Top Ten Films of the Decade

Posted by Elizabeth Hughes Belzil | Tuesday, January 12, 2010 @ 5:52am

Deciding on only ten favorite films over the course of ten years is an arduous task. While my selection criteria relied on a variety of factors, in the end, my ultimate guide was personal preference. Undoubtedly, many will feel certain films were unfairly left out, but there truly is no objective way to make a list of this nature. Please feel free to comment and share your opinions regarding the best films of the decade.

Read More • 3 comments

Interview: Actor/comedian Kevin Pollak on his career and his new web talk show

Posted by Paul Little | Monday, November 9, 2009 @ 8:47pm

Kevin Pollak has carved himself a very successful career as a top-notch character actor in comedies and dramas. Nearly every filmgoer on earth has seen one of his dozens of films -- The Usual Suspects, A Few Good Men, The Whole Nine Yards, Hostage, Grumpy Old Men, Casino, L.A. Story, and Willow are just a few of the great (and occassionally not-so-great) films Mr. Pollak has lent his skills to. Personally, I know him more as a stand-up comic who happens to be one of the best impressionists around (his Christopher Walken is the benchmark by which all other Walken impressions are measured).

Read More • 1 comment

VIFF Review: 65_RedRoses

Posted by Mark McLeod | Friday, October 9, 2009 @ 3:56am

Imagine knowing that unless a miracle happens, you will be dead within two years. In 2007, that was the situation facing then 23-year-old Eva Markvoort. Born with Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that affects the lungs, causing them to fill with mucous and making it harder for those inflicted to breathe, Eva was in rough shape. Due to the condition itself, patients are isolated from others. Unable to turn to people in the flesh, Eva turned to the online community for support. She found it in two other women in various stages of the disease in 65_RedRoses, a documentary that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, playing at this year's Vancouver International Film Festival.

Read More • 0 comments

Folk Fest Interview: Loudon Wainwright III talks about music, his famous offspring, and his role in the blockbuster kids' movie G-Force

Posted by Paul Little | Wednesday, August 12, 2009 @ 7:07am

It's not every day you get to meet and speak with a bona fide legend. Sure, I've met and talked to a lot of amazingly talented comedians, actors, and comedians over the last 2 years I've been doing interviews for ShowbizMonkeys.com. But on the final day of the 2009 Winnipeg Folk Festival, I got the chance to sit down with legendary folk icon Loudon Wainwright III (though he would humbly disagree with being called a legend). Wainwright III has played to audiences large and small worldwide (including several appearances over the years at the Winnipeg Folk Fest), bringing his singing, guitar playing, and occasional comedy to folkies since way back when he was hailed as "the next Bob Dylan" in the late 60s and early 70s.

Read More • 1 comment

Interview: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen special effects guru Scott Farrar of ILM

Posted by Mark McLeod | Monday, June 22, 2009 @ 6:39pm

Special effects are an important part of the movie business. From May to September each year, movie studios big and small try to blow audiences with their biggest budget releases of the year, and the majority of these are centered on the special effects. Already this summer, we've had an intergalactic space battle, a futuristic apocalypse with robots, and a race against the clock to solve a murder conspiracy. Still to come are a couple of big budget war movies and a film that aims to be more than meets the eye. However, when it comes to special effects, one company more than any other has been on the cutting edge, pushing the limits of what can be accomplished for decades. That company is Industrial Light and Magic based out of San Franscisco, which has contributed to so many of the biggest special effects films of all time, from Jurassic Park to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to Star Wars to The Terminator. In advance of one of the summer's big blockbusters, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I had the chance to talk with Scott Farrar, one of the men responsible for these ground-breaking effects. We talked about how he got into the business, what he looks for in a special effects movie, and what audiences can expect from TF2.

Read More • 0 comments

ShowbizMonkeys.com at the 81st Annual Academy Awards

Posted by Paul Little | Tuesday, May 12, 2009 @ 7:55am

Back in February, ShowbizMonkeys.com was once again invited to hit up the red carpet at the Academy Awards. But just like last year, we weren't given access for the official pre-show arrivals. That didn't stop us from seeing a few stars and getting to ask a few questions, though. We sent Aaron Merke, a former Genius Monkey Award winner, down to Los Angeles to get the Oscar scoop for us. Due to a rift in the space-time continuum, we didn't receive his report until now -- but hopefully you'll find it was worth the wait.

Be sure to watch right until the end, where Aaron managed to catch a hugely popular but controversial Hollywood superstar!

Read More • 0 comments

Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser closing out the third annual Los Angeles United Film Festival

Posted by Paul Little | Thursday, April 30, 2009 @ 1:28am

The Los Angeles United Film Festival -- part of a series of United film festivals that also takes place in San Francisco, Tulsa, Chicago, New York, and London -- calls itself "a film festival for everyone, a place where art and community converge." After founding the Tulsa United Film Festival seven years ago, filmmaker Jason Connell began the Los Angeles festival in 2007, and this year promises to bring a diverse collection of feature-length narratives and documentaries (many of them Los Angeles premieres) to audiences.

Opening up the festival at the historic Vista Theatre on April 30th is Last Cup: Road to the World Series of Beer Pong, which covers the fascinating and fast-growing underground sport of beer pong. The Shark is Still Working, a captivating documentary about one of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters of all time, Jaws, just added a third screening on Sunday, May 3rd after the first two screenings sold out. Other films screening at the festival are The Perfect Cappuccino, Super High Me, Secrets to Love, Abraham Obama, Rock-a-fire Explosion, and Faded Glory.

Read More • 0 comments

Interview: Vik Sahay, star of NBC's Chuck and the Genie-nominated film Amal (VIDEO)

Posted by Paul Little | Thursday, April 2, 2009 @ 9:27pm

If you're not watching Chuck on NBC every Monday, you should rectify that. We know, we know -- there's lots of great television on at 8 on Mondays. House is on. The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother are on. Well you should get a PVR or time shifting or something, because Chuck is one of the funniest shows on television, and with all the spy action thrown in, it's also a bit of a thrill ride. Sure, most of the action is predictable, but that's kind of the point of an espionage comedy -- you know what's coming, but you revel in either the intense action or the hilarious consequences of the screw-ups.

One of the main sources of laughs on the show is Buy More employee Lester, played by Canadian actor Vik Sahay. He may be one of the secondary characters on the show, but with most of the "spy" scenes between Chuck, Sarah, and Casey featuring either high-octane action or intense emotions, the goings-on in the Burbank Buy More are where the show finds its laughs. Lester's intense need for control and getting what he wants is only topped by his crazy fear and feelings on inadequacy when he does actually get that control (see when he was named Assistant Manager or when he recently had to sing publicly) -- and either way, it's hilarious.

Read More • 0 comments

Interview: Trevor Moore of Miss March and The Whitest Kids U Know

Posted by Mark McLeod | Monday, March 30, 2009 @ 4:29am

Trevor Moore started the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U Know back in 2000 after trasferring to New York's School of Visual Arts. Eventually joining up with fellow SVA students Sam Brown and Zach Cregger, and non-students Darren Trumeter and Timmy Williams, The Whitest Kids began performing at various comedy venues throughout NYC, eventually landing an eponymous sketch show on the music channel Fuse. Garnering cult-like status among young comedy fans, the show moved to the Independent Film Channel for its second season in 2008. It was during this time that Moore and Creggar began working on their first feature-length film, Miss March, which they co-wrote, directed, and starred in.

Just prior to the film's release from Fox Searchlight Pictures on March 13th, Moore took the time to talk to us about the film, as well as the Whitest Kids TV show.

Read More • 0 comments

Pontypool changes everything, including director Bruce McDonald

Posted by Glenn Kay | Monday, March 23, 2009 @ 4:15am

Bruce McDonald’s career may have now spanned decades, but the nearly fifty year old film director’s youthful appearance, friendliness and enthusiasm don’t suggest any tiredness of the frustrations associated with independent filmmaking.

It’s been twenty years since his first theatrical feature, Roadkill (1989), flickered across cinema screens in Canada. Since that time, audiences worldwide have been treated to a slew of fascinating and original Canadian films, including Highway 61 (1991), Dance Me Outside (1995) the cult punk rocker hit Hard Core Logo (1996).

Read More • 0 comments

View More Posts >