Did I write a movie review that really pissed you off? If so, and you want your revenge, tomorrow morning might be a good time to exact it. Paramount and AMC are celebrating the release of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and the new IMAX screen in Kansas City for a pre-opening event called “Transformers Tuesday!” I’m not sure how that relates to me being in a dunk tank, but that’s where I’ll be tomorrow morning at Independence Commons 20 (19200 E 39th St. Independence, MO) between 7 - 9:30am.

Come by before you go to work and get revenge on me for hating the new “Wolverine” and “Terminator” movies! I’ve been stopped in public and taken to task for reviews before, but never like this. Another film critic who you will be able to dunk is fellow KC Film Critic’s Circle member Russ Simmons of Fox 4’s Screening Room. Who could pass up this chance? Here’s a press release that has some more details about the other stuff happening too, including “Transfromers” cars and robots, etc…

• WHO: Paramount Pictures is partnering up with AMC Independence Commons 20 to celebrate the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the opening of the new IMAX screen in Kansas City for a pre-opening event dubbed as “Transformers Tuesday!”
  

• WHAT: Mix 93.3 will be on site at AMC Independence Commons on “Transformers Tuesday” and Kansas City residents are encouraged to come out to win prizes by dunking local personalities in a dunk tank, and will even have a chance to destroy a sheetrock Decepticon from Smash-n-Shatter! Independence students from First Bots of Independence (the “FBI”) will also be present to show off their award-winning robotic designs, and Cable Dahmer Chevrolet will be on-site to display “Transformers” cars like the ones featured in the film. To officially celebrate the opening of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the new IMAX screen at AMC Independence Commons 20, a proclamation will be read recognizing “Transformers Tuesday” and AMC/IMAX Day on behalf of Mayor Reimal.

• WHEN: Tuesday, June 23

• 7:00 – 9:30 AM

• WHERE: AMC Independence Commons 20

• 19200 E. 39^th St. South Independence, MO 64057

COOL FACTS ABOUT TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

• Optimus Prime will be life-size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
• Select scenes were filmed using IMAX technology.
• 14 robots last time, 46 robots this time
• If you had all the gold ever mined in the history of man, you could build a little more than half of Devastator.
• Devastator’s hand is traveling 390 miles per hour when he punches the pyramid.
• The pyramid destruction simulation was 8 times bigger than the old rigid simulation all-time record holder at ILM.
• All robot parts laid out end to end would stretch from one side of California to the other, about 180 miles
• Devastator’s parts stacked tip to tip would be as tall as 58 empire state buildings.
• If all the texture maps on the show were printed on 1 square yard sheets, they would cover 13 football fields.
• Devastator has more than 10 times the number of individual parts found in an average car.
• Laid out end to end, Devastator’s parts would be almost 14 miles long.

Tags: amc, commons, critic, dunk, eric, film, independence, melin, transfromers, tuesday

Well, someone had to do it. Congratulations to “Talkshow with Spike Feresten” for making the perfect video comparison. For more, read the blog and comments section here.

Tags: Benjamin Button, curious case of forrest gump, eric, film, forrest gump, movie, roth, same

Scroll down for the video comparison…I’ve recieved a lot of crap (especially on YouTube) for suggesting that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” had a lot of similarities both thematically and plot-wise to “Forrest Gump.” I have to tell you that I’d a bad feeling ever since I saw the preview. My friend Katie saw the film before I did, and when I asked her what she thought about it, she didn’t want to spoil it for me, but she said that the whole movie reminded her of another film. With much trepidation, I said “Please don’t say ‘Forrest Gump.’”My on-camera review (in which I am still worked up about being so disappointed in the film) is here and several people have agreed with me so I know I’m not crazy. The “Mayor of Television” David Kronke has posted his comparison of the two movies here, but this post from Maidenhead is the most in-depth and funny comparison I’ve seen:

Name that film:

A white man is born fatherless in the south with birth defects that lead many to think he may never walk nor live a normal life. His saintly mother believes in his potential anyway. At a young age, the man learns to walk and sheds his exoskeleton of locomotive aids. Around this time, he also meets the love of his life, a vivacious girl who grows into a bold woman who parts ways with the man to have her own wild adventures. Meanwhile, the man reaches adulthood, and puts in a wartime stint in the U.S. military. During this stint, the man proves at first an indifferent asset, but during his one firefight, he turns out to be very valuable, saving the day singlehandedly, while also witnessing the death of one of his best friends. The man also spends much time on a small ocean vessel, serving alongside a rowdy, grizzled, hard-drinking man of the sea. This salty sailor serves as one of our man’s two best male friends; the other is a black man who first teaches our man the lessons of friendship before departing forever.

Our man wanders all around the world, his life brushing up against key historical moments of the 20th century. At some point he returns to his childhood home, and his mother dies. The man comes into considerable wealth through blind luck. Around this time, his lifelong love returns from her adventures, ready to commit to him. During their brief time together, they conceive a child. The couple part ways, due to the woman’s perceived inability to take care of the man. He does not raise the child through its early years but later makes an appearance in its life. The woman eventually dies in bed from illness. The man’s later years are hardly touched on, even though the movie has lavished much attention on his early and middle years.

The entire story dwells repeatedly on the theme of life’s uncertainty and, in contrast, on the notion of fate or coincidence. The film’s symbol for these themes is a small object seen hovering improbably in the air. A narrative frame scene punctuates the story, as does the main character’s drawling voice-over.

Acceptable Answers:

Forrest Gump; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.*

* Both movies were written by Eric Roth, a man who now owes me seventeen dollars.

…and then there’s this:

From Reuters: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” got a little stranger Friday [Jan. 30] after an attorney representing an Italian office worker filed legal papers alleging that the screenplay was based on a story she wrote in 1994.The David Fincher film, nominated for 13 Oscars, features Brad Pitt in the role of Benjamin Button, a man who ages backward. It was inspired by — but not based on — a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Adriana Pichini, a Roman office worker, said the film seems to be based on a story she wrote 15 years ago called “Il ritorno di Arthur all’innocenza” (Arthur’s Return to Innocence). The story was officially registered with the proper Italian copyright authorities in 1994 and even sent to publishers in the U.S., but was never published.

According to Gianni Massaro, Pichini’s lawyer, a file was opened with the Rome Tribunal Court, which means a judge will watch the film and read the story. If the judge determines there are enough similarities to warrant an investigation, the court will launch one.

Massaro, a fixture in the Italian cinema industry and a former president of the Italian audiovisual association ANICA, said in an interview that he is not sure if Pichini will seek financial damages against Fincher, screenwriter Eric Roth and the film’s producers.

“At this point it’s still a matter of principle,” Massaro said. “What happens next will depend on what the judge rules.”

No timetable has been set for the judge’s viewing. The rest of Italy will be able to see the film when it goes into nationwide release February 13.

Tags: Benjamin Button, benjamin button forrest gump, curious case, eric, forest, forrest gump, forrest gump benjamin button, movie, roth, same

“Hey, who wants to be a millionaire?”

Some jackass at the Replay Lounge asked me that question last night after this article appeared in the Lawrence Journal-World. Hell yeah, I do. Are you kidding? Who doesn’t want to get paid a huge some of money for putting all that (formerly) useless movie trivia to work? Today is my first appearance on Netflix Millionaire Movie Week on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”  Click here to find out what time it is showing in your area. In my neck of the woods, it’s on at 2:30pm and 4pm.

Last year my friend Jill Ensley convinced me that it was worth getting off work early to drive up to a car dealership in Kansas City and try out for “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” At first, I thought she was crazy, because I really don’t know enough general trivia to get on that show. (This was proved when I didn’t pass the regular test later that afternoon.) But then she told me they were also testing for Millionaire Movie Week, where all the questions would be about movies. That changed everything.

Long story short– My boss Kim let me off work early (thank you!), I went to KC, passed the movie test, and here I am today. Or, there I was in the Hot Seat in October of last year, rather. I’ve been silent about what happened on the show, but I can’t wait for my friends and family to see it so that I have no more secrets to keep. Meredith was amazing. She was totally encouraging and everyone who works on the show were awesome as well– they really want you to win tons of cash. I met a whole batch of cool movie-geek contestants, and had a great time.

More later…

2/20/08

Video Clips:

Start this video at 2:00 in to see one question right, then my ultimate downfall.

Watch Meredith read the question that tripped me up here.

Okay, so I’m not a millionaire. But I’ll take being a $25,000-aire any day. I kept telling myself over and over that I wouldn’t risk anything unless I was absolutely sure, and yet, there I was, risking huge amounts of money while trying to hold on to lifelines for later. I guess that’s why they call it a “game” show. It wouldn’t have been fun to watch someone guess everything right away and then stop when he didn’t know them anymore. Those third tier questions are designed to make you think and rethink and sweat and think some more.

One thing I noticed, but not nearly as much as when I was sitting in the Hot Seat, was how dry my mouth was. I was drinking lots of water backstage to try and compensate for it, but my mouth was dry as hell. Sometimes the body just reacts to things a certain way, and nothing I could do mentally seemed to control it. My lips were sticking to my teeth and I was licking them and moving them around and making weird faces.

The other thing I noticed is when Meredith told me I won $50,000 after a long, protracted battle with myself (where I pictured Alfred Molina in a snow speeder on Hoth fighting Imperial walkers), I went a little nuts. She did that disappointed “awww” thing to sink my spirits for just a second and then told me I was right. I screamed like a little girl and put my hands on my head. That was funny.

Meredith was hilarious. She’s so good at being charming and keeping everything moving. When the 50/50 thing didn’t go my way, she insisted (like the producers earlier) that it was a random computer program, and when the audience groaned, her reaction was very funny. She even did the “rock fist up” and the “Swiss fist” with me! She’s 100 percent on the contestant’s side, but when I was weighing my decision to go for $100,000, she egged me on there as well. She knows how to squeeze the most amount of tension out of these situations. I was worked up just watching it again, and I already knew what happened.

What a surreal exerience this whole thing has been. You have to embrace how strange life is, I think. Standing in my ripped up Chuck Taylors and shorts while sharing an elevator once with Celine Dion’s husband (René!) who was dressed to the nines and serious as a heart attack was so funny, I was giggling while he was still standing next to me. On one side, a multi-millionaire. The other, a scrubby kid who lives out of a van.

Opening for Miguel Ferrer and Ed Begley, Jr.’s rock band in Santa Monica during the grunge explosion of the early 90s was so exciting, that backstage I forgot what a bottle opener was. Thanks to my good pal Miguel, I had an open bottle of beer in no time. Most celeb sightings and stories I hear are about big stars and the like. I mean, I just interviewed Will Ferrell two weeks ago. But how many people can say that they opened up for a band fronted by a “Twin Peaks” cast member and the drummer for Spinal Tap?

Sitting on the set of a game show with dramatic sound effects, roving spotlights and cameras, and an audience that’s building up your confidence and cheering you on to act like a bigger and bigger imbecile ranks right up there with those surreal experiences. Getting the show’s host to make silly hand gestures that you made up with your friend one day in your living room is priceless.

What’s even more bizarre is that, when it was all over and I got my TV-sized fake check (they give you the one with your name and a million dollars on it, too, just for posterity), I was suddenly on a sidewalk in New York City, outisde the ABC studios, looking at Central Park. All my friends in NY were still at work, so I strolled on over there and spent the next hour and a half just walking around with a big grin on my face knowing that life had just thrown me another wild curveball. And why not?

It’s a good thing I decided to ask my boss if I could leave early that day in July last year.

Tags: a, be, contestant, diary, eric, melin, millionaire, movie, netflix, to, wants, week, who