Switchblade Comb

BJ Novak is a writer, executive producer and actor on NBC’s the Office. He also has a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Inglourious Basterds.

When he is not playing Ryan, Novak can be seen headlining sold-out shows at theatres, colleges, and comedy clubs. The University of Minnesota is proud to have such an accomplished writer, actor, and producer come to campus as a part of jaMPACked, a week of events planned every semester to showcase all the MPAC offers students and the surrounding community.

Saturday, March 7
Coffman Memorial Union
9:30 PM | $5 (students), $10 (public) | 18+

Tickets available HERE at IndieTickets.com.

Saturday night, the legendary Rock & Roll Ray will be hosting the Uptown Theatre’s midnight screening of Takashi Miike’s Audition.

A lonely Japanese widower whose son is planning to move out of the house soon expresses his sadness to a friend and fellow film producer, who becomes inspired to hold an audition for a non-existent film so that the widower can select a new potential bride from the resulting audition pool. The widower ultimately becomes enamored with and fascinated by one particular young woman, but first impressions can often be horribly wrong…

Before the show, Ray will be theatrically premiering his amazing animated short film, Gore Monsters, and there will also be chances to win prizes in the PLINKO APOCALYPSE!

Audition + Gore Monsters
Saturday, February 28
Uptown Theatre
11:59 PM l $9

Audition – Trailer

Not sure what to think of this little indie, but anything that concerns the Challenger and re-teams The Wackness cast can’t be all bad.

Set in the mid-80’s when a reporter is sent to cover the Challenger Space Shuttle launch only to become mixed up in the lives of some local students.

Starring: Steve Coogan, Hilary Duff, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Molly Shannon

Trailer

This film was recently nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar and also was one of Jim Brunzell III’s top ten films of 2008.

Two very different couples, one from the city and the other from the country, are bound together by unexpected twists of fate in this taut thriller about an ex-con, Alex, who plans to help his girlfriend, Tamara, escape from a brothel and the dark life in which they are trapped. Elegantly spinning primal elements of guilt, compassion, love, revenge, faith and redemption, Revanche asks, “Whose fault is it if life doesn’t go your way?”

Director: Götz Spielmann

Release Date: Part of the upcoming Beyond Borders Film Festival, and opens June 5 in Minneapolis at the Lagoon Cinema

Trailer

Films coming soon to the Twin Cities area Landmark Theatres.

March:

06 – Watchmen (Lagoon)
06 – Cherry Blossoms (Lagoon)
06 – Black Balloon (Edina)
13 – Gomorrah (Uptown or Lagoon)
13 – Everlasting Moments (Edina)
20 – Sunshine Cleaning (Uptown)
20 – The Betrayal (Lagoon)
20 – Duplicity (Lagoon)
20 – Shuttle (Lagoon)
20 – The Great Buck Howard (Edina)
27 – Amarcord (Lagoon)
27 – Everlasting Moments (Edina)

April:

03 – 12 (Lagoon)
03 – Alien Trespass (Lagoon)
10 – The Edge of Love (Lagoon or Edina)
17 – Sin Nombre (Uptown)
17 – Moscow, Belgium (Lagoon)
17 – Paris 36 (Edina)
24 – Sugar (Lagoon)
24 – The Soloist (Lagoon)
24 – Tokyo! (Lagoon)
24 – Shall We Kiss (Edina)

May:

01 – Goodbye Solo (Lagoon)
01 – Is Anybody There? (Edina)
08 – Lymelife (Lagoon)
08 – Anvil! The Stoy of Anvil (Lagoon)
15 – Angels & Demons (Lagoon)
15 – Management (Lagoon)
15 – Tokyo Sonata (Lagoon)
22 – Adoration (Uptown)
22 – Every Little Step (Lagoon)
22 – Gigantic (Lagoon)

June:

05 – Revanche (Lagoon)
12 – Enlighten Up! (Lagoon)
19 – O’ Horten (Edina)
26 – Moon (Lagoon)

July:

10 – Whatever Works (Uptown)

August:

21 – Lorna’s Silence (Lagoon)

Newest video from Switchblade Comb’s favorite album of 2008.

In Switchblade Comb’s neverending quest to bring you the best Abraham Lincoln entertainment news, Paramount is moving ahead on Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic, despite recent rumors to the contrary.

Marvin Levy, Spielberg’s longtime publicist said. “Everyone is proceeding with great enthusiasm. The script is still being revised by Tony Kushner and our plans are now to shoot the picture later this year.”

The film is set to star Liam Neeson. No word on if the plan is to still push this out by Christmas.

The band that includes local filmmaker Jason Mitchell will be playing with the band that’s been number one in the field of success since 1993.

Happy Medium + Southtown Avengers + Spacewolf
Thursday, March 19
Eclipse Records
St. Paul, MN
7:00 PM l $4

I caught this mockumentary at last year’s Wisconsin Film Festival, and it’s very bizarre, ridiculous, and . . . well, Japanese.

A middle-aged slacker living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum, Daisato’s job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a stick-wielding giant who is entrusted with defending Japan from a host of bizarre monsters. But while his predecessors were national heroes, he is a pariah among the citizens he protects, who bitterly complain about the noise and destruction of property he causes. And Daisato has his own problems -an agent insistent on branding him with sponsor advertisements, an Alzheimer-afflicted grandfather who transforms into a giant in dirty underwear, and a family who is embarrassed by his often cowardly exploits.

Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto

Release Date: Saturday, March 28 @ 11:30 PM as the Beyond Borders Film Festival’s Saturday night Midnight Madness feature

Trailer

Congrats to TML for coming up on their second anniversary! Even bigger congrats on Sovietpanda snagging guest DJ XXXchange (Spank Rock, producer on the Kills’ Midnight Boom, etc.). I should be a dirty booty shakin’ good time.

Switchblade Comb has two pairs of tickets to give way for this Saturday. I know the cover is already cheap ($3), but every little dollar you can save in this economy helps, right?

Send me an email by midnight on Friday if you’d like to be entered into the drawing. Winners will be picked at random and notified by email. Good luck!

mojo@switchbladecomb.com

Atmosphere 2009 Tour Dates

*with P.O.S.

04.09 Missoula, MT – Wilma Theatre *
04.10 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory *
04.11 Boise, ID – Knitting Factory *
04.12 Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue *
04.14 Flagstaff, AZ – Orpheum Theater *
04.15 Tempe, AZ – Marquis Theatre *
04.17 Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre *
04.18 Indio, CA – Coachella Music and Arts Festival *
04.19 Santa Cruz, CA – Catalyst *
04.20 San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre *
04.21 Lake Tahoe, NV – Montbleu Resort and Casino *
04.23 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom *
04.24 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo *

04.25 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
04.26 Victoria, British Columbia – Element
04.28 Edmonton, Alberta – The Starlite Room
04.29 Calgary, Alberta – MacEwan Ballroom
05.01 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – The Odeon
05.02 Regina, Saskatchewan – The Riddell
05.04 Thunder Bay, Ontario – Rockhouse
05.06 Toronto, Ontario – The Phoenix
05.07 London, Ontario – Music Hall London
05.08 Montreal, Quebec – Theatre Plaza
05.09 Ottawa, Ontario – Ritual Nightclub

with Brother Ali

05.10 Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
05.12 Portland, ME – The Asylum
05.13 Boston, MA – House of Blues
05.15 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero Theatre
05.16 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
05.17 Richmond, VA – Toad’s Place
05.18 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
05.19 Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
05.21 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
05.22 Omaha, NE – Slowdown

No Minneapolis date yet.

Mojo Marshall: Brother Ali added to tour. Also there is no Minneapolis date, but Sound Set 2009 is on 5/24. I’m sure they’ll be involved again somehow this year.