1. The Tacoma Cult Movie Club meets for a night of sequels, shorts, trailers and kickass popcorn at 7 p.m. inside the Acme Grub Cage. Tonight's theme is Animals Gone Wild: Some Animals Have No Decency, or Where's That Bat-Shark Repellent?
2. For the second annual 25 New Faces of Independent Film Festival atT he Grand Cinema, the list has been released, the films have been chosen, and the filmmakers have been invited to come and participate. Films from 20 filmmakers will be screened over five days and, just like last year, 11 filmmakers will attend in support of their work. Today at 2:30 p.m. filmmaker Alma Nar'el's film Bombay Beach will screen. To read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature, click here.
3. Momenti Rubati performs eloquent Latin jazz at 7 p.m. inside The Royal Lounge.
4. Mutants, aliens, technogeeks and puny humans who like to read superhero comics will gather at King's Books around 7 p.m. to discuss X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont & John Byrne.
5. Magoo's Annex hosts Micro Mondays with DJ Melodica spinning punk, post punk, New Wave, early electronica, garage and more beginning at 8:30 p.m.
Filmmaker magazine announced the results of its annual survey of the "25 New Faces of Independent Film." Published by IFP, the nation's largest and oldest organization of independent filmmakers, Filmmaker has been doing the survey for 14 years.
For the second straight year, The Grand Cinema in Tacoma will screen films from said 25 filmmakers - this year the Tacoma independent film house will show 20 films through Aug. 25.
Today, three films are on the docket:
AARDVARK, 1 p.m.: A blind ex-alcoholic becomes an amateur sleuth to solve a murder. Filmmaker calls it "Ravishing to look at." Filmmaker Kitao Sakurai will be in the house.
THE COLOR WHEEL, 3:30 p.m.: A comedy that gives a harsh, sarcastic twist to the intimate rivalry of siblings as they take a road trip together. Actress/comedienne Carlen Altman leads the post-film discussion.
SNOW ON THA BLUFF, 6 p.m.: A document on the life of a young, black, crack-dealing single parent. Is it staged or real? Ask filmmaker Damon Russell who will be in attendance.
Like those now-scarce restaurants where roller-skating servers deliver food to your car, drive-in movies had their heyday in the '50s. These days, most movies watched in the car are on computer or smart-phone screens. But while drive-ins.com lists only six open drive-ins in the state, you don't have to travel back in time to enjoy the summer-night experience of watching (or, better yet, not watching) a big-screen film in the privacy of your own car. Skyline Drive-In, which opened in 1962, is still showing movies on weekends from March through October. You listen to the movie on an FM radio. The Skyline bans outside food and drink (there's a snack bar), alcohol and drugs.
DETAILS: 182 SE Brewer Road, Shelton, $7, $1 for ages 6-11, free for 5 and younger, gates open at 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday, movies begin at dusk, 360.426.4707 or skylinedrive-in.com
FILMS SCREENING TONIGHT:Horrible Bosses, Cowboys and Aliens and Rocky Horror Picture Show
While You're Eating Pancakes This Weekend: Tacoma School District and its teachers union are huddled around a table. (News Tribune)
Billboard Battle: The City of Tacoma asks a judge to sign off the Clear Channel agreement. (News Tribune)
Why Trail Passes Are So Important: The two U.S. hikers detained in Iran on espionage charges have been sentenced to eight years in prison, state-run TV reported Saturday. (CNN)
Teeth Chat: Kirsten Dunst adores her "snaggle fangs." (The Superficial)
Ignoring The Fact That You're Making a Horror Remake: Four things horror movie remakes get wrong (Salon)
Your Prayers Have Been Answered: How to make fire from ice. (The Daily What)
Many times when I set out to make a short film I wind up with a script that crams in too many scenes and too many events, thereby abusing the purpose of the whole "short" concept. So for inspiration I look to filmmakers whose works succeed, because to me they seem to follow a "less is more" approach. These stories give viewers a brief but vivid outline of characters and their world, yet leave enough details unexplained to keep us wondering.
Pacifica: The Biggest Stick by Olympia's Mutually Assured Productions adopts this minimalist technique effectively. A simple visual effect in the film's first shots immediately grounds us in a timeframe: the future, and possibly a dystopian one on the order of Blade Runner. Two men (Rob Taylor and Kurtis Bissell) drive a van carrying some illegal cargo across a dark landscape called Pacifica. We quickly discover they are revolutionaries, about to receive a hard lesson on the true nature of power.
The rendering of Pacifica's dismal world feels complete in only nine minutes, yet writer and first-time director Charles Chadwick doesn't rush the pacing. Facts and information reveal themselves quietly through ambience, music and dialogue. The cast and crew shot nearly everything outdoors during four bleak December days last year. The unsettling, pervasive score (comprised of cello and industrial sounds) comes courtesy of Bert Stanton (Chadwick's pseudonym) and Ken Carlson, who also directed photography and worked as co-editor.
Carlson tells me he would have had Pacifica completed much sooner after shooting wrapped, but he and his Mutually Assured cohorts spent the spring putting together the first-ever Olympia Awesome Film Festival. Carlson began shaping his vision of a futuristic society gone wrong after watching a documentary about, of all places, North Korea. The film, he says, "really got me thinking, ‘How far do people have to be pushed before they actually rise up?'"
Chadwick ran with that question and produced a script that enacts its own rebellion against audience expectations. Offerings to this genre typically cast big government as the villain, but Pacifica suggests a more nuanced view. "I wanted to give the government not necessarily sympathy," he says, "but (to) give them some edge" and add confusion to the insurgents' rigid morals.
Pacifica also reverses conventional gender roles, placing the female prominently in the drama and making the character more volatile and action-oriented than her brothers in arms. While on set, actor Ember Cossette displayed some motherly affection for the AK-47 she brandishes in the movie, dubbing it Vera. She recalls, "just holding her, and then one day she looked up at me and said, ‘My name's Vera!'"
Some important guy said something once about speaking softly and carrying a big stick when it comes to power. Pacifica works its own power through quiet pacing and questions with no easy answers.
1. Watching good movies that you've never seen before and that you otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to see in the area is fun. The Grand Cinema in Tacoma is hip this fact - and it's just one of the reason's the indie film house's new Tuesday Film Series is such a kickass idea. The plan is to offer an awesome film (new or classic) every Tuesday for a year, with two screenings each Tuesday - afternoon and evening. This week catch Certified Copy.
3. Catch the Fun Addicts at Skansie Brothers Park tonight at 6 p.m., part of the Gig Harbor Summer Sounds at Skansie Park series.
4. Drop in on live, traditional Irish music tonight at O'Blarney's on the edge of Olympia. It goes by the heading Irish Sessions, and it happens every Wednesday at the green-tinted watering hole.
5. Like to drink? Think you know stuff? Test your skills tonight at Paddy Coyne's when Quizmaster Holland Hume leads the troops through Geeks Who Drink Quiz Night. The fun starts at 8 p.m.
Honored: Flags will be lowered today in honor of Tacoman Sgt. Alexander J. Bennett who was killed in Afghanistan. (News Tribune)
Rick Perry: Bill Clinton thinks he's a good looking rascal. (Politicker)
One Step Closer: Those nutty Portland residents want to share their bicycles. (The Oregonian)
The Most Sensational Inspirational Celebrational Muppetational Album: Andrew Bird, OK Go, Weezer, My Morning Jacket and others cover The Muppets. (NPR)
Awesome:The Real Housewives are going on tour. (TVGuide)
Next Step: The first concert to use only mobile ticketing. (Denver Post)
Daredevil Stunt: Gaytron the Imploder survives! (Spew)
Final Frontier: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson call the United States a black hole. (Disinformation)
Oh No Silver Screen: Disney has shut down production on Gore Verbinski's reboot of The Lone Ranger, which was set to star Johnny Depp as Tonto. (Deadline)
Probably A Bad Idea, Baby: Hyper-horny snaggletoothed secret agent Austin Powers is coming back. (Hit Fix)
Hoping For "Paranoid Android": Radiohead to open Saturday Night Live season (Inside TV)
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