Ten Inch Screening in Los Angeles
My second entry since the first one in March, so here goes. I tend to ramble though, so feel free to skip through the setup that is the first few paragraphs.
The Setup
I've been looking forward to this movie since I missed a screening in Newport Beach (thank you, Astrocamp!). I was going to go with a friend of mine, but she couldn't get a sitter, so I went with my mom instead. I had been antsy all day, trying to decide when to start driving down to Hollywood. Didn't leave the house until 4 to pick up Mom in North Hollywood, and got there at 5. Got a call from Zanne from TWoP, who was leaving from Pasadena (she wanted to know how long the lines were), which was my cue to leave for the theater at around 5:30. The movie was set to start at 7:30, so 2 hours seemed like plenty of time to look for parking and find the theater. If there was a line around the block, I would have been pissed. Luckily, the directions from Yahoo Maps were surprisingly accurate, we found free parking on the street (which had tow-away from 6 am to 6 pm, and it was just turning 6:00) just adjacent to the theater.
There were probably 20 fans huddled in bunches under the eaves of the theater. Not much of a line at all. Saw three girls that looked awfully familiar, and I realized I saw them at the Pancake House meetup in Ft. Worth for A Few Good Men. Small world. Felt a little shy to approach them back then, so I was reticent again this time. Talked to Mom about family stuff instead. Took pictures of/with the TIH poster in front, and met a nice girl with a slowly wilting mohawk as well.
Around 7 pm, the line started to form, and I found Zanne and her friend in line, so I called her over to where my mom and I were. I don't know how I ended up talking to the three girls from earlier, but we started waxing nostalgic about the play in June. I still can't get over all the swearing Jensen got to do for his role as Kaffee. (Loved it!) (Random non sequitor: Saw Lou Diamond Phillips on "Spin City" today playing a friend of Mike's from the Navy who reveals he's gay. Got to see him wear a tan uniform and dress whites similar to the ones Jensen wore for "A Few Good Men." Funny. :)
The producer Mark came out around 7:15 to greet everyone, and we started filing in shortly thereafter. I had gotten a notice that we could only get in if we were invited and had RSVP'd, but everyone was let in without so much as a glance at a list. There were even empty seats in the theater (which might have held about 500, but my estimation skills suck).
I prefer to sit in the last row when I go to the movies, so my mom and I planted ourselves in the back while Zanne and Liza sat somewhere in the middle. There were a lot of fangirls in the audience, but a lot of people in suits too. I saw Clea DeVall talking to someone, and apparently Elisabeth Harnois and Danneel Harris were there too (I wasn't sure what they looked like, so I might have seen them, but Zanne said that they sat just a few rows ahead of her). Though it was set to start at 7:30, nothing really happened until 8ish, when the producer Mark came up and thanked a laundry list of people without whom the movie couldn't have been made. Then David the director came up, gave a great (funny) speech which also thanked everybody else involved in the movie, and many of whom were present in the audience (alas, no Jensen, but I didn't expect to see him anyway since Supernatural just started filming last week).
The Movie
Finally the movie started. To be honest, I just hoped it didn't suck. (Had similar anxiety at "A Few Good Men": *Please* don't suck, and it didn't. It was amazing, in fact.) The movie was a little slow at first. The characters seemed like every other character in movies like this: the smart but plain Jane (in this case, Jen), the beautiful nympho (Tish), and the main character (Piper). It had some laughs, but nothing to write home about. Priestly was funny as expected (from the many other reviews that have been floating around since spring).
However, the movie got better, and I found myself caring about all the characters. The funny moments got a lot funnier too. Clea DuVall was wonderful in her role, and I found myself getting misty-eyed at a couple of places because I was able to relate to her character. I expected that I would hate the Tish character, but Danneel Harris turned what could have been just a sexed-up bimbo into a pretty sympathetic character. Piper's storyline was interesting as well. Sean P. Flanery is a pretty good-looking dad, and I didn't hate the young actress who played Julia (and I usually have a pretty low tolerance for child actors).
Priestly was awesome, but what's not to love? The mohawk (let's see: there's the dual red that dovetailed into one, the red spiky one, two blue spiky rows, a green bushy one, a green spiky one, and there may have been a red/white/and blue one too, I think), the shirts ("Tip Me or DIE," "Cats: The Other White Meat," "Save a Tree, Eat a Beaver," "Crack Dealer for the CIA", "Surf Naked," "Orgasm Donor" (front)with "Ask for free samples" (back) - or something to that effect, "I am really a Lesbian" (or something to that effect), "You Can Read" and maybe a couple more that I can't think of now). Black pants that stopped at his shins, and can't leave out the blue and green kilt. And piercings, eyeliner, and tattoos, oh my! So *not* Dean Winchester, or Alec, or Jason Teague.
Despite the motley crew of workers (including the surfer-dude owner Trucker), it is believable that they not only get along, but look out for and care for each other. The movie really picks up when the girls take a road trip to Morro Bay (I've actually been there recently, and it was great to recognize all the different landmarks). There are some nice moments in the movie that I didn't expect, which made it much better to me. It's a sweet movie that should be seen by a greater audience. I've seen my share of bad movies (and even really bad movies), and Ten Inch Hero is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Hell, I'd go see it again.
The After-Party
After the movie, everyone who came to the screening was invited to a "private party" at the Bungalow Club, which was just a couple of blocks from the Regent Showcase Theater. Prior to the movie, Zanne, Liza, my mom and I had talked about getting hotdogs at Pink's, which was just down the street from the theater. Out of sheer curiosity, we thought we'd check out the Bungalow Club first because, honestly, how often do we get an invite to an After-Party?
We get to this restaurant/bar/lounge, and the maitre'd points us to the patio area. I saw Clea DuVall had walked in just ahead of me, so I told her how I enjoyed the movie and her character in particular. She was gracious and said she was glad I enjoyed the film and was able to finally see it. Then Zanne and I had to find my mom and her friend, who decided they would just stay outside (?!) and wait for us there. There were a lot of people there, though it was just a fraction of the people who came to the screening. Zanne got a couple of drinks at the no-host bar while I found the restroom. When I got back down to the patio, the appetizers started making their way around the room. It was probably 10:30 by now, and since we missed dinner, I was pretty hungry. A guy ahead of me got a bruschetta and pointed me to the dude with the food. I started to follow the guy, but the crowd started to get bigger, and I was starting to feel silly for stalking a guy just to get a couple of eggrolls, so I headed back to my group. The guy with the bruschetta asked me about the appetizers, and I told him I couldn't get any, so he took me by the hand (said I needed to be more assertive) and escorted me to the table where the waiter was with two trays of appetizers. Don't know why he decided to just leave the contents of both trays there, but I was able to sample two or three different ones. The eggrolls were delicious, and there was some lobster thingy that was good, but the lettuce leaf that it was on was a tad bitter, so I didn't finish eating that one (and awkwardly held it in my hand for the rest of the evening). The guy who hooked me up with the food (whose name I later learned was Michael) stayed there, eating, and we had a nice conversation about the movie, his work, my work, the director (they're friends), and he was surprised that I wasn't connected to the movie (as in a friend-of-someone who worked on the film) and that I had heard about it online. He seemed genuinely amazed at how pervasive the internet was, and felt I needed to tell the director that the internet would be a great way to spread the word about the movie! :)
This kind of stuff NEVER happens to me, so it was pretty cool. Anyhoo, he introduced me to David Mackay, who spoke to me for a couple of minutes before his dad walked in the room. He excused himself to talk to his dad (who, according to Michael, was a really famous playwright...or something - it was a little hard to hear in there). Then there was an awkward two or three minutes where Michael was talking to his friend Nancy (Blair, who is apparently, also an actress) while I'm standing there nodding like I know what they're talking about. I caught a glimpse of my mom, so I got ready to excuse myself but introduced her to Michael and Ms. Blair (I called her "Nancy" - oops!) first. Michael talked to Mom and asked for her review. Mom wasn't too keen on the nudity, but told him the rest was pretty good. After a few more pleasantries, we excused ourselves, got over to Zanne and Liza, and headed out.
We saw the director at the exit, so everyone took turns congratulating him on a job well done. I promised my friends at TWoP that I would ask about wider distribution for the film, and he stated that representatives from Dimensions, Miramax/Weinstein bros., and a couple others were at the screenings, and that they had meetings already scheduled for the following day. I asked him about DVD distribution, and he said he would prefer TIH gets a theatrical run. We wished him luck. (I mean, "On the Line" made it to theaters, and that movie was just crap. I mentioned "Employee of the Month," but to be fair, I haven't actually seen that movie, so I can't swear on its suckitude.)
Pink's
Though it was after 11, we still headed to Pink's for some hotdogs. The wait was over 45 minutes long, but the place is a landmark, and the prices are pretty good. We got a 10-inch (hee!) dog with onion rings and bbq sauce on the side (aka the "Lord of the Rings" dog - double hee!) The fries looked really good too, and the guy in front of me let me have one (didn't mean to take the longest one though), and that was all I needed. All four of us enjoyed our dogs, drinks, Jensen and Motivator pics (yay, iPod!). We took a few pictures in front of the wall of celebrity autographs and headed back to the car. We dropped off Zanne and Liza at their car, which was another three or four blocks away, and headed home. Not too much traffic, though Mom thought it was too much traffic for 1:30 in the morning.
All in all, not a bad day. Saw a good movie, made a few friends, met some interesting people. No Jensen or Jared sighting, but there's still Comic Con, which is now less than two days away. Can't wait! (In the meantime, I'll try to learn how to post pictures on this thing.)
The Setup
I've been looking forward to this movie since I missed a screening in Newport Beach (thank you, Astrocamp!). I was going to go with a friend of mine, but she couldn't get a sitter, so I went with my mom instead. I had been antsy all day, trying to decide when to start driving down to Hollywood. Didn't leave the house until 4 to pick up Mom in North Hollywood, and got there at 5. Got a call from Zanne from TWoP, who was leaving from Pasadena (she wanted to know how long the lines were), which was my cue to leave for the theater at around 5:30. The movie was set to start at 7:30, so 2 hours seemed like plenty of time to look for parking and find the theater. If there was a line around the block, I would have been pissed. Luckily, the directions from Yahoo Maps were surprisingly accurate, we found free parking on the street (which had tow-away from 6 am to 6 pm, and it was just turning 6:00) just adjacent to the theater.
There were probably 20 fans huddled in bunches under the eaves of the theater. Not much of a line at all. Saw three girls that looked awfully familiar, and I realized I saw them at the Pancake House meetup in Ft. Worth for A Few Good Men. Small world. Felt a little shy to approach them back then, so I was reticent again this time. Talked to Mom about family stuff instead. Took pictures of/with the TIH poster in front, and met a nice girl with a slowly wilting mohawk as well.
Around 7 pm, the line started to form, and I found Zanne and her friend in line, so I called her over to where my mom and I were. I don't know how I ended up talking to the three girls from earlier, but we started waxing nostalgic about the play in June. I still can't get over all the swearing Jensen got to do for his role as Kaffee. (Loved it!) (Random non sequitor: Saw Lou Diamond Phillips on "Spin City" today playing a friend of Mike's from the Navy who reveals he's gay. Got to see him wear a tan uniform and dress whites similar to the ones Jensen wore for "A Few Good Men." Funny. :)
The producer Mark came out around 7:15 to greet everyone, and we started filing in shortly thereafter. I had gotten a notice that we could only get in if we were invited and had RSVP'd, but everyone was let in without so much as a glance at a list. There were even empty seats in the theater (which might have held about 500, but my estimation skills suck).
I prefer to sit in the last row when I go to the movies, so my mom and I planted ourselves in the back while Zanne and Liza sat somewhere in the middle. There were a lot of fangirls in the audience, but a lot of people in suits too. I saw Clea DeVall talking to someone, and apparently Elisabeth Harnois and Danneel Harris were there too (I wasn't sure what they looked like, so I might have seen them, but Zanne said that they sat just a few rows ahead of her). Though it was set to start at 7:30, nothing really happened until 8ish, when the producer Mark came up and thanked a laundry list of people without whom the movie couldn't have been made. Then David the director came up, gave a great (funny) speech which also thanked everybody else involved in the movie, and many of whom were present in the audience (alas, no Jensen, but I didn't expect to see him anyway since Supernatural just started filming last week).
The Movie
Finally the movie started. To be honest, I just hoped it didn't suck. (Had similar anxiety at "A Few Good Men": *Please* don't suck, and it didn't. It was amazing, in fact.) The movie was a little slow at first. The characters seemed like every other character in movies like this: the smart but plain Jane (in this case, Jen), the beautiful nympho (Tish), and the main character (Piper). It had some laughs, but nothing to write home about. Priestly was funny as expected (from the many other reviews that have been floating around since spring).
However, the movie got better, and I found myself caring about all the characters. The funny moments got a lot funnier too. Clea DuVall was wonderful in her role, and I found myself getting misty-eyed at a couple of places because I was able to relate to her character. I expected that I would hate the Tish character, but Danneel Harris turned what could have been just a sexed-up bimbo into a pretty sympathetic character. Piper's storyline was interesting as well. Sean P. Flanery is a pretty good-looking dad, and I didn't hate the young actress who played Julia (and I usually have a pretty low tolerance for child actors).
Priestly was awesome, but what's not to love? The mohawk (let's see: there's the dual red that dovetailed into one, the red spiky one, two blue spiky rows, a green bushy one, a green spiky one, and there may have been a red/white/and blue one too, I think), the shirts ("Tip Me or DIE," "Cats: The Other White Meat," "Save a Tree, Eat a Beaver," "Crack Dealer for the CIA", "Surf Naked," "Orgasm Donor" (front)with "Ask for free samples" (back) - or something to that effect, "I am really a Lesbian" (or something to that effect), "You Can Read" and maybe a couple more that I can't think of now). Black pants that stopped at his shins, and can't leave out the blue and green kilt. And piercings, eyeliner, and tattoos, oh my! So *not* Dean Winchester, or Alec, or Jason Teague.
Despite the motley crew of workers (including the surfer-dude owner Trucker), it is believable that they not only get along, but look out for and care for each other. The movie really picks up when the girls take a road trip to Morro Bay (I've actually been there recently, and it was great to recognize all the different landmarks). There are some nice moments in the movie that I didn't expect, which made it much better to me. It's a sweet movie that should be seen by a greater audience. I've seen my share of bad movies (and even really bad movies), and Ten Inch Hero is pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Hell, I'd go see it again.
The After-Party
After the movie, everyone who came to the screening was invited to a "private party" at the Bungalow Club, which was just a couple of blocks from the Regent Showcase Theater. Prior to the movie, Zanne, Liza, my mom and I had talked about getting hotdogs at Pink's, which was just down the street from the theater. Out of sheer curiosity, we thought we'd check out the Bungalow Club first because, honestly, how often do we get an invite to an After-Party?
We get to this restaurant/bar/lounge, and the maitre'd points us to the patio area. I saw Clea DuVall had walked in just ahead of me, so I told her how I enjoyed the movie and her character in particular. She was gracious and said she was glad I enjoyed the film and was able to finally see it. Then Zanne and I had to find my mom and her friend, who decided they would just stay outside (?!) and wait for us there. There were a lot of people there, though it was just a fraction of the people who came to the screening. Zanne got a couple of drinks at the no-host bar while I found the restroom. When I got back down to the patio, the appetizers started making their way around the room. It was probably 10:30 by now, and since we missed dinner, I was pretty hungry. A guy ahead of me got a bruschetta and pointed me to the dude with the food. I started to follow the guy, but the crowd started to get bigger, and I was starting to feel silly for stalking a guy just to get a couple of eggrolls, so I headed back to my group. The guy with the bruschetta asked me about the appetizers, and I told him I couldn't get any, so he took me by the hand (said I needed to be more assertive) and escorted me to the table where the waiter was with two trays of appetizers. Don't know why he decided to just leave the contents of both trays there, but I was able to sample two or three different ones. The eggrolls were delicious, and there was some lobster thingy that was good, but the lettuce leaf that it was on was a tad bitter, so I didn't finish eating that one (and awkwardly held it in my hand for the rest of the evening). The guy who hooked me up with the food (whose name I later learned was Michael) stayed there, eating, and we had a nice conversation about the movie, his work, my work, the director (they're friends), and he was surprised that I wasn't connected to the movie (as in a friend-of-someone who worked on the film) and that I had heard about it online. He seemed genuinely amazed at how pervasive the internet was, and felt I needed to tell the director that the internet would be a great way to spread the word about the movie! :)
This kind of stuff NEVER happens to me, so it was pretty cool. Anyhoo, he introduced me to David Mackay, who spoke to me for a couple of minutes before his dad walked in the room. He excused himself to talk to his dad (who, according to Michael, was a really famous playwright...or something - it was a little hard to hear in there). Then there was an awkward two or three minutes where Michael was talking to his friend Nancy (Blair, who is apparently, also an actress) while I'm standing there nodding like I know what they're talking about. I caught a glimpse of my mom, so I got ready to excuse myself but introduced her to Michael and Ms. Blair (I called her "Nancy" - oops!) first. Michael talked to Mom and asked for her review. Mom wasn't too keen on the nudity, but told him the rest was pretty good. After a few more pleasantries, we excused ourselves, got over to Zanne and Liza, and headed out.
We saw the director at the exit, so everyone took turns congratulating him on a job well done. I promised my friends at TWoP that I would ask about wider distribution for the film, and he stated that representatives from Dimensions, Miramax/Weinstein bros., and a couple others were at the screenings, and that they had meetings already scheduled for the following day. I asked him about DVD distribution, and he said he would prefer TIH gets a theatrical run. We wished him luck. (I mean, "On the Line" made it to theaters, and that movie was just crap. I mentioned "Employee of the Month," but to be fair, I haven't actually seen that movie, so I can't swear on its suckitude.)
Pink's
Though it was after 11, we still headed to Pink's for some hotdogs. The wait was over 45 minutes long, but the place is a landmark, and the prices are pretty good. We got a 10-inch (hee!) dog with onion rings and bbq sauce on the side (aka the "Lord of the Rings" dog - double hee!) The fries looked really good too, and the guy in front of me let me have one (didn't mean to take the longest one though), and that was all I needed. All four of us enjoyed our dogs, drinks, Jensen and Motivator pics (yay, iPod!). We took a few pictures in front of the wall of celebrity autographs and headed back to the car. We dropped off Zanne and Liza at their car, which was another three or four blocks away, and headed home. Not too much traffic, though Mom thought it was too much traffic for 1:30 in the morning.
All in all, not a bad day. Saw a good movie, made a few friends, met some interesting people. No Jensen or Jared sighting, but there's still Comic Con, which is now less than two days away. Can't wait! (In the meantime, I'll try to learn how to post pictures on this thing.)