Escape Artists: August 2014

Greetings, Hatchlings!

Every month we round up all the stories we can find about fun movie events like marathons, special screenings, and conventions and miscellaneous stuff like food and games. Let’s see what went down in the world of escapism and pop culture shenanigans in August 2014!

Top Stories!

Sun-Ray Cinema's Twin Peaks Marathon

Remember that Twin Peaks marathon at Sun-Ray Cinema that we kept warning you about? Well it happened! It happened big time! That's right, on August 22nd and 23rd, Sun-Ray screened every episode of the show and they had an awesome special menu that weekend to complement the marathon. I couldn't attend the event (more on that in a second) but it looks like it was awesome. Check out some highlights below.

Georgia Mini LAMB Meetup

So yeah, I couldn't attend the Twin Peaks marathon, but I can explain. Ya see, I was up in Atlanta that weekend visiting family for some birthdays. I'd recently learned that Andrew and Sarah from Two Ticket For - a husband and wife LAMB (Large Association of Movie Blogs) duo - live up in the Atlanta area, and we made arrangements to meet up at a restaurant called Sweet Melissa's that Sunday for brunch.

Not pictured: delicious Nutella french toast.
Photo from sweetmelissas.com.

The breakfast was amazing but the company was even better. We essentially just talked movies the whole time. I had an awesome time meeting Andrew and Sarah and I'm looking forward to the next meetup. Any Florida/Georgia LAMBs are welcome to join us next time!

Aaron Paul's Breaking Bad Scavenger Hunt

Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad held an awesome BB-themed scavenger hunt to commemorate the show's last hurrah at the Emmys. It looks like it went pretty well. Check out The AV Club's write up of the event here.

Go meet one of the scary cousins @LuisMoncada77 at pinches tacos on Sunset. He will be inside holding some stuffed Jesse and Walt dolls.
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) August 25, 2014

Other Links

• Bid on a chance for an overnight stay in Downton Abbey. - via The AV Club
• An American Werewolf in London is Coming to Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights! - via Daily Dead
• Robin Williams Memorial Pops up at Good Will Hunting Bench. - via The Hollywood Reporter and The AV Club
• The Alamo's South Lamar location had an awesome The Shining screening with a pretty cool photo booth...

It's happening! The Shining at @drafthouse S. Lamar (soft opening) TONIGHT! pic.twitter.com/VRmahM0J7j
— Marty Hopkins (@MartyATX) August 13, 2014

• August 18th was Wet Hot American Summer day and you can also buy some pretty sweet WHAS T-Shirts at rustedwave.com! - via Badass Digest
• Jess from French Toast Sunday went to another awesome Jurassic Park event! 

Second Jurassic Park event of the summer - outdoor screening at Federal Hill #wesparednoexpense pic.twitter.com/YaXY34jYBW
— Jessica M. (@jess_fts) August 29, 2014

• Here's a report of one of those live orchestra Star Trek screenings. - via Badass Digest
• There's a rumor that Disneyland has big plans for Star Wars and Marvel... - via Nerdist
• Here's a great recap of Secret Cinema's Back to the Future experience. - via Den of Geek
• Cones of Dunshire, the board game created in Parks and Recreation, was made into a real game and played at GenCon. - via The AV Club
• Check out this recap of the Drive-In Massacre 2014 at the McHenry Outdoor Theater! - via The Nightmare Gallery
• "Deep Breath", the premiere episode of Peter Capaldi's Dr. Who run, aired in theaters, did anyone go? - via Fathom Events
• Speaking of Dr. Who, if you live in Jacksonville, you can catch future episodes every Saturday at Midtown Deli! 

Post by The Specktator.

Someone decked out an escalator as the Star Wars opening crawl.

Post by https://www.facebook.com/movieclips">MOVIECLIPS

.

Escape via Food

• The Nerd Lunch Podcast crew talks fictional pop culture food on a new episode! - via Nerd Lunch
• Accio cupcakes! - via justjenn and Nerdist

• Are we getting an HR Giger bar here in the states? - via The AV Club
• Hobbit beers are coming to a shire near you! - via The AV Club

• To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Friends, Warner Bros. is opening an actual Central Perk in New York (for a limited time). - via The AV Club
• Did that whole "limited time" thing getcha down? Well guess what, there's a permanent (and slightly sad) Central Perk in Beijing! - via Buzzfeed
• There's a Dr. Who (man, what am I, a Dr. Who fan all of a sudden? I've never even seen an episode) restaurant in New York called The Pandorica. - via Nerdist
• Ghostbusters Donuts (shout out to Shawn for sharing this on Facebook)!

Post by Dinosaur Dracula.

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? Have you seen any cool pop culture themed games or food anywhere? Let us know in the comments or by emailing us at totheescapehatch(at)gmail(dot)com.

Batch o' Hatch: April 2014

Doc: No, it can't be! I just sent you back to the future!
Marty McFly: Oh, I know you did send me back to the future. But I'm back! I'm back from the future.
Doc: Great Scott!

I'm back! At least, I want to be back. But blogging is hard these days! I don't seem to have as much time anymore, and when I do find the time to write, I'm never satisfied with what I produce. Anyone else feel me?

But I'm soldiering on! I'm taking on co-hosting duties for the LAMBcast! Check out the newest episode below!



My work over at French Toast Sunday continues will continue! We've always got some great content over there. I've got some other projects brewing with some familiar friends as well. And, most importantly, I'm going to double down here on the site, with Favorite Scene Fridays, Escape Artists, reviews and lists flowing freely.

Speaking of, I'm re-purposing Batch o' Hatch! Originally the series served as a sporadic list of links that I found interesting at the time. Now, it's going to chronicle everything we do here on a monthly basis, along with select articles and stories from the past month. Tweets too. So it's not all that different really. Let's begin!

Escape Hatch Recap

• Favourite (Animated) Scene Friday! Wall-E: The Space Dance (courtesy of  Jay from Life Vs. Film!)
• Escape Artists: March and April 2014
• Favorite (Animated) Scene Friday! The Land Before Time: Littlefoot's Mom
• Cheap Thrills Interview
• Favorite (Animated) Scene Friday! Sleeping Beauty: Birthday Prep (courtesy of Jess from French Toast Sunday!)
• Favorite (Animated) Scene Friday! The Incredibles: Brace Yourselves

Other Stories

I dropped in on the Nerd Lunch Podcast for their first ever "Nerd Lunch Theater". We came up with a really bizarro movie. It's basically an origin story of sorts for Princess Peach (or is it?). But it's so much more than that. Check it out!

Let that burn into your brains. Let it!

April was Darren Aprilofsky over at sister site French Toast Sunday and I managed to contribute one whole article! Check it out!

Tweets

If any character in the history of horror movies had it coming to them, it was Franklin from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
— Miskatonic Musings (@MiskatonicPod) April 8, 2014

German Gaming Company Announces Boozy 'Shaun of the Dead' Style Zombie Board Game http://t.co/FQwyXll2to pic.twitter.com/u9Fbbzd7Jk
— Zombie Research Soc. (@ZombieResearch) April 11, 2014

Check out my friend @zerbert as he's posed with the most intricate 4th chair question EVER in the latest @nerdlunch ep. (Good answer btw!)
— The Sexy Armpit (@sexyarmpit) April 30, 2014

@zerbert I really feel like the casting was "hey, April's a brunette. This other check is a brunette. Sold!"
— J. Chlebus (@J_Chlebus) May 6, 2014

Highlight of my flight: realizing there are actually four versions of Ride Along, each with their own color scheme. pic.twitter.com/0OWoYCxUce
— Alex Withrow (@shiftingPersona) May 16, 2014

Maybe it's actually a sequel to the Burton/Schumacher films—Batman V: Superman Dawn of Justice
— CT from Nerd Lunch (@nerdlunch) May 21, 2014

All I wanna do is zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom & poom-poom if zoom means sleep and poom-poom means wake up feeling refreshed.
— Lindsay Street (@lindsay_fts) May 22, 2014

Batch o' Hatch: Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, Hatchlings!

Mondo via Arrow in the Head

Hellraiser Remake

So Hellraiser is being remade with Clive Barker and Doug Bradley involved? I’m all for it!

- via JoBlo

Trick ‘r Treat 2

Trick ‘r Treat 2 is happening. Head to Geek Tyrant for more details!

- via Geek Tyrant

Brucetober

In case you missed it, the Nerd Lunch Podcast did a month of Bruce Campbell podcasts. I had the pleasure of being on the episode about Campbell's novel “Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way”.

Posts for FTS

October marked the first month of my posts for French Toast Sunday. Check out two of the posts I wrote for Halloween - 10 Underrated Horror Films Parts 1 and 2.

Tweets

It's times like this I wish National Lampoon's made "Halloween Vacation" right after "European Vacation." The Griswolds go to Transylvania
— The Sexy Armpit (@sexyarmpit) October 1, 2013

Who's this fake Mark Ruffalo dude in CURSE OF CHUCKY?  I shall dub him Fauxfallo.
— Brian Collins (@BrianWCollins) October 7, 2013

the carrie remake is really the only horror film out this month? that ain't right, y'all.
— Candice Frederick (@ReelTalker) October 15, 2013

I watched Candyman last night, & realised that at almost 26 I have never & cannot say "Candyman" in the mirror 5 times #31DaysofHalloween
— Rachel (@fake_shemp) October 16, 2013

Favorite Scene Friday! GoldenEye: The Dam Dive

I recently threw my back out. And no, I’m not 90. Long story short, I hurt it years ago (in the ancient time known as college) and it acts up every now and then. Anyhoo, this was a pretty bad incident and I was essentially in bed for a week. I had a lot of time to watch movies as lying down seemed to be the only thing I could do. One of the movies I rewatched was GoldenEye.

Wikipedia

GoldenEye is probably my favorite Bond film, even now that Daniel Craig’s excellent trilogy exists. Great Bond in the form of Pierce Brosnan (sadly none of his other 007 films were as good as this one...surfing on a CGI tidal wave, anyone?), great plot, great bad guys, and Izabella Scorupco as a GREAT Bond girl.

IMDb

Right off the bat the movie starts with an amazing stunt. According to IMDb, this scene features the highest bungee jump from a structure in a film, which I totally believe. And how 'bout that scenery? That plane roars into view and as the camera pans up to follow it we're treated to our first glimpse of...the dam. Kind of gorgeous in a way. And truly cinematic.

The whole scene is amazing but it’s also quiet and intense. Who doesn't hold their breath when Brosnan (well, not really Brosnan...actually I'm not sure if he's really in this scene at all...we don't really get a good look at his face) swan dives off that dam? It’s just an incredible way to start a film and text book Bond.



By the by, honorary EH Team member CT (he of the Nerd Lunch Blog and Podcast) along with Aaron Nix from Movie Hodge Podge, recently launched a Bond podcast called the “Pod, James Pod” Podcast. Their first episode is all about GoldenEye (and chewing gum). Give it a listen.

Batch o' Hatch: Lovely Soiree at the Bottle Rocket Motel, Filth Redband #2, JGL as Dr. Strange?, The Nerd Lunch Podcast, and the LAMB Podcast and Movie of the Month

Lovely Soiree at the Bottle Rocket Motel

Shortly after we started this blog, I posted a little piece about the possible closure of a hotel featured in Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket. A group of dedicated fans organized a fundraising event (which included a screening of the film) at the hotel to try and save it.

Wikipedia

Flash forward two years to now and, not only have they saved the film, but the get together has become an annual event. Bully for them! Read more about the third annual July 27th event here at The Rushmore Academy.

Would you attend this event?

Filth Redband #2

A second red band trailer for Filth was posted last week and it’s a doozy. I’m really looking forward to this film. James McAvoy looks to have turned in another awesome performance. I bet this would be a great double feature with The Guard.



Are you looking forward to Filth?

JGL as Dr. Strange?

In our last Batch, we reported that Marvel was looking to develop Dr. Strange as their new “Iron Man” franchise. Well, First Showing has reported that Joseph Gordon-Levitt might be up for the title role. We all know that JGL appeared in last year’s The Dark Knight Rises as a pretty major character, so this would mean that he’d be playing both the DC and Marvel fields. I’m okay with this however, because I don’t see his role in the DC Universe going much farther. Unfortunately. :(

Wikipedia

Can you dig JGL as Dr. Strange? Or would you like to see him as another Marvel character? Or continue with his DC character?

The Nerd Lunch Podcast

I met up with CT and Pax from the Nerd Lunch Podcast and Shawn Robare from Branded in the 80s this past weekend to record an actual honest to Crom Nerd Lunch Podcast! Like, with lunch and everything! We talked about the Fake Geek Girl Phenomenon, Sharknado, and a ton of other topics. We recorded the podcast in a busy restaurant so pardon the ambient noise. I think it actually adds a very cool quality to the episode. Enjoy it here!

Nerd Lunch

Did you see Sharknado??? I still haven't.

Wikipedia

The LAMB Podcast and Movie of the Month

Last but not least, I’ll be appearing on the next LAMB Movie of the Month Podcast and I get to try and pick the film as well! I’ve thrown Minority Report into the ring and I’d love for your vote, which you can fork over here.

Wikipedia

I think Minority Report is overlooked as far as Spielberg flicks go. It’s over 10 years old now, and ripe for discussion. How does the film factor into the careers of Spielberg and star Tom Cruise? How have we progressed towards the future depicted in the film and how have we not? That and more if we pick Minority Report as the Movie of the Month!

Vote for Minority Report here!

to the escape hatch! Turns 2 or 5 Things I Love About This Blog

Somehow this blog is two years old. I remember meeting the gang for lunch one day to discuss starting it. I forgot all the notes that I took and our waitress had to step out of the restaurant to call me back. What’s funny is that place isn’t even there anymore.

French Toast Sunday recently turned three and Lindsay did a post on what she loves about blogging. I thought I’d kick our third year off with a little light plagiarism (hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery) and basically do the same thing. So, without further ado, here are

5 Things I Love About This Blog

5. Concerts

Before we started this blog I probably could have counted the number of concerts I’d been to on one hand (okay, one hand and that one weird foot of Pat’s). And going to concerts is a regular thing for me now. There’s a lot more potential for violence than I would have thought. That might be naive, but it’s not like we go to GWAR concerts.

4. Sun-Ray

Sun-Ray Cinema

Sun-Ray Cinema is an awesome local movie theater here in Jacksonville. They’ve been kind enough to team up with us on a few giveaways for some of their screenings. And I’ve gotten to see some of my all time favorite films on a big screen thanks to them (The Evil Dead, Jaws, The Shining, Vertigo). We’re actually set to watch the upcoming 4th season of Arrested Development in its entirety on May 26th at Sun-Ray, and that’s pretty awesome. Hopefully they keep on keepin’ on, and with talk of adding a second screen, I can’t see how they wouldn’t.

3. The Nerd Lunch Podcast

Nerd Lunch

A few months after we started the blog I got an email from my friend CT from the Nerd Lunch Podcast, asking me if I’d like to be a guest on the show. We’d worked together years ago (okay, I was an intern) and we’d recently started interacting again because of our respective blogs. I’ve been on the podcast a few times now and I think I’ve gotten a little better. This probably sounds silly to veteran podcasters, but it’s a lot of fun and I enjoy being on when I can. The NLP crew are a great group of guys and I’m honored to be a part of the 4th Chair Army.

2. Friends

I’ve met some really awesome folks through this blog. Pete from I Love That Film. Alex from And So It Begins... Ruth from ...let’s be splendid about this... Mike from 20 Something Awesome. Lindsay, Jess, Nick and the gang from French Toast Sunday. Lackey and the crew from Forced Viewing. Dan from Dan The Man’s Movie Reviews. Jeeg from Nerd Lunch. Pax from Cavalcade of Awesome. Vern from The Vern’s Video Vanguard. Chris from Movies and Songs 365. Dylan, Joel and the kind folks at The LAMB. George and Markus from Green People Soup. Shala from Life Between Films. Rodders from The Reviewing Rodders. Chip from Tips from Chip. And everyone else that I’ve forgotten.

Some of our friends have been kind enough to guest post for us. Special thanks to Ruth for being the first. You can check out all our guest posts here. We’d love to have an even bigger extended family, so just shoot me an email if you’re interested in writing a Music Video Monday!, Favorite Scene Friday!, a review, or something else. There’s plenty of room in The Hatch.

1. The EH Team

My favorite part of this blog is my EH Team Family. Pat has a pretty successful Twitter account where he’s retweeted by rock stars. Like the rest of the group, he’s a great lover of music (and I was just kidding about the weird foot). I’m fortunate to work with Tiff in the real world, so we get to talk about movies, TV, and music all day. She’s currently going through The Walking Dead withdrawals, having watched seasons 1-3 nonstop. Nick and I share a love of good horror films, shitty horror films, Community (which just got renewed again somehow!), and countless other crap. These guys make me feel like I’m part of something special.

So in conclusion, thanks for reading our blog for the past two years. Stick around!

Nerd Lunch Podcast 73: Pirates of the Caribbean Drill Down

Welcome to another episode of The Nerd Lunch Podcast! Jeeg is off sailing the high seas but CT and Pax were kind enough to welcome me and Jay from The Sexy Armpit aboard for a discussion on the Pirates of the Caribbean films. If you can get past my pirate puns it's a great episode.

Enjoy!

Anybody Want a Peanut?
The Princess Bride at MOVIECLIPS.com

Batch o' Hatch: Night of the Podcast, The Walking Dead Season 3 at Sun-Ray, and Tweets

Night of the Podcast

Like a zombie crawling out of the grave, I’ll be returning to the Nerd Lunch Podcast next Tuesday! I won’t completely spoil the topic, but I will say it involves the living dead...

Nerd Lunch

New episodes of the podcast typically go live one week after they’re recorded, so look for it here or over at Nerd Lunch on Tuesday the 23rd.

The Walking Dead Season 3 at Sun-Ray Cinema

While we’re on the topic of zombies, this Sunday the 14th marks the return of The Walking Dead on AMC. Our friends at Sun-Ray Cinema are showing the premiere (for free!) and we’re throwing in a copy of the second season on DVD! So if you wanna see some zed-word TV on the big screen and possibly win The Walking Dead Season 2 on DVD, head to Sun-Ray this Sunday at 9:00 p.m.

Sun-Ray

Tweets

Some tweets are just too great to confine to Twitter, so I figured I'd start sharing some of my favorites in each Batch o' Hatch. So without further ado, here’s some tweets! From Twitter!

Holy moly is it frigging time I can see #Looper yet???
— Pete Turner (@ilovethatfilm) September 24, 2012

Pete over at I Love That Film couldn’t wait to see Looper. He later took part in a group review of the film - check it out here!

Ever have a "I wish Sam Beckett would quantum leap into me and deal with my problems" kind of day?
— CT (from Nerd Lunch) (@nerdlunch) September 27, 2012

CT from Nerd Lunch shares my love of Quantum Leap. And yes, I do have days like that.

And so AWESOME-tober-fest 2012 begins. blog.paxholley.net/2012/10/01/awe… #Halloween
— Paxton Holley (@paxtonholley) October 1, 2012

This was Pax at Cavalcade of Awesome kicking off AWESOME-tober-fest 2012! Tune into Cavalcade throughout the month for more Movie Maniac mania.

Thanks for tuning in! Stay scary, my friends.

Nerd Lunch Podcast 35 Supplemental

**spoiler alert!**

Another Nerd Lunch podcast from CT and Jeeg from Nerd Lunch and Pax from Cavalcade of Awesome has been loosed on the world and yours truly makes an appearance. Check it out below. First, however, I thought it would be fun to provide some supplemental material for some of the topics we discussed.

While we were discussing excessive, spoilery trailers, CT brought up Prometheus. The team behind the promotion of Ridley Scott’s new flick has been putting out a steady supply of viral videos to hype the upcoming film. I mentioned one of the more recent videos - an ad of sorts regarding Michael Fassbender’s character. Check it out below (unless you’re CT).



As a bonus, here’s a post I did on one of the earlier videos - a TED talk put on by Guy Pearce’s character Peter Weyland.

Later in the podcast we touched on the topic of product placement (PP) in films. I mentioned that I don’t have a problem with PP (giggle) and I brought up this scene from Wayne’s World.

I Will Not Bow to Any Sponsor
Wayne's World — MOVIECLIPS.com

I also mentioned the movie Mac and Me. It’s a horrible rip-off of E.T. filled with product placement. There is a crazy hilarious McDonald’s scene, however. Check it out:



And, for good measure, here’s the infamous Mac and Me wheelchair scene:



We went off on a tangent about the Hoverboard from Back to the Future and fake products in general for a while. I think I attributed a recent article about a real-life Hoverboard to joblo.com but I actually read it on Badass Digest. Sorry about that!


One thing I forgot to mention while we were on the topic of celebrity meltdowns was this interesting, recent(ish) clip of Robert Downey Jr. asking the world to forgive Mel Gibson:



So that’s it! I hope you like the podcast. I know I enjoyed my third time in the hot seat and I hope the gang invites me back on. Now I’m just waiting on Pax to call me about that Fantastic Four/The Room double feature...