A Wrapup of the 2009 BareBones Film Festival

There are numerous film festivals that movie lovers can attend throughout the United States and abroad. It’s exciting to find movie fans that also provide feedback on movies they watched or their overall experience at film festivals. Here, filmmaker and movie reviewer Zachary Hadden provides some insight on the Bare Bones International Film Festival that took place during the spring season earlier this year:

It was an evening to remember. Free food. Happy people. Nervous film makers waiting to see the response of their projects first viewing. The first feature film up was The China Room (or The Chinese Room?) which was 100 min in length. A story of a group of individuals who were down on their luck. Each were hand picked to work at "The Office", a place where you obeyed the rules or you were fired or even worse, killed. When you progress in rank, you get a new set of rules added to your assignment. Sounds like life.

I am betting the movie was based on The Chinese Room Argument, a book written in 1999 dealing with artificial intelligence. Computers programmed in a structured environment to eventually break free to think on their own. This movie seemed to give the same argument from a human perspective and asks the question, when do we pull the plug? Fifteen people could watch the movie and get 15 different responses. It was an interesting film that made you walk away scratching your head.. But wait! You couldn't walk away too quickly as the film's first time writer/director/ producer/ editor was there to answer questions.

The scriptwriting began in 2003, production in 2006 which took 6 months and was shot in Washington DC with one Canon XL2 with standard video lense and a small light kit. It took 3 years to edit. The production value was good.. especially with a total budget of $10,000. It goes to show that persistency pays. Distribution is planned through Amazon and Create Space.

Also present was the writer and director for a short film called Now and Again. It was an interesting piece dealing with a moral mistake that affected the lives of a couple. The husband, a martial arts student, witnesses the injury to his wife at the hands of some hoodlums while he stood by and did nothing. He spends the rest of his life reenacting the event on what he should have done while his wife lives in a coma at a long term care facility. It was shot with a GL1 and GL2 using straight lenses and shot in less than 2 days with $0 budget. Yes that was $0 budget.

Watching the Watchman was about a guy, sitting inside the alarm clock whose sole responsibility is to switch on the alarm as advised. He barely wakes up in time from his snooze at his desk for the 7am alarm. He rushes down hallways and stairs to get to the control center... looks at his Timex which says 7am and reaches over and flips the switch. He has such a sense of accomplishment as the alarm goes off. On the outside of the clock the man sleeping wakes up. Mission accomplished! But wait! The awakening man reaches over and does the unthinkable….Hits the snooze button. A cute short film with good quality.

The final movie of the evening was a teen slasher film called The Dark Grim. It was fast paced with a few twists and turns and by the third act, you had no idea for sure who was going to make it. The story was a culmination of Friday the 13th, Night of the Living Dead and Buffy the Vampire Slayer all rolled into one. Very imaginative and good cinematography. They did experience a lot of drop frame especially towards the end.

It would have been nice to have Nathan Ashton there to dub out the generator humming in the background during most of the 3rd act. Otherwise it was a fun film to watch and they had great effects. My favorite part of the movie is when the hero, a former hockey star, after he seemingly mortally wounds one of the teen vampires, the vampire looks up at him and sarcastically asks, "now what are you going to do?" He replies.. "I'm going to tear your head off!" and he does. You had to have been there. From then on, he was pulling off body parts right and left as he kills off the entire Senior High Class turned vampires. Great flick and I my only regret was not getting to talk to the producers of this film.

I was out by 11pm!

Have a great weekend!

Zachary Hadden’s recent projects include The Deville Witch and Why I Love Tulsa

Stay tuned for part two of this film festival experience!

Have YOU attended any film festivals? If so, what was your experience like? If not, which film festival would you like to attend? Leave your comments below.

Main photo: Scout Seventeen

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Myspace Reactions to Transformers 2

When the topic of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen comes up, Myspace users do not hold back their thoughts on any level. Jason summed Transformers 2 up nicely by describing it as a funny movie full of action from beginning to end. This movie goer rates Transformers 2 as a "fucking excellent" movie. Unfortunately, the Myspace community does not place Transformers 2 on the same pedestal.

There is an overall sense that movie fans on Myspace do not take Megan Fox seriously as an actress. Calmer On Coffee makes movie fans own up to this fact by saying others "didn't go see this movie for her grade-A acting chops". John F expressed disappointment to see that Megan Fox had a dress on underneath her clothes. Many reviews in the Myspace community were not centered around the non-acting abilities of Megan Fox and called Transformers 2 into question instead.

One viewpoint that has seemed to come up repeatedly among the Myspace community is that too many people are taking Transformers 2 too seriously than they should. The movie has some tough critics among the media and movie fans alike including Rocky Dakota who called Transformers 2 "terrible". Trying not to ruin the experience for procrastinating movie fans on Myspace, Rocky Dakota did not too much more to say but concluded that Transformers 2 was a "rushed and thrown together" movie. There is still a group of Myspace members who back up their position that Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen may not be getting a fair trial when it comes to reviews and audience reactions.

Myspace user moVin' vioLation points out that it's a waste of time to expect a deep, story driven movie with lots of drama when going to watch Transformers 2. This Myspace user suggests "u already have cate blanchett for that" and explains "there is no way ur going to make transformers into a deep, dark serious film and be successful". I agree with an aspect of this Myspace review from moVin' vioLation about Transformers and the importance of movie goers understanding what they are getting with this movie. If I go to watch an action film with Bruce Willis, I expect things to be blown up and could not care less about learning true life lessons that encourage me to engage in more humanitarian efforts. If I watch a Jim Carrey movie, I expect to laugh and look forward to paying attention when checking out biopics like The Last King of Scotland with Forest Whitaker.

If I go to check out Transformers 2, I would expect to witness fun robots and all of the related crap that goes with them. Calmer On Coffee has the same perspective when stating "its best to take it for what it is...which is a movie about giant talking alien robots" during a discussion on Transformers 2. The simplistic Jason with that "excellent" rating even had a word or two for the film critics who gave Transformers 2 a bad grade. These film critics "need to stop over analyzing things" according to John on Myspace.

John F does point out that Transformers 2 producers need to find a balance between focusing on the humans and making the movie centered around those robots. This Myspace user notes the human focus as the main reason why he hated the first Transformers movie. Unfortunately, the studio did not do any better the second time around because they tried "to do too much and ended up with a bunch of robots as background filler', says John F but he would still recommend watching Transformers 2 in a movie theater instead of waiting until it comes out on DVD.

Having a party? Get Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Invitations (8 count), masks and party favors for only $3.99!

What changes would YOU make to Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (hypothetically)?

Leave your comments below!

Photo: Current News Stories

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Custom Movie Themed Cake Designs to Love

Sometimes you just need to have a custom cake, especially for movie themed parties. This "Night at the Movies" photo by crazycaker is one of the most creative custom movie cakes that I have found so far. Mad props go out to crazycaker to this great photo and even more props for making the cake (if you did make the cake). There is just one thing missing....

This custom movie themed cake has it all....a good design and description with some of the ingredients. However, it's missing ordering information. I'm almost certain that movie fans would love to order this cake or something like it. My first impression was that most, if not all items in this picture were edible but there were new findings that made me wonder about whether or not this movie cake could be eaten.

What's up with those wire thingy things situated above the popcorn decoration? If they are sugar sticks or some type of licorice, then the baker or cake designer has a good thing going here. I would not even want to eat this movie cake but freeze it instead. This would be awesome for a birthday party or general movie themed celebrations.

Would you buy or eat this cake? Leave your comments below!

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