The beautiful Bob Suicide (of Suicide Girl fame) and ChinaShop staple, Chris Gore got a little over-zealous while in vegas. And while there was a vast amount of drinking, eating, and Elvis involved, amongst the bad ideas, came a brilliant set of tantilizing photos. Ah, you have to love a weekend in Vegas well spent.
Although the marriage was short lived, the photos (god bless em) will live on forever.
We came.
We saw.
We drank.
We saw some movies.
We got drunk.
We went to some parties and red carpet events.
We got even more drunk.
And some of us got so drunk we thought it might be funny after seeing The Hangover if we made out with someone named Bob. That was me. It’s not a surprise to say that movies have had an influence on my life… for good and for bad. But I never expected to get so hammered that going to Graceland Chapel for a ceremony would seem like a good idea. I was there for a film festival and only saw The Hangover a week earlier which is a movie set in Vegas, yet not screening at CineVegas, but somehow I ended up at that chapel.
There’s a lot more to the tale, but CineVegas was a whirlwind of amazing A-list stars, epic parties and memorable movies. In fact, I was happy to learn that my festival favorites went on to win awards. Easier with Practice took the Grand Jury Prize with Godspeed getting a Special Jury Award and All In: The Poker Movie was awarded the Documentary Jury Prize. What makes CineVegas special is not just the hospitality, parties and movies – it’s the city itself. Anything can happen. But not everything stays there as anyone who has had photos of their drunken escapades posted on the internet can attest. Um, like me.
I am happy to note that after the dust cleared and I woke up with my “wife” Bob next to me, one detail was overlooked. Our marriage license was never notarized or certified or even made legal. In short, we had a great time , but somehow in my drunken stupor, I avoided the one detail that would have led to real trouble. So while my alcohol-induced glaze drove me to do something stupid… it also saved me from making that stupid thing real. Which means the next round is on me, I’m a single man again!
I’ll always remember… um…. most of CineVegas 2009. 2009! And what I don’t remember, there’s photos to prove I that I did indeed have a time to remember.
Words by Chris Gore
As many of you know, Chris Gore is the Film Curator here at ChinaShop. We recently traveled to Las Vegas to cover the Cinevegas film festival - It might have been the heavy dose of oxygen pumped into the casino’s air systems that drove him to be so impulsive or maybe it was the bartender with the heavy pour making the poolside margaritas that melted away his inhibitions – but the next thing we knew, Bob was in town and Elvis was singing Fools Rush In. it’s all been a blur , luckily Gore got ChinaShop photographer Zoetica Ebb to document the fateful night. Like any good publisher I felt it only right if we shared a bit of his joy with the rest of the world, at least we think Elvis would have wanted it that way – Amen.
Davy Mitchell is on a dull road trip with his brother to promote stories from his unpublished book. Davy the writer is the intellectual who wears his heart on his sleeve. His younger brother Sean is just along for the easy girls that Davy doesn’t have the guts to bang, much less approach. When Davy receives a random phone call from a sexy-sounding woman named Nicole, the conversation quickly devolves into nasty phone sex. Both Davy and the voice on the other end finish their virgin phone call… and it’s really hot. This scene is intense (seen in one long shot does not cut) as Davy and Nicole discuss what goes where and how and what they’re touching and how that after awhile you’ll feel dirty just for listening in. Nicole continues to call Davy, at sometimes awkward times, but no matter how intimate their conversations get, she keeps her identity a secret.
The Mirage Casino has a little club called The Beatles Revolution Lounge. It sits next to the theater where Cirque du Soleil performs their homage to the Beatles with a show called Love. In fact, Cirque du Soleil actually created the space, meant to evoke a club out of London in the 1960’s, with a touch of the psychedelic and a dash of the Yellow Submarine (although much to their credit its neither yellow nor blatantly submarine-esque).
Imagine my surprise when I got invited there for an evening of true Hip-Hop integrity, complete with a B-Boy competition, vinyl spinning DJ, and the legendary Mr. Freeze from the original break-dancing visionaries, The Rock Steady Crew. You get an invite like that you simply can’t refuse.
“He never wins. At anything! He never even wins at those cheap lottery scratch cards.”
Steve Buscemi does not do funny things. Steve Buscemi does not say funny things. Steve Buscemi is just funny. Buscemi has always shined in even the smallest role in films like Reservoir Dogs and The Big Lebowski, but he shines brightest in his leading role in Saint John of Las Vegas by first-time director Hue Rhodes. If silent film star Buster Keaton is the model for deadpan loser humor, than Buscemi is the modern day equivalent.
Steve plays John, a lowly insurance claims officer cursed with the worst luck in the world. He’s not just a loser, he is an epic fail. His keys don’t work. He can’t open the door at work. He never wins. At anything! He never even wins at those cheap lottery scratch cards. He’s not just stuck in cubicle, he’s stuck in his life.
Charlie is a faith healer just out to do some good and lift the spirits of those he encounters. But after his family is brutally and randomly murdered, even the faith healer can lose faith. Charlie is truly lost after his loss, until a woman named Sarah enters his life. She may be leading him to salvation… or to those who killed his loved ones. Betrayal leads to violence in its most brutal forms… including crushing another human’s skull in one of those turn-your-head-away-and-plug-your-ears types of scenes. At least for the squeamish.
Godspeed is one of those simple thrillers that excels in the way that all great thrillers do – the most intense scenes involve two people talking. Take away the gunplay and the violence and the blood, the really engaging drama occurs two actors create a moment so intense you can feel a pin drop… if there were a pin around.
Words by Chris Gore
The CineVegas Film Festival calls itself the “Most Dangerous Film Festival in the World.” Having attended more than 100 festivals worldwide where I’ve heard the hype and seen the promotions and the marketing, I will say that CineVegas is not fucking kidding. Not one damn bit. I’ve been coming to CineVegas more than five years if memory serves and it probably doesn’t because, well, it’s Vegas and drinking is involved, so it might be seven years. Anyway, that doesn’t matter, what really matters is that no other film festival can provide the kind of danger… the kind of bad that is so good… like gambling and strippers and clubs and parties and depravity. You’ll find some of those elements in the films and the ones you miss can be found anywhere in Vegas.
