Daily Loaf

Routes Music is a documentary film acting as a roving music census, taking in the true musical passions (and disgusts) of the American people. We’re traveling all across the country, stopping along the way to interview local bands, take footage of live performances and chat with anyone and everyone. Learn more about the documentary here; check out all previous entries here.

“Where eeez yer pipe?”

A 6’4 security guard towered over me, glaring.

“Where eeez yer pipe?” he repeated in a thick Islands accent.

“What?” I replied, not sure he really just asked me what I think he just asked me.

“Where eeez yer pipe?” he asked again.

“My what?” I said again, still shocked.

“Yer pipe. Yer pipe.”

Now he was aggravated. I’m enjoying feigning ignorance.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, man.”

The guard switches tactics.

“Drugs?”

I smile.

“No, no drugs.”

“OK, go ahead.”

So began my very first experience at an extended-day music festival, and only my second time ever seeing the seminal jam band, Phish. Luckily, the rest of the three-day fest at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. went smoother than my entry.

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She had never seen the Godfather. So I made her a meal she couldn’t refuse.

When Steebo told me that she had never seen the Godfather, I felt a dinner coming on. I had always liked the first two Godfather films, but I found a new appreciation for them upon reading a fascinating article in Vanity Fair. The article recounts the turbulent making of the film in the face of opposition from the mob. The classic’s stormy creation is a saga in itself.

A screening of the Godfather is a great excuse to make an indulgent Italian feast that seems to go on forever. I write not to analyze the movie, but to recount my own effort to cook a meal that could somehow measure up to its greatness.

I initially figured on a couple courses during the film. As it turns out, life imitated art, and the meal soon took on a tumultuous life of its own. As I shopped that afternoon with a vague menu in my mind, my ambition and attitude grew. I invited a few friends over and cobbled a menu together. By the end of the evening, I felt downright Italian, more hotheaded Sonny than steely Michael or the wise godfather. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. Today, we invite you to next Thursday’s screening about the wonders of Warped Tour — without all the sweat, mud and mosh pits. Don’t worry, it’ll still be fun.

If you thought Warped Tour was over, think again. Next Thursday, movie theaters across America screen the Vans Warped Tour 15th Anniversary Celebration, a two-hour tribute to the beloved music fest and its talented artists. Warped Tour is often associated with punk music and culture, but this showcases the diverse bands that have not only played the outdoor concert, but become known because of it. The screening includes live performances, red-carpet clips and behind the scenes footage from artists like NOFX, Bad Religion, Blink-182, Ice T, Katy Perry (pictured), All-American Rejects, The Aggrolites, Underoath and more. Warped fans can get a glimpse into the lives of their favorite bands, and all in the comfort of air conditioning. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Thurs., Sept. 17, 8 p.m., Citrus Park Stadium 20, 7999 Citrus Park Town Center Mall, Tampa, 12.50, visit fathomevents.com for a full list of participating theaters. – Lily Reisman

Crank 2: High Voltage can classified as an opportunity to watch an amalgam of a violent video game, an overactive music video and a 4th of July fireworks spectacular thrown into your face. Will its DVD release electrify you?

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Sam Raimi, the director behind the Spider-Man trilogy, The Evil Dead series and Drag Me To Hell, is set to direct the upcoming live-action World of Warcraft movie announced by Activison-Blizzard last week. Not only is the director of Spider-Man behind the impending blockbuster, but the producer and production house behind The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, Charles Roven and Atlas Entertainment, will be at the helm of the Warcraft movie as well.

If you ignore Spider-Man 3 for just a moment, this team seems like it might do justice to a video game in movie form. Could it finally be?!

Press Release:

Blizzard Entertainment(R) and Legendary Pictures Sign Sam Raimi to Direct Upcoming Warcraft(R) Movie

Raimi, acclaimed director of the blockbuster Spider-Man series, will bring the forces of the Horde and the Alliance to life in epic live-action film. Charles Roven’s Atlas Entertainment will produce alongside Raimi’s Stars Road Entertainment.
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Each July in San Diego, Christmas comes early for nerds and movie lovers alike in the form of Comic-Con, the nation’s largest comic/movie/game/geek convention.  While CL’s Kevin Hopp covered the movie news that his this weekend, I’ll be covering what many of the comic fans like me truly went to see: the costumed women of Comic-Con.

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Want to see new conscious-eating movie Food, Inc. but strapped for cash from your big backyard garden summer renovation? Chipotle’s got your back.

At 7:30 p.m. this Thursday, July 30, at Tampa Theater, Chipotle Mexican Grill is sponsoring Read the rest of this entry »

Among people who are concerned about where their food comes from, and how that affects the daily lives of everyone in the world, there are some fundamental issues that are a given: the ills of factory-farming animals; the insidious prevalence of corn-based products in almost everything we eat; the consolidation of our food supply under just a few corporate entities; what happens when organic goes corporate; the looming specter of Monsanto; and the causes of the West’s diabetes epidemic. Everyone’s already up on all that, right?

Then again, considering the growing market-share of fast food dollar menus, maybe not. That’s where the newish movie Food, Inc. comes in handy with its glossy and shallow take on the usual suspects in America’s maimed relationship with food. Think of it as the Greatest Hits of our disfunctional food supply, complete with legends Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) back to reprise their roles as the last decade’s most influential food figures. Read the rest of this entry »

Be sure to check CL’s Movies & Television site for reviews of this summer’s biggest movies.

There is only one genre that is able to entertain us, capture our imagination and provide a glimpse of the world after the machines take over and enslave mankind. Of course, I’m talking about Sci-Fi. The genre has many different subsections, and Wikipedia can fill you in if your curious about what constitutes “science fiction.” For my purposes, a Sci-Fi movie is one that includes some combination of time travel, space adventure, futuristic ray guns and aliens. All of the following movies have proved influential on the genre and society in general — not to mention my childhood.

So, here’s my Top 15 Sci-Fi movies of all time, starting with one honorable mention. Please let me know what you think in the comments section!

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Here’s a sentence you don’t see very often: “The video game is better than the movie.”
Most of the time movie-based games are rush jobs, made to cash in on whatever success the movie might have at the box office. They have a low shelf-life and even lower expectations among gamers. Most of the time, they’re a safe bet to avoid. But what about when the movie’s really bad (like X-Men Origins: Wolverine)? Will the game be that much worse, or will it manage to overcome its nasty origins and work as a good game all on its own?
In this case, it’s absolutely clear that it’s the movie pulling the game down, and not the other way around. I can say with some confidence that the vast majority of the problems I had with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (the game) are directly related to story and plot elements they were saddled with from the film. Whenever the game developers had freedom or pushed boundaries, the game excelled.

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So, one day young New York wage slave Julie Powell decides that she’s going to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s classic tome Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1. In one year. And, of course, she’s going to blog the whole thing.

Soon enough, national attention for the Julia & Julia Project came knocking at her door. After newspaper, magazine and television appearances, publishers starting throwing book deals her way, the holy grail of all food bloggers.

But a movie? Is there any cooking blogger out there who harbors even the remotest dreams that the kitchen lives that they portray on the interweb could be turned into a movie?

Julie & Julia’s release date is scheduled for August 7. Scripted and directed by Nora Ephron. Starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Sheesh, now thousands of food bloggers will have even loftier dreams to be shattered.

New trailer for Julia & Julia after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

There are two ways you can go when filming a comic book movie these days: adaptation or recreation. For the big franchise heroes with an immense amount of history behind them, adaptation has worked well at re-introducing the movie-going public to iconic characters. You open yourself up to lots of bitching by comic fanboys when you condense or expand too much outside of accepted continuity, but directors like Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) and Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) have done a fine job of re-introducing the classics to a new, and huge, audience.

Start recreating movies from stand-alone graphic novels — like 2007’s muscle-bound 300 — and directors are faced with both a simpler and more difficult path. In many cases, the dialogue can be pulled straight from word boxes and the scenes are already story-boarded by the original artist. All that’s left is making it look consistent with the original, and making tough choices about what to change.

Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is a competent — if not inspired — recreation of Alan Moore’s seminal piece of superhero deconstruction. When problems do show up, it’s usually the result of Snyder’s choices outside of the source material. Read the rest of this entry »

……….but she can rap like a grand m*f*!

Ms. Terry Moore, GIFF’s 2009 Opening Night honoree, appears to be making a career comeback of sorts- some 40 years in the making — on the Canadian TV reality show Old Skool with Terry and Gita.

Apparently, VH1 passed on the show after a couple episodes, but there’s no stopping a dream, 642 satellite channels and multinational cross-border telecommunications.

According to the Program Guide on Canadian’s Star TV (episode 1) “Porn star Jesse Jane guides Terry through the ‘crazy’ world of pornography”, and (another hilarious episode) ”Terry and Gita immerse themselves in the Muslim culture by donning traditional Muslim garb and riding camels!”

But wait, there more (or should that be Moore?)

The lady is a triple threat! Fo shizzle! Check out her talented rapping below, dog)

Word!

… or at least you ought to try and see when you have some free time and the inclination to stretch your cinematic imagination. On the eve of a new year of discovery and hype (Sundance starts tomorrow, January 15th), it’s as good a time as any to see for yourself why indie filmmakers and distributors still pin their hopes on the festival that got its improbable start in the snowy mountains above Salt Lake City, Utah. Between Netflix and Blockbuster and your local library, you should be able to find most of these.

John Lurie and Richard Edson go to Florida in Stranger than Paradise

Sundance really hit its stride in 1985. Before that it was called the Utah/US Film Festival and hadn’t yet been sponsored by Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute. In 1985 it got a new name and gave the world an introduction to two of the most prolific and exciting filmmaking teams. Jim Jarmusch brought his second feature (following the largely unheralded debut film Permanent Vacation), and introduced the world to his own peculiar take on America in Stranger than Paradise. The Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) stunned audiences with their visceral take on pulp film noir in Blood Simple. Their ability to create intensity through memorable images – a shovel dragging on the pavement, shafts of light that stab through the darkness as bullets penetrate the walls that shelter a terrified Frances McDormand – signaled the emergence of a powerful new team of storytellers. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, I caught the sneak preview of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett’s odd new movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Long as hell (159 minutes!), it borders on chick flick, although open-minded men might find the story intriguing. The film (written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920’s) documents a love story between Benjamin, who is born “old” (the hideous baby creature has cataracts, arthritis and wrinkled skin) and grows younger and a girl/woman who ages normally, Blanchett’s character Daisy. Thought-provoking and contrary to what a couple of my friends predicted, the plot doesn’t sink to pedophilia levels. But perhaps in the hardcore porn world…

Things I liked: The fascinating tale itself, the superb acting by Pitt and Blanchett (although she only shows up midway through), the emphasis on family and its importance (thus the Christmas Day release date), how the oft-depressing subject of death is handled, and the film’s ability to make you think about implications of Benjamin’s circumstances (”what would I do?”).

Things I didn’t like: The addition of real-world themes like the overlay of Hurricane Katrina – it felt forced and useless, the special effects for Pitt as an old manchild were a bit lame, the length – drama-ladened scenes droned on, and the lack of addressing the race relations present in the time periods (not everyone loved each other, especially in the south).

Definitely worth a look, even at $10. It’s nominated for five Golden Globes, including Best Picture.

Download.

Today marks the inaugural episode of the Reel Projections podcast, hosted by yours truly and fellow movie lover/CL Associate Editor Joe Bardi. Featured is the first part of my recent interview with comic-book artist Dave Gibbons, who talks about his new book, Watching the Watchmen, as well as the upcoming film based on his seminal graphic novel he helped to create with writer Alan Moore, Watchmen.

I had a dream the other night that I was on a transatlantic flight on its way to Africa. I was sitting next to a man in a brown jacket, clown pants and Jesus sandals who kept repeating, “Down we go.” That should have given me a clue to the unfortunate end to my dream, or nightmare, but it didn’t. Suddenly, the no-smoking sign started flashing a blood-red color and the pilot got on the intercom and said something along the lines of, “We are going down, hold on to your fucking hats.” I couldn’t really make out what he said, but I’ve always thought that would be the best way to break the news to the passengers. If we’re going to die, I don’t want to hear, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to bring an unfortunate situation to your attention. Blah, blah, blah.” Cut to the chase, man! Anyway, to make a long story short, we plummeted thousands of feet into an island and, magically, I was the only survivor. That is the point when I woke up. And for some batshit crazy reason, the first thing I thought of was an episode of The Office when the employees play Desert Island. This taught me something about myself: Apparently, if I were the sole survivor of a plane crash on a deserted island, the most important thing to me would be what movies I was carrying on me and how I could watch them. So, if that were to happen, and if there were a television and DVD player on this said island, these are the movies I would take… Read the rest of this entry »