News

Network: Hulu

Episodes: Ongoing (half-hour)

Seasons: Ongoing

TV show dates: December 2, 2015 — present

Series status: Has not been cancelled

Performers include: Freddie Wong, Jimmy Wong, Ashly Burch, Clint Jones, Chase Williamson, Ellary Porterfield, Josh Blaylock, Anthony Alabi, and Noah Segan.

TV show description:

This action-comedy series documents the production of RocketJump Studios original web video content, TV shows, and feature films. It chronicles the creativity and chaos involved in film, TV, and video production. In essence, it is a TV show about making TV shows and the like.

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Death-Mist-Movie-Making-In-China/869682639732359?fref=ts

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4179562/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1

Directors: Rui Ming Qin, Antony Szeto

Fight Choreographer: Trung Ly

Writer: Rui Ming Qin

Death Mist is the latest movie from the very talented and hard working team that brought us Fist Of The Dragon, the movie will star Maria Tran, Siu-Lung Leung, Jonny Blu, Josh Thomson and many more. Death Mist started shooting in November, as the cast and crew from Us and Australia went to Jiangmen, China to make this action genre movie. The character of Tom (Jonny Blu) is a first in the history of Chinese cinema that a Caucasian actor is playing a lead Chinese (Mandarin) speaking role.

Plot:

Ufc fighting champion Damon (Josh Thomson) with the help of his skirt-chasing rogue pal, Tom (Jonny Blu), go deep into the underworld of illegal Chinese fighting to avenge the...

On October 13th, Video Game High School will return for its last hurrah. The action-packed, high-budget web series from the team at Rocket Jump is set for a third season, with a new trailer giving fans a full look at the spectacle to come. As with previous seasons, the new season of Vghs will feature the adventures of Brian D (Josh Blaylock) while he competes in various video game simulations as a member of the titular high school's official team. The supporting trio of Johanna Braddy, Jimmy Wong, and Ellary Porterfield will reprise their roles as Jenny, Ted, and Ki, respectively. The new trailer gives viewers a chance to see the new game types that Freddie Wong and his team will bring into Vghs for its new season. For example, this time around, the school's students will square off in an NBA Jam-style basketball game. We also get glimpses of a few guest stars,...

This October will see camera's roll on writer/director Brian Feeney's new horror feature 'Demoniacs'. The project will shoot in Rome with Italian effects master Sergio Stivaletti ('Demons') on board to provide the visual treats. The witch-themed horror sees Chase Williamson ('John Dies at the End') and Ellary Porterfield play a couple who get mixed up with a coven of witches. One of which is played by 'The Crow' star Bai Ling (below). A number of other names are currently being circled to join the cast and we'll bring you more once these are made official....

If you're hankering for some 8-bit action, but you sold your Nes years ago, Rocket Jump has you covered. The online video platform best known for distributing Freddie Wong and Matt Arnold's Video Game High School has released a lo-fi video game based on the popular web series franchise. The game was designed by Sinclair Strange Studios, the company headed by Newgrounds creator Jason Sinclair. Designed in flash, it lets fans of the series play as lead character Brian D and relive his adventures from the first season. As with the web series it is based on, Video Game High School: The Flash Game is inspired by iconic games from video game history. Each level is a take on a different old school adventure; throughout the game, we get to play modified versions of Super Mario Bros, Contra, Megaman, and many other classics. The game is a companion...

When people think of Kickstarter now, their minds automatically go to the "Veronica Mars" movie or Zach Braff's next directorial effort. While these big money projects have gotten headlines for their fundraising, they're not necessarily trailblazers in the crowd-sourcing arena.

In 2011, Freddie Wong, Matt Arnold, Will Campos and Brian Firenzi came up with an idea for a web TV series where students attend an elite school training the highest level of athletes. The difference being that these athletes didn't play sports, they played video games. Instead of baseball and football teams, students try out for first person shooter (Fps) and rhythm gaming (think "Guitar Hero) teams, with scenes from the field taking place inside the virtual world. Thus, "Video Game High School" was born.

The project was funded through Kickstarter, with the creators  shooting for $75,000. By the one-month fundraising deadline, the project had raised over $273,000. The first season of...

Video Game High School

Stars: Josh Blaylock, Jimmy Wong, Johanna Braddy, Ellary Porterfield, Zachary Levi, Brian Firenzi, Harley Morenstein, Justine Ezarik, Freddie Wong | Written by Matthew Arnold, Will Campos, Brian Firenzi | Directed by Matthew Arnold, Brandon Laatsch, Freddie Wong

Another successfully funded Kickstarter project, this time from YouTube “star” Freddie Wong who co-created, co-wrote and stars – which was originally conceived as a web series, Video Game High School comes to iTunes and Netflix as a feature-length film set in the near future where video gaming is the world’s most popular competitive sport and players command as much respect, popularity and fame as sports and movie stars do today. A near future where traditional news programming is interrupted by frag alerts and gamerscore updates and where tandem hover-bikes and floating footballs are the norm. The film tells the story of BrianD (Blaylock), a high school student who, on live television,...

If this year's Gotham Awards winner is any indication, A Serious Man might be in serious trouble with its Oscar chances as Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker appears to be the "preferred" independent film of the year. - If this year's Gotham Awards winner is any indication, A Serious Man might be in serious trouble with its Oscar chances as Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker appears to be the "preferred" independent film of the year. The Coen Bros. film lost out in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble categories, but I'm really curious in seeing how this all plays out in the next couple of weeks with the New York based film critics' year end kudos. The biggest surprise of the the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards was the Breakthrough Actor award going to Catalina Saavedra's performance in The Maid over Ben Foster...

Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor) and Robert Siegel Big Fan (Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Actor) managed to pick up three mentions each for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award nominations, but the big winner on November 30th might actually be The Coen Bros. A Serious Man who have noms in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble Perf. categories. - Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor) and Robert Siegel Big Fan (Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Actor) managed to pick up three mentions each for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award nominations, but the big winner on November 30th might actually be The Coen Bros. A Serious Man who have noms in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble Perf. categories. Sebastian Silva's (who we just recently interviewed) picked up  pair...

"The Hurt Locker's" march to the Oscars has begun! The film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is nominated for best feature, breakthrough actor, and best ensemble performance at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards.

Robert Siegel's "Big Fan" also topped the Gotham nominations with best features, breakthrough actor, and breakthrough director noms.

"The Hurt Locker" is one of my favorite films this year (Click Watch My Top 10 Best Movies of Summer 2009!) so I'm rooting for this brilliant flick!

Bigelow, Natalie Portman, and Stanley Tucci, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will each be presented with a career tribute.

The ceremony will be held Nov. 30 at Cipriani Wall Street.

And the nominees for the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards are:

Best Feature

"Amreeka"

Cherien Dabis, director; Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin, producers (National Geographic Entertainment)

"Big Fan"

Robert Siegel, director; Jean Kouremetis, Elan Bogarin, producers (First Independent Pictures)

"The Hurt Locker"

Kathryn Bigelow,...

Sugar

Directed by: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

Cast: Algenis Perez Soto, Andre Holland, Ellary Porterfield, Rayniel Rufino

Running Time: 2 hrs

Rating: R

Release Date: May 1, 2009 (limited)

Plot: This is the story of a young Dominican whose lifelong dream to play in the Major Leagues lands him on a seemingly smooth path to realizing his destiny. There proves to be more than perfecting the knuckle-curve in landing a spot on a Big League roster as an array of pitfalls routinely bludgeons his attempts to achieve the greatness he so aspires to realize. A coming-of-age story that dabbles in the temptations young people come across upon their difficult paths to greatness.

Who’s It For?: Baseball fans young and old. This is a slick reminder that the third world not only wields a superior slew of ballplayers, but also encases these young men in baseball-only “schools” that Mlb teams pluck from on an everyday basis.

Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY -- The immigrant experience has been seen many times on film before but rarely with the authenticity, wit and intelligence of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Sugar".

The story of an aspiring young baseball player in the Dominican Republic, the film is more than a baseball story, but it will be a real delight for fans of the game. HBO should be able to land a smart indie distributor, as it did for the similarly themed "Maria Full of Grace", that can tap the film's huge appeal to the Latino market.

Several of the biggest stars in baseball -- Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz -- have come from the tiny Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, where every major league team operates a baseball academy for discovering promising prospects. But the ones who make it to the big leagues, or even have a successful minor league career in the States, is a very small percentage. "Sugar" is the story of a talented pitcher who doesn't make it all the way but learns some important life lessons along the way.

Boden and Fleck, who brought a similar sense of reality to their debut film "Half Nelson", recruited mostly ballplayers who could act, not the other way around. For their hero, Miguel "Sugar" Soto, they discovered Algenis Perez Soto on a baseball diamond in the Dominican Republic. With his heavy-lidded, almost brooding presence, he is one of those amateurs whose naturalness allows him to cut to the heart of his character.

Playing baseball is the ticket out of poverty for many boys in the Dominican, and Sugar is no exception. Trained from an early age, and with the hopes of his family riding on almost every pitch, he bears the weight of enormous expectations. His American dream is buying a Cadillac he can drive on the water.

He does well at the academy and is invited to spring training in Arizona, where the culture shock really sets in. Language is the big barrier, sometimes humorous, as when Sugar orders the same food every day (French toast), and sometimes painful, when he can't express himself.

He gives an impressive performance at spring training, and the next stop is a minor league team in Bridgewater, Iowa. No place could be further from the street life and poverty of the Dominican, and the adjustment is hard, even with the help of an elderly couple (Ann Whitney and Richard Bull) who take him in. While the filmmakers don't whitewash Sugar and his teammates, they clearly made a choice to downplay any sexual shenanigans that might go on among young athletes with raging hormones in a foreign country.

Sugar pitches effectively at first, but with the departure of Jorge (Rayniel Rufino), his best friend on the team, a nagging injury and rejection by a pretty white girl (Ellary Porterfield) he has a crush on, he falls into a black hole. Unable to take the loneliness and isolation anymore, he hops on a bus to New York to try to find himself.

New York can be a hard place, too, but eventually he prevails on the kindness of strangers, especially a good-hearted carpenter (Jaime Tirelli), and he eventually meets up with Jorge and starts to create a new life for himself. When he starts playing baseball with a bunch of Latino guys, all of whom have been through the same flirtation with professional ball, the game becomes fun again.

The filmmakers, aided by cinematographer Andrij Parekh and composer Michael Brook, do a fine job capturing the different rhythms of Sugar's experience: the bright colors and sounds of the Dominican, the subdued palette of Iowa and the bustling life of New York. Acting as her own editor, Boden uses crisp cutting and a keen eye to tell the story visually. Everything from the performances to the production design contributes to capturing what life must really be like for these kids.

As much as you root for Sugar to succeed, Boden and Fleck resist the temptation to give the film a Hollywood ending. What happens is more real, and Sugar gains something more important -- he grows up.

SUGAR

HBO Films

A Journeyman Pictures/Hunting Lane Films production in association with Gowanus Projections

Credits:

Directors-screenwriters: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Producers: Paul Mezey, Jamie Patricof, Jeremy Kipp Walker

Executive producer: Anna Boden

Director of cinematography: Andrij Parekh

Production designer: Elizabeth Mickle

Music: Michael Brook

Costume designer: Erin Benach

Editor: Anna Boden

Cast:

Miguel "Sugar" Santos: Algenis Perez Soto

Jorge Ramirez: Rayniel Rufino

Brad Johnson: Andre Holland

Stu Sutton: Michael Gaston

Osvaldo: Jaime Tirelli

Helen Higgins: Ann Whitney

Earl Higgins: Richard Bull

Anne Higgins: Ellary Porterfield

Reyna: Alina Vargas

Running time -- 117 minutes

No MPAA rating...

Toward the end of "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," Julianne Moore's plucky homemaker uncharacteristically snaps at her ne'er-do-well husband that she's no saint. Perhaps not, but she comes pretty darn close. Writer-director Jane Anderson has adapted Terry Ryan's best-selling valentine to her remarkable mom, subtitled "How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less," into a spirited comic drama, toplined by Moore's lovely performance. "Prize Winner" should be a leading entry, especially with females and older audiences.

Evelyn Ryan was an ardent member of a midcentury subculture called contesting, peopled mainly by word-savvy American housewives who entered the myriad jingle and slogan contests advertisers used to promote their products. In her case, it was less diversion than career, the cash and merchandise keeping her family afloat. It wasn't merely that Evelyn had six sons and four daughters to feed; counting her alcoholic husband (well played by Woody Harrelson), she had 11 kids. Anderson ("The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom," "Normal") neither skirts nor belabors the story's dark issues while kicking up some fun with the sloganeering.

At the film's outset, a $5,000 prize arrives just as the Ryans need to find a new place to live, providing the down payment on a clapboard house. But Evelyn, who earned the money, can keep her prim White Gloves on at the bank; she's not invited to sign the mortgage. This is 1956, when Miss America contestants confidently proclaim that women are too high-strung and emotional to hold national office.

Evelyn's unspoken indignation is clear, but her most extraordinary traits are a steadfast resilience and Zen-like devotion to the here and now, never lingering long enough in trying situations to feel put-upon or become bitter. And the trying moments are plentiful, from her weekly go-rounds forestalling creditors like the milkman (Simon Reynolds) to the nightly drinking binges of her husband, Kelly, which often turn violent. Self-reliance is her only choice; the cops tell her he'll sleep it off, and the priest (David Gardner) advises her to make a better home.

A one-time aspiring journalist, Evelyn doesn't coddle her needy husband but has limitless empathy for the stylish crooner's fall from grace into the "ranks of ordinary men" as a factory machinist. A cavernous freezer Evelyn wins provokes Kelly's rage because it's a constant reminder of his inability to fill it. While she happily brainstorms couplets, he offers a few self-loathing jingles. But Harrelson also provides evidence of the charmer who once romanced this bright woman.

Evelyn's only support system, besides her kids, is a group of high-achieving contesters who call themselves the Affadaisies and help each other craft haikus to consumerism. A writers workshop posing as a coffee klatch, the out-of-the-house adventure has an immediate effect on Evelyn, who stands up to Kelly with renewed vigor upon her return home (and comes up with a jingle in the process). It would have been good to see more of the Affadaisies, especially when Laura Dern plays the club's leader.

Contemporary audiences used to psychologizing might write off as denial Evelyn's cheeriness in the face of Kelly's spiteful anger. But Moore, whose luminosity has often graced more brittle, troubled characters, brings to life something deeper and wiser, something almost subversive in her character's refusal to be damaged. The film deftly avoids sappiness until Evelyn's everything-is-possible speech to daughter Tuff (Ellary Porterfield, well cast as the author, who has no Daddy's-girl sympathy for Kelly).

Ace design contributions from Edward T. McAvoy and Hala Bahmet re-create the period with verisimilitude and flair, particularly in the joyous set piece of a grocery store shopping spree -- just one of the fabulous prizes Evelyn Ryan won for her family.

THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO

DreamWorks Pictures

DreamWorks Pictures/Go Fish Pictures and Revolution Studios present

An ImageMovers production

Credits:

Director-screenwriter: Jane Anderson

Based on the memoir "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less" by: Terry Ryan

Producers: Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis

Executive producer: Marty Ewing

Director of photography: Jonathan Freeman

Production designer: Edward T. McAvoy

Music: John Frizzell

Costume designer: Hala Bahmet

Editor: Robert Dalva

Cast:

Evelyn Ryan: Julianne Moore

Kelly Ryan: Woody Harrelson

Bruce Ryan (age 16): Trevor Morgan

Tuff Ryan (ages 13, 16, 18): Ellary Porterfield

Dortha Schaefer: Laura Dern

Ray the Milkman: Simon Reynolds

Father McCague: David Gardner

Mrs. Bidlack: Susan Merson

Rog Ryan (age 13): Erik Knudsen

MPAA rating PG-13...

Toward the end of "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," Julianne Moore's plucky homemaker uncharacteristically snaps at her ne'er-do-well husband that she's no saint. Perhaps not, but she comes pretty darn close. Writer-director Jane Anderson has adapted Terry Ryan's best-selling valentine to her remarkable mom, subtitled "How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less," into a spirited comic drama, toplined by Moore's lovely performance. "Prize Winner" should be a leading entry, especially with females and older audiences.

Evelyn Ryan was an ardent member of a midcentury subculture called contesting, peopled mainly by word-savvy American housewives who entered the myriad jingle and slogan contests advertisers used to promote their products. In her case, it was less diversion than career, the cash and merchandise keeping her family afloat. It wasn't merely that Evelyn had six sons and four daughters to feed; counting her alcoholic husband (well played by Woody Harrelson), she had 11 kids. Anderson ("The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom," "Normal") neither skirts nor belabors the story's dark issues while kicking up some fun with the sloganeering.

At the film's outset, a $5,000 prize arrives just as the Ryans need to find a new place to live, providing the down payment on a clapboard house. But Evelyn, who earned the money, can keep her prim White Gloves on at the bank; she's not invited to sign the mortgage. This is 1956, when Miss America contestants confidently proclaim that women are too high-strung and emotional to hold national office.

Evelyn's unspoken indignation is clear, but her most extraordinary traits are a steadfast resilience and Zen-like devotion to the here and now, never lingering long enough in trying situations to feel put-upon or become bitter. And the trying moments are plentiful, from her weekly go-rounds forestalling creditors like the milkman (Simon Reynolds) to the nightly drinking binges of her husband, Kelly, which often turn violent. Self-reliance is her only choice; the cops tell her he'll sleep it off, and the priest (David Gardner) advises her to make a better home.

A one-time aspiring journalist, Evelyn doesn't coddle her needy husband but has limitless empathy for the stylish crooner's fall from grace into the "ranks of ordinary men" as a factory machinist. A cavernous freezer Evelyn wins provokes Kelly's rage because it's a constant reminder of his inability to fill it. While she happily brainstorms couplets, he offers a few self-loathing jingles. But Harrelson also provides evidence of the charmer who once romanced this bright woman.

Evelyn's only support system, besides her kids, is a group of high-achieving contesters who call themselves the Affadaisies and help each other craft haikus to consumerism. A writers workshop posing as a coffee klatch, the out-of-the-house adventure has an immediate effect on Evelyn, who stands up to Kelly with renewed vigor upon her return home (and comes up with a jingle in the process). It would have been good to see more of the Affadaisies, especially when Laura Dern plays the club's leader.

Contemporary audiences used to psychologizing might write off as denial Evelyn's cheeriness in the face of Kelly's spiteful anger. But Moore, whose luminosity has often graced more brittle, troubled characters, brings to life something deeper and wiser, something almost subversive in her character's refusal to be damaged. The film deftly avoids sappiness until Evelyn's everything-is-possible speech to daughter Tuff (Ellary Porterfield, well cast as the author, who has no Daddy's-girl sympathy for Kelly).

Ace design contributions from Edward T. McAvoy and Hala Bahmet re-create the period with verisimilitude and flair, particularly in the joyous set piece of a grocery store shopping spree -- just one of the fabulous prizes Evelyn Ryan won for her family.

THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO

DreamWorks Pictures

DreamWorks Pictures/Go Fish Pictures and Revolution Studios present

An ImageMovers production

Credits:

Director-screenwriter: Jane Anderson

Based on the memoir "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less" by: Terry Ryan

Producers: Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis

Executive producer: Marty Ewing

Director of photography: Jonathan Freeman

Production designer: Edward T. McAvoy

Music: John Frizzell

Costume designer: Hala Bahmet

Editor: Robert Dalva

Cast:

Evelyn Ryan: Julianne Moore

Kelly Ryan: Woody Harrelson

Bruce Ryan (age 16): Trevor Morgan

Tuff Ryan (ages 13, 16, 18): Ellary Porterfield

Dortha Schaefer: Laura Dern

Ray the Milkman: Simon Reynolds

Father McCague: David Gardner

Mrs. Bidlack: Susan Merson

Rog Ryan (age 13): Erik Knudsen

MPAA rating PG-13...