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Random stuff to share by Christopher Folino Called our film rep Jeff Cooper from First Cut Entertainment to see how things were going on his end...went straight to voice mail. I remember when he would call me 18 times a day to get us to sign up, now, I hear from him as often as I do from my dead mother. Catch Meredith Zealy doing host duties from E3 2006 for one of the greatest videos companies ever! No bias whatsoever! http://www.thqate3.com/ Jason Drivers review of "Gamers" on RPG.NET has hit over 1000 readers, gosh, I think that's at 1000 times more than the readership for this blog. Hey Dad, thanks for reading it today! Spoke with the music person helping us to secure the eighties music for the movies...To be frank, she's scaring me. She kepts telling me to go use library music instead! I can't do that to the Loverboy opening song! Whatever, the cost for all three of you folks who want to buy the movie, instead of renting it from Netflix and burning a copy for yourself, we will pay! Lastly, according to Forbes over the past year, Oprah Winfrey, has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation. If I could go to a game taping of her show and win a car or distribution I'll make Oprah my new Pope! Serious! I have no problem with that. When I was younger I use to worship "Racer X" from Speed Racer, I can be bought. posted @ 12:21 PM PDT [link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments ] Wednesday, May 10, 2006Blog Blog Blog by Christopher FolinoLot's to blog about today. The review by Jason Driver about the movie is now posted on http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12171.phtml So far over 500 people have read the review and it's nice to get the street cred from the RGP world. Coming from LA it's important that the Cribs and the Bloods who are all closet "Gamers" know this movie is more than just West Coast representing! We got the East side Warrior and elves covered...I think. Kevin Sherwood star of "Gamers" is a musican and his band the Whiplads have a new self titled albumn coming out next month and I was lucky enough to get a sneak copy of it and it's good. The Whiplad's aren't top forty, they got a unique sound and style. Sherwood is one hell of singer and his guitar play is second to non and the rest of the band can play. I've heard the song "My Enemy" with the new mix where the drums are pumped up and it's tight. My personal favorites song "Feed the Flames", it's more of a balad and it's Kevin at his best. I do hope to see Sherwood release some of solo works, and it would be nice to squeeze a love song out him other than "I love Dick" Speaking of Dick! Meredith Zealy does Porn! Congrats to Meredith on swallowing up a part in a new indie comedy where she'll play a retired porn star. Yep, Zealy and Porn. That's like Hanson and Jerky. I tell you only great things come from the cast who have appeared in "Gamers" You either become a ghost or a retired porn star! Good times! Been spending too much time on www.googlebattle.com You basically place one name like Dave Hanson against another name like Scott Allen Rinker and you can see who has been goolged more. All I have to say is, nobody love the Rinker man...well maybe snapple! Scott Allen Rinker continues success with a new "Snapple" TV Spot. He shot this before "Gamers" and our guess is the folks at Snapple are all "Gamers" is sweet! and "We better air the hell out of this spot before the movie comes out and Mr. Rinker demands more money!" I got a chance to go see "Mission Impossible 3" and it was real good, up until the last twenty minutes when it became so bad, that I was laughing-out-loud in theatre. Here we have a 200 million dollar movie, where the Scientology table cost more than our entire film budget, and the ending was just like "Are you fucking kidding me?" What just happened? Is JR's brother going to come out of the shower and explain this better? posted @ 04:22 PM PDT [link] [Karma: 2 (+/-)] [1 Comment ] Monday, May 8, 2006Jason Driver writes review about "Gamers" to appear on www.rpg.netHere's an important review to help us gain respect and street cred with the RPG world. Did you like how I made it sound cool and gangstar like? I'm white like that! Here now is the review by a great American, Jason Driver which will appear this week on www.rpg.net "Historically speaking, movies based on role playing games have tended to fall into one of two categories; the "What Do You Get When You Combine CGI with New Zealand" movie (Lord of the Rings) and the "Some Guys Can't Handle Their Dice" movie (The Tom Hanks mega-hit Mazes and Monsters). However, in the past few years, there has emerged a new category: the "Our Dice Go To Eleven" Mockumentary. While there have been a few attempts at this third type of movie, the bar has now been set pretty darn high with "Gamers the Movie". "Gamers the Movie" is a funny and smart look at the world of role playing and RPG groups that will look familiar to anyone who has ever bought a GM screen or set of crystal polyhedron dice. However, what writer and director Chris Folino manages to do along the way is make this film accessible and enjoyable to those who HAVEN'T ever role played in much the same way that Spinal Tap was entertaining even to those who don't like rock music. The plot of Gamers revolves around the Four Horsemen, four players who are about to break a record for playing a game of Demons, Nymphs and Dragons (DND) for 23 years. The camera records their interactions with family, friends, and the workplace as they inch ever closer to the recordbooks and immortality. Sprinkle in some dice, some clown porn and a decent soundtrack, and you've got the makings of a good time for all. While the writing is relevant and paced well, it is the cast that really shines here. Although an independent film, Folino has gone the extra mile (and money, one assumes) to get actors who can both understand their characters and act (instead of simply casting friends because they are free, available and may know what an Orc is). This extra effort pays off; it elevates Gamers the Movie from fan-film to film, and the whole project shines as a result. The always talented John Heard and Beverly D'Angelo are cast as the "barely tolerant but carnally self-aware parents" of one of the gamers, Kelly LeBrock as the mom of another player's love interest (it was really nice to see Kelly in a movie again, but hopefully her role will be beefed up for the ultra-rare boxed set 10th anniversary director's cut release), and William Katt (yes, THAT William Katt) as a Madden-playing boss. However, the actors playing the gamers themselves, while not necessarily as well known (outside of Tibet, where Hanson and Sherwood are legend), are perfectly cast. Kevin Sherwood, Joe Nieves, Kevin Kirkpatrick Dave Hanson and Scott Allen Rinker all nail their parts perfectly. These guys play their parts honestly and are completely in the spirit of the movie at all times - it's a documentary and it's really happening to them. The interactions seem effortless and they are always "on". Although all of them are great, the standout has to be Dave Hanson as Reese, the token "worst gamer and social leper" that every gaming, social or family group has. Hanson is the jester among clowns, and as we watch him, we viewers associate his character with someone that we have or do know (and frantically hope that we aren't him to other people). Reese is correctly described as having issues....a magazine rack full of issues. Gamers the Movie is still waiting for a distribution deal, as well as for some love from the film festival/convention circuit. For any such distributors or event coordinators out there, look no further than Gamers the Movie. This one is the real deal, people. You will laugh and everyone will see some of themselves in this movie (whether as a gamer, friend or parent of a gamer, or just as someone who has ever been misunderstood). While some of the 2006 hobby conventions such as Gen Con, Dragoncon and Comic Con need to take a really serious look at this film and cast, there is a real place for Gamers the Movie at film festivals and film shows. This movie is simply very well done and really deserves to be seen. It's that good. posted @ 08:01 AM PDT [link] [Karma: 3 (+/-)] [No Comments ] Sunday, May 7, 2006"Gamers the series?" by Christopher FolinoGamers the series? It’s been talked about since we began shooting the movie and the only reason it could work is due to the main five actors. Kirkpatrick, Sherwood, Hanson, Rinker, and Nieves. And “Big Ben” of course! The more I watch the Sopranos and wonder, “Christ is anything ever going to happen?” the more I want to give a series a go. I’d like to shoot six episodes with a twenty-two minute format and start it off with Johnny in the group and how The Reese character begs his way in. We are attempting right now to get the main guys together to do a day of interviews and an audio commentary track for the movie. We will sit down with them and go over the series idea. Hell, even if we shot it on HD and made it pay-per-view on the web we’d have a hell of time doing it. Serious! Who doesn’t want to work with Joe Nieves and those other guys…most of who were on “The Ghost Whisperer” Hell, I’m on that show next season and I didn’t even audition, CBS just sent me a chain letter saying if I promised to watch the show I could be on it! So I lied and said “yes!” And if you watch more than six episodes they’ll make you a regular on the program! So how is the distribution thing going you ask? It’s been about 10 days I think? No word yet, we are sending over more copies to be sent out to distributors. We got a back up plan for self-distribution going so we don’t lose any time getting the film out in a few months. We are negotiating to keep the eighties music in and to find out if there are other eighties tracks that we can get. I don’t want to compromise on any part of the movie, however, reality does bite and it bites hard. Everybody wants to be paid. It would be a good thing to figure out if and how many pre-orders for the DVD we could get so we have a realistic expectations for sales. I hope not only the Dungeons and Dragons crowd will come out to represent, I’m also banking on the battered house husbands to really throw down fifteen to twenty dollars for some escapism and male bonding with dice. posted @ 11:59 PM PDT [link] [Karma: 1 (+/-)] [5 Comments ] |
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