In a world without deep booming voiceovers, in a time when one man’s sonorous intonations will no longer keep us from completely losing it after watching 30 trailers in a row at the theater, what will we do?

Don LaFontaine died of of complications relating to pneumothorax, reports the Post Chronicle. A quick YouTube primer to the man and his work is below:

Jazz in the Diamond District, a homegrown film about one woman’s attempt to achieve national stardom by (whoops!) joining a go-go band, will screen at New York City’s Urbanworld Film Festival next month. The movie premiered at Filmfest DC in April; back then, our reviewer Tricia Olszewski wrote that the film “has good intentions, atypical D.C. scenery, and little else.” Can a film costarring Wood Harris be all bad? Anyway, here’s a making-of video for the film:

Finally an ad campaign that both the brightest young things and the geezers can get behind: A YouTube viral commercial that evokes global warming and is modeled after the “duck and cover” reels from our parents’ youth. And, oh yeah, it also promotes Ocean City, Md., using its mayor as the straight man.

The commercial, which aired in the D.C. and Baltimore markets in June (notably during the NBA playoffs) has since filled about 66,000 computer screens. It was produced by Alexandria-based MRB Films. Senior Producer there Tracy Sacks says that before filming, OC Mayor Rick Meehan watched an STD-warning spot from the ’40s or ’50s (”Men: Be careful when you go out”…) so that he could strike the right tone. It also aired on radio, where it took on a War of the Worlds feel. Seriously, though. The oceans are still evaporating. Labor Day approaches. Let’s all go and leave this mess.

The most promising release in the recent flood of comics-turned-movies may be on hold, thanks to a lawsuit. The Watchmen, which I haven’t finished yet (I got distracted by Wanted, which is awesome, unlike the movie. Angelina Jolie total blew our chances to watch an awesome (and black) female superhero named Fox) is basically supposed to be the best comic book ever. Serious anti-hero action. The threat comes from a pissing match between Fox and Warner Bros., not the comic’s author, Alan Moore. Lame!

World-famous Czech director and rabbit aficionado Milos Forman comes to the AFI Silver tomorrow night to speak after the screening of his 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Forman isn’t quite the force he was back in the ’60s, when he helped spearhead the Czech New Wave with films like The Firemen’s Ball and The Lives of a Blonde; he’s directed only two movies in the past ten years, one of ‘em has the misfortune of being Man on the Moon, and his last acting gig was in Edward Norton’s worst movie. But none of that takes a thing away from Cuckoo’s Nest, Nicholson’s last great role before a five-year rut that included infamous clunkers like The Missouri Breaks and Goin’ South. More info at the AFI Silver’s Web site.

…I thought the movie theater’s manager was toast. Toast, I tell ya. He was swarmed—swarmed!—by middle-aged ladies who had to wait in line to enter a documentary screening because they had pre-purchased their tickets online. Meanwhile, people who just walked right up to the ticket booth were able to then walk right in. It was scandalous! They wanted answers! The manager told them that the Internet tickets guaranteed them a seat, but the staff still had to scan in their printouts. The scanning part was the reason for the line.

“That’s not the way it’s supposed to work!”

“What’s the point of pre-purchasing!”

“This isn’t what happens with Fandango!”

“I want to talk to a manager!”

The best part? The ladies made all this ruckus entering a documentary about the Chilean judge who, after investigating the murder and disappearance of thousands and the god-awful torture of thousands more, indicted Augusto Pinochet. The General and the Judge was a moving, courageous film that proves living in or near Chevy Chase, D.C., is not all that bad.

The judge (Juan Guzman) was there, as was the filmmaker, Elizabeth Farnsworth, former senior correspondent and fill-in anchor at the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The post-film panel was moderated by Lehrer. Margaret Warner was there, too. In other words: Way to klass up the joint ladies!

Truly, though, see the film. It airs as part of the P.O.V. series on PBS. WETA will show it Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 10 p.m.

Heads up to new Washington residents and summer interns: you got here just in time for DC’s coolest and free-est event: five consecutive Mondays of outdoor movies on the National Mall. Everyone who’s anyone will be there.

Tonight’s Screen on the Green flick: Dr. No, a Bond movie that involves fire-breathing dragons and a woman named Honey Ryder, who is always referred to as “the beautiful Honey Ryder.”

A few SOTG tips from a veteran:

1) The movie starts at sundown but you want to get there a good two hours early to stake out a good spot big enough for all your homies and lay out a good picnic spread. (Note: the screen is set up at 4th Street NW, facing the monument, so plan your spot accordingly.)

2) Your back will hurt if you don’t have a chair but everyone behind you will hate you if you do have a chair. I recommend the Crazy Creek padded seats that don’t have legs, although after two hours in one you’ll probably lose all circulation in your legs.

3) Oh and about that picnic: nobody cares if you bring alcohol.

Enjoy! And even if you miss tonight, I expect to see each and every one of you out there for Superman on August 11!

“Summer Camp Film Series”
Special-effects legend Ray Harryhausen crafts campy creepy-crawlies and marauding saucer men with an imagination unmatched in modern cinema. From the famous skeleton swordfight of Jason and the Argonauts to the expressive apes, centaurs, snake ladies, and Gorgons of Clash of the Titans and the Sinbad series, Harryhausen’s stop-motion masterworks quiver with an otherworldly weirdness that leaves CGI feeling DOA. Making masterful use of miniature models, multiple images, and in-camera optical trickery, Harryhausen’s work is less animation than—as he likes to call it—“kinetic sculpture.” It might be fitting, then, that the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has chosen three B-grade, atomic-age Harryhausen classics for this year’s “Summer Camp” series, which kicked off last week with 1955’s It Came From Beneath the Sea, the age-old tale of an irradiated octopus that puts the squeeze on San Francisco. In addition to marking the beginning of the film fest, It Came From Beneath the Sea also happens to be the first film in Harryhausen’s longtime collaboration with producer Charles H. Schneer. In fact, all of the “Summer Camp” films are Schneerhausen joints: The pair partnered on the cult favorite Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 12), as well as 20 Million Miles to Earth, about an alien hatchling that bulks up and sacks Rome (at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 29). Film scholar David Wilt introduces each movie in the series, which runs through Sunday, June 29, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Ring Auditorium, 7th St. & Independence Ave. SW. Free. (202) 633-1000. —Rin Kelly

If you’re trying to make a statement about moral extremes in modern America, filling a novel with terrorists and pole dancers isn’t a bad way to stay on message. A number of 9/11 highjackers visited strip clubs during their brief tenure in the United States, a detail that Andre Dubus III uses as inspiration for his third novel, The Garden of Last Days. Set in Florida just before the attacks, the novel roots inside the head of numerous characters, mainly Bassam, a jihadist who can’t resist the Champagne room, and April, a stripper whose toddler goes missing during her shift. The brief chapters and Airport-style shifts in perspective make the novel feel like a breezy beach read, but the characterizations are strong throughout—excepting the illiterate bouncer who keeps a book-on-tape of The Waste Land in his glove box, Dubus’ cast is convincingly drawn and rich with emotional detail. Dubus III discusses and signs copies of his work at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 364-1919. —Mark Athitakis

I caught Indiana Jones and Close Encounters With the Crystal Skull (or whatever it’s called) on Sunday night at the Uptown. A lot of other people had that idea too. Here’s what I learned:

* No matter how old you are, you never stop being a nerd.

* When the Lucas Film logo came on the screen, I thought everyone in the audience would start clapping. I heard people clapped in Baltimore. We didn’t clap. Baltimore must have forgotten about the last three Star Wars movies. We have not.

* Because it has been many, many years since the last Indiana Jones flick, his famous fedora hat must now be first shot as if it’s Grace Kelly’s face.

* People will clap after Indy(!) and his obvious-yet-still-secret son romp through Yale on motorcycle nearly plowing into nerds(!), jocks(!), and preppies(!).

* People will not clap when an alien is revealed. People will also not clap after seeing its flying saucer.

* I wonder why all aliens in movies always look the same: human-like features with just bigger heads and giant eyes.

* The crystal skull looks like something you would buy at Sharper Image or Spencer’s.

* At some points, I thought the movie should have come with a controller so you could play along as Indy(!) and Co. battled their way through the jungle and water courses.

* Indy(!) and Co. had to survive not one but three waterfalls. Cool. But watching them plummet to the misty bottom not once but three times still reminded me of Land of the Lost.

* If people are going to clap at the end of a movie, I’m gonna clap too.

Alas, Dan Snyder’s movie moguling won’t lead him to abandon DC and the Redskins anytime soon. The release of “Valkyrie,” the Hitler movie Snyder executive produced with Tom Cruise, has been delayed for a second time, and won’t be screened commercially until next year.

If ever, that is.

Apparently those who’ve seen the rough cuts have been left wanting to jump off buildings, not on couches. Could Snyder be knock, knock, knockin’ on “Heaven’s Gate?”

Filmfest DC has added a couple of screenings to its schedule “due to popular demand”—Ballerina, a documentary on five Russian dancers, and AmericanEast, which our Jule Banville praised in our guide to the fest, writing, “who needs subtle when you’ve got a message–and a cast talented enough to get it across?” Both films screen Saturday at the Avalon at 2:30 p.m. —Mark Athitakis

Filmfest D.C. kicked off yesterday with a schedule full of foreign films. How fancy. But if you’re a true patriot, you might want to wait for The Second Annual GI Film Festival, to be held May 14th—18th at the Carnegie Institution for Science.

The festival will offer screenings of such military-themed fare as The Marine and Gods and Generals along with panel discussions and VIP after-parties with filmmakers, military types, and celebrities. The festival will also include a WWE Stars Autograph Session.

But oh, the celebrities!

The festival has slated appearances from such A-listers as Gary Sinise, Robert Duvall and—are you listening ladies?—James Franco.

Sinise and Duvall, yeah, fine. But oh, Franco, your mild appeal knows no bounds!

Read the rest of this entry »

Jule Banville is back in the anchor chair for yet another episode of her highly controversial podcast. New name…same great vibe!

Mark Athitakis is this week’s Talking Hed, with a roundup of the 22nd annual FilmFest D.C.. Tune in for a sneak peek into the upcoming issue!

Ostensible Post columnist Tony Kornheiser–hey, he had something in the paper last month!–disclosed last night on Pardon the Interruption that he went to elementary school with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris. Sadly, he noted that Morris probably doesn’t know who Tony Kornheiser is. Happily, he noted that Morris was a swirlie recipient. New York magazine’s Vulture blog is on the case. –Mark Athitakis

Yesterday Boing Boing posted some exciting news for local geezers: Heavy Metal Parking Lot “recently became available on DVD”! That’s great, I thought, but I could have sworn I’d interviewed Jeff Krulik once for Spin about it coming out on DVD. I e-mailed Krulik to congratulate him and ask if he and co-director John Heyn would want to talk about their good fortune. Here’s what he wrote me:

Sure Andrew. I guess. You can write about how the DVD has been out for over two years, available through Atomic Books, Filmbaby.com and even Amazon for that long, after being neglected by Rykodisc (who had been courting us and working with us for five years). I guess someone at Boing Boing just found out about its availability. We released it for the 20th anniversary in 2006. On May 31 it’ll be 22 years old. Happy Birthday to us. Maybe for the 25th anniversary we’ll put it out on Bluray or whatever the next format of the moment is. I dunno.

I think the important thing here isn’t the release date—it’s that this documentary keeps finding new fans. Let’s face it, laughing at high people in zebra-striped unitards is natural. Here’s a great piece Dan Gilgoff wrote in 2001 about HMPL’s outsize cultural reach. The doc’s Web site has lots more press. Krulik and Heyn may never get rich off their most famous creation, but 22 years on, this little doc about heshers in their native environment (Mark Jenkins once wrote, “The genius—if that’s the word—of Heavy Metal Parking Lot is that it’s a nature film,” and it’s hard to argue with that) still keeps bubbling up. “Graham–like gram of dope”? Awesome.

UPDATE, 12:18 p.m.: Athitakis blogged about this yesterday! Poo.