She Likes to Watch

This week’s films cover elections, space travel and alien invasions

Another week, another packed movie calendar.

HopeDance Magazine launches its latest local film series tonight with “Free For All!: One Dude’s Quest to Save Democracy.”

Inspired by the controversy over the 2004 presidential elections, “Free For All!” follows filmmaker John Ennis as he explores the electoral process in the state of Ohio. He talks to journalists, politicians, attorneys and activists in a personal quest for truth.

“Free for All!” will be screened at 7 p.m. tonight at the San Luis Obispo Library, in San Luis Obispo. A $5 donation is suggested.

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For thrills and chills of a different sort, turn to the Palm Wednesday movie series.

Tonight, the Palm Theatre in San Luis Obispo offers a screening of “Event Horizon.”

When Earth picks up a signal from the Event Horizon in 2047, a group of astronauts led by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) are sent to investigate the long-lost spaceship, lost in a wormhole on its maiden voyage. They discover the vessel in orbit around the planet Neptune, intact but seemingly abandoned.

As the crew of the Lewis and Clark explores the ship, however, they uncover the horrifying truth: Someone or something is on board. And it wants blood.

“Event Horizon” earns its R rating with gore galore and a terrifying story that mixes elements of horror, science fiction and psychological thriller.

Tim Burton’s alien invasion spoof, “Mars Attacks!”, plays Friday at the Palm.

Drawing inspiration from the popular Mars Attacks trading card series, this zany blockbuster is the stuff of classic B-movies: Big-brained aliens with deadly rayguns invade Earth.

When aliens land near Las Vegas, the President of the United States (Jack Nicholson) and his staff assume they must be friendly. Hippies rejoice. Scientists celebrate.

Sorry, folks. Turns out the interstellar travelers have other plans for Earth.

Burton harkens back to the B-movies and ensemble comedies of the 1950s and ’60s with ample camp and an all-star cast (Glenn Close, Annette Benning, Pierce Brosnan and Danny DeVito, to name a few). Don’t miss the many allusions to science fiction favorites such as “War of the Worlds,” “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” “Godzilla” and “This Island Earth.”

Both movies will be screened at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at the Palm, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

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“Mars Attacks!” photo courtesy of the blog WhatToFix.com.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”: Give yourself over to absolute pleasure

Plenty of movies have fervent followings.

“Star Wars” has spawned multiple movies, television series and novels, conventions and costume contests. Dudes dedicated to “The Big Lebowski” gather yearly to bowl and drink White Russians. There are cults of personality dedicated to the “Evil Dead” movies, “Brazil,” “Heavy Metal” and “Mommie Dearest.”

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has to be the only cult classic that requires its fans to strip down to their underwear, shout one-liners and toss toast at the movie screen. Yet, somehow, it’s inspired an international craze.

Some theaters have become legendary for their “Rocky Horror” screenings, such as Portland’s Clinton Street Theater.

Locally, Big Purple Onion Productions presents a live “Rocky” show every month — complete with pirates, cowboys and other delights. (Imagine your funniest, most outgoing friends lipsynching to one of the zaniest movies imaginable — in costume, of course! It’s homegrown fun in an intimate setting, right here in San Luis Obispo.)

Born as a British stage musical in 1973, “Rocky Horror” inspired midnight movie mania two years later with a fantastic film version.

Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon star as Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple who find themselves stranded at night in a torrential downpour. They seek shelter in the nearest dwelling, a castle inhabited by mad scientist Frank-N- Furter (Tim Curry) and his demented staff.

As you might imagine, Brad and Janet are in for a wild night.

“Rocky’s” plot borrows elements from “Frankenstein” and other B-movie classics, mixing cabaret, rock ‘n roll and a wacky sense of humor with counter-culture issues like transvestism, extraterrestrial life and sexual awakening. Hey, everybody! It’s “Time Warp” time!

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” will be screened tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Fremont movie theater, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $7.50.

Since “Rocky” fans tend to be a rambunctious bunch, theater management has a few ground rules: No rice, toast or hot dogs. No squirt guns or spray bottles. No lighters. (Would you want to mop up cold hot dogs or try to scrub stains out of a movie screen? No. You would not.)

Costumes and other props, such as newspapers, noisemakers, flashlights and rubber gloves, are encouraged.

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MTV’s plans to remake “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” have apparently been slammed by all those involved with the original.

Show creator Richard O’Brien, who appears in the 1975 film as Riff Raff, says he won’t be involved with any remakes. Barry Bostwick called a remake “a waste of money” and Susan Sarandon simply doesn’t see the point of rebooting such a “charming … interesting” film.

Nonetheless, a “Rocky Horror” reboot is currently in the works. At least one site, imdb.com, reports the release date as 2010.

’80s mania spawns a DVD series

Paramount Pictures loves the 1980s. Paramount also loves making a quick buck.

By now, you may have noticed the covers of your favorite ’80s movies peeking out of grocery store checkout lanes and video kiosks. Was that “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” wedged between People and O magazine? “Some Kind of Wonderful” squeezed between the chewing gum and sunflower seeds?
Here’s why: Paramount is releasing 40 of your favorites from the era, all tarted up in a series titled (what else?) “I Love the ’80s.”

Repackaging the decade’s hits in pastel slip-covers , the studio doesn’t exactly splurge on the extras. In fact, few of these titles offer little more than a theatrical trailer and French subtitles.

Each “’80s Edition” comes with a “Music of the ’80s” CD featuring songs by Echo and the Bunnymen, Erasure and INXS and a-ha.

Most of the movie choices make sense.

What DVD collection, after all, is complete without a copy of “Airplane!”, “Top Gun” or “Pretty in Pink”? The same goes for “Friday the 13th,” “Footloose,” “Ferris Bueller.” All fun. All classics.

Other, more serious titles such as “Reds” and “Witness” also have their place.

“Grease 2,” on the other hand, seems like a peculiar choice. And there are other odd additions: “Rustler’s Rhapsody.” “Summer School.” “Hot Pursuit.” There must be “King David” fans out there, but I’m not sure everyone would enjoy watching the infamous “Richard Gere in a diaper” scene.

Movie buffs should skip this series in favor of superior special special editions. There are far better versions out there, with much better making-of documentaries, directors’ commentaries and other extras. Most of them probably carry the same sticker price, too.

Still, if you can’t resist buying that copy of “Beverly Hills Cop” along with your bread and milk, well, I can hardly blame you.

“Shaun of the Dead” delivers plenty of gore, giggles

Legend has it that “Shaun of the Dead,” the brilliant feature-film debut of director Edgar Wright, was the first “rom zom com.”

That is, a romantic zombie comedy. The holy triumvirate of heartfelt personal growth, buddy-movie style laughs, and hordes of undead corpses hungry for human flesh.

Simon Pegg plays Shaun, an affable young man going through life in a deadened daze. He schleps household appliances at his dead-end job, plays video games with his best mate Ed and ends every evening at The Winchester pub, pounding pints as Ed (Nick Frost) does his best “Every Which Way But Loose” impression.

Shaun sees nothing wrong with this routine lifestyle, but his long-time girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield), does. She dumps him.

After another long, drunken night at the Winchester, Shaun realizes she’s right.

Unfortunately our hero comes to this realization at the very moment that armies of the undead are swarming England. As he struggles to win back his woman and reconcile his relationship with his remarried mom, he and Ed are forced to battle a zombie outbreak armed only with a shovel, a cricket bat and their own ingenuity.

“Shaun of the Dead” mixes genres with a cheerful abandon, blending the best of tongue-in-cheek British comedy and American horror classics like George Romero’s immortal “Dead” trilogy. It’s daringly funny, with all the gleeful gore of a “Dead Alive” or an “Evil Dead.”

At the same time, “Shaun” seems to improve on Judd Apatow’s patented formula of tempering sass with sweetness. These characters — played by a uniformly excellent cast — actually grow and change. Self-realization? In a zombie movie? Who’da thunk it?!?

See “Shaun of the Dead” tonight at The Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. Showtimes are 7 and 9:15 p.m.

Tickets are $7.50.

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Photo courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

Actor, philanthropist, anti-hero: Paul Newman always made me grin

As fate would have it, I was attending a screen-writing workshop when I discovered Paul Newman had died.

Newman, the screen legend, race car enthusiast and philanthropist behind such classics as “The Sting” and”The Hustler,” died of cancer Friday at his home in Westport Connecticut . He was 83.

I heard the news from a Hollywood screenwriter as a collective sigh seeped from the assemblage of movie buffs. At first I thought about Newman’s career, his astounding catalog of Oscar-nominated work. Then I mused on his many contributions to charity and progressive political causes. (Yes, I am a fan of Newman’s Own salad dressing.)

It wasn’t until a couple hours later, watching “Cool Hand Luke,” that I realized what I’ll miss most about Newman.

Toward the end of the film, George Kennedy muses about “that Luke smile” as clips showcasing Newman’s tanned, chiseled features and broad grin parade past the screen. And it really is all about the smile.

Whether he was playing a pool hall hustler or a Wild West bandit, a rebellious youth or a rough-and-ready hockey coach, Newman always came across as the nicest anti-hero in show business — a great actor and likeable scoundrel with a certain streak of devil-may-care.

It was a truism that stretched from his earliest movies (”Somebody Up There Likes Me”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) to the sunny days of “The Sting” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” to his later work in “Nobody’s Fool” and “The Road to Perdition.”

Let Robert Redford be serious. Let Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood act tough.

On the screen, even at his most villainous, Newman was a joker. Sadness was there — a recognition of life’s fleeting nature and passing pleasures — but laughter was always waiting in the wings.

In fact, you could watch a Paul Newman laugh as it happened. It’d start with a twinkle in those piercing blue eyes, a wry curl of his crisp lips. Those lips would open to reveal an army of perfectly square white teeth. You’d watch the laugh travel south down his torso, where it’d finally erupt, a true Newman belly laugh.

That’s what I think of as I watch the closing credits of “Cool Hand Luke” — Paul Newman’s one-of-a-kind smile.