The Screengrab : fanboys

Screengrab Review: “Infestation”

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:30:00 GMT

It’s a simple question we all have to ask ourselves sooner or later: Am I the sort of person who enjoys a good ol’ fashioned icky-fun movie about giant bugs? Go ahead and ask yourself. I’ll wait here.

Is the answer yes? Good, because that’s exactly what Infestation intends to be, and for the most part, it delivers. Chris Marquette (Fanboys) stars as Cooper, a fun-loving slacker who is about to be fired from his latest dead-end office job when…something happens. There is a flash of light and Cooper blacks out, only to wake up in the same office covered in a cocoon of webbing. No sooner has he managed to free himself than Cooper finds himself in a life-or-death struggle with a three foot long cockroach-looking creature. After defeating the gruesome beastie and freeing his co-workers from their own cocoons, Cooper and a small group of survivors set out on foot, hoping to find their way through a city infested with enormous creepy-crawlies to the sanctuary of a bomb shelter built by Cooper’s domineering father Ethan (Ray Wise).

Along the way, Cooper attempts to romance his boss’s daughter Sara (Brooke Nevin), fends off the advances of a distraught weathergirl (Kinsey Packard), and learns a few things about his insectoid tormenters. The bugs are blind and rely on sound to hone in on their prey. If they sting you on the small of the back, you’ll soon be sprouting multiple hairy legs of your own. Most importantly, they nest in a giant hive on the outskirts of town, the destruction of which may be the only hope for the survival of the human race.

Writer-director Kyle Rankin, who you may remember as one of the co-directors of The Battle of Shaker Heights from the second season of Project Greenlight, brings a welcome light touch to the proceedings, swerving from goofy to gross-out without missing a beat. Marquette makes for an engaging anti-action hero, and the special effects (supervised by Shaker Heights co-director Efram Potelle) compare favorably with those of the mega-budget bug movie The Mist (which could have benefited from the sense of fun displayed here).

It’s all good fun up until the abrupt, ambiguous ending, which may be an homage to The Sopranos or an awkward set-up for a sequel, but either way plays as too cutesy by half. If you can ignore that, you’ll find Infestation to be an ideal night at the drive-in, assuming you can still find one. As best I can tell, a release date is still up in the air, but in the meantime, here’s a short film from Rankin and Potelle that offers a glimpse of the big bug carnage to come:

Insex

Moving Pictures: Rush in the “Limelight”

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:30:00 GMT

If I’ve learned nothing else from Entertainment Weekly – and how could that possibly be the case? – it’s this: when something burbles to the surface of our pop culture three times within a relatively short period of time, it constitutes a trend. That being the case, I have spotted a trend and named it…Rush. OK, I didn’t actually name it Rush. It already had that name. But I’ve definitely noticed a pronounced uptick in Rush content in our youth culture comedies of late, and I’m not talking Limbaugh. I mean that Canadian power trio straight out of 2112. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart. Rush.

First came Fanboys. Although most of the movie’s geek-centric humor revolves around the Lucasverse, the character of Hutch (Dan Fogler) makes it clear that only one band’s music will be heard in his van as he drives the rest of his motley crew of Star Wars fanatics to Skywalker Ranch, and that band is Rush. In I Love You, Man, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel bond over their mutual love of the band, jamming in the Segel character’s man-cave to “Limelight” and even attending a Rush concert together (which proves to be the pivotal moment when Rashida Jones realizes something has gone dreadfully awry). The band’s air guitar appeal is explored both here and in Adventureland, wherein a minor character attempts to woo amusement park babe Lisa P with his own shredding air guitar rendition of, again, “Limelight.”

So what does it all mean? It’s interesting to note that, although all three of the above movies use the band in a similar way – that is, as a signifier of social awkwardness in a particular brand of white American male – each movie takes place in a different decade. Adventureland is set in 1987, Fanboys takes place in 1998, a year before the release of The Phantom Menace, and I Love You, Man unfolds in the present day. Clearly there’s a universality to the Rush experience, something empowering about their sci-fi-tinged progressive-objectivist rock that speaks to the repressed geek in any era of their existence. Or maybe these particular filmmakers just happen to think they rawk. (Full disclosure: I have never owned a Rush album, although I did attend a Rush concert under duress in my college years. I do have the I Love You, Man soundtrack, however, and I have no problem with “Limelight.”)

For his part, bandleader Geddy Lee is eager to exploit his band’s newfound movie stardom. “We’re all available,” Lee tells – who else? – Entertainment Weekly. “We’re putting ourselves out there. We all want to be character actors now. We’re ready to be in any movie anybody wants to put us into. I’d love to be in a Coen brothers film. I would love to have a bit part in The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I love the book, and I am perfect for that movie.”

Related:
Screengrab Review: Adventureland
Fantastic Fest Review: Fanboys

The Screengrab Highlight Reel: Jan. 31-Feb. 6, 2009

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT

What the fuck is it with you? What don't you fucking understand? You got any fucking idea about, hey, it's fucking distracting having somebody clicking on a link in the middle of the fucking Highlight Reel? Give me a fucking answer! What don't you get about it?

I’m trying to tell you about the fucking Screengrab Predicts the Oscars: Winners (Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and fucking Seven)! Do you want me to fucking go trash your blog? Then why are you clicking my links? Why are you clicking on posts about Christian Bale Goes Apeshit or Christian Bale Freakout – Remixed! like I’m some kind of fucking trained chimp for your amusement?

Fuck’s sake, man, you’re amateur! I’m trying to fucking figure out a clever way to mention Screengrab Review: Fanboys and The Three Catastrophes of Terry Gilliam and fucking Star Trek Showdown IV: Shatner’s Last Nerve and you’re distracting me! Are you professional? Fuck it, do your own Highlight Reel.

Five 3-D-tastic Films

Coming Soon: 55 Remakes!

A Few Minutes with Neil Gaiman

SXSW Lineup Announced

Five Films for a Super Bowl Hangover

Screengrab Review: "Fanboys"

Nick Schager — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:30:00 GMT

The rise of the Internet has helped the geeks inherit the Earth, a development celebrated by Fanboys, a rather formulaic road-trip comedy colored by Star Wars mania. Thanks to having its theatrical release delayed for more than a year, Kyle Newman’s film took on something of a mythic stature in the far corners of the ‘net, as the holdup made it seem like a case study in the mainstream’s condescending disrespect for all things geeky. Now that the wait is over, however, the truth seems more plain: Fanboys struggled to garner a slot at the local multiplex because it’s little more than a broad, juvenile triviality that aims to boost its target audience’s self-esteem about their obsession without ever convincing outsiders why rabid support for certain beloved properties (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) is warranted. To be sure, entertainment is the primary modus operandi at work here. Nonetheless, there’s something missing in the film's treatment of its central passion, which – explained by one character with little more than “I like it because I do” – is so lacking in self-analysis that the entire affair proves merely an extended high-five to those already in the Skywalker-adoring club.

A project like this should naturally be guided by Star Wars love, yet were that enthusiasm wedded to even a trace of reflection about the sensibleness of such insane fidelity to a fictional sci-fi saga, Newman’s film might have managed to say something, anything, about the virtues and limits of fervent fandom. Instead, however, funny-ha-ha references are the proceedings’ defining trait, alongside puerile humor, pratfalls and more gay-panic jokes than you can shake a lightsaber at. Oh yes, and cancer – specifically, the terminal kind that nerd Linus (Chris Marquette) has, and which motivates his three Ohio friends Hutch (Dan Fogler), Windows (Jay Baruchel), and Eric (Sam Huntington) to convince him to embark, in 1998, on a cross-country journey to Lucas’ San Francisco Skywalker Ranch to steal a rough cut of Episode I: The Phantom Menace so he can see it before shuffling off his mortal coil. It’s a plot instigator of an embarrassingly lazy sort – what, their lifelong fixation on the franchise wasn’t incentive enough? – though, as befitting the action’s general slapdash quality, it barely plays a factor, too busy is Newman having his characters make late-‘90s-specific comments about chat rooms and letting Seth Rogen flail about in two separate, equally cringe-worthy roles.

In this predictable fantasyland, sexual frustration is alleviated by a hot female who works at a comics store (Kristen Bell), Trekkies are “gay,” and just about everyone understands the preeminent value of Star Wars. Cameos from Kevin Smith, Carrie Fisher and William Shatner only confirm that the film is cheekily self-aware, and don’t distract from the poorly executed stabs at pop culture humor – Canadian prog-rockers Rush may not be cool, but liking them is hardly hilarious – and weak attempts at emotional drama via Eric and Linus’ strained relationship. The white elephant in the room is, of course, that Episode I is terrible, a fact that’s ultimately addressed in a straightforward punchline-y way, rather than used as the crux of a tongue-in-cheek look at the misguided nature of blind devotion. But so it goes with this disposable comedy, so intent on indulging in obscure Star Wars trivia, banal sub-Kevin Smith arguments about the series, and Harry Knowles idolization that one soon craves just a single moment when – as in Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s legendary Late Night with Conan O’Brien segment – the air might be slightly let out of the insular, full-to-bursting fandom bubble.

Screengrab 2009 Preview: Andrew Osborne's Picks

Andrew Osborne — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Not to sound morbid, but it occurred to me recently (whilst contemplating my own mortality) that someday – hopefully some far distant day -- I’ll read an Entertainment Weekly Spring/Summer/Fall/Holiday preview issue and/or watch a flock of coming attractions trailers for a whole bunch of movies I won’t, in fact, live long enough to see.

In Zelig, Woody Allen’s chameleon character dies with just one regret: that he never got to finish reading Moby Dick. Imagine Zelig’s disappointment if he’d been a Harry Potter fan in November, forever denied the opportunity to see the cinematic adaptation of Half-Blood Prince (let alone the Deathly Hallows)? And Lord knows at this point whether any of us will live long enough to see Zack Snyder’s much-litigated version of Watchmen. (Ironically, another movie that most of us seem destined never to see is Fanboys, about a cancer-stricken geek in 1998 determined, in yet another layer of sad irony, to see the as-yet-unreleased Phantom Menace before he dies...but I digress.)

Anyhow, with my wife and I both fighting various wintry ailments (and going on a solid week of sleep deprivation thanks to the itchy throats and sinus pressure of the damned), it’s hard to look forward to anything at this point beyond still yet more mucus...but if I should manage somehow to survive this relentlessly cold, snowy New England winter (good Lord...it’s only JANUARY?), then here are the five upcoming 2009 releases I’m most looking forward to:

5. HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

I originally posted this in my 2008 Fall Preview before Warner Bros. saw fit to switch the release date of the sixth J.K. Rowling adaptation to 2009, but the following still holds true: I haven’t read a single word of Ms. Rowling’s fantastically popular and beloved series of novels, but I’ve followed the relatively unprecedented blockbuster cinematic serialization religiously. I’ll go on record here as a big fan of Christopher Columbus’ unfairly maligned adaptation of Sorcerer’s Stone, and I thought Alfonso Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban was bizarrely overpraised, but in general, the series just keeps getting better and better, and I can’t wait for the next episode.

4. STAR TREK

Yes, I’ve heard the Star Trek 90210 jokes, and no, the last few Star Trek movies have not exactly instilled fans with a lot of confidence in the franchise -- but as with J.J. Abrams’ day job, the increasingly ludicrous and exasperating Lost, I simply have no choice in the matter: I’m still going to watch. My Dad recently reminded me of the time he drove my geeky pubescent ass to a Star Trek convention through a full-scale Perfect Storm blizzard just so I could buy myself a Tribble and hang out with bosomy fangirls dressed like Yeoman Rand. So yes, good or bad, I’ll definitely be seeing this one – (alone, notes my wife).

3. WHIP IT!

I couldn’t find any clips of Drew Barrymore’s upcoming directorial debut about a misfit teen (Ellen Page) who joins an Austin, Texas roller-derby team. Instead, the trailer above is for Hell On Wheels, an astonishing documentary about the girl-powered rockabilly roller derby revival that sparked in Austin and spread across the nation. In the film, director Bob Ray captures the birth and hilarious, harrowing growing pains of the Lonestar Rollergirls, an all-female, D.I.Y. enterprise that transforms from weekend lark to serious business when big money and crippling injuries raise the stakes of a burgeoning start-up, leading to shattered friendships (and fibulas) and a fiery schism between two factions of fiercely independepent entrepeneurs. Short skirts + third wave feminism + breathtaking banked track action + Marxist/capitalist tensions + a fascinating cast of real-life characters & a kick-ass soundtrack = one of the best movies of 2007. I doubt Whip It! will be as good, but with Barrymore, Page, Kristin Wiig and Juliette Lewis strapping on the skates and kneepads, I’m more than willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt.

2. INGLORIOUS BASTERDS

When I saw John Waters interview Quentin Tarantino on a panel at the Provincetown Film Festival last year, the erstwhile Mr. Brown said he’d set himself the goal of finishing his “guys on a mission” World War II spaghetti Western lollapalooza (starring Brad Pitt, Maggie Cheung, The Office’s B.J. Novak, Freaks & Geeks’ Samm Levine and...really? Mike Myers?) in time for this year’s Cannes Film Festival. With the exception of roughly 42 percent of Death Proof, Tarantino has never yet steered me entirely wrong (I didn’t even mind his segment of the disastrous Four Rooms), and when he’s on his game (as he could easily be with this project) he is, like the wallet says, a Bad Motherfucker. It’s possible, of course, he won’t finish the film in time for a 2009 release...in which case, be looking for Basterds at the top of my 2010 movie preview list.

1. THE MEAT CITY BEATNIKS

As I mentioned on Thanksgiving Day in the 2008 Screengrab Holiday Special, I began shooting this ultra-low budget guerilla indie musical about screenwriters on the make and a drug deal gone bad (co-scripted by my esteemed Screengrab colleague Scott Von Doviak, based on a short story by Jim Dryden, with music by Eric Jacobson) way back in January 2008 (or possibly the late fall of 2007...it’s all a bit hazy at this point). Of all the releases I hope to see in 2009, this tops the list if only because it will mean (A) I’ve finally finished post-production and (B) it actually got released. Like Basterds, though, I’m not betting the farm on this one actually seeing the light of day before 2010...but if ever there was a year for hope, it’s this one!

HAPPY YEAR OF THE OX!

Related Stories:
The Top 50 Movies of 2009
Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds Unleashed

The Top 50 Movies of 2009

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:00:00 GMT

It’s getting harder and harder for us poor drones of the blogosphere to stay current. We haven’t even begun to compile our final thoughts on the films of 2008, and already the Times Online has published their list of the top 50 movies of 2009.

Granted, it’s purely speculative nonsense. “Which hot franchises will step up to fill the spaces left by Batman, Bond and Indy? We’ve taken a look through the studio schedules and picked out the most promising prospects for the coming year.” Some of their choices look pretty safe. The number one pick is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and others finishing in the top ten include Star Trek (#3), the Da Vinci Code follow-up Angels & Demons (#6) and Monsters vs. Aliens (#8). Going out a little further on a limb, they’ve selected the Dillinger biopic Public Enemies to finish behind only Harry Potter. Sure, it’s got Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, but it’s also got a whiff of the brat pack bomb Mobsters about it, no?

Of course, the real fun is to be found further down the list. I’m glad someone is optimistic enough to believe Fanboys will finally be released in theaters; on the other hand, I’m somewhat skeptical that “curiosity value alone guarantees S. Darko a strong opening weekend.” Perhaps most intriguing is #42: “Them, a recently announced feature to be directed by Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz’s Edgar Wright, is not, as far as we can tell, an update of the hoary old giant ant chiller but a fictionalised adaptation of Jon Ronson’s investigative book about the shadowy conspiracies that operate behind our notional governments. Unless it turns out that the Illuminati and the Bilderberg Group actually are all enormous ants.”

Check out the full list starting here.

Related:
Sequel to "Donnie Darko" Is on the Way, Much to the Dismay of the Creator of "Donnie Darko"
Your First Look at Star Trek 90210

The Screengrab Highlight Reel: Sept. 13-19, 2008

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Listen up, kids. Getting a college education is all well and good, but there are some things in this life you can’t learn from some stuffy ol’ professor with a pipe and patches on his jacket. Some things you can only learn right here at the Screengrab. For instance, you think they’re gonna tell you about the Top 15 College Movies (Parts One, Two and Three) at Harvard or MIT? Hell, no! There’s too much dangerous information contained therein – dangerous to them, that is.

Here’s our syllabus for the week. Sign up for as many classes as you like:

Political Science: My Kind of Red State: An Election Year Salute to The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Rose McGowan Takes Leave of Her Senses

History: Spike Lee’s Next “Miracle,” Drunk History

Art and Music Appreciation: Warhol at the Wex, OST: Jailhouse Rock, The Wizard of Gore

Abnormal Psychology: Bad Cops, Shatner Fires Back, Coppola’s Apocalypse Forever

International Affairs: Bangkok Ludicrous, Keira Knightley’s Last Night

Theoretical Physics: Is High Definition Killing the Magic?

After class, feel free to attend these Fantastic Fest screenings: Fanboys, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (or watch Fantastic Fest online).

Class dismissed!

“Star Trek” Showdown: Shatner Fires Back

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:30:00 GMT

In my review of Fanboys earlier today, I mentioned a cameo appearance by William Shatner as himself. Based on this evidence, it would appear that the Shat Man is not philosophically opposed to the idea of cameos, but in a recent interview with AMC, new Star Trek director J.J. Abrams gave a different impression. “It was very tricky. We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn't quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn't want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves.”

Shatner claims he was never approached for a cameo. In fact, he claims this in a YouTube clip you can view after the jump. He also supplies a simple solution to the big problem Abrams cites, namely that Captain Kirk already died onscreen. Hint: it involves the “hovering machine,” and you have to throw the switch on the right.

Related:
Star Trek Teaser Follow-up: The Real Deal
In Search of Spock's Insurance Form

Fantastic Fest Review: “Fanboys”

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:00:00 GMT

I think I’ve mentioned this a time or twelve here, but unlike my colleague Andrew Osborne, I don’t have the Star Wars gene. Sure, I loved the movies as a kid – maybe not quite as much as the Planet of the Apes series or anything with Bigfoot in it – but they never became an inextricable part of my life essence and I definitely wasn’t waiting in some smelly tent for Episode I back in 1999. If we’re playing “Star Wars vs. Star Trek,” Kirk, Spock and the gang win out with me every time. So I wouldn’t appear to be part of the target audience for Fanboys, the long-awaited story of four geeks and a gal who take a road trip to Skywalker Ranch in order to be the first to see The Phantom Menace.

Having said that – and despite all the delays, reshoots and controversies over plot points that dogged the movie in recent months – Fanboys proves to be an enjoyable ride for the most part. If you’ve followed the behind-the-scenes machinations, you know the set-up: It is 1998, and lifelong Star Wars geek Linus (Chris Marquette) has terminal cancer. (This is the part the studio didn’t like, but after an outcry from fanboy nation, it is restored.) Along with fellow Force enthusiasts Hutch (Dan Fogler), Windows (Jay Baruchel) and estranged best friend Eric (Sam Huntington), Linus sets out in a van to accomplish the one thing he wants to do before he dies: see the long-awaited first prequel to the Star Wars trilogy. (As an aside, and without giving away whether or not he accomplishes his goal – imagine this is your dying wish and the movie in question turns out to be the freakin’ Phantom Menace. Ah well, at least it wasn’t The Clone Wars.) Road trip hijinx galore ensue, including a pit stop in Austin to pick up top secret intel on Lucas’s fortress from Ain’t It Cool News ubergeek Harry Knowles, a night in jail that will have you rethinking your whole approach to prison pooping, and a rumble at a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. There are cameos galore, including actors from the original trilogy, Seth Rogan in multiple roles and even the Shat himself, William Shatner.

Stylistically, Fanboys is sort of a mesh between the Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow sensibilities (Smith has a cameo and Apatow oversaw the reshoots and enlisted many of his regulars), but its secret weapon is co-screenwriter Ernest Cline, who has absorbed every ounce of nerdy minutiae from the past 30 years and deploys his vast store of useless knowledge for both punchlines and poignancy. Although Fogler still strikes me as a poor man’s Jack Black, the core cast is engaging, particularly Kristen Bell as the one girl who’ll put up with the geeks.

My main problem with Fanboys is that I wish it had actually been made ten years ago (as per Cline’s original plan), before geek culture became so pervasive and satisfied with itself. After another decade's worth of prequels, merchandising and ubiquitous references, I don't care if I never hear about Yoda, Chewie or Ewoks ever again. In a way, though, that's beside the point. Star Wars is the secret language of these characters – the way they always communicated. In that respect, it's no different than if the movie had been about, say, terminally ill Cubs fans taking a trip to see their team win their first World Series in 100 years – they'd just talk about Ernie Banks and “Let’s play two” instead of Darth Vader and “May the Force be with you.” The story is really about the friendship, the journey and the laughs along the way, and on that level it works even if you don't give a shit whether or not Greedo shot first.

Related:
Fanboys on the March
Fanboys vs. Darth Weinstein

No Forgetting Kristen Bell

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:30:00 GMT

We’ve read quite enough about Jason Segel’s “chunky, blemished ass and little white man-boobs,” not to mention his mother’s horror at seeing his wee-wee onscreen. He may have written Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but by gum, Kristen Bell plays the title character and she needs a little love, too. Bell would have already appeared on movie screens this spring if Fanboys had been released as scheduled, but as Jack Clark of the New York Daily News learned, she has seen neither the original version nor the “Darth Weinstein” cut of the movie that remains in limbo.

Nothing will stop Sarah Marshall from arriving in theaters Friday, though it remains to be seen whether it will be Bell’s stepping-stone to movie stardom. Clark seems to think it’s a strong possibility given her broad appeal; not only has she sewn up the geek fanbase thanks to her three seasons as Veronica Mars and her stint on Heroes, she’s “doing well with frat boys, too - she's been on Maxim's Hot 100 list - and she's even scoring with vegetarians (PETA's World's Sexiest Woman).” So if you’re a geeky vegetarian frat boy, she’s pretty much your ideal woman.

As Sarah Marshall, however, she’s the bad girl who dumps Segel while his junk dangles in the breeze. (“At one point, there was a nylon sock involved," Bell says. "That just drew more attention to the situation, so we ditched it.”) Not that she has a problem playing the villain, as those of us who caught her turn as a con artist on Deadwood recall. “It was never anyone's intention to make her a bitch. The reason I was attracted to this project was because Jason really did give the 'villains' a chance to explain themselves, as opposed to a romantic comedy where you're told who to root for and who to dislike.”

Next on her plate, Bell faces what may be her biggest challenge yet: being romanced by Danny DeVito in Disney’s When in Rome. According to Reuters, Bell “plays a love-starved New York curator who steals magical coins from a famous Roman fountain but soon finds herself in a bizarre situation when she is pursued back to New York by a band of aggressive suitors -- the very people whose coins she took. DeVito will play one of the suitors.” We can only hope that, unlike Segel, the Penguin keeps his pants on.

Clique Picks “Hick” Flick

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Normally I wouldn’t consider this the most newsworthy item in the world, but for some reason I just couldn’t resist that headline. Anyway, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “Producers Steven Siebert and Christian Taylor have optioned the best-selling novel Hick by first-time author Andrea Portes.” It’s a coming-of-age story that “was recently named among the best adult books for high school students by the School Library Journal.” The most curious part of this story is the note that the producers “hope to mold the project with a lead character in the vein of Addie Loggins of Paper Moon and Iris Steensma in Taxi Driver. " Whoa, whoa, time out here. That’s a mold? Addie Loggins, as we recall, was a scrappy little Depression-era con gal. Iris Steensma was a Times Square hooker who blew Harvey Keitel. Might want to narrow down that casting call, folks.

While we’re here, let’s take a look at some other recent script sales of note:

-- Columbia has picked up Battle: Los Angeles, “a huge event movie that can be done at a modest scale,” according to producer Neal Moritz. It focuses on one Marine platoon in the midst of an alien invasion.

-- Fanboys screenwriter and personal friend of the Screengrab Ernie Cline, who has certainly suffered enough, got a bit of good news. He’s sold his script Thundercade to Lake Shore Entertainment. It’s another idea right in Cline’s pop culture wheelhouse, concerning “a video game junkie facing a midlife crisis who learns that a young punk had broken a record he set as a teen. He and two lifelong friends embark on a quest to reclaim his place in video game history and win the world's ultimate gaming championship, Thundercade.” Lest you suspect Cline of ripping of The King of Kong, be advised that Thundercade actually predates the documentary (and with any luck will torpedo the ill-advised fictional remake).

-- And finally one that really hits us where we live. MGM picked up Bobism, “in which a shy college kid learns that his blog will be the basis for a utopian society in 1,000 years. He also finds out that aliens from the future want to kill him and prevent that utopia from happening.” You laugh, but this actually happened to us.

Fanboys vs. Darth Weinstein

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:00:00 GMT

When last we updated you on the fate of Fanboys, the release date had been pushed back yet again to accommodate reshoots designed to alter the storyline. The original version, about a group of friends bringing their terminally ill friend to Skywalker Ranch for an advance screening of Star Wars: Episode I, underwent surgery to remove its cancer – literally. The Weinstein Company’s plan to release a lighter, broader version of the film was met with resistance – dare we say, a rebellion? – from the core audience.

Star Wars fans who had caught screenings of the original version at conventions teamed up to launch Stop Darth Weinstein, “a grassroots movement founded by a consortium of Star Wars fans who don't want to see Fanboys, the first and only feature film about Star Wars fans, ruined by a greedy movie studio who has no respect for its target audience!” But how to get the mighty Weinstein to take notice of their mission? Launch a letter writing campaign? Inundate his office with stuffed ewoks? Or hit him in his wallet?

Of course, the latter course of action proved to be the only sensible one, as the fanboys threatened to boycott the opening weekend of Weinstein’s Superhero Movie, due this Friday in theaters. Now, this might seem like an empty threat if you’re a right-thinking American who never had any intention of paying to see another crappy spoof movie, but remember – we’re talking about hardcore geeks here. These guys eat superhero movies for breakfast and shit action figures in the afternoon. If they don’t pay to see Superhero Movie, who will?

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Weinstein has bent but not yet broken. “Weinstein said it will release the two versions on DVD, and a studio source later said that is exploring two theatrical versions.” This hasn’t satisfied the fans, though. “This is clearly a vain attempt by the Weinstein Company to avert Star Wars fans' impending boycott of all of their films. Well, guess what? It's not going to work, Darth Weinstein! There was never any doubt that you would release both versions of the movie on DVD -- probably months apart, so as to leech as much money from Star Wars fans as possible!”

That sounds about right. So far no release date has been set, so presumably the battle goes on. We’re all in favor of the fanboys and their cause, but maybe they should rethink the Darth Weinstein thing. He looks more like Jabba the Hutt to us.

Fanboys on the March

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:00:00 GMT

The calendar says it’s January 18th, which means another Fanboys release date has arrived without the movie itself actually showing up in theaters. The comedy about a group of Star Wars geeks sneaking their terminally ill friend into Skywalker Ranch for an early screening of The Phantom Menace was originally slated to hit screens last summer, but has been pushed back several times amid rumors and reshoots. The latest unconfirmed reports have the project being absorbed by the Amalgamated Apatow Conglomerate for an infusion of market-tested laughs. (According to this scuttlebutt, two versions of the film will be screened for test audiences — one with the terminally ill cancer patient and one without. In the latter, the kids presumably break into the Lucas compound just for shits and grins.)

What you may not know is that Fanboys has been in the works for longer than it took Lucas and company to crank out all three of the Star Wars prequels. In this new interview with our good friends at Shuffleboil, screenwriter/slam poet/geek pride activist Ernie Cline recounts the origins of the story back in 1998. "My mother had died of cancer the year before," Cline says, "so I was somewhat fixated on human mortality at the time. One day the question occurred to me — what would I do if I knew I wasn’t going to live to see 'Episode One?' The answer seemed obvious. I’d have to drive out to California and break into Skywalker Ranch to try and find the work print. I knew right away that it was a great idea for a movie. So I sat down and wrote it, with the intention of trying to make it myself as a low budget Indie film."

Fanboys is now tentatively scheduled for release in March or April of this year. You can check out the Fanboys timeline for yourself through this press archive at Cline’s website, which also features a sampling of his geektastic spoken word material.