MYSTERY AT THE NEW MEDIA CELEBRATION

“I heard about your blog at the Catholic New Media Celebration. Were you there?”

So asks Ms. Angela Santana from Saint School, a blog about college, faith, and young adulthood. Yes, Angela, there is an EegahInc, and unless I’m mistaken, he was a few rows behind you at the conference. Bwah Ha Ha! Actually, Angela points out one my serious personality flaws; unless I’ve known you for twenty years, I’m not much for talking. Here I go through the trouble of attending a get-together designed to build relationships among hundreds of Catholic bloggers and podcasters, and I can count the number of people I actually spoke to on my fingers. I have a personality custom made for the Internet.

To make up for my shortcomings, I’ll happily give a nod to any of my fellow conference attendees who drop me a note here or on 4marks or Facebook (If you can find me there, Bwah Ha Ha!). Along with her own blog, Angela also brought to my attention Rebecca Christian's blog, Catholic In Film School. Rebecca is a junior in college studying screenwriting and theology in Los Angeles. Best of wishes Rebecca, may you never make a film which ends up being reviewed here.

If there’s anybody else out there I didn’t speak to who’d like a mention, just let me know. Talk to… er, write to you later.

WEEKLY NEWSREEL

Good evening Mr. & Mrs. Catholic and all you other Christians at sea. Here at the Newsreel we find ourselves still in the thrall of Miles O’Keefe’s luxurious mane. Ah, hair! Let it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees, give a home to the fleas in our hair. A home for fleas, a hive for bees, a nest for birds, there ain't no words for the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of our hair. Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it, our hair. Our hair like Jesus wore it, Hallelujah we adore it! Now off to press.

DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO – Ooooo, check out the tail lights on this one. Hey, We’re talking about her hair! Sheesh, you people. Actually, this kind of elaborate hair ornamentation puts us in the mind of Jezebel who, upon learning that the newly appointed king Jehu was in town, “shadowed her eyes, adorned her hair, and looked down from her window.” A number of modern scholars have suggested that the original readers of the Biblical text would have associated this description of Jezebel with carven images of the elaborately coiffed Kilili, “she who leans out of the window”. This Babylonian goddess wasn’t your typical earth-mother of the time, but rather a warrior and seductress and, as an aspect of Ishtar, the patroness of sacred prostitution. Using such recognizable imagery to describe Jezebel implies that she was more than just some skanky Canaanite princess, but likely a pagan priestess of some sort, which would better explain her ability to corrupt the religion of Israel during the reign of her husband Ahab. If all that’s true, then Jezebel’s final fall from the castle wall to the hungry dogs below isn’t just a gruesome campfire tale (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but an allegorical toppling of a pagan religion. Gotta watch those little details in Scripture, dear readers, they’re loaded.

DATELINE: KENSINGTON – The nice lady above reminds this reporter of his very brief stay with the United Pentecostal Church, the nice folks who interpret I Corinthians 11 to mean that a woman should never cut her hair while a man should keep it close to the scalp. We’ve recently discussed St. Paul’s likely meaning when crafting his words on hair-dos and their implications that Jesus probably (not definitely) had shoulder length hair. What we didn’t provide was an example of what exactly St. Paul was decrying when he criticized long hair on men. For that, we turn to the book of 2 Samuel which tells us of Absalom, son of King David, who just might have borne more than a passing resemblance to the lady above. Quite famous for his flowing girly-locks, the young Absalom shaved his head only once a year, a ritual which usually left a pile of hair weighing in at a whopping 200 shekels, or about 4 pounds. In later years, however, Absalom's ambition grew along with his hair, eventually resulting in an open revolt against his father. Absalom’s life came to an undignified end when his fab-u-lous hair became tangled in a low hanging bush and Joab, finding the poor guy swinging in the wind like a pinata, poked a few holes in him with a lance. Absalom's vanity ultimately left him, as the Bible so poetically (and yes, allegorically) describes, hanging between Heaven and Earth.

DATELINE: PARTS UNKNOWN – Our last newsreel is of a monkey getting a haircut. There’s no biblical, catechetical, or allegorical reason for this; we just wanted to see a monkey get a haircut. Everybody loves monkeys.

And with that, we leave you until next time. As always, in the words of the great Les Nessman, “Good evening, and may the good news be yours.”

VIDEO REVIEW: Wanted

First Look: Disney's 3D "Bolt" Animation Trailer

AWESOME new trailer for Disney's 3D animation "Bolt" coming to theaters this November 26th! The animation work in this thing looks staggeringly well done. Great job guys.

Don't forget to listen to the voice of Bolt - See if you can figure out who it is without looking it up on my Upcoming 3D Movies List - it's not Rocket Scientology... And no, not Tom Cruise! :-)

Gotta love the super slo-mo jump over the helicopter blades!

New "Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D" Poster Is Out

Hey guys - check out the new "Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D" poster that just hit. Thanks to DON for pointing that out to me! Click to enlarge. Looks awesome.

Journey 3-D opens July 11th.

Hmmm... That T-Rex seems intent on some Dairy Queen Fraser Burger...

Exclusive Update From Cine Expo 2008: Avid MarketSaw Reader Fills Us In!

Hey guys - some interesting developments over at Cine Expo 2008 including an appearance by the man himself, Buzz Aldrin at the showing of his upcoming 3D animation "Fly Me To The Moon" - check out Rochelle's excellent report on what's happening with 3D there:

About 45 minutes of Fly Me to the Moon screened today. It's a family film that weaves fiction and fantasy into one nice ice cream cone of confection for young audiences. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin makes a surprise appearance at the end. Ben Stassen, the film's director, sadly didn't make it to the screening. Introducing the presentation, instead, was XpanD CEO Maria Costeira, a lovely powerhouse behind a diverse family of entertainment companies (including the aforementioned 3-D exhibition solution). Costeira said that she is already in production on two other 3-D movies, one slated for winter 2009 release.

3-D was everywhere at Cine Expo. 3-D technology and exhibition vendors from around the world were among the busiest on an otherwise quiet expo floor and the topic constantly came up during the panel discussions. In today's session, "The Industry Speaks Out - The Current Climate in the International Marketplace," several studio reps mentioned 3-D when asked about their top concern going forward. Both Andrew Cripps , President, Paramount Pictures International and Anthony Marcoly, President, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International, bemoaned the shortage of both 2-D and 3-D digital screens. Marcoly said that for a film to be released primarily in 3-D, it had to be shown on at least 2000 3-D screens. He predicted that only 1500 screens, at the most, would be installed by Christmas 2008, forcing DreamWorks to release movies in 2-D that were created with a 3-D aesthetic. Marcoly shared his fears that audiences would perceive the 2-D versions as less than, impacting box office performance.

And so it goes. This time we have the chicken and the egg, but no hen house.

Rochelle

Well, lets hope that the theater chains and the studios can work together to get this thing done. Recent agreements are all very good, but we need some action now. Great to see 3D front and center at the show!

Audition Update: The Cheshire Cat In Tim Burton's 3D "Alice In Wonderland"

Recently I have been taking more of an interest in the casting of 3D movies, but none hold more interest with me than Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland".

Well Tim has been busy! He has been casting for the timeless role of "The Cheshire Cat" and man oh man - what a role to sink your teeth into!

45 year old Vyelle Croom has auditioned for the role recently - no word on just how well he did, but we will do a little more digging to try and find out. Perhaps some light can be shed on the spotlight role of Alice...

So who do you think should fit into the Cheshire Cat's smile? How about the role of Alice? This movie is going to cause a landslide of free social media advertising for Disney - it has block buster written all over it...

Photo courtesy of BBC

Fat Lady Is Singing: Royal Opera House To Offer 3D Showings of "Hansel and Gretel" In THEATERS

Were you wondering when 3D will start rising and 2D begins it's downward slide? Well the fat lady is singing. :-)

Arts Alliance Media announced yesterday that they will be adding The Royal Opera House's "Hansel and Gretel" to their 2009 lineup of Digital Cinema programming. Unfortunately it is only pegged for Europe and Australia currently.

I am excited to see some of the potential being realized by digital and in particular 3D technology in theaters! How awesome would it have been to be able to go to your local cinema to catch the Celtics/Lakers NBA final series in digital live action 3D?

Damn awesome...

Sony's New 3D Capable Projector: Gunfight At The 4K Corral...

Sony is battling today's status quo of having to use dual 2K Digital Projectors to achieve a 4K stereoscopic 3D screening by introducing their new 4K projector at Cinema Expo 2008 in Amsterdam.

The new projector is "projected" to be launched by Christmas this year and should provide a more affordable and elegant 4K 3D solution. Merging projection from two different cameras can be very challenging, needing constant adjustments and potential headaches.

The projector is now being tested at 4 locations in Norway. It seems as though this technology has been around awhile as it was being used in Norway back in 2005. I suspect there have been many improvements since then - most likely in the cost and manufacture of the equipment.

Source: THR

Hmmm... How big a living room would I need to house this thing?? :-)

INTERMISSION: SATAN SUBLETS

Yes, I do read. (Mostly the same stuff I watch, but hey, it’s got words.) And all those months ago, when I first responded to the Page 123 Meme which Mr. WAC from Fish In A Barrel tagged me with, the same one which prompted my upcoming review of Ator: The Fighting Eagle, I included this small excerpt from the second closest book I had at hand:

"When I modeled her, I thought that she would be mine forever-but others came and admired her-others like you and your friend." The axe sliced through the air, missing Arthur and striking the brick wall. Sparks flew as the smashing contact was made."

That bit of prosery comes from Satan Sublets (What? You were expecting War and Peace from the guy who brought you Final Exam: The Novelization?) written by the non-existent Jack Younger, one of the many pseudonyms of Russ Jones. Russ is one of those semi-Renaissance type guys you find scattered across the world of sci-fi/horror who has done a little bit of everything to keep working with the subject matter he adores. Over the past few decades he’s been a comic book artist (Mystery In Space) and writer (Arrgh!), magazine publisher (Monster Mania) and editor (Creepy Magazine), and even a documentarian (Buzby Berkeley). More important to the topic at hand, however, is that during the mid-seventies, Russ Jones anonymously authored over twenty dime store novels with titles such as Claw, Curse of the Pharaohs, Maniac!, Demon, and Rest In Agony.

I think it’s fair to say that not everything  Russ has done had the Pulitzer as a goal. Russ himself admits as much when discussing the time director David Hewitt couldn't get the rights to make a film version of Creepy Magazine and called Jones up to provide a screenplay instead. In the book Eye On Science Fiction, Mr. Jones remembers, "I wasn't particularly busy at the time, and Dave had a picture to make and didn't have a script. I had some cast-off stories I had done, and I fired them off to him in the mail." These cast-offs eventually became the five stories which comprise 1967's Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors, a poor man's spin on the much better Amicus anthology films of the time. Jones wasn't too fond of the finished product himself. "I didn't want my name on it at all, but I knew it was gonna look good on the resume!" Now I could be 100% wrong, but after reading Satan Sublets, I would lay odds this book offers up something of the exact same scenario. Take a look at the plot.

On the verge of giving up on his search for an apartment in New York City, Peter Harcourt chances upon the nearly hidden rental offices of L. Devlin. Offered a luxurious apartment at a rate only a madman could turn down, Peter immediately sends for his wife and young daughter. Things go well until little Peggy builds an altar to her favorite goatman doll inside her locked playroom and the cat disappears. It all ends horribly one rainy night as Peggy kills her mother, transforms into a goatman, and leaves her father a rambling lunatic for the rest of his life. The following week Devlin rents the apartment to retired businessman Arthur Grant. Things go well until Arthur and his friend Carl become obsessed with the wax figure of a beautiful woman they've found at a local artist's studio. Unfortunately for them, the figure's creator becomes jealous of their attentions and decides to rectify the situation with an ax. The following week Devlin rents the apartment to Mike Fuller and his wife Debbi. Things go well until Mike begins to lose his hearing and Debbi, knowing her phone conversations can't be overheard anymore, resumes her career as an on-call nymphomaniac. Unfortunately for her, Mr. Devlin recommends a doctor to Mike who replaces his auditory nerves with those of a vampire bat. The newly created nosferatu, who can now hear quite well, eventually slays his wife and the vampiric pair take up residence in the building's basement with some of Devlin's other creatures. The following week...

Any of that sound familiar? It should. The stories are chock full of references to Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, EC Comics, you name it. The wax museum story even goes so far as to have the characters discuss the similarity of their situation with 1953's House of Wax. Let's face it, no matter how much silly B-level entertainment the book offers up (Hey kids, bat eardrum transplants can turn you into a vampire! Get yours now!), the stories in Satan Sublets have cut-and-paste written all over them. The biggest giveaway is the jarring sex scene in the final story that feels totally out-of-tone with the rest of the book. It smacks of having had some editor call Jones up and say, “Look, Russ baby, it’s the 70s. We gotta have us some graphic sex in this thing!” The book reads like a bunch of unrelated (and unsold) short stories Jones had laying around which he reworked and patched together with the flimsy linking device of Devlin and called it a book.

The funny thing is, the Devlin stuff is what’s most enjoyable about the book because, well… it’s just… goofy. Take this section where Devlin explains what’s going on in the apartment building.

“You see, Mr. Fuller – that apartment is owned by the Prince of Darkness, Himself. I find people for Him, so he can enjoy his New York abode. In fact, the Master is quite pleased with the progress He has made in this town. Soon, it shall all be under His domain.”

So let me get this straight. Satan’s big scheme to conquer a city of over 8 million people is by sub-leasing out a single apartment? Come on, I know times are tough, but would the entire population of the largest city in the United States really line up and surrender their souls one at a time just to get rent controlled living space? (Cheap gasoline, maybe, but low rent?) Is this the best Old Scratch can come up with? I mean, his résumé sounds pretty intimidating in The Catechism. "A murderer from the beginning, …a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world." Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death." Does somebody who sounds this awful really have to resort to such pedestrian methods?

You know, he just might. Although the Catechism never short changes the danger represented by the Devil, it does go on to explain that “the power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature.” Basically, as a created being, Satan cannot possess the omni-traits of God. He can’t know everything, he can’t do everything, and he can’t be everywhere at once. Theoretically this means that even as a spiritual being, Satan could be confined to a single place at any given time and forced to travel like the rest of us if he wishes to go from one place to another. If this is the case, then it’s quite possible the Devil could be hanging out in a New York City apartment building carrying out his (snicker) master plan while the rest of the fallen multitude do his dirty work elsewhere.

A number of theologians, however, speculate that this lack of omnipresence doesn’t preclude the ability of the Devil to bilocate or multi-locate. According to the New Catholic Dictionary bilocation is “the actual presence of the same finite being in two totally different places at the same time.” (I’m going to include the rest of the definition here because it’s interesting, but if you’re like me, you might want to get a second dictionary to look up the stuff you’re reading in the first dictionary.) “A physical body is said to be in place circumscriptively, every exterior part juxtaposed with Its corresponding part of the environing surfaces. A spiritual being is said to be in place definitely, entire in every part of space occupied. A mixed mode of location is that of a being circumscriptively in one place and definitely elsewhere, as is Christ in heaven and in the Sacred Host. This latter mode of bilocation is pertinent to the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. All the physical laws of matter known to natural science contradict the bilocation of a material body as physically possible. As an absolute or metaphysical impossibility involving an intrinsic, essential contradiction, Catholic philosophers maintain that there is no intrinsic repugnance to a mixed mode of location. Since local extension is not an essential note of material substance, but merely a relation, bilocation does not involve the multiplication of a body's substance but only the multiplication of its local relations to other bodies.”

All that is just a fancy and philosophically correct way of saying that while not able to be omnipresent like God, beings with a spirit can in a certain sense be in two places at once. So with the ability to bilocate, the Devil could actually be hanging out at his own New York apartment AND be down the street getting Rosemary pregant AND be in Washington possessing Reagan seemingly all at the same time. Perhaps that’s why Father Pedro Barrajon, a trained exorcist and professor of theological anthropology at the Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum in Rome, recently stated that “The devil is present everywhere that evil things happen within the normal laws of nature. In anyone who says: I don't accept love, the love of my brothers and sisters, the love of God. And in many places, in all massacres, in every murder, in physical catastrophes, in every concentration camp, in all evil.”

So, be warned. Just because the Devil might be tied up with this silly subletting scheme in the Big Apple right now, that doesn’t mean he can’t be outside your door right now also.

Live In San Diego? Want A Free Pass To "Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D"?

If you will be in San Diego area on July 11th and enjoy the new 3D experience - act fast! iZ3D is offering 200 free tickets to a 7:30 screening of "Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3-D" and after the showing will be demoing their awesome 22" 3D gaming monitor!

Check it out! Register with the link above.

New "Ice Age 3" And "Monsters vs. Aliens" Poster Boards @ Cinema EXPO

Check out these new images crisp from the 2008 Cinema EXPO being held in Amsterdam. We have seen both images before but this time they are cutouts. Looks like an awesome show over there - next year perhaps! :-)

Source: Film1

65% to 100% Sales Increase For "Beowulf" 3D Screens Over 2D!

VERY interesting survey stats appearing now over at THR highlighting just how good a lift 3D gives to theaters over their 2D counterparts. They surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. theaters with 4+ screens and some with 3D, some without.

"...the November 2007 release "Beowulf" in 3-D saw a 65% sales increase in total boxoffice over comparable theaters that exhibited it in 2-D, according to a new study from the Nielsen Co.'s Nielsen PreView."

"Besides the edge in boxoffice sales, theaters that chose to exhibit "Beowulf" in 3-D on more than one screen saw their sales climb even higher to 100% versus what was expected."

"With all the upcoming hype around 3-D, we wanted to take a hard look and see if there is truly a consumer appetite for 3-D," said Ann Marie Dumais, senior vp at Nielsen PreView. "Our new research approach contrasted theaters in such a way to demonstrate consumers, when given a choice, will choose 3-D."

"A related Nielsen study found that while consumers have an appetite for 3-D films, they often lack general awareness and education about what 3-D is and where to find it. In a recent Nielsen moviegoer survey, 48% were unaware their movie was available in 3-D. "We are talking about are they aware that a given movie is offered in both formats, what that looks like and where to find it," Dumais said."

Well now - that's where MarketSaw comes into play guys! Spread the word! Apparently there are hordes of folks who need to be enlightened about 3D and just what is coming down the pipe... :-)

George Carlin has died

http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSN2341233220080623

This is incredibly difficult.

Not difficult to believe, no. Not by a longshot. Anyone who'd seen Carlin interviewed or performing during the last few years can't be surprised by this news - the man, after all, called his (as it turns out) next-to-last HBO Comedy Special "Life is Worth Losing."

The difficult part is finding a way to say what I want to say about the man WITHOUT dipping into sentimentality, piety or (worst of all) psuedo-spirituality. He'd HATE that. The best way I can think of is to stay on-topic.

Of the artists and entertainers who've influenced my worldview and my own manner of self-expression, I don't think any of them were a STRONGER and more tangible influence than Carlin. Watching his HBO specials, introduced to them by my parents, were the first time I ever really got the notion of how hugely important and beneficial it could be to truly UNDERSTAND language.

Carlin was part of an explosion of new-breed comedians that came up in the 60s and 70s, his influence often compared to that of Richard Pryor. He "broke through" largely on the strength of his seminal work, the infamous "seven words you can't say" routine. It was packed with shock-value and attention-grabbing sarcasm, but at it's core it was the first shot of what would become the bedrock of his art: Language-analysis as comedy. He would get onstage and not ONLY pontificate hillariously on all manner of subjects taboo and mundane - but also take his own material apart piece-by-piece; exploring the meaning of words, their use and misuses and (best of all) what the MISUSE of a word had to say about the mindset and even AGENDA of the person misusing it. For me, this was a revelation: Words weren't just powerful - they could be WEAPONS. Properly mastered, studied and respected, language itself could be a sort of mental/verbal martial-art... one could literally tear an opponent's argument apart or even turn it against him simply by knowing the weapons - the WORDS -more completely than he did.

Just about the whole of modern "topical" comedy and satire can trace itself back to him - had there never been a George Carlin, there would be no Daily Show, no Colbert Report, no any of that. But he never rested on his laurels, and never seemed to grow content. Most comedians, hell... most ENTERTAINERS, period, who start out "edgy" tend ton soften as years go on - he never did. It seemed as though the longer George Carlin spent among humanity, the more aspects of it he found to infuriate and disgust him... and the more ways he found to turn his fury and disgust into humorous release. Most people who are "radical" in youth come to change their mind about "the establishment" once THEY ARE the establishment - he never did. The comic who'd slammed 'the man' and the Vietnam war in his youth would in old age slam grown-up 'liberals' for changing "shell shock" into "operational exhaustion" as a way of marginalizing and ignoring Vietnam veterans.

I will miss him. I will miss being able to hear his take on the events of the day. We will now not have the chance to hear what the Last Angry Man of comedy has to say about Barack Obama's bullshit-dripping idealistic self-help stump speeches, or John McCain's "is-he-effing-kidding??" ressurection of "victory with honor." We haven't just lost a comedian, we've lost one of the greatest American philosophers of the 20th Century.

VIDEO REVIEW: The Love Guru

I've gotta find a mechanism to get these done sooner than two to three days AFTER seeing the movie... though, given the boxoffice, it doesn't sound like anyone needed ME to tell them not to see this.

BACK FROM THE CATHOLIC NEW MEDIA CELEBRATION

SQPN’s first Catholic New Media Celebration has concluded and I’m back at the theater already. Although I’m lousy when it comes to interacting with real live human beings, I did manage to say hello to a few people there including Joe McClane from The Catholic Hack and SQPN founder himself Father Roderick, both whom seem to be genuinely nice guys.

A special thanks to Mark Shea for introducing me to the phrase “Nuking The Fridge” and giving me a reason to want to see the new Indiana Jones movie. (Probably not the one Lucas had in mind, but I’m sure he’ll take my money anyway.)

And a very special thanks to Jeff Miller, The Curt Jester, for his gracious compliments. I tried to track him down after the blogging panel to say thanks in person, but he either shies away from attention or he’s just freaking invisible.

Be sure to check out all the above links for what I’m sure will be interesting tidbits regarding the day’s events. All in all it was a pretty good way to spend a Sunday.

Avatar Quick Post: Cameron's Precision And More Na'vi Fan Art

A good friend of MarketSaw and soon to be contributor Michael Stat and I thought we would give you a couple of "Avatar" findings that have surfaced recently that may be of interest to you.

1. Colin Moy speaks briefly to the New Zealand Herald about his role as an Engineer in "Avatar":

"Cameron, with huge movies such as Titanic and the Alien series under his belt, has a reputation for having a huge ego but Moy was surprised to find he was a very sympathetic director. "He turned out to be a real actor's director who was very friendly but also very precise," he says. "Even though I only had a small part, playing an engineer, he asked my opinion about the character. He was a real perfectionist which I think is why he has a reputation for being tough."

What Michael and I love about this the underscoring of hope for a repeat of Titanic or Aliens, where every character, no matter how minor, is memorable.

2. Here is some fan art from Xia Taptara (Seattle) who spawned an interpretation of what the Na'vi (inhabitants of Pandora) will look like. He uses Adobe Photoshop CS2 and a Wacom Intuos3 6X8 Pen Tablet.



Not bad at all! And YES we are working hard on getting the latest developments - we have to keep our reputation intact as being the go to site for all things Avatar!

VIDEO REVIEW: The Happening

CATHOLIC NEW MEDIA CELEBRATION

Since my schedule miraculously cleared up and this event is being held (practically) in my backyard, it looks like I’ll be attending SQPN’s Catholic New Media Celebration this coming Sunday. It should be fun and informative to listen to the big boys and girls discuss blogging and podcasting. This will be the first convention I’ve attended in a long time which won’t be overrun with a bunch of middle-aged professionals cutting loose in stormtrooper uniforms and elf ears (at least, I don’t think so), but I still get to go to mass with folks like Mark Shea and Jeff Miller, so it’s all good.

"The Magic Tale": A 3D Story Of A Young Girl's "Magical Journey" To Africa

"The Magic Tale" presents a story of a 10 year old girl named Jana and her journey full of magic (encountering a fairy - what little girl would not want to see that!) to Africa, where she discovers the the meaning of life through the trip's trials and tribulations. The movie has wrapped shooting in Africa and will be beginning the Spanish side of things in Barcelona beginning in July.

3Dpic is due out in 2009 and the distributor is to be announced. Stereographer is William Reeve. The portraits are Eva Gerretsen who plays Jana and Raymond Mvula who is Jana's best friend Mel.

This sounds like a wonderful family movie that will really lend itself well to stereoscopic 3D. I am anxious to see it.

OUTTAKES #016

This week’s exercise in bad taste was brought to you by clips taken from 1970’s The Double Garden, better known in the U.S. as The Revenge of Dr. X, with some last minute assistance from the Santa Ana Journal Cooking School of 1935. Please leave all complaints in the comments box.

The World Has Lost An F/X Pioneer: Stan Winston Dead at 62

Stan Winston, who had multiple Oscar nominations and 4 visual effects wins, passed away today after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a rep from Stan Winston Studio.

You will remember his creations in such movies as James Cameron's "Aliens" (1986) (one Oscar), Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1992) (2 Oscars) and 1993's "Jurassic Park." (One Oscar). This guy designed the freakin' Terminator Endoskeleton! Simply awesome work and what an accomplished career even though it was cut short.

"Stan died peacefully at home surrounded by family," a spokeswoman said.

You can see more examples of his work in the upcoming 3D epic "Avatar". Yet another reason why this movie marks the closing of an era and the beginning of another. Our thoughts are with Stan's family.

Marcus Theatres Builds Upon 3D Presence In Midwest

"Journey To The Center Of The Earth" opens July 11th and Marcus Theaters intends to make some room for it. Bruce J. Olson, President of the chain says that they are installing twelve more 3D screens at various Midwest locations to augment their existing two installs. The Brendan Frasier vehicle helped define a time line for Olson to green light the roll out if 3D systems.

Marcus Theaters is the nation's seventh-largest theater chain with 678 screens in 56 locations.

Source: THR

Quick Post: The Writer Of "My Bloody Valentine" Has Some Interesting Comments About The Production

Todd Farmer, one of the script writers for "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" has some interesting tidbits of behind the scenes info about the production of the movie here.

Here is a comedic excerpt:

"I was telling Kerr and Edi that Edi’s part and their banter got both longer and better after they were cast. For the simple reason that Patrick (and myself) really liked them together. Patrick told me pretty much exactly how he saw them in his head and I went home and pretty much wrote exactly what he wanted. But when I said this to Kerr and Edi, Edi knew me only as some no name day-playing actor who had suddenly walked up and started talking like he owned the place. He was like, “Uh…I don’t see it that way.” Then turned to Kerr, “Do you?” So I tried to explain myself by saying the script used to be this and that, which did little more than baffle Edi as to how in the big wide world did this bald moron of an actor read early versions of the script? Finally, I think Edi said something along the lines of, “I’m sorry, who are you?” Which is when Kerr jumped in and said, “He’s the writer.” So, in my attempt to give these guys a compliment, I made one of them feel silly. Nice stringing together of your words, Mr. Farmer. Keep it up. You should be a writer or something. A simple, “Hey, Edi, I worked as a writer on the movie. Your and Kerr’s auditions were so good, we ended up making your scenes together bigger.” I guess that would have been too easy. Not nearly complex and confusing enough."

I love reading the personal side of movie productions. For me, it is all part of the build up of hype for a movie - the more insider comments and stories, the more anticipation that builds. I don't mean the planned promo work that the headline actors participate in; I mean anything from background actors, makeup, stunt people, etc that are NOT planned. Thats gold.

REVIEW: The Incredible Hulk

Let's get one thing straight: I LOVED Ang Lee's "Hulk" for what it was: An art-piece that came closer than almost any other attempt at visualizing the dreamlike pace and offbeat drama of superhero comics. Taken on it's own merits, including it's ambitious symbolist themes and Nick Nolte's brilliant Kinski-esque bad guy turn, I consider it to be a singular pop-art masterwork.

What it ISN'T, however, is an especially compelling narrative. While it fit with Lee's fresh take on the concept to present a Bruce Banner blown about by the winds of fate who ONLY ever takes charge of his life as The Hulk - it didn't precisely make for compelling drama and it certainly wasn't the sort of audience-friendly actioner Marvel was going to want as one of the support-beams of it's new joint-continuity buildup to "The Avengers." And so here we have this "reboot" which presents itself more as a sequel to an imagined "more conventional" version of the first one.

Predictably, "The Incredible Hulk" (I've always liked the adjective in there to help separate him from all those other Hulks who are merely credible) opts to answer the criticism of Lee's film as too talky and introspective by charging hard in the opposite direction and being as terse and surface-oriented as it can be without outright becoming a Marvel themed fireworks display: Bruce Banner is on the run, trying to cure himself of the Gamma Poisoning that causes him to morph into Shrek whenever his pulse crests 200. General "Thunderbolt" Ross is chasing him, hoping to weaponize The Hulk, and to that end he injects hardcase soldier Emil Blonsky with WWII-era "super-soldier" chemicals that eventually turn him into an "anti-Hulk" named The Abomination. Ross's daughter Betty is also Banner's former girlfriend, and is pretty torn up about the whole thing. That's about it this time around.

The film takes this fairly bare outline and barrels ahead with it from action scene to action scene, always cohesively but with precious little downtime to deal with characters or expand on the story - though it does find time for a great scene in which we're reminded of the Hulk's childlike nature when he get's into a (literal) shouting-match with a thunderstorm. This straight-on pacing isn't a major flaw, but it does leave one with the sense that a more complex film has been whittled down to the bare essentials.

When the film DOES take a time-out, it's usually to drop hints at Marvel's ambitious plan for a united continuity: Off the top of my head, Doc Samson, Captain America and SHIELD all get direct or indirect nods; and those rumors you heard about Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark showing up for an Avengers-teasing cameo were spot on.

I will say that I'm given to wonder if all this fan-service won't eventually baffle the larger audience. For example, the secondary plot of the film concerns Banner's attempts to contact an internet pen-pal who's helping him research a cure. The film twists itself into a pretzel to keep us from seeing him or knowing his name, and when he turns up it's just Tim Blake Nelson as a well-meaning mad scientist. Now, fans are going to go apeshit because his name is Samuel Stern whom they all know will be transforming into Hulk uber-enemy The Leader at some point… but I can imagine some audiences will be a little perplexed as to what the point was of all the secrecy. At the very least, there's enough of a tease as to his probable fate in there to at least give non-fans a basic idea of where he's going, and Nelson couldn't be more appropriately cast.

Another thing I like is that they aren't sheepish about the whole "names" issue: Hulk refers to himself in the third person when he bothers to speak at all, and The Abomination gets handed his new nickname in a manner wholly consistent with the 50s monster movies the Hulk franchise has always emulated. I'll never understand why, out of all the weirdness there is to grapple with in adapting comics, filmmakers tend to get so hung up on twisting the script around to over-explain why these guys give themselves (or are given) elaborate monikers - Am I the only one who gets the sense that, if your someone who's gonna get hung-up on the illogic of someone branding himself "The ::Insert Color:: ::Insert Animal::" before embarking on a supervillian career, you probably aren't going to go see these movies in the first place.

One hopes there's a longer, more character-driven version waiting on DVD, but at present "The Incredible Hulk" is a welcome actioner and easily the best monster movie to play theatrically since at least "The Host." You get your giant-rampaging-ogre money's worth, and as a bonus the promise of all this paying off bigger down the road - seriously, the degree to which this film doubles as a "tease" to both it's own hoped-for sequels AND the Iron Man and Avengers followups is really kind of amazing. Reccomended.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

Amanda Seyfried Interested In Tim Burton's 3D fantasy "Alice In Wonderland"

Amanda Seyfried of the recently completed "Mamma Mia" said she really hopes to land the role of Alice. Not too bad a choice I suppose, but I am still leaning toward Johnny Depp in the role! :-) Of course she could also be up against Lindsay Lohan :-(

I have to say that judging by the early and very public actors' interest and my readers' casting questions about "Alice In Wonderland" - the movie is bound for a bountiful booty in box office worldwide. Yeah alliteration, I went with it ok?

Amanda had this to say to The DailyMail:

‘Tim Burton’s shooting Alice in Wonderland in London and I think I’m a real candidate for that. I mean, I’m not even close [to being cast] and it’s very far away, but I want it really badly because I respect him so much as a director. He likes weird-looking people for his movies,’ she grins, ‘so I’m really hoping. Plus it would mean coming back to London."

Well good luck Amanda. That movie has some serious shoes to fill and I have all the confidence in the world in Tim Burton and Disney to pull it off. It is going to be simply awesome in 3D - an immersive fantasy journey down a rabbit hole - what more can you ask for?

Original image via DailyMail

Couple Of Interesting Videos: "Beowulf 3D: a case study" And "The digital stereoscopic cinema: the 21st Century"

Thanks to Andrew over at Stereoscopic.org for these very interesting videos taken during their recent Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XIX Conference:

First up is Rob Engle, Sony Pictures Imageworks who talks about creative and technical challenges encountered during the production of "Beowulf 3D" (note the 3D sections have been blanked out at the request of Sony):



And we also have Lenny Lipton of REAL D talking about today's technology changes in the motion picture industry as it pertains to 3D:



Thanks Andrew for permission to embed these videos - be sure to check out their site right here.

Wanna See A Happy Owner Of A 3D Gaming Monitor? And A Newly Discovered Actor Too??

Congratulations once again to Jacob Roland of Fresno, California! Jacob won our iZ3D 22" Gaming Monitor as well as a walk on, speaking role in the upcoming 3D Horror spoof - Adirondack International Pictures' "Horrorween".

Can't wait to arrange MarketSaw's next great giveaway!

Thanks for reading MarketSaw Jacob!!

Quick Post: iZ3D Releases New Drivers for the 3D Gaming Community

San Diego, CA (June 9, 2008) – iZ3D, LLC, is a designer, developer, and marketer of advanced 3D visualization systems. The company is pleased to announce that it has created a new driver version that solves many 3D compatibility issues for the 3D community overall as well as for the iZ3D monitor. The new drivers feature 64 Bit compatibility, CrossFireX and Open GL Quad Buffer support. Users can also “Test Drive” 3D effects on a 2D monitor with red and cyan anaglyph glasses. The new 3D driver is available now for download at the www.iZ3D.com website.

“We have been at the forefront of the new trend towards 3D for gaming, movies and creative design efforts and have worked hard to overcome many hardware and software challenges. As 3D becomes more popular, more manufacturers are now taking stereoscopic 3D seriously and are beginning to see it as a sales advantage,” remarked Thomas Striegler, CEO of iZ3D, LLC. “Being an industry leader, we believed it was important to provide this new driver to the entire 3D community to further the adoption of 3D.

Awesome. New drivers for the kick ass 22" 3D Gaming Monitor - time to update! :-)

"Godspeed" (2009) in 3D: Sounds Awesome...

Guys - just got word from Sherry Voigt, the Producer of "Godspeed" - that the 2009 pic will indeed be shot in stereoscopic 3D! I am digging more info up on this pic as you read this so definitely stay tuned for this one. Only thing I know at this point is the tagline: "Sibling rivalry at 200 MPH".

The Executive Producer is Star Wars Producer, Rick McCallum... Hmmm, nice pedigree! Gotta love how 3D is converging on 2009!

So, where was I?

Being bored, pissed off at work and generally not up to much reviewing. I did find time, however, to take a shot at doing a review of "Sex and The City" in video form, which appears below. If this works alright I may do some more of these. They'll be shorter and less analytical than the Game OverThinker bits, by design, but hopefully as much fun to keep doing. Lemme know what you think:




P.S. A review of "Kung Fu Panda" is one entry down, went up about an hour before this one.

REVIEW: Kung Fu Panda

Here's a classic case of form getting in the way of function: "Kung Fu Panda" has a story, script and set of vocal performances that make for an ideal quick, no-frills comedy cartoon. Match those elements with the energetic leaness of Anime or the askew anarchy of the "house styles" of Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Network animated faire and you'd have a nigh-perfect kiddie actioner. Unfortunately, here said elements have been paired with lush, intricate, expensive-looking 3D computer animation... and it just doesn't really fit. The animation is all gorgeous, and the attention to aping the look of authentic Chinese fantasy/action films is admirable, but it doesn't really "go with" the light slapstick of the overall peice - the film actually OPENS with a traditionally-animated sequence, and it works better visually than the rest. It's like getting David Lean to helm a Three Stooges short. It doesn't really make the movie BAD, just not as "complete" as it might've otherwise been.

Set in a version of ancient China populated by anthromorphic animals, it's the story of Po the Panda (Jack Black) a chubby oaf who works in a noodle shop with his father (James Hong, brilliantly cast as an excitable duck - you read that correctly) but dreams of becoming a martial-artist like The Furious Five; the local superhero team trained to protect the region from danger by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman.)

The Furious Five include Mantis (Seth Rogen,) Crane (David Cross,) Viper (Lucy Liu,) Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Tigress (Angelina Jolie.) Though Po carries on at some length about their various legendary adventures, we gather they mainly exist to act as a last line of defense against Tai-Lung (Ian McShane) an evil Snow Leopard who has mastered kung-fu on a nearly supernatural level and will destroy the entire land - if necessary - in his quest to steal a sacred scroll from Shifu's temple. When word comes that Tai-Lung has escaped from prison, the Furious Five assemble (along with the rest of the village) so that the temple elder can annoint one of them The Dragon Warrior - a hero of prophecy who will be given the scroll and become the ultimate weapon against the coming danger. Coincidences (or are they?) conspire, you may have guessed, so that the chosen warrior ends up being none other than Po.

So, yes, it's a broad send-up of "chosen one" kung fu flicks; with animal-ized versions of all the attendant training montages, epic confrontations and heroic poses. The average six year-old will be able to plot out, beat-for-beat, where it'll go from the moment Po is "chosen" on (and kung-fu devotees with see most of the dramatic twists coming) along with everyone else. The good news is in the details, specifically the voice-acting. It's interesting to see Jolie cast - even vocally - as a character who ISN'T defined by sex-appeal for a change, while James Hong is a revelation as Po's over-eager father. McShane isn't given enough screentime, but credit the film with making Tai-Lung a 100% full-on heavy who always looks to pose a very tangible threat to the good guys. He doesn't joke around, has no off-kilter personality quirks, he's just dangerous. The unquestionable highlights, though, are the scenes where Po good-naturedly bumbles his way through Shifu's Shaw Brothers style training regimen.

No classic, would be a lot better using different animation, but a lot of fun.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

SHORT FEATURE: SCANDAL - THE WARRIOR

Watching the trailer for Ator: The Fighting Eagle, I have to say there's one thing that really sticks out. And I mean LITERALLY sticks out. I'm talking about, of course, that great mass of teased and sprayed glory that is Miles O'Keefe's hair. It's a thing of wonder. But that's how we liked our savages and barbarians in the 1980s, with a giant sword in one hand and a huge can of Aqua Net in the other. As more evidence I offer you this. Now, despite how it looks, this is not the latest video from one of those freaky Call To Action liturgies. No, this is a clip from the rock group Scandal featuring Patty Smyth shooting down the walls of heartache. Bang! Bang!

Speaking of firing off shots, if you ever want to start a holy war without actually resorting to bloodshed, then just log on to any religious discussion forum on the Internet and ask this simple question, "Did Jesus really have long hair?" Oh, the humanity! By the time the smoke clears the electronic landscape will be littered with virtual corpses.

Most of the controversy centers around 1 Corinthians 11:14 in which Paul states that, "Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears his hair long it is a disgrace to him?" That sure makes it sound like all of those old paintings are misleading us, doesn't it? Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Maybe the image of the Hollywood hippie Jesus is spot on, or maybe he actually looked more like the clean cut Leave It To Beaver Jesus in the text books the Free Will Baptists gave me when I was in middle school.

"Part of the problem in discussing hair length is how long is long?" notes the folks at Catholic Answers. "We know from archeological materials such as Middle Eastern carvings and Egyptian tomb paintings that Jews wore what we would consider today as long hair and beards. Hair reached down to the shoulders on men. Women wore hair down to the waist. Paul was telling Corinthian men that wearing hair down to the waist as women did would be effeminate and contrary to what natural law would suggest, especially considering the physical demands of many first-century male occupations. It is easy for us today to assume the length and cut of a Jewish man’s hair in the first century to be as it is for most men today, but that’s a misconception that can result in our misreading Paul."

Basically, we'll never know for sure what hair style Jesus really wore simply because the Bible never tells us. And I for one am relieved. It's hard enough trying to conform my inner being to the "image" of Jesus without having to do the same with my physical appearance. Can you imagine if Christianity not only involved all that praying and soul-searching, but also included an hour in front of the mirror with a blow dryer and a jar of Dippity Do?

"My Bloody Valentine 3-D" Official Plot Revealed !

New Line just released the official plot behind the upcoming stereoscopic movie "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" and I think they are going to do the original justice! The characters' background and conflict escalation looks great - I like to actually care about the characters before they are impaled with Cupid's axe. Errr, arrow...

“Ten years ago, a tragedy changed the town of Harmony forever. Tom Hanniger, an inexperienced coal miner, caused an accident in the tunnels that trapped and killed five men and sent the only survivor, Harry Warden, into a permanent coma. But Harry Warden wanted revenge. Exactly one year later, on Valentine’s Day, he woke up…and brutally murdered twenty-two people with a pickaxe before being killed.

Ten years later, Tom Hanniger returns to Harmony on Valentine’s Day, still haunted by the deaths he caused. Struggling to make amends with his past, he grapples with unresolved feelings for his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, who is now married to his best friend, Axel, the town sheriff. But tonight, after years of peace, something from Harmony’s dark past has returned. Wearing a miner’s mask and armed with a pickaxe, an unstoppable killer is on the loose. And as his footsteps come ever closer, Tom, Sarah and Axel realize in terror that it just might be Harry Warden who’s come back to claim them.”

Can't wait for this flick! I will have updates when I get them...

...And The Winner Is...

The winner of the 22" 3D Gaming Monitor from iZ3D and the walk on speaking role in the horror spoof 3D movie "Horrorween" is JACOB ROLAND of Fresno, CA! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I have emailed Jacob and he has exactly 7 days to confirm his acceptance of the prizes as awarded. In the unlikely event that he does not get back to me within that time frame, I will draw again from the remaining names that entered in our contest.

** UPDATE June 6th - Jacob has accepted the prizes! I will have a photo up soon! **

A special thank you to the contributors of the prizes for this years contest, iZ3D and Adirondack International Pictures - Thanks guys!! And thank you to all the readers who entered - 3D FTW!

Wonder what we will have up for grabs with next years contest?? :-)

COMING ATTRACTIONS: ATOR: THE FIGHTING EAGLE

Back on January 31 fo this year, I made a promise to Mr. WAC from Fish In A Barrel to review Ator. The only problem is that the DVD was on the dreaded Long Wait list at Netflix. Four months later, guess what finally came in? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Can someone please explain to me how there could be such an enormous backlog of people so anxious to see Miles O'Keefe in a loincloth that it took four months for me to get the movie? Anyone? Anyone?

SEX MADNESS

THE TAGLINE

"She sought big thrills... and caught big trouble! A country girl finds the crimson road."

THE PLOT

Paul Lorenz, son of the local anti-syphilis crusader, and a group of his pals head out to the Glorified Burlesque to catch a girlie show. Also attending are Peggy, Betty, and an unnamed child molester. Excited by what they've seen at the show, the lesbian Peggy bullies the bi-curious Betty into coming home with her while the molester stalks and kills a young girl. Meanwhile, Paul and the boys meet up with some of the show's dancers for a sex party and all end up with syphilis. One dancer, Millicent, skips the party however. She has an appointment with a doctor who is treating her for the syphilis she acquired after allowing herself to be pimped out by a theater manager in order to get a job. Unfortunately for Millicent the doctor she's seeing is a quack and lies to her about her condition. Believing herself cured, Millicent flees the big city and returns home to marry her childhood sweetheart. Inevitably, their child is born syphilitic and the husband goes blind. Overwhelmed by the consequences of her mistake, Mary prepares to poison herself and her family. Just in time, Mllicent's new doctor has found a possible treatment, but can he reach her in time to let her know?

THE POINT

So what would you do if you had an idea for a movie about wild sex parties, aggressive lipstick lesbians, and dancers who'll do anything (Anything? Anything!) for a job? Well, these days, you'd head over to HBO or Showtime, get a writing contract, and probably win an Emmy Award. But things weren't quite that easy back in 1938 when Sex Madness was filmed. Writing in the book Policing Cinema: Movies and Censorship in Early-Twentieth-Century America, Lee Grieveson notes that "legislative and reform activism in relation to cinema gathered pace after the proliferation of nickelodeons from 1906 on had opened moving pictures to lower-class and immigrant populations that had not previously frequented theatrical-style entertainments in any great numbers. Once at the cinema, these groups were subjected, many suggested, to a “carnival of vulgarity, suggestiveness, and violence” and to a “moral leprosy” that posed a serious “menace to the morals of the community and the healthy development of the social organism." In response to this perceived threat, a number of Protestant groups called for federal regulation of movie content.

Wary of government censorship, however, a number of prominent lay Catholics called for self-regulation within the movie industry and presented to Hollywood a code drawn up in 1930 by Father Daniel A. Lord, S.J. As described in Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies by Gregory D. Black, this production code "prohibited films from glorifying criminals, gangsters, adulterers, and prostitutes. Lord's code, which soon became the Bible of film production, banned nudity, excessive violence, white slavery, illegal drugs, miscegenation, lustful kissing, suggestive postures, and profanity from the screen." (Which sounds pretty much like the content of tonight's schedule on Cinemax.) Hollywood didn't take to the code immediately though. The film industry basically ignored the document until 1934 when the Catholic Leagion of Decency finally threatened to boycott all movies at which point the code was quickly adopted. Arguing for freedom of expression is nice and all that, but when a petition signed by millions of people shows up saying they're no longer going to buy movie tickets, it's time to throw some clothes on and quit all that cussing.

At any rate, the newly rechristened Hays Code (Named after MPAA President Will Hays; I guess nobody wanted to submit to the Lord's Code.) did what it was supposed to and it looked like the days of seedy cinema was over and done with. Except, of course, there were still people out there who wanted to see all that banned stuff and were willing to pay for it. (Charles Dolan, founder of HBO & Cinemax, would have been about 8 years old at this time. Ah, impressionable young minds.) But the question was how could filmmakers slip in a steady supply of tawdriness to meet the demand, especially during those closely monitored first few years following the implementation of the code? Elementary, dear readers, by claiming they were (altogether now) doing it for the children.

You see, by the time the Hays Code came along, educational short films were already being shown everywhere, but obviously without those things considered too sensitive for the eyes of the kiddies. But didn't the kids need to be kept safe from things like wild sex parties, aggressive lipstick lesbians, and dancers who'll do anything (Anything? Anything!) for a job? Well, of course. So, in the name of providing information to parents regarding those kinds of dangers, filmmakers were able to bypass the code and produce adults-only "educational" feature films. As film historian Bruce Eder puts it, "The implied message of [these] movies and their promotion was that the people who made them weren't interested in taking your money [though they would do that] so much as in educating and warning audiences about an otherwise forbidden subject, and if there was some titillation or a risqué thrill to be found in parts of it, so be it."

Which at last brings us to our feature presentation, Sex Madness (aka They Must Be Told aka Human Wreckage). This little gem was yet another offering from the production company of Dwain Esper. According to Eder, "Esper was a bottom-dweller in the field of exploitation movies, a producer and distributor so lowbrow and sleazy [and at times grotesque] in his output and methods that he was an embarrassment to most of his colleagues in the exploitation field, a realm of filmmaking where shame was otherwise virtually unknown." If this sounds a bit hyperbolic, then just call to mind Esper's filmography which includes such classics as Marihuana: Weed With Roots In Hell, Reefer Madness, How To Take A Bath, and How To Undress In Front Of Your Husband. (Look'em up folks, they're all real.) Having mined the drug and burlesque scenes for all they were worth with those films, Esper came up with Sex Madness to exploit the latest crisis threatening America, syphilis.

Now this particular social disease actually was a real problem during the 30s. By the time Sex Madness was released, syphilis had become a public health disaster in the United States with an estimated ten to fifteen percent of the general population suffering from the disease. (I guess the 1920s weren't just roaring, they were burning and itching as well.) It was a near panic situation and ripe for exploitation. Of course, the government was already on the case with such educational shorts as Know For Sure and With These Weapons. But nobody would pay to see a bunch of lectures, no matter how important. No, in order to sell tickets, the film would need to have something a bit more than just government approved talking heads, something like, say... wild sex parties, aggressive lipstick lesbians, and dancers who'll do anything (Anything? Anything!) for a job. Esper's sex hygiene film, or "clap opera" as these movies became known inside the industry, delivered all this and much more.

Well, okay, not that much more. The plot synopsis at the top is almost all there is to the film. Throw in some documentary footage of doctors looking at syphilis sores, some lustful kissing at the sex party, and an extended burlesque dance sequence in which a few dozen women in modest one-piece bathing suits end their routine by turning around and bending over, and you've pretty much summed up the entirety of Sex Madness. The acting is wretched, the direction is non-existent, and you can find better cinematography on security camera footage. Worst of all, the movie is boring. Many people (okay, me) have sought this movie out hoping for more of the campy maniacal glee found in other Esper productions like Reefer Madness. Sadly, that kind of oddly watchable insanity has been replaced in Sex Madness by a lumbering turgid soap opera with all the subtly of a Brazilian Telenovela. Sex Madness is a truly bad movie. In fact, from both a critical and entertainment perspective, this is likely the worst movie I've reviewed for this blog so far. 

Still, a couple of weeks later, I find myself mulling over some of the things watching Sex Madness and looking up its backstory brought to mind. (Stuff besides wild sex parties, aggressive lipstick lesbians, and dancers who'll do anything (Anything? Anything!) for a job, I mean.) Things like was there ever really a time when movies like this were considered titillating and risqué? It's hard to believe what with today's standards. Why it seems like just a short time ago during the height of the low-rise jeans craze that you could see more butt-crack in the church pew in front of you than you can in Sex Madness. And was there actually a moment in history when Hollywood viewed the threat of a boycott as anything other than free publicity? Sure, The Golden Compass may have taken a hit domestically thanks in part to the Catholic League, but it was still a huge hit outside of the United States where a secularized Europe shook its head and wondered what all the hoopla was about. And most of all, was there really a time in the United States when you could get millions of Catholics to agree on an issue so strongly that they moved in unison and effectively changed an entire industry, even if just for a little while?

Shocking, but that's the way it's supposed to work. The Catechism uses fairly clear and strong language on this. "The initiative of lay Christians is necessary especially when the matter involves discovering or inventing the means for permeating social, political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine and life. (Read that again; it's gonna sound scary to some people.) This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church: Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church is the animating principle of human society... (Tell that to the Catholic politicians in the House of Representatives who recently told the Pope to buzz off.) Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, (Duty? Duty!) individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ. Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without it."

Taken in context that last part's not talking about just being eucharistic ministers and lectors, friends. It's talking about being a proactive Church Militant and marching out into society to fight sin wherever it's found. Now the Production Code written by Fr. Lord and forced on the movie industry by the Legion of Decency may not be the best example of this concept as some of the stuff in the code was just weird. (Even when it was later explained that the ban on interracial relationships was included, not because they were immoral [violated natural law], but because they were unusual [deviated from prevailing social mores], it still didn't make much sense.) But the Production Code and threatened boycott do show that such things can be done successfully. It just takes enough of us being of one mind to make it work. And in a church where you're likely to hear We Are One Body sung every other Sunday that shouldn't be much of a problem. Right?

THE STINGER

And just to put the brief educational film fest we've been having to rest for a little while, we give you the Archdiocese of Chicago's contribution to the genre... The CYO Calvacade! Be sure to watch Part 2 to the 6:40 mark. Was there ever really a time when you could say things like that?