Saturday, July 27, 2013

Meet Pursuit Delange: See the Full Short!

No, this is not one of those spam links. Writer/director Howard Webster submitted a post to my Tumblr blog, Fuck Yeah James Callis!, yesterday informing the fans that the full movie has been uploaded on Kickstarter! They are raising money to make a feature film this fall.

We relaunched the Kickstarter campaign because we were offered a deal and Kickstarter wouldn’t let us change the target amount after we launched.  So we had to cancel and start again - and as a thank you to fans who pledged and supported us - we posted the entire short film starring James and Bertie and Craig Fairbrass on the Kickstarter page - people love the short and are watching and sharing and pledging.  So please spread the word - and do a little pledge - to support us.  Here’s the link.

So, go there and see the film, and give generously if you can! :) I saw it last night and must say I laughed out loud many times - and I'm a humorless feminist, and this sort of humor isn't my favorite, so it's a good sign if I laughed. The site has a Facebook link to Mr Webster, if you'd like to leave feedback on the movie!

The film is funny and very, very naughty. I have never seen James in something with that many references to his... hee hee.. ahem, penis. It's hilarious to see James do something like this, after seeing him talk coyly in an interview about signing a girls "[long beat].. eh, bosoms". I'm not sure where James falls on the super naughty-not naughty at all spectrum, but I think you can safely say, Mr Webster is firmly on the super naughty side.

The short is only 25 minutes, so it's more like vignettes of raunchy scenes put together, and thus gives a trailerish feel. The full feature would have more of a focused story, and thus more room for the great material we've seen in the form of outtakes. The film had good stuff, but I was disappointed that they cut out the grandmother story, which is on the site as an outtake video. That was the scene I laughed at the most. My other complaint is that it's slightly too in your face, much in the style of shows like Californication and Weeds. As in, "OMG aren't we outrageous?" Webster is a great writer who does verbal fireworks skilfully, so the outrageousness isn't always necessary in my view. Sometimes the over-the-top quality worked well, though, especially with the "buttprint on laptop". I scared my cats laughing out loud at that one. But it might be a matter of taste. My taste runs more in the "hilarious verbal brilliance delivered with a serious face" category, which was also well represented here. There's a voice-over from James, which was enjoyable and hopefully will be there in the longer film too.

The acting is great throughout. James is very charming, doing the "wide-eyed sweet loser" (reminiscent of his own movie, Beginner's Luck, which was also a small budget feature with ambition). And he gets to be flirtatious - there are even a few quick sex scenes! But he appears fully clothed throughout, I mean WHY?? Why no shirt-free scenes? I hope Mr Webster realizes what the audience wants and needs. The most popular search leading to my blog has always been "James Callis shirtless". I'm hoping for some of that, as well as more "James with a dog" adorability, in the feature film. (We do get James in hilarious 80's gear, James jamming to headphones, and James with a sleeping mask on, though, so I'm reasonably happy.) The dog was almost completely left out of the film for some reason.

But I digress. The other male lead, Robert Portal, is also deliciously evil and very funny, and the female lead, Anya Lahiri, is doing a great job as the sexy and strong woman Pursuit falls for. I thought she had great chemistry with James. I'm not sure if she will be in the feature film, though.

I tend to be uncomfortable with raunchy/outrageous humor like this, yet I also laugh at it. So if/when the feature film happens, you can expect an ambivalent review with some political reservations. I'll try my best not to write a full-on feminist analysis though.

All in all, a fun film, and I hope to see more of this in the future. Go see it, you've never seen James his raunchy!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Austenland: The Trailer!



We have a trailer!!!!

I'm not sure what my first feeling is - excitement that this looks so entertaining, or disappointment that James isn't credited? I thought he was more well-known than JJ Feild or Bret McKenzie. On the other hand, we have three female actors credited, which is rare in a trailer, so I feel like being feministly excited too. It's complicated.

And why is James wearing an undershirt while Ricky Whittle is topless by the pool? (I do like that he's reading a book, though. Nice Jamesy touch.) We need more shirtless James!

There are quite a few short snippets of James, and it looks like he's going to be both the perfect-for-the-part gentleman and hilarious! Even the musctache doesn't bug me that much. Shannon Hale praised him on Twitter:

Fans of , I cannot crow enough about how witty and smart he is as an actor. You. Will. Die.

Well I hope I will live to go and see the movie another time if it's that funny!

I promise that if this hits the cinemas in Finland, I will see it, possibly more than once. If it's really entertaining and Jamesy, I will leave my feminist glasses home and just enjoy it. (I can't pinky swear though, those glsases are hard to take off.)

My enjoyment of the movie will probably depend on how much romance there is as opposed to comedy. The trailer has a couple of funny scenes, but nothing laugh out loud, which might be a good sign. They saved a lot of fun for the film itself, while giving viewers the light entertaining feel of the film. I was very pessimistic and like "ugh a romantic comedy" when I first heard of this, but I take that back. Let's say I'm carefully optimistic and fairly sure I'll enjoy at least James' scenes. I do find the premise original, and I think it might promise quite a few laughs at old-timey garb and manners. We'll see!

Have I mentioned how adorable and charming Keri Russell is in my opinion? I think she's just really pretty and has great presence. She seems like the right pick for the main role in this.

The Austenland US premiere was set to be yesterday in LA, but I can't find any pictures of it, so I'm guessing James wasn't there? On the other hand, this article mentions they had a "women only" screening.

"This film is very uniquely female," she explains. "There can't be many movies in the marketplace that are based on a novel by a woman, scripted by women, produced by women, directed by a woman and starring a woman. There are beginning to be more female-centric, female-created movies in the marketplace, but they're still vastly the minority."

Edit: I'm apparently living in the future - it's August 16th, not July! So look forward to that, maybe James will be there. :)

I must say I was kind of delighted at this, because men tend to rate romantic comedies - and anything for and by women - low, or not even go see them. This might, of course, be problematic if there are any androgynous or trans* people in the audience. If any photos of James pop up, I will post here ASAP.

The UK release date is September 7, according to IMDB. I'm hoping that means a Europe-wide release!