In Philadelphia, we have the cheesesteak. I have personally seen people argue about where to get the best cheesesteak and how it should be made (wit? onions?) for hours at a time. In Chicago it is deep dish pizza. In the south it’s barbeque. Every area has that one food that is distinctly theirs and theirs alone. And in Sweden it is the semlor.

Originally a pre-Lent dessert, it has since become a treat you can enjoy in Sweden all year long. For those that don’t know, a semlor is a puff pastry filled with almond paste and whipped cream, served alongside strong coffee. Swedes have been know to compete to see who can make the best semlor and take part is surveys to find the best in town.

Now you can find out what all the fuss is about as the American Swedish Historical Museum presents Selmor and a Movie on Saturday, February 18th. For $12 in advance or $15 at the door you can enjoy some fresh made selmor and coffee and watch a movie at the same time. Not a bad deal at all.

The American Swedish Historical Museum is located at 1900 Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia and they ask that you RSVP by February 13th. So put down your bagel or cheesesteak and go try something new. You might find that you have a new favorite dessert before the night is over.

The American Swedish Historical Museum
www.americanswedish.org

When doing pre-production on a film, one of the most important things to do before your cameras start to roll is the script read through.  The read through is a great way to not only let the actors practice their parts and get a feel for their characters; but it also gives the director and writer a chance to see if the dialogue works and feels natural.

The Dysfunctional Screenwriters Society, a screenwriting/networking group in Philadelphia is holding an event called “The Big A** Read Through” at The Free Library of Philadelphia on February 22 from 6-9pm. The event will take scripts submitted by local screenwriters and pick 4 to have read aloud by local actors. There will also be a seminar by Adam Lebovitz speaking about the pre-production process and his experience in the film industry.

So check out their official website to submit your 10-30 page script to try and get it read at the event.

The 16th annual Israeli Film Festival is back, showcasing Israeli life and culture from February 25th through April 1st.

With screenings of 9 films in venues throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, the six-week Festival features prize-winning films exclusively by Israeli filmmakers. The Festival celebrates Israeli cinema with the aim of enriching the American vision of Israeli culture and society through film.

For a list of the films playing and advanced ticket sales check out their website at www.iffphila.com. A limited number of free tickets for high school and college students are available for each screening and can be reserved online as well.

The 16th Annual Israeli Film Festival
February 25th – April 1st, 2012
www.iffphila.com

If you’re a genre fan in Philadelphia, there are two events that have become mandatory throughout the year. The first being Exhumed Films 24 Hour Horror-thon and the second being Exhumed Films eX-Fest; now in its second year.

I attended last year’s eX-Fest, which was 12 hours of some really rare and amazing exploitation from almost every sub-genre you could possible think of… and a few I never even imagined.

Well, tickets just went on sale last week for this year’s iteration of eX-Fest and I can’t wait to see what the guys at Exhumed Films have in store for us. eX-Fest will take place at the iHouse on Sunday, April 29th from 11:00am until 11:00pm and tickets are a mere $25 for 12 hours films all projected in 35mm.

My only suggestion is if you are thinking about going, getting your tickets sooner than later. It seems like as word continues to spread about Exhumed these events they tend to sell out quicker and quicker. Get your tickets here, while they last!

Luck. Some folks seem to have it all, some can’t ever catch a break. Longshot, that clown from X-Factor? That guy is lucky. What if the reason some of us always have a rain cloud over our head is that there’s some dude following us around dishing out bad luck as the justice of the gods. Hey, you don’t know. Think about it. Dynamic Films wants to explore the possibility, Christopher Nolan style. Check it out:

The film is about a supernatural being, Agent Reckless, who’s in charge of distributing bad luck amongst humans and must now force The Mob into the path of self-destruction.

The film is about the properties of luck and chance, not only in our daily lives, but in reality as a whole. Agent Reckless represents a less powerful version of God; while over seeing the destruction of a mob known as “The Zodiacs,” Reckless’ sympathy for humanity makes it difficult to execute his mission, and his victims.

It is a poetic film with many characters and many motivations, all leading to powerful consequences.

The film is an homage to directors Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino, combined with the influence of several other filmmakers, The King of Hearts will be a “Supernatural Western.”

Oh, and one more thing. I’ve been assured there will be an explosion. A real one. Not bad for an indie film. Boom.

The Project: King of Hearts, a short film

Creator: Nathan Kadish and Antonio Jimenez

The Sweet Spot: You can get involved for just $5 bucks, which will get you a shout out and a link to a previous Antonio Jimenez joint, “It’s Tough Being Gareth.” At the $25 level you can snag a DVD of the film itself.

Funding Deadline: March 23rd, 2012

More Info: You can check out the Kickstarter page.

Every Monday Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by locals. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

Mega Bad Movie Night comes lumbering into the Academy of Natural Sciences next Thursday, February 9th, and will be poking fun at the second Jurassic Park film, The Lost World.

I’m psyched for another night of Mystery Science Theater 3000-esque hilarity with the Academy’s brilliant scientists, as they spend the evening pointing out the inaccuracies in the film. Make sure you show up early (doors open at 6:30pm), as the Academy’s staff will be showing a number of fossils from their vast Paleontology Collection.

Now, giveaway time.

I’ve got three sets of two tickets to dish out thanks to the folks at the Academy. How can you enter? Easy. Just leave a comment captioning the photo below. My three favorite entries will score a set of passes for two. I’ll contact the winners on Monday.

Good luck!

Mega-Bad Movie Night: Jurassic Park
Thursday, February 9th
mbmnthelostworld.eventbrite.com

Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 299-1009
www.ansp.org

If you missed the sold-out limited engagement of Resurrect Dead when it played International House this past September, you’re in luck. This week’s Movie Monday event at the Trocadero will be a screening of the flick that will also serve as its DVD release party.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Resurrect Dead is an acclaimed documentary from Philly-based director Jon Foy (whose work earned him an award at the 2011 Sundance Festival) about the Toynbee Tiles. These mysterious plagues that are placed throughout our city’s streets, as well as those of other major metropolis areas and as far away as Brazil, contain variations on a message that reads “TOYNBEE IDEA IN KUBRICK 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER.”

The otherworldly messages caught the eye of Philadelphia artist Justin Duerr, and his search to find their creator/decipher their meaning provides Resurrect Dead with much of its drama. Investigating the mystery with an assortment of other creative individuals from our area, Justin embarks on a strange journey that is downright Lynchian at times. (Which is fitting given how Erasherhead was a “dream of dark and troubling things” that was directly inspired by Lynch’s time spent living in the City of Brotherly Love).

Directly following the screening, Foy will host a Q&A session that will certainly shed even more light on this uniquely Philadelphian mystery and the lives it has touched….and continues to.

Movie Monday: Resurrect Dead
Monday, February 6, 7pm. $3

The Trocadero
1003 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
www.thetroc.com

The saddest thing about all the recent press for Red Tails are the bitter fanboys who seem to be using it as a chance to rage against George Lucas for the recent Star Wars Blu-ray release, rather than talk about what is a very important film.

Yes, Red Tails happens to be the long-in-gestation passion project produced by the creator of Star Wars. But like The Tuskegee Airmen it portrays, George Lucas also faced great adversity… in Hollywood, to the tune of paying for the $58 million film out of pocket.

The film is a pulpy look back at the 332nd Fighter Group in World War 2, The Tuskegee Airmen, also known as the Red Tails due the distinctive paint on the tails of their planes. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. This film focuses on a very specific period in the history of the Airmen to give audiences the most bang for its buck.

Red Tails picks up with The Tuskegee Airmen while they are based in Italy doing meaningless reconnaissance missions with hand-me-down planes, frustrated at their place in the war. The film then follows them as they take on mission after mission in order to prove themselves and their race to both the United States Army and the world.

Red Tails features a great ensemble cast led by Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr., and even has a guest appearance by my favorite meth producing science teacher Bryan Cranston. The film is beautifully shot and while George Lucas didn’t direct it, you can definitely see some heavy influences from a galaxy far, far away (see the flight battles). And while the characters are indeed a bit cliché, they tread a very fine line from turning into simple stereotypes.

Red Tails for what it is, is a lot of fun. The film decides early on to stay away from being too preachy or heavy-handed with its message and sticks to being a fun action/adventure flick. For that reason I can definitely see this film going on to being shown in schools and classrooms because it’s a history lesson that will definitely entertain while it educates. I gladly give Red Tails a 4 out of 5 stars.

If Starship Troopers has taught me anything, it is ‘know your enemy’. Let’s face it, bugs are out to destroy us all so we better learn as much as we can about them before their flesh eating giant alien cousins come visit us.

The Academy of Natural Sciences is the perfect place to learn about creepy crawly insects. Entomology Curatorial Assistant, Greg Cowper, and Live Invertebrate Specialist, Karen Verderame, explain why they collect bugs and butterflies at the Academy, how to treat different kinds of insect specimens, and the uses of the specimens in research and education.

Learn how to pin a specimen and take it home. Freak out your roommate. Scare random girls on the street. It’s good to instill some fear for the impending invasion. Or you could just start your own insect collection.

For more information, visit the Academy of Natural Sciences’ official website.

Pinning & Preserving @ the Academy of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 6:30–9:30 pm
Teachers can earn three Act 48 credits
www.ansp.org/adult-programs/workshops.php

Last month I chatted with Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, the Swedish directing duo behind the fourth entry in the Underworld franchise Underworld: Awakening. The first Underworld film in my opinion was A LOT of fun and really added something new to the then tired vampire vs. werewolf sub-genre of horror.

But like all franchises you deal with the law of diminishing returns, and by the third film Kate Beckinsale was no longer starring and some people argue the franchise had gotten pretty far off the beaten track. Well, looks like for number four they are rebooting the franchise with Kate back in the lead and a firm goal to give the people what they expect from an Underworld film, and in 3D no less.

I hope you enjoy this interview with two well known Swedish directors coming into a very established US franchise, trying to breathe some fresh life into it.

So how did you guys come about directing Underworld: Awakening?

Björn: Our agent was representing one of the writers who was writing with us and working on the script. We weren’t on their list of directors they were thinking about.

But we looked at the script, read it and really liked it.

We were fans of the prior films as well and really worked on our pitch and then they got to see our little Swedish film called Storm (A great little sci-fi flick!) and pretty quickly after that we got a call from Gary Lucchesi who is one of the producers and he was really excited because they thought we hit on some of the notes that they were concerned about.

After that we had a conference call with Len Wiseman who is the creator of the series and we found we were very similar in the backgrounds of stuff that we liked with regards to films, music and things like that.  He really responded well to Storm and after that meeting we hit the ground running, scouting locations in Vancouver. These things usually take months and years, but it took us a couple of weeks.

Photo by: Bobby Quillard

When it comes to a fourth film in the franchise such as Underworld: Awakening, what goes into coming up with a fresh approach to the material?

Måns: That is a good question, it’s not number three the end of a trilogy, its number four; and that means the beginning of something else. So in our pitch to Lakeshore and Screen Gems we were very clear on the fact that yes it is Underworld and people need to recognize that they come back to these films for certain things.

But we also need to bring new stuff to people, because we need to re-invent ourselves. I think that balance that we suggested to them was exactly what they were looking for. But in this film we do have Kate and she is equal in people’s minds to what Underworld is.

She is back, but the locations, the surroundings and the look is new. We did think we needed to bring in more creatures, we can’t just have Lycans we need more different Lycans. We also spent a lot of time coming up with some new weaponry and vampire mythology.

So what was it about the script that brought Kate Beckinsale back into the lead? (Some spoilers in the answer below)

Måns: I think it was the fact that there was a new side of her; she meets what turns out to be her daughter. It’s complex and it brings out emotions in the character that you had never seen before.

I think it was fun for her as an actor to try and portray that and going from being this extremely hard death dealer, to being faced with motherhood. I think it was a challenge for her and I think she liked that and that is why she came back.

Did you feel it was important as a franchise to refocus on her character?

Måns: I think the fun part about part 3 is it shifted and you were more on the Lycan’s side. But the audience loves their Selene and so do we.

So what’s the difference between making a smaller film like Storm in Sweden and a mega-budget film like Underworld: Awakening?

Måns: It’s such a bigger machine and with this comes more politics. With more money comes more opinions and that is something that is definitely new to us.

In Sweden we are directors and we decide everything, here we have to take in account that people paid a huge amount of money to have their opinion heard. I can understand that, but I am not used it. It’s a lot more of a political game sometimes I would say that is the biggest difference.

I think its great you’re shooting in 3D instead of post-converting the film; which seems to be a death wish in the 3D film market.

Björn: Yeah we are shooting with the Red: Epic cameras, which are very high resolution and it actually helps the 3D experience. We don’t like those post-converted movies either. But this high quality we feel it takes away that kind of  muddy VHS feeling you have on some other 3D films.  So it is much clearer.

Are you shooting your 3D in the standard 24 frames? I know the Red: Epic is capable of a higher frame rate.

Björn: Because the camera was so new we only did 24. At the beginning of the shoot it could only do 24 and at the end it could do 120.  We will be the first 3D shot on the Red: Epic though. I think people will watch it and say hey that was different and much cooler.

Do you mind chatting a bit about Shelter, your first US film? Will that be getting a release in the near future?

Björn: Here is the long story short, when you do a movie the later you sell it the more money you can get. So you can sell it before, during or when it’s done.  The producers felt that it was turning out to be a great film so they waited. Then the big bank crash came and all the distributors weren’t allowed to buy anything.

So it was hanging on hiatus and after a couple of months we had Summit pick it up and they couldn’t distribute it themselves so they had to have a partner to take the P&A, the print and advertising. Then it was all fine and supposed to get released and 2 months later the company that was supposed to do the P&A suddenly went bankrupt.  The problem was most of the world was already lined up for the American release, because most marketing happens here and then it goes to the other countries. So most of the countries waited for the release, but a couple of countries such as the UK and Japan went ahead and released it anyway because they had a schedule for that.

Then finally the Weinsteins pick it up and they think its great, and they are going to release it. Posters and trailers were made and one month before the release the cinema chains here say no, because its been released in Japan and the UK on DVD. So they halted the release and right now it’s floating in space.

We haven’t given up hope, because you never know. There is still a part of me praying for a cinema release here.

How does that make you feel as a filmmaker it has to be frustrating?

 Måns: It’s insanely frustrating, mostly because it’s such a great movie.

It’s Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in a very classy supernatural thriller. We are extremely proud of this little child of ours and he isn’t allowed to come to school.

 Björn: This is the way it goes sometimes. It wasn’t because it was bad and people wanted to bury it, it was just bad luck.  At one point you just say screw it, let’s move on.

Yeah, because if it was that bad they wouldn’t have given you Underworld?

Both: (Laughs) Yes!

Finally, what mark do you guys hope to leave on the Underworld franchise?

Måns: We truly enjoy as directors doing different stuff.  We have done horror and sci-fi and when this one came up this is definitely action. We wanted to do one hell of an action movie and leave the audience with an action experience, like they have never had before.

Photo by: Bobby Quillard