Video: Ryan Merriman talks acting jobs, charity efforts
Choctaw-born and bred actor Ryan Merriman sat down last week with NewsOK video host Angi Bruss to chat about his role in the hot TV series “Pretty Little Liars,” his indie film roles in “Cheesecake Casserole” and “The 5th Quarter” and his charity work in Oklahoma.
Ryan was in town not only to visit family and friends but also to help raise money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation, an affiliate of Children’s Miracle Network. He made a special appearance last Friday at Cuppies and Joes, where the shop was selling cupcakes he created with proceeds going to the foundation, and hosted the foundation’s Roundup Shindig on Saturday night. To read my interview with Ryan, click here.
It was a big weekend in the OKC metro for the Children’s Miracle Network. Teen music sensation Greyson Chance took a break from his tour with Miranda Cosgrove to play a pair of hometown shows at Edmond Santa Fe High School. The shows were benefits for the Children’s Miracle Network as part of Double Wolf Dare Week, the school’s annual charity campaign.
Greyson’s shows and meet-and-greet raised $40,000. To read more, click here.
-BAM
Rifftrax live take on “House on Haunted Hill” airing in theaters nationwide tonight
Rifftrax stars Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett will celebrate Halloween with a live riffing event airing in theaters nationwide tonight. NCM Fathom and the stars of the late, great series “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ invite snarky fans of bad movies across the country to a haunted house party that will feature hilarious riffing on the horror classic “House on Haunted Hill.” Not only will the Rifftrax trio treat this Vincent Price classic to their signature brand of rapid-fire comedy, comedian Paul F. Tompkins also will join the guys as a guest riffer on a classic, never-before-seen short.
Movie theater audiences will receive FREE digital goodies after the event. A URL will be revealed on-screen during the event so you can logon and receive your free digital goodies!
Tonight’s event will be broadcast live to movie theaters nationwide at 7 p.m. Oklahoma time. Theaters showing this event in Oklahoma include the Spotlight 14 in Norman, Tinseltown USA and AMC Quail Springs in Oklahoma City, and the Cinemark 17 in Tulsa.
For tickets, go to www.fathomevents.com.
For more information on Rifftrax, go to www.rifftrax.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on September 15, 2010
Today’s featured event:
TULSA—Watermelon Slim plays with Dustin Pittsley at the Flytrap Music Hall, 514 E. 2nd Street, Tulsa, OK, tonight at 7 pm. Tickets are $15.
For more information, go to www.flytrapeventcenter.com.
For more events, go to www.oklahomarock.com.
—3D
What to do in Oklahoma on August 19, 2010
Today’s featured event:
The folks at Rifftrax have scheduled another live event that will be broadcast tonight into a theater near you. In case you don’t know, Rifftrax is an online endeavor of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 stars Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy, in which they provide humorous commentary tracks to all sorts of movies. (Their track for the recent Indiana Jones sequel, in particular, is not to be missed.)
Occasionally, the boys like to riff a movie live and have it broadcast to theaters across the country. In this case, their target is the cult film “Reefer Madness,” but there will also be new shorts by the guys as well. Digital goodies (such as shorts, photos, etc…) will be given to the audience. The broadcast will begin tonight at 7 pm (but if you miss it there’s an encore broadcast on August 24th). Theaters playing this event include the Spotlight 14 in Norman, Tinseltown USA and AMC Quail Springs in OKC.
For more information, you can go to www.Rifftrax.com.
For tickets, click here.
—3D
Rifftrax guys talk “Reefer Madness” live event, coming Thursday to theaters
On Thursday, the movie-watching wisecrackers behind Rifftrax will bring their mocking to theatergoers live, as part of the Fathom Events presentation of the unintentionally hilarious 1930s cult classic “Reefer Madness.”
Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, formerly of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” will present live humorous commentary with the film as it is presented across the country. This is the third nationwide live theater event for the Rifftrax crew.
The film will be shown at AMC Quail Springs 24, 2501 W Memorial Road in Oklahoma City; Tinseltown USA, 6001 N Martin Luther King Ave. in Oklahoma City; and Spotlight 14, 1100 N Interstate Drive in Norman. In Tulsa, the film will be shown at Cinemark Tulsa 17, 10802 E 71st St.
The event also will feature three brand-new riffs on three short films.
Matt Price of Nerdage has the Rifftrax guys’ thoughts on “Reefer Madness”; click here to read his feature.
–3D
Paltrow Releases Country Song
In conjunction with her upcoming film, Country Strong, in which she plays a country singer, Gwyneth Paltrow has released a song of the same name as a country single. Vince Gill and Patty Griffin sing backup on the song, and Tim McGraw co-stars in the film, so there’s plenty of country power surrounding both the song and the film.
For more on this story and other country news, go to www.cmt.com/news.
—3D
New Rifftrax Live Event Scheduled
The folks at Rifftrax have scheduled another live event that will be broadcast soon into a theater near you. In case you don’t know, Rifftrax is an online endeavor of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 stars Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy, in which they provide humorous commentary tracks to all sorts of movies. (Their track for the recent Indiana Jones sequel, in particular, is not to be missed.)
Occasionally, the boys like to riff a movie live and have it broadcast to theaters across the country. In this case, their target is the cult film “Reefer Madness,” but there will also be new shorts by the guys as well. Digital goodies (such as shorts, photos, etc…) will be given to the audience. The first broadcast will be Thursday, August 19th at 7 pm, with an encore broadcast on August 24th.
For more information, you can go to www.Rifftrax.com.
For tickets, click here.
—3D
DVD review: “Cinematic Titanic Live: East Meets Watts”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Cinematic Titanic Live: East Meets Watts”
B-movie-mocking venture Cinematic Titanic sails to a whole new level of hilarity with its first live DVD.
In its third year, Cinematic Titantic is the latest project from former “Mystery Science Theater 3000” cast members Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl and J. Elvis Weinstein.
The seasoned riffers pick on a well-deserved target with “East Meets Watts,” a particularly stinky piece of celluloid trash from notorious exploitation filmmaker Al Adamson. (“Directed by Al Adamson: a phrase that will live in infamy,” Pehl correctly cracks during the opening credits.)
The 1974 specimen, also released under the title “Dynamite Brothers,” is described as “kung-sploitation” since it combines two popular cheap-and-cheesy genres of the ‘70s: kung fu movies and blaxploitation films.
Barely competent Hong Kong martial artist Larry Chin (Alan Tang) travels to San Francisco in search of his long-lost brother. But he soon finds himself handcuffed to tough ex-con and “Shaft” wannabe Stud Brown (Timothy Brown) as both are targeted by a violent drug ring. Well-known Asian-American actor James Hong also stars as the sinister ringleader set on flooding the ‘hood with heroin, while then-aging screen idol Aldo Ray, who died in 1991, plays a corrupt cop. with an inexplicably attractive girlfriend.
“East Meets Watts” features atrocious acting, painful plotting and laughable stunts. The Cinematic Titanic crew deftly ridicules each aspect with witty pop culture references to Benny Hill, Dr. Seuss, Power Rangers and more.
The live performance in front of an enthusiastic but well-behaved crowd gives the riffing extra energy and spontaneity. Watching the crew’s faces as they dish out mockery and pull off a well-timed spit take offers far better entertainment than the movie’s absurd fight scenes.
— BAM
RiffTrax team planning Christmastime theatrical event featuring “Weird Al” Yankovic
The RiffTrax team is, from left, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and Michael J. Nelson.
The RiffTrax team of Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett will bring a Christmas rendition of their bad-movie-directed quips back to theaters this holiday season – and special guest “Weird Al” Yankovic will join them.
“RiffTrax LIVE: Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza!” will be broadcast to movie theaters nationwide at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16. The performance will be recorded for an encore event Thursday, Dec. 17.
Former “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ stars Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (Crow T. Robot), now of RiffTrax.com, will zing their wisecracking commentary at a wonderfully warped collection of Christmas short films, with the help of special guest Weird Al (pictured left).
The evening will feature a collection of new and old favorite shorts, including the bizarre animated “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” classic commercials and a musical short extolling the virtues of pork, according to a news release.
Movie theater audiences will be treated to five free digital goodies: a holiday song by the RiffTones, two downloadable shorts, an autographed digital photo of the guys and a Christmas desktop wallpaper. A URL and code will be revealed onscreen for viewers to get free digital goodies after the live event.
The RiffTrax events will be shown in four Oklahoma theaters: Oklahoma City’s AMC Quail Springs 24 and Cinemark Tinseltown, Norman’s Hollywood Spotlight 14 and Tulsa’s Cinemark Tulsa 17.
Nelson, Murphy and Corbett brought their first “RiffTrax Live” event to theaters back in August with a hilarious beatdown of “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” I attended the live show with friends, and it was great fun. The addition of venerable wisecracker Weird Al is sure to make the holiday show even more mirthful.
For more information, go to www.RiffTrax.com or www.FathomEvents.com.
-BAM
Encore broadcast of “Rifftrax: Plan 9 from Outer Space” coming to theaters Oct. 8
The “Rifftrax Live!” event that was recently broadcast into theaters across the country, including several here in Oklahoma, is returning to theaters next month. If you missed it the first time, I highly recommend attending this extremely amusing evening of comedy. I know my friends and I had a great time.
If you’re not familiar with Rifftrax, it is the latest bad-movie-bashing project of three cast members from the late, great cult series “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” To see what they’re all about, go to www.rifftrax.com.
Here’s the press release for more information:
Back by popular demand, the stars of “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ and Fathom Events present “RiffTrax: Plan 9 from Outer Space ENCORE” on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. (local time). Sign up here for an email reminder when tickets go on sale.
Who knew that the worst movie ever made would be so popular! The original evening of live riffing captured on Aug. 20 will be rebroadcast to movie theaters nationwide for one night only. Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (Crow T. Robot), now of RiffTrax.com, are even better on the big screen!
This encore event will feature the new short, “Flying Stewardess,” and non-stop hilarious riffing on a color version of “Plan 9 from Outer Space”- a 1959 science fiction/horror film written, produced and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. Don’t miss your last chance for an exciting evening of riffing, zombies, aliens, cheesy performances, wisecracks, laughable special effects and more!
This event is hosted by Veronica Belmont, the Host of Tekzilla on Revision3 and Qore on the PlayStation Network, with Musical Guest Jonathan Coulton—singer-songwriter and internet superstar—and a special segment by Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka of Something Awful.
Everyone Loves (More) Free Stuff…
All event attendees will receive free exclusive digital goodies including the “Flying Stewardess” downloadable short, an autographed digital photo of the guys, three songs by the RiffTones and an animated short of the failed Plans 1-8! A URL and code will be revealed on-screen at the end of the encore event.
Tickets go on sale Sept. 15 and are $10 each. Until then, I’m not sure which theaters here in Oklahoma will carry the event. I will try to post something about it when I know more.
—3D
