Author: Sara Embrey

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Willie Nelson and Jimmy Kimmel serenade Austin, Texas

 

This week, Jimmy Kimmel Live filmed in Austin, Texas, and the host teamed up with Willie Nelson for a musical number. As a tribute to the city, the duo sang “To Austin, I Can’t Love You More,” to close out the show. Some memorable lyrics include, “to all the Lone Star Beers I drank” and how “traffic didn’t flow” but they couldn’t “love Austin more.”

Willie Nelson and Kimmel highlight the unique people of Austin, Texas from the “bearded men” to the “freaks on 6th street” that enjoy a variety of unusual foods, including breakfast tacos to deep fried deviled eggs. Jimmy Kimmel mostly wanted to convey his gratitude for all the kindness he received while working in the beautiful city of Austin.

Many talk show hosts including Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have also hosted their shows in Austin to inform the public of certain political and social issues that are ongoing. While most of the state of Texas has a higher population of Republican voters, Austin is very Democratic in viewpoint.

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Malcolm McDowell lands a role in Rob Zombie horror movie project, 31

 

Malcolm McDowell, the star of Red Roses And Petrol, has announced that he will be working once again with mega rock star and feature horror film director, Rob Zombie
. The frighteningly epic slash fest has been titled, 31. McDowell has worked with Zombie in his remakes of the Halloween franchise, playing Dr. Sam Loomis. One amazing fact about this project is that it has completely been funded 100% by fans on his own website, via RZ-31.

Zombie’s idea behind the project is based around the fact that more people go missing on October 31st than any other day of the year. In the film, five unlucky candidates are kidnapped and taken to an ominous facility named "Murder World". Once taken captive, the prisoners have to fight for their lives against a murderous crew of psychotic killer clowns that call themselves "The Heads". McDowell will portray the role of Father Murder, owner of Murder World. Film production has began on this project, but there are no release dates as of yet.

Be sure to watch Malcolm McDowell in Red Roses And Petrol, a darkly-comedic drama film distributed by World Wide Motion Pictures Corporation. You can purchase it now on Vimeo and at indiemoviestore.com.

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Celebrate Female Directors this Women’s History Month

 

Happy Women’s history month! Female directors may be a rarity in Hollywood today, but women were a much larger part of the film industry at the beginning of the silent film era. Before film was seen as a lucrative commercial enterprise, filming was often done as an artistic hobby. One of the most influential directors of her time, often overlooked in history books, was Alice Guy-Blache, who wrote, directed, and produced more than 1,000 narrative films in France between 1896 and 1907, and in the United States from 1910 to 1922. She is sometimes credited as the woman who began the narrative story style everyone enjoys today.

During the 1900’s, female directors were pioneers in primitive color techniques, such as hand painting and stamping, and they helped in creating the first examples of sound in film by recording on wax cylinders.  By the early teens and the 1920’s men invaded the directing roles and women were pushed to working on writing screenplays. Additionally, at the end of WW1, society pushed women back into their domestic roles as the men returned home from war. Currently only 11 % of films have a female lead actress, and only four women have ever been nominated for Best Director by the Academy. Those women were Lina Wertmuller in 1977 for Seven Beauties, Jane Campion in 1994 for The Piano,  Sofia Coppola in 2004 for Lost in Translation, and Kathryn Bigelow, who was the only woman to win in this category for The Hurt Locker in 2010. In 2013, not a single female was nominated in the Directing, Cinematography, Film Editing, Writing, or Music categories, and across the 19 categories only 35 women were nominated in total, while 140 of their male counterparts were nominated.

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Celebrate International Happiness Day March 20

 

“Happiness is not something ready made.  It comes from your own actions” -Thomas Edison

Happiness.  One could define it as an emotion, and another could define it as a lifestyle or a certain thing that brings joy to oneself.  Whether it be your favorite song playing on the radio or a day at Disneyland, we have all felt happiness in our lives in one way or another.  Happiness is not only a genuinely amazing feeling, but it has its own day during the year.  The United Nations granted March 20th International Happiness Day.  The UN defines happiness as economic growth and equity, but others could perceive it as a day to feel great about something.  Being happy comes from within, and if a person allows him or herself to be happy, the world around them becomes a bit brighter.  According to statistics, waking up with a smile on your face will boost your mood by 30%.  According to a recent Harris Poll, happy people tend to be more active, feel more energized, and have a bigger social circle.

In the film Ways to Live Forever, two boys are diagnosed with cancer and yet they still seem to have a smile on their face and find something in life to be happy about.  The main character, played by Robbie Kay, sets out on an adventure to figure out how not to die - in other words, how he will leave his mark on the world.  His character makes his life count and make sure happiness was at the forefront.

Make your mark on the world by spreading happiness wherever you go. Fulfilling your dreams are soon to follow.

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Top 5 Irish-American Movies

 

It is March once again, and we are celebrating Irish-American films this month! The comedy drama Red Roses and Petrol, starring Malcolm McDowell, is packed full of Irish-American traditions and culture which the viewers can relate to, or identify with in their own families, while the upcoming The Secret Scripture, starring Eric Bana and Rooney Mara, will be bringing the thrilling novel to the big screen.

To further engulf ourselves in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, here is a hand-picked list of excellent Irish-American films that are timeless, captivating, and filled with the “luck of the Irish.”

Whether that means good or bad luck, it is for the audience to decide!

Be sure to watch "Red Roses and Petrol" this month on Vimeo, indiemoviestore.com and other streaming movie websites.

Top 5 Favorite Irish-American Movies of all Time


Gangs of New York ( 2002 ) - Irish immigrants in 1860’s New York City, led by Liam Neeson and Leonardo DiCaprio, clash with the "native" New Yorkers, led by Daniel Day-Lewis in his brilliant performance as Bill "The Butcher,” and spill blood all over the ghettoes of the Five Points district in Martin Scorsese's post-9/11 tribute to New York City.


The Commitments (1991) - A couple of unemployed Dubliners form an off-beat soul band in filmmaker Alan Parker's 1991 favorite. Winner of the BAFTA for Best Picture in the year it was released, it has also been voted Best Irish Film of All-Time by Jameson Whiskey in 2005. The Commitments well deserves a spot on this list.

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Ella Purnell Stars in Best Feature Film WILDLIKE

 

 

This year’s Richmond International Film Festival featured Ella Purnell’s new film Wildlike on the homepage and it was declared Best Feature Film of the festival. The film follows a troubled teen girl, Mackenzie (Ella Purnell), who was sent to live with her inappropriate uncle (Brian Geraghty) by her unstable mother. Rene Bartlett (Greenwood) is a hiker wanting nothing more than to be alone; however, an unlikely friendship bonds the girl and the hiker as they both explore Alaska’s beautiful terrain. While traveling together, their friendship helps them heal their past. The film is a multi award-winner, having also garnered six Best Narrative awards and two awards for Best Director.

Justin Lowe from The Hollywood Reporter stated, “By turns both tough and vulnerable, [Purnell] conveys Mackenzie’s inner turmoil and frequent desperation with both empathy and economy, skirting the ever-present pitfalls of over-emoting.” It’s no surprise that Purnell is a rising star in the movie business.

Ella Purnell has played minor roles in other major films and they have garnered several awards and nominations, including the recent Maleficent, where she played the evil queen from Sleeping Beauty as a teenager. The movie won Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film at the International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA). Maleficent was also nominated for Best Achievement in Costume Design at the Academy Awards and Best Feature Film at BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts). In Ways To Live Forever, distributed by World Wide Motion Pictures, a film about a young boy named Sam who is discovering and searching for information about his battle with leukemia. Kayleigh (Purnell), Sam’s love interest, helps him complete items on his bucket list off and find the answers he looks for. The film won Best Picture at the Toledo Film Festival and Audience Award at the Heartland Film Festival. If these awards and nominations continue for Purnell, it will undoubtedly help her film career and we’ll likely see her more on the big screen.