Sneak peek of PFM and Iron Ora's new video

Miami production company Hungry Ants Productions is producing a video for the local hip-hop duo PFM & Iron Ora. The song is called "Space" and the video will be a parody of the great cult TV show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Here's a 10 second sneak peek of the rappers fighting a giant mosquito on a faraway planet.



PFM and Iron Ora just released their new album "Pomegranate Sunset," available as a digital download on Bandcamp.

Joseph-Gordon Levitt Wants to Work with YOU!

Fans of indie films know Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) from films like (500) Days of Summer or Hesher. Others may recognize from from huge blockbuster hits like Inception or the upcoming Dark Knight Rises.* What you may not know is that he is also the owner of hitRECord.org, what he calls an "open-collaborative production company."

So what does that mean exactly? HitRECord is a for-profit production company that invites anyone to join and collaborate with other artists. It's a relatively simple and yet revolutionary business model. Filmmakers, artists, writers, editors, photographers and many different creative types work together on "collaborations." After signing up with hitRECord, you can upload your work (all types of which are called "records"), download others' work, combine it, remix it, re-edit it, add to it, etc. When your group has a finished product, JGL uses his industry cred to try and get it sold. If it does sell, the profits are split 50/50, with the company getting 50 percent and the rest is split between everyone who contributed to the project. JGL claims that in 2010, he sent out checks totaling $49,849.70.

hitRecord.org also puts on live events at theaters and universities around the country, as well as festivals like Sundance, SXSW, and the British Film Institute London Film Festival. These events showcase the work of the online collaborators, and attendees are encouraged to film the event itself to turn it into a record that they can then collaborate on online.


Geektyrant.com filmed a bit of the live event at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival

In 2011, hitRECord.org released Recollection Volume 1, which contains a DVD of their films, a CD of songs, as well as a book. They also released The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories.

JGL, or RegularJOE as he's known on the site, wants to work with you. Signing up is free and it's a great way to work with creative people from all over the world. You can be inspired or inspire others with your creativity and ingenuity. And if you're lucky, maybe you'll earn a little cash for whatever you create!


*Of course, I can't help but think of him as Tommy Solomon, Information Officer on 3rd Rock from the Sun, and as Cameron in one of the best high-school flicks of all time, 10 Things I Hate About You.

Rental of the Day: TAKE SHELTER

TITLE: Take Shelter

STARRING: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain

ONE LINE SYNOPSIS: A man suffers from apocalyptic visions that disrupt his life and threaten to tear apart his family.

WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: If I had to choose a single reason why you should see this film it would be Michael Shannon. He first blew my mind as John Givings, the troubled realtor's son in Revolutionary Road. In Take Shelter, he plays Curtis LaForche, a man falling victim to horrific nightmares and visions of an impending apocalyptic storm. Curtis's mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia around his age, so he struggles to understand whether he too is suffering from the disorder, or if his visions are a warning of things to come. The pace of the film is slow, but the terror and urgency builds as he begins to lose a grip on reality. Shannon plays Curtis with subtlety at first, but his tension rises to a climax that made me sit up in my seat, leaning in closer to catch every expression, both hands clamped over my mouth. His performance will undoubtedly move you.

His wife is played by Jessica Chastain, whose name you may recognize if you caught one of the six films she was in last year, including The Help, The Debt and The Tree of Life. She is slated to be in just as many films this year. It is as if Hollywood has suddenly taken notice of how effortless she makes her craft seem, and this role is no exception. As Curtis's visions alienate him from everyone around him, she struggles to somehow hold it all together.

Writer and Director Jeff Nichols has created what many are rightfully calling an instant classic. It is beautifully shot and brilliantly acted. Despite the two hour running time for a dramatic film, it will grip you until the very last frame. The film won the Cannes Film Festival's 50th Critics' Week Grand Prix in 2011 and was acquired for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics.

WHO WILL LIKE IT:
-Fans of psychological or character dramas
-Psych101 students
-People who enjoy interpreting and debating symbolism in film

WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT: Redbox, Netflix (DVD only), Blockbuster (in-store and online)

INDIE WATCH: God Bless America, the latest film by Bobcat Goldthwait

If you're my age, when you hear the name Bobcat Goldthwait, one thing immediately comes to mind:



For most of the late 80s you watched him play the delightfully bizarre and wacky Zed in Police Academy 2, 3 and 4. You may have even seen him in Shakes the Clown or as the talking stuffed bunny on the so-bad-it's-good TV series, Unhappily Ever After. It's hard to believe that the same Bobcat is now a writer and director, whose films Sleeping Dogs Lie and World's Greatest Dad were accepted into the Sundance Film Festival in recent years.

Late last year, his newest film, God Bless America premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. The black comedy is a political satire about a man fed up who is fed up with the country's obsession with the vapid and superficial. When he finds out he has a brain tumor, he snaps, befriending a deranged young girl with a shared bloodlust. Without having seen it, people are already intrigued and outraged. The film is being attacked in some blogs, lauded in others.

Last year, James Gunn's dark and demented regular-guy-turned-hero film Super whet my appetite for the twistedly funny. I look forward to seeing God Bless America and I will reserve any judgement of the film until then.

This is a Red Band Trailer, intended for mature audiences and is definitely not safe for work:


The film will be on Video on Demand April 6th before having a limited theatrical run starting May 11, 2012.

INDIE WATCH: SXSW Film Festival Headliners

Every year, Austin, Texas hosts the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival. Widely known as one of the largest music festivals in the United States, it also features a popular film festival showcasing feature-length narratives, documentaries, shorts and animated films. SXSW recently released the schedule, including a list of Headliners, films with big name talent meant to "bring star power to SXSW." So if red carpets and rubbing elbows with industry folks are what you're after, consider checking out one the following films.




Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are headlining with their adaptation of the popular late-80s TV show, 21 Jump Street. The "big names" here are Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, who also co-wrote the script Michael Bacall. Tatum and Hill play cops who are sent undercover into a high school in order to bust up a drug ring. I have to admit, I was skeptical about Channing's ability to be funny. Having seen him in films like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Dear John (don't judge me), I felt I'd seen more raw talent and emotional range in a plank of wood. However, after seeing him host SNL earlier this year I realized that perhaps he shouldn't be the action star or the chick flick love interest. He has a knack for comedy. His opening monologue alone changed my mind. Hill is a comedy pro, but it will be interesting to see how he tries his hand at writing. His short-lived animated series Allen Gregory fizzled out after only seven episodes. However, after several advanced screenings, the Twitterverse was buzzing with high praise for 21 Jump Street.



It's a tale as old as time. A group of friends, a cabin in the woods, inevitable horror ensues. But director Drew Goddard claims that if you think you know the story....think again. The films stars Thor's Chris Hemsworth and Glee's Jesse Williams. But it's writer/producer Joss Whedon who will undoubtedly bring in a crowd. Whedon, beloved creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly brings a certain amount of geek cred to anything he touches, and his loyal flock of followers will watch anything to which the Whedon name is attached. If I were attending SXSW, it would be at the top of my list.



The HBO series Girls is premiering it's pilot episode at SXSW. Lena Dunham, who created and stars in the series, won SXSW's 2009 Best Narrative Feature for her film Tiny Furniture. Girls is about three girls in their early twenties living in New York City. The "big name" attached to this project is comedy powerhouse Judd Apatow, who is co-executive producing the series. The show will air on HBO starting April 15, 2012.

A full list of film categories at SXSW can be found here.

The complete 2012 Film Schedule can be found here.

Rental of the Day: DRIVE

TITLE: Drive

STARRING: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston

ONE LINE SYNOPSIS: After helping his beautiful neighbor, a getaway driver finds himself in trouble with the mob.

WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT: Recently, critic Roger Ebert tweeted this about the film:

Despite not being nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, Drive has become a darling of the blogosphere. Most love it, some love to hate it, but we just can’t seem to stop talking about it.

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has crafted a thriller unlike anything you’ve seen in wide release in recent years. Ryan Gosling stars as a mysterious Hollywood stuntman and mechanic who moonlights as a getaway driver, offering petty criminals his impeccable skills behind the wheel. Things spiral out of control when he falls for his neighbor, played by Carey Mulligan, and agrees to help her convict husband settle a debt with a mob.

While it’s billed a thriller, the pacing of the film (with the exception of the frenetic opening sequence and a few other scenes) is often slow. Many scenes have sparse or no dialogue and are some are shot in slow-motion, but the pace is kept by a booming 80s style soundtrack and a talented cast whose expressions say more than any dialogue could.

But when the action does come, it is the kind of ultra-violence* that exhilarates and unsettles the audience. The elevator scene, and you’ll know exactly which one I’m referring to when you see it, is all at once the most romantic and disturbing bit of cinema I’ve encountered, possibly ever.

The supporting cast has some heavy-hitters in Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks, who is the only “Oscar snub” I agreed with this year**.

WHO WILL LIKE IT:
-Open-minded fans of art house films, character dramas or slower-paced crime thrillers like “Taxi Driver”
-Ryan Gosling fans who enjoy looking at him for extended periods of time regardless of anything else happening on-screen

WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT: Redbox, Netflix DVD-only, Blockbuster in-store/online/select kiosks

* FUN FACT: Anthony Burgess coined the term "ultraviolence" in his classic novel A Clockwork Orange.
** How the Academy believes Jonah Hill's performance in the dreadfully boring Moneyball comes close to Albert Brooks in this film defies everything I believed to be true and good about cinema.