New York City is a place where shops and restaurants come and go. But in Greenwich Village, the former bohemian enclave that has never lost its mythological aura as a neighborhood of freedom and beauty (tourists now line up to gawk at the Stonewall Inn the same way they walk in the Beatles’ footsteps across Abbey Road), the last decade has given rise to a ritual that’s become depressing in its familiarity. A local eating establishment — a diner, a trattoria — that’s been there for years, and that you prize in every way, seems to be thriving. Then you’re meeting someone there for dinner, and…poof! It’s gone. Shuttered. Maybe it moved to a different part of town, but in most cases it’s gone forever.
Why? Even beloved restaurants have to play by the rules of capitalism, but these places have done that; they were popular and profitable.
Why? Even beloved restaurants have to play by the rules of capitalism, but these places have done that; they were popular and profitable.
- 10/26/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
A summer treat for all of you New Yorkers, taking place tomorrow, Wednesday, July 10, starting at 5:30pm, at Marcus Garvey Park Lawn A (Mount Morris Park West between 122nd and 124th Streets). Presented by Maysles Cinema's Summer of Music, The Marcus Garvey Park Alliance, Reel Harlem: The Historic Harlem Parks Film Festival, Tedsmooth's Old School Jam and Harlem Hip-Hop Tours. The event includes a screening of Roger Paradiso's Sugarhill Gang feature documentary, I Want My Name Back, and will feature a special performance of Rapper's Delight with Legendary MCs Wonder Mike, Master Gee and Grandmaster Caz (The Cold Crush Brothers) and special guests Melle Mel (Grandmaster...
- 7/9/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
I Want My Name Back, directed by Roger Paradiso, centers on Master Gee & Wonder Mike of the Original Sugarhill Gang who, 30+ years after the historic recording of their iconic mega-hit Rapper’s Delight, have come back to reclaim their identities and rightful place in Hip Hop history.Described by the subjects as the "classic label versus artist battle" story, the film is said to give the audience an honest inside look at the origins, trials and tribulations of the original Sugarhill Gang.Post its premiere at the 18th Slamdance Film Festival in January, One Village Entertainment, an entity of Robert Johnson's Rlj Entertainment,...
- 5/29/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
I Want My Name Back, directed by Roger Paradiso, centers on Master Gee & Wonder Mike of the Original Sugarhill Gang who, 30+ years after the historic recording of their iconic mega-hit Rapper’s Delight, have come back to reclaim their identities and rightful place in Hip Hop history.Described by the subjects as the "classic label versus artist battle" story, the film is said to give the audience an honest inside look at the origins, trials and tribulations of the original Sugarhill Gang.Post its premiere at the 18th Slamdance Film Festival in January, One Village Entertainment, an entity of Robert Johnson's Rlj Entertainment,...
- 5/22/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Held back on Sept. 21-29, the 5th annual Arizona Underground Film Festival was a major blow-out event of extreme underground greatness. And, to top it all off, they handed out a gaggle of awards to both feature films and shorts alike.
The big winner was the Best of Fest award that went to Michael Melamedoff’s sly drama The Exhibitionists, about a bunch of hedonists gathered on New Year’s Eve. Meanwhile, the Audience Award went to the reality TV parody Ghosts With Shit Jobs by Chris McCawley, Jim Morrison, Jim Munroe and Tate Young; and Kenton Bartlett’s torture flick Missing Pieces won the Director’s Award.
Some other winners include Spencer Parsons’ Saturday Morning Massacre for Best Horror Feature, a film that while not reviewed yet on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film we’ve seen it and easily declare one of the best horror movies of the last few years.
The big winner was the Best of Fest award that went to Michael Melamedoff’s sly drama The Exhibitionists, about a bunch of hedonists gathered on New Year’s Eve. Meanwhile, the Audience Award went to the reality TV parody Ghosts With Shit Jobs by Chris McCawley, Jim Morrison, Jim Munroe and Tate Young; and Kenton Bartlett’s torture flick Missing Pieces won the Director’s Award.
Some other winners include Spencer Parsons’ Saturday Morning Massacre for Best Horror Feature, a film that while not reviewed yet on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film we’ve seen it and easily declare one of the best horror movies of the last few years.
- 11/9/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
2012 appears to be the year for younger, i.e. under 10 years old, underground fests to blow it wide open and go for broke. This time it’s the 4th annual Oakland Underground Film Festival that is expanding its horizons into a blowout four-day, much more densely packed affair, running on Sept. 27-30 at several different locations.
Expanding on the types of films they screen, this year Oakuff is jammed pack with a wide variety of documentaries, thrillers, a bevy of short films and a special tribute to blaxploitation films hosted by BadAzz MoFo’s David Walker.
The fest opens on the 27th with skateboarding filmmaker Stacy Peralta’s latest, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which documents his own involvement with California board culture along with peers like Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. Following that will be Ya’Ke Smith’s complex drama about the effects of child molestation.
Other documentaries in...
Expanding on the types of films they screen, this year Oakuff is jammed pack with a wide variety of documentaries, thrillers, a bevy of short films and a special tribute to blaxploitation films hosted by BadAzz MoFo’s David Walker.
The fest opens on the 27th with skateboarding filmmaker Stacy Peralta’s latest, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography, which documents his own involvement with California board culture along with peers like Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. Following that will be Ya’Ke Smith’s complex drama about the effects of child molestation.
Other documentaries in...
- 9/25/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
To celebrate their 5th anniversary, the Arizona Underground Film Festival has expanded to a whopping nine nights on Sept. 21-29 for a cinematic event the likes of Tucson has never seen before!
The shenanigans kick off with the opening night film The Legend of Kaspar Hauser, an experimental Italian feature directed by Davide Manuli and starring Vincent Gallo as the hero and the villain to a strange young boy, then end with the closing night film Jason M. Solomon’s nostalgic documentary 7 Years Underground: A 60′s Tale, which profiles the legendary Cafe Au Go Go in NYC that hosted such up-and-coming acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin and more.
In between those two films lies a twisted carnage of movie mayhem, including Spencer Parsons’ demented homage to ’70s mystery cartoons Saturday Morning Massacre; Michael Melamedoff exploitative semi-doc The Exhibitionists; Stephen Amis’ Australian WWII sci-fi...
The shenanigans kick off with the opening night film The Legend of Kaspar Hauser, an experimental Italian feature directed by Davide Manuli and starring Vincent Gallo as the hero and the villain to a strange young boy, then end with the closing night film Jason M. Solomon’s nostalgic documentary 7 Years Underground: A 60′s Tale, which profiles the legendary Cafe Au Go Go in NYC that hosted such up-and-coming acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin and more.
In between those two films lies a twisted carnage of movie mayhem, including Spencer Parsons’ demented homage to ’70s mystery cartoons Saturday Morning Massacre; Michael Melamedoff exploitative semi-doc The Exhibitionists; Stephen Amis’ Australian WWII sci-fi...
- 9/14/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 5th annual Arizona Underground Film Festival, which will run on Sept. 21-29 at various venues around Tucson, Arizona, has officially released the titles of six of the films that will be screening at this year’s event.
It’s clear from this half-dozen batch of movies that the fest will be sticking to its successful formula that has allowed it to grow by leaps and bounds since 2008. That formula consists of offering up a diverse batch of fun genre fare, controversial exploitation films, crowd-pleasing music documentaries and somewhat unclassifiable cinematic oddities.
The titles and brief descriptions are below. The full lineup will be available on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film in early September.
The Legend of Kaspar Hauser, dir. Davide Manuli. In this Italian update of the Werner Herzog classic film, which was based on a true story, controversial American actor Vincent Gallo tackles the dual roles...
It’s clear from this half-dozen batch of movies that the fest will be sticking to its successful formula that has allowed it to grow by leaps and bounds since 2008. That formula consists of offering up a diverse batch of fun genre fare, controversial exploitation films, crowd-pleasing music documentaries and somewhat unclassifiable cinematic oddities.
The titles and brief descriptions are below. The full lineup will be available on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film in early September.
The Legend of Kaspar Hauser, dir. Davide Manuli. In this Italian update of the Werner Herzog classic film, which was based on a true story, controversial American actor Vincent Gallo tackles the dual roles...
- 8/27/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Image from the movie “I Want My Name Back.”
“I said a hip-hop, hippie to the hippie” could quite possibly be one of the most significant verses uttered in rap history–but most fans don’t know the legal and financial battle the words unleashed.
The Sugarhill Gang released what’s widely regarded as the first hip-hop hit, the 15-minute“Rapper’s Delight” in 1979, and the single went on to sell 10 million copies. MCs Wonder Mike and Master Gee at...
“I said a hip-hop, hippie to the hippie” could quite possibly be one of the most significant verses uttered in rap history–but most fans don’t know the legal and financial battle the words unleashed.
The Sugarhill Gang released what’s widely regarded as the first hip-hop hit, the 15-minute“Rapper’s Delight” in 1979, and the single went on to sell 10 million copies. MCs Wonder Mike and Master Gee at...
- 1/25/2012
- by Garin Pirnia
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Slamdance has released the line up for their 2012 Slamdance Film Festival which takes place in Park City Utah at the same time at The Sundance Film Festival. Slamdance focuses more on genre type indie films and consists of several films that weren't accepted into the Sundance Film Fest. The festival runs from January 20th to the 26th.
Check out the list below and tell us what you think! Do any of you plan on attending? I always try to catch a few of these films while up in Park City.
Narrative Feature Competition
Bindlestiffs – Director: Andrew Edison, Screenwriters: Andrew Edison, Luke Loftin. (USA)
World Premiere. Three smart-mouthed high school virgins, suspended from school on a graffiti charge, flee to the inner city to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye. Cast: Andrew Edison, Luke Loftin, John Karna
Comforting Skin – Director: Derek Franson, Screenwriter: Derek Franson. (Canada) Us Premiere.
Check out the list below and tell us what you think! Do any of you plan on attending? I always try to catch a few of these films while up in Park City.
Narrative Feature Competition
Bindlestiffs – Director: Andrew Edison, Screenwriters: Andrew Edison, Luke Loftin. (USA)
World Premiere. Three smart-mouthed high school virgins, suspended from school on a graffiti charge, flee to the inner city to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye. Cast: Andrew Edison, Luke Loftin, John Karna
Comforting Skin – Director: Derek Franson, Screenwriter: Derek Franson. (Canada) Us Premiere.
- 12/15/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Ten narratives and eight documentaries are lined up for the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival Competition. Variety's Dave McNary reports that two titles "already generating buzz are Bindlestiffs in the feature lineup and We Are Legion: The Story of Hacktavists in documentaries. Bindlestiffs, directed by Andrew Edison, stars Andrew Edison, Luke Loftin and John Karna as smart-mouthed high school virgins, who are suspended from school on a graffiti charge and flee to the inner city to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye. We Are Legion, directed and written by Brian Knappenberger, is a look inside the world of Anonymous, the radical 'hacktivist' collective that's redefined civil disobedience for the digital age."
The other narrative features:
Roller Town from Glen Jm on Vimeo.
Andrew Bush's Roller Town, with Kayla Lorette, Mark Little and Scott Vrooman.
Derek Franson's Comforting Skin, with Jane Sowerby, Tygh Runyan and Victoria Bidewell.
The other narrative features:
Roller Town from Glen Jm on Vimeo.
Andrew Bush's Roller Town, with Kayla Lorette, Mark Little and Scott Vrooman.
Derek Franson's Comforting Skin, with Jane Sowerby, Tygh Runyan and Victoria Bidewell.
- 12/14/2011
- MUBI
The Sugarhill Gang have confirmed that they are working on their fifth studio album. The rap group's new LP will be their first in over ten years, with Jump On It! released in 1999. The trio are currently the subject of documentary film I Want My Name Back, from Thomas Crown Affair producer Roger Paradiso. The film centres around the group's career and subsequent legal battles to claim ownership of their material and receive royalties. Paradiso explained that the delay of (more)...
- 9/23/2011
- by By Tom Eames
- Digital Spy
New York -- Actors, producers and union representatives will speak out against New Jersey's plans to eliminate the state's production tax credit program at a hearing Wednesday.
Facing a big budget deficit, Gov. Chris Christie has proposed ending the $10 million annual program as of the beginning of the state's new fiscal year on July 1.
But industry folks highlight an increase in productions and entertainment industry jobs created since the launch of the incentives for film, TV and digital media projects.
Wednesday's hearing comes as New York state legislators continue to argue over their state's budget proposal, which includes $420 million in annual production incentives over five years, but has been held up by political conflict. N.Y. Gov. David Paterson in his budget bill listed the production incentives program as a key revenue generator as the credits have shown to boost tax revenue well ahead of any state outlays.
The New...
Facing a big budget deficit, Gov. Chris Christie has proposed ending the $10 million annual program as of the beginning of the state's new fiscal year on July 1.
But industry folks highlight an increase in productions and entertainment industry jobs created since the launch of the incentives for film, TV and digital media projects.
Wednesday's hearing comes as New York state legislators continue to argue over their state's budget proposal, which includes $420 million in annual production incentives over five years, but has been held up by political conflict. N.Y. Gov. David Paterson in his budget bill listed the production incentives program as a key revenue generator as the credits have shown to boost tax revenue well ahead of any state outlays.
The New...
- 6/8/2010
- by By Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Emerging Pictures
Tony N' Tina's Wedding has been a theatrical phenomenon ever since its off-Broadway premiere some two decades ago, but everything that is unique about it has been necessarily lost in this screen adaptation written and directed by Roger Paradiso. Filmed in 2004 but only now getting a limited theatrical release -- the presence of a pre-Entourage Adrian Grenier in the cast may have something to do with it -- this broad comedy will quickly find its way to the video bins.
The stage show is a partially improvised, interactive theater experience that plunges the audience right into the heart of a wedding between two young Italians from Queens. In an attempt to inject a similar cinematic stylization into the proceedings, the filmmaker begins by providing only POV shots from the perspectives of the unseen couple, then settles into a home-movie-style format, as filmed by a flamboyantly gay wedding videographer (Guillermo Diaz).
Other than that technical conceit, the film plays out like a far too long (108 minutes) sketch featuring stereotypical characterizations and witless dialogue and situations. The director uses long, rambling takes to track the slapstick confrontations at the awesomely tacky Vinnie Black's Coliseum between the titular couple (Joey McIntyre, Mila Kunis); their warring in-laws (Priscilla Lopez, John Fiore) who once dated in high school; the pot-smoking best man; the ex-boyfriend (Grenier) who drunkenly interrupts the proceedings; the black priest who has a tendency to lapse into Baptist cadences; and the uncle who pees into a fountain, among other caricatures.
Aiming for an Altmanesque quality, the film fails miserably, undercut by the relentless broadness of its source material. What can be great fun to experience live becomes unbearably repetitive here, with only the occasional clever flourish -- the pre-credits "slide show" depicting mock advertisements for various Long Island businesses is a scream -- to relieve the tedium.
Tony N' Tina's Wedding has been a theatrical phenomenon ever since its off-Broadway premiere some two decades ago, but everything that is unique about it has been necessarily lost in this screen adaptation written and directed by Roger Paradiso. Filmed in 2004 but only now getting a limited theatrical release -- the presence of a pre-Entourage Adrian Grenier in the cast may have something to do with it -- this broad comedy will quickly find its way to the video bins.
The stage show is a partially improvised, interactive theater experience that plunges the audience right into the heart of a wedding between two young Italians from Queens. In an attempt to inject a similar cinematic stylization into the proceedings, the filmmaker begins by providing only POV shots from the perspectives of the unseen couple, then settles into a home-movie-style format, as filmed by a flamboyantly gay wedding videographer (Guillermo Diaz).
Other than that technical conceit, the film plays out like a far too long (108 minutes) sketch featuring stereotypical characterizations and witless dialogue and situations. The director uses long, rambling takes to track the slapstick confrontations at the awesomely tacky Vinnie Black's Coliseum between the titular couple (Joey McIntyre, Mila Kunis); their warring in-laws (Priscilla Lopez, John Fiore) who once dated in high school; the pot-smoking best man; the ex-boyfriend (Grenier) who drunkenly interrupts the proceedings; the black priest who has a tendency to lapse into Baptist cadences; and the uncle who pees into a fountain, among other caricatures.
Aiming for an Altmanesque quality, the film fails miserably, undercut by the relentless broadness of its source material. What can be great fun to experience live becomes unbearably repetitive here, with only the occasional clever flourish -- the pre-credits "slide show" depicting mock advertisements for various Long Island businesses is a scream -- to relieve the tedium.
- 12/4/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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