The Results Are In: Announcing the Winners of the 2010 Loonies!!!

That's right, my faithfully-committed, this is the day we've been waiting for: after six weeks of anticipation and more than 500 votes, it's at long last time to announce the winners of the first ever Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films. This first class of winners will go down in history and their names will echo across time just like Wings, Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor. In addition to winning the accolades of their fans and the envy of their contemporaries, Looney winners receive, well, nothing physical, but those other things really are pretty cool. A reminder that the Loonies were voted for solely by Committed readers, and you have my word as a Southerner, a gentleman and an Asylum fanatic that the results have been in no way modified. So get your screen maximized, pump something with a little pomp and circumstance on your iTunes (i chose lil wayne's "right above it") and scroll down, winners await you!

Best Supporting Actress - Lindsey McKeon - Airline Disaster

 

Best Supporting Actor - Jude Gerard-Prest - Mega Piranha

 

Best Performance by a Non-Human - Mega Piranha (collective) - Mega Piranha

 

Best Script - Shane Van Dyke - Titanic II

 

Best Actress - Tiffany - Mega Piranha

 

Best Actor - Barry Bostwick - 2010: Moby Dick

 

Best Director - Eric Forsberg - Mega Piranha

 

drum roll please...

Best Feature - Mega Piranha

 

I can assure you that each of these races came down to single-digit differentials, and for the most part every nominee got at least a handful of votes. I think this illustrates just how satisfied we as Asylum fans were with last year's output: they were all so good, we truly had a hard time deciding which one we liked best. But the results speak for themselves, and the big winner this first year is Mega Piranha, walking away with an astounding five of eight Loonies, and a slightly more astounding five of six nominations.

Big shout out to all the winners, and indeed all the nominees; this was the biggest, most spectacular year in The Asylum's history, and it was the contributions of all the nominees - and scores of others that I heartlessly left unnominated - who helped make it happen. So really they're all winners, and the prize is getting to work for the best independent studio in Hollywood.

Thanks to everybody who voted, who commented, and who helped spread the word. Special thanks, as always, to The Asylum for letting me draft off their success, and if any of the winners would like to post an acceptance speech in the comments below, feel free! No cut-off music! 

My Looney Picks: Committed's Favorties of 2010

I want it stated right off the bat and underlined for effect: these are NOT the official results for the 2010 Looney Awards. They ARE NOT. These are merely my personal picks in each category, and I should also add that though they are being posted today, I made my selections more than a month ago, so they have been in no way influenced by the actual results, which will be released tomorrow.

NOT THE LOONEY RESULTS!!!!!

I think I've made myself clear.





Now then, on to the festivities:


Best Supporting Actress

Lindsey McKeon - Airline Disaster

As Special Agent Gina Vitale, McKeon brought a ferocious capability to her character, crafting a complex woman who was simultaneously strong, severe, and sexy. McKeon is no stranger to Asylum films - see also The Land That Time Forgot - but hopefully now that she's an award-winning actress, they can boost her up from supporting roles to a full-on lead. 










Best Supporting Actor

Geoff Meed - 6 Guns

Easily this year's vilest (human) villain, Geoff Meed has made quite the name for himself over at The Asylum playing an array of gruff, tough, general badass characters (I Am Omega, 100 Million BC, Airline Disaster). In 6 Guns, his savagery is matched only by his intensity, and Mr. Meed transforms himself into a terror truly worth undertaking the drastic measures our widow heroine chooses to undertake; he is truly a villain worth killing.  







Best Script

 Paul Bales - Sherlock Holmes

Tackling a character like Sherlock Holmes is hard enough: easily one of the most beloved in all of literature, there is a disciplined intelligence to the stories of Holmes that is the character's own, and to write for such a man requires strict adherence to that intelligence. Well, Bales not only stayed true to the character, he infused the story with some of the author's other literary affectations - like dinosaurs - and even found a way to tie in a plot line resonant of Hollywood-Holmes Robert Downey Jr.'s other recent blockbuster franchise.






Best Nonhuman

Moby Dick - 2010: Moby Dick

Just as big as Mega Shark, just as ferocious as Crocosaurus, and laced with a mammalian intellect that dwarfs even the super-smart school mentality of the Mega Piranha, Moby Dick was a big ol' badass with a snowhilled hump riddled with centuries' worth of harpoons. Vengeful, merciless and damn-near unstoppable; in other words, the perfect villain.


Best Actress

Sage Mears - 6 Guns

More than any other female character this year, Ms. Mears' Selina Stevens, violated widow turned wrathful force of vengeance, carried the brunt of her film's emotional weight almost solely upon her own shoulders. And this was no easy weight to bear: over the films 95 minutes she's required to be a happy mother and loving wife, a victim of unimaginable horrors, a hopeless, reckless drunk, a petulant, impatient pupil and finally a cold, calm, calculated vigilante. Not bad for her first film.







Best Actor

Barry Bostwick - 2010: Moby Dick

Who else? As great as the other nominees in this category were, no one matched the on-screen intensity Bostwick brought to conflicted Captain Ahab. I mean, Gregory Peck played the role to near perfection, not to mention the likes of Patrick Stewart and (upcoming) William Hurt; these were no small shoes ("shoe," I guess is more appropriate) to step into. But Bostwick made the character his own, granting him a fevered passion the likes of which had never been captured by other actors. Plus, he made his own harpoon gun! There is nothing cooler than that. Nothing.





Best Director

Rachel Lee Goldenberg - Sherlock Holmes


This was the toughest category, in my estimation, but when all was said and done, it was the direction by Ms. Goldenberg I found to be the most enjoyable, the most thrilling, and the most stylish. Sherlock Holmes had a look all its own, delightfully Victorian with a healthy dash of steampunk aesthetics that set its helmer just ahead of the pack. Furthermore, her ability to pace and guide what could arguably have been the year's most serpentine and intricate plot is also worth touting. 


Best Feature

2010: Moby Dick

I suppose in the interest of total disclosure I should remind my readers that I have such a devotion to the novel by Herman Melville this film is based on - the greatest novel ever penned by an American - that I have a very tasteful scrimshaw-esque tattoo of said whale on my right forearm. But my body art aside, 2010: Moby Dick was easily the most enjoyable film - for me, at least - of the year. The plot was faithful to the original while establishing a wholly unique world, the acting was top-notch, the FX brutally awesome and the direction, by Mr. Trey Stokes, helped artfully tie all these elements together into a veritable bouquet of a killer whale movie (not Orca, but, you know...). An ambitious undertaking from the get-go, 2010: Moby Dick fired on all cylinders and succeeded on all fronts.



So there you have it, my personal picks for the best of Asylum's 2010 films. Agree with me? Disagree? If so, hold your tongue, because the real winners will be announced tomorrow, noontime here on the West Coast. See you then!

Last Chance to Vote for the 2010 Loonies!

This is it, your very last chance to register your votes for the first ever Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films; in approximately 48 hours, your opportunity to be a part of history vanishes.

So take one last look at the nominees and email your selections to 2010Loonies@gmail.com before midnight wherever you live on Wednesday, February 2nd, Groundhog Day here in the states. Friday, February 4th, five short days from now, the official winners will be announced at noon, PST. 

Before that, however, on Thursday, I'll be posting my personal picks in each category, a sort of Committed's Best of 2010. The Asylum put out a lot of great films last year, written, directed by and starring some ridiculously talented and imaginative people. Show them you appreciate their efforts by casting your votes now.

Democracy Now!

Time Running Out to Vote for Loonies!

There are only ten (10) days left in which to vote for the First Annual Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films. So far I've counted more than 500 votes across the eight categories, but each category is still pretty tight, with first and last place in each being separated by no more than a dozen votes. So whether you like them action, sci-fi, horror, western, faith-oriented, sexually hilarious or mega-extreme, check out the list of nominees at the above link then email your votes to 2010Loonies@gmail.com and participate in what is easily the most important award show of our, and no doubt every other, era of human civilization.

Keep Democracy Alive!

Just a Reminder: Get Your Votes In!!!

 The voting period for the 1st Annual Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films still has a few weeks left before time runs out, so if you haven't submitted your votes yet, check out the nominees and let your voice be heard!

Voting ends February 2nd, winners announce February 4th!

Birthday Wishes to Writer/Actor Geoff Meed!

On this final day of the year Committed would like to extend birthday wishes to writer/actor/one-day-director/multiple-Looney-award-nominee Geoff Meed, of I Am Omega, 6 Guns, and Airline Disaster fame, next to be seen in the fifth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast Five, set for release April 29th, 2011. Mr. Meed is also currently writing his next script, an as-yet unrevealed SyFy original movie.

So Happy Birthday, Mr. Meed, and may you have a prosperous, action-packed year!

observation notes: 7 Adventures of Sinbad

"The Original Prince of Persia," boasts the box for this gem, though truthfully it's more a tie-in to the recent disaster in the Gulf than to the Gyllenhaal-Disney flick, if anything. Either way, The Asylum's take tells the story of wealthy, handsome, gadabout energy entrepreneur Adrian Sinbad (Patrick Muldoon), who, at the beginning of the film, at least, is a bit of an Ebeneezer Scrooge meets Jay Gatsby, a money-centric megalomaniac in serious need of being taken down a peg or two. When eco-terrorists take over one of his ships, Sindbad - fulfilling his CEO duties, I guess - takes actions into his own hands. But when the chopper he's taking to said ship encounters a freak storm en route, it goes down in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but not before Sinbad catches a glimpse of his ship being crushed and pulled under by a motherfucking kraken. Game on.

As one might expect, the survivors of the chopper crash wash ashore on an uninhabited(?), uncharted, unusual (or as Jules Verne might have put it, "Mysterious") island. It isn't too long before our uber-pampered, pretty-boy trust-funder finds himself in a situation in which his money and power don't account for shit, thus rendering him pitifully overwhelmed:

"Crab!..Crab!..Big crab!" - actual dialogue

 Our hero had better learn to get his panic in check however, as the strange goings-on are only going to get stranger thanks to a series - 7 - of travails - or adventures - young Mr. Sinbad must accomplish if he is to save his compatriots and indeed the world from the mechanisms of an ancient apocalyptic prophecy, return home again, to the real world, restore honor to his family name, and find within himself the better man he was meant to be. What these adventures are, or if and how he surpasses them? The things of spoilers, so I relent.

Overall, I found this to be a pretty inventive script - written, as was the film directed, by Ben Hayflick, a former scribe for the Onion News Network, and Adam Silver, an Asylum employee best known for his cinematographic work on films like The Apocalypse, Megafault and the upcoming Princess and the Pony - laced with twists and turns and homages to everything from The 7th Adventure of Sinbad to Mysterious Island to "Lost" to The Most Dangerous Game to The Odyssey. It was a little slow to start - to me, at least - but once Sinbad and crew find themselves on the island, things move more rapidly and grow more intense, unfurling into one action-packed sequence after another.

As such, a lot is required of the FX in this movie, and for my money, they don't disappoint: helicopters, flying creatures galore, winged fire demons, waterspouts and tornadoes, landmasses that turn out to be whales - that's right, fucking whales! - giant crabs and the Looney-award-nominated Cyclops (which moves like Ray Harryhausen must have imagined in his most lucid daydreams: fluid, formidable, palpable and perilous, A+ work for this market), they all look awesome. The actors' reactions to them, not always so awesome, but that's a minor flaw, and technical at that, so should in no way detract from what are otherwise mostly capable performances.


Patrick Muldoon ("Melrose Place," Starship Troopers, Ice Spiders) as Sinbad delivers the stone-coldest one-liners this side of David Caruso, and he's a little to slimy-seeming to ever be believable as a truly good guy, but say what you will, the guy looks the part, and he's got a helluva jawline. A kind of poor-man's Christian Bale, Muldoon strikes the right balance here between villain and hero, confident but uncertain, and as such is a triumph.

But the real spotlight-stealer here is Looney-award-nominated supporting actress Kelly O' Leary, who according to IMDB has only one other credit to her name, an episode of "Mad Men" in 2008. This is a travesty, as Ms. O'Leary portrayed the overburdened assistant to Sinbad as regal, adaptive, stern but relatable, potent and feisty and more than capable to stand her own ground in these adventures. She is much more than a beautiful face, and turns this role into one of the stronger supporting females parts in all of The Asylum's filmography. Please Asylum, get her back, and soon.

Rounding out the cast is the lovely Sarah Desage as Loa, the native islander girl who is harsh and hard but heart-breakingly human, a kind of evolution from the native women in 100 Million B.C., who were still a little primal in terms of expression; Ms. Desage not only supplies the more obvious eye-candy, but becomes more than that with her earnest portrayal of a woman out of her intellectual league but struggling to hold her own. And she looks a lot like Jax's chick on "Sons of Anarchy."

And of course, the other billed star here, Bo Svenson (Snowbeast, The Inglorious Bastards) earns his paycheck with aplomb as an adviser to Sinbad in the business world. Not really worth a billing, as he's not around much, but he is a name, so, you gotta do what you gotta do. 

To sum up, The 7 Adventures of Sinbad I found to be an intense, action-packed, at times psychedelic and truly original mythological thriller, full of creative visual FX, barbed dialogue, oodles of bloodshed, scantily-clad native women and, yes, even nudity. And the ending...all I'll say is that it's truly bizarre and even more bizarrely-touching. Enjoy. 

Post-Holiday Big News Catch-Up!

Man oh man, a lot has gone down over the last four or five days, too much to individually post it all, so I thought I'd run a catch-up of the more salient news items. Here we go:

First off, another Sarah Lieving interview hit the web on Thursday, this one coming from The Reflector in Greenville, North Carolina. Now, I'm a native-North Carolinian (now a west Coaster), and I know Greenville (home of the ECU Pirates) and I cannot for the life of me figure how they got this interview, but there it is, and pretty revealing, too. I especially like that in the web address for this is the phrase, "sci fi hottie." 

Ms. Lieving's been getting hella press this last month, and one can only hope this means she's on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough. Ms. Lieving's next chance at the spotlight comes with the release of Super Shark - that's right, another shark movie! - directed by MSvC-director Christopher Ray's father, Fred Olen Ray. Still waiting on a release date for that one.

Next, while the world is still reeling from the awesome creature feature that is Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, The Asylum and SyFy hit us with FOUR CLIPS (these courtesy of Geek Tyrant) from the upcoming Saturday Night Original Movie Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, starring, aside from the titular beasts, 80's mall-pop icons Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Tiff looks hot and fiesty, and Debbie looks debonair and scrappy; should make for an awesome showdown.

The kid gloves come off Saturday, January 29th, at 9p.m on SyFy.





Then there were two announcements pertaining to Asylum films currently in production, specifically Princess and the Pony, the movie formerly known as 1st Furry Valentine, which finally got a trailer, and the upcoming Marvel-tie-in Almighty Thor, which revealed a slew of photos from the set, including all three principle actors - Cody Deal as Thor, Richard Freakin' Grieco as Loki and Kevin Nash as Odin - in costume. Though Thor's hammer seems - in these shots, at least - a little Bedrockian, Grieco looks awesome as a withered, deathly Loki. Almighty Thor drops on May 10th of next year.

Also, in last weeks Outside the Walls post in which I mentioned non-Asylum DVD releases for the month of December, I neglected to mention the release of a film that would most definitely be of interest to Asylum fans: Leigh Scott's Cyborg Conquest. Leigh Scott, as we all remember, directed eleven Asylum films - including King of the Lost World, The Beast of Bray Road, Transmorphers and 911 Commission Report - before striking out with his own production company. Cyborg Conquest is a kind of hybrid, narratively-speaking, of Death Proof and The Terminator, and is an intriguing, well-crafted and daringly-directed sci-fi/action flick with a dash of comedy and sex appeal. As is typical with any Leigh Scott film, there are a lot of familiar, often-used actors here, including Asylum veterans Eliza Swenson (Transmorphers, Dracula's Curse, Frankenstein Reborn), Kristen Quintrall (The Apocalypse, Universal Soliders)(who, of course, also edited this film), Dean Arevalo (The Hitchhiker, Freakshow) and uncredited cameos by Griff Furst (Transmorphers, director I Am Omega) and Rhett Giles (Legion of the Dead, The Apocalypse). All in all, Cyborg Conquest, aka Chrome Angels, is quite the exhilarating and entertaining romp. It's available on DVD now.

And finally, we can't forget perhaps the biggest news item of last week, the long-awaited announcement of the Nominees for the 1st Annual Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films.Votes can be emailed to 2010Loonies@gmail.com  up until midnight PST on February 2nd, 2011. Close to 100 votes have already been counted, and there are a couple of interesting races already shaping up. Be sure to make your opinion heard and counted, and help us celebrate the great people who make The Asylum so gosh-darn entertaining. Vote once, but vote wise, and help get the word out!

and the nominees are: Announcing the 2010 Loonies!

The 2010 Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films


If I could figure out how to get a sound file of a drum roll on here, this is where I'd put it, but I can't, so just imagine it...(drum roll)...COMMITTED is proud to announce the nominees for the 2010 Looney Awards, the first annual presentation for excellence in Asylum films.

That's right, I've come up with an awards presentation specific to Asylum productions; that's how much I love this stuff, and also how much disposable time I have, apparently. 

The deal is simple: below you will find nominees in eight categories from the twelve films released by The Asylum in the 2010 calendar year. All twelve films have been nominated for Best Feature, but from there the nominees dwindle, making the competitors truly the best of the best. The voting period will last for six weeks, giving you plenty of time to catch up on any films or performances you might have inadvertently missed, and will close on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011, Groundhog Day. Winners will be announced right here two days later, on Friday the 4th, Marmot Day (I'm trying to get that one going). 

So email your votes to 2010Loonies@gmail.com and let your voice be heard, nay, counted! All these fine films are available on DVD for your screening purposes, and all can be acquired by a quick trip to The Asylum site. Vote once, but vote wise: winners will receive the undying admiration of we the committed, plus the worldwide esteem and jealous respect of their peers that comes with being a Looney-Award Winning Actor, Actress, Writer, Director, or Non-Human. Good luck to all of the nominees, and if any should want to lobby for themselves or on the behalf of a fellow nominee, feel free to shoot me an email and I'll gladly post it for the masses, unaltered.


So, drum roll on your laptops, folks, here are your 2010 Looney Award Nominees...

Best Feature 

 #1 Cheerleader Camp

Titanic II

8213 Gacy House

MILF

Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus

2010 Moby Dick

Mega Piranha

6 Guns

The 7 Adventures of Sinbad

Sherlock Holmes

Meteor Apocalypse

Airline Disaster

Best Actor

Shane Van Dyke...Titanic II
Jaleel White...Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus

Barry Bostwick...2010 Moby Dick

Paul Logan...Mega Piranha
Patrick Muldoon...The 7 Adventures of Sinbad

Barry Van Dyke...6 Guns

Ben Syder...Sherlock Holmes

Scott Valentine...Airline Disaster

   
Best Actress
Marie Westbrook...Titanic II
Sage Mears...6 Guns
Sarah Lieving...Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus
Tiffany...Mega Piranha
Cooper Harris...Meteor Apocalypse
Meredith Baxter...Airline Disaster
Renee O'Connor...2010 Moby Dick
Erica Duke...#1 Cheerleader Camp

 
Best Supporting Actor
Gary Stretch...Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus
Greg Evigan...6 Guns
Jude Gerard Prest...Mega Piranha
Gareth David-Lloyd...Sherlock Holmes
Geoff Meed...6 Guns
Bruce Davison...Titanic II

 
Best Supporting Actress
Lindsey McKeon...Airline Disaster
Charlene Tilton...#1 Cheerleader Camp
Kelly O'Leary...The 7 Adventures of Sinbad
Rachel Riley...8213 Gacy House
Brooke Burns...Titanic II
Claudia Christian...Meteor Apocalypse


Best Performance by a Non-Human
Mega Shark...Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus
Crocosaurus...Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus
Mega Piranha (collective)...Mega Piranha
Moby Dick...2010 Moby Dick
The Ghost of John Wayne Gacy...8213 Gacy House
Cyclops...The 7 Adventures of Sinbad
T-Rex...Sherlock Holmes
The Plane...Airline Disaster


Best Script
Geoff Meed...6 Guns
Naomi Selfman...Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus
Shane Van Dyke...Titanic II
Paul Bales...Sherlock Holmes
Paul Bales...2010 Moby Dick
Victoria Dadi & Paul Sinor...Airline Disaster


Best Director
Christopher Ray...Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus
Shane Van Dyke...Titanic II
Eric Forsberg...Mega Piranha
Shane Van Dyke...6 Guns
Rachel Lee Goldenberg...Sherlock Holmes
Trey Stokes...2010 Moby Dick
Anthony Fankhauser...8213 Gacy House


So there you have it. Obviously the big winners thus far are Mega Shark with 8 nominations and 6 Guns and Titanic II each garnering 7 nods. Individually, Shane Van Dyke is the man to beat, grabbing four noms for himself, 2 as a director, 1 for writing and 1 for acting. Also hitting for the cycle is The Asylum's Bo Jackson (determined to make that stick), Geoff Meed, who got a pair of nominations, 1 for writing and 1 for acting. The acting nod was tough because I wasn't sure for which role to give it - 6 Guns or Airline Disaster; he's great in both, but ultimately I went with the western, in which I thought he shone just a bit brighter. Screenwriter Paul Bales also nabs a pair of nominations within the same category, giving him a 33.3% shot at winning.

But how will it all play out? Who will walk away victorious? Who will walk away resolving to try even harder to win one next year? That's up to you, fair readers. Cast your ballot today and help us make history, help us present the 1st Annual Looney Awards for Excellence in Asylum Films!!!