May 8, 2010

Entertainment

The Sanford Herald / Saturday, May 8, 2010 / 11A

HOLLYWOOD

E-BRIEFS

Schlockey films gain cult status via Net

By CHRISTY LEMIRE AP Movie Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s late Friday night outside the arthouse Roxie Theater, and a line is forming down the block. Twentysomethings — mostly men — stand around joking and waiting to file in. The smell of pot permeates the cold, damp air.

Underneath the theater’s marquee, a fasttalking Vietnamese man in a suit and tie dashes around with a camera crew in tow, hastily laying a makeshift red carpet on the sidewalk and directing people to stand, pose, smile.

He is James Nguyen, a writer and director, and his movie, “Birdemic: Shock and Terror,� is about to make its San Francisco premiere. A former Silicon Valley software salesman with no film-school education, Nguyen made this homage to his idol, Alfred Hitchcock, for about $10,000.

He set and shot his killer-bird saga in nearby Half Moon Bay and Santa Clara, and after showing it to sold-out crowds across the country, this is his homecoming.

Lots of people make bad horror movies. Yet “Birdemic� has become

AP photo

In this film publicity image released by Severin Films, wild birds attack in a scene from, “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.� an instant cult classic, one of several such movies that have gained popularity online and through social networking sites. It’s got the kind of beloved status that used to take years or even decades to achieve through video rentals and late-night cable.

The schlockery of “Birdemic� is evident from its trailer, which has hundreds of thousands of YouTube views: uncomfortable dialogue, stiff acting, shoddy lighting, jumpy edits. And then there are the eagles and vultures that terrorize a quiet town before bursting into flames. To describe them as cheesy would be charitable.

Characters swat at them with wire hangers, which have become the film’s trademark.

First in line in San Francisco, Korrena Bailey

said she heard about it from a friend back home in Ireland who’s a B-movie aficionado. “The birds explode!

There’s no better reason (to see it),� she said, smiling. “The special effects are obviously top-notch.�

Still, Nguyen insists fans are drawn to its sincerity, and not just coming to cackle. His film has screened for executives on the Paramount Pictures lot, and he’s working on a sequel, “Birdemic: The Resurrection.� “It’s a good story, there’s some humor to it, and people like that,� he said. “Despite all of its imperfections — from the visual effects, the animation, you name it — the audience will acknowledge that and see through that.�

Laughing at the earnestness and ineptitude of such movies is only

part of the allure; doing it in a theater packed with people is the bigger draw, said Michael Paul Stephenson, star of the 1990 cult favorite “Troll 2.� “These films celebrate the communal experience of watching a film together. That’s something that’s passing away,� Stephenson said.

When Evan Husney of Severin Films saw “Birdemic� at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 — where it had been rejected, but Nguyen brought it anyway — he had no idea what to make of the movie. “A lot of things were just astonishingly wrong with the film in terms of the audio. I think the cut of the movie we saw was even worse,� Husney said. “The first 20 minutes of this thing, I wasn’t convinced it was real until it started to sink in: There is no way that a film like this could be faked.�

Still, Severin picked it up, and sites like Twitter — with help from celebrity fans — have propelled it. “Rainn Wilson has 1.9 million followers,�

Husney said. “That’s an instantaneous blast email to 1.9 million people who are into this guy and are going to want to see what he recommends.�

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Springsteen, Pinsky team up at NJ festival MADISON, N.J. (AP) — Robert Pinsky and Bruce Springsteen apparently have more in common than just a way with words — they can trace the beginnings of their glory days all Springsteen the way back to the same hospital at the New Jersey shore.

The former U.S. Pinsky poet laureate and the unofficial poet laureate of rock ’n’ roll appeared on stage Thursday at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where they discussed their work, influences and careers and joked about the fact both were born at Monmouth Memorial Hospital, albeit nine years apart (Pinsky is older).

The occasion was the university’s WAMFEST Words and Music Festival, an event sponsored by its creative writing department. Recording artist John Wesley Harding, nee Wesley Stace, an artist in residence at the school, moderated the two-hour performance and discussion in front of a packed auditorium of 400 students, faculty and whoever else could wangle a way in the door.

Springsteen and Pinsky

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had met for the first time on Thursday, Harding said, but their affinity for each other’s work was obvious. “What I’ve been trying to write about for 40 years, Robert gets into a single poem,� Springsteen said.

Both spoke fondly of their home state, though in different ways. Pinsky, who grew up in “not the greatest part of Long Branch� and now lives in western Massachusetts, realized after he moved to California that he missed the Garden State’s speech patterns and sarcasm; Springsteen dreamed of getting out of New Jersey as a youth but later came to find meaning in “a certain plot of ground, a certain place� after his work became more introspective.

Springsteen recalled being influenced by, of all people, Frank Sinatra for the way his songs resonated with everyday people. “He sang colloquially, the way people speak,� he said. “The minute the needle goes down on the record, a world is summoned up. I wanted to catalog my times in that way.�

B.o.B’s brings more than just rap with debut

ATLANTA (AP) — A year ago, B.o.B was frustrated over his music career. He was anxious because his album hadn’t materialized yet, and also worried that he wouldn’t be able to Simmons combine all of his talents — rapping, singing, and playing multiple instruments — into one niche.

But a hit changes things.

And after his first single soared up the charts — the song “Nothin’ On You,� featuring Bruno Mars — it impressed his record label enough that his debut album was released a month ahead of time, an unusual occurrence in the music industry. “I went through my transition phase for a reason to get to this point. So if you think about it, everything is falling into place. Perfect timing, actually,� said B.o.B, who was born Bobby Ray Simmons.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. His debut album, “B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s album chart this week, a week after “Nothin’ On You� hit the No. 1 spot on the pop charts. “I felt like someone put in the cheat code to get the high score,� he said of his single nabbing the top spot. “It was like, ’Wow, how did this happen so fast?�’

.O 0ASSES s .OT /PEN 5NTIL ON 3UN 4HURS

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