OK, pretty lame for the "headline" of the second week of the new year, but it's all that came to me at the moment.
The Final Tampa Film Review: Reactions POSTED BY NOLAN B. CANOVA, JANUARY 10, 2009
This is being posted the next day after the final TFR, its 5-year anniversary.
GREAT SHOW, Paul! Had a really good time. It was a pleasure to see the previous classics along with some new material (I'd never seen Todd Thompson's Time & Again --great flick).
I like how Wynkoop snuck in two flicks for the price of one by embedding Something For The TFR inside his new tribute -- but what the hell, I got my name mentioned more times in five minutes than anywhere previously, hahaha!! So I can't be too cross with him. Funny stuff.
Honored that young Garrett Brown and his mom made it out to the show. What a talent he is! 16 years old and had the audience in the palm of his hand -- again -- with his claymation horror short The Last One.
This was my first time ever inside The Italian Club -- nice place, great theater. Kinda reminds me of The Cuban Club, which shouldn't be too surprising, they were probably built about the same time.
I had at least ten people come up to me and ask, "So, what are you going to do now?" Hahaha. No life without TFR, right? I gave them all the same pat answer, "Well, I reckon I'll retire to a park bench somewhere and play checkers with the other old retired film reviewers..." HAha.
In reality, of course, I always have PCR to keep me occupied, and I'll continue my web development projects.
Anyway, that's the long and short of it. Again, great time, and I hope to see everybody again somewhere, sometime soon.
I'll be writing up a more thorough review in next week's PCR, natch.
The Final Tampa Film Review POSTED BY NOLAN B. CANOVA, JANUARY 9, 2009
I'm glad this story has been vigorously promoted locally and I apologize for being a little slow in posting this myself (horrible week), but I couldn't let it slide by and say nothing.
The FINAL Tampa Film Review (TFR) hosted by Pete and Paul Guzzo is tonight(!!), Friday, January 9 from 8 – 10 p.m. at the Italian Club, 1731 East Seventh Ave. Everyone's invited, the event is FREE and OPEN to the public.
The Italian Club invites everyone to join them at their weekly happy hour prior to the TFR. Happy hour begins at 6 p.m. The happy hour features a $10 buffet and drink specials.
Cigar City Magazine for sponsoring the event for which we're all grateful.
The final TFR will showcase some of the BEST short films made here in Tampa Bay that we have shown since the TFR’s inception in January 2004.
Every month for the past five years, TFR has showcased films produced by Tampa filmmakers. The fact that the Guzzo Bros have been able to fill so many months of programming with locally produced films is a testament to the talent in the Tampa Bay area. We hope everyone can come out and support the final installment of this event.
January’s lineup is:
Gunn Highway by Stefan Abbott (Vino-Figueroa) – Looks can be deceiving. Just because someone looks one way on the outside, doesn’t mean they look the same on the inside.
To Live Is To Die by Chris Woods: A group of college students are asked to share non-fictional stories in the writing class. Strangely enough the authors fall victim to their own tales.
Tale of Two Meagans by Fred Zara: Confident science major Mark Jarvis has never encountered a problem he couldn't solve through cool-headed analysis. But when he falls head-over-heels in love with two women of equal-but-opposite appeal, the cocky whiz kid finds himself faced with the impossible task of having to choose just one.
Mexican Sky by Ken Collins: A mouthy career criminal takes a sheriff and his deputy hostage in their own squad car in a desperate attempt to flee across the Mexican border.
Time & Again by Todd Thompson: Steve Peters has found a way to control time, but how can he cheat death if fate has a mind of his own?
The Last One by Garrett Brown: Stop-motion claymation about a slacker who gets into in a horrific car crash and wakes to a surreal world where all perception is skewed.
A special tribute to the TFR by Joel Wynkoop.
More details can be found in this week's Indie Film News by Paul Guzzo.
A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM NOLAN B. CANOVA -- It has been my singular honor to attend and review these monthly gatherings for the past five years. In all that time, I've only missed two, and those due to illness. Even then, I sent someone to cover it for me (Chris Woods in both instances) so there would be no interruption in our coverage.
Although the TFR had very little competition (too much work! Haha) and fewer pretenders to the throne, there was only one TFR. It was special and unique and will be sorely missed.
I will be there tonight to watch the films and I will celebrate five great years afterwards with any other attendees who care to join. After tonight, however, my "career" as a reviewer of local films is likely to close along with the Tampa Film Review. Except for some ties I have left with the Gasparilla Film Festival (which I'm still taking seriously, if you're reading this, Eric!), I will turn my attention to other matters.
Why, dear reader? If you've been following PCR these past few weeks, you no doubt encountered my year-end two-parter called "The Tampa Film Scene: Mission Accomplished?". In it, I detailed the long and torturously slow climb the West-Central Florida film scene has made from near complete obscurity to being a recognized player on the national stage. For that we're all very proud. There is also a darker side neither the Guzzo Bros nor I will miss, mostly having to do with ego battles. That goes with the territory, as I said in the two-parter.
There are many people responsible for the positive local scene development over the past ten years or so, all named in those PCR issues. As one event would stumble and fall, another would take its place, then another. In January of 2004, at the lowest point in local film scene action in years, the Tampa Film Review was created and single-handedly reinvented the approach to local exhibition working with next to nothing. I was there at the beginning and I am blessed to have been credited as part of a very special team that helped reinvigorate the "Tampa film scene" by simply following-up with published film reviews. Now we have a world class film festival located right here (Gasparilla Film Fest) and many, many avenues of exhibition on a smaller scale that did not exist prior to TFR.
To Paul & Pete Guzzo: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. You did it. We did it. Now, it's up to the next "generation" to keep it going. To those who follow, know that we will always be close by, watching in awe and wonder at your creations.
---Nolan B. Canova
They're Talking About Us POSTED BY NOLAN B. CANOVA, JANUARY 6, 2009
While surfing the 'net the other day, the boys of PCR found a small cache of other websites who've mentioned us in their pages, but more intriguingly, discussed us on their message boards. These appear to be legit sites, not flamers or haters. They respect the source material, it's not all positive feedback, there's some criticism, but nothing untoward. I am thrilled at this development.
This may not come as a surprise to some of you, but for some reason, it does me. Before now, all I knew for absolute sure was that ED Tucker and Will Moriaty were our link-monsters to other websites. And I also knew some of our excellent search-engine results were due to being linked all over the place, especially ED Tucker-wise (Creature Feature and Disney material), Will Moriaty (Florida history/nostalgia/airliners), Mike Smith (movies, movies everywhere), and, if I may, yours truly, mostly for indie film stuff (reviews and the like).
I know others enjoy searching for themselves on the internet, but I very rarely bother to do so. That said, Terence and John unearthed a few gems I'd like to share:
(To be clear, the bullet point links in bold are the websites in question. The links inside the descriptions reference the original articles being commented on.)
Ever Wonder The Real Reason For Losing 20K.
LaughingPlace.com references and comments on ED Tucker's exposé on the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Disney ride. Next to The Lost Interview of Dr. Paul Bearer, among Ed's most popular features ever.
Comments On This [Nuclear Prevention] Article?
The Final Phase Forum started a thread entirely and solely to discuss George Roth's 2006 article on the Prevention of Accidental Nuclear War and includes references to my personal feedback on our Message Board(!). George has been alerted, but has lost his internet access. We're trying to figure a way for him to respond.
Dead Actor Kills In The Dark Knight.
Radar Online, a pop culture and movie website, lists among its quoted critics our own Mike Smith for his review of The Dark Knight. What makes it more complimentary is he's listed up there with The Village Voice, The New York Post, The Washington Post, and USA Today! Congrats, Mike.
Ray Dennis Steckler Interview Commentary
RiffTrax Round Table started this thread entirely and solely to discuss ED Tucker's exclusive interview with Ray Dennis Steckler, one of our earliest ground-breakers. From the text, I gather this is an offshoot of an earlier forum dedicated to Mystery Science Theater 3000, but that's just me speculating. ED's turned out to be quite the lightning rod for controversy, haha.
The Zombie Movie Database list among its numbers Terence Nuzum's 28-minute A Pound of Flesh. Produced at Tampa's Public Access in 1998, funnily, it's Terence's least-favorite of all his films, but the best-selling (yes, it's on DVD). If memory serves, the movie critic who gave it the glowing review featured bought this from Terence personally.
On author Steve Niles website is a link to Terence's review of his book "Savage Membrane". Apparently, Steve's updated his website and taken off the older review links (Ter's was from 2002), but this page came up in a search anyway.
I'm sure there are plenty of others, some we've spotlighted before, many are yet undiscovered. Just glad to know we're making a little difference in our corner of the universe, and on occasion, stirring some debate.
Root Canal POSTED BY NOLAN B. CANOVA, JANUARY 6, 2009
I'm currently recovering from my first-ever root canal procedure, which was performed Monday. While I was pleasantly surprised to discover a less harrowing and much less painful experience awaited me than I had been led to believe in the distant past (where it could take, literally, all day), it was still, you know, a job. But, a brief job (about an hour!), and, man, am I glad to be free from abcess pain! Naturally, X-Rays turned up a second site that is on the verge of root canal readiness.
Before you write me, yes, I brush regularly, but I've never been much of a floss man. I am, however, grateful for modern progress: after I left the Endodontist (a new dental career subdivision, I think, never heard of one or been to one before this year), I felt like I had been in a Star Trek episode what with all the computers and hi-tech equipment surrounding me.
I know your next question, and, yes, the dental insurance I have through 7-Eleven is what made all this possible.
Please consider making a donation to help support Crazed Fanboy! Click on the "donate" link below and give whatever you can. I sincerely thank you for any and all consideration.---Nolan
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