Category: Kevin

As I wrap up my final week at BU and look back at my time, I only have 1 regret. It’s hard for me to admit, and I’m honestly quite ashamed, but it’s time I said it…

I never went to a screening of The Room.

Coolidge Corner Theater has midnight screenings a couple times throughout the semester, and rumor has it Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sistero have made surprise appearances in the past.

Now that I’m graduating, I have only 1 goal: to get a cameo as Mike in James Franco’s Disaster Artist, the movie about the movie about nothing. Rumor has it Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Kate Upton, Josh Hutcherson, and Zac Efron have all signed on, and I think I’d fit right into that cast.

If you haven’t already seen the room, here’s all you need to know:

• ·      Tommy Wiseau claims to have financed the film by importing and selling leather jackets from Korea. He refuses to further elaborate on this.
• ·      Shot simultaneously on 35 mm film and high-definition video. Tommy Wiseau was confused about the differences between the formats, so he used both cameras on the same mount. He also purchased the cameras, instead of renting them as film productions usually do.
• ·      Mark (Greg Sestero) is named after Matt Damon. According to Sestero, Tommy Wiseau misheard the actor’s name despite his obsession with the actor.
• ·      Entire scenes were out of focus because nobody bothered to check the lens.

(these are all entirely real, from IMDB.)

To check out the Coolidge’s schedule of screenings, you can click here.

Don’t make my mistake and graduate without experiencing The Room gloriously projected onto the large screen.

The mid-semester slump is real. The stretch between Columbus Day and Thanksgiving can start to feel like you’re on mile 25 of a marathon. Luckily, there are some easy tips and tricks you can do to keep yourself motivated and your spirits high.

1. Go for a walk

• It sounds cliché and boring, but give it a try. Stand up from that desk you’ve been sitting at all day, and just go for a walk. Doesn’t have to be long, can just be down the street. But while you’re on that walk, let your mind wander. Maybe think about the fact that in a month, there will be a new Star Wars movie. A brand new Star Wars. Directed by J.J. Abrams.

2. Make your favorite food

• There’s nothing like having your favorite comfort food on a cold fall day. No matter what it is, your favorite food will always put you in a better mood. Maybe it’s some mac and cheese, or maybe it’s some tomato soup as red as Kylo Ren’s lightsaber. Did you see that thing? Remember in the first trailer when he lit it up and we were all like “oh, ok,” but then the crossguard lit up and we were like “WHOAAA???” Yeah, we’ll get to see more of that in a month. Over 2 hours of it. How awesome is that??

3. Go to Fitrec

• It’s been scientifically proven that exercise will improve your mood and energy. It’s hard sometimes to get the motivation to go in the first place, it seems like the last thing you want to do is get all sweaty and tired like John Boyega was in that first Force Awakens trailer. Why was he dressed like a Storm Trooper though? I mean, obviously it’s been what, 30 years since the originals? So they clones can’t be the troopers anymore, but is he a rouge trooper? The later trailers make it seem like he’s a good guy, so maybe he was in disguise like Luke and Han in Episode IV?

4. Hang out with friends

• It’s easy to get so caught up in work, you forget to just get out and have fun. And nobody likes that friend who’s never around, kind of like how Luke Skywalker hasn’t been in any of the posters or trailers. Where is he? Did he turn to the dark side? There was that one shot in the first trailer where we saw R2D2 and somebody with a robotic hand, maybe that was him? He lost his right hand in Empire Strikes Back so it totally could be him, but we didn’t see his face so who knows. Also, how cool was it that they used the voiceover from Return of the Jedi? Super cool.

The film student’s dilemma: I want to go to the theater, but dropping $10 every time I want to see a movie doesn’t exactly mesh with my “broke college student” budget.

The solution? The magical world of pre-screenings. You’ve probably gotten emails from the Film/TV department about a couple, but if you keep an eye out, a good amount of movies will have free promotional screenings a few weeks before they come out in theaters. Most of the time they do them to build hype, so the most you’ll have to do is fill out a slip with what you thought of the movie.

Check a few of these sites:

• Gofobo.com – probably the best website to check, you can put in your zip code and it will tell you all the screenings and how to get into them. (The majority are open to the public, but some are based on contests)

• Advancescreenings.com – Similar to Gofobo, but it seems like gofobo usually has a longer list.

• Facebook – A lot of studios have on-campus reps, and they’ll have Facebook pages like Universal at BU or Warner Bros. at BU. They’ll post about screenings that are exclusive to BU students, so just bring your ID along and you’re good to go.

An added bonus of some of these screenings is that actors/directors will come along and do Q&A’s sometimes, so you can do a quick write-up and count it as a cinematheque. (Plus bragging rights to your friends when you get a selfie with actors.) You’d be surprised by the amount of big-name movies that have screenings—so far this semester I’ve gotten to see Black Mass and The Martian, and Steve Jobs is having one at the theater by the common this Thursday (10/8).