BLOG: This is just a tribute

Joshua Ligairi » 03.19.10 »

Corey Haim died a few days ago and, although I've thought about it a bit, it took seeing that he was the #1 celebrity on IMDb today, to coax a response out of me. First of all, I find it beyond sad that it took Corey Haim's death for him to reach #1 on the IMDb charts. Just brutal. As a quick aside, as weird as it is that Haim jumped to #1, it is possibly equally as weird that Corey Feldman has jumped to #12 based on his estranged friend's death.

Anyway, seeing Haim's face on that Star-o-meter flipped a switch in me. I'm going to speak directly to Corey Haim's ghost (or whatever) right now, just in case he is listening (and/or following me on Twitter). Now, with no further ado, my tribute to Corey Haim.


Corey,

The Lost Boys is forever in my filmmaking cannon. I honestly believe that for it's style and genre, it is one of the great American films. It is certainly one of the very best vampire films. Other than that spandex-clad saxophone player who looks like Glenn Danzig, the picture is nearly flawless. And your energetic performance is a key factor in the film's greatness. It is a movie that will influence my own filmmaking for years to come.

License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream, not so much. But those films were actually key to my adolescence--although I have to say that they probably left me more confused and with more unrealistic expectations than I already had going into puberty. Among other things, License was my first exposure to Heather Graham, and years of dreaming about her because of your flick certainly made her first appearance with Paul Thomas Anderson all the more rewarding. Also, Lucas and Silver Bullet weren't bad.

You were down and out for many years and I alternated between disgust, sympathy, and flat out mocking you. Sorry that I made fun of you earlier this year. Had I known that you were going to die, I probably would have refrained. Actually, I definitely would have refrained. I'm that shallow.

Anyway, I never saw The Two Coreys, but I heard it wasn't pretty. That is why I was so happy to see you back in a big way for your stellar Crank 2 cameo. That performance had me looking forward to many more roles from you in the near future. Alas, it would not be.

Corey, I hope you are not in hell. I don't technically believe in hell, but in all honesty, I still fear it. You weren't in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, but you might as well have been, and I can imagine you scurrying through some of those hellish scenarios right now. I hope that is not the case.

Anyway, I'm rambling and, surprisingly, this is getting even weirder than it was when I started writing. I will not only miss your performances (I'm going out to buy License to Drive right now), but I honestly feel a great deal of empathy for you personally. Haimster, we barely knew you. I'm sorry that life was so hard for you and I'm sorry that you're dead. You'll always be alive through your work.

Stay cool,

Josh

PS. That was probably the weirdest thing that I have done in a public forum. No, definitely the weirdest.

PRESS: Flick Sided Cleanflix review

A brief review of Cleanflix, and three other Cinequest films, by FlickSided Lead Critic and an Associate Editor, Mike Smith. Direct link to the original post at the Flick Sided site here.


Mike Smith » 03.15.10 »

Let’s say you want to watch a popular movie, but your religious beliefs prevent you from watching any films that feature foul language or any sexual content…bummer, right? Wrong! You can order edited DVDs of any movie…same great film, but with all the naughty bits cut out. This documentary explores the edited film industry, which is rooted in Salt Lake City, Utah and is heavily influenced by the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte-day Saints. At first focusing on both the legal aspects of editing and reselling home video (pesky copyright laws) as well as the people involved, the film takes an unexpected but rewarding turn in the third act, shifting from a straight delivery of fact to a scathing indictment of the hypocrisy behind religious fundamentalism.Direct link to the review at FlickSided.com. Mike Smith can be contacted at Mike@According2Mike.com.

BLOG: Charting famous movie quotes

Joshua Ligairi » 03.10.10 »

Check out these hilariously awesome graphic renderings of famous movie quotes by Nathan Yau. Direct link to the original post at Flowing Data here. Chart-wise, my favorites are probably The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, and Casablanca, but they are all pretty great. Click on the image below to view it at full size.


Find the original post and much more at FlowingData and follow Nathan Yau on Twitter @flowingdata.

BLOG: Brief thoughts on the 2009 Oscars

Joshua Ligairi» 03.08.10 »

The Oscars are one of my favorite events of the year. Not because of the Oscars so much, as those are usually disappointing, but because I love a good Oscar party. As a quick aside, not everyone is lucky enough to attend an awesome Oscar party. Camilla Larsson of the Göteborg Film Festival stayed home and watched a screener of CLEANFLIX instead of Oscars. How depressing. You can read her tear-jerker of a blog here. So, anyway, I consider myself lucky that my friend Kristin throws an amazing Oscar party every year complete with tantalizing hors d' oeuvres, voting ballots, and a prize for the winner (this year it was a hand-drawn portrait of Robert Deniro). It is always a great time and I do love me some movies, so it is fun to cast your votes and see who wins.

This year, as usual, the Oscars were kind of meh. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin seemed like an inspired choice, and there were indeed some funny moments, but the humor was a little stale and I think the co-hosting resulted in less comedy overall. As Rachel put it, "They're just telling a bunch of Dad jokes." I still maintain that Jon Stewart was the best Oscar host in my lifetime, but apparently he was a little too hard on the celebrities on their special night. Actors are a sensitive bunch.

The best part of the night for me was that James Cameron got a little taste of humility. Not just losing to his ex-wife for Best Director, but also falling short of that Best Picture award that you know he thought was in the bag. I'm not a hater, but ego-maniacal Cameron did not deserve those awards. I'm so thankful that we didn't have to endure another "King of the World!" speech or cringe as the guy speaks frickin' Navi (as he did at the Golden Globes). That said, there were plenty of awards that Avatar deserved, and I think it won all of them--the only undeserved Avatar Oscar being Cinematography. My choice would have probably been Christian Berger for The White Ribbon, but the Academy chose Mauro Fiore. Seriously? Fiore didn't shoot or light any actors or sets. Great job! More power to those Avatar computer geeks, though. All of their awards were very well-deserved.

Then there were the two Best Screenplay awards which were kind of a shock. I loved both Hurt Locker and Precious, but I am really surprised either of them won screenplay. I'd say the screenplays were the weakest link of those films...and in a year with so many great screenplays, it was a little disappointing. My choices would have been Inglourious Basterds and Up In the Air all the way.

I'm also not sure about The Hurt Locker as Best Picture. Again, I love the movie. It totally deserved Best Editing and Best Direction, which were (for me) the two biggest elements that gave the film the superb tone and tension that makes the movie stand out from the crowd. It is a great movie, but is it memorable in the way most Best Pictures are? Does it belong in a category with Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, etc? For me, the only film this year that can hang with those amazing flicks is Inglourious Basterds. It is a landmark film. As my friend Malcolm said, "The Hurt Locker is this year's Crash." That may be going a little too far, but I do think it will be among those lesser Best Pictures like Shakespeare in Love or Life Is Beautiful that people look back on a few years later and say "What were we thinking?"

My only other complaint from the Academy Awards last night was the make-up category. The entire category! Every one of the nominees were ridiculous and the winner is...Spock ears? I can do Spock ears! Ben Stiller's make-up was more impressive! A real horror tribute would be to give one of this year's horror make-up artists a nod. I mean, give the award to Drag Me to Hell or Zombieland. Heck, even the make-up of Harry Potter and the Whatever was more impressive than any of those nominees.

But the selection of nominees has always been a mystery to me. There were a few big snubs this year that really got under my skin. Those were Where the Wild Things Are, 500 Days of Summer, Anvil: The Story of Anvil, and Moon. It is a travesty that those films weren't nominated--at least, as much of a travesty as something as trivial as movie awards could produce. And often the winners are just as perplexing as the nominees. As my friend Jimmy said, "I wish the academy had to honestly explain why they picked certain winners. Jeff Bridges wins, not so much for his new movie but because its about time...Avatar may have won but we are all fed up with Cameron." Somehow, none of this keeps me from watching. It is kind of sickening. So, here's to another disappointing year at the Oscars. Can't wait until next year!

BLOG: Getting all Mavericky

Joshua Ligairi » 3.06.10 »

Anyone who is interested in seeing me crack under pressure is in luck. There is actual video footage of me falling apart on camera from the Cinequest Film Festival and I am going to share it with you, but not before setting the scene.


CLEANFLIX just had three wonderful screenings at the 20th Cinequest Film Festival (with a special encore screening on the way). Cinequest is a cool, quaint, well-organized fest in San Jose, California. The audiences there have been our best so far. The fest organizes nightly soirees for the filmmakers. All of the venues are close to each other and high quality. But there is one thing about Cinequest that I could do without: the word "Maverick" is closely associated with the festival.

While that may have been cool, indie, and empowering just a few short years ago, the word has since been tainted (at least for me) by the 2008 Presidential election. The first--and only--thing that comes to mind for me now is Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin. If you don't know what I am referring to, you can check out this video. On the other hand, you may want to just avoid watching the video altogether as there is a good chance the word will be permanently ruined for you as well.

A couple of Mavericks.

So, how does this affect me? Really, it doesn't. If Cinequest wants to stick with their nifty catch word, more power to them. So I don't buy a festival t-shirt with MAVERICKS plastered across it--big deal. Sure, I'll think of the fest as that geeky co-worker in Mike Judge's Office Space who refuses to change his name even though he is constantly berated because his given name is Michael Bolton, but what do they care what I think. Actually, Bolton has a point when he exclaims, "Why should I change? He's the one that sucks!" So, I can't fault Cinequest for sticking to their guns in the face of Sarah Palin comparisons. Hell, it is the Mavericky thing to do.

Not much of a Maverick.

Then, all of the sudden and without warning, their little buzz word went from a peripheral annoyance to something that was actually affecting me personally. I was walking through the Camera 12 theater after our second screening of CLEANFLIX when a festival employee grabbed me and put me in front of what appeared to be a web cam. "Do you mind answering a few questions for our site?" he asked. "Not at all," I replied. Then it happened: he hit me with a barrage of lame Maverick-related questions including "How have Maverick innovations played a role in your life and work?" Uhhh... Before you continue reading, just think about how the hell any normal person could answer that question on the spot. "Maverick innovations? What exactly are we talking about here?" I asked. "Whatever you want," he said. The high I was on from our amazing festival Q&As had stalled out and I was in a tail spin.

Don't get me wrong, I like Cinequest and all, but there was no way that any answer to this question could be more than total BS. My mind raced, but before it got anywhere, my mouth opened. In a state of sheer panic, I searched for the words to say, and words that wouldn't bring to mind Tiny Fey's "I just think about what a Maverick would do and I do that." I cracked under the pressure, I fumbled through a stupid answer, I made a fool of myself, and I am posting it here for your judgment. Watch the video here.

Hopefully our next festival won't have such an abstruse theme. Let's see, Florida Film Festival theme: "Film Sweet Film." Huh. Stay tuned for more embarrassingly incomprehensible videos!

BLOG: Avatar-ized avatars

Joshua Ligairi » 03.04.10 »

You are probably familiar with the image of Dwight Schrute from The Office photo-shopped to look like a Navi. At least, I was. Actor Rainn Wilson had it posted as his Twitter "avatar" (get it?) for quite a while.


Blue, beets, Battlestar Gallactica.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty great (I'm a sucker for this movie geek stuff) and so was excited when I stumbled across the Flickr Photostream of Navi Dwight's creator, Avatizer. This guy has created a bunch of these Avatar-ized images, presumably for celebrities to use as their online avatars. Kevin Smith has already joined Rainn Wilson in posting his Avatar-ized avatar on Twitter.

I assume it is only a matter of time before there is an online application that will make me into a Navi so I can have a geeky thumbnail too (the crazy thing is, I didn't even really like the movie!), but until then, check out Avitizer's Flickr Photostream to see a whole lot more. I've posted my favorites below.



My absolute favorite is Pee Wee Herman. Love the detail of only four fingers.



If only Avatar had had the writing and performances of Inglourious Basterds.




My favorite characters from Lost are even cooler blue.




The Navi get religion.



My interest in a Navi Audrey Hepburn is second only to a blue Grace Kelly.



They wouldn't have so much trouble flying that Buckbeak if they'd just plug in their braids.



The King of Pop is even more 80s when he's electric blue.


Tobias from Arrested Development finally lives his dream.



Navi Kevin Smith, too fat to fly a dragon.



Once again, check out the originals and a lot more at Avitizer's Flickr Photostream.