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Exactly The Wright Stuff at the New Beverly

Posted by Jeremy Asher on 17, January 2011 with No Comments

The Wright Stuff is an amazing geek fest film series that is programmed by Edgar Wright at the New Beverly Cinemas in L.A. This year I was able to make it and thank god for that!!!

Prepare yourself Los Angeles for the return of filmmaker Edgar Wright as he descends on The New Beverly with his epic screening series The Wright Stuff II. Mark your calendars because Mr. Wright will be delivering a double dose of features, special guests, and more surprises starting January 14th and continuing through January 31st, 2011.

This was one of the top three best filmgoing experiences in my life. What else make that list? The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Tuesday, extended edition films at the Arclight Hollywood on Return Of The King’s opening day. And, whether you like the film or not, going to see Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace was absolutely amazingly stunning an experience. — Well, you can imagine then, that seeing this on Saturday, I did not have any of those expectations or remote thoughts that this could meet those epic moments.

The Tickets

We bought our tickets to the Edgar Wright Trilogy night two weeks ago in a made flurry of internet buying. We sat there refreshing our web browsers every three seconds from 11:59a until the green light lit at 12 noon. Tickets sold out within 10 secs. We couldn’t get ONE ticket to the Edgar Wright Trilogy – we were trying to get 13. Over the course of the next hour, Ehron and I refreshed madingly until finally someones shopping cart expired and huzaah! we were able to secure 5 tickets to Saturday nights show! We also got 6 tickets for Friday night for a few friends. This was like a geek version of Wall Street bull pens.

We also secured tickets for several of the other billings over The Wright Stuff II’s screenings.

The Food

On Saturday night, Ehron, Michele, Gary and I met in line awaiting entry to the cinema. Ehron and I had prepared themed food for the evening. We had Zombie Shepard’s Pie Monkey Brains - this used elements from Shaun of the Dead (Pub Food, Zombies and Clyde the Monkey) and Hot Fuzz (Pub Food and Stuffed Monkey). Vegan Apple Raspberry Field Greens – Hot Fuzz (they speak of apple carts and raspberries) and Scott Pilgrim (super Vegan powers). Vegan Cupcakes (super Vegan powers!). Yum! See the pic below.

Shaun Of The Dead

Now @SimonPegg had earlier tweeted that he would not be at the screening – but the bullshit detector was correct and he did suprise arrive. Besides laughing, cheering and loving the film with a room full of geeks – we also got a great LONG Q&A with Edgar, Simon and Lucy Davis (who played Dianne in Shaun and is DAWN in BBC The Office!!!). This was incredible. And see that poster at the top of the blog? I bought that awesome piece of art and got all three of them to sign it! It is already framed and about to hanging in my apartment.

Hot Fuzz

This movie keeps getting better with each subsequent viewing. And watching it with the crowd was so much fun. And we did get a whole new Q&A with Edgar and Simon afterwards. Oh! And a funny text message from Nick Frost as well – that I sadly can not recall.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

We didn’t even START SP until 1am… OY! We were all exhausted. But we had treat special guests again from… Brandon Routh, Anna Kendrick, Michael Bacall and about 6 other supporting cast members! The Q&A was a little weak on this one, but I think that was because we were all SOOOO tired. But the movie was just as spectacular and still is my favorite movie of 2010. By the way… Brandon Routh IS Superman. Holy crap. Not only is a GINORMOUS – but coming from a straight guy I can say with all honesty, he is frakkin’ attractive. Cheesy Rice!

Additional Celebs

Introducing Edgar at the beginning of the night was Director Joe Dante! I have no idea why, but what the hell!?! He is awesome. Director of Gremlins, Innerspace and SOOOO much more. Sitting in the audience we also spotted known geek Seth Green. And, of course, theatre owner Quentin Tarantino was in the back row. I did get to say hello to him and that was pretty amazing.

Brazil

On Sunday night, Michele, Ehron and I came back for more, despite a complete lack of sleep… Tonight it was just as sold out but not nearly as crazy. Seeing the International Cut of Brazil on the big screen was awe inspiring. Terry Gilliam is such a genius. Tonight, Edgar was back – this time with Richard Kelly, director of Donnie Darko, to discuss Brazil. This was a lot of factoids from them. A little bit of gushing about their first watches.

And a great email that Terry Gilliam sent to Edgar stating something to the effect of, “Thanks all for coming. I was considering recently of remaking Brazil – but unfortunately Bush and Cheney had gotten to it first.”

Delicatessen

Jeneut’s first film and it was amazing. Seeing it on the big screen just made me smile ear to ear.

OH TRAILERS!!

Quentin Tarantino had hand selected amazing mostly vintage trailers to go along with all of the movies. This is half of the amazing evenings. SUUUUUUCH great stuff.

Shaun of the Dead

Carrie – classic and great trailer
Modern Problems – crazy Chevy Chase joint from the 80′s. never heard of it but it looks ridiculously awful and I already added it to my Netflix queue!
Groundhog’s Day - one of the greatest comedies of all time
Man with Two Brains – Steve Martin at his all time zaniest!
Paul – A brand new trailer for Simon & Nicks new flick for 2011. It actually looks funny in this trailer!

Hot Fuzz

48 Hours – Perfect to get you in the buddy cop mood, despite Eddie not being a cop.
Electra Glide in Blue – I MUST SEE THIS MOVIE. “A 5 foot 4 inch cop in a 6 foot 2 inch world – starring Robert Blake”. WHAT THE FRAK?! AWESOME
Fuzz – I can’t even describe this amazing film. Burt Reynolds, Jack West, Tom Skerritt, Raquel Welch, Yul Brynner. Funk ass cops. MUST SEE!

Newman’s Law – George Peppard, Billy Dee Williams and Rutger Hauer in a 70′s cop joint. MUST SEE!
Nighthawks – another funk cop joint. Wow.
Supercops – Real life cops called Batman and Robin. Directed by the director of Batman: The Movie… from 1967… wow. MUST SEE!
Kill Point – SO MUCH COP FUNK!

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Zabrieske Point - I can’t tell you what I was seeing… Naked people in the desert. huh???
A Clockwork Orange – Does it get better than this?
Candy – HOLY MACKREL!!! MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!! Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, Ringo Starr… and – brain bleeding…

Shogun Assassin – SO clearly direct inspiration for Kill Bill
After Hours – VERY early Scorsece joint. Weird choice, but great.
Fight Club – Wow. I LOVE this movie. But this trailer didn’t tell me the rules…
The Blues Brothers – SMILES!

Brazil

Blade Runner – Original trailer. SO good. MUST BUY ON BLU-RAY NOW!!! PS – This trailer uses “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” by The Ink Spots… great tune!
Time Bandits – The film that allowed Brazil to escape!
Zardoz – Sean Connery in a crazy utopian mind fuck. I have seen this on Netflix and it is a MUST SEE.

Slaughterhouse 5 - I still haven’t seen this and I must see it ASAP!

Delicatessen

The Cars That Eat People – Say WHAT?!?! This movie looks amazing!!!

The Cook, His Wife, The Thief and her Lover - Stars Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren and others… I heard this is wonderful and I must see it.
Hudsucker Proxy – early Coens and I must re-watch
Being John Malkovich – just re-watched this a few weeks ago. I love you Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman.

The Wright Stuff TWO

This is the second “Wright Stuff”, after a great success with it in 2009.

New Beverly Supported By Quentin Tarantino

Cinema nearly lost one of these last gems. The New Beverly in Los Angeles has been in danger for some time. With the rise of DVDs, the theater was suffering a possible closure and new life as a Super Cuts until Quentin Tarantino, a longtime fan and patron of the theater, stepped in. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he volunteered to pay $5,000 a month to keep the theater open. He’s been doing so steadily until 2007, when owner and family patriarch Sherman Togan passed away. The theater was in danger of closing again, as the landlord had a buyer bidding for the space as the Togan family tried to stall for time and rescue. Luckily, Tarantino stepped up again, and this time purchased The New Beverly outright. “I always considered the New Beverly my charity — an investment I never wanted back,” he toldTHR. “I already had a good relationship with the family and the theater, so it was a natural step.” – By Elisabeth Rappe from Cinematical

Special Guests

Special Guests, besides Edgar Wright, are coming to most of the screenings. Already we’ve had Simon Pegg, Lucy Davis, Brandon Routh, Richard Kelly and more!

It's Frakkin' Cheap!

Tickets are $7 each for the whole night!!

I still have tickets for the American Graffiti/Animal House night and the Wanderers/Warriors night… MUST SEE MORE!!!

WAHOO!!

“The New Beverly Cinema presents The Wright Fest II – A two week film series arranged by Edgar Wright at Quentin Tarantino’s New Bev Cinemas! It’s been brilliant so far! I’m going to more!!”

From The Wright Stuff II, posted by Jeremy Asher on 1/17/2011 (8 items)