ProductShopNYC :: The Politics of Pop Culture

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL | The O.C. Concert, Jack Shit

On Friday May 5th , The O.C.'s music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas is hosting a Tribeca Film Festival party at Don Hills. The event will feature Nada Surf, Mates of State, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, and Matt Pond PA. Unfortunately, you need a TFF Badge to get into this show.

In regards to the Tribeca Film Festival, the only movie I've seen so far is the documentary Jack Smith and the Destruction Of Atlantis and it was one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever seen. It was two hours of kissing the ass of minimally talented experimental video artist who was a complete idiot (example: He decided getting AIDS from hustlers would be a glamorous way to die). The film never delved into his life, his family, his sexuality, his friends, his past, anything. It was self-indulgent crap.

Anyone else see anything this year?........

WES ANDERSON | Amex Commercial

Spike Jonze has produced excellent commercials for The Gap, Levi's, and Adidas. Now it's Wes Anderson's turn to produce some magic for a corporate behemoth. In Wes' impressive American Express commercial, he's casted himself, Jason Schwartzman, and couple other neat surprise guests. Shilling can be good. (via Tripwire).....

THE SIMPSONS | The Teaser Trailer

It's short. It's simple. It's The Simpsons Movie trailer. Matt Groening has brought on original Simpsons show writer Sam Simon for this project. He's responsible for many classic episodes, including the original three "Treehouse of Horrors". Hopefully, the movie won't be a letdown like the last five seasons......

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL | 2006 Line-Up

Here's some recommendations for this year's Tribeca Film Festival. Tickets onsale now via some presale, and a general public onsale of April 15th. All films sell out, so plan ahead.......

DRIVING LESSON :: Summer vacation for Ben (Harry Potter's Rupert Grint) involves bible study class, work at a convalescent home, and driving lessons from his overbearing and overly religious mother (Laura Linney). An odd, coming of age comedy.....

TELL ME DO YOU MISS ME :: A doc of Luna's final tour.......

loudQUIETloud :: A doc on the Pixies reunion

FULL GROWN MEN :: Alby (Matt McGrath) never really grew up,and he doesn't want to. At 35 years-old, he surrounds himself with action figures that blind him to the fact that his young son is the most mature man in the house. So when things get a little too…adult, Alby leaves his family and heads to his mother's house, where he can lie on the couch and watch his beloved martial arts show reruns. While his childhood maid cleans around him, he is suddenly reminded of his best friend from school, Elias (Judah Firedlander). As it turns out, Alby made Elias' life, past and present, awful by saddling him with a not so nice Spanish nickname. Fearing irreparable karmic damage, Alby tracks Elias down. Although Alby's life seems to have stood still, Elias' world has changed. He is now a drama teacher to mentally challenged children and well-liked by all. Alby invites himself along on Elias' class trip to an amusement park, and what starts out as a fun road-trip turns into a bumpy ride. Along the way, Alby runs into a slew of failed romantics, including a disgruntled ex-theme park employee (Alan Cumming), a bartender working her way through clown school (Amy Sedaris), and a delusional ex-Weeki Wachee mermaid (Deborah Harry) who points Alby in the right direction. David Munro's oddly charming directorial debut is alternately quirky, heartwarming, and funny........

MINI'S FIRST TIME :: An allstar cast of Alec Baldwin, Nikki Reed, Luke Wilson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jeff Goldblum, and Svetlana Metkina perform in this part Heather and part Lolita....

ANOTHER GAY MOVIE :: It's exactly like American Pie, except everyone is gay. It's obscene and hilarious and our friend edited the movie.........

KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS :: Weeks away from his bar mitzvah, Ben (Daryl Sabara) is panic-stricken about his pending adulthood and the stadium-sized party that his father (Jeremy Piven) has planned. Doris Roberts, Jami Gertz, Daryl Hannah, and Garry Marshall also star.....

BEASTIE BOYS | Interview with MCA, Adrock, and Mike D

Beastie Boys will talk your ear off, if you let them. Last Tuesday, Product Shop NYC went down to their studio Oscilloscope Laboratories in lower Manhattan for an interview on their new concert film Awesome; I Fucking Shot That!. The other interviewers and I walk into the room with Mike D (Mike Diamond) explaining to Adrock (Adam Horovitz) how to improve his paper-chase look, the current popular look in Hip Hop usually involving blinged-out jewelry. Adam had given Mike a found VW hood ornament to wear on a chain and Mike was trying to return the favor with some style tips. Adam was not amused. After a minute of this chatter, one interviewer interrupted their conversation with a question about who watched the massive amount of footage for the film. For those of you who aren't yet familiar with the premise of the movie, in 2004 at Madison Square Garden, 50 fans were given cameras to record the show and their experience from different spots in the venue. So if the movie itself is 90 minutes long plus another 15 minutes cut for breaks and the encore, that means there is over 87 hours of footage condensed into this movie. Nathanial Hornblower (aka MCA, aka Adam Yauch) directed the film but all the Beastie Boys had something to say about it.

Listen to our condensed version of the interview here.
(It's worth five minutes and has some funny excerpts)

Read some more of the interview after the jump.

See Awesome; I Fucking Shot That! for yourself when it opens in theaters this Friday.

BEASTIE BOYS | Awesome; I Fucking Shot That! Film

Beastie Boys are always coming up with a crazy twist on their concerts. Sometimes they are for a good cause like the Tibetan Freedom Concerts while others are just ridiculous like the giant rotating turntable stage for the Hello Nasty tour. So when Nathan Hornblower (aka MCA, aka Adam Yauch) decided to film a concert at Madison Square Gardens he gave 50 fans cameras to film the show from different spots in the audience. The resulting film is Awesome; I Fucking Shot That!. Product Shop was at a screening yesterday. Seeing how there were 50 different perspectives there is a lot of cutting from shots around the arena sometimes as fast as Mixmaster Mike is cutting and scratching on the turntables. The cameras aren't supposed to go off either, so there are trips to the bathroom and concession stand. There are also a few celebrity sightings. The film is an entire concert so every moment is not riveting, but it's about the music and the sound is crystal clear. During "Paul Revere," which everybody in New York seems to know the lyrics to, the bass is so loud at the show that ripples of distortion thud along with the beat on every camera. That was cool, you saw all the people at the show experiencing the same massive booming bass. "Awesome" is about the fans at the show just as much as it is about Beastie Boys. At times you feel like you are watching your buddy's prized tape of some underground rap show in the late 80s featuring Beastie Boys but in fact its Madison Square Garden and these guys have been rocking the mic for 20 years.

There are some other surprises in the show and I don't want to ruin the film, so go watch the trailer.

You can catch a one-night nationwide screening of Awesome; I Fucking Shot That! on March 23rd and it will be released in theaters on March 31st.

STONED CONTEST | Win All Brian Jones' Rolling Stones Albums

Making a film on The Rolling Stones Brian Jones seems like an impossible task. How do you make a film about the lunatic who introduced Keef to the blues, Mick to the harmonica, beat his girlfriend, did extraordinary amounts of drugs, and then died, face down in his pool, at age 27?

I don't know how it's going to be done, but as producer of The Butcher Boy, The Crying Game, B Monkey we know that Stephen Woolley knows drama. As the producer of Backbeat, Shag The Movie, and the Colin Forth version of Fever Pitch, we can feel confident that Stephen Woolley knows how to make a movie for footie and music fanatics.

Stoned is the anti-Walk The Line. No one gets saved by love. No one overcomes their demons. No one finds God. No one recovers from drugs and alcohol abuse. No heroes. No redemption. Sounds like a good movie.

WATCH: Stoned The Movie Trailer
LINK: Stoned The Movie

On March 24th, Stoned: The Original Rolling Stone opens in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Chicago. Tonight, The Rolling Stones (minus Brian Jones) play Radio City Music Hall. You see, it's all coming together.

Stoned: The Movie and Product Shop NYC are giving away England's Newest Hitmakers, Aftermath, December's Children, Flower, and The Rolling Stones Now!, the five classic Rolling Stones records that Brian Jones played guitar on.

Write the best caption for this photograph of Brian Jones and you can win the five Stones albums. One winner will be selected by Product Shop NYC's official judging panel of caption experts:

THE STATE | Reuniting, Coming To iTunes

Comedy Central's Reno 911 doesn't really do it for me. I also couldn't quite get into Stella, which I hear Comedy Central still hasn't picked up for a second season. Anyway, Reno 911 is still on the air and they're even making a feature film called Reno 911: Miami.

In the film, the retarded Reno cops are called in to save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in Miami Beach during spring break. The plot of which sounds eerily similiar to Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, and the fact that I know that scares me.

The highlight of the film will likely be the big seen in which all eleven members of The State! This marks their first onscreen appearance by the group since 1995. They have reunited for the Aspen and New York Comedy Festivals in 1997.

The State put out a release where they discussed a possible reunion and MTV putting their old show on iTunes:

The three "Reno" stars said members of the State are well aware, and appreciative, of petitions by the show's long-suffering fans to finally have the episodes released on DVD. Offering them some hope, Lennon said, "There is a rumor that MTV will be releasing 'The State' on iTunes, and maybe if I mention that now, it'll help move it along...." 'The State' always exists," Lennon continued, dropping a bombshell. "There'll probably be, at some point, some other version of the State doing some kind of live show."

GREY GARDENS | Comins Soon To A Theater...

The 1975 documentary Grey Gardens is a bonafide classic. The film follows Jackie Kennedy's aunt and first cousin, Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edi, as they live together in a crumbling mansion in East Hampton. Even though their place is in shambles, they still act like the deranged socialites they once were. It's an odd, funny, and very sad movie.

Now comes the following item from today's Rush & Molloy:

Dew Barrymore and Jessica Lange will star in "Grey Gardens," a feature about two eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy who famously inhabited a decrepit estate in East Hampton. Variety's Michael Fleming reports that Barrymore will play Little Edie and Lange will play her mother, Big Edie Bouvier Beale, who became cult figures, thanks to the 1975 documentary "Grey Gardens" by David and Albert Maysles. (A musical about the women is now on Broadway.) Also due to be characters in the feature are the Washington Post's Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, who later bought the mansion.

I love Drew, but you know she's going to fuck this up. Miscast. Boo. Hiss.........

COACHELLA | The Movie, New York Screening

The Coachella movie will have three screenings in New York City at The Pioneer Theater (East 3rd Street). This should get you nice and psyched up for the 2006 Festival..........

Coachelle: The Documentary @ The Pioneer Theater
BUY: Friday 3/3/06: 11:00 pm
BUY: Friday 3/10/06: 11:20 pm
BUY: Friday 3/17/06: 11:00 pm