Have a Happy Whedon Christmas...on TV

Christmas is less than two weeks away, but the average TV viewer will bump into at least one holiday special a day, whether it be Rudolph, Scrooge, George Bailey or the Grinch.

The odds get even better thanks to cable TV offering literally hundreds of Christmas movies, mainly thanks to the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime. Their holiday libraries are so big they usually start just after Halloween, and wrap up on New Year's Eve. Through all those movies, it's likely you'll see at least one member of the Whedonverse may appear.
In fact, there's several movies where we see our favorite actors...

Dear Santa:  Lifetime premiered this movie three years ago. Amy Acker plays a party girl named Crystal, whose parents demand she straighter herself out by Christmas or they'll cut off her credit cards. She gets an idea from a letter to Santa from a seven year old girl, who wants her widowed dad named Derek to get a new wife. He also runs a soup kitchen. Crystal volunteers there, but also has to battle Derek's jealous girlfriend. Acker is really cute in this movie, quite different from her roles on Angel and Person of Interest. Also available on Hulu

Holiday Wishes:  Also a Lifetime movie, I thought this had one holiday trope too many, but it's still OK. Amber Benson plays a party planner looking for her missing sister, and getting support from her boyfriend who may not be who he seems. Then there's a rich girl and an orphan who switch bodies thanks to a magical ornament. With those three typical holiday plots, it's a bit crowded, but the helpful boyfriend does play a part is resolving things before his true identity is revealed.

Call Me Mrs. Miracle:  This was a sequel to a Hallmark Channel movie with Doris Roberts as the angelic helper who gets a job at a department store although no one remembers hiring here. Jewel Staite plays an assistant to a fashion designer, and she'd like to get her nephew a popular toy. Mrs. M comes up with a better idea that helps her and her store. Despite being well-known to Firefly and Stargate Atlantis fans, it was great to see Jewel in a romantic role. She gives off a Jennifer Aniston vibe.

A Golden Christmas:  This is from Ion Television. Nicholas Brendon is in this story about a lawyer who's upset her family home has been bought by Brendon's character. The story makes her look like a Scrooge when she tries to get the stop the sale, but a dog plays a big part in changing her attitude. It also turns out they knew each other as kids, but she doesn't remember. The dog will remind her.

Help for the Holidays:  Another cute holiday movie from Hallmark, with Summer Glau as an elf who helps out at a Christmas store. It seems the owners put too much time in their store and not enough on their kids. She also has a purse that is a smaller version than the one Mary Poppins has. She also starts falling for a guy, which threatens her mission. Glau is a great elf, but I said in my review the story had a ton of missed opportunities.

A Christmas Wish:  The original Buffy, Kristy Swanson, is a woman with three kids whose husband leaves her and leaves her penniless. She gets a job waitressing at a diner that may also close down. However, thanks to finding a root beer recipe, thinks will be looking up for them. Swanson is also in a new holiday movie on Ion called Merry X-mas, where she plays a woman who's about to divorce her two-timing husband thanks to some misleading photos. He can't get her to hear his side, but he hopes a blizzard could help. Also available on Hulu. 

Road To Christmas:  we can't leave out our favorite SHIELD agent, Clark Gregg, from the list. A Lifetime offering from 2006, it's about a fashion photographer who's on her way to a dream wedding, but is held up by bad weather. Gregg is an artist turned teacher with a teenage daughter. He takes in the photographer, and if you suspect she falls for the teacher, then you know your Christmas plots. Seems inevitable, since the photographer is played by Gregg's wife, Jennifer Grey. Of course, the movie has another reason why Gregg wins. Also available on Hulu. 

Snow Bride:  Tom Lenk plays a small role in this Hallmark movie. He's a reporter for a website hoping to get some dirt on a political family about to announce an engagement. A female rival tries to infiltrate the family, and does thanks to an accident. Thing is, this big-shot political family is more down-to-earth than the reporter thought. It doesn't stop her editor from planning to use some info Lenk uncovers, whether it's true or not. Lenk's also sporting a mustache in this movie.

Of course, there's also Buffy's holiday episode, "Amends". Some people think it's got a "Christmas miracle" cliche ending. Still, some people like that kind of ending, especially during Christmas.

My Buffy Movie Page Has Moved

As I am getting older, I am making some changes.
I've looked at my Yahoo home page, and whether I still need it. Since I have two blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Tumblr, my homepage is no longer the source of news it used to be. It used to be an update for Whedon shows, and a weekly episode guide, too. However, I could only save my Dollhouse episode guide through this site and Whedonopolis. I really wish I could have saved some of my episode reviews from Buffy and Angel. I never did review Firefly or Serenity, although I did comment on special events. 

So, I will have a new website through Wix that will be the new home for my memorial of The Bronze, and the day Angel was cancelled by the WB. It'll also be the home for some of my favorite cons, including the Flanvention, Wolfram and Hart Revue, Browncoat Ball and other events. 

I still need a home for my original page talking about the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie from 1992, and my dreams of it being riffed on by this guy and his two robots. Since Rifftrax has targeted Super Mario Brothers and Psycho II, plus both Doctor Who movies with Peter Cushing, there's always a chance. 

So, this is what I said about the original Buffy, with some updated comments:

Since the dawn of Man, the vampires have walked among us...killing...feeding.
The only one with the strength and skill to stop their henious evil is the Slayer.

She who wears the birthmark, the Mark of the Coven.

Trained by the Watcher, one Slayer dies, and the next is Chosen

It's very difficult to turn a good movie into a good TV show (MASH, Dr. Kildare, The Odd Couple, and not much else) or even a good TV show into a good movie (The Fugitive, MST 3000, The X-Files...maybe, South Park)

But turning a bad movie into a great TV show? Our Slayer may be the only character who has done that successfully...but it may have cost her respect and recognition that she so richly deserves.
The movie may be the reason why. Maybe it was a good idea that just wasn't executed as well as it should have.
Several actresses were up for the part, including Drew Barrymore, Allysa Milano and Alicia Silverstone (who was too young).
It was supposed to make Kristy Swanson, who played Buffy, a star. It was supposed to be Luke Perry's breakout role after several years as the male lead in Beverly Hills, 90210.Somehow, it didn't turn out that way.
On the other hand, it did have a well-known actor (Donald Sutherland as Merrick, the Watcher), two future Oscar winners (Hillary Swank and Ben Affleck), and a comeback role for Paul Reubens, alias Pee-Wee Herman..who was coming off a sex scandal that destroyed his career as a kids' TV host.
Not only that, it had David Arquette, who went on to fame in the Scream movies and telephone commercials, and wound up marrying Courtney Cox (and was a pro wrestling champion for a while).

The movie wasn't the sleeper hit 20th Century Fox had hoped. The major newsmagazines panned it. Time blamed the director for not having confidence in the script, while Newsweek blamed the script for not being able to merge the scary and funny bits as well as (and I swear to God this is true) Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

But the director, Fran Rubel Kazui, says the movie just wasn't marketed well, and didn't find its audience until it was released on video. The budget was seven million, but earned nearly 16 point seven million in the theaters. However, some criticized her for her hands-off style of directing. Joss Whedon, who wrote the movie, even admitted the movie didn't meet his vision. He talked about it in an interview with The Onion ...

I had major involvement. I was there almost all the way through shooting. I pretty much eventually threw up my hands because I could not be around Donald Sutherland any longer. It didn't turn out to be the movie that I had written. They never do, but that was my first lesson in that. Not that the movie is without merit, but I just watched a lot of stupid wannabe-star behavior and a director with a different vision than mine--which was her right, it was her movie--but it was still frustrating. Eventually, I was like, "I need to be away from here."

Fox executives also wanted the movie to be less funny and more scary, but Kuzui ignored those suggestions. He did have some nice things to say about Paul Reubens as Count Pee Wee, and that Rutger Hauer wasn't as bad in the movie as people thought.  The movie was supposed to end with Buffy setting the gym on fire (probably after she burns Lothos' head). The closest thing to his original script is in the three-part comic series, "Origin". 

There's not much connection between the movie and the TV show. In "Becoming, part one," the first meeting between Buffy and Merrick was MUCH different than in the movie: she met him in the TV show outside her high school, and he didn't look anything like Sutherland (more like Wilford Brimley). In the movie, of course, Merrick meets Buffy at the gym, and tells her about her "birthright." Also, there's no mention of a "Pike" in Buffy's past in the TV show, although there is in a Buffy novel. I suspect that there never really was a Pike, and they just added him for effect.

While the movie didn't make an impression in theaters, at least two of the producers, Gail Berman and Sandy Gallin, decided that Buffy would make a great TV show. If not for that, Buffy the Vampire Slayer would have been nothing more than fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000 (whose first supervising producer was Gallin!)

In fact, I have this dream that the Satellite of Love lands mysteriously in Los Angeles. Buffy and her Slayerettes investigate, and then are surprised to meet Mike, Servo and Crow. Then, they find this movie about a cheerleader who fights vampires, and Buffy says, "Guys, we have got to riff on this!"
And who could blame them?

There were plans for a Buffy movie for a new generation...and but without Joss Whedon or Sarah Michelle Gellar. (Edited to add: since Joss is busy in the Marvel-verse, and the TV cast has aged some, this may be more likely). More people are wondering why anyone should try. After all, more people look for the TV show, not the movie.
If Fran Kuzui wants to make a new Slayer movie, one word of advice:  any name except Buffy.
That way, if a new Slayer movie is done right, the real thing can show up, and give her blessing, which would also be Joss Whedon's.
For we all know, he is the one true parent of Buffy Anne Summers. 

(Also, the Nerdist website speculated what kind of Buffy movie we'd get if it was made in the 1970's. Actually, the casting's not bad: Cybill Shepherd as Buffy, Peter Cushing as Giles, Kurt Russell as Xander, Susan Dey as Willow, Morgan Fairchild as Darla. Not sure about Leonard Nimoy as the Master, though. This was during a time when he wanted to prove he was more than Spock, but I'm not sure this would be it.)
A blog called The Exploding Kinetoscope did a very detailed essay on the movie. It makes my essay look quite lacking. It compares the original Buffy movie to lots of other movies, and praises Sutherland's performance. Well, I had my angle and this blogger has his. Click here, and see for yourself.
AAAANNNDDD...someone found an article in Movieline that gives a detailed look at the movie, with a lot of emphasis on how this affects Luke Perry's chances to breaking away from his role on 90210. It didn't, but you wonder if it could have if the movie was closer to Joss' original plan, and people decided this was NOT a kid's movie.

Now, after we have had a flood of vampire genre on TV and the movies...for good and bad...could it be time for an all new version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, based on what Whedon really had in mind? If so, he, or Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tanchareon, should be involved somehow. That way, it will be done right.
Besides, wouldn't Emma Roberts look great mowing down the Hellspawn?

And for the record, my new website that's devoted to the many Buffy-related activities I've attended is http://davidmello4.wix.com/impalergeneral. 

Joss Whedon Joins Twitter; What Does That Really Mean? (from May 2013)

Like many fans of Joss Whedon, I woke up this morning, still excited about the first promo for the ABC show Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Mostly, we were really stoked about what could be the catch phrase of the summer: "Don't touch Lola," uttered by the literally indestructible Agent Philip Coulson. How he's indestructible...well, that will be explained sometime, but let's enjoy it.

Then I find out on Facebook that Joss has finally made the plunge into Twitter, the 21st century equivalent of sending telegrams to friends, family or people who you think are just wrong.

According to his page @JossActual, he started his account sometime after 11 PM Pacific Time. His first words:

It's me! Joss! My own account! No more hiding under studio skirts! I'm FREE! @MuchAdoFilm @AgentsofSHIELD @Marvel @roadsidetweets #free

Then, his next tweet:

MY account! I got strong opinions! I'm gettin' POLITICAL! (Heads up, LEMURS.) And making wry observations about mundane stuff!

That sounded good to me. So, I followed his account and, just because I can't help it, I try to write something that's as quirky as he is...

@JossActual Welcome! We Tweeters will follow you to the ends of the Earth, but not that tacky boutique over there, or that boring disco

OK, it isn't as quirky...or maybe it is. You decide. I follow that with something more intelligent:

@JossActual Of course, congratulations on @AgentsofSHIELD (is Luke Cage included?) and enjoy Seattle this week in #MuchAdoRulestheWorld

(Note:  it's now @josswhedon, which is easier to remember).

That's less quirky, but I had to say something about Much Ado About Nothing about to kick off the Seattle International Film Festival. Maybe it will get an award there, or it will rule the world (at least the indie film part).

He sent some tweets before when he used the @MuchAdoMovie Twitter feed just before the movie's premiere during South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. He also wrote a few after that. This may be why he decided to get his own account.

This does not mean I'll be tweeting Joss 7200 times a day. I can be quirky elsewhere, and often. I do think that Joss will get a mountain of thank-you tweets when Much Ado finally gets a regular run next month, and then Comic-Con, and then the TV show. Maybe he'll get comments from readers of his Dark Horse comics. They can do that now.

Joss finally joining Twitter is the nerdy equivalent of Miley Cyrus coming back to Twitter, but over-active Whedon fans should keep the tweeting at a minimum, and make those tweets count. After all, it's all about quality, not quantity. That goes for how many followers you have. He has 67 thousand followers as of Monday afternoon. That will get much bigger, but not in the Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber territory. It'll still be impressive though.

Meanwhile, much of the Whedonverse is already on Twitter, from David Boreanaz and Alyson Hannigan, to Seth Green, Nick Brendon, Tom Lenk, Fran Kranz, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Seam Maher, Alan Tudyk, Camden Toy, Doug Jones, Eliza Dushku, Felicia Day, David Fury, Jane Espenson, Charisma Carpenter, Kristy Swanson, Amber Benson, James Marsters, Tim Minear....nearly everyone.
Sarah Michelle Gellar isn't on Twitter, but that can always change. (Note:  and it did, @RealSMG)

As far as connecting with Joss through Twitter, we shouldn't go too far. One big Twitter-lanche, and he might be scared off. Just welcome him, and think of an impressive tweet you can use when the time is right. That's the best way.
When he has a thought that is longer than 140 characters, we head to Whedonesque, like we always do..

Joss Whedon Dominates the Oscars...Sort of (from February 2013)

Since I am at a loss of how to pass the time this afternoon while I am waiting for The Walking Dead, BAFTA Awards and the Grammys, I will write a really cheesy column about how the inventor of Slaying, Vampires with Soul and Big Damn Heroes actually has a big connection with the Academy Awards in two weeks.

Joss Whedon won't be at the Academy Awards next weekend. He'll will be busy in Glasgow and Dublin showing Much Ado About Nothing to the film festivals there.  He would belong at the Oscars though, aside from his nomination for a screenplay award for Toy Story in 1995. It's actually because of his connection with what could be the favorite for Best Picture

Joss' biggest connection is Argo, the movie with the Best Director of 2012 (sorry, whoever wins the Oscar). The most obvious one Clea DuVall, who played Cora Lijek, one of the workers from the US Embassy who hid in the Canadian Embassy in Iran in 1979. She also played Marcie Ross, the invisible girl who was gunning for Cordelia  in  Buffy's first season ("Invisible Girl" or "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"). It would have been great to see what happened to Marcie after the FBI grabbed her. My guess is her invisibility wore off after being away from Sunnydale, but she figured out how to work undercover in other ways. DuVall was an FBI agent in Heroes, so it's plausible.

It doesn't stop there. Keith Szarabajka, who was Angel's nemesis Daniel Holtz, played Adam Engell one of the CIA officials discussing how to get the six Americans out of Iran.

Oh, and Ben Affleck was one of the basketball players in the original Buffy movie. It was when one the players suddenly became a vampire.

Oops, I almost forgot Tom Lenk, who plays a reporter for Variety when they have the table read for the fake movie.  He'll be more prominent when Much Ado About Nothing reaches American theaters this summer (aside from SXSW in March).

Yes, Browncoats, Alan Tydyk should be included, too. He is the voice of the Candy King in Wreck-It Ralph, a likely favorite for Best Animated Film

AHHH! I know, Tara fans. Amy Adams was also in the Buffy episode "Family", five years before she earned her first of four Oscar nominations for Junebug. She's in the Supporting Actress race for The Master (no, not the one who was clobbered a formerly dead Slayer). Sorry about that.

Of course, the Oscars announced the cast of The Avengers will be presenting, while the film is up for the award for Best Visual Effects. You can't ignore a comic book movie that earns as much as the gross national product of a couple of small island nations.

I just wonder if Much Ado About Nothing, which was made at Joss' house in 12 days for the cost of a really long limousine, could get some awards, too. Maybe Joss may find himself in the Independent Spirit Awards in 2014. Wouldn't that be interesting?

My Role In Dr. Horrible Screening (from October 2012)

I always wanted to know what it was like to help out in a charity screening of something I have on DVD.
Well, since I had a free one-way Southwest trip and lots of points to burn, I decided to do just that. I was security (sort-of) and part of the clean-up crew at the Dr. Horrible screening last weekend at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater. Actually, being a go-fer and spotter for celebrity cars wasn't too bad. I also escorted Shawna Trpcic (designer of clothes for Firefly, Dollhouse and Dr. H) to her seat, and spoke briefly with Greg Aronowitz (propmaster genius), Doug Jones, and Georges Jeanty of Dark Horse Comics. Whedonopolis' video review can be found here. I'd present the whole video, but it's PG-13 in one certain moment. This is the PG version:



Fran Kranz as Walter White, the early years. If Breaking Bad wants a prequel, I think we've found your man. The Whedonopolis link has the complete Fran, you might say. I saw him three times in the lobby and never figured it was him.

These two, though were easy to spot...



Jane Espenson and Cheeks (Brad Bell), the couple who made Husbands the best sitcom TV doesn't air. They showed season 2 on the big screen, and it was a big hit. You don't see Joss Whedon as an actor every day, but after seeing him as a snarky agent that would be a good idea. Jon Cryer, though, is the real star towards the end as the Anderson Cooper-ish talk show host who actually surprises us.

There was also season five of The Guild, which I enjoyed more with a bigger screen. It included Doug Jones, namely this guy...



Remember, he's part of a classic foreign horror movie that almost won Best Foreign Film at the Oscars (but still picked up a couple). Also, gotta say, they should cast Amy Okuda as a super-heroine somewhere. Someone like Tink could fit into Arrow, for example.

The big event, of course, was Dr. Horrible. A lot of people took pictures of this couple...



That's the look of a girl who is happy an evil doctor game her the keys to a shiny new Australia, although this is also shiny: Australias you can eat!



Looking at it on a big screen for the first time in four years, I actually noticed something I hadn't before. In the tragic but inevitable scene where Penny's about to die after being impaled by collateral damage from the latest Hammer-Horrible tussle, Dr. H tries to help her, but then she says "Captain Hammer will save us". Even in death, Penny has betrayed our poor evil Doctor. THAT is why he embraces evil, folks. He couldn't get the girl no matter what.

Of course, a sequel is still in the works. I wonder if this time Dr. H is so horrible, the Evil League of Evil decides he should be, how you say, expelled quietly but also in a million pieces? Maybe he'll find salvation in an Angelic Penny. Maybe Captain Hammer will have to ask H for (ugh) help. It would be a bit too Megamind-ish, but what the heck? Most likely I'll be surprised if he get an angelic Penny at least. We'll just keep waiting.

Some other sights of the screening:



Greg Aronowitz with the Underwater castle that may or may not be the future of The Game this season on The Guild



An autographed poster that will be sold for charity.
I hear next year Dr. H will be part of a web film fest. No doubt more Guild episodes will be part of it.

Morgan Spurlock Brings Comic-Con Movie to SF (from April 2012)

We've been waiting quite some time for Comic-Con IV: A Fan's Hope, the documentary that Morgan Spurlock and Joss Whedon produced. It's supposed to be an inside look at one of the biggest and most popular events anywhere. After seeing it at the Vogue in San Francisco on Easter night, the movie does deliver in some levels. I just wish it was longer. It's just under 90 minutes, but it needed another 15 or 20 minutes. Well, what he couldn't include in the film, it will be in the inevitable DVD. It'll probably be two discs, although three will do, especially the blu-ray version.



So how can you condense 140 thousand fans and four days of Comic-Con 2010 into under 90 minutes? First, you have interviews with fans, a lot of them. That produces 700 hours of stuff. I was one of those fans, but I didn't make the cut. I may have had a chance if I was in costume, which I wasn't. I did dress as Dr. Who the 11th last year and will do so again. I just need a fez or something.

The film does have lots of interviews including Joss, Seth Green, Kevin Smith (who plays a part in one of the story lines), Grant Morrison, Kenneth Branagh, and more. It was also the first time I saw Paul Dini's face after knowing his name from the Batman animated series.

To get to the heart of Comic-Con, Spurlock chose several people who have stories that are connected with the event, We have two budding comic book artists who hope to get a foot in the door. We have a couple who met at Comic-Con 2009 who may be taking a big step if all goes well. It also depends on how the guy can get a very special ring for his girl. There's a collector who's there for only one thing: an action figure. There's Holly, a costume designer who hopes her entry in the Masquerade will turn some heads. There's Chuck Rozanski, owner of Mile High Comics, who has personally seen Comic-Con change from a comics-only convention into, as someone once said, Cannes for Nerds. Chuck's hoping to sell an extremely rare comic book that will keep him in business, in case sales aren't that great.
They are the best part of the film, especially Chuck and Holly's stories.

We also get to see Stan Lee, and Sylvester Stallone, Angelina Jolie and other movie stars that have basically taken over Comic-Con. We get comments about how the con is now a focus group for upcoming movies, which is true. It was the con that boosted Shaun of the Dead and Inglorious Basterds, but also exposed the weaknesses of films that use entire hotel buildings as billboards. Skyline, anyone? Hollywood taking over Comic-Con through product placement, and even "borrowing" a couple of restaurants to plug shows, would have been a great documentary all by itself. Again, if we had more on that, and contrast that with what Chuck and other comic book mavens think about how they're getting forgotten, it would have been a stronger film. It's certain this will be part of the DVD, and maybe something about how other people have become stars not exactly through major movies or TV, but through indie horror or internet shows (hey there, Felicia).



The people at the Vogue were nice enough to let me sit in with both question and answer sessions with Spurlock. He's a cool guy, and had some interesting comments about movie distribution. He noted that while he was on late-night TV plugging The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (his take on product placement), less than 20 theaters showed his movie on its first day of release. So, he decided with the Comic-Con movie, it would be shown in a few theaters, but also on Amazon, iTunes and on demand. In fact, you can see this movie at home or on your iPad for seven bucks. People at the screening paid $10.50, but that's because they wanted to see it the way their ancestors did....in a big dark room with popcorn and movie trailers. Having Morgan be there to sign autographs and talk about it was a bonus that they, and I, were happy to enjoy. The theater was actually two-third full for both showings, probably because it was Easter weekend. They also got dinged by a less-than-favorable review by the San Francisco Chronicle.

So what was left out of the movie? He talked about a girl who made a living dressed in costume, and how complex her costumes were. There was also a Colombian man who wanted to own his own comic book company, and hoped exposure at Comic-Con would help. He got a booth there, but not a travel visa. His wife had to go on his place, although she was not as involved in the business as he was. Spurlock said he would have had to use voice over to tell the story, and he didn't want to do that because the movie is without narration. He did say their company is still viable, and it's switching to digital comics. In fact, he said that digital comics could be the wave of the future.
He also talked about how that infamous stabbing during the Resident Evil panel prevented them from getting a very special romantic moment that was supposed to be one of the big story lines in the movie.

Spurlock also predicted that Comic-Con may be longer, maybe five or six days. That'll be great news to the hotel industry, that's for sure. I expect Petco Park will be the new Hall H, but that's just me.

Discovering the Secret in Berkeley (from April 2012)

It's been a long time since we had a new post here, since Whedonopolis gets priority for all my Whedon-verse posts. There are times, though, where I get to do such stories that someone else at that site has covered.

Nearly three weeks ago, I got to see the long-buried (thanks to MGM's financial problems) movie, The Cabin in the Woods, made by the words and thoughts of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard--and Goddard directing. .

Dread-Central was part of a new round of screenings over the past two weeks, including one this past Wednesday at the Shattuck Cinema in Berkeley.



While we couldn't bring cameras because Lionsgate said so, this was a much more active crowd compared to the one in Anaheim. It really helped when before the movie, Drew said the crowd should be as rowdy as it wants to be as the story unfolds. As my story said at the Anaheim screening, this movie takes a familiar horror story than sends it to places you'd never expect. That goes from what the college students do to where they wind up. I can only wonder what will happen on April 14th, when the "secret" is finally revealed and we can all talk about it. I can just hear the reaction of people being told who exactly is "behind the curtain" as far as the plot is concerned.
Again, no names. April 13th. This movie is your only hope to avoid giving money to a movie that is an even bigger horror, even if it does include Larry David as a nun (note: It's The Three Stooges).

So, what was the place like?

The Shattuck Cinema used to be a department store, but they renovated it for theaters in a section of town where one can choose from at least 15 movies in a three-block radius..and not under the same roof. The theaters themselves are uniquely decorated. They may be small but they are very nice places to check out a movie. My theater had a King Tut feel to it

I went there about 2:30, and found two people in line. An hour later, it was up to ten, and I decided to join in. The chairs are leather with very fancy cup holders. I was in the balcony where they had couches. It was like being at home, but with a very big screen and a stage. The place was filled about ten minutes after the screening was supposed to start. In my section there were a couple of kids that would be too young to see this movie. When you see it for yourself, you'll know why.

Drew and Amy Acker were introduced before the movie. Amy looked great but had cut her hair. That's too bad, since she looked great on Grimm recently with long hair.
Since this was my second time seeing it, I looked for some of the key moments that made this movie special, including how many scenes would have looked better in 3-D (I'd say maybe four or five).

Afterwards, Drew looked pleased abut how things went, especially about how people cheered for a certain item that Starbucks would be reluctant to sell. He also admitted that there are two characters that may remind viewers of Joss and Drew, and they're easy to spot. Again, no names. Go see the movie and you'll see what it is. I'm not the Hollywood Reporter.
He also explained how he tried to get a job being part of John Carpenter's movie, Vampires, in New Mexico. He didn't make it, but wound up working for a TV movie called Scattering Dad with Olympia Dukakis. Apparently it, too, had to wait a couple of years to be shown. Anyway, both movies were being filmed in the same area, which game Drew a chance to visit the set, and eventually meet Carpenter.

Then the discussion went to the chances of a sequel, and what Drew and Joss would have wanted to add to the movie. He also briefly discussed the chances of another Cloverfield movie. He said it depends on getting the right story.

Yes, Amy were there, too. She, too, was excited about working about the movie, and with Richard Jenkins, who...does something. You'll see.

The screening series will be ending soon, then everyone else will see The Cabin in the Woods. You'll find out why in every preview screening, there's one guy who appreciates this movie after the recent string of incredibly disappointing flicks. Seems Silent House is often mentioned.

Also, it gave me a chance to really get to use the BART system. I only used it to get from Fremont to San Francisco..and that was 30 years ago. Heading to Berkeley is good, too, and I may do that again soon. For now, though, I have another special movie screening in San Francisco this weekend. It's a movie I could see on iTunes, but meeting Morgan Spurlock after his Comic-Con movie is something I hope to do.