What is Movie News After Dark? Tonight, it’s hanging on by a thread, as we enter Day Four of Dear Leader Neil Miller’s Mental Health Break Staycation. While he’s off eating the finest BBQ that FSR’s hometown of Austin, Texas has to offer and Instagraming all the way, the rest of us are slaving over our keyboards and monitors to bring you the best content we possibly can. Of course, for tonight’s round of MNAD, that includes kitty GIFs, Battleship love letters, and something about the world’s most green soda missing the boat on a marketing opportunity and saddling up with the wrong superhero (to super-sad effect). It’s Movie News After Dark! And, man, is it tired.
I won’t bury the lede here, folks, some people love Peter Berg‘s Battleship. Our Cole Abaius is not one of them. But guess who is! Huffington Post’s Mike Ryan! The scribbler has penned a love letter to the film, and while I can’t quite agree with the sentiment, he brings up some interesting and articulate points. And, as Ryan is both a friend and a colleague, I can assure you – he’s not joking and he’s not trolling.
In case you’re not yet aware, I am a woman. The only woman on FSR’s editorial staff, actually, and that means that when I’m in charge (or at least under the delusion of being in charge), you fine readers get cat GIFs. Whoa, whoa! Not just any cat GIFs! Catvengers GIFs. You heard me. Check out Captain Ameowrica, Iron Mew, Nick Furry, Agent Phil Pawson, and everyone’s favorite, Lokitty over Keyyu’s charming Tumblr. Mewssemble!
Friend o’ FSR, the esteemed William B. Goss, has assembled his list of summer indie movies he already loves over at the Orlando Weekly. There’s some great stuff here, and proof positive that Goss’s first trip to Sundance was a wise one, as a number of his picks debuted in Park City this past January.
Oh, my God, someone was dumb enough to pay for critics Eric D. Snider and Jeff Bayer to go to the Cannes Film Festival! AHAHAHAH–wait. I helped pay for that. Check out the boys’ first podcast and second podcast (bonus baguette-eating!) from France to see just how things are going so far.
Instagram is cool. Proof positive? My two favorite Instagram accounts. First up, actor/director/writer/stuntperson/all-around cool guy Nash Edgerton is currently using his to send out rad pictures of movie magic stunts he’s working on. Follow him on Instagram with the user name “NashEdgerton” (uh, duh). Second pick? The Film Stage’s own Raffi Asdourian – a fine fellow and one of the brave souls who bunks with me and Loring at the Sundance Condo of Broken Dreams every year. Asdourian is always Insta-ing cool photos, but he really steps it up when he’s at Cannes. He is also reportedly “partying like a mofo.” Air horn air horn! Follow him with user name “Zaffi.” You will not be disappointed.
Sundance hit Beasts of the Southern Wild has a brand new website, “Welcome to the Bathtub,” and it’s a gorgeous look at the stunning world that director Benh Zeitlin created with his film. There’s also real-time Twitter updating, fun facts about the Bathtub, and more information about the film.
Over at Movies.com, they ask “Is This the Saddest Dark Knight Rises Promotional Display Ever?” And, boy, is it. Jeez. I mean, wow. My heart hurts. Apparently Mountain Dew is continuing to promote the new film by way of a tasty new flavor and some sort of online community called “DEWGothamCity.com” that gives fans points or whatever for buying Dew stuff. I dunno, I stopped reading when I got sad. If you’re going to support this (like, seriously, why didn’t they stump for The Hulk? Duh?), why not just check out the Dew-sponsored Tumbler Tour instead?
A petition up over at Change.org led by Women and Hollywood calls for more female directors to be represented at Cannes and beyond. They note that, “for the 2012 edition, as with the 2010 edition, there are NO FEMALE DIRECTED FILMS in competition, and in the 64 years of the Festival only one woman — Jane Campion — has been awarded the Palme D’Or.” They also include a note from festival director Thierry Fremaux, who said, “I select work on the basis of it actual qualities. We would never agree to select a film that doesn’t deserve it on the basis it was made by a woman…There is no doubt that greater space needs to be given to women within cinema. But it’s not at Cannes and in the month of May that this question needs to be raised, but rather all year and everywhere.” I agree with Fremaux – I am much more interested in worthy films getting recognition, whether they’re directed by a man, a woman, or even a dog, but it’s still a petition worth a look and some serious thought no matter what time of year it is.
I am still really, really on the fence about Steven Soderbergh‘s Magic Mike, but “Entertainment Weekly” has posted a video from their cover shoot with stars Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello, and Matt Bomer, along with a look at both covers from the May 25 issue of the mag. And, oh my, it’s getting, ooh, yes, quite steamy in here. Who am I kidding? I hated that first trailer.
Depending on where you live, you may have already caught Community’s season finale tonight on NBC (starting at 8PM, followed by two more episodes at both 9PM and 9:30PM), but this look at the characters in 8-bit format is too precious to not share. Looks like we’ll be seeing the gang as video game characters, and THR has our first look at them. Ah! How cute is Annie’s side ponytail? And Britta’s little wench get-up! Even crotchety old Pierce looks adorable.
Here’s a very cool teaser poster from Gerard Lough‘s upcoming short Ninety Seconds. The future-set film focuses on a world where surveillance is all the rage, and people who are good at it get great gigs watching others. But when one of these “techs” take on what sounds like a routine job, everything goes belly-up and it looks like the tables are turned.
A little bit of FSR business here, as our giveaway for two tickets to see Dallas Hallam and Patrick Horvath‘s Entrance at the Downtown Independent tomorrow night (with a Q&A moderated by Ti West afterwards) is now closed. The winner is “turboblip,” who I think the Good Ship IFC Midnight has already emailed. Congrats!
To wrap up this evening, another call for you to support Julia Marchese‘s documentary about the New Beverly Cinema. Luke featured the doc’s Kickstarter page in last night’s MNAD, but with just six days left to fund Out of Print, the project definitely deserves another push.