POSTER: Michael Stephenson's Destroy

Joshua Ligairi » 06.29.11 »

Michael Paul Stephenson is from my same geographic area and religious background. He's also a documentary filmmaker and we share a lot of common friends both in and out of the entertainment business. Zack Carlson was in Mike's first film, (the hit documentary) Best Worst Movie, of which I am a big fan. Zack also penned a favorite book of mine, Destroy All Movies!!!, which through an odd turn of events, I will be directing a documentary adaptation of.

Those random connections notwithstanding, I'm really looking forward to seeing Destroy, a new film which Mike will direct from Zack's script, as a rabid genre film fan.

The set up is amazing. According to The Hollywood Reporter: "In Destroy, vampires don't exist, but that doesn't stop a well-intentioned would-be vampire hunter from leaving a trail of blood-splattered wooden stakes across Bavaria. While he thinks he's saving the world, he is mistakenly murdering innocent old men." Genius. Add it to the list of films I wish I'd thought of. Report's THR, "Destroy will shoot in Eastern Europe and is in the early stages of casting."

Anyway, this is all old news, but I recently stumbled across this (AMAZING) early artwork for the film online and I got excited about the project all over again. Thought I'd share the poster and my anticipation here. I'm super excited for Mike to be able to make this transition into fictional filmmaking so easily. I'm also excited for Zack to go from film programmer to filmmaker. There is also the chance that this will help out my collaboration with Zack on the Destroy All Movies!!! documentary. If you are at all interested based on the concept of poster, you should also read this nice little interview with Mike and Zack by the great Devin Faraci over at at Badass Digest: http://bit.ly/i1bPFP

BLOG: Regional film watching

Joshua Ligairi » 06.22.11 »

It wouldn't surprise me if I'm alone here, but, just as I enjoy sampling regional cuisine when traveling, I also really enjoy watching films set in an area where I am visiting. Like, a lot.

Not everyone sees the charm in this. I've been asked why I'd want to stay inside and watch a movie about a place when you can actually go out and see a place? It's a good question, but it misses the point. I'm always up for a local outdoor adventure. In fact, my watching-a-movie-on-location obsession has much to do with my majorly-geekish activity of movie-location-sight-seeing. I love going out and finding those cinematic landmarks. But, actually viewing the films in the location has an extra immersive quality on top of it. In New York City? Got to watch me some Woody Allen films. In Spain? I may undertake an entire Almodovar marathon. Riding a train? I'll probably have Murder on the Orient Express on my iPod. Seriously.

Those are broad stokes, of course, but I get down to specifics too. For instance, as tonal preparation before leaving on my recent trip to Alaska, I watched The Edge, Into the Wild, Grizzly Man, Insomnia, and 30 Days of Night. There was also the time some friends and I took a TV deep into the woods (with a 100 yards of extension cord) and watched the Blair Witch Project in the forrest in the middle of the night. Where else would you want to see that movie for the first time?

So, now I'm on an extended stay in San Francisco and trying to sample from movies set here, but because I am in a strange land without my own stellarly-curated DVD collection, I'm relying solely on Netflix Streaming to get me through.

Big mistake. Huge disappointment.

Come on, Netflix! Are you kidding me? No streaming for Zodiac, Vertigo, Bullitt, Maltese Falcon, A View to a Kill, The Rock, Escape From Alcatraz, Milk, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Birds, Dirty Harry, Dark Passage, What's Up Doc ?, So I Married An Axe Murderer or even Funny People (which is stretching anyway because it just has a brief aside in Sausalito)! I've tried to get through The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill twice without any luck. I will give you credit for The Conversation, Netflix, and I will watch it tonight, but you need to up your game! They've overlooked so many classics, it is sickening.

I'm sure this (likely) piece of crap will be available soon, however:


I realize that this is a pretty weird practice, but I can't be totally alone on this. I think most people watch movies from the archive depending on their mood. If anyone else enjoys this slight eccentricity, or has one of their own, please let me know. Oh, and if anyone out there has any watch-worthy Bay Area suggestions (that Netflix is streaming), I'm all ears. I still have a few days.

A little PS: I was walking past Fisherman's Warf to catch the Muni today and I walked right past the Fog City Diner, featured in the "being electrocuted" scene from So I Married an Axe Murderer. I had no idea it was a real place. In fact, I would have bet cash money that was a set because I'd never seen anything like it in San Francisco...until today.

Update » Rise of the Planet of the Apes was, shockingly, not a "piece of crap." It's actually a pretty decent film and was quite a fun viewing experience. I'd happily watch it anytime I'm in San Francisco (though I still prefer Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home for my SFO sci-fi fix).

BLOG: Get outta my space!

Joshua Ligairi » 06.09.11 »

I have a hard time accepting change. Example: I finally got around to canceling my MySpace account last night and was immediately worried that I might have been too hasty. On the plus side, Rachel is worse than me. She begged me not to close it for about five minutes "for nostalgic reasons." Her last login was in 2009.

Still, once she had planted that seed of doubt, I started to second guess myself. They don't make it easy on you either. There is a lot of begging and pleading with a two day window to change your mind. It's like breaking it off with a stalker.

Man, what a disaster that profile was. Revisiting it was a lesson to myself that I can't handle too much freedom. I run amok. First off all, those terrible layouts. I could never find one that truly expressed who I was--or even one without glittery flowers on it. Visiting other people's profiles was worse. The layouts were always annoyingly overdone and took forever to load with five different songs playing over the top of each other. Just an awful mess.

I had finally settled on a nice, clean, Wes Anderson-themed layout. Why? Because Bottle Rocket was one of my favorite films in high school. Okay...

My profile name was "Joshua is Magic." Yes, a reference to Sarah Silverman's stand up DVD Jesus is Magic but why? This is why I have never kept a journal and blog very little. I cringe when I look back.

Anyway, glad to be done with MySpace for the most part. I decided to at least grab some of the pictures from my profile that I wasn't sure I had anywhere else. Please find them below.

One thing I will miss is seeing Rachel's profile image, a scan of the peel of a tangerine she had eaten at work (above). Totally random, but when I saw it, I got what she meant about nostalgia.

Also, I liked the music on my page. My profile used to play music by my friend Chris' band, Mr. Fusion and the Flux Capacitor, upon visiting the page (a function I think they did away with). So, if you'd like, let's do the time warp together and click on this player as you enjoy the photos. It's almost like it's five years ago!

For whatever reason, I still haven't cancelled the Icarus A&E MySpace page, despite the fact that, before today, I hadn't logged on in a year. We'll see if it pays off when this whole Facebook / Twitter thing comes crumbling down.

TRAILER: Errol Morris' Tabloid

Joshua Ligairi » 06.09.11 »

Here's the first look at a trailer for what seems to be another entry in the "Film I Wish I'd Made" pantheon. If Errol Morris' new documentary, TABLOID (about the alleged abduction of Mormon missionary), is even a fraction as tantalizing as this trailer is, we're in for quite a treat.

LIST: Movie Brain Rot

Joshua Ligairi » 06.06.11 »

In the spirit of the last post (and what seems to be an on-going pattern of patting ourselves on the back--someone has to), I thought I'd post a recent Twitter list that included Cleanflix. And, if I may digress briefly, I thought it comical that no matter what list we make, we always seem to come in as the last entry (more evidence here and here).

Anyway, this Twitter list hash-tagged "Not Your Typical Doc" was tweeted today by Movie Brain Rot, a wonderful cult film/geek culture podcast (that is much more interesting and original than that description sounds):


#1 - "WHOLE" (2003) - Check out this doc about folks who feel the need or want to be amputees: http://imdb.to/mPOYxd #NotYourTypicalDoc

#2 - "B.I.K.E." (2005) - A doc exploring bicycle gangs in NY, but delves deep into one man's pain http://imdb.to/loQclT #NotYourTypicalDoc

#3 -"Cinemania" (2002)- this doc takes movie watching to an obsessive level. Must watch for film geeks http://imdb.to/Mt9WM #NotYourTypicalDoc

#4 -"I Think We're Alone Now" (2008)- Two fans claim to be in love (stalk) w/ 80s rocker Tiffany http://imdb.to/cecJ1M #NotYourTypicalDoc

#5 -"Cleanflix" Dir: Andrew James & Joshua Ligairi, Question what should or shouldn't be edited out in film http://imdb.to/mKlL61 #NotYourTypicalDoc


It's a pretty strange list and I'm definitely glad to be a part of it. I'll be searching out B.I.K.E. and I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW because of it. Movie Brain Rot has some previous tweet lists posted on their site. Check out the original list on Twitter.

SCREEN CAP: Great films in 2010

Cleanflix has shown up on a few lists since the new year, which is a really nice surprise since it hasn't had any proper distribution yet. I enjoyed this random Mubi user's list the most so far because we are in such ridiculous company. God, bless you, random sir! Your impeccable taste made my day!