Archive for March, 2010
Dem Trailers: The Expendables
Sylvester Stallone is nearing the century mark and he’s still making movies. And not looking to bad for man who should be playing shuffleboard. Guess all those steroids really do work. But unfortunately, he can’t use those drugs to beef up this trailer because all my enthusiasm for this supposed return-to-the-80s-action-movies film went right out the window. The plus side, we do get to see the Arnold & Willis cameos in this trailer so at least check it out for that. What do you guys think? Even with a cast like this, will this be the most disappointing film of 2010?
Swede Fest 5 venue announced
So after much deliberation, we’ve decided to stay still for the first time and return to Starline (in Tower District) for Swede Fest 5. We want to conquer our “sound demons” from last fest and get it right, but besides that we just thought it was a cool venue! As we mentioned before, the deadline to submit entries is Monday, May 3rd so you have a little over a month to get your Swedes ready, but deadlines creep up so you might as well start now! If you plan on submitting, please drop us an email at info@dumbdrum.com so we can get rough idea on the number of entries. It isn’t required, but it’s helpful for our sanity. :) Anyways, spread the word, get your friends involved, and at very least come out on Saturday, May 8th and support local film and help Swede Fest keep growing! Be sure to go to www.swedefest.com to view past entries and get more info, or drop us an email if you have any questions. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to RSVP here on the official Swede Fest 5 event page and please spread the word to your friends. Hope to see you all at the ONLY festival for sweded films… that we know of. Embedded after the break are some past Swedes. Enjoy! Read more…
Random Goodness: Best used car classified ever?
Some people simply trade their cars in at a dealership (except for CarMax. Fuck them for those dumb commercials.) or place an ad in the Auto Trader when they want to sell their automobile. But that’s not what Casey wanted to do when he was trying to get rid of his 1994 BMW 530i Touring. Instead he enlisted some of his family to create this awesome, Wes Anderson-esque video classified to highlight the features, and problems, of the car. Well done, sir! If I had the extra money laying around, I’d totally be interested! And for those of you with a watchful eye, check out the signs in the trunk when he profiles the spare tire. If he would of used that “Pussy Magnet” sign in the video proper, that thing would have already been sold, if it hasn’t already. [via Autoblog]
Fresno Filmworks announces lineup for 2010 Fresno Film Festival
Fresno Film Festival is, arguably, the biggest film festival that goes down here in our fair city and Fresno Filmworks was gonna have a hard time topping the solid line-up from last year. And I do have to say, the films screening in 2010 are packing quite the punch. The 2010 Fresno Film Festival starts Friday, April 16th and goes until Sunday, April 18th and it all happens at the Tower Theater in the awesome Tower District. Tickets are on sale and will run you $10 for general admission ($8 for students & seniors) for the various screenings with the only exception being the opening night film which will run your $12 ($10 for students & seniors) which will also allow you access to the reception after the film. But for the best deal (and instantly bestowed “True Baller” status), the $50 festival pass is the way to go and that’ll work for all screenings. It seems they have decided against any kind of showcase for local filmmakers this time again but I guess we can forgive them since there ain’t to many local productions these days, it seems. Maybe next year. Anyways, you can peep out the official schedule, including start times, over here on the official site. After the jump are the trailers for some of the stand out films that I’m looking forward to checking out to start you off on the right foot towards planning your schedule for and awesome weekend of films next month. Read more…
The Arcade Ambiance Project returns you to the arcade through sound
It kinda saddens me to know that my kids will never be able to experience a true arcade environment. Placing your quarter on the glass to make mark your spot on the list in preparation to challenge the winner of the current bout, the dirty looks from competitors and the shit talking after taking people down from their 7 win streak. Okay, maybe that part I wouldn’t want them to experience as people did get kinda pissed off sometimes but all the other stuff, cool! But another thing that I liked about the arcade were the sounds of all the machines singing in a melting pot of sounds. Luckily, those sounds have recently been recreated for old farts like myself to indulge in memories of yesteryear by the good folks over at the Arcade Ambiance Project. After the break, you can download MP3′s of what those ancient arcade’s sounded like, recreated by taking sounds from the classic machines and combining them to a single symphony of beauty. Broken down by year, the tracks include samples from games such as Asteroids, Centipede, Bump n Jump, Burgertime, Altered Beast, Street Fighter 2, Smash TV, TMNT and more. So load these up on your iPod, sit back and reminisce. Read more…
Dem Trailers: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Simple premise this movie: Boy meets girl, boy must defeat the girl’s 7 evil ex-boyfriends. Ya know, it’s your traditional love story. The film is based on the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels by Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley and although I’ve only read one of the books, I have to say that from the looks of the trailer, director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead) has really captured the nerd-chic essence of the book. My favorite part of the trailer was the lound “KAY-OH” during the fight sequence. Ah, brings back memories of visiting the arcade (which will be discussed on a separate post real soon). Awesome stuff. So what did you think? Did the over the top nature turn you off or put you on to it even more?
Dem Trailers: Despicable Me
I’ve been seeing teasers after teasers for this movie for the last couple of months but they did capture some interest from me for the film. Today, we finally got the first full trailer and I have to say, I’m kinda looking forward to checking this non-Pixar animated film out. The voice talent in the film is top notch (Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Julie Andrews & Will Arnett) and I have to say, the animation is looking pretty damn good, too! The trailer had a few laughs for me but what do you think?
Random Goodness: Iron Man 2 trailer… before CGI
With Swede Fest 5 quickly approaching, Bryan & I have been throwing around some ideas for our entry. One of the movies we thought about was Iron Man 2. Well at least the trailer seeing as the film doesn’t open in theaters until the day before the festival. I guess we can cross that selection off our list cause these guys from Landline TV already knocked it out the park. So just a reminder, you have over a month to plan, shoot and turn in your Swede Fest entry so start crackin’!
Chris Evans cast as Captain America
Chris Evans is Captain America in the Marvel Studios comic book universe and Iron Man up there isn’t very happy. Naw, I just like that panel from Civil War so I posted it. But honestly out of all the people on the short list, Evans was probably one of the better choices on that list (If Channing Tatum had gotten the role, I would have punched myself). Sure, some people might have a hard time erasing the actor’s previous take as member of the Fantastic Four, Johnny Storm aka Human Torch but since that is a whole other universe (Fox owns the rights to those films) it shouldn’t be very hard. Honestly, I have to side with artist Alex Ross who was on the same boat as I was: get Jon Hamm as Cap. Unfortunately, they decided to go young. I kinda feel bad for Evans as the rumor is he had to sign a low-ball deal that will find him getting paid $300,000 and forced into a 9-picture option deal. As bad as you can feel for a guy making $300,000 of course. The film will start shooting this summer and is set for a July 22, 2011 release date. So what do you think? You think Evans will be able to pull it off or would you have liked to see someone else cast?
Famous Choice Awards demand your Dumb Drum votes
The fantastic people from Fresno Famous need your help and so does your favorite blog about all things nerd. The Famous Choice Awards 2010 are happening right now and you can vote for your favorite Fresno things, including categories like Artist, Promoter & Venue. All those are good but there are two categories that we have our aim on: Blog, blogger or web site category and the Event (established) category and we need you help to win. Head on over here to place your vote (one per email address) and we ain’t gonna pull any punches here: We ask you to vote Dumb Drum for the former and Swede Fest for the latter!! No shame in our game. So if you have some time, an email address and wanna kick down a vote our way, we ain’t gonna hate that. Voting goes through until March 29th so let your voice be heard! If we win, we promise to continue bringing you awesome content such as Cross Streets, Swede Fest and all the other stuff that you come here to catch. If we lose, we might just feel so demoralized that Bryan and I will change the format of this blog to one with less awesomeness on it and fade into the darkness of Fresno blogosphere obscurity. Because we’re emo that way :) And thanks ahead of time for your vote!
Dem Trailers: Predators
Yes, there’s going to be another film starring those ugly motherfuckers BUT WAIT, before you roll your eyes and have Aliens vs. Predators flashbacks, listen up: this one is might actually be good. You see (you already know this is gonna get nerdy) back in the days when Rodriguez was picked up after El Mariachi, one of the first projects he was hired to do was write a script for a third Predator movie. The script, which ended up not being produced due to budget concerns, was eventually scrapped. Fast forward 20 or so years and the script is finally being made. Kind of. Some changes were made (apparently in the original, Arnold & Danny Glover from the original films were set to return) but the story line is similar: humans are kidnapped and brought to the alien home planet and guess what? For the first time, the title really means something! Sorry for the history lesson but I love me some movie history. Sure, Rodriguez ain’t directing but maybe it was for the best. All in all, the trailer looks… aight but I’ll reserve judgment until I see it. Just don’t expect too much. So what do you think of the trailer?
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