Escape Artists: April/May 2014

This is still a thing! Let’s look at all the escapist shit planet Earth has been up to!

Past Escapism

Lackey from The Nightmare Gallery and Forced Viewing went to a pretty awesome looking sci-fi spectacular where he was felt up by Doug Jones! Well, don’t quote me on that, just go read for yourself.

Lindsay from French Toast Sunday does a fun feature called "Coffee Break". A little behind the scenes photos from her blogging life, stuff she's into, what have you. Her latest post talks about some cool trips that she and some FTS pals took. Check it out!

French Toast Sunday

Last month, Jeff Bridges himself dropped in at a recent Lebowski Fest. I've yet to go to one, but it's going to happen someday. Read all about the event over at The Guardian right here.

Upcoming Escapism

Sun-Ray Cinema right here in Jacksonville has converted some of their space into some sort of Twin Peaks-themed craziness. It will reportedly factor into their upcoming marathon of the show. I've never seen any of it (I've seen Fire Walk With Me, however), so I'm pretty stoked.

Post by Sun-Ray Cinema.

Speaking of Sun-Ray, earlier today they shared this intriguing tidbit in an e-mail newsletter:

"P.S. Now that we are kinda getting our sea legs we are beginning work on THE SLEEPING GIANT. It will be a three day (maybe four) music & film festival hopefully launching in early 2015."

I'm in!

Movies accompanied by an orchestra isn’t a new thing. But my interest is piqued when Star Trek gets in on the action! Nerdist reported last month that Abrams’ two flicks are getting the live orchestra treatment in a few select cities. Read more here.

Very excited to see @m_giacchino at the Albert Hall, this Thursday. The score for Star Trek ‘09 live? Yes please!!!
— Simon Pegg (@simonpegg) May 27, 2014

The fine folks over at The Rushmore Academy are once again hosting their "Lovely Soiree at the Bottle Rocket Motel" on July 26th in Texas. An awesome get together for Wes Anderson fans that, if I'm not mistaken, was spurred on because the motel was facing closure. Which we reported on way back in the day!

Anyone going?

Post by The Rushmore Academy.

Miscellaneous Escapism

The Hey Dude ranch is out there collecting dust - via The AV Club

So tours of the New Jersey camp from the original Friday the 13th are a thing! But I have bad news - it looks like there won't be one this year due to construction problems. Read more over at fridaythe13thfranchise.com.

I stumbled across this “Shaun of the Dead” style zombie board game featured on FearNet. What the hell?! Sounds too cool to be true. I wanna play! I wonder how they factor in alcohol.

30 Best Cinemas Around the World: via Total Film

Do you go to fun escapist events like movie marathons, festivals, movie-themed parties, or concerts? Are you planning on checking out any fun movie fan destinations? Let us know in the comments or by emailing us at totheescapehatch(at)gmail(dot)com.

(Our 100th) Favorite Scene Friday! The Big Lebowski

Way back on July 22, 2011 - as part of a new feature called "Favorite Scene Friday" - we shared a clip from Raising Arizona, one of the Coen Brothers' best films. We've shared a lot of scenes since then. Quint's Indianapolis speech from Jaws. The ending of The Usual Suspects. The final fight from The Karate Kid. Mr. Swayze's wildest scene from Dirty Dancing. But it all started with that Coen Brothers clip. So today, for our 100th installment of FSF, we wanted to share some scenes from our favorite Coen film and one of our pure, unifying joys - The Big Lebowski.

Wikipedia

How does one describe The Big Lebowski? "It's more than a film, it's a way of life," would be one way. The flick follows slacker Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) as he gets more and more entwined with a kidnapping. And it all starts after his rug gets pissed on.

Numerous books have been written about the film and The Dude. Conventions - known as Lebowski Fests - are held every few months for fans of the film (Achievers) to gather together to Dude out. Hell, The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, named his band The Abiders.

As you would imagine, it's quite difficult to pick just one scene from the flick. So I've picked two.

Our first scene takes place near the beginning of the film when The Dude is returning home from the grocery store. His quiet life takes a drastic turn when two thugs abuse and question him and micturate on his rug. And it's all because they've mistaken him for another far less Dude Lebowski. This scene is gold, from its odd beginning to The Dude stewing on his toilet at the end and all of the comedy in between ("Obviously you're not a golfer."). Give it a watch:



The second scene really captures one of my favorite elements of the film - the trio of The Dude, Walter (John Goodman), and Donny (Steve Buscemi) shootin' the shit at the bowling alley. Oh, and the fact that the scene features Jesus (John Turturro) is great too. I absolutely love the way Bridges, Goodman, and Buscemi interact in this scene and every piece of dialogue is classic. And when it cuts to Jesus and Liam cleaning their bowling balls - hilarious. Dios mio, man!



So that's that. What started as one Coen Brothers clip turned into a feature 100 entries strong. We've been fortunate enough to have some guests drop by to share their favorite scenes and I just wanted to say a big thanks to them. Ruth from "...let's be splendid about this..." shared a great clip from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which was our first guest post ever!). Alex from And So It Begins... shared the beginning of Adaptation. Pete from I Love That Film visited and brought along the ending of Fight Club. CT from Nerd Lunch shared a few scenes from the Back to the Future franchise and Superman III.  Pax from Cavalcade of Awesome has shared some bits from Young Guns, Young Guns 2 and the Superman franchise. Lindsay and Jess from French Toast Sunday shared scenes from The Social Network and Forgetting Sarah Marshall respectively. Thanks, guys!

Thanks for watching and reading, everyone. Hopefully we can write 100 more for ya. Happy Friday!

Batch o’ Hatch: Halloween Withdrawals and Dr. Dog at Freebird Live

Halloween Withdrawals

I don’t know about anyone else, but the Post Halloween Blues hit me hard this year. So many horror movies I didn’t get to. So many posts I could have written. The worst is catching up on TV and seeing the Halloween episodes I misse - ModernFamilyhilariousHalloweenepisodeturnitoff!!!

In particular I wanted to watch Basket Case and Saturday the 14th (sorry Pat). I also wanted to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 with the gang. I watched that on my own and it was nuts. Dennis Hopper - the good guy, mind you - just runs around screaming shit and chainsawing stuff for like, twenty minutes straight.

Wikipedia

 Yes, that's the actual poster and yes, it's a parody of The Breakfast Club poster.

Wikipedia

Are you having Halloween withdrawals? Any movies you didn’t get to this year?

Dr. Dog at Freebird Live

T, Pat, Nick, and myself are catching Dr. Dog at Freebird Live tonight. Between the four of us, this will make 13 times that we’ve seen the boys in concert (hell, this will mark the third time T has seen them this year). I saw them in Atlanta last and I’m looking forward to catching them out at Freebird again.

Anyone a fan of Dr. Dog? Anyone checking them out tonight?

Escapism

Lebowski Fest Chicago is this weekend! In the off chance that we have any readers attending the Fest, do share some photos!

Lebowski Fest

Tweets

For my favorite horror scene back in October, I talked about how Jeepers Creepers is made creepier by the fact that I grew up close to where they filmed it. I asked Twitter if they could relate to this and I got a few great answers:

@zerbert I grew up 5 miles from Burkittsville, MD, def made Blair Witch Project freakier.
— Alex Withrow (@shiftingPersona) October 19, 2012

@zerbert I live near a place in a horror book not film.The book is The Rats by James Herbert.
— steve gonzo reeve (@dicanio72) October 19, 2012

Pax at Cavalcade of Awesome said what we were all thinking about this Disney Star Wars business:

Oh, man, I just realized.No more 20th Century Fox fanfare before a Star Wars film. #GeekSadness
— Paxton Holley (@paxtonholley) November 1, 2012

This was just a delightful tweet by The Cinefamily and it’s making me miss Halloween even more:

S.O.S.! Be a part of something spooktacular: Come by the theater NOW & help set up our Haunted Patio! We've got donuts!! Just come on down!
— The Cinefamily (@cinefamily) October 13, 2012

Batch o’ Hatch - Escapism Edition: The Wright Stuff III, Alamo Drafthouse Home Alone Screenings, and Lebowski Fest Orlando

Here we are with another Batch o’ Hatch, and I’m focusing on three upcoming film events that – in my opinion – are great examples of escapism at its best.

The Wright Stuff III

While perusing JoBlo the other day, I discovered that Edgar Wright, aka director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz aka bringer of joy to millions, is hosting his third film festival at the New Beverly in Los Angeles, Californee December 9^th through the 16^th. This time around the director is screening films that he's never seen before, which clearly we shouldn't care about because, if Edgar Wright hasn't seen 'em they're obviously not important.

But in all seriousness, I'd love to go to this festival, and I salute anyone lucky enough to attend. If you’ll be there, let me know, I'd love to hear from you about the event. Read more about The Wright Stuff III at Mr. Wright's blog.

Home Alone Screenings at Alamo

This is a pretty simple concept but it still tickles my fancy. All you can eat cheese pizza at screenings of Home Alone! Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in Austin, TX are throwing the pizza parties throughout December.

Lebowski Fest Orlando

A Lebowski Fest will grace the sweet land of Florida on February 10^th and 11^th and you can bet your pee-stained rug that we’ll be there. I really can’t wait to meet up with other Achievers, watch the flick, and drink some White Russians. In terms of events revolving around and/or tied to films, Lebowski Fest is way up there. It’s a two day fest of drinking, watching the film, and of course, bowling.

So what, people? Would you go to any of these? ARE you? Let me know!