Continue reading »]]> In the spirit of international cooperation comes INTRUDERS, a new film that kicks it old school in its tale about two children — a boy and a girl — in two, different countries who find themselves menaced by… ssssssomething… that visits them in the middle of the night with intentions that extend well beyond just tucking them in.

Clive Owen and Carice Van Houten star as the girl’s parents, Pilar Lopez De Ayala as the boy’s, and the project was helmed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, whose previous efforts include the well-regarded zombie sequel 28 WEEKS LATER. Hey, we’re just glad this isn’t another entry in the well-worn “found footage” genre — we’re so sick of wildly shaking cameras that we’ve started popping Dramamine before entering the theater.

The film’s opening in UK on the 27th and will be getting to the US in April. Meantime, get your creep on with the trailer below.

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There Can Be Only One: World Champion Judah Friedlander.

You’ve got to admire the man who, having reached the highest pinnacles of human achievement, still finds it within himself to make the occasional descent and spend time with us lesser mortals. God knows, comedian and actor Judah Friedlander doesn’t need to bother with our petty activities; as universally acknowledged World Champion, he exists on a more exalted plane. Yet he has deigned this year to once again make regular day trips out to Queens, New York, where he graces the set of NBC’s 30 ROCK in his role as sketch writer (and trucker hat model) Frank Rossitano. One can only hope his cast-mates appreciate the effort.

So when my sponsor, Samsung, began their own quest for excellence with their Stage competition, I knew that I had to find out, for the sake of the contestants, what life is like when one is bestowed with the highest of accolades. Judah was gracious enough to give me a glimpse into his illustrious life, as well as discuss how it led to the creation of his book, How to Beat Up Anybody. Click on the player to hear the interview.

MEET JUDAH FRIEDLANDER: WORLD CHAMPION

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THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE WORLD CHAMPION
BUT YOU CAN HELP TALENTED HOPEFULS ACHIEVE
THEIR OWN DREAMS
VOTE NOW AT SAMSUNG STAGE!

CHECK THE VIDEO!

Continue reading »]]> I know the past can come back to haunt you, but who knew that my childhood icons would be making guest appearances at this late date? Hanna-Barbera’s classic cartoon character, Yogi Bear, had his debut some fifty-three years ago, yet when my sponsor, Müller, built an epic commercial around a whole host of pop culture personages, there was Yogi — along with another, somewhat more junior HB creation, Muttley — holding front-and-center in the crowd, clearly the leader of the gang. (You can check out the ad itself and a neat making-of video below.)

That piqued my interest: How does an affable, animated rapscallion born pre-Camelot manage to be beloved by generations who weren’t even glimmers in their parents’ eyes when he was created? I decided the only way to find out was to reach out to the man who knows: Jerry Beck, animation historian and operator of the respected news and history site, cartoonbrew.com.

We had a good, wide-ranging conversation — hear it by clicking the player above.

“Müller Wünderful Stuff”

“The Making of Müller Wünderful Stuff”

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Untitled (Slide) (2011)

I’m a lucky guy. I’ve wanted a reason to break out of my cramped, unkempt studio and check out Carsten Höller: Experience, the new exhibit at the New Museum that provides a comprehensive survey of the German-born artist known for his immersive, sensory-confounding — and sometimes adrenaline-pumping — installations, and along comes Air France to sponsor my coverage.

And why not? Not only is Air France the gateway to Paris, New York’s only equal as a cultural capital (I’m not saying which city is actually better, but only one of them has original Picassos and Shake Shack), but the airline tends to express the romantic thrill of travelling to their home turf (yeah, there may be grungy areas in France, but I can’t think of any, offhand) by coming up with imagery like this:

Which is just a lovely way of expressing the feeling through pure kinetics.

Giant Triple Mushrooms (2010)

Interestingly, Carsten Höller is himself no stranger to employing kinetics as part of his toolset for provoking intense, and frequently visceral, responses from his viewers. Having left a career in science in the early 90′s, Höller has translated his clinical background into works that range from the grandly whimsical — the lobby of the New Museum boasts a garden of oversized mushrooms that Lewis Carroll would have felt right at home in — to the powerfully immersive. “Viewers” rarely remain passive observers in the artist’s efforts: Included in the exhibit are such works as Experience Corridor, a series of rooms containing strange, sensory experiments (most curious: The Pinocchio Effect, in which strategic application of a medical vibrator convinces one that one’s nose is growing); Giant Psycho Tank, a sensory deprivation pool; Mirror Carousel, in which the glistening replication of a stock, amusement park thrill-ride is paradoxically trimmed to a serene pace; and — the big draw for this exhibition — Untitled (Slide), a corkscrewing tube that briskly transports daring visitors from the museum’s fourth floor down to the second, landing them into the visual bombardment of a pulsing, Höller light installation.

The works have a singularly unique way of cutting through intellectual concerns to provoke pure, emotional responses — interesting for pieces that frequently present themselves as the products of an especially fanciful laboratory. I wanted to find out more about Höller’s motivations, so in addition to getting some interesting pics of the exhibit, I also spoke with associate curator Gary Carrion-Murayari. Click on the player to hear the discussion, and check out the link to the slide show below that

CHECK OUT FULL SLIDE & VIDEO SHOW
AT THE HUFFINGTON POST

BTW: I’m not likely to be shaken from my conviction that New York was, is, and forever will be the center of the cultural universe, but if anyone wants to check out what’s doing in Paris, hit up Air France, get yourself over there, and compile the evidence that’ll make me eat my words.

Continue reading »]]> I won’t hide it: I’m New York City born-and-bred. Concrete was my cradle, and carbon-monoxide-tinged air my mother’s milk (a strained analogy, but apt). Which is to say that I know squat about life on the farm. Don’t know how reap, don’t know how to herd, don’t even think of approaching me about animal husbandry. When I want produce, I get myself to the supermarket two blocks away; when I want milk, I want to pour a glass, not squeeze a teat. Bottom line: There may be grit under my fingernails, but it’s the asphalt captured from clawing my way to survival in these mean, mean streets. And that’s just the way I like it.

So when our sponsor, Samsung, came up with the following video…

…I have to admit I felt deeply for the office drones. I know how I’d be feeling if I was cast out of my element to that extreme, and I’m just glad those guys brought their Galaxy Tabs along to help them cope.

Much to my surprise, though, it turns out that not everyone here in the five boroughs shares my genetic deficiencies in the field of agriculture. Turns out there are people city-wide who have taken relatively small plots of earth bared from the metropolis’ concrete heart and turned them into veritable cornucopias of hearty produce. And when GreenThumb, the city office that oversees these urban farms, invited me out to the Bronx to witness their annual harvest celebration, I had to go and have a look. Here’s what I found:

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Continue reading »]]> I don’t want to be the one to tell the people at Samsung their job, but I think it’s high-time somebody told the people at Samsung their job. I mean, they’re a good sponsor and alla that — if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to sit down with show biz legend Joe Franklin — but really, I’m not sure they’re all that much in tune with what average, ordinary people are like. For instance, take a look at the video they’re passing around, promoting their Stage talent competition:

Okay, despite the best warnings of bio-ethicists everywhere, it’s clear that there’s a lab now that’s whipping up human/animal hybrids. In this particular case, someone’s taken the genes of the cutest little gol’-durn girl in the world and crossed them with a flying squirrel. Some people may not have problems with that, but just wait until it gets further into fall and the kid starts stashing acorns under her bed. Not feeling so cocky now, are you, Dr. Frankenstein?

I think it’s swell that Samsung wants to encourage real people to discover the talent within, but, then, I want to actually see real people doing that. So I decided to go to a place right here in New York City that actually helps anyone with the desire to untap their natural gift for flight. A short trip to the Hudson River and Trapeze School New York, and here’s the story I came back with:

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Continue reading »]]> So the sponsored video below, The Keeper, was one of the winners of the MOFILM Cannes 2011 competition. And if you’re an astute, industry-insider like me, you’re probably thinking, Wow… MOFILM winner. What the hell’s a MOFILM?

Turns out the folk at MOFILM are kinda crowdsourcing matchmakers. They bring in a number of sponsors — such as Sovereign/Santander for the video below (other big names in this particular competition included AT&T and Coca-Cola Zero) — set up an intriguing challenge (in the case below: tell the backstory behind the transactions on a debit card statement), and let the filmmakers work their creative magic for Valuable Cash and Prizes, frequently including travel to some sort of media-related event. Upcoming competitions offer trips to Festival do Rio and the BFI London Film Festival; for The Keeper, filmmakers Chris Bailey and Jake Naish got to go to the advertising-oriented Cannes Lions Festival, and hang out with Jesse Eisenberg. They also got $8000.00 for their troubles, if you care about such things.

The MOFILM folk also posted the runners-up, you can get a look at them here, And if you think you’re MOFILM material, best to get started here.

Continue reading »]]> You know you got it, you know it’s good, you just need that push to get your unique talent onto the stage and before an awaiting public. Well, our sponsor for this episode, Samsung, is ready to give you your chance with Samsung Mobile Stage, a competition that will grant a handful of standout entrants the potential for fame and fortune (not a mammoth fortune, mind, but tidy enough).

But perhaps you’re hesitating before stepping onto that stage. Perhaps you need some sage advice from an entertainment insider before taking the plunge. Well, kid, look no further, ’cause Mighty Movie Podcast has tracked down veteran talk-show host and all-around show-biz maven Mr. Joe Franklin. Over the course of fifty years, Joe has welcomed the likes of Barbara Streisand, The Ramones, Frank Sinatra and They Might Be Giants onto his stage — when he talks about talent, who’s got it and what it takes to offer it up to the world, he knows from whence he speaks.

Enlightenment awaits. Just click on the player.

Find Out More About
SAMSUNG MOBILE STAGE

The Ramones on JOE FRANKLIN

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Guillaume Dolmans in Heineken's "The Date."

So, another fun little sponsored post for y’all. This time Heineken’s the backer: They’ve got a new episode in what appears to be their ongoing series of “Nightlives of Really Cool Guys” videos. This one’s called “The Date,” and in about a minute and a half it depicts the kind of night you’ve always wished you could show your date — you know: become the life of the nightclub, wow the kitchen staff, best a magician, battle a paper dragon, invent your own geeky-neat dance moves — but probably can’t. The star is French actor Guillaume Dolmans, who’d probably have a nice career ahead of him if only there was some place in show biz for a remarkably handsome guy who looks like he knows all the right moves. Pffft, as if.

We got a chance to talk to Dolmans about his rather unusual transition to the acting world and his experience shooting “The Date.” Click on the player to hear the interview.

HEINEKEN’S
“The Date”

Guillaume Dolmans in
NOIR STANDARD

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