Search Results for: movies

Crazy 4 Cult in Los Angeles, July 8-30

I know I mentioned it in my last post, but I thought folks might be interested in knowing a little more about Crazy 4 Cult, an annual art show exploring the intersection of fandom and fine art.

Held at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, the show features pieces ranging from paintings to hand-sewn plushies. What all the art has in common, though, is a deep love for the movies that have made a mark on our cultural conscious, from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to The Shining.

This summer, the show celebrates its fifth year, as well as the publication of Crazy 4 Cult: Cult Movie Art. A 176-page book featuring some of the best art from the show’s previous years, it also boasts an introduction by filmmaker/pop culture connoisseur Kevin Smith.

Crazy 4 Cult 5 opens with a reception on Friday, July 8, 7-11pm, and runs through July 30. The galley also hosts a book signing for Crazy 4 Cult: Cult Movie Art on July 10 at 12pm, with many of the featured artists in attendance.

If anyone gets a chance to check out this awesome show, drop us a line and let us know what wowed you!

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And with that, dear readers, I am officially off for summer vacation! My husband and I are traveling to Southeast Asia for the first time ever, and I’ll be gone for most of the month. So, everyone have a great July (and a happy 4th to all U.S. Geek Crafters), and I’ll see you soon!

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June 30

Flickr Pool: Royal Tenenbaums Pillows

Grab your goggles, because Geek Crafts is taking a dip in the pool…the Flickr Pool! Each week we’ll be showcasing some of the awesome geek creations made by our Flickr group members.

There are a lot of great crafts floating around the pool right now, and it was tough picking just one to kick off the series. As both an embroiderer and a film nerd, though, I was instantly drawn to Ellen Schinderman’s stitched submission.

This trio of pillows features the lovable losers from Wes Anderson’s film The Royal Tenenbaums, complete with quotes from the narrator. Drop by Ellen’s blog, Schindermania, to check out the backs of the pillows, too, which have fabric correlating to each Tenenbaum child’s personality (you can already see the fuzz from the fur coat backing for Margo’s).

If you want to see the pillows in person, they’ll be part of the fifth annual “Crazy 4 Cult” gallery show in Los Angeles, July 8-30. Congratulations, Ellen!

Category: Craft, Geek, Movies | 2 Comments

June 20

Movie Review: X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class (2011)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, and January Jones
132 minutes
rated PG-13

Marvel again brings us the latest adventure in the battle between good and evil with the recent release of X-Men: First Class, which takes place before the previous movies in the X-Men series. This flick chronicles the relationship between young Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, and how they both come to terms with being mutants. Long before they became Professor X and Magneto, respectively, Charles and Erik were friends, meeting in their 20s when they worked together with CIA agent Moira McTaggart.

Because explaining the basic storyline in words doesn’t work as well as viewing it, I will direct you to the IMDB synopsis of the storyline, should you care to read it. Beware of spoilers, though!

I enjoyed the background this movie lent to the X-Men movie series. As a prequel, I thought it worked well. It was interesting seeing the younger, less seasoned versions of the characters, who were still working through the challenges of living as mutants in a “normal” world. The movie did a good job of depicting each character’s unique perspective of what it means to be a mutant, and whether that’s a positive or negative thing. The actors who played Charles, Erik, and Raven/Mystique each seemed to have a good handle on their character’s motivation and perspective, which made it interesting. January Jones, however, didn’t lend much to her portrayal of Emma Frost. She was almost a non-character in the storyline. She mostly just stood there, trying to look brooding and evil.

The special effects were great, of course, though not quite as visually stunning as the scenes in Asgard in Thor. Mystique’s morphing into different personnas was flawless, and I liked the way her scales flicked on and off her skin as she shifted. (I read another review, however, that likened her scales to “blue bathtub anti-skid stickers“, so your verdict may vary.)

X-Men: First Class Beast poster My only disappointment was relatively minor, and not any real issue – my whole family agreed that the way they depicted Beast was just off. When Hank McCoy finally mutated into the blue hairy Beast, he was almost more of a blue werewolf version of a 98-pound weakling, rather than this huge hulking…well, Beast. He needed to be taller and broader, which could have been easily achieved. We couldn’t figure out why they decided to go with a leaner Beast. But, eh, no real biggie. Not a major distraction from the overall entertainment. The cameo by Hugh Jackman with a fabulous Wolverine moment more than made up for it.

And you? If you’ve been to see X-Men: First Class, feel free to chime in with your comments below.

Links of Interest:

Category: Comics, Geek, Movies | 4 Comments

June 13

Nightmare Before Christmas Print

One of the best movies of my generation is Nightmare Before Christmas.

Artist SakuraCherrie manages to capture all the beauty and essence of the film with this ink drawing.

Buy this print

Visit SakuraCherrie on Etsy

See more of her work on deviantart

More Nightmare Before Christmas on GeekCrafts!

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May 23

Name the Geek Contest

Greetings Geeks! By now you’ve noticed our awesome new look and today we present our official Geek Crafts logo! (If you’re reading this in a blog reader, click through, just this once.)

Also today we launch our contest: Name the Geek! This geek needs a name and we’re leaving it up to you, our lovely readers, to decide.

Here’s how it will work:

Starting today and up until midnight ET on Sunday, May 29th, leave a comment with your name suggestion. (If more than one person suggests the same name, the first person to suggest it will be entered, so be sure to read through the comments first and come up with something different.)
On Monday, May 30th, we’ll post a list of all the names for you to vote on. You can vote until Sunday, June 5th.
On Monday, June 6th, we’ll announce the winning name. And to thank the reader who suggested the winning name, we have an epic prize package!

[Edit: Midnight Eastern time – I’ve got to go to bed at some point, kids :) ]

How epic? Let me show you!

From Geekopolis, a hand-knit Jayne Cobb hat from Joss Whedon’s Firefly:

From Hand / Eye / Mind / Mouth, a short film on DVD called Everything I Needed to Know About Zombies I Learned From the Movies:

From Interverse Comics, two signed comic books:

From Novelty Kitten, a set of three framed prints titled “Mustachio Eats a Cookie”:

From Teenormous, a $25 Threadless gift certificate where you could get any t-shirt you like, such as this geeky choice:

From Susan Beal and World of Geekcraft, a copy of World of Geekcraft plus a “Pow! Zap!” magnet kit and buttons to start your own Coraline box:

From Yarn Today, Knit Tomorrow, a hand-knit Harry Potter Gryffindor scarf:

From Zono Art, home of artist and graphic designer Rik Livingston, a hand-painted Frog Prince greeting card:

Everything will come packed in a Geek Crafts tote bag!

Thank our sponsors by clicking through to their sites:

Category: Geek | 179 Comments

May 15

Movie Review: Thor

Reviewer and Thor movie poster — Me & Thor

Thor (2011)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, and Tom Hiddleston
115 minutes
rated PG-13

I’ll go ahead and admit at the outset here that I’ve never read a Thor comic book, or even a full comic book of any hero variety. A blasphemy of sorts, perhaps, but I’m ok with that. But I still appreciate a good comic book hero movie, and the latest installment in the Marvel movie franchise did not disappoint.

The movie Thor features a godly character of Viking descent – based on a mixture of Norse mythology and Marvel comic book lore. In the movie, the Mighty Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, is the son of the “all-father” Odin, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, and older brother to Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston. Just as Thor is about to be crowned King of the mythical realm of Asgard, the Frost Giants break in to Asgard and attempt to steal a powerful relic. Ever the warrior, Thor counsels his father to make swift and violent retribution against the Frost Giants, which would no doubt lead to all-out war. Recognizing his son’s arrogance and pride, Odin calls him a “vain, greedy, cruel boy”, and banishes Thor to Earth without his god-like powers, most significantly without the ability to wield his iconic war hammer Mjollnir. Once on Earth, Thor must learn the humility and wisdom required to be a great ruler, in order to earn back his godly powers and access to Asgard. Along the way he apparently also “learns” the ability to fall in love – with astro-scientist Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman.

This movie was complete eye-candy – I almost wished the Asgard scenes had run in slo-mo so I could take in all the details. The special effects were flawless – from the epic battle scenes in Jötunheim (the frost giant world), to traveling via the Bifrost Bridge portal, to Loki’s cloning powers, to the Earthly battle scene with the Destroyer – all just awesome. This is a film that is definitely worth seeing in the theater to get the full effect of the big screen – even worth splurging the extra few bucks to see it in IMAX 3D (which we did – Happy Mother’s Day to me!)

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