An Evening With Bo Keister

Bo Keister stars in "The Deed" which debuts as the opener for The Blue Ridge Film Festival in Buchanan, Va. It plays at 11:00am Friday, Oct. 12th.

As I parked at the corner of Franklin and Main Street in Christiansburg, VA, I certainly didn’t feel like I was in Hollywood. From my vehicle I could see a Papa Johns, an antique store, and not much else. I had been told there was an acting studio in the area. Sure enough, a few feet down from the antique store a sign read “Actor’s Anonymous”.  I made my way to the second floor where another sign pointed me to a door. I knocked and entered cautiously as if it were a restroom whose occupancy status I was unsure of. I was greeted by a friendly voice saying “C’mon in”. The door opened wider to reveal a familiar face. There he was. The man I had seen in films and online; Bo Keister in the flesh.

Everyone knows that actors are shorter than they appear on screen. They are tiny, baby faced people who always wear a tie when not in costume for their job. Keister doesn’t adhere to those guidelines. I can’t tell you how big he is, but I’m 6’2 and had to look up to meet his eyes. He certainly isn’t lanky either.  Wearing jeans and T-shirt with a backwards baseball cap, it was apparent he wasn’t hiding his Dublin, VA roots.

The Weather Outside: Exclusive Q&A with director Jason Freeman

"The Weather Outside" mastermind Jason Freeman

 I recently had the chance to review a very advanced screener of Jason Freeman's "The Weather Outside" I had reviewed his brother Todd's film "Cell Count" previously. It was Todd who sent me the screener and volunteered his brother for this Q&A. A huge thanks to The Brothers Freeman for their contributions.

"The Weather Outside" is a neo-noir supernatural Christmas story in the vein of "It's A Wonderful Life" but with a little less optimism. As Jason says here, it is NOT a remake. It's an original and slightly haunting piece of fiction. Maybe not as frightful as the title implies, but it will keep you thinking. Read my full review for more.

(photos courtesy Levy Moroshan Photography)

Lamb Chop-Ups - A Contest, An Obsession, A Victory

 Play Lamb-Chop Ups every Monday at The LAMB.

Click HERE to see the puzzles from Round 1.

Round 2 started today.

Lamb Chop-Ups is a contest on the Large Association of Movie Blogs aka The LAMB. It's the brainchild of BubbaWheat who runs the excellent superhero-themed movie blog "Flights Tights and Movie Nights". He also contributed a review to my Quirky Documentary Series for "Confessions of a Superhero".

The game starts with a message. That message usually has a hidden meaning that can be decoded for bonus points. For instance, a recent puzzle was "A History Report" and the bonus movie was "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure". The message is composed from letters that have been cropped out of movie posters. The next step in the game is to identify which poster each one came from. Usually there is a theme. With the aforementioned puzzle all the posters were from time-travel movies.

The Weather Outside (2012)

Directed by Jason Freeman
Starring Michael J. Prosser and Erin McGarry

Runtime 89min. - Not Yet Rated

3.5 Stars (out of 4)

"The Weather Outside" has its world premiere on Oct. 19th at the Eugene International Film Festival.

For more dates and times "Like" the official Facebook page and keep checking the Official Website.

Dir. Jason Freeman did a Q&A with me about the film which you can find at this link.

The prologue of "The Weather Outside" sees a man named Max (Prosser) stumble out of a bar yelling "I don't care". Following max is a stern looking man with a fedora who looks like he stepped out of a classic film noir. The man tells max that he has one year. One year for what? It's left unsaid. My brain is primed to form answers based on previous film experiences. In this instance my brain told me the shady character was a minion of Satan who had given Max a year of something precious in exchange for his immortal soul. That was the first of many instances where I came to a conclusion only to have it dismantled.

Children of the Stars: Exclusive Q&A with director Bill Perrine

Bill Perrine on the clock

My review of "Children of the Stars".

Watch the movie online via Amazon Instant.

Buy the DVD from the "Children of the Stars website".

See it on the big screen at the Blue Ridge Film Fest.
Watch the trailer for "Children of the Stars".

I'm honored to feature this Q&A with the writer and producer of "Children of The Stars", Bill Perrine. I found Bill online after I learned there would be an exclusive screening of his film in Buchanan, VA which isn't far from my home. He was nice enough to send me a DVD and answer some questions. The context he provides here may have altered my review had I read it beforehand. I love his answer about including skeptics in the documentary even though I myself am a hardline skeptic. I also didn't detect the resemblance to "Gates of Heaven", but now that he's mentioned it, it seems obvious. Really, all of Errol Morris' documentaries have share the same unobtrusive quality as opposed to a Werner Herzog documentary that features his voice and thoughts in every scene.

Enough from me, let's hear from the man himself.

Children of the Stars (2012)

 Directed by Bill Perrine

Starring Archangel Uriel

Runtime 78min. - Not Rated

3.5 Stars (out of 4)

"Children of the Stars" has its world premiere tonight (9/22) at the Salt Lake City Film Fest.

For my local readers, the film plays in Buchanan, VA at the Blue Ridge Film Festival on October 12th at 2:40pm.

For more festival updates or to order the DVD visit the official website.
Available to watch instantly on Amazon. 

Part of my Quirky Documentary series. 

(The director of this film was nice enough to participate in some Q&A with me which you can find here.)

 

I had never heard of Unarius until I came across "Children of the Stars". I'm not quite sure how to describe Unarius. It's a cult. It's a religion. It's a group of filmmakers. It's a school. In my opinion, it's a collection of highly suggestible individuals who celebrate their shared delusions. Then again, that's my opinion of most major religions as well. I think that might be the message of the film, if there is one. Who are we to say these people are crazy when most of the world's mainstream religions have equally absurd beliefs when viewed with no bias?

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

 Directed by Lorene Scafaria

Starring Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley

Runtime 101min. - Rated R

3.5 Stars (out of 4)

The DVD is available in October but can be pre-ordered now at Amazon.com.

For someone as morose as myself, finding humor in the portrayal of an impending apocalypse is next to impossible. If I were to laugh at the fictional simultaneous death of 7 billion people, it would do so during this film. Actually, I did summon a chuckle or two when the story sufficiently distracted me from its own context. The beginning and ending, however, left a lot of room for me to drift off into that dark corner of my brain that only daily medication can keep at bay. That isn't necessarily a negative aspect of the film. To keep me nihilistically ruminating on life's big questions is a sure sign that I was intellectually engaged. I was certainly never bored.

Arbitrage (2012)

 Written/Directed by Nicholas Jarecki

Starring Richard Gere, Tim Roth, Susan Sarandon and Brit Marling

Runtime 100min. - Rated R

3.5 Stars (out of 4)

"Arbitrage" is now in theaters and on VOD including Amazon Instant and Vudu.

Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. The love of money is the root of all evil. Robert Miller (Gere) is a man who knows and loves money more than any person should. He calls himself an oracle and tells the media his powers allowed him to predict the 2008 financial crisis and prepare accordingly. Miller runs his hugely successful business in conjunction with his son and daughter making him a true white-collar family man. Richard Gere plays this character with an armored confidence and unshakeable faith in his own superiority.

LGBT Film Recommendations

This is a copy of the page at (http://www.dustyonmovies.com/p/lgbt-film-recommendations.html). Reposted here for those subscribing to my feed.

I have become aware of the fact I don't review enough LGBT films. Hopefully this page will help rectify that mistake. I have seen many LGBT related films, these are some that I would recommend in no particular order. If you haven't heard of some of these it's because distributors and producers tend to shy away from the material. It's a shame to think that any of these films are controversial (except "The Gift"). Hopefully society will eventually stop distinguishing between "LGBT films" and simply "films". For now, here are some films you should check out. - Dusty

The Charles E. Cullen Story (2005)

Directed by Janet Lubas

Starring Charles E. Cullen and friends

Not Rated (For adults)

3.5 Stars (out of 4)

This film along with the rest of Cullen's work is available in the Cullen Studios Amazon store. You can find movie trailers, clips from his show, songs and tons of other info at the Cullen Studios official site.

I'm going to make a comparison here that may shock some people. Charles E. Cullen is like Leonardo Da Vinci. Cullen might not be on the cutting edge of scientific invention, but like Da Vinci he has managed to channel his mind into many different areas. This guy has released multiple full-length music albums, many feature-length films, and has been making TV shows for more seasons than M.A.S.H. He's also written a book and been a newspaper columnist. It's not covered in the film, but he's been painting for a while and doing numerous other art projects. Even if I mention his love of raising chickens, it all still seems pretty normal when written out. He sounds like your basic eccentric local artisan. You have to actually see the man in action to understand what makes his material so memorable.

The Black Belle (2010)

 Directed by Brian McGuire

Starring Natasha Alam and Terry Wayne

Runtime 84min. - Not Rated (Obscene)

3 Stars (out of 4)

The Black Belle is now available over on the IndieRights YouTube channel for $2.99.

Duval and Wayne out of character

"The Black Belle" opens with Franklin (Wayne) sitting on a park bench. He's approached by James Duval (playing himself) who sits next to him. Apparently Duval has been getting some sexual healing from Franklin's girlfriend Belle (Alam). Franklin restrains from violence but makes many threats. He explains that Belle is more than a girlfriend. He says that they have a spiritual bond due to a rich history which he divulges in full detail. Duval is extremely apologetic. "Absolutely never would I have intercourse with a woman who's involved with another man." pleads Duval. I wasn't sure it was a comedy until a particular line was spoken by Duval on the topic of his indiscretion: "My personal feelings about shit like this?" - long pause - "Is that it's fucked up."

Shuffle (2011)

 Directed/Written by Kurt Kuenne

Starring T.J. Thyne and Paula Rhodes

Runtime 82min. - Rated PG-13

2 Stars (out of 4)

"Shuffle" is an V.O.D release available on Google Play and VUDU.

Available on DVD through Amazon.

"Shuffle" promises an interesting concept. Also, it's shot in black and white. Sadly, those are the only two reasons I need to watch a film. Being widely available and inexpensive doesn't hurt either.

Lovell Milo (Thyne) is often told that his name sounds like it's out of order and that Milo Lovell sounds more natural. When we first meet him, the order of his name is a trivial concern. Every time he falls asleep, he wakes up at a different time, or perhaps I should say in a different time. One moment he might be 30 years old and the next he's a teen. Sometimes he's in elementary school and other times he's in his 90's. In addition to this bizarre condition, Lovell is also narcoleptic. That means he can rapidly fall in and out of sleep at random times. You could see how that would exacerbate an already awkward situation. Instead of waking up in a new place each day, the narcolepsy means he may experience several different decades within a few hours.

Where I Begin (2011)

Directed by Thomas L. Phillips

Starring Alex Walters, Candice Michele Barley and Bo Keister

Runtime 75min. - Not Rated

3 Stars (out of 4)

Screener provided by a cast member. "Where I Begin" is coming soon to DVD.

They say time heals all wounds. They also say life is short. If a wound is big enough, is there enough time for it to heal while we're still alive? That's the question at the center of "Where I Begin". It takes in a small unnamed town that has largely been forgotten by time. You know the type; one of those little towns that contains a factory to which every citizen is connected in some way. When the factory closes, the town dies. Most of the townsfolk have retreated to a trailer park just outside of town. The few that remain have definite ties to the plot. It may seem like a shortcut to keep the cast small and the costs down, but it makes sense when viewed in context. The story is all about people who can't let go of the past. They live in a ghost town where they are constantly reminded of events that unfolded there a decade ago.