Creative Loafing presents Ed Loves Bacon

By popular demand, Paramount Pictures announced screenings of their underground horror flick Paranormal Activity midnight tonight at Atlantic Station.

Over 230,000 people have requested the studio release the film through an innovative distribution promotional website, paranormalmovie.com. On the site, users “demand” the showing of the film selecting their city or by adding their city to the growing list. Los Angeles and New York topped the list, while Atlanta ranked 10th in total demand requests followed by Miami and Las Vegas.

In Paranormal Activity, a young couple tries to figure out what’s causing the strange occurrences in their home each night, especially while trying to sleep. Armed with a video camera and low-tech recording devices they soon capture evidence they’re not alone in the house when something forcibly make its presence known to them.

From viewing the trailer, its clear the film was shot as a mocumentary in the same vein as its low-budget predecessor, The Blair Witch Project. According to various reviews and viewer comments, the film is truly unnerving, and the website bloody-disgusting.com describes it as “one of the scariest movies of all time.”

While that remains to be seen, there are reports that director Steven Spielberg had his own account of paranormal activity while viewing the movie. In the Paranormal Activity Wikipedia entry, its noted that Spielberg witnessed a bedroom door inexplicably close and lock from the inside while he viewed the film. He returned the screener in a garbage bag stating that his copy was haunted.

Paranormal Activity, Screening October 2, 2009 12:01 am, Not Rated, Directed by Oren Peli, Stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. Exclusive midnight showing at Regal Atlantic Station.

It’s hard to peg down the message in director Doug Pray’s latest documentary Art & Copy. There’s no cause to champion, no historic precedence, not even a controversial notion. Instead, the audience is engaged in a brief, candid discussion on the ad industry’s evolution and the successes that the changes spawned through a series of anecdotal interviews.

Art & Copy is essentially a series of one-on-one interviews with some of the ad industry’s innovators and trendsetters. Pray masterfully stitches together an open forum on creativity, its genius, and its impact with past and present ad directors and copy writers who were responsible for some of the world’s most popular ad campaigns. While the faces, names and companies may draw a blank for the average viewer, one immediately connects with the dialogue about their various successes.

Continue reading Art & Copy misses its own point

(Photo courtesy of Seventh Art Films)

BLUE MAN DUPED: Sully (Sam Worthington) gets schooled on nightlife on Pandora by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) in Jame Cameron's Avatar.

On Friday, August 21, over 400 Atlantans made their way to AMC Theaters to view 15 minutes of the James Cameron’s upcoming epic, Avatar. As part of “Avatar Day,” viewers were given an exclusive look at scenes from the film in IMAX 3D.

Long lines in the hundreds formed at both AMC Southlake Pavilion and AMC Barrett Commons as eager fans waited to see the screening of the Avatar preview. Attendees reserved their seats by registering online at www.avatarmovie.com.

Cameron introduced the preview welcoming the curious crowds to a sneak peek of the out of this world film. In the preview, we’re introduced to Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a crippled war veteran given a second chance by being downloaded into the body of a Nav’l, a native humanoid species on the hostile planet Pandora. Once linked to his avatar, Sully embarks on a journey of adventure and self discovery.

Across the blogosphere, the preview received mixed reviews. Around the web, people have begun calling the film Dances with wolves in space. After the screening, twitterers couldn’t wait to share their opinions of the preview.

Rubber_Rabbit: After meeting James Cameron at E3 and watching the #Avatar teaser I’m adding it to the must watch list. #movies http://ow.ly/l5Xv

Geekanerd: A: I agree with Degan. The #Avatar trailer looks wretched. Advanced Haterism begins now.

Aminojaku: Watched the #Avatar teaser trailer last night on iTunes. Holy crap. OMFG my head exploded does not even begin to describe it.

johnnycocaine: is afraid #avatar is going to basically be Return of the Ewoks.

kclynL: just went to see the screening of #AVATAR… now i’m getting excited for december…wooohooo!!! beyond our imagination movie…

Kneon: Is it just me, or does #Avatar look like a video game? For all the hype I thought the CGI looked fakey.

osulop: #Avatar CGI looked way more convincing in the preview on the big screen in 3D. Only thing I’m not too taken with is the shakycam.

andyroyal: saw the James Cameron #Avatar teaser on Friday, all I can say is O M G!!! I cannot wait for this film to come out or the game from @ubisoft

Cameron’s Avatar is a 3D spectacle but looks and feels at times like a bad acid trip. The blue skinned Nav’l mannerisms do remind you of images of Pre-Colonial Native Americans and even in the 15 minute preview, you get the sense that Cameron is trying to ram a message about humanity down your throat. Cameron proved he’s a genius at sci-fi story telling, but can he pull off a story about blue people on another planet?  I’m hopeful but not sure if he’ll sell this flick to the masses firmly planted here on planet Earth.

Avatar (not yet rated) stars Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana. Film opens nationwide December 18, 2009

As part of the official movie site for Fox’s upcoming teen film, I Love You, Beth Cooper, Hayden Panettiere encourages teens to submit their own video confessions or “Moments of Truth” to be featured in an upcoming commercial for the film.

You can go to the official movie website and click “submit” to post your own video, view submission or if you prefer to be anonymous, you can tweet your moment of truth via the Twitter interface on the page.

According IMDB Here’s what ILUBC is all about:

A nerdy valedictorian proclaims his love for the hottest and most popular girl in school – Beth Cooper (Panettiere) – during his graduation speech. Much to his surprise, Beth shows up at his door that very night and decides to show him the best night of his life.

Definitely one for teens, but the moments of truth submissions (Twitter and YouTube) are pretty interesting.

Ryan Reynolds is scheduled to star in upcoming Deadpool feature film.

Twentieth Century Fox announced that it will begin production on an X-Men franchise spinoff featuring Marvel’s bad guy gone good, Deadpool. This brings up a lot of questions considering in the early releases of the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds is horribly mutated and (spoiler alert!) beheaded.

According to Variety, there’s an easter egg ending to the Wolverine movie in which Deadpool emerges from the rubble and gestures a “shhh” to the viewing audience. Most people saw the ending where Logan appears at a bar in Japan drinking in lament of his now hidden past. This sets the film up for the anticipated sequel which was officially announced on Monday.

For you noobs, Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson is a soldier for hire, who when diagnosed with cancer enlists into the Weapon X program. What emerges is an indestructible nut job with talent for klling and the gift for gab. Wade’s weapon of choice are two katana swords, but in Wade’s hands, really anything is a weapon.

Reynolds portrayal of Deadpool seems to be a natural fit, he’s been playing the quick-witted funny man since his stint on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. But this isn’t the first time Reynolds has wielded a sword in an action film. In Blade: Trinity he plays Hannibal King, a snarky member of the vampire hunting team, The Nightstalkers.

The film will be produced by Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) in conjunction with Marvel. Its also reported that Marvel has also greenlighted two additional spinoff projects from the X-Men franchise; X-Men Origins: Magneto (2011) and X-Men: First Class (TBD). Rumors are still circulating about Halle Berry’s Storm project but nothing confirmed at the moment.

Atlantans love a good party and last week people came out to groove for a good cause.

On Thursday, April 30, people headed to Johns Creek, Ga for a special benefit screening of Screen Media’s upcoming film, Love N’ Dancing. Afterwards party-goers enjoyed a night a great food and dancing as part of the star-filled event at the Daza Dance Ballroom Academy. Portions of the proceeds will benefit The Creative Coalition, a non-profit arts advocacy organization.

According to the studio release, Love N’ Dancing adds a new twist to traditional dance-to-romance movies:

LOVE N’ DANCING is the story of a bored-with-life English teacher who meets a West Coast Swing champion dancer, who have an instant connection. Both feel that the other can fulfill what was missing in their lives. But Jessica’s got a workaholic fiancée who’s not a bad guy when he’s not on his Blackberry, and Jake’s got his former partner Corinne, who just won’t let Jake away from the dangling carrot of a rekindled relationship. Jake and Jessica must try to elude all obstacles, romantic or otherwise, to stay focused on the goal – winning the World Title and winning each other. Will they give in to the pressure or come out like champs?

Love N’ Dancing stars Amy Smart, Tom Malloy, Billy Zane, Caroline Rhea and Rachel Dratch. The film opens in theaters Friday, May 8, 2009.  (All photos by Jeremy Adamo).

Amy Smart and Tom Malloy, co-stars of LOVE N’ DANCING, arriving on red carpet at Daza Dance Ballroom Academy

Amy Smart, Robert Royson (choreographer), Liz Chester (co-owner of Daza Dance Academy), Tom Malloy, and Antonio Daza (co-owner Daza Dance Academy) on red carpet.

Liz Chester (4th from left) and guests enjoying dance demonstrations at red carpet after party at Daza Dance Ballroom Academy

West Coast Swing Champions Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollman performing at red carpet after party at Daza Dance Ballroom Academy.

Well its Fourth of July and Pride weekend in Atlanta and what better way to celebrate it than to discuss civil liberties. Sure, you’re probably thinking the old addage of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but today the focus in on something a bit more specific – the right to worship and the apparent lack thereof.

In this episode I speak with Pastor Troy Sanders and Rev. Dr. Kathy Martin of Preach2me.com on the messages in todays churches including the “don’t ask, don’t tell” homosexual policy in the Black church. Sanders and Brown also chime in on the growth of prosperity ministries. This week we feature a track from Levphonic’s upcoming release Urban Jungle which I’ve decided to name, Smooth Mofo.

Enjoy the show and share your thoughts with us by commenting below.

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I’ve been a big fan of actor Charles Dutton ever since his hit show Roc aired on Fox in the late ’90s. Maybe it’s the roles he chooses that I appreciate. He has gone from an Archie Bunker-esque garbage man in Roc to a twisted huntsman who makes sport of the homeless in Surviving the game and everywhere in between. No matter what role Dutton plays, he’s straight on, honest and believable.

Last week, we had the opportunity to speak with Dutton at the 7th Annual Image Awards Gala held at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. Instead of doing the usual dog and pony questions, we instead asked his opinion on the Don Imus issue and the backlash against rap music. Dutton has been a long time advocate of civil rights and the state of Black America, so we felt it would be a safe bet that he’d tell it to us straight.

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Links:

Image (Independent Media Artists of Georgia): Creators of the Image awards and the Atlanta Film Festival.

Honeydripper movie clip: Produced and Directed by duo John Sayles and Maggie Renzi, Charles Dutton stars as a club owner in South Alabama during the ’50s. The film will be released in 2008.

The State of Hip Hop: If you think that rap needs to get it’s mouth washed out, learn how to spit your lyrics here.