Welcome to Mediatrocities #6! This month’s podcast features Chicago’s own Brian Chankin, owner of Odd Obsession Movies, who talks with Legendary Lew about his store, the state of movie rentals, and why Netflix has it wrong.
Then, film auteurd Ernie Tarté makes his way to a Hollywood party held in honor of Steven Spielberg at the Dolly Dentura mansion. Tarté has recently begun a feud with the Oscar-winning director over the disputed ownership of the latest production of “Napoleon,” the famed project abandoned by Stanley Kubrick.
The featured musical guest this month is the fantastic jazz trio Nonpronto, comprised of Josh Murtha (bass), Luke Angle (drums) and Dan Collins (piano/vocals). The opening/closing tune is “Skeletons” and the featured number is “Sweet Times Run.”
This month’s podcast written by:
Joseph R. Lewis
Lew Ojeda
Tyler Pistorius
Performed by: Barry Brennessel (neglected to credit you on the podcast. My apologies, Barry)
Joseph R. Lewis
Lew Ojeda
Tyler Pistorius
Just as he had done with Spielberg’s classic thriller Jaws, Tarte has taken his pen and pouts to another classic. This one, at least, has Ernie’s initials.
Facets Night School, the long-running series of midnight lectures, screenings and general craziness, is back and The Underground Multiplex has got the early word! They have a great line-up coming, so you’ll definitely want to hear from these master presenters as they host screenings of some of the craziest and most diverse entertainment this side of the galaxy. Talking chimps on 35mm! Drug crazed beauties! Cannibals! Warring beauty queens and battling sweaty strongmen! Vicious hungry cats and insanely overwrought same-sex melodrama! You want it, you got it at this hearty session of Facets Night School.
Here’s the series:
Saturday, March 30 Jason Coffman presents: Carnival Magic in 35mm!
“This long-forgotten classic of the chimp-sploitation genre is probably the weirdest, most inappropriate kids film ever made.” -Brisbane International Film Festival
Al Adamson was a legend of low-budget filmmaking. From 1961 to 1983, Adamson cranked out B (and often C-Z) movies like Satan’s Sadists, Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, Naughty Stewardesses, Black Samurai, Nurse Sherri, and Cinderella 2000. After a career making pictures for grindhouses and drive-ins, Adamson’s last two films were “kids’ movies.” One of these, Carnival Magic, disappeared shortly after its initial release. Long thought lost, a print of Carnival Magic was discovered in 2009, some 14 years after Adamson’s death. At long last, paracinephiles could get a look at Adamson’s legendarily bizarre attempt to make a movie for children. Unsurprisingly, it’s immediately obvious that Adamson had no idea how to do that. In the film, Markov the Magnificent (Don Stewart) is a small-time magician with a secret: he actually has magical powers. He also has a sidekick named Alex, a talking chimp. Markov reluctantly joins a struggling circus, and together he and Alex become the show’s biggest stars. At first it seems like Markov and Alex may save the circus from bankruptcy, but the show’s alcoholic lion tamer–angry at having his spotlight stolen by a talking monkey–cooks up a scheme to sell Alex to an animal research laboratory.Jason Coffman will present Carnival Magic from a 35mm print courtesy of the Chicago Cinema Society Film Archive, along with a discussion of Adamson’s career and trailers for the director’s other films.
Jason Coffman is a programmer and co-director of the Chicago Cinema Society. He is also a film writer, sometime filmmaker, and a regular contributor to FilmMonthly.com and Fine Print Magazine. His writing has also appeared in Horrorhound magazine and Cashiers du Cinemart. Coffman previously presented Spider Baby and The Sleeper at Facets Night School.
Saturday, April 6
Jef Burnham presents: Puritanical Peplum Panic: Hercules, Samson & Ulysses as Religious Battle Crossover
“Do you think it easy to fight against someone who believes he was sent here by his God?” -Aldo Giuffre as Seren, the Philistine King
By 1963, when he filmed Hercules, Samson & Ulysses (1963), director Pietro Francisci was no stranger to sword-and-sandal pictures, otherwise known as peplum. He also helmed 1958’s Hercules and 1959’s Hercules Unchained, both of which featured memorable performances by Steve Reeves as the Greek demigod. Although Reeves did not reprise his role in Hercules, Samson & Ulysses, Francisci compensates for the legendary muscleman’s absence by pitting Hercules’s greased-up Grecian girth against Samson’s bronzed biblical biceps! Join Jef Burnham as he explores the film’s relationship to the concept of the film franchise “battle crossover,” dating back to Universal’s classic horror films like Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). He will also tease out the ramifications of depicting two muscle-bound representatives of ancient religions battling it out for theological supremacy.
Jef Burnham is a media scholar and film critic. He holds a degree in Film & Video from Columbia College Chicago, where he currently serves as a member of the Adjunct Faculty in Cinema Studies. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of FilmMonthly.com. In addition to his film criticism, Jef authored a chapter of Open Court’s Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy and has co-authored a chapter of Scarecrow Press’s forthcoming collection of essays entitled, Reading Mystery Science Theater 3000. He previously presented Yor, The Hunter From the Future and Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare at Facets Night School.
Saturday, April 13
Dominick Mayer presents: Knockoff Henchmen, Helicopter Seduction, and a Night of a 1000 Cats
“I would like to keep you forever…in a crystal cage.” -Hugo
In 1972, exploitation filmmaker Rene Cardona Jr. cranked out a cheapie horror film about Hugo (Hugo Stiglitz), a billionaire playboy who uses his suave charms, stalker-ish manners, and opulent wealth to seduce women into his home, where unspeakable, cat-related horrors await them. Somewhere along the line, a full half hour disappeared from the Spanish version before it reached the U.S. as Blood Feast (not to be confused with the Herschell Gordon Lewis cult classic). However, purists know the film’s true name: Night of a Thousand Cats(La Noche de los Mil Gatos). Dominick Mayer will examine the film’s shadowy origins, its place in the pantheon of Mexploitation cinema, and how this little-known bargain-bin curio may be deserving of a cult following of its own.
Dominick Mayer is a graduate student in Media & Cinema studies at DePaul University. He is also the features editor and head film critic for HEAVEmedia, a Chicago-based music and culture website. He is (as the session name would suggest) a regular at Facets Night School, having previously presented on Black Dynamite, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and Myra Breckinridge, among others. You can commonly find him at various movie theaters or professional wrestling events in the greater Chicagoland area.
Saturday, April 20
Chris Damen presents: Who’s Bad: Lila Leeds’s One Bad Career Move In She Shoulda Said No!
“The story of a good girl gone very, very bad.” -Poster tagline
Sam Newfield’s 1949 anti-marijuana film She Shoulda Said ‘No’! is your typical drug exploitation piece with all the warnings and dangers, but has a very unique backstory. Lead actress Lila Leeds was actually arrested with Robert Mitchum for smoking marijuana. While Mitchum got off almost scot-free, Leeds was forced to make this career-killer. This lecture will cover the sad career of Lila Leeds, and will provide a short survey of the anti-marijuana film genre.
Chris Damen is an avid traveler and a local stand-up comic. In October of 2012, he became the head producer of Facets Night School. He has previously presented eight films a Facets Night School, including Pulgasari, Barfly, and Nekromantik.
Saturday, April 27
Michael Smith presents: Eat the Rich: Manoel de Oliveira’s Unlikely Cannibals Musical
Imagine an unholy mash-up of Luis Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel and Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and you will have some idea of what is in store at this rare screening of one of the all-time great Portuguese films.
The Cannibals (Os Canibais) is one of the best but unfortunately least-known feature films by the prolific Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira. Made in 1988 when the still-active writer/director was a comparatively youthful 79 years old, this delightful work of anti-bourgeois Surrealism is a kind of freakish filmed opera in which every line of savage satire is sung. Adapted from a novel by Álvaro Carvalhal, the plot concerns Marguerite (Oliveira’s favorite leading lady Leonor Silveira), a high-society woman who marries a wealthy Viscount (Oliveira’s favorite leading man Luis Miguel Cintra) over the objections of her jealous ex-lover, Don Juan (Diogo Doria). On their wedding night, the Viscount reveals to Marguerite his darkest secret, which leads to a devilish, uproariously funny climax that must be seen to be believed. Adding a layer of self-reflexive fun is an omniscient, singing narrator (Oliveira Lopes); at one point, he hilariously complains about the protagonists’ use of the “sententious language of poor melodrama” in the previous scene. This rare screening of The Cannibals will be shown via digital projection of a European import DVD. The film has never received an official home video release in North America.
Michael Smith is an independent filmmaker whose most recent short films, At Last, Okemah!! (2009) and The Catastrophe (2011), have won multiple awards at film festivals across the United States. Since 2009, he has taught film history and aesthetics at Chicago-area colleges including Oakton Community College, the College of Lake County, and Harold Washington College. His first book, Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the U.S. Film Industry, a non-fiction account of early film production in Chicago, will be released by KWS Publishers, Inc. in late 2013. He is also the creator and sole author of the film studies blog WhiteCityCinema.com. He has previously taught many Facets Night School sessions including, most recently, “Drilling Into The Slumber Party Massacre.”
Saturday, May 4
Lauren Whalen presents: Girls, Guns and Glitter, Don’cha Know: Drop Dead Gorgeous and the Wild World of Mock Doc
“I shoved your tap shoes in my panties before I was blown out of the house. You go find the guy who cut ’em off.” –Annette Atkins (Ellen Barkin)
Before Kirsten Dunst met Sam Raimi and Denise Richards met Charlie Sheen, they went head-to-head in this darkly funny mockumentary. In Mount Rose, Minnesota, boys go to prison and girls compete in the American Teen Princess pageant. Sweet Amber (Dunst) dreams of escaping her trailer park and becoming the next Diane Sawyer, while nasty Becky Ann (Richards) has perfect teeth and the stage mother from hell (Kirstie Alley), a firearm-toting former American Teen Princess who’ll knock down (or knock off) anyone in her baby’s way. Directed by Michael Patrick Jann (of comedy collective The State), Drop Dead Gorgeousmixes slapstick and satire, straddles the fine line between irreverent and offensive, and has a killer supporting cast (Allison Janney, Ellen Barkin, Brittany Murphy, and Amy Adams in her film debut). Join Lauren Whalen as she explores the mockumentary subgenre, the art of parody, and Drop Dead Gorgeous’ premonition of a Toddlers & Tiaras-saturated culture. High heels optional.
Lauren Whalen spent ten years with Facets as an intern, volunteer, and full-time employee. She writes for Chicago Theater Beatand The Film Yap. Lauren’s previous Night School presentations involved destructive bunnies (Donnie Darko), messed-up lesbian dreams (Mulholland Dr.), and teenage drug rings (Brick). She is also a burlesque enthusiast, who unapologetically loves glitter, and is eternally grateful to her mother for never letting her do pageants.
Saturday, May 11 Legendary Lew (!) presents: The Ben & Arthur Interactive Cinematic Experience, or Can a Cult Movie Sensation Be Created?
“I don’t make sense, you don’t make sense. I make sense. That’s who makes sense!” — Tammy Sheets (Julie Belknap) in Ben & Arthur
“If Tommy Wiseau’s The Room is the over-wrought, melodramatic and self-pitying heterosexual camp classic of choice, then Sam Mraovich’s Ben & Arthur is its gay equivalent…This is a cult sensation waiting to be born.” –Rotten Tomatoes
In recent years, the internet and social media have helped create massive, rabid followings for cinematic “failures,” such as Troll 2 and The Room. Both films hovered in obscurity for years at the nadir of IMDb’s worst-film list until enthusiastic audiences resuscitated them with interaction styles first adopted by Rocky Horror Picture Show viewers. It’s high time the incredible film Ben & Arthur gets its second chance. Disappearing characters, horrendously mixed audio, palm trees in Vermont, passenger flights on FedEx planes, on-screen lighting tripods, cardboard crucifixes, card table “desks,” and cell phones, cell phones ,and more cell phones—Ben and Arthur has it all, including a blatant rip-off of a crucial scene in De Palma’s Scarface. Discovered by a film producer while working in a Pennsylvania Burger King, the multi-talented Sam Mraovich hails from Steubenville, OH. At age 22, Mraovich made the move to Hollywood and began production, direction, etc. on his gay marriage rights magnum opus, Ben & Arthur. Today, he is double-licensed as real estate agent and hair stylist in California. To date, this much-discussed cult film is his only directorial release. Lew Ojeda will discuss the history of these interactive films and how newly-discovered ones can help independent theaters attract moviegoers in current tough economic times. Note: For the interactive screening experience of Ben & Arthur, you’ll want to remember to bring your cell phone, a newspaper, sugar packets and a stuffed toy cat or dog.
Special guest, film auteurd extraordinaire Ernie Tarté, will be on hand to help introduce the film and launch the evening with handheld mirrors and lilac kisses.
Lew Ojeda is the co-founder of The Underground Multiplex and host of the podcast Mediatrocities, celebrating weirdness in movies, music, and television. His production/direction credits include Rochester, NY’s landmark LGBT television show, The Word is Out, and his film reviews have appeared in The Empty Closet and Shock Cinema. As part of Facets for over a decade, Ojeda has previously presented Lady Terminator, Fuego, The Story of Riki-Oh, Seytan, Eat the Rich, Sisters of No Mercy 3D, and many others at Facets Night School.
Screenings will be on Saturdays nights at midnight from March 30-May 11
Facets Multimedia
1517 W Fullerton
Chicago, IL
Admission: $5, FREE for Facets members.
Check out Facets Multimedia: www.facets.org
Recently, film auteurd and contributor to Mediatrocities, Ernie Tarté, was kind enough to allow me onto the set during the production of “Napoleon,” an epic Stanley Kubrick intended to create but could not before he passed away. Despite some production problems and what I perceived as unusual casting, Tarté’s film seemed to be flowing along.
The following is the email Mr. Tarté sent to Mr. Spielberg. Just below that you will find the link to the voicemail he sent to the Oscar-winning film director. Needless to say, he’s rather angry and threatening legal suit.
Stevie, boy—
It’s my understanding that you have a new production of Napoleon in the works for a TV miniseries. You claim that Stanley Kubrick first began this endeavor years ago.
This email is to inform you that I, Mr. Ernie Tarté, had first dibs on this project and consider your project to be proprietary theft. I stole Kubrick’s Napoleon first, and you can’t have it. Attached to this email is audio proof of my work on this picture. Please refer your high-powered, overpaid Hollywood lawyers to it.
It’s not enough that you’ve stolen my initials for my film (I’m still awaiting the royalty checks for E.T. ™ ), but you’ve now stolen the idea that I’ve stolen from the ultimate idea stealer. As such, you are now in violation of the law and everything decent that exists on Earth—all the cancer-curing plants, cute baby animals, laughing children at playgrounds etc., etc., etc.
Watch my jaws: I do not possess artificial intelligence, so you do not wish to have a close encounter with me. In so doing, you will embark on your last crusade. Should you enter a duel with me in this temple of doom, it will be terminal. I have combative lawyers who have always turned past defendants the color purple.
Under California’s Statute of Copyright Repossession, I am entitled to the return of all rights to Napoleon, plus a penalty fee of $250 billion. All checks should be made out to Ernie Tarté, 1060 W. Addison, Basement Apartment, Chicago IL 60613.
My lawyers will contact you immediately and incessantly at all hours, day and night, until this matter is settled.
In this episode:
Legendary Lew and self-admiring film auteurd Ernie Tarté discuss some of the Razzie nominees (1:19).
Special Guest Katie Rife, author of “If You Like Quentin Tarantino…” discusses her latest film series, “Wednesday Rewind” currently playing at The Logan Theatre (9:01).
Legendary Lew stops by the film set during the creation of the new epic, Napoleon, directed by “Stanley Kubrick” and starring “Jack Nicholson.” (20:05)
Finally, Katie Rife returns with a lecture recorded on August 12, 2012 at Facets Multimedia for the TUGM produced Night School. She discusses the careers of film exploitation pioneers Ron & June Ormond and their opus to sexual frigidity, Please Don’t Touch Me. (22:51)
Mediatrocities is a production of The Underground Multiplex.
Episode 5 features Tyler Pistorius, Joseph R. Lewis and Lew Ojeda.
Special guest: Katie Rife
Opening theme: “Lew’s Blues” and “Static Ghosts” written and performed by Lindon McCarty
Closing theme: Son of a Gun by Brendon Losch
Written by: Tyler Pistorius, Joseph R. Lewis and Lew Ojeda
Produced by The Underground Multiplex
This week, Mediatrocities is proud to highlight the ongoing cult movie series “Wednesday Rewind” at The Logan Theatre in Chicago presented by film historian, author and co-founder of the fantastic site, Everything is Terrible, the wonderful Katie Rife.
Joining me in the interview is the “talented” film auteur Ernie Tarté. We spoke about the great rare films in store for those willing to shell out a measly $3 admission.
Playing tonight at The Logan is the craziness of Rollerblade, which combines the post-apocalyptic future with roller derby nuns. Katie joined me is discussing this and other odd finds for the Wednesday Rewind series. However, things did get a tad bit uncomfortable when the snide comments of Tarté nearly derailed the interview. Thank goodness, I was able to hold it together for the rest of her visit:
KR: We’re showing Rollerblade which is a really insane shot-on-video, sci-fi movie about a cult called The Cosmic Order of Rollerblade… They are like roller derby nuns…they cut each other with knives and then they bathe in a holy hot tub…their wounds get healed and then they skate around a post-apocalyptic landscape which is really just like a warehouse in L.A.
ET: It is called Rollerblade?
KR: It’s called Rollerblade. But, interesting fact, everybody thinks that it’s a movie about rollerblading but it’s not.
ET: Then why is it called Rollerblade?
KR: Because, it’s the Sisters of the Holy Order of Rollerblade.
ET: Oh Christ!
KR: Your attention to detail is not very good I gotta say for a film director.
ET: How dare you insult Tarte!
You can hear the rest of the interview by clicking on the link below. It’s a wild time at the movies!
Here’s the entire Wednesday Rewind roundup:
2/6 Intrepidos Punks
2/13 Fabio’s A Time for Romance
2/20 Rollerblade
2/27 Mankillers
3/6 The Killing of Satan
3/13 Boarding House
3/20 Seven Lucky Ninja Kids
3/27 Baby Huey’s Easter Adventure
4/3 Liquid Sky
4/10 Evil Speak
4/17 Nigerian Movie Night! (featuring Rad Brian)
4/24 Get Even
5/1 Exterminator 2
5/8 Raiders: The Adaptation
5/15 Turkish Star Wars
5/22 The Dragon Lives Again
5/29 Hamburger: The Motion Picture
All shows are on Wednesday nights at 10:30pm The Logan Theatre
2646 N Milwaukee
Chicago, IL
Admission: $3
Ernie Tarte is an acclaimed filmmaker and former expatriate.
After the tumultuous reception of his film “SELF”, Tarte went into seclusion in South America where he lived as a God amongst a tribe of Peruvian natives that had never seen shampoo before.
Since his return he has become a frequent contributor to Mediatrocities, the Multiplex’s media podcast hosted by Legendary Lew.
He offers the following introduction:
“Film cannot be taught, nor can DESIRE. I provide the following advice ironically, as a joke for myself at the expense of the reader. However, I am also sincere…not in my motivations, but in my genius.” -TARTE
TARTE’S TIPS FOR FILMMAKERS
1. Every word you utter can be a movie. For example, every word I just used can be a great movie. Exclamation point.
2. As Kubrick once meant to say, “I can write it and think it, so film me.”
3. Wake up every morning and say, “I am the Self” in at least fifteen different languages.
4. Always remember- when they say, “Go F#k yourself”…it’s a compliment.
5. Raw film is like raw food. And a theatre is like a restaurant…What no tip? Question Mark.
6. There are only 3 great filmmakers you need to know. And Tarte is all of them.
7. Circles or squares. Choose wisely.
TARTE
Post Script: I attach my favorite short film for your betterment. You will NOT understand it…
It’s that time again. All eyes are on the stars and the movies to see who takes home the prizes. The fans will be delighted and we’ll be talking about the winners for days.
Yes, that’s right! It’s Razzies time!
This is that very special night most of the nominated stars, filmmakers and attention whores quickly take shelter to avoid cameras and mics. Nuns don’t cloister as quickly as can be expected by top names like Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, Robert Pattison, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Jessica Biel, the cagey Nick, the hassled Hoff and Tyler Perry, distinguishing himself by not being able to portray either gender convincingly.
To read a complete list of this year’s nominations, head on over to the Razzies site.
BUT:
If you want an exclusive personal take on some of the nominees, give a listen as Legendary Lew, host of Mediatrocities, discusses some of the nominations with his special guest: self-distinguished film auteur Ernie Tarte.
Congrats 2 KH for her nomination as Worst Actress by the Razzie Committee! Stay Tooned for more Xciting coverage by Legendary Lew in MEDIATROCITIES!
The Golden Raspberry Award winners will be announced Feb. 23, one day before the Academy Awards.
TUGM is a community-arts organization dedicated to locally-produced transmedia.
What is transmedia? We like to think of it as:
VIDZ PIX TXT TRAX.
We advocate for independent artists and content creators. We produce live events to strengthen the local arts community. We also organize our own original transmedia productions.
Based in Chicago.
Shy, Ill 4EVA
Welcome to Mediatrocities #6! This month’s podcast features Chicago’s own Brian Chankin, owner of Odd Obsession Movies, who talks with Legendary Lew about his store, the state of movie rentals, and why Netflix has it wrong.
The Underground Multiplex 