It's been nearly two months since we ventured to Austin, Texas to attend Butt-Numb-A-Thon (BNAT for short, pronounced "Bee-Gnat") for the fourth-straight year, and I've been meaning to write about it. Check out
this previous post for this year's photo.
For the uninitiated, BNAT is a 24-hour, invite-only film festival held by and for the birthday of Harry Knowles, founder of Ain't It Cool News, a Web site I started frequenting back in college. Shortly after Em and I got married, Emily's sister moved to Austin, and I convinced Emily that we should apply to this film festival I'd read so much about over the years.
This year was the 12th edition, hence the title. Without further ado... here are the films we saw (in chronological order) on Dec. 11-12 (I know this post is quite late, but at the time, none of the new films had been released, so it was a pretty big deal to see them early):
Every BNAT we've attended has started with a vintage film, so we were really surprised when Harry started things off with the latest Coen Brothers film. Between the two of us, Emily and I have seen almost all of their films, and this one is definitely one of their best. It's also the Coen Brothers only remake of their career, the original being mostly known for netting John Wayne his only Oscar. It probably won't have the same effect for Jeff Bridges this year, but only because he won last year and is up against Colin Firth (who I'm 95% sure will win). This is a great Western film about revenge and redemption, and the precocious Hailee Steinfeld (just 14 when she shot this) is fantastic.
One thing I love about BNAT is getting to see films that I've never seen nor heard of previously. Such was the case with this glorious minimalist French noir film. I'll admit to having a bit of a bias toward French cinema in general, mostly because the language fascinates me (I understand a lot of it... but it's enough of a mystery to keep me intrigued). That, and French directors are known for their incredible use of staging, lighting, music and locations. This film features debonair Alain Delon as a no-nonsense assassin for hire who's life is upended by betrayal. Good stuff. According to Harry, the 35mm print we saw of this film is impossible to find from film rental companies, and this particular print came to us from the personal library of director Quentin Tarantino. Awesome!!
We've only seen a few musicals at BNAT, but I grew up watching some of the classics, as did Emily (although, curiously, it seems we've often seen different ones than the other, leading to many a "How could you NOT have seen that?" conversations. Yep... it happens, even amongst a couple of film geeks.). I, for whatever reason, had never seen this film. All you need to know is that it's about three sailors on leave in NYC for 24 hours. There's a lot of singing, dancing, canoodling and innuendo. And the BNAT crowd didn't miss ANY of it, rewarding the 61-year-old performances with plenty of laughter and applause. It was a real treat to see this with 200+ of the geekiest people on Earth.
During BNAT, we usually get at least a 5-minute break between films (which, when you add all that up, can easily add an extra 50+ minutes to the already long schedule). But right after ON THE TOWN ended, Harry said, "Nobody go anywhere. Everybody... give it up for
Jon Favreau and
Ron Howard."
If those two names don't mean anything to you, then perhaps we shall not be friends... (j/k... but really, you should [and probably DO]) know who they are. Click on their names if you want to check Wikipedia really quick to check.
My eyes grew wide as I watched JON FAVREAU and RON HOWARD walk through the theater door, along with producer Bob Orci (literally right next to where Emily and I were sitting... we're talking inches here.). Jon explained to us that he wanted to show us his next film, "Cowboys and Aliens," but it was still in post-production (movies are made in three phases: pre-production, principal photography and post-production), so he could only show us the first two reels, or roughly 40 minutes of non-yet-ready-for-theaters footage. Was that OK with us? The crowd roared it's approval and away we went.
Some of my friends and family have expressed doubt about this film. All I can say is based on the 40-ish minutes we saw at BNAT, I'm really excited to see the whole film. The plot is still kind of mysterious to me, not having seen more than a chunk of the film... but if you're a fan of Daniel Craig as James Bond and Harrison Ford as, well, anything... I think you'll want to check this out. And, that's about all I can say as we were asked not to reveal any plot details. Sorry, Charlie.
RANGO (2011, 8-minute exclusive clip)
I will make a confession. As a 30-year-old adult who is not a parent, I'm usually not that interested in a lot of the current slate of CG-animated films, save those by Pixar that are not about talking automobiles and a few others (sorry, no "G-Force" nor "Gnomeo & Juliet" for me...). So, I was a little reticent when I heard that we were going to see a clip from "Rango," a CG-animated film directed by
Gore Verbinski, best known for directing "The Ring" and the first three (but not the fourth) Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
But, when GV's face showed up on the screen in a personalized message for Harry and the BNAT crowd, I thought that this must be something interesting. And... in fact, it was. Rango (voiced by Johnny Depp) is a chameleon who lives in a terrarium... and ends up in an old West town. Through a series of hilarious events, Rango is deemed the Sheriff of this town. Based just on what we saw, I will definitely check this out when it hits theaters in early March.
SANTA FE TRAIL (1940)
This truly bizarre film takes the Civil War and completely turns the tables by making the abolitionists (particularly,
John Brown) the BAD GUYS!! It also shares three of its main cast members (Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and Alan Hale) with the epic 1938 film,
The Adventures of Robin Hood. It also stars a 29-year-old Ronald Reagan as a young George A. Custer. Most of the movie centers around Flynn (as future Confederate Army General J.E.B. Stuart) and Reagan trying to win the hand of Olivia de Havilland. It's available in various public-domain releases on DVD, so seeing it in stunning 35mm on the big screen was a treat, even with its gross inaccuracies and strange portrayal of the abolition movement (plus, Flynn's inability to lose his Australian accent for a Southern drawl). Still, this is a film I might never have seen were it not for BNAT, and certainly not in a theater.
THE FIGHTER (2010)
Readers of this blog may remember that back in August 2009, Emily and I spent nearly two weeks in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. While in Philly, I insisted that we go to the "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her response to my since-childhood love of the Rocky films has always been that she doesn't like boxing movies. However... she does like Christian Bale. And, essentially, this movie is not a boxing movie; rather it is a "Christian Bale as a crackhead" movie... and there's plenty to like about that.
Bale plays washed-0ut fighter Dicky Eklund who is currently the subject of an HBO documentary, which he is certain will help him rebuild his career. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Micky Ward (played by the in-real-life-older-than-Bale Mark Wahlberg), whose boxing career is on the rise. It's a particularly heartwarming, true story about the drugs, talent and love... boxing plays a secondary role. As a result, Emily really enjoyed it. As did I. I'll be shocked if Christian Bale doesn't pick up the Oscar for this role. As for Wahlberg... he's good, but he always gets cast in this type of role.
For whatever reason, I've never seen any of the film adaptations of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, including the 1996 animated Disney version. I knew the basic story, but this film is considered the definitive classic. Charles Laughton is completely lost in the role as Quasimodo and the then-19-year-old Maureen O'Hara is stunning as Esmeralda. The film set a standard for makeup, set construction, lighting, stunts, etc., all in the same year that saw the release of The Wizard of Oz. Of Mice and Men, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach and Wuthering Heights!!! 1939 was an amazing year for the cinema, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a true classic.
CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (1965)
I've always enjoyed the films of Orson Welles, though, to be honest, there are so many I haven't seen, just for lack of focus in seeking them out. In the case of Chimes at Midnight (also known as Falstaff, the character played by Welles), it has never been made available in the United States on any home video format for a myriad copyright reasons. Harry told us that getting this print was a bit of a miracle in itself, and when the film stopped abruptly during the screening, everyone GASPED, for fear that we had been witness to the destruction of history. But, it turned out just fine.
Orson Welles said that this was his most favorite of all of his films, and he considered it better than Citizen Kane (well, Welles was an eccentric, for sure...). I've always had difficulty following Shakespearean prose in film, mostly because I've just always found it much easier to grasp through reading. Welles doesn't really help the viewer with his vague setups and hazy transitions. But, the action sequences are pretty impressive and have been cited as inspiration for films like Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan. If this ever makes it onto DVD or Blu-ray, I will definitely revisit it, as Welles' films are always worth multiple viewings.
When Harry announced that we were going to watch a comedy film, I was ecstatic. Emily always tells the story of how I tried to woo her with my cache of standup comedy DVDS back in our early dating days, but the truth is that she had shown some interest in them and I thought, "Awesome! I love standup." I grew up listening to Bill Cosby records on car trips, and as I got older, I loved trading standup CDs with my friends. Richard Pryor is one of the edgiest comics ever, and during his prime in the 1970s, he could get away with pretty much anything.
That said, this was an absolutely perfect pick for this early morning time slot (roughly 2 a.m.) as it had no real plot to follow, just an endless supply of jokes and physical humor. Comedy films like this don't really exist anymore... comedians still make DVDs, certainly, but this film played in the rotation in regular theaters. Now, we have Comedy Central, HBO, etc., so it makes little sense for distributors to spend the money to put this out in cinemas (plus, it seems like every standup comic eventually makes it to just about every corner of the world these days, so seeing someone live is less of a rarety). Pryor had me laughing so hard during this film that I couldn't help to clap, whoop and wail with the audience in front of him, suspended almost 40 years in the past!
THE GREEN HORNET (2011)
I had a feeling that we would see either The Green Hornet OR The Green Lantern at BNAT 12... and my money was on the former, being that, at the time, it was only a month away from being released. The film was released in both 2D and 3D, but we only saw the 2D version. I've heard the 3D was quite good. Before seeing this, the only thing I really knew about The Green Hornet was that Bruce Lee had played his sidekick Kato in the short-lived 1966-67 television series. But, I had faith that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg would do a great job with the script because I absolutely loved Superbad, which they also wrote.
Seth Rogen plays Britt Reid, a lazy rich kid whose rich dad dies, leaving him with his entire fortune and empire to run. Through a series of events, Britt and his dad's former mechanic, Kato, decide to become vigilante superheroes. If you're a fan of action and/or comic book movies, that's about all you need to know. What ensues is a crazy romp of explosions, gadgets, chases, etc. I really enjoyed it... more than I thought I would. I'm sure Emily would have preferred we had seen The Green Lantern, but only because she's in love with Ryan Reynolds (Not that I blame her...
he is pretty dreamy.)
A Film that Shall Not Be Named (2011)
This film has a name. BUT... I can't tell you what it is. It played at Sundance... but we were asked not to divulge it's title nor anything about it, as it had yet to find a distributor. All I can tell you is that it was very bloody, super violent, fairly ridiculous... and also pretty cool. If you enjoyed films like
Maniac Cop and
Evil Dead, you'd enjoy this. For sure.
Two years ago at BNAT, we saw My Bloody Valentine 3D. It was one of the craziest 3D films I've ever seen, making the absolute most of gimmicky blood spatters and blunt weapons that appear to protrude from the screen, right into your face. I wasn't sure I'd ever see another film quite like it.
And then... we saw this. Now, I'll admit... I watch pretty everything Nic Cage does. He gets a bad rap sometimes because, like Christopher Walken, he'll pretty much do ANY film. Plus, he's such a versatile actor that you never know if you're getting
crazy Nic Cage... or
Academy Award-winner Nic Cage (hmm... probably not much of a difference there, actually). This film has crazy 3D effects... cars and bodies explode, shrapnel flies in your face, etc. There's a lot going on, including a plot involving an agent of Satan coming to collect the souls of the damned. I can't give it many points on substance alone, but if you enjoy mindless popcorn movies as much as I do, than you'll enjoy this. I certainly did.
TRON: LEGACY (2010; in IMAX 3D)
At this point, Harry told all of us to gather our things and head outside, where charter buses would take us to a secret location. As soon as we boarded the buses, I told Emily, "I bet we're going to the
Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Emily and I had actually already been there a few years before with her sister and kids, who live in Austin. It's a cool place no doubt... but, the one thing it has is a full-sized IMAX theater (for my friends who live in Portland and Eugene... I know that Bridgeport Village in Tigard and Regal Cinemas in Eugene claim to have [or soon will have, in Eugene's case] IMAX screens. That's true and false. What they have is IMAX Digital screens, which, for a $5-per-person surplus, offers a slightly bigger screen and better sound quality. It's what cinephiles like me affectionately refer to as
LieMAX.).
But... a true IMAX screen is a mammoth. If you've been to the Pacific Science Center at the Seattle Center, you've seen one. OMSI in Portland has an OMNIMax dome, but that's also not a true IMAX screen, just an IMAX brand. The only true IMAX screen in the Oregon is at the
Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, and it doesn't show first-run films, just really cool educational films.
Anyhow... once inside the Bob Bullock museum, I knew what we were going to see.. and I was excited. We only saw it a week early, but that was good enough for me. I was only two-years old when the first TRON film was released in 1982, but I saw it plenty of times on video as a kid. I was always obsessed with video games and computers, so it was natural that I would dig it. Seeing TRON: Legacy in IMAX 3D was incredible. I enjoyed the movie so much that I've since seen it twice more in the other two 3D formats (RealD and Dolby Digital 3D).
Everything about this movie is super cool... the effects are amazing, the music is by the French electro-synth duo Daft Punk (one of my favorite groups), and Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn, the master behind The Grid, a digital frontier wherein programs come to life in an arena of games, portals, light-cyles and circuits. It's pretty far out, man. If TRON: Legacy is your kind of movie... you've probably already seen it. As for me, I can't wait to watch it again on Blu-ray. The soundtrack is even on constant replay in my car. :)
AND... that was BNAT. Here a couple more little tidbits from our weekend in Austin:
Emily and I gave Harry a TRON: Legacy figurine and a pair of Mickey R2D2 ears from Disneyland. He seemed to really like them.
We've also become friends with Harry's wife, Patricia, over the past couple years. We managed to have lunch with her and some other BNAT veterans at
Polvo's Mexican Restaurant. The enchiladas were incredible and the queso dip was fantastic.
One of the new BNAT attendees this year was Meghan McCain, daughter of the 2000 & 2008 presidential candidate, U.S. Senator John McCain. A few months earlier, I had just finished reading Meghan's book, "
Dirty Sexy Politics," which is the story of her life on the campaign trail with her dad in 2008. It's a fun book to read, especially if you're with me in thinking that Sarah Palin is one of the most ridiculous people to ever grace the public stage. Meghan was super sweet and we chatted for a good 30 minutes or so before BNAT started. Later, I told her that a friend of mine from high school had worked on her dad's campaign, and she said she actually got to know him quite well. A cool connection indeed.
Knowing that she was coming to BNAT, I brought a copy of her book. When I asked her to sign it, I figured she could either be annoyed or flattered (I mean, if I wrote a book, I'd be thrilled if anyone even read it!). It turns out, she was REALLY excited that I read it and brought it.
We had a great time at BNAT 12... and we're already excited, anxious and nervous for BNAT 13. It's Harry's 40th birthday party, so I'm certain it will be amazing.
