second full production?
Connor: One that it’s a three person rock musical – and a Sacramento premiere, which lives up to our mission. And it’s accessible for younger audiences as well as more mature audiences.

SacPress: And part of your mission is to produce shows that are less well known – and this would fit that bill.
Connor: This would fit that bill, definitely.

SacPress: You produced the extremely well reviewed “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” earlier this year, and you got to sit up in the booth and watch every performance, but you are producing, co-directing with Erin Island, and also acting in “Tick, Tick…BOOM” – how has the multitasking experience been different?
Connor: It’s completely different and I was so nervous going into it and just working on the show with Erin and Caitlin [Caitlin Sapunor-Davis], the stage manager, we knew from the beginning that the piece was going to have to be more collaborative because I was going to on stage. So it was almost more like a scene study and the actors, Nanci and Tristan, could suggest something – or if something was not right we would get together rather than them being on the outside. That has made…the show that I had in my mind three months ago is not the same show that we have today and we’re all the better for it. So it’s been stressful but also more rewarding.

SacPress: “Hedwig” may well have been the best reviewed show in town – I don’t think I saw anything that was less than the highest possible rating or commentary. Does that make coming out of the gate the second time easier or does that make it harder?
Connor: For a minute I thought that it was going to be harder – but in the end, the respect that the audience has now for the company from “Hedwig” and from “Celebration” [an earlier one-night, semi-staged production and fundraiser] - that’s what I’m interested in, watching the audience grow and develop. I stopped thinking what the critics are going to say about this production – I don’t know if they could have…or if they can top “Hedwig.” If they do, that’s amazing for us but I’m more interested from this point on in just growing the audience and growing the audience’s trust in the company, more than the critics at this point.

Erin Mickiewicz:

SacPress: What and when was Connor’s first foray into theater?
Erin: I love this story: He played competitive soccer for a number of years and when he was 12, he had to try out every year and he didn’t make and we got the news in the mail and he was devastated. So Kiera [Kiera O'Neil], his older sister, said I’m doing “Music Man” why don’t you do [that] – it’s a children’s theater company. So he did it and that was it, he just fell in love with it.

SacPress: This is a silly question that occurred to me – kids transition from being child actors with varying degree of success, or not. How is the transition for the stage mom – do stage moms ever “grow up” or is it much the same, albeit with less carpooling?
Erin: That’s such a good question [laughs]. Because I was involved before Connor was involved with Kiera mainly and then I was the Director of the Arts of St. Francis High School, so even when my kids weren’t involved I’ve stayed involved. So I have a passion for it myself. It’s a fine line though when to back off and with Connor going professional, with his own company, the whole family has been involved - but we still respect the fact that he has to make decisions that we need to stay out of.

SacPress: With Connor as a fifth generation Sacramentan, what does this mean to you and the family to see him doing this here?
Erin: In Sacramento? Oh, I just love it. Selfishly I love him being back from New York – I love that my other son’s here and he can be part of it – he’s a total jock but he really loves his brother. I think it’s fun for us because we didn’t get to see much of him in New York and I think this is really his calling. He’s always an actor first to me but I really do think he can pull this off.

Graham Sobelman:

SacPress: Your main project for most of the last year has been the cult hit midtown cabaret Graham-A-Rama. That’s on hiatus for a couple of weeks for “Tick, Tick…BOOM” so does this feel like a vacation or like work?
Graham: Work - but I love my job so…. [smiles].

SacPress: You work with a lot of the same people in multiple projects….
Graham: That’s why it doesn’t feel like…well, it’s a job but it’s also hanging out with my friends.

SacPress: How do you balance multiple projects in production and development?
Graham: A very detailed calendar and very little sleep!

The last few questions with Graham were squeezed into an extremely short break in the rehearsal, with about one minute to talk and we were walking back into the theater by the end of the third answer, but they still illustrate one of the secrets to the success of these productions: Not only is this a very talented group of individuals who have the skills and vision to pull these things off with great success, but they are doing what they love with people they love. Not all of us have the opportunity or benefit of a workplace environment like that, but at least we can witness it in action – and it certainly shows in their work.

“Tick, Tick…BOOM”
October 21- November 14
Performance Times:
Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm
All performances at the Artisan, 1901 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815
Gallery and café open 1 hour prior to show

Associated links for more information:
New Helvetia Theatre: www.newhelvetia.org
Paul Le’s photography and design: www.paperwhitedesigns.daportfolio.com
Graham-A-Rama cabaret: www.grahamarama.com

Review: The Cove

2009-09-08T02:44:25Z

There’s something about the title “The Cove” that makes me think of a teen horror movie. But “The Cove” is a horror movie of an entirely different kind – a documentary about routine dolphin slaughters in Taiji, a small coastal town in Japan, and the degree of cover up and misinformation that keeps the practice from becoming common knowledge. This is a tough movie to watch, with brutal and graphic footage, but that’s also a large part of why the film exists – to capture on video what the local industry has tried to keep hidden.

This is a message movie, made to get the word out. It’s the kind of movie that demands that a reviewer actually divulge the content.

This is unusual for me and if you intend to watch the film, you might want to stop reading this column. But most of you won’t watch it (judging by the fact that I was the only viewer at a recent screening) and the message is too important to skirt around.

The film makes its central point, that there is a hidden cove where thousands of dolphins are captured or killed, in the opening minutes. The rest of the project is an unveiling of the background to this issue and essentially a “making of” film documenting the team of assorted experts who stealthily infiltrate the barricaded area around the cove to videotape the killing.

This team coalesces around Ric O’Barry, one of the most prominent dolphin activists in the world. Ironically, he’s famous for being the guy who captured and trained all five of the dolphins used in the “Flipper” TV series – the show credited for making everybody dolphin-crazy in the first place. But as he himself says, he spent 10 years buying a new Porsche every year off the dorsal fins of dolphins, and has spent the last 35 trying to free dolphins from captivity. He was arrested for attempting to free his first dolphin the day after Kathy, the lead “Flipper” dolphin, died in his arms – or as he describes it, committed suicide. There is a earnestness to O’Barry and his cause that isn’t present when Michael Vick condemns dog-fighting or when Bristol Palin promotes abstinence.

Taiji is the world’s largest source of dolphins for aquariums and dolphinariums around the world. A healthy trained female bottlenose dolphin (just like the ones in “Flipper”) can bring in $150,000. But all the others, herded by fleets of boats into Taiji, are sold for whatever their meat is worth (approx. $6,000 apiece). Japan is the world’s holdout nation when it comes to whaling in general, a trade supposedly controlled by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), but the IWC exempts dolphins and porpoises from regulation.

The film details how the Japanese have managed to manipulate the IWC not only with dubious data and reports (“we have to kill the dolphins because they’re eating all the fish”) but also by essentially buying the votes of small countries that wouldn’t otherwise care about whaling or even be members of the IWC. The film shows IWC delegates who can’t name a whale species and, for example, several Eastern Caribbean island nations who have expensive Japanese-funded fishing centers that aren’t even used.

Additionally, as apex predators in a food chain, dolphins are now illustrating our own worst fears regarding fish consumption and mercury poisoning. The US Food and Drug Administration allows 1 part per million (ppm) of mercury contamination in seafood and the Japanese allow 4 ppm. In the film, a Japanese University Professor finds 2000 ppm in a sample of dolphin meat from Taiji. Mercury poisoning is a tricky subject in Japan, where there is a history of death and birth defects, most notably in the case of Minimata disease in the 1950’s, where methyl mercury was released in industrial wastewater and poisoned the local fish and seafood around the city of Minimata.

While whale meat is somewhat accepted in Japan, dolphin meat is not - at least not as much and not outside of these smaller communities. In Taiji itself, at the whaling museum that also controls the dolphin trade, one can actually watch a dolphin show while eating dolphin. Elsewhere, as the film shows, dolphin meat from Taiji is sold and packaged as other species of whale – not only inaccurately labeled but also masking the contamination risk to consumers. In another attempt to get rid of the excess dolphin meat, local officials actually proposed supplying the school lunch program.

The assembled team is comprised of an odd mix of adventurers, free divers, and special effects and tech experts – the kinds of people who can hide video cameras in fake rocks. Amid close scrutiny from the local ‘fishing’ community and town officials, they proceed to document the slaughter in the cove that runs red from the blood of dolphins who are repeatedly stabbed until they drown. At one point, both a local official and the IWC delegate are seen proclaiming the newly adopted humane killing techniques as they are each confronted by video taken by the team.

This is a powerful and shocking film and a topic that is sadly under-exposed. For more information about the film and the problem visit www.takepart.com/thecove.

Update: For the first time, sufficient media gathered in Taiji on Sept 1st to delay or stop the start of the dolphin season.

Review: District 9

2009-08-22T19:04:17Z

District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Sitting at the Number 1 spot in this week’s box office rankings and modestly masquerading as a relatively low-budget creature feature, “District 9” is brought to you in a hands-off way by producer Peter Jackson (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy).

I say masquerading, as it’s really quite an insightful commentary on politics and international power-brokering, both past and current. The story has aliens arriving over Johannesburg, complete with their clearly superior technology and weaponry but also with a broken spaceship and apparently no intergalactic towing service. This results in two outcomes – a giant refugee camp for the stranded “prawns, “as they become known, and a great desire to crack the potentially lucrative mystery of their guns, which don’t operate in human hands. The film unfolds in the style of a news story or reality TV show, as we watch a mid-level manager undertake the manipulative relocation of 1.8 million refugees from their longstanding slum environment to a new purpose-built tent city.

But what is most noteworthy is the effective way that the film reflects our treatment of not just refugees, but people who we deem unworthy of integration. Being set in South Africa, it’s impossible to watch the movie and not think of Apartheid. But it also looks like a cross between Gaza and any number of shanty towns worldwide, with a trapped population driven to desperation in the face of a complete lack of opportunity. It’s also uncomfortably believable to watch the policing of this fictional environment being performed not by the quasi-UN-type organization depicted, but by a multi-national company of mercenaries and arms manufacturing who clearly have a greater vested interest in the hidden arsenal than in the well-being of the prawns.

Like the best of the genre, this is science fiction against a backdrop of our political and social vulnerabilities and shortcomings. The aliens and their city-sized cosmic-utility-vehicle may be hard to believe, but the humans and their actions are all too real. “District 9” is the best sci-fi of the year, with more thought-provoking content than four years at Starfleet Academy—and without all the financial aid.

An Unlikely Double-Header: Funny People & The Hurt Locker

2009-08-08T07:52:54Z

Funny People
Directed by Judd Apatow
&
The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

At first sight, these two movies seem to have little in common, but watching them back-to-back while trying to catch up with the summer’s offerings reveals interesting similarities. “Funny People” is the latest from the Judd Apatow machine (‘The 40 Year SuperKnocked Dewey Zohan Step Talladega Express’ or something like that) while “The Hurt Locker” is from Kathryn Bigelow, a dudette who makes movies for dudes (“K-19: The Widowmaker” & “Point Break”). While I’m on the topic of “Point Break” does anybody know what the dudest of dudes Keanu Reeves was doing in town last week?

Anyway, “Funny People” tells the story of comedian George Simmons, played by Adam Sandler, as a character who could easily be Sandler himself in terms of both the success and choice of projects. George appears to outsiders to have everything in life – a ridiculously large house, assorted expensive cars, and flights on private jets – but he also has a blood disease and a 92% chance of imminent death. Feeling unfunny in his malaise, he hires the younger Ira (Seth Rogan), who idolizes him, to write jokes and to be his assistant.

Part of the appeal of watching “Funny People” is the insider feel as the characters encounter a significant stream of celebrities playing themselves, along with the easy onscreen friendship between Rogan, Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzmann, who play three roommates in varying stages of show business success. Not only do the relationships feel real, but the circumstances feel like those I’ve seen with friends breaking into the industry.

The Hurt Locker” focuses on a team of bomb disposal experts in Iraq five years ago, facing the constant threat of improvised explosive devices in every unexplored piece of garbage on the trash-lined streets of war-torn Baghdad. The powerful performances are helped by the lack of stellar celebrity of the recognizable but relatively less well known lead actors (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty). This feels more like a character study than it might if one were watching Tom Cruise or Tobey Maguire (both minor punchlines in “Funny People”) defusing bombs.

Like “Funny People,” “The Hurt Locker” works in its depictions of both friendships and acquaintanceships because of the genuineness of the awkward and ugly moments. The verbal sparring is often more harsh than fond, even between buddies. While war is often depicted onscreen as a heroic endeavor, or at least as a series of tense but heroic moments, that’s not the focus here. Instead we see decisions made for many of the wrong reasons. Respect and trust are hard-won victories, not automatic outcomes of shared uniforms and roles.

What both movies have in common are individuals driven by needs so innate they obscure or destroy other pursuits. Most notable among these are personal relationships, both platonic and romantic. Sandler’s character is an inherently lonely man, who has squandered real connections in favor of shallow encounters. He is surrounded by fans and household staff, but nobody who he cares for or who cares about him. Renner’s character has become so good at what he does in the war zone that it makes more sense to him than the normal world. Their decisions and relationships are both driven by adrenaline rushes, whether in the face of high explosives or the explosive highs of fame and fortune.

There’s an addictive nature to what the movies show us. While the circumstances are extreme in both instances, the phenomena of choosing between career and relationships, or personal satisfaction versus the needs of others are more commonplace. I don’t immediately identify with either profession, but I can identify with the choices involved. I’m sure I’m not alone in that regard.

I enjoyed both movies at both surface and deeper levels, although both switch gears significantly along the way. “The Hurt Locker” has one or two scenes that seem somewhat inconsistent, although to some extent that fits the depiction of the inconsistency of combat.

“Funny People” switches between comedy and drama in a manner that some may find unappealing, especially those who are looking for one but not the other, but it also seems true to life in that regard. Both are journeys of self-discovery that take their central characters through painful introspection and not especially flattering or desirable realizations.

Both movies clock in at well over two hours and I wouldn’t recommend the double-header for any but the most ardent of movieholics, but I would recommend each to people who enjoy movies that package mood swings with a dose of soul-searching. Neither is especially surprising in their outcomes, but they are less about eventful surprises than about their respective character arcs.

Review: (500) Days of Summer

2009-08-08T07:45:44Z

(500) Days of Summer
Directed by Marc Webb

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

The Summer of the title is a girl and not the season and the movie tells the story of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and 500 days during his relationship with her (Zooey Deschanel). This could be a fairly mundane story, with few significant surprises, except for the way in which it’s told. And that telling will appeal to some audience members and drive others completely crazy as to some extent the movie becomes more about the form than simply about the tale, a phenomenon that often leaves me on the crazy side of the fence but which this time around I found really appealing.

As the story unfolds, the audience is presented with an onscreen counter that tells us which day of the relationship we are on and the story itself is completely non-linear. Such stories are sometimes frustrating, depending on the effectiveness of the direction, as they jump from one point in time to another without immediate clarity in the chronology. In this movie, we always know exactly what moment we’re experiencing and it rapidly becomes both a roadmap and a running inside joke.

This is just one visual trick in a movie that employs several, perhaps one or two too many, which on balance I enjoyed. Mainstream feature films are often very formulaic in nature, whereas short films and music videos are often more visually innovative. “(500) Days…” is a debut feature from a director, Marc Webb, who has previously made shorter projects and seems to have carried that innovation forward, in my opinion successfully.

Certainly to the advantage of the overall outcome, Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are both appealing and believable in most moments of their respective roles as the hopeful and smitten young man and the girl who is skeptical about the existence of true love. This is a story that could fail purely on an absence of chemistry and audience sympathy with other actors in these roles, but they are well matched and effective during both the highs and the lows of their relationship. Additionally, the movie has one of the best pairs of opening and closing scenes I’ve seen in a while, contributing to my overall positive response.

Interview: Trash Film Orgy's Co-Producer Christy Savage

2009-07-10T21:36:26Z

Trash Film Orgy
Saturdays, Midnight (doors open at 11:30pm), July 8th – August 15th
Crest Theatre

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

As well known to the veteran loyal fans (many of whom routinely wear zombie makeup) as it is completely unknown to more formal film festival goers, the Trash Film Orgy (TFO) opens its 9th season this Saturday, at midnight at the Crest. Every week of the season, TFO showcases a cult or B-movie offering with audience participation, in the form of competitive loud witty banter during the movie, not just permitted but encouraged. I asked TFO Co-Producer Christy Savage a few questions about the concept and this season’s lineup:

Tony: Could you explain the basic concept behind TFO?
Christy: The Trash Film Orgy is really all about fun. We embrace the sensationalism of the old Grindhouse movie shows, the fun of the Drive-In experience and the no-holds barred attitude of the Midnight Movie. We strive to give our audiences a truly unique, enjoyable theatre experience, while presenting the best in 35mm cult and exploitation cinema.

Tony: You’ve clearly had a taste for Trash Films for a long time, how did that first translate to the TFO festival idea?
Christy: Back in the late 90’s, our buddy Keith Lowell Jensen was doing a movie show, the Thursday Night Grindhouse, at the Colonial Theatre, and we were doing a similar sort of thing on Cable Access TV: Deth’s Oogly Hed. When Keith lost his partners in the Grindhouse, he suggested we team up to do a show at the Crest and well...the rest is history.

Tony: The screenings are a little unique in their audience participation, are there any guidelines and rules for audience members?
Christy: Once again, the key word for TFO is FUN! We strongly encourage folks to play along and have fun at our shows, but of course we do expect our audience to also be respectful of others and show normal common decency. For instance, we’re fine with heckling, but please don’t just yell non-stop obscenities...that’s not fun for anyone, just annoying. Practicing common sense wherever you are can really go a long way...after all, we’re all adults here.

Tony: For non-TFO regulars, could you describe a few of the other things someone might expect to find at TFO?
Christy: You would be wise to expect the unexpected! You never know what you might find at TFO - that’s part of the fun! But some ‘normal’ TFO things would include: Lots of folks in costumes; lots of zombies; lots of beautiful, scantily clad ladies; ridiculously silly stage shows; interactive games and contests; original and vintage shorts; and the finest in late-night cinema fun!

Tony: What are some of this year’s highlights?
Christy: Besides an awesome sampling of the best in cult cinema, we will also be welcoming back our original host-Francois Fly! We will be transforming the Crest Lobby into the seedy spectacle that is Trashville - an interactive shanty town full of fun and surprises. We will also be welcoming legendary director Jim Wynorski when we screen “Chopping Mall” on July 25th and hosting a Vampire Prom when we show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on August 1st. And so much, much more.... [Note: These two screenings coincide with the Sacramento Film & Music Festival, July 24th - August 2nd at the Crest Theatre, and Festival Passes are also honored at TFO]

Tony: Not satisfied with just screening Trash, you’re now making Trash - what’s next for TFO Productions?
Christy: Our last film “Monster from Bikini Beach” managed to gain us quite a bit of attention and excellent reviews, so our big focus now has indeed become making our own feature films. This year, we are making a brand new and exciting film: “Planet of the Vampire Women.” It’s an action-packed sci-fi adventure of the galaxy’s sexiest space pirates who pull off the ultimate heist only to crash into an unknown world. Finding themselves trapped on a storm-shrouded planet overrun with monsters, the intergalactic outlaws unknowingly awaken an unspeakable horror that causes the dead to walk...with an insatiable lust for blood!

TFO schedules and archives are available online at www.trashfilmorgy.com

Review: Public Enemies

2009-07-04T00:15:19Z

Public Enemies
Directed by Michael Mann

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

“Public Enemies” tells the story of bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), who became both the nemesis and the inspiration for J. Edgar Hoover as he was expanding the FBI. It’s a film that I would expect to enjoy, despite not being a big Depp fan, as it has numerous other cast members and the fact that I usually like cops-and-gangsters themes. But there are aspects of the project that took me out of the moment and left the whole experience feeling flat.

I’ve enjoyed the work of Christian Bale (Special Agent Melvin Purvis) and Stephen Dorff since they were both child actors, albeit with some misses, and I especially liked the appearance here of some other favorites in smaller supporting roles: Billy Crudup (as J. Edgar Hoover), Rory Cochrane, and Giovanni Ribisi. But the film takes a somewhat stand-offish tone with the characters. After initially introducing the major protagonists, we don’t seem to be encouraged to sympathize with either side. It’s hard to tell if this is an attempt at being non-partisan or an avoidance of the inherent risk of having an audience side with a doomed character. But the outcome made me feel detached, not really caring too much about anybody’s ultimate fates. And there is a lot of ugly fate at work. In recent years police have lamented the advanced fire power of criminals, but there are enough bullets flying around in “Public Enemies” to destroy vehicles and buildings, as well as human bodies.

My larger problem with the film, and this may have been very personal, was in the manner in which it was shot. There was a turning point in the movie for me, during a scene at the Little Bohemia Lodge, in the woods of Wisconsin (and a historic location in the Dillinger story), when the nature of the action and cinematography suddenly made me acutely aware that I was watching video and not film. I’m not sure why it hadn’t occurred to me sooner than that, but it then bothered me for the rest of the movie. Film and video, depending on quite how the video is shot and what cameras are used, have a different appearance and at times “Public Enemies” felt like an extremely high budget home movie, or at least something that seemed sub-par for a production of this type, more like the video standards of a few years ago.

The story itself seems sound, and the problems I perceived may not bother others. But I came away from it in a strangely ambivalent mood, wondering if I would have liked it even less with a different cast or liked it better with different cameras.

Review: Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen

2009-06-26T17:50:27Z

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Directed by Michael Bay

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Describing this movie is an almost pointless exercise. It’s not going to be seen—or not seen—because of what critics think, or based on minor details like logical storytelling and plot coherence (or the lack thereof). It’s a movie that will be raved about by fanboys and by those who just dig 150 minutes of sequentially coordinated but also oddly disjointed special effects. In that regard, it’s a visual orgy of arbitrary excess.

That arbitrariness often comes in the form of clashes between the signature “alien robots” with no real sense of logic as to who is likely to win in any such encounter. That the Autobots win more on balance than the Decepticons seems to have very little foundation other than the old movie phenomenon that suggests that good guys are stronger and shoot straighter than bad guys. We are somewhat reliably informed that Optimus Prime (a juggernaut of a good guy) is going to win any reasonably fair fight, which makes one wonder if it’s really that fair, but you could reverse the outcome of almost any other clash without really affecting much or noticing the difference.

You’d have to watch the movie at about quarter speed to actually pay close attention to the robots as they make their extraordinarily complicated transformations from vehicles or appliances to hyper-articulated fighting machines. There isn’t an ounce of subtlety in the movie – not that any is expected from either the material or the director. The first sight of Megan Fox, for example, is in short shorts, from behind, as she stretches across a custom motorcycle. If she’s the objectified object of lust, and she is, then most of the other characters are just as broadly painted archetypes.

This is a movie that stalls in the midst of a headlong quest for the ultimate weapon for an unlikely romantic interlude, and which can somehow take us through the back wall of the Air and Space Museum directly into an airplane graveyard somewhere in the desert. It’s clearly more of a commercial for the US military and Chevrolet than for Mapquest or MENSA. But Shia gets sweaty, Megan gets skimpy, his parents provide moderately comic relief, robots share b-movie witticisms as they pound on each other, and many, many, many things explode. And those are what will ultimately matter as it takes the box office crown for a week or two.

Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

2009-06-19T21:08:17Z

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
New Helvetia Theatre

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

This column normally focuses on film, but occasionally something else comes along that warrants attention. “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” the first full production of the New Helvetia Theatre, is one of those. Familiar to many from the film adaptation or prior stage productions, “Hedwig” tells the story of a transgendered East German who undergoes a botched sex change operation in a bid to emigrate to America. That brief description alone makes it clear that it’s not material that would appeal to all audiences, and it’s certainly not a show for most kids. But this is a phenomenal production of a heartfelt and inherently comedic story of love, loss, and identity.

I am predisposed to think of the character of Hedwig with hair that is as large as her ego. Production stills caused me a slight concern, as this incarnation of the “internationally ignored song stylist” is somewhat toned down in her coiffure. However, the artistic interpretation of both the costumes and sets works wonderfully, with many of the more elaborate set pieces depicted via multiple video screens that are seamlessly incorporated into the performance. With the added involvement of a live video feed we don’t only see Hedwig thrust her head into her mother’s oven, for example, but we can inhabit that small space with her. It’s really an extraordinary confluence of media in a versatile set that might be described as industrial-lite.

Both Christopher Davis Carlisle and Nanci Zoppi seem perfectly cast as Hedwig and Yitzhak, her at times questionably significant other. Their voices are a great match both for the material and for each other. Hedwig’s house band, The Angry Inch, is played by The New Humans. I’ve heard it said that The New Humans’ typical musical style is quite different from the guitar-heavy playing of The Angry Inch. If that’s the case, then they are a truly versatile and talented foursome because they join Carlisle and Zoppi in nailing their respective roles.

Directed by Matthew Schneider, and under the creative oversight of New Helvetia’s Founder and Artistic Director Connor Mickiewicz, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” is an exciting and auspicious start for the fledgling theater company. Frankly, their biggest challenge at this point is that they’ve given themselves a tough act to follow.

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” continues through June 27th at the Artisan, 1901 Del Paso Boulevard, with Thursday performances at 8pm and Friday/Saturday performances at 7pm and 9pm. More details and ticket information can be found at NewHelvetia.org – all seats are $25.

Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

2009-06-14T04:37:20Z

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Directed by Tony Scott

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

In the early-mid 70’s, my father subscribed to the Reader’s Digest Condensed Book series. This was my introduction to “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three,” “Jaws” and assorted other titles. I remember liking the story and, later, I enjoyed the 1974 film adaptation starring Walther Matthau and Robert Shaw. I don’t recall watching the 1998 TV remake, which, based on web comments, may have been a good thing, but it’s fair to say that this 2009 adaptation had to fill some pretty big shoes from my adolescence.

It’s a different film for a different time – there’s more blatant violence than I remember. John Travolta, as the lead subway hijacker, is unsympathetic and coarse. Denzel Washington, as the subway controller who takes the initial call (changed from a traffic cop in the original), is an overworked civil servant in the wrong seat at the wrong time. And a lot has changed in over three decades. You can’t realistically tell a story about a subway hijacking in New York City, or perhaps anywhere, without the subject of terrorism entering the screenplay, even if only as a source of fear.

But despite the differences and updates, the movie still works. It’s well-acted and tautly directed in real time, with neat action and solid secondary characters, including John Turturro as a hostage negotiator and James Gandolfini as the mayor. The basic plot elements remain the same, with the complexity and fears associated with the capture of a subway train under busy city streets being as compelling now as ever. Thirty-plus years later, “Jaws” still scares me when I’m swimming, and “Pelham” still entertains me.

Review: My Life in Ruins

2009-06-06T06:10:11Z

My Life In Ruins
Directed by Donald Petrie

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

“My Life In Ruins” is a little how I felt about my morning after watching this film. This is the follow up to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” with several of the same production team (including Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who also has a small role) and lead actress Nia Vardalos (who wrote the earlier movie but simply acts, or acts simply, in this one). “My Big Fat Greek Tour Guide Job” would be a more honest title.

I’m not being a snobby film elitist here, knocking the lightweight romantic comedy genre. I enjoyed the first movie, and often dig even very formulaic offerings of this kind. But this is heavy in execution and featherweight in outcome. It plods along with stereotypical characters who are poorly cast, moderately offensive themes (ha ha ha, gay men are funny!), and virtually nothing that can’t be seen coming a mile away through a dirty bus window.

Put simply, it’s bad. It’s stiff and so broad in its portrayals that it resembles children’s theater or British pantomime. Vardalos often seems to be projecting her performance towards the back row - of the theater across the street. Her character, Georgia, is a laid off professor working as a tour guide. And not a very good one for the average package holiday participant who, we are told wants fun, shopping and sex, not anything resembling facts or history. The movie would have us believe she has lost her mojo, Austin Powers style, or “kefi” as the Greeks apparently call it. Her quest to regain it is championed by Richard Dreyfuss, as an aging tourist who’s lost his wife but not his own rambunctious kefi.

All of which would play better with a laugh track. Not because it’s funny, but because it needs some laughter coming from somewhere. I can’t remember a movie that seemed to be trying so hard at every step, yet stumbled so consistently. If you thought it was hard to maintain continuity in scenes with burning cigarettes of different lengths or wine glasses with levels that go up and down, watch out for the scoop of ice cream that changes size, shape, and lick patterns.At least in the movie, the bus tour gets better. Sadly, the movie itself doesn’t.

Review: Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian

2009-05-23T07:03:23Z

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Directed by Shawn Levy

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

I was pleasantly surprised by “NatM:BotS” and it may be one of those rare sequels that manages to surpass the original, albeit by taking a slightly different tack.

Ben Stiller returns as Larry Daley, erstwhile museum night guard and now successful inventor and infomercial pitch man (supported in his commercial enterprises by another pitch man, George Forman). His old work place, New York’s Museum of Natural History, is undergoing renovations and updates, and the exhibits are scheduled to be archived in Washington. This of course is problematic, given the presence of an ancient Egyptian artifact that re-animates those exhibits at night. Suffice to say that the move is not entirely smooth, and fighting breaks out amongst the new residents and their incumbent neighbors.

Where the original movie was driven by the basic concept of museum exhibits that come to life, the sequel succeeds by going beyond that. This one is more character-driven, with greater time dedicated to appreciating the new historical figures involved, including Amelia Earhart (another delightful performance by Amy Adams), Kahmunrah (the older brother of the owner of the magic artifact – played by Hank Azaria, who also gives voice to two other characters), and Napoleon Bonaparte (in a scene stealing performance by Alain Chabat). Azaria in particular is given a lot of time and opportunity to engage Stiller, and “wins” most of the shared time on screen. Much of this novelty is at the expense, however, of the relatively under-utilized returning characters who are given very little to do—most notably Robin Williams.

One nice additional touch is the animation of the paintings on the walls of the Smithsonian, but it’s offset by some flaws in the internal logic of the film. At one point, Larry and Amelia get to fly the Wright Brothers’ first plane, the Wright Flyer. The real plane made a historic but very short and straight flight before falling victim to a stray gust of wind. But they fly it like it’s an air show stunt plane, crop duster and an X-Wing fighter all rolled into one. Later, they put a suspiciously heavy load in a Lockheed Vega.

The film also makes no suggestion of there being a range of effect for the magical reanimating artifact, whether above or below ground. It might actually be more fun—and plot-helpful—for characters to lose their mojo as the artifact moves out of some pre-determined range.

All of which is not really the kind of analysis that may seem appropriate for a kid’s movie. But a film like this should also be somewhat respectful of actual historic characters and objects, in my opinion. You could come away from this thinking the Wright Brothers were simply bad pilots of an awesomely capable plane, for example. That said, I had a far better time than I expected. I recommend it.

Review: Terminator Salvation

2009-05-23T06:59:26Z

Terminator Salvation
Directed by McG

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

If the recent “Star Trek” was a total system reboot of an aging franchise, then “Terminator Salvation” is more like a welcome software upgrade, complete with flashier graphics and increased memory.

Set in 2018, it follows John Connor (Christian Bale) as he exhibits inspiring leadership in the battle against Skynet and the machines. If all of this seems a bit familiar, with outposts of humans battling overwhelming odds against hard to kill opponents led by a crusty Bale, it may not be the previous “Terminator” movies that you’re thinking of. At times it’s a little reminiscent of “Reign of Fire” only with bullet-spewing robots instead of fire-spewing dragons. And slimmed down bat-bikes.

All of which works pretty well. There’s nothing especially groundbreaking here, but it hums along quite nicely in a manner that ably jump-starts the series. “Terminator Salvation” is directed by McG, a former music video director who helmed the two big screen adaptations of the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise, and who manages here to interrupt the early scenes of this movie with one of the most gratuitous and redundant onscreen director’s credits I can recall.

One of the most interesting aspects of the movie, for industry watchers, is the second half of the sudden rise to ascendancy of Anton Yelchin, as Kyle Reese, John Connor’s time traveling teenaged father. Just a week ago, he was hitting the big screens as Pavel Chekov in the aforementioned “Star Trek.” In other interesting casting notes: Both Helena Bonham Carter and Jane Alexander have small roles that seem undemanding with respect to their talents; much of the movie is carried by Sam Worthington, not Bale; and a secondary but pivotal character is played by Moon Bloodgood, who seems destined to be the best ever use of a single vowel purchase on a future episode of “Wheel of Fortune.”

At some early screenings, there are gimmicky little movie-related gifts. At the end of “Terminator Salvation” I was expecting a network cable or an organ donor card. Instead I had to settle for a modest sense of contentment regarding a series that will be back. Probably starring Anton Yelchin.

Review: Angels and Demons

2009-05-16T07:10:56Z

Angels and Demons
Directed by Ron Howard

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

“Angels and Demons” is the second movie made from a Dan Brown book featuring the character of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks). The other is “The Da Vinci Code” and while the “Angels and Demons” novel appeared first, the films are being presented to audiences in the reverse order, with the implication in the film that the stories are sequentially switched. This works in the sense that the events of the two novels are independent of each other and the sequence is unimportant, so there’s no real point in selling the second film as a prequel just to preserve the original publication order. But it also presents some problems of another kind, both in the production and the marketing of the film.

“The Da Vinci Code” is canonically offensive to many Christians, especially the Catholic Church, and the Vatican was not supportive of the new film production, even obstructive, according to director Ron Howard. The other problem with the notoriety of the first film is that the stories are extremely different in both tone and content. “Angels and Demons” is a fairly straightforward murder mystery that happens to be set in the context of the Vatican during the time of the selection of a new Pope. If people are expecting another story that challenges basic church teachings then they will either be surprised (pleasantly or otherwise) or disappointed. If it’s offensive at all, it’s simply in treating the church and its traditions as a backdrop to murder and intrigue, which some may find crass, but it doesn’t contradict doctrine as “The Da Vinci Code” does. The film is actually quite respectful towards faith and people of faith.

Hanks reprises the role of Langdon, a Harvard professor and expert in religious symbols, who is called in by the Vatican (irony: common usage) to help solve a threat. He’s joined this time around by the always reliable Ewan MacGregor (as the Pope’s assistant, or ‘Camerlengo’), Stellan Skarsgard (as the Commander of the Swiss Guard), and Armin Mueller-Stahl (as a senior cardinal). The outcome is another film that is as slick in its presentation as one might expect from Howard, Hanks, and colleagues, and it’s entertaining in a shallow ‘whodunnit’ kind of way, but the story itself is really quite mundane and even somewhat flawed.

Without getting too deep into the film’s plot, there’s a threat against the lives of several cardinals, with a series of hourly deadlines that determine their safety. This ought to be the story’s strongest asset, as it should represent a plot that never lets up, progressing at a breakneck pace throughout. However the film preserves the book’s tendency to pause between events. This is a story in which you’d expect Hanks’ character to end the day wearing the same shirt he got blood on several hours earlier, not to give him time between deadlines to stop, clean up, and change into fresh clothes, with enough extra time for MacGregor’s Camerlengo to compliment his appearance. Isn’t there a cardinal somewhere that needs saving!?

In short, if you’re looking for a well-produced but routine murder mystery with a Vatican setting, then “Angels and Demons” is a satisfying holy rollercoaster, albeit also a fairly graphically violent one. If you’re expecting religion-redefining content and related controversy like that of “The Da Vinci Code” then it’s likely to make you question your faith in Hollywood’s ability to make people question their faith.

Review: Star Trek

2009-05-09T03:03:31Z

Star Trek
Directed by J.J. Abrams

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

I’ll open by cutting to the chase and saying that this is a neat movie, firing on all dilithium chambers and achieving everything I had hoped it would achieve, despite a host of hurdles to overcome. So what about those hurdles…

Star Trek has a back story that’s intimidating to say the least. One has to decide whether to stick to the original canon or branch off in a new direction and enrage a generation of fans. Or, in the case of Trekkies, a generation and a next generation of fans.

It’s now 40 years since the first TV series ended, and there have been six series, including an animated version, and 10 movies. Some of those projects have leapt off in different directions (“Star Trek: Voyager”) or gone back in time (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) in order to avoid conflicts with the mythology. So it was an ambitious plan to not only work within the existing setting, but to also with the original characters.

“Star Trek” tells the story of how those original characters came together as the crew of the Starship Enterprise. A lot of publicity has surrounded the choice of a fresh young cast to play the familiar names: James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban), Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Simon Pegg), Uhuru (Zoe Soldana), Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), and Pavel Checkov (Anton Yelchin – whose accent impressed my Russian friend). The whole lineup is well chosen and successful, with each actor given the opportunity to pay homage to their respective predecessor and shine in their own right. It would be a neat pick for a Screen Actors Guild cast award.

This is a movie on the grand scale of summery blockbusters – with great special effects and all the pizzazz one might expect. But what makes it work as well as it does is that it’s a great exercise in writing. Without giving away the plot, the filmmakers have managed to respect the origins of the series, update it and give it a refreshing new lease on life, and also leave the door wide open to more films that still protect that history.

I mildly enjoyed “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” a week ago, but “Star Trek” is like an object lesson in how to tell a back story in a manner that pleases fans, old and new. George Lucas could learn a lesson or two from this one. The rest of us can just have a blast watching it. Set phasers—and opinions—to stun!

Review: Battle for Terra

2009-05-02T06:01:29Z

Battle for Terra
Directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

“Battle for Terra” is the latest politically-charged kids’ movie. It’s also the latest to come to the screen—where available—in ‘Real D’ 3D. Thankfully, it didn’t seem quite so overt in its pandering to the 3D technique and, as such, I think I enjoyed the effect more than when I feel like I’m being played by having things cinematically thrown at me.

Alternatively titled as just “Terra” the story expands on an idea that director Aristomenis Tsirbas explored in a seven minute animated short of the same name in 2003. We’re first introduced to an alien world of seemingly near-idyllic bliss, with a capable but seemingly low-tech species who fly and float around their planet in harmony with their neighbors and surroundings. This setting is disturbed by the appearance of an object in the sky, initially prompting religious questioning, but resulting in an attack by humans. We are told that in our future, humans have exhausted the limits of Earth and have terra-formed both Mars and Venus, with a subsequent war of independence between the planets resulting in disaster and a group of survivors on a quest for a suitable new planet to colonize.

For starters, the resource-centered themes are as heavy here as in any kids movie. But there’s also the even deeper question of the morality of invasion, conquest, and dominance. The story happens to focus on humans and aliens, but the message might just as easily be directed at perceptions of ethnic/religious superiority or the disregard towards native populations portrayed throughout our own history by assorted waves of expansion. Interestingly, the film also shares with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” a strong message of questioning authority and not following orders that seem contrary to societal lessons about right and wrong. It’s certainly well matched to the resurgent torture debate.

The imagery is designed to appeal to children. Though there is too much death and destruction for the youngest among them, and the material is certainly not lightweight and could prompt some pretty heavy discussions in the minivan/crossover/SUV on the way home from the theater. There’s also a resemblance to “The Village,” in the idea of a group of elders sheltering their people from reality, in a manner they believe to be for their benefit. It’s probably better than “The Village” in that regard, but then that bar is Shyamalanningly low.

I enjoyed “Battle for Terra” more than I expected to. It’s a modern day futuristic parable, and it’s worth knowing a little of what to expect before walking in with the kids. It’s also probably not the film to have your kids watch with other parents who don’t share your political ideals, as it has the potential to cause a few sparks to fly.

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-05-02T05:56:25Z

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Directed by Gavin Hood

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

At the end of this movie, one of my reviewer colleagues remarked about superhero back stories and their generally downbeat nature. He was right: After all, one doesn’t get a grudge, a revenge motive, or a haunted, dark personality from a childhood full of happy picnics in the park and adorable puppies. You start to feel bad for anybody who encounters these characters early on. It’s like watching TV’s “Seventh Heaven” and sympathizing with anybody who had the misfortune of encountering the Camden children – only more violent.

However, in all of its dark moodiness, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is a fairly fun ride. After seeing the previews, I was expecting to spend more of my time in that eye-rolling “oh please” mode, watching endlessly ridiculous stunts and fight sequences. But there were only a couple (watch out for the helicopter and fire escape sequences) that really reached that ‘Legolas riding a shield down a Helm’s Deeps staircase’ level – the film equivalent of the ‘Fonz’ jumping the shark on “Happy Days.”

Hugh Jackman continues to play the Wolverine role well. He’s joined here by Liev Schreiber as his even moodier but equally likely to snag a sweater older brother, Sabretooth. They’re both recruited into a secretive military unit headed by William Stryker (played by Danny Huston – previously played by Brian Cox in X2). But when things don’t go quite according to plan, the not-so-happy gang go their not-so-happy ways – until, of course, their not-so-happy paths cross again. Not so happily.

I’m not qualified to judge whether “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is faithful to the comic book origins of the story and characters. But it does a good job of providing a background for our hero while fitting quite nicely into the established sequence of the previous X-Men movies. There’s also a timely lesson in doing the right thing, or at least not doing the worst thing simply because one is told to do so by a superior officer. It should appeal to fans of the genre and subject matter and is fun enough to keep their friends and significant others pleasantly amused at the same time.

Note: Not only is there a scene after the beginning of the credits, but there’s also an extra scene after the end of the credits – so stick around until the very end.

Special Film & Music Event: "Anvil! The Story of Anvil"

2009-05-01T06:33:50Z

Anvil! The Story of Anvil
A film by Sacha Gervasi

The Crest Theatre and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival co-present "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" - opening at the Crest on Friday, May 1st. The band will make live appearances at the 5:40pm and 8:00pm screenings on Monday, May 4th. Movie review megasite rottentomatoes.com lists "Anvil!" with a 98% positive rating (86 positive reviews out of 88) and 100% from the top critics (23 out of 23).

Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly said "It's a hilarious, and unexpectedly moving, documentary about the greatest metal band you've probably never heard of."

The following synopsis appeared in the Sundance Film Festival Catalog:

At 14, Toronto school friends Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to rock together forever. They meant it.

Their band, Anvil, went on to become the "demigods of Canadian metal," releasing one of the heaviest albums in metal history, 1982's Metal on Metal. The album influenced a musical generation, including Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, that went on to sell millions of records. But Anvil's career took a different path - straight to obscurity.

Director Sacha Gervasi has concocted a wonderful and often hilarious account of Anvil's last-ditch quest for elusive fame and fortune. His ingenious filmmaking may first lead you to think this a mockumentary, but it isn't. Gervasi joined the legendary heavy-metal band as a roadie for a tour of Canadian hockey arenas, so he has intimate insight into the members' eccentricities. It's fascinating to see the reality of their day-to-day lives as they struggle to make ends meet, take a misguided European tour, and engage in antics on the road - which is not always lined with fans. Gervasi even finds a softer center to this raucous film, introducing us to band members' ever-supportive, but long-suffering, families.

At its core, "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" is a timeless tale of survival and the unadulterated passion it takes to follow your dream, year after year. Anvil rocks - it has no other choice." John Cooper

Director Sacha Gervasi has a pretty interesting backstory of his own. He first saw the band as a schoolboy, at the Marquee Club on London’s Wardour Street in late 1982. Sounding much like the autobiographical story told by Cameron Crowe in “Almost Famous,” at the tender age of 16 and after telling his mother he was spending the summer with his father in New York, Gervasi went on a tour of Canadian hockey arenas with the band.

After graduating from college, Gervasi co-founded a band in England prior to leaving due to his assessment that the band was “talentless and going nowhere.” The band, Bush, has sold over 10 million records in the US.

He paid his way through UCLA Film School’s graduate screenwriting program, writing for assorted publications, and co-wrote “The Big Tease” with Craig Ferguson. He turned down a request from Warners to adapt the first Harry Potter book because of its “complete lack of commerciality.” He later co-wrote both the story and the screenplay for “The Terminal” (Tom Hanks, 2004).

"Anvil! The Story of Anvil" includes appearance by: Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Lemmy (Motorhead), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Slash (Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver), Tom Araya (Slayer).

Visit www.thecrest.com for screening times and ticket information.

Full disclosure: Tony Sheppard is co-director of the Sacramento Film and Music Festival.

Sacramento ranked sixth worst for ozone

2009-04-30T09:29:50Z

Sacramento has been rated the sixth worst metropolitan statistical area for ozone pollution by the American Lung Association, as reported by Forbes.com – and other central valley communities are even worse.

Here’s the top 10 (or bottom 10 depending on your perspective):

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Visalia-Porterville, CA
4. Fresno-Madera, CA
5. Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX
6. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA
7. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
8. Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC/SC
9. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
10. El Centro, CA

Sacramento also ranks 7th for short-term particle pollution, but is not listed in the worst 25 areas for year-round particle pollution.

Full article: link

Film Reviews/Discussion: State of Play & Sin Nombre

2009-04-24T23:27:36Z

State of Play
Directed by Kevin Macdonald

and

Sin Nombre
Written and Directed by Cary Fukunaga

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

The news media get a bad rap for assorted reasons. Every major outlet is either too liberal or too conservative, depending on whose eyes are doing the beholding – and regardless of how much one goldilocks (see urbandictionary.com) one’s way around the news channels, the commentators never seem to find one that’s just right. If it’s not perceived bias, then it’s the perception that stories are avoided in order to appease corporate overlords with corporately overlordish ties to the subjects of scandal.

This topic of avoidance surfaces briefly in “State of Play,” in which the Washington Globe’s crack reporter, Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is chasing down a story that is suitably full of suspicion, politicians, infidelity, and murder. The lead researcher for Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) falls (or was she pushed!?) under a train while prepping for hearings that Collins’ committee is holding. McAffrey and Collins just happen to have been college roommates, and they lead us on classic whodunit with plenty of interest and a side helping of conflict.

The action also includes Helen Mirren as McAffrey’s long-suffering editor (“long suffering” being a job requirement for movie newspaper editors), Rachel McAdams as the newspaper’s online blogger, Robin Wright Penn as Collins’ wife, Jeff Daniels as Collins’ party whip, and Jason Bateman as a rather colorful co-conspirator. The cast is as solid as one might expect and if the story suffers, it does so as a result of an apparently obligatory but rather unsuccessful attempt to trick the audience.

“Sin Nombre” is written and directed by Student Academy Award winner Cary Fukunaga, who also won directing honors at Sundance for this film. It tells the powerful story of two young people who are brought together by the worst of circumstances. Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) is traveling from Honduras to the U.S. with her father and uncle. It’s the first time she has seen her father in years. He is leading the family towards an illegal border crossing after his own prior deportation. Willy (Edgar Flores) is a member of a violent Mexican street gang who is targeted by his former gang-mates after a deadly fall from grace. They meet on the roof of a freight train, amidst countless other aspiring undocumented workers.

But both “State of Play” and “Sin Nombre” are intriguing for other news-oriented reasons. Each tells timely stories in a manner that seems to beat the CNN’s and Fox’s at their own game – and they aren’t alone in doing so. Some of the best coverage of immigration issues in the last year has been in movie theaters (and covered extensively in this column: “The Visitor” and “Under the Same Moon” for example). Topics related to war and resources in the Middle East have also had ample recent screen time from 2007’s documentary of incompetent occupation “No End in Sight” to the surprisingly meaningful “Stop Loss” (2008) from MTV Films.

The critical force behind the circumstances in “State of Play” is the Blackwater-esque private military contracting firm PointCorp. The parallels are profound, from no-bid/yes-shoot government contracts in warzones, to a massive U.S. training facility, and post-Katrina “security” involvement. This is a story from a powerhouse writing team with all the right subject matter experience: Matthew Michael Carnahan (writer of “Lions for Lambs” and “Kingdom”), Tony Gilroy (writer/director of “Duplicity” and “Michael Clayton” and writer of the Bourne screenplays), and Billy Ray (writer of “Breach” and “Shattered Glass”). The extent of the power, reach and financial stakes in the contracting world are, not surprisingly, very well articulated.

“Sin Nombre” illustrates at least two current affairs topics remarkably well: The hardships and danger that people are willing to undertake for their chance at an illegal American dream, and the extent and nature of gang culture in Mexico. This is not a neighborhood group of thugs that Willy (or El Casper as he is known on the streets) can escape by running away. This is networked organization that can call ahead hits across vast distances and international borders. It’s as if two great American traditions have been studied, adopted, and combined – gun violence and corporate franchising.

I’ve watched and read many stories about government security contractors and, especially recently, the rise in Mexican gang violence. But we’re a nation in which many people get their news from comedy monologs, movie scripts, and crime shows that play out like last week’s headlines. That may seem like a sad state of affairs. It is reassuring at times to find stories that carry such interesting and powerful messages, whether it be the (very) thinly veiled corporate interests of “State of Play” or the blunt brutality of “Sin Nombre.”

They will, of course, still be filtered through our own political biases, but either way, it’s an interesting week at the movies.

Stockton is fifth most dangerous city in the US according to Forbes

2009-04-24T23:22:02Z

According to Forbes, and as reported by Yahoo! (and as read and repeated somewhat lazily by me from my armchair) Stockton is the fifth most dangerous city* as measured in terms of violent crimes per capita.

Top 5:

Detroit - 1,220 violent crimes per 100,000 people

Memphis - 1,218

Miami - 998

Las Vegas - 887

Stockton - 885

From the article:

"Stockton is a major transit point along the I-5 corridor on the way to Seattle and Vancouver," says [Megan Wolfram, an analyst at iJet Intelligent Risk Systems, a Maryland-based risk-assessment firm]. "A lot of it is similar to crime happening in the Southwest. For the most part, it's drug gang on drug gang."

And the methods:

*"To determine our list, we used violent crime statistics from the FBI's latest uniform crime report, issued in 2008. The violent crime category is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. We evaluated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics--with more than 500,000 residents."

Full story link.

Davis in last minute race to host "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" world premiere...!

2009-04-18T01:38:39Z

We often hear about internet competitions to name things, host things, win things, etc. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Hugh Jackman announced that he would travel to whichever town raised the highest number of votes, to host the wolrd premiere of the new "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" movie, complete with all the trappings and stars of a Holywood premiere.

Amazingly, as the clock ticks down to today's deadline, Davis is in the running to host the event!

Here's the original youtube video press release with Jackman making the announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-drLdnk-g24

To vote and help influence the outcome and maybe have a little Hollywood glamour and blitz in our own backyard, log-in and vote:

www.x-menorigins.com/premiere to VOTE FOR DAVIS (95616).

Sac Film & Music Fest: Sac Music Seen "Listening Party"

2009-04-17T23:39:42Z

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival is in its 10th season this year, and it's the 6th season for the innovative Sac Music Seen program which matches local bands/musicians and local filmmakers to make original music videos. In the past 5 years, approximately 115 music videos have been produced and screened at the Crest Theatre as part of the Festival's regular programming, making it one of the region's largest, collaborative arts programs, counting musicians, filmmakers, actors, crew, etc.

As a part of that process, each year, the Festival hosts a "Listening Party" for interested filmmakers to listen to music that has been submitted for consideration. This year approximately 25 bands have submitted music (some songs are still being submitted!) and that music will be played tomorrow, Saturday, April 18th at 1pm at the Art Institute of Sacramento, 2850 Gateway Oaks Drive, Sacramento CA (off I-5 & West El Camino).

Making a music video is a great way to either start out in fimmaking (because the soundtrack is already done!) or develop skills and production techniques if you are already an experienced filmmaker. If you'd like to be a part of this years program, or just help out another team of filmmakers, check out tomorrow's event.

For more information on the Festival, including deadlines and instructions for feature and short film submissions, visit www.sacfilm.com

(Disclosure: Tony Sheppard is a Co-Director of the Sacramento Film and Music Festival.)

Fire Alarm Empties Theater

2009-04-15T06:22:23Z

Audiences at the Century Downtown Plaza 7 theater were required to leave the building tonight when a fire alarm went off at approximately 9pm. Among the affected were the lucky (until that moment) viewers of a word of mouth screening of the upcoming release “State of Play” – including many members of the local media for whom it doubled as a press screening (myself included).

After audiences vacated the theater, the alarm was silenced and the (now diminished) crowd returned. However, there appeared to be a problem with the system as the strobe lights remained on and the alarm sounded again (with little to no response from the now jaded audience). Despite the presence of the fire department, it was announced that the alarm could not be reset and the screenings were ultimately canceled.

Watch the local press for “State of Play” reviews this week and don’t be surprised by comments about incendiary plot developments, mass audience walk-outs, or the alarming ending. In fairness, the movie was pretty good up until that point - but the highlight was the observation, by a popular onscreen local reporter, that it’s illegal to scream “theater” in a crowded fireplace.

Review: Che - Parts One and Two

2009-04-13T21:12:35Z

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Che: Parts One and Two
Directed by Steven Soderbergh

History, it is said, is written by the winners. But that's an over-simplification, or perhaps an over-complication: It's written by whoever write histories, from their own perspective. Japanese textbooks probably don't look like ours when it comes to WW II. Was George Washington a hero in a noble and justified War of Independence, or was Benedict Arnold a tragic hero in a traitorous Revolutionary War in the Colonies - that probably depends if you grew up in the US or the UK. I've also lived in the US South, where you still occasionally hear about the War of Northern Aggression.

I'm not a historian and certainly not an expert in the life of Dr. Ernesto Che Guevara. So I can't comment directly on where the accuracy lies or who might or might not approve of this account. But it feels like a fairly non-partisan depiction, as though the audience got to tag along with the man and the action that surrounded him. And, whether or not you admire or agree with his politics and policies, you do get the impression that he was a true believer of his own message, not a partisan hack or an opportunist. The film is epic in proportion, with two parts and a total running time of 4h 17m (plus an intermission). The toughest aspect of this isn't so much the sheer length but the relaxed pacing that makes it seem, if anything, even longer.

The first film tells the story of the Cuban revolution, from dinner table plotting to addresses at the UN years after the fact. It is interestingly non-linear, as it jumps from later speeches and appearances, to and from the jungles and mountains of Cuba. To some extent, if there's a hero or a tactical genius depicted here, it's Fidel Castro, who is seen calling most of the shots with Che (Benicio del Toro) following those instructions (something that is missing in the later Bolivian campaign). But it also demonstrates the concept of an insurgency that has the hearts and minds of an oppressed people behind it.

Watching the two halves back to back is interesting for multiple reasons. It doesn't just compare and contrast the events, but it also demonstrates what we are often told about Iraq and Afghanistan - that the same tactics won't necessarily work in different places and with different people. In the second film we see Che as he attempts to repeat the success of the Cuban experience in Bolivia. This is a very different account, entirely linear in presentation, and as different in outcome as is possible. Here we see the insurgency failing among a people who have no reason to trust either side. With peasants who are unimpressed with money, for example, because they have nowhere to spend it, and with a counter-insurgency that's playing from the insurgent's handbook.

While slow, the overall effect is also compelling, and one gets an impression of the hardships, victories, and losses that would be lost in a lesser telling. And the two halves play somewhat successfully independently of each other, especially the first as a stand-alone telling of the Cuban chapter. If you have an interest in this subject and you get a chance to catch this before it disappears, I would recommend seeing at least Part I - otherwise make a note to see it on DVD when it arrives. It's a another powerful and significant collaboration between Soderbergh and Del Toro, who both won Oscars for "Traffic" in 2000.

"Che" plays at the Crest Theatre through Thursday April 16th - see www.thecrest.com for showtimes and ticket information.

Brief Interview: Deon Taylor

2009-04-12T01:09:52Z

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

The Judges judge and the waiting line waits!

A little Hollywood-style excitement came to the Downtown Plaza on Saturday, April 4th. The event was an open casting call for the planned late night show “Up All Nite” from Deon Taylor Enterprises. Deon is a champion of local indie production, with a studio facility and multiple feature films and shows about to be released and productions that have remained in Sacramento despite the siren call of multiple, cumulative production incentives from other states and cities. I asked Deon a few questions in a quiet moment:

CW: Could you tell me a little about the concept behind “Up All Nite?”
DT: Basically the concept is to bring a live entertainment show here locally that highlights people that are in the entertainment space: writers, producers, directors, actors – whatever it is that you do – dancing! And to really highlight that because I feel there’s a lot of talent here locally and a lot of people who don’t really understand how to get into LA. Hopefully this show would let people see other people do their things and become an aid to help them get out.

CW: You’re producing a lot of material for TV and film here in Sacramento. Why Sacramento and why now?
DT: I think Sacramento now because I live here. I enjoy the area, I enjoy the place. Even though I’m in LA two or three days out of the week, I still come right back here. And like I said before, I think it’s a a growing market and I think there’s a lot of talent here and so I like to call myself one of the pioneers trying to bring entertainment into the space. Just like you man, you should be writing for Vibe or Entertainment Weekly very soon! [I laugh]

CW: So is this easier to do here because there aren’t 100 people on every street corner doing the same thing or would this be easier to do in LA?
DT: Yes and no. I think it would be received more easily in LA, but I think you have different battles. I think here the battle is trying to conform or change people’s mindsets to accept something like this here. Everyone wants to cheer when you fail and everyone wants to cheer when you win and you’ve got to make it work. Like I said, its different battles. In LA it would be accepted, but there’s 100 people doing it. Here it’s like will they accept it on top of them trying to accept it - can you keep their attention span long enough for them to want to have it more.

CW: What else else can people expect from Deon Taylor Enterprises?
DT: Everything man, everything. I’m working really hard to try to create a brand that speaks to all audiences from comedy, to horror, to cartoons, it doesn’t really matter. I have a lot of things in development. I think my next venture outside of shooting the film “Terminated” this summer is a cartoon I’m doing, called “Snappy the Lion” which is pretty funny and really cool. Snappy, like people are real snappy when they wake up or argumentative. Snappy!

One of the roles they were auditioning for was a cynical movie reviewer – so, naturally, I tried out. While in line I bumped into local actor and comedian Mikhail Chernyavsky, who seemed like a strong contender for the show’s host:

Mikhail Chernyavsky auditions for Up All Nite

CW: So why come down today?
MC: They had an audition for a TV show and as a standup comic that’s the natural transition for me. I want to do TV and I’ve always wanted to host a show and I’ve had fun hosting other [events] and I thought this would be a fun way to explore the Sacramento community!

Review: Adventureland

2009-04-05T00:53:45Z

Adventureland
Written and directed by Greg Mottola

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

“Adventureland” is a movie I almost loved but instead had to settle for really liking. Imagine a story about a man who gives up on the idea that chance will ever favor him or that he could ever be lucky again. In the end, he regains his faith in good fortune and buys a lottery ticket. That act demonstrates his change of heart. We don’t need to see whether he wins or not.

James (Jesse Eisenberg – drama’s counterpart to comedy’s Micheal Cera) had planned a post-college summer exploring Europe, but his hopes are dashed when his father’s demotion results in the loss of his cash graduation gift. With no marketable skills, he finds himself working the games booths at the local amusement park alongside an assortment of equally unenthusiastic colleagues. The outcome is an amusing and touching summer of life lessons and romantic missteps involving the love interest (Kristen Stewart), the dorky colleague and mentor (Martin Starr), and the quasi-legendary older dude (Ryan Reynolds).

“Adventureland” manages to capture a sense of time, place, and experience that is somewhat reminiscent of films like “Dazed and Confused” and “Almost Famous.” But it’s a slightly-removed sense of authenticity in that it feels more like the reminiscence of a memorable summer than merely an observance of one. Certain key characters (for example, the park’s owners, played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig) seem genuine, yet also slightly undeveloped in the manner in which one might recount their existence to others many years later (“I remember this time when…”). This is James’ story, and we only know the others to the extent that he did (or that writer/director Greg Mottola did).

I left “Adventureland” with an uneasy feeling that it had progressed one scene too far and I might have preferred it if it had stopped five minutes earlier. That said, I’d still recommend it, especially to those who had formative but menial seasonal jobs. It’s an easy sell for me – as somebody who teaches about the business side of recreation, I enjoyed the setting of the movie. I’m also a fan of well-executed coming of age movies—not necessarily “first sexual experience” movies, but movies in which characters reach a moment of significant realization regarding the human experience, at any point in life. After all, one “can come of age” at any age.

Review: Crossing Over

2009-04-05T00:50:40Z

Crossing Over
Written and directed by Wayne Kramer

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Thirteen years after making a short film of the same name, writer/director Wayne Kramer (“The Cooler,” “Running Scared”) has revisited the topic for a feature that feels like three or four shorts spliced together. Unfortunately the outcome makes me wish they could be separated again and shown one after the other, with their respective overlaps encountered sequentially.

“Crossing Over” is the latest film to tell a story that weaves multiple lives, with a common theme that connects them. It’s successful on some levels, but it also suffers the fate of other similarly-structured films in that some of those connections have a small-worldiness that is almost distracting (I’m reminded of 1998’s “Dog Park,” which connected people in Los Angeles as though they lived in a village of 20).

The theme this time is immigration. “Crossing Over” attempts to be for immigration what “Crash” (2004) was for racism, which is a shame given that “Crash” played like an after-school special (“I’ve been a racist my whole life but my maid helped me when I fell and now I’m cured!”). To some extent it’s actually more successful than “Crash” because it isn’t preaching on content that’s quite so well established. Yet it trips over itself by trying to inject too many angles beyond the fundamental immigrant experience.

It’s often said that certain minority experiences can only be fully understood and appreciated by others with shared backgrounds. Perhaps the most interesting outcome of “Crossing Over” is the suggestion that the illegal alien experience is one of these shared-circumstances. I’ve seen this happen with a roomful of military “brats” watching a documentary about growing up in service families. As an immigrant myself, I can relate to the sense of powerlessness and vulnerability it entails, just as I recognized my Royal Air Force upbringing in the earlier screening.

However, at the narrative level, the twisted stories have been told better, separately, in multiple films over the past year or so: “Under the Same Moon” (a mother and son separated by the Mexican border), the excellent “The Visitor” (the vulnerability of the undocumented and legal callous disregard), “Towelhead” (cultural suspicions and fear), and “Gran Torino” (youth alienation and gang influences). A talented cast (including Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, and Jim Sturgess) make “Crossing Over” pleasantly watchable, but can’t ultimately save it. “Crossing Over” is a much better starting point for a conversation about immigration than it is an inherently worthwhile movie-watching experience. But a trip to the video store with a copy of this paragraph would be far better.

Sacramento Press to produce first print edition

2009-04-01T09:26:57Z

Breaking News: With a rapidly growing readership, the time seems ripe to launch the print edition of the wildly successful online periodical. "Printed dailies are clearly the wave of the future" according to noted French media specialist M. Poisson D'Avril, who went on to say "only a fool would ignore such an opportunity on this of all days!" A 2:25am call to the Sacramento Press offices for confirmation was not returned within one minute, so it seems fair to assume the story is accurate. More details to follow as they develop.

Moviebrief: The Haunting in Connecticut

2009-03-31T10:54:40Z

The Haunting in Connecticut
Directed by Peter Cornwell

The only thing haunting about The Haunting in Connecticut is its haunting mediocrity. If you jumped during this movie, then most likely the ear-bleeding ambient soundtrack level overcame the the Ambien®-narrative slumber. And on we go to find true experiences of horror result in horribly found experiences of true ennui. B-list--ness is no excuse for being listless.

Lo! I expect I have lowered expectations. Enough? Enjoy.

Review: Sunshine Cleaning

2009-03-28T19:19:10Z

Sunshine Cleaning
Directed by Christine Jeffs

by Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

“Sunshine Cleaning” is another intriguing opening this week. When it opened in very limited release a couple of weeks ago, it generated the highest per-screen averages of any movie so far this year. And it’s easy to appreciate why when you see one of the most perfectly assembled film casts.

Rose (Amy Adams) is a single mother struggling to raise her son on her house-cleaning income. Her adulterous detective lover and ex-high school sweetheart Mac (Steve Zahn) happens to mention how lucrative the messy crime scene and death cleanup business seems, and a new startup is born. Rose enlists her less ambitious sister Norah (Emily Blunt) and leaves her son with their cranky father (Alan Arkin) as they head off to mop up blood and assorted other body fluids in a series of pungent venues.

What’s especially neat in all of this for those of us who like comparing faces and appearances, is the remarkable casting of Adams and Blunt as sisters – not just because they are such appealing and talented actresses, but because they look like they could fit into the same genes. And it works beyond just the two of them, as the rest of the family is unveiled. Zahn and Arkin are as appealing as ever. They are complemented by a wonderfully understated and physically impressive performance by Clifton Collins Jr. as Winston, the one-armed proprietor of a janitorial supply company.

Like the recent “Wendy and Lucy,” “Sunshine Cleaning” gains by the timing of its release. There’s something especially poignant in the current economic climate about a young mother juggling bills and trying to start a small business to make ends meet. And while the premise of the movie may seem conveniently contrived at first, it’s also an industry that is depressingly steady in its opportunities, and an equally steady source of both morbid comedy and genuinely touching moments – both of which provide an excellent return on investment.

“Sunshine Cleaning” is produced by the same folks who made Little Miss Sunshine, the delightful and under-appreciated “Everything is Illuminated,” and the upcoming “Is There Anybody There?” (with Michael Caine). They also have projects on the way from Sam Mendes (“American Beauty,” “Revolutionary Road”) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (in his directorial debut). That’s a pretty interesting and impressive list of projects. “Sunshine Cleaning” is a worthy and neat entry into the growing collection.

Review: Monsters vs. Aliens

2009-03-28T19:16:17Z

Monsters vs. Aliens
Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon

by Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

This is an interesting release for Sacramento, for a couple of reasons. For starters, it’s set in California, with the initial action taking place in the Central Valley and the climax in San Francisco. But it’s also a bit of a departure from the established norm in this market, in that it’s being released in 3D on the giant IMAX screen on the same day as it hits the multiplexes – so you can pick your format without having to wait.

Susan (voiced by Reese Witherspoon) lives in Modesto, where she’s about to marry the local TV weatherman Derek (Paul Rudd). Derek is waiting to expand his horizons with a move to an anchor position in the larger Fresno market, but he isn’t quite ready for Susan’s expansion into giant womanhood, brought on by a direct meteor strike on their wedding day. Naturally, the newly enormous Susan is captured by the military, who house her with an odd assortment of previously found monsters, including a genius man/cockroach, an amorphous blue blob, an evolutionary missing link (Link), and a giant insect larva. The last of these is the least well developed, but also the subject of a cute running joke that has it guided around by a bright light suspended from a helicopter.

The monsters seem destined for a life of containment until a megalomaniacal alien arrives, intent on recovering the powerful substance from the meteor that has given Susan her strength and size. The basic story is very much geared towards children, with an interesting mix of animation that includes realistic objects such as chairs, tables, and machinery, but also very generically cartoony vehicles (unlike the perfect rendition of a VW Beetle in the recent “Coraline”).

Hidden within the kids’ storyline are a few small nuggets of humor for the adults, including stabs at San Francisco’s Tenderloin district and outsourcing to India. At one point, Link ponders whether the earth has become warmer and refers to what he perceives to be a desirable warming trend as a “convenient truth.” The movie also offers some appeal to older siblings by having the President voiced by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert – who is also in the news this week for winning the popular vote in the bid to name a room on the international space station.

“Monsters vs. Aliens” is a fun ride for younger kids, and is just amusing enough to keep the rest of the family entertained. There are several scenes that are set up to benefit from the 3D effects, but the basic appeal of the movie would be preserved in 2D. That said, some of the multiplexes have a surcharge for 3D screenings that cut the price differential compared to the IMAX – so it’s mostly a matter of taste and magnitude.

Review: The Class

2009-03-21T06:42:42Z

The Class ("Entre les murs")
Director: Laurent Cantent

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Set in Paris, "The Class" follows a year in the life of teacher Francois Marin as he tackles assorted challenges with students in his inner city high school. "Entre les murs" which is also the title of the adapted book, translates as "between the walls" and this may have been a better English title for the film also, as it conveys a better sense of the film being about a place and a dynamic as much as people that inhabit it. Much of the film takes place in one classroom. The director has described his approach to the film's style in part like that of a tennis match, with the majority of the perspective being from the side as the volleys of conversation are fired back and forth.

This is a multi-cultural classroom of diverse experiences, where Francois is teacher, referee, diplomat, sparring partner, and occasionally as much of an inadvertent instigator as his students are, as the ambiguity of language is examined. At one point, for example, he is accused by the students of being culturally insensitive by always using "whitey" names in his vocabulary examples. As is often the case, the faculty is significantly less diverse than the student body.

While many stories set in schools initially focus on a new student entering the school and encountering new classmates and situations, "The Class" starts with a scene in which the old and new faculty introduce themselves to each other and compare class assignments. The result is an almost Altman-esque film that has more to do with characters than plot, in a bureaucratic setting where faculty discussions of punishment and perceived impunity devolve into complaints about the price of coffee in the vending machine because the topic is less divisive.

Interestingly, Francois is played by Francois Bégaudeau, a teacher who wrote the book on which the film is based. The characters in the film are almost all played by their real-life counterparts: teachers play teachers, students play students, and film parents are played by the real parents. Much of the dialog was improvised on set to fit the constructed situations. Given this approach, it is especially noteworthy to point out that the film won the best adapted screenplay at the César Awards, along with four other César nominations, a best foreign language Academy Award nomination, and a win in that category at the Independent Spirit Awards.

"The Class" is compelling filmmaking, working as both the story of the classroom experience as well as a microcosm of a diverse society. Although set in Paris, this is a story that could take in any urban center. The themes translate better than the title.

Review: The Great Buck Howard

2009-03-21T06:39:23Z

The Great Buck Howard
Director: Sean McGinley

By Tony Sheppard
Capitol Weekly

Based on the Amazing Kreskin, known for his appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, “The Great Buck Howard” tells the story of a mentalist (not a magician!) with a similar Carson track record (“Johnny Carson, not that nitwit who’s on there now!”). Buck has long since faded from the A-list of talk show talent and now tours the country, performing his never-changing act in never-filled venues.

Soon to be put-upon road manager Troy drops out of law school, which was more his father’s dream than his own, and stumbles into working with Buck Howard as a day job in support of his desire to be a writer. It soon becomes apparent that while Buck has faded in the public eye, his own mind’s eye view of himself seems as clear and star-spangled as ever, and he still exhibits diva-like behavior and expectations. Meanwhile, he continues to consistently entertain, especially with regard to his signature trick.

The most noteworthy aspect of the movie is the cast, including John Malkovich as Buck Howard, Colin Hanks as Troy, Tom Hanks as Troy’s father (type cast!), and Emily Blunt (who may become this year’s most-seen actress, with as many as six movies slated for release) as a PR coordinator retained to publicize Buck’s attempt at a comeback. Malkovich in particular is wonderful in the role of the faded celebrity. Colin Hanks has his father’s talent for the natural “everyman” performance. Additional self-referential cameo appearances include Conan O’Brian, Martha Stewart, Jon Stewart, Tom Arnold, Gary Coleman, and George Takei.

Unfortunately, the story itself is little unfulfilling and bland in its resolution. This despite being amusing and engaging in the first half, with such neat touches as look-alike theater owners and Buck’s propensity to assume somebody is about to walk the other way despite his alleged mentalist abilities. On balance, “The Great Buck Howard” is probably worthwhile for fans of Malkovich or either Hanks, for those who enjoy anything pertaining to magic, and for anybody who appreciates insider jokes about the nature of celebrity and/or the logistics and experiences of touring acts. But even they may feel that it somewhat ironically fades in the third act, failing to maintain its earlier gloss.

Moviebrief: I Love You Man

2009-03-20T06:44:30Z

For a word-of-mouth pre-screening of “I Love You Man,” the studio challenged any guys in the audience to coordinate their clothing and make it a man date to remember, in return for preferential seating. The only two at the Downtown Century tonight who were up for it were Sac State students Ryan Johnson (left) and Alan Badarou (right). (With apologies for the poor quality photograph, courtesy of my cell phone!)

The film itself is a true bromantic comedy, taking all the cues of the typical rom-com and translating them into a platonic, man-man bromance. The outcome is remarkably funny and endearing, largely as a result of the performances of leading men Paul Rudd and Jason Segal. Rudd in particular is almost pitch perfect throughout as a guy who has never really had any male friends and who is trying just a little too hard to fit in and be cool. OK, a lot too hard.

But it also works as a result of a neat cast of secondary characters, all of whom fit and play well against each other. It’s hard to fault a project that finds a reason to put J.K. Simmons, Jane Curtin, Jon Favreau, and Lou Ferrigno together on screen.

"Sunshine Cleaning," which I haven’t seen yet and which opens in Sacramento next week, has had an exceptionally strong opening in other cities (the best per-theater averages of the year so far) – but for now at least, the funniest movie I’ve seen so far this year is “I Love You Man.”

Review: Race to Witch Mountain

2009-03-19T05:57:31Z

Race to Witch Mountain
Directed by Andy Fickman

“Race to Witch Mountain” is an interesting and ultimately successful retread of a franchise that goes back over 30 years to 1975’s “Escape to Witch Mountain” (and assorted theatrical and TV sequels and remakes). It’s very much a movie for kids, tweens, and the less cynical or gore-hungry teens, but it has themes and details that are designed to be appreciated by the adults in the audience, albeit probably the more left-leaning adults.

While many family movies pander to adults with mild (or worse) sexual innuendos or raunchy sight gags, “Race to Witch Mountain” is refreshingly free of any content that requires awkward explanations in the car on the way home. Instead, adults get lightweight cameos from the likes of Cheech Marin and Garry Marshall, neither of which is likely to be recognized by the movie’s primary target demographic. Additionally, the story is geared towards our current times and political climate and is notably different than the originals.

To the best of my recollection, in the original movies, the villains were scheming megalomaniacs of that generic kids’ movie bad guy type. It’s a product of our time that a movie like this gets remade with a mysterious government agency, armed with black helicopters and the Patriot Act, as the villain. Even the alien homeworld is depicted as having a short-sighted government and military, and the problem that has caused the visit to earth is related to rampant climate change. This probably isn’t a movie outing of choice for the local chapter of the young Republicans.

At its core, it’s still about a couple of aliens who look like human teenagers and who have powers that include telekinesis, telepathy, and the ability to pass through solid objects. After crashing near Las Vegas, the Disney-perfect duo, played by AnnaSophia Robb ("Bridge to Terabithia") and Alexander Ludwig ("The Seeker: The Dark is Rising"), pick the cab of Jack Bruno (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). Bruno is skeptical about these unsupervised kids carrying large sums of money, but he’s the ex-con cabbie with a heart of gold, and he gets dragged into their circumstances largely because he’s a nice guy.

The story is surprisingly well set up, with Bruno’s own backstory involving a group of generic thugs who, from a distance, are conveniently confused with the government agents who are tracking the kids, so Bruno initially thinks it’s him that’s being followed and not them. Las Vegas is also the coincidental venue for a marvelously geeky sci-fi convention (there’s some redundancy there) that acts as a neat background and plot point for a story about actual alien visitors. (Apparently the sci-fi crowd hasn’t received a government financial bailout and then been spanked for running off to Vegas for a meeting!)

“Race to Witch Mountain” is a perfect vehicle for Dwayne Johnson, who has been at his best so far with light and fun material that benefits from his apparent easy-going nature. He’s an actor who recognizes the source of his fame (as a professional wrestler) and doesn’t seem to have image hang-ups – as evidenced by his very loose appearances on “Saturday Night Live.” The two young actors in the movie are better than they might appear at first sight, required to play very awkward roles as characters who are not familiar with local language and customs, with the resultant stiffness being part of the act. Robb, in particular, already has an impressive resume and is a noteworthy actor in her age range.

Add an appealing dog, a Terminator/Predator-lite-like assassin, amusing tertiary characters, fun chases and loud but gore-free action, in addition to a storyline that already has appeal for kids of both genders, and you have a solid entry in the pantheon of family entertainment. This isn’t high-brow or an action film for fans more likely to enjoy the current “Watchmen” release, but it isn’t intended to be either and it works extremely well in the context of what it’s attempting to be.

Graham-A-Rama cabaret sells out - in a good way!

2009-03-13T06:08:09Z

After only six weeks of shows, the Sundays-only Graham-A-Rama cabaret series at the Geery Theater performed for a full house last week. Here are a few photo highlights from the show....

The pre-show crowd waits to be allowed in:

The crowded Geery Theater:

Graham-A-Rama VI leads Kevin Caravalho and Joelle Wirth (with drummer Alfonso Portela in the background):

From the back of the house:

Caravalho (right), Wirth (center) and impresario Graham Sobelman (left):

Graham-A-Rama VII "We're Seriously Irish" plays Sunday March 15th at 7pm and 9pm at the Geery Theater, at 22nd and L Streets. For an earlier Sacramento Press interview with Sobelman, including reservation information, visit: INTERVIEW

Results not typical!

2009-02-27T23:30:18Z

In advertising, it seems to be acceptable to make an outrageous claim and then point out how unlikely it is in practice. I was listening to a radio ad the other day in which a voice actor describes owing the IRS several million dollars, a kidney, and a small child (paraphrased from an extraordinarily unreliable memory) until the magical tax settlement company steps in and settles for three expired Almond Joy bars (again, I may have the details a little off). Of course, another voice then points out that this is an extreme case and not typical of all clients. Really - ya think?

I came across this ad online today (on fandango.com) which illustrates the concept:

"Results not typical" certainly seems like a believable and necessary disclaimer, that is unless Dermitage comes packed with a bucket of grout, a putty knife, and a steam iron.

All of which leads me to wonder if "results not typical" is destined to make its way into the regular news cycle. Consider the following hypothetical headlines:

"Economy surges as unemployed man receives 237 job offers in one day. Results not typical."

"California county swimming in surplus water: No species or farmland endangered. Results not typical."

"Talentless young celebrity seen wearing underwear while exiting vehicle. Results not typical."

Add a "results not typical" headline of your own below....

Pop-Up Pop

2009-02-27T12:12:18Z

I started my Thursday evening at the opening night of the 2nd Annual Sacramento All Sketch Comedy Festival (www.AllSketch.com) which put me in the mood for more humor. This, added to the Sacramento Press readership’s love of music, fine artistry, and great depth, led me to end my evening at the midnight screening of Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (!).

My first impression was that it was the least crowded midnight screening I can recall attending, with approximately 30 of the less curfew-challenged fans making little more than a slight dent in the capacity of one of the Century Stadium’s main dome auditoriums/auditoria (take your pick). My second impression was that 3D is apparently taking hold, for a while at least, given five previews for upcoming attractions in the format.

However there’s an odd irony in this project, given such a medium. 3D cinema is an attempt to take a traditionally two dimensional artform and enable it to better represent a three dimensional world. (Of course it always tends to do this by filming people thrusting and throwing things towards the camera for added effect, in a manner almost but not quite entirely unlike the way that people actually behave in that three dimensional world.) However, the three brothers Jonas have previously been converted from actual three dimensionality into a two dimensional market sensation by the folks at the house that Walt built and so it seems additionally artificial, like rehydrating a dehydrated food product.

Although not without significant talent, the Jonaseses are merely one of the latest commercially packaged music sensations, having risen to fame largely through their association with Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus, the achy breaky cash cow daughter of daddy Billy Ray. So these newest kids on the block follow assorted acts from the Monkees to the manufactured boy bands of the 90’s, although they may have most in common with Hanson, another brotherly threesome who had the audacity and skills to actually write, play, and perform their own material (and who grew to be far better than most media ever acknowledged) rather than simply line dance their way through somebody else’s tunes.

That said, the concert footage in the film is quite well done, proving that one doesn’t need Scorsese to make a decent concert film (take that Rolling Stones!). It’s hard to tell how many takes might have been employed and the clips seem fairly heavily edited from the overall show given a few wardrobe changes along the way. But it’s an energetic and showy performance, supplemented by both acrobatics and pyrotechnics, and a strange performance on the top of three tall columns that played out like a 1,550 year anniversary celebration of the death of Saint Simeon Stylites (take that Dennis Miller!).

The concert clips are the primary 3D material and they are interspersed with mostly 2D coverage of behind the scenes activities and tightly scheduled appearances, including a remarkably pointless-seeming occasion in which Times Square ground to halt while thousands of fans watched the Jonaseseses arrive in a motorcade, buy three freshly available CD’s in a publicist’s moist dream trip to the Virgin Megastore, and then leave. But the lowest low point of the movie is a self-contained music video shot in and around Central Park, in 3D, that plays almost like a parody of obviously lip-synced and staged performance video over studio audio. And it seems entirely out of place and poorly conceived in a film that otherwise clings to a slight semblance of authenticity.

By comparison, the high point is probably an appealingly edited sequence of clips over the closing credits. Either that or the weird auxiliary surround sound associated with singing audience members. After watching it with the midnight audience of just 30 or so, I would suggest earplugs and Xanax for a primetime screening.

This is a film that fans will hail as celluloid gold and non-fans will either avoid like the plague or respond to as if infected by the plague. Watching the brothers display their assorted talents also primes one for future Jonas trivia, like which Jonas fathers a child with Miley Cyrus in the lukewarm summer of 2012 and names it Bristol Palin Cyrus Jonas in honor of that other champion of abstinence education. If the Jonaseseseses are the spinoff of that other spinoff offspring, then Nick seems most likely to spinspinspinoff, perhaps with Kevin as his road manager and session guitarist, while Joe seems most likely to chase his dreamboat youth on a VH1 reality show for capsized dreamboats. That may be overly harsh and it’s based on nothing but totally unjustifiable conjecture, but I hope for their sake they have a good financial manager.

Special Comedy Festival Discount for SacPress "Coolkids"!

2009-02-27T01:35:24Z

So it's opening night tonight for the 2nd Annual Sacramento All Sketch Comedy Festival and in recognition of the high number of artists and creative folks who read the Sacramento Press, I'm passing along an insider tip that's good for the opening night show only....

From Directors Sid and Keith: ...since tonight's show features our local comedy performers we wanted to let our local arts community and friends of our local arts community get into the show. We know artists (and friends of artists) don't have any money. :D

So, here is a way for you to come see the show and have big fun on the cheap!
You can get tickets for only $5. That is $10 off!
Go to www.AllSketch.com and buy your tickets*. When you get to the screen that asks for a discount code enter the secret password. The secret password is: coolkid - written as one word.

*If you can't do this online - print out this article and use it as a coupon for the same special Sacramento Press "Coolkid" discount.

Tonight's (Thursday, Feb 26) show starts at 8pm and the 24th Street Theater - the full Festival schedule, performer biographies, and further ticket information can be found online at www.AllSketch.com. Tonight's lineup includes:

Doctor Doctor is a brand new project featuring Sid Garcia-Heberger and Ben Miller of I Can't Believe It's Not Comedy performing a series of vignettes exploring the role of therapy and therapists in modern life. (from AllSketch.com)

The Sacramento Royal Navy - featuring performers from The Saramento Comedy Spot

See you all at the show!

It's not just cabaret, it's Graham-A-Rama!

2009-02-21T22:06:52Z

Courtney Glass and Connor Mickiewicz perform in Graham-A-Rama III: "Not the Marrying KInd" on Sunday, February 15th, 2009 at the Geery Theater - video and screen capture by Mike Yee

With little fanfare or exposure, one of the best and least known shows in town opened a few weeks ago, on Sundays at the Geery Theater on the corner of 22nd and L Streets. Featuring local stage actors and singers, the Graham-A-Rama cabaret series is a perfect fit for the Geery’s intimate space, giving the feeling of having been invited to a private party of some kind – like the ultimate insider experience, even for outsiders!

I asked the man behind Graham-A-Rama (and behind the piano) Graham Sobelman, a few questions about the series:

Could you describe the basic concept and format for Graham-A-Rama?
GS: I think initially it was mostly an excuse for me to see my theatre friends. Most of us go from show to show and unless you're actually in a show with someone, you never get to see them. So, I thought doing a Sunday evening cabaret show would give me a chance (or an excuse) to see them.

Additionally, I feel like I know some incredibly talented singers in the area that I think are underexposed. I've played for dozens of shows over the years and there are some really great singers in town. A cabaret show seemed like a great venue to share them with Sacramento and also a chance for them to perform songs that they love, not just the songs in the shows they're cast in.

The initial format was to have 2 singers share the evening. Keeping it casual. While working on the first show, we decided it would be fun to include some audience participation (sing-a-long, trivia, etc).

What was the inspiration? - I've heard tales of legendary living room singalongs!
GS: We tried to sort of emulate the sing-a-long parties at my house, where we'd stay up all night and sing around the piano. In that venue, people can sing whatever songs they want - they can sing harmonies whenever they want and there are no inappropriate choices. I love TV theme songs - that's how the TV theme song sing-a-long got included [in Graham-A-Rama]. So, hopefully, these shows give a sneak peak into our late night craziness around the piano.

Last week's "Not the Marrying Kind" with Connor Mickiewicz and Courtney Glass was great - are all the shows themed in some way?
GS: Last week's was the first totally themed show. They worked really hard putting that together. The first shows had more thematic segments - each person had 2-3 sets and we grouped the songs thematically. Tony had a "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" section. Nanci had an “auditioning-in-NY” section. Scott and Kelly had a “songs-I'll-never-get-to-sing” section.

What might audiences expect in the coming weeks?
GS: I'm considering a St. Patrick's Day section for one of the March shows. Mar 22 is called "Wig in a Box" - there will be wigs everywhere. I'm thinking about doing an 80's pop music night with 5-6 singers. I'm bringing a friend's cabaret show from SF up in April. And in early May, I'd like to do an all-star show featuring the best numbers from the first 10 shows.

So now we know how you spend your Sundays - what else do you have in the works?
GS: I’m working on finishing my band's 2nd album (the first one is on iTunes "This is ain't Betty"). I am music directing a few shows around town this spring, and I'd like to use the Geery for a couple of staged readings of some musicals. It's a great venue for intimate performances.

Next up: On Sunday, February 22nd, Graham-A-Rama reprises the show that started it all, with Tony Wichowski and Nanci Zoppi.

Graham-A-Rama showtimes are 7pm and 9pm on Sundays at the William J Geery Theatre, 2130 L Street, Sacramento. Tickets are $15 (cash only) at the door and reservations can be made by calling (916) 798-6352. Note: Reservations are only held until 15 minutes before showtime. Find upcoming schedules and all things Grahamy at www.grahamsobelman.com. Video clips from past shows can be found on youtube by searching for grahamaramacabaret.

The 2nd Annual Sacramento All Sketch Comedy Festival

2009-02-20T09:21:18Z

This week, the second annual Sacramento All Sketch Comedy Festival rolls, and roles, into town (see what I did there?). It’s the brainchild (or something less intellectual and less offspringy) of two of Sactown’s most creative and twisted (in a good way, none of that M. Night Shyamalan crap) minds: Sid Heberger and Keith Lowell Jensen. As well as founding the Festival, Sid and Keith are the founders of the local comedy troupe I Can’t Believe It’s Not Comedy (apparently they like to found). Sid is also the manager of the beautiful and historic (and heroic champion of K Street’s economy) Crest Theatre and Keith is a local comedian, filmmaker (Why Lie I Need a Drink), author (The Atheist Survival Guide; A humorous guide to getting by in a God fearing world), and the resident atheist on the Co-Exist? Comedy Tour. (Note: He’s not especially religious).

I recently threw some questions at Keith (KLJ), via email, in a manner intended to probe, arouse, and generally stimulate his interest, while still avoiding the necessity to leave my recliner or actually meet in person. Here’s the probing, arousing, and generally stimulating outcome:

How and why did you decide to start a comedy festival and what were you drinking/smoking/injecting at the time?
KLJ: Performing with I Can't Believe It's Not Comedy in the Seattle Sketchfest, The Marsh Comedy Festival in SF, the SF Sketchfest etc. was so much fun and it felt like something that our town should have. Sid was probably drinking heavily when I convinced her that she wanted to co-produce this. The only thing I smoke is cigars, not that I'm trying to drop hints to anyone looking to score points with me in hopes of getting booked next year or anything (Davidoffs are nice).

Why focus on just sketches - why not stand up and impressionist pastels?
KLJ: For me it's just that I love sketch and wanted it to have its own festival here, not to be diluted at all. We may do a stand up festival separately but I think that sketch is its own thing and worthy of its own festival. I like to think of sketch as the impressionist pastels of comedy.

It should be mentioned that we have the area’s best comedians emcee the shows: Tapan Trivedi, Chaz Hawkins, Ellis Rodriguez, Jack Taylor, and more.

This year's lineup includes acts from Sacramento and Auburn, but also LA, San Francisco, Bellingham, New York, and Tokyo: Are comedians unaware of the global financial crisis?
KLJ: Comedians are just used to being poor. It's business as usual for us. The performers coming to town will sleep in guest rooms and living rooms of generous volunteers and they'll not likely be dining at Sacramento's more upscale restaurants (unless said restaurants want to offer to feed them for free). The further an act is travelling the greater the chance that they'll be hitting as many venues as possible along the way to make it affordable.

As long as you've brought up the economy, let me point out that we got more sponsors this year because we knew we'd want to charge less for tickets during this, um, recession, yeah that's what it is.

There's a semi-mysterious act on the bill, apparently: What can you tell us about Aardvark Fancy, kittens, and Scott Baio?
KLJ: I can tell you that they submitted an audio tape. Not a CD or an mp3 but a tape. It was funny so we booked them. They asked if we could find someone else to write and perform their material, which left me feeling even more secure that we'd done the right thing in booking them. We scheduled them with The Cody Rivers Show, an amazing troupe who has visited and amazed Sacramento previously so the audience members can feel more relaxed about the risk of going to see a troupe we know almost nothing about. My secret hope is that it turns out Andy Kauman, Elvis and John F Kennedy are the three members of Aardvark Fancy but we'll see.

The Keith and Kate Show is a repeat act and Doctor Doctor examines therapy: Should Keith and Kate have their heads examined and what did you promise them to get them back?
KLJ: Keith and Kate, staring Jason and Kate, agreed to come back when I told them we got Ten West and The Cody Rivers Show. They are huge fans of both. Basically, they're performing to keep from having to buy tickets to the show. I'm really excited to bring them back. Their show is fantastic and has mesmerized me all three times I've seen it.

What might the audience expect from the midnight show and which minority (or majority) group is most likely to be offended?
KLJ: Ha ha. I don't even know what to expect. The midnight show is fun. The comedians and the audience mix. You never know who will work together on stage. Some of our stand up buddies will show up and do a set, and some of them might even try sketch. It's more of a party than a show.
If anyone is offended I just hope they find a funny way to express said offense and we'll find 'em some stage time.

Are there any other tips, comments, or blatant lies you would like to share with the readers of the Sacramento Press?
KLJ: Steve Martin stole all of his material from me when I was but a toddler visiting Disneyland with my parents, wearing my sharp white suit with matching arrow through the head.

I would just like to encourage everyone to help us make this a huge event here like the sketch fests are in SF, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, etc. If a Dixieland Jazz festival can turn this city on its head why not Sketch Comedy next? I also hope that audience members will take advantage of the All Sketch pass to see all the shows for less and to get a free t-shirt.

The Sacramento All Sketch Comedy Festival runs Thursday, February 26th – Saturday, February 28th. All shows are at the 24th Street Theater (2791 24th Street, a few blocks South of Broadway) except for the Saturday midnight show which will be at The Comedy Spot (1716 Broadway). The full schedule, ticket information, and performers’ biographies can be found online at AllSketch.com.

An article that isn't about bicycles

2009-02-14T09:29:16Z

This article will be about all kinds of things but, aside from the title, it won’t mention bicycles. Well, except for that first sentence where I had to write “bicycles” to establish the point. And again, just now, in sentence two – but the use of bicycles in that sentence was purely explanatory. Wait…damn.

Hmmm…maybe the reason half the articles here are about bikes is that apparently it’s impossible to avoid writing about them, as I learned above. Why, I bet that we can’t even get through today, a perfectly average Saturday in Sacramento, without some further mention of bicycles.

Anyway, on to non-bicycle related news. I was walking in midtown today, minding my own business, when a bicycle messeng…hold on now, this is ridiculous. Mostly ridiculous because I wasn’t even walking in midtown today. Unless crossing a street counts. And I’m betting you had more of a mental image of casual strolling. So, in all honesty, I was mostly driving in midtown today. Well, this evening really. Trying hard, of course, not to hit any poorly lit cycli…argh!

OK, I give up. I was going to recount a truly interesting story about a man with a handlebar moustache and a bit of a spare tire, who coped with saddle sores and chain letters until they wheeled him away. But it all seems a bit futile now, like a fish trying to ride a….

*^#@!

The value of PE classes in junior colleges

2009-02-12T07:40:34Z

An article in the SacBee today discusses a Legislative Analysts’s suggestion that junior colleges either drop PE classes, or that the colleges be paid less to offer them than the level of state funding provided for classes that are deemed more academic in content. These are the one-unit classes that are offered in subjects such as golf, tennis, and bowling. The inference is that these classes are not worthwhile and don’t deserve to be subsidized at the same level as other classes.

This seems like an odd standard to apply. As the article points out, students wanting to graduate or transfer are typically required to have one of these classes. What the article doesn’t point out is that that requirement is set by the state that subsidizes that education, precisely because teams of experts have determined that these are in fact worthwhile. It’s not like they showed up by chance or accident.

Another distinction suggested is that these are simply classes for fun and not as valuable as the more academic and vocational classes taken elsewhere in a college career. But if you examine some of the other, more esoteric classes that students routinely take, it may very well be that golf, bowling, and tennis are more likely to be used in life, or even in a career path. Try telling Tiger Woods that golf isn’t vocational. One of the students referenced in the original article was taking bowling multiple times attempting to improve his game enough to compete in tournaments. I wonder if any of his other classes are preparing him for national competition. There may very well be as many students who will use golf, for example, in a business setting, as those who will use <insert subject of your choice here>. And there are many students taking other classes for fun, personal enrichment, or without a specific utilitarian end in mind, and they aren’t single-credit classes.

The article also compares the PE classes and their subsidy rate with fitness classes for senior citizens. One could easily ponder whether or not we would need to teach physical activities to seniors if we taught younger students such life-long activities as, say, golf, bowling, and tennis. Oh, right, we are – for a reason.

During the working years of an adult life, most people will engage in work and other obligated activities for about a third of their week (very rough fractions), sleep for another third, and engage in activities of their own choosing, if they’re lucky, the rest of the time. When they hit retirement, the proportions will shift suddenly. We spend a lot of time and money preparing students for the work portion and we spend a lot of time and money medicating people for sleep. What we tend to spend less on is teaching people how to ensure that the remainder of their lives are rewarding and meaningful. What the article doesn’t point out is that the one unit of PE is just one out of 39 units of general education associated with transferring colleges or 60 units of work associated with graduating from a junior college. That’s about 2% of the class time dedicated towards the leisure and recreation that will ultimately dominate an average lifespan.

And let’s not forget that these activities are also inherently vocational for a great many careers. Unless of course you think the following run themselves: municipal parks and recreation departments, after-school programs, physical education classes, boys and girls clubs, recreation programs for special needs populations, and (you probably know by now that I’m going to say this…) golf courses, bowling alleys, and tennis clubs, amongst the vast array of recreational programs and businesses that exist in our communities. In a state that relies so heavily on recreational activities and related tourism, it’s amazing to think these classes are considered superfluous.

The irony is that it’s exactly this kind of attitude that makes running businesses and agencies in the parks, recreation, tourism, and hospitality fields so difficult – people treat them as though they are disposable or unnecessary when they are often the things that add meaning and value to lives that are otherwise bleak and unfulfilling. Building an appreciation of these activities is not only valuable on an individual level but is beneficial at a societal level and the more active and confident people are in such pursuits, the less likely we are to throw ever larger amounts of money at public healthcare, problems such as obesity, and related diseases and conditions.

If the great fear is that students will simply repeat these classes, time after time, on the taxpayers’ dime, then cap the number of times they can be taken under state subsidy – we do that in other ways for other classes. Let them take three one-unit classes if they want to – a single three-unit class in any other topic, whether degree or vocation-related or not, wouldn’t even attract the attention of the bean counters. Indeed, one could take several classes in other subject areas or even repeat them without anybody questioning those choices. But if they’re going to start labeling which classes are inherently worthwhile and which aren’t, I think we’re going to have a much deeper discussion about a far wider range of subjects.

Notification Overload

2009-02-09T03:22:29Z

Image: My Facebook Notifications.

As long as I'm on a pop culture ranting binge - maybe somebody can explain what some of this means. I'd settle for a brief indication of whether or not it's all complimentary or if there's anything in the list I should be offended by!

And how exactly do I work this into my daily routine?

"Hi, how are you today?"

"Fine thanks - the thrill from my Sea Garden Request more than makes up for the slight misgivings associated with an Elven Blood Invitation!"

However, unlike the author of a recent editorial (in another publication) regarding Facebook, I have to express my appreciation of the FB environment. In just the last couple of days, I've coordinated a date with festival colleagues, seen new baby pictures from the other coast, secured a venue for an event via IM, promoted screenings through a group list, chatted with a half dozen close friends, and left snarky comments for a half dozen others, all from my recliner. And how can I fault a medium that allows me to know immediately when a friend has the misfortune to see Twilight at the theater?

On the downside, I think Blagojevich: The Musical! may finally be dead - I had only posted the lyrics for four songs before he was impeached and the thrill was lost. So, onto the next cyber-project ... well, after I determine the difference beween a Superpoke! Request and a Superpoke! Invitation.

Chime Overload

2009-02-07T10:49:41Z

OK, so I’m a bit of an online junkie. If I’m at home, I’m either at my computer or I’ve reluctantly given in to the need to sleep or take care of other bodily needs. I used to be like this with TV: Ten years ago I had 3 VCR’s wired in series and never quite understood the question “What did you watch last night?” just as whoever asked it didn’t really understand when I responded with “Errr…everything.”

So now I’m online at almost all hours and that means that I typically have 12-15 browser windows open and probably have 7-8 incoming avenues for communication available at any time. Or 9-10 if you include my phone, which generally gets forgotten when I’m at home and fixated on the 22” cantilevered monitor on that swings out over my giant buttoned-back recliner (think Matrix meets an old school gents club, with the cleaning skills of a frat house membership).

At any given time (and that includes when I’m not here, much to the consternation of friends) I’ll be logged into AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, office email, Yahoo! email, Facebook and Facebook IM, myspace and myspace IM (which only one person I know uses, but he uses it a lot), and a couple of dating sites (let’s not go there this time – that’s a whole different story, for a different day and a different ratings standard). This of course results in assorted problems like arranging the real estate on the screen so that messages don’t interrupt the latest bathroom cover track playing on youtube, remembering bizarrely phrased and vowel-free screennames of somebody I chatted with once several weeks earlier while the Ambien was kicking in, and avoiding replying to the wrong person (damn you pop-up windows!) or while inadvertently still in caps lock (no, I was working on something else, I’m not mad – and it’s not always about you).

But it also means that I’m inundated by a ridiculous assortment of chimes and beeps. Everything has its own sound and there’s no apparent logic to any of it. And not just the direct sounds, like an incoming message on myspace IM, but also the secondary alerts like Yahoo! Messenger making sure that I know that I have an incoming email in my Yahoo! inbox pointing out that somebody (probably the vaguely remembered at best, Ambien fueled chat participant) just left a new and inscrutable comment on my myspace profile.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining – I wouldn’t want to miss these incoming nuggets of personal updatery, it’s just that I’m chime-illiterate or web-tone deaf or something. My monitor squeals at me (I’m not really the separate speakers type) and I have to visually scan the screen, in the absence of a (damn!) pop-up, for a tab or a minimized window on a toolbar somewhere might be flashing. Hoping that it isn’t just some tiny message in the corner that’s going to disappear again before I can even refocus my attention from the latest insights from the worlds of inhabitat.com or Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia or the urban dictionary (seriously, how did I survive before the interwebs?). Indeed, a friend just sent me three lines of text (via one of the undisclosed dating sites) and I was so deep in my sweet and sour pork Panda Feast revelry that for a moment I thought my tire pressure must be low or perhaps my microwave was irritated by more than a minute of inactivity. (Thank you flashing tab for saving me yet again.)

This tonal disorientation extends to other settings. I am not, for the most part, a competent user of specifically designated ringtones. Even before “my cell” was my phone and not just a night’s accommodation after an evening of too-drunken revelry (or when wireless was a classier way to refer to a radio), I was confused by ringtones. In grad school at Clemson, “The Harvard of the South!” (which always made me wonder if you could buy “The Clemson of the North!” shirts in Cambridge), I never figured out the difference between off-campus calls and on-campus calls. This was, apparently, an innate skill for everybody around me but persistently eluded me for three years.

I now miss text messages completely because I have the even more confusing array of sounds on my Storm (The World’s First Touchscreen Blackberry! – I think it’s in my contract that I have to type that) disabled. And don’t get me started about the significance of differently shaped envelope icons!

And none of this is made any better by how directionally challenged I am by some sounds. Not only will I turn the wrong way, against the rotation of the swiveling heads in a crowded room, but I expect a speeding ticket when a fire truck runs a light on a nearby cross street (which may of course have as much to do with the likelihood that I’m speeding as my aural deficiencies). And, yes, I’m the guy who attempts to answer my phone when yours rings, even though mine doesn’t play Single Ladies and you’re riding in the fire truck.

Note: Not only have I been barraged by assorted sounds while I type this, even at 2am, but I just encountered my first AIM avatar that actually laughs creepily when the user types “lol” – LOL.

All of which leads me to the next obvious questions: Why would I want Twitter, what does it sound like, and will it annoy me while I’m eating the rest of my Panda Feast?

The 12th Annual Sacramento Jewish Film Festival

2009-02-05T22:16:06Z

As a film festival director myself, I’m always intrigued to talk to other directors about their festivals and their process. For every film that makes the cut, there are a mountain of discarded others that may never see the light of day (or the light of projection) and hundreds of unseen administrative tasks associated with presenting the program. I recently asked Sid Heberger, General Manager of the Crest Theatre and Co-Director of the Sacramento Jewish Film Festival about their upcoming event:

Q: This is the 12th Annual Festival: How did the Festival get its start?
A: Margi Park, the co-founder of the Festival, contacted me about starting a festival because she was tired of schlepping to San Francisco for her Jewish Film Festival fix. So, in 1997 we partnered on a screening at the Festival of Cinema to “test the waters” and had a tremendous turn out. The next year we branched out on our own and have been at it ever since.

Q: How do you find films for the Festival?
A: In the beginning, we sought films from other festivals and combed the internet for films we thought would be of interest in Sacramento. Now that the festival has matured we are receiving submissions from film makers and film companies from around the globe.

Q: This year’s festival includes the Oscar Nominated short film “Toyland”. Is that a concidence?
A: Yes, As I was looking for short films for the comedy program I came across this dramatic short film. I actually booked it long before it was nominated. It’s satisfying to know that my taste in films is validated by the Academy!

Q: You’d added a late night slot on Saturday, is this new direction for the Festival?
A: Yes, we’ve been looking for ways to engage a younger audience and then we found this hilarious film “Circumcise Me” and decided to build a lineup of comedy shorts. It’s an experiment for us but so far the response has been positive so we’re thinking this might become a regular program. We recognize that if the festival is going to grow and continue that we need to engage younger people now before our older audience is no longer able to come out to the shows.

Q: What makes a film “Jewish”?
A: Some film festivals accept anything that is made by a Jewish director whether the film is about the Jewish experience or not, but we feel that that just about includes every film out of Hollywood since 1920! A film has to have a substantial part of the plot dedicated to showing the Jewish experience.

Q: So, is the Jewish Film Festival just for Jews?
A: (Laughs) No, and it’s not just for breakfast anymore! Actually, as we look at the film submissions we give weight to films that we think will have cross-over appeal to other festival demographics. We have strong partnerships with the Sacramento French Film Festival, The Sacramento Film and Music Festival, and the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. You don’t have to be Jewish to connect with the dramatic, funny and touching human stories that we feature.

The 12th Annual Sacramento Jewish Film Festival takes place at the Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street, Sacramento on Saturday, February 7th and Sunday, February 8th. Full details, schedules, and ticket information can be found online at www.thecrest.com. Note: “Toyland” and all of this year’s other Oscar Nominated short films open at the Crest on Friday, February 6th.

Mazal Tov!

Tony Sheppard is a Co-Director of the 10th Annual Sacramento Film and Music Festival, July 24th-Aug 2nd, 2009, also at the historic Crest Theatre (Full disclosure!).