Incredible Hulk Review

Overview of the Underground

So you’re all lock, stocked and two smoking laptops. You just hit the SAVE and RENDER button on your favorite editing program and the world is your painfully hip oyster. Next, you’ll burn a few DVDs and show off your kick ass short film, starring your kick ass friends with your kick ass crew. The jokes kill, the sad stuff makes everyone’s eyes well up and noses hurt at the top. Everyone high fives. The Facebook Wall posts come pouring in. But you’re back at your job on Monday … Now what? You’re in Milwaukee. Silver screens in NY, LA, Paris and Tokyo are thousands of miles away! Sell DVDs outta the back of your Hyundai hoping some producer “digs your style man”? Hit “I’m Feeling Lucky” on Google and start sending your film to production companies around the world? At this point a lot of filmmakers bottleneck and never really move with their short film. But we’re in the Midwest, damn it! Our work ethic will power us through, right? Right! What you need is a Midwest-inspired marketing plan: a hustle better than your flow. Now pull VITAL closer and read the secret to getting you and your film off your Riverwest couch and out into to the masses. Get the F into film festivals! Film festivals are the back door into the film world and simply filling out an application ain’t enough. Here are tips and tricks to getting attention for your kick ass Milwaukee film: BUILD YOUR OWN BRAND Your film needs a look and vibe that will make film festival programmers grab your film off the shelf and check it out. Hit up your graphic design buddy or post an ad on craigslist for someone to make a pro cover, poster, DVD label, business card and press kit. One look = pro. One cool look = I will watch your film for more than 45 seconds. Live out that fantasy and create a cool poster and log line for your film. (A log line is your film skillfully summed up in 20 words or less.) Stack the credits at the bottom. Create a complete finished product and it will lead programmers down the path toward making your art work into a big screen reality. You’ll show you have the full, pro package and are ready to rock. ONLINE Heed this call: both Sundance and Slamdance have online short film festivals that screen at the festival and are eligible for awards. ENTER THESE IMMEDIATELY. Sundance’s info is hidden in sundance.org so have fun with that. You can apply to Slamdance at slamdance.com and click ANARCHY ONLINE FILM FESTIVAL. Get to Park City now … git! SHORT FILM IS YOUR BUSINESS CARD Have a script ready for the feature idea that’s gone from bong smoke to short film to festivals and now beyond. Remember, you’re big time. SEND FESTIVAL PROGRAMMERS PIZZA They say it doesn’t help but it totally does. Drinks and sex work too. But we’re baby […]

Son of Rambow

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Film Festival Skin And Bones

What up Milw? I had a great conversation with a friend at VITAL about the excitement of starting a film festival. Here’s my take on a jumping off point for all you sinners: Film Festival Skin and Bones Sponsorship Aka Marketing and Advertising for those who don’t want to concede to the fact they are selling….. The nerve center of the festival. Trade out lots of festival costs like the 3 biggies: location, projection/sound, and media partners. Important Note: get your location and projection/sound first because you will not have a festival otherwise. Create package with exclusive and non-exclusive levels. Why are you different, demographic reached, year round reach, event only reach, etc Box Office sell tickets for screening. Very easy with one screen venue, tends to get complicated with multi-day, multi screen. Sell tickets to general public, handles lines / sales for passholders, jury, press, filmmakers, etc. Manage Rush Line: tickets sold once passholders are in. If there is an audience award, Box Office distributes, collects and counts ticketed results. Head of Programming and Programmers CAN NOT BE ON JURY. DO NOT CONFUSE THIS. Your festival will be bullshit if you do because programmers can sway what films get in and what films win. Filmmakers sniff this out, spread the word that your festival is shit and you will not get submissions or attendees. Plain and simple. Head of Programming heads up organizing of submissions, creating call for entries documents, sets early and late deadline by postmark only – no late submissions. Another bullshit festival move. Determines definition of short or feature / categories for awards ie: animation, 8mm, vision award, best song, best director, best editor, etc. Organizes programmers on schedule of watching and scoring submissions. Sets dates for all programmers to get together to determine the slate of films in competition. Jury A handful of qualified, high profile film, music, art peeps brought in to view films. Preferably attend festival. Fest must also set up side room for viewing films again to discuss their scoring. No one from the festival should be in room during deliberation. Director of Programming sets time deadline for results to present awards. Events Manager Parties, happenings, happy hours, panels, networking events etc surrounding the festival. Works closely with sponsorship coordinator to determine budgets / what events can be sold to what sponsor. Basic checklist: venue, backline sound, flyers, talent, a beer/wine/liquor/energy drink sponsor…..simple math: free drinks=big turnout=good for sponsors/filmmakers/life of festival. Projection & Projectionists Most overlooked yet most important department. Do not get a college kid to sit by a corporate dvd projector and shit his pants when the bulb blows. If the projection goes, the fest dies and looks bad, sponsors leave and you are done. Also, having a skilled projection department / equipment opens up what screening formats are offered and opens festival entries to potentially higher level of filmmakers shooting on a range of formats. Printing – Festival Program Prints all fest info and ads promised to sponsors. Fest […]

The new film coast?

By Matt LevinePhotos by Jeff Kenney With local film icons as disparate as experimental luminary James Benning and the ubiquitous Mark Borchardt, Milwaukee’s cinematic offerings have always been eclectic and fruitful. But in the last several years, our film scene has seen rapid development — the onset, perhaps, of a new period of national exposure to compare favorably with that of New York or Los Angeles. Sound unlikely? Maybe not after the recent initiation of Senate Bill #563: the Film Wisconsin bill. Signed into law in May of 2006, the bill went into effect on January 1 of this year, granting Wisconsin some of the nation’s most film-friendly tax incentives. Filmmakers may claim an investment tax credit of 25% for Wisconsin-based productions, as well as a 0% tax for all film and television services contracted by out-of-state production companies, a 15% state income tax credit for media businesses that make a capital investment in Wisconsin, and other magnanimous boons. The bill is unofficially named after the non-profit organization that helped usher in its existence — Film Wisconsin, whose efforts are dedicated to sustaining Wisconsin’s film and media industry. Film Wisconsin was created to fill the void left by the Wisconsin Film Office, which, due to budget cuts, was forced to close in July 2005 after 18 years of service. In April of the same year, aware of the Wisconsin Film Office’s impending closure, a task force of filmmakers set out to create Film Wisconsin, touring the state and working closely with its production community. A grassroots effort began to grant competitive statewide tax incentives, an effort that gained surprising speed as its economic payoff became apparent to state legislators. Following the bill’s inauguration, Film Wisconsin has touted our state as the “new affordable, film-friendly third coast.” And why not? The bill’s economic, cultural and artistic returns are so obvious as to be practically inevitable. You’ve probably read about Public Enemies, the new Michael Mann/Johnny Depp film that has committed to shooting on location here in Wisconsin — an arrangement that has Wisconsin’s film industry salivating for the big-budget commerce yet to come. “You’ll see an increase in the number of independent films made in Wisconsin and in the number of commercial films that come here,” says Scott Robbe, head of Film Wisconsin, which is based in downtown Milwaukee in office space shared with Visit Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Cultural Alliance. “The logistics of making movies will be much easier, and you’ll have a much greater synergy with Chicago’s film scene.” Indeed, Robbe speaks with enthusiasm of a partnership with Chain Reaction Studios in Milwaukee and Fletcher Camera in Chicago, the “Midwest contingent” that recently spread the word at the Sundance Film Festival about Wisconsin’s plentiful filmmaking incentives. CLASH OF THE INDIE TITANS The benefits the bill brings to Wisconsin cannot be overstated. There are tangible gains: the direct and indirect sources of revenue, the jobs a new industry will create both on and off sets and soundstages, the profits for […]

Women without borders film festival

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True West

Sam Shepard’s True West is a cleverly dark comedy that would be all too easy to overdo in all the wrong places. A less than shrewd production could miss the finesse of the original script, but the Spiral Theatre, in a tiny space on National Avenue, brings the right immediacy and intimacy to capture Shepard’s somewhat sinister humor with strikingly vivid form. In a testament to its growing prominence in local theatre, Spiral Theatre nearly sold out its 30+ capacity studio theatre on one of the coldest nights of the year. Spiral’s show is impressive, and while not all of the finer points of Shepard’s script are perfectly intact, the company manages to deliver an exceedingly enjoyable trip to the theatre. Len Macki stars as Austin, a struggling screenwriter who is looking after his mother’s place while she is away in Alaska. He’s managed to secure a meeting at her place with an important Hollywood producer (Josh Wetzel) to pitch an idea for a love story. The only problem: his brash older brother (Terry Gavin) is staying with him and threatens to blow Austin’s one chance at getting the producer’s green light. Things begin to unravel when Austin’s brother convinces the producer that it would be a good idea for Austin to write a Western instead. (Okay: Shepard’s plot is a lot better than it sounds in a few sentences. And if it’s not staged correctly, it’s every bit as cheesy as it sounds.) Len Macki, comfortably at the center of the production, holds much of the production together. (He’s not prominent locally, but he’s been active elsewhere, most notably Madison.) He dynamically renders Austin’s emotional development over the course of the play, moving from one intricately realized moment to the next. When Austin loses composure and takes to drinking, his emotional collapse is palpable. When he’s clearly dropping pieces of toast into toasters that aren’t plugged in, it makes sense even, though the illusion isn’t complete. Everything that happens around Austin makes sense, even when the production doesn’t make anything clear, and for that, Macki is truly remarkable. Gavin and Wetzel competently hold up their ends of the play. Gavin plays the seedy older brother with a subtle hint of a greater depth. Wetzel plays a Hollywood producer with a nice-guy charisma you wouldn’t expect from a man in his position. This contrast makes for an interesting performance; Wetzel seems almost guileless in a job one would expect to be played like a politician. Rounding out the cast is Sandra Stark in the role of the mother – again (during the holidays she appeared in Boulevard Theatre‘s production of Indian Blood). Seeing Stark play mother twice in three months would be strange if she weren’t so good at it. She speaks the lines. She doesn’t really need to do much more than that. She’s a natural for this kind of role, and here she’s a clever bookend to the production. Spiral Theatre’s production of True West runs through February […]

Internet killed the video star

Kimberly Miller could be seen as a backward artist in a digital world where YouTube, Metacafe, and Google are the standard mediums of delivery for video art. But due to the omniscient control of the internet viewer, a piece of experimental art or an installation viewed online is kind of safe. It doesn’t help that some of Miller’s pieces incorporate a live element, requiring her to be present. But what is conveyed is so much stronger in person than when someone is home alone, crouched in front of a monitor. While it’s not easy to describe or interpret her work, the viewer always feels something, however ineffable. More questions are raised than answered. If you were having a conversation with Miller she might say “It’s like, you know?” Then you say, “Yeah. It’s all …you know?” This Friday, October 26, at 7 p.m., Kimberly Miller will present selected works on film at Woodland Pattern, where she is hosted and spotlighted by friend and filmmaker Sarah Buccheri. The presentation of selected works and the reception that follows will give the audience a better chance to ask questions and negotiate with Miller regarding her art – which is exactly what she wishes to encourage with her body of work. VS: Is the presentation Friday reflective of what you’re currently working on, or a collective of past and present work? Kimberly Miller: The screening on Friday will show a selection of my video work from the past few years, including a video I made last week. The work represented will be a section of videos and performances-for-the-camera. There will be a live performative element as well, but a bit of a toned-down one. The emphasis will be on the videos. So on a scale of performance from subtle to Vegas-style flashiness: Sequins and glitter? Maybe. Live doves or flying daggers? Probably no. VS: What is your artistic purpose? KM: In my work I’m trying to … grasp certain things, figure them out. What, if any, role can art play beyond cultural production? Does art have the ability to affect change? Is there such a thing as a radically democratic art experience, and if so, what does it look like? Does action determine the actor, is identity determined by what we do, what we say, some combination thereof? I don’t know the answers to these or any other questions, really, but I’m interested in reframing them again and again and attempting to put out some kind of response to the questions. VS: Why did you choose these mediums to convey them? KM: The forms of video and performance are structured within and around language, and for me this is a place where public and private may intersect. Language is public because it is shared; our conception of language is shaped by its use. Yet each of us must come to an individual understanding of language. Language shapes meaning, and may be a place where viewer and artist meet. I try to establish certain parameters […]

Sondre Lerche

  When writer/director Peter Hedges (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? and Pieces of April) first sought out Norweigan popster Sondre Lerche to compose and produce the soundtrack for his film Dan In Real Life, he had no inkling that the artist he so admired was so green, age-wise. Hedges only knew that organic, folky quality of the 25-year-old pop prodigy’s music reminded him of the soundtracks to The Graduate (Simon and Garfunkel) and Harold and Maude (Cat Stevens). Ultimately, Lerche’s age wasn’t a deterrent to Hedges – it ended up highlighting Lerche’s enthusiasm and his hopeful, earnestly-voiced lyrics, adding a lighthearted tone to a film about a single father of three caught in a bizarre love triangle. Lerche’s contributions to Dan In Real Life line up properly, playing into the first initial hope of a new relationship with the sparklingly optimistic “To Be Surprised,” loaded with bubbly guitars and a cheerful admonition: “baby, better be prepared to be surprised.” From there, the songs are sandwiched with mini-instrumentals of guitars, horns and piano, smoothing hope into rough pessimism. On his have-it-out fight song with a charming appearance by Regina Spektor (“Hell No”), Lerche and Spektor ham it up in true “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” call-and-response style. In “I’ll Be OK,” Lerche unloads a cautious, surrendering piece of pop vaudeville, reminiscent of a baggage-victim pouring out the contents of his heart over something strong, hoping that if the people at the bar pay him no mind, at least the alcohol will treat him kindly. A Lerche-produced version of the classic “Fever” performed by A Fine Frenzy escalates the lounge shtick, but Lerche eases back into his own take on classic vintage pop. He finishes up proper “Human Hands,” a bouncy piano romp; a cover of Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door” (complete with trill–y strings); and a song from Lerche’s 2001 release Faces Down – “Modern Nature.” Lerche demonstrates on this soundtrack that not only can he deliver the sound he was originally sought out for, but he can deliver it in a manner that gives a deeper and more far-reaching humanity to the original story.

The Sadies

The Sadies play like a Quentin Tarantino film — a synthesis of cult genres (surf, rockabilly, psychedelia), characters with memorable names (Sean Dean, Dallas Good) wearing smart suits, and a sweeping casualness about it all. Unlike Tarantino, the Toronto band’s fifth studio release has an absence of curse words and racial slurs. It’s hard to neglect their liner-note acknowledgment of the “financial assistance of the government of Canada through the department of Canadian Heritage” – pretty amusing since their brand is a blend of mindfully resuscitated ’60s American music. The Sadies haven’t reinvented the wheel, but they do hitch it on a wagon that rolls past an enjoyable landscape. “My Heart Of Wood” and “Sunset To Dawn” parade natural harmonies reminiscent of the Eagles. “Anna Leigh,” an organ-permeated trot about a mirage of love, is easily mistaken for a song titled “Emily” given the rambling, raspy lead singer. “Wolf Tones” and finale “The Last Inquisition (Pt.V)” highlight the band’s instrumental adeptness and stand tall without the Bob Seger vocal reinforcement; the upright bass, guitars, autoharp, and drums are eerie, inspired, and practically faultless. Extended family members contribute their musicality to the record – most distinctly, Larry Good’s lively, but buried, banjo artistry on “Never Again.” The filtered autumn colors in fuzzy film grain emblazoned across the CD packaging are representative of New Season‘s sound: inviting, textured, and mature. Maybe it’s okay to occasionally judge a book by the cover.

The Spitfire Grill

“Shoot the moon, life is hard and gone too soon,” sings Percy, Hannah and Shelby in The Spitfire Grill. Set in the north woods of Gilead, Wisconsin, this production was adapted from Lee David Zlotoff’s film. Fellow Wisconsinites Fred Alley, co-founder of American Folklore Theatre in Door County, and James Valcq, who started at the Skylight Theatre in Milwaukee, collaborated on the themes of hope and redemption. Those familiar with Alley’s music, including the often-produced Guys on Ice, will reconnect with some of the haunting lyrics in this piece of musical theater. Several include “A Ring Around the Moon,” “Wild Bird,” “Shine” and “Shoot the Moon,” which are all made more memorable by Valcq’s melodies. Brenda L. LaMalfa, who plays the poignant main character of Percy, captures each note perfectly. Her persona of the young girl being released from prison radiates every nuance. Struggling to create a new life, Percy is placed in Hannah Ferguson’s Spitfire Grill, the only restaurant in town. When Hannah breaks her leg, Percy and Shelby, another young woman imprisoned in a stifling marriage, carry the responsibilities of the grill as Hannah recuperates. But the town busybody, Effy, and Shelby’s husband, Caleb, complain as Percy continues to bring her rays of hope to Gilead. Throughout the two acts, every character tries to shoot the moon as secrets are revealed and light flickers through the windows of the Spitfire Grill once again. But full summer moonlight shines on this production. Elaine Rewolinski as the cantankerous Hannah acts with appropriate audacity while beautifully singing every measure. And only 18, Cherissse Duncan as Shelby is an admiral addition. But LaMaffa is a Percy the audience will remember, as even a faulty sound system during the first half refused to let her character or vocals dim. This trio enlightened the stage with a glow that gives life to Gilead, their performances enhanced further by live instrumental accompaniment. Acacia Theatre’s Spitfire Grill would make Valcq and Alley proud as it retains the spirit of their script and score. These were to be Alley’s last lyrics, and final time the two long time friends combined their talents. He was unable to receive the prestigious Academy of Arts and Letters Award for New American Musicals in 2001 that was given to this show as he died that spring of a heart attack, and for him life was indeed gone too soon. The tragedy of September 11 followed closely, and this musical resonated more deeply than ever as the then Skylight Opera produced the show the following fall. Six years later, the themes are ever timely and the ability to shoot the moon still illuminates hope. As the production continues until July 22, spend an evening in the light and shadows cast by this Spitfire Grill. VS The Spitfire Grill is presented by Acacia Theatre Company in the Todd Wehr Auditorium at Concordia University through July 22.For tickets or information call 414-744-5995 or visit www.acaciatheatre.com. .

Waukesha’s new Majestic Cinema and Palladium dinner theater

Marcus Theaters took a calculated risk opening up the colossal Majestic Cinema (770 N. Springdale Road, Waukesha) over the May 4th weekend, not only as a move to bolster attendance in an era of home theaters with surround-sound and HD/Blue-Ray technology, but also in location and philosophy. Set not far off from the now-demolished Westown and now-defunct West Point theaters, the Majestic is seated on the farthest edge of an industrial complex off the back side of a Home Depot and Sam’s Club. But rather than stick with the familiar spartan, low-ceiling multiplexes that have become a recognizable mainstay for the Marcus corporation theaters in the past 25 years, this 16-screen affair – two of them ‘UltraScreens’ and another a dinner theater called the AT&T Palladium, which will be detailed further along – is a throwback to the art deco days of the cinema house. Starting from the outside, gone is the towering and lit signboard listing movies, in favor of reading the times off the internet, outside posters and electronic marquees over the ticket stations. Forgivably, because there was a rush to get it open for the premiere of Spider-Man 3, the Marcustheatres.com website did not have a working phone number until Friday. Even then, only one automated message worked. You also are not able to purchase show tickets online (as of this writing) as they work out the programming kinks. A giant neon-lined overhang (think: Vegas casino) guides those who want to keep their date dry while they park – or they can use the $3.00 valet service. For once, however, the parking area is well-conceived and the walk to the front door is not necessarily interminable. Once inside and past the long ticket lines, the main lobby opens up to a grand affair. Anyone who has ventured to the new Marcus Renaissance in Sturtevant will recognize the new standard architecture and interior design being adopted for the movie complexes. In the center of the room sits a baby grand piano surrounded by leather sofas and palm trees. The piano mysteriously waits for someone to play it, but it is unlikely the harried and tuxedo wearing employees have the time. On the left is a separate pizza bistro called Zaffiro’s and to the right a Stone Creek Coffee dominated by ice cream shop offerings. The concession stand runs almost the length of the room, illuminated from below by tanks of popcorn. Food offerings here run the gamut from traditional sweet and salty snacks to more complete fast-food offerings. While you wait in line, many flat-screen plasmas distract from the high food prices with previews of coming attractions. Got a kid in tow? The Majestic offers a party room for birthdays and, more importantly, a chamber off the lobby for babysitting services. However, on its first Saturday open the room was dark and empty save for a desk, a pair of handheld buzzers ready to call you back from the show if your kid has a tantrum and a […]