“HOBO” ONE OF CANADA’S BEST

Jason Eisener‘s HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN has been named one of Cananda’s Top Ten Feature Films of 2011 by the Toronto Internation Film Festival!

I was fairly certain that a very successful DVD & BluRay release would have been the cherry on top of this whole HOBO-experience, but yesterday’s announcement really took the cake (on which the cherry rests). I think the “HOBO-experience” can officially be upgraded to “HOBO-phenomena”.

I would like to congratulate my friends Jason Eisener, John Davies, Rob Cotterill, as well as everyone else who worked on the film for the outstanding success that this film has seen. Also, major kudos to TIFF for having the cojones to stand behind a film like HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, that could so easily ignored, and pushed aside as “just another grindhouse flick”.

Oh my, who is that amazing young actor in the yellow mask going toe to toe with Rutger Hauer?

It was me. That was me.

Congrats to all the other filmmakers, as well as the folks at Grassfire Films, Ashley McKenzie and Nelson MacDonald, as their amazing short film, RHONDA’S PARTY (also shot here in Nova Scotia) was named one of Canada’s Top Ten Short Films! For the full list of films, head on over to the TIFF website: http://tiff.net/topten

FYI: Two of Canada’s Top Ten Feature Films can be rented now on YouTube for only $5! HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (YouTube link) as well as Ken Scott‘s STARBUCK (YouTube link). Support Canadian film!

PS. Blog note: I’ve finally sat down and updated the Photos section of the website, so head on over and take a gander: https://glenjm.wordpress.com/photos/!

HOBO ON DVD/BLURAY THIS TUESDAY!

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is approaching the final stop on the publicity-rails as it’s DVD/BluRay release is this Tuesday, July the 5th! Rejoice!

Check out that badass pop-up cover (above) found in the HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN BluRay. I challenge anyone to find another actor with 2 minutes of screen time more prominently featured in such an extensive advertising campaign. That’s talent.

The DVD/BluRay will be released all across the great expanse of North America, so save up your nickels and dimes and run out this Tuesday to pick up this ridiculously packed package.

Magnet Releasing (obviously along with Eisener, Cotterill & Davies) really must be commended for putting together such a solid disc featuring…

• MORE BLOOD, MORE HEART, the fantastic, in-depth making-of featurette, which I had the pleasure of viewing a rough cut of. You really need to see it. So well done.
• An interview with Jason, Rutger and Fangoria’s Mike Gingold (35-40 mins).
• Two commentary tracks (which I can’t wait to hear): (1) Jason Eisener & Rutger Hauer, & (2) Jason Eisener, John Davies, Rob Cotterill, and the original Hobo, the immortal Dave Brunt!
• Deleted scenes, an alternate ending, & video blogs.
• The fake-trailer contest winner, the exquisite VAN GORE from Keith Hodder, Jerrad Pulham & Peter Strauss.
• Shotgun-Mode (which I believe is exclusive to the BluRay) where even more behind-the-scenes footage is revealed as you’re watching the film.

J. Hurtado over at my personal favourite film-news website, TwitchFilm wrote a review for the HOBO BluRay wherein he says…

This is a massive and mighty package for an explosive film that deserves all the attention it can get.  Jason Eisener is a major emerging talent, and he really deserves a lot of credit, along with his crew, for making an outstanding film that captures the spirit of a bygone era of film making without becoming cloying or nudging the audience too hard to acknowledge the joke.  This is no joke.  Magnet Releasing’s Blu-ray release of Hobo with a Shotgun is HIGHLY REOMMENDED.

Pick it up this Tuesday!

PS. Happy Canada Day!

CANADA: HOBO W/ A SHOTGUN OPENS FRIDAY!

Check out this incredible artwork for the upcoming issue of Rue Morgue Magazine (hitting magazine-stands April 1st) created by Gary Pullin.

Well the time has come folks, this Friday, March 25th, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN will be taking Canadian cinemas by force.  I caught the film for the fourth time last night at the Toronto premiere, and I’m still amazed by the film’s pacing. It’s relentless. Tonight, my heart is in Halifax as it’s having its hometown premiere at the Oxford Theatre; I can’t wait to hear what everyone back home thinks of it!

Photo from last night’s Q&A, which I graciously took part in.

IMPORTANT: Please try and make time to catch HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN this weekend! The Canadian film market tends to rely heavily on results of the opening weekend to determine the length of a film’s theatrical run, so (even if you get a chance to catch a preview screening) get your butt out to the cinema and buy your ass a ticket!

If you’re in Nova Scotia, you’ll have to watch HOBO where it all began; the film will be screening at Empire Theatres Dartmouth Crossing and Park Lane (Halifax). In Toronto, HOBO will be screening at Eglinton Town Centre, Empire Theatres at Empress Walk, Queensway Cineplex, Scarborough Coliseum, Scotiabank Theatre (Paramount).

Spread the word! Buy tickets! Go forth and multiply!

PS. Check out director Jason Eisener on George Stroumboulopoulos’ show this Friday on CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/)!

Update 25/3/11: Please enjoy another photo from Toronto’s premiere which provides evidence of my involvement in the Q&A…
…I generally look less impish when I’m not standing next to a 6’5″ martial arts expert.

Last but not least, I had to share my favourite tweet in regards to the HOBO trailers playing on television–perhaps my favourite tweet of all-time…
The best.

That’s all for now. Go out and see this film, you idiot!

NEWS ROUNDUP

As I’m sure many of you already know, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is opening in Canadian cinemas in 3 week’s time on March 25th! The film is continuing it’s festival run (Eisener took his pants off during the intro in Glasgow for some reason), and will play later on this month in Austin, Texas as part of the uber-everything fest, SXSW. Following the 25th, the film will be available On Demand April 1st, and hits United States’ cinemas on May 6th. Fun! The official HWAS webpage is now live @ http://www.magnetreleasing.com/hobowithashotgun/

In other HOBO news, Mr. Zan Rosborough has uploaded the video he shot of our venture down south to Sundance, where you can see our exploits, including our venture into the Playboy Lounge (that’s where Utah keeps their scantily clad women). View @ http://vimeo.com/20317896

A few days ago, a bunch of internet-bloggers picked up THE CORRIDOR‘s trailer. One of my favourite movie-blogs, TwitchFilm wrote about their excitement for the film (Todd Brown specifically), so that’s pretty damn cool if I may say so. Somebody get this bastard a screener! Check out the article: http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/03/what-horrors-lie-down-the-corridor.php

My ladyfriend Kristin Slaney recently starred in Journeyman Films’ advertisement for the Nova Scotia Business initiative to bring video game developers to Nova Scotia…

She’s fairly enticing, yes?

As if one film from Halifax conquering Hollywood wasn’t enough, Joseph Kahn‘s DETENTION is poised to do some conquering of it’s own. Shot in LA, I don’t think it can be considered a Halifax production whatsoever, but the film’s writer Mr. Mark Palermo is as Nova Scotian as they come (he’ll probably overanalyze & interpret that as an insult). The film will be joining HOBO in Austin later this month for it’s world premiere at SXSW! Check out the trailer over @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UkdZd_muq4 Fun, right?

And lastly but not leastly, I spent another day working with the wonderful students at Toronto Film School (the people who shot the Greendustries commercial I was in) filming a music video. I’ll post it when it’s available, but until then, just know that I wore a novelty mustache ala Daniel Day Lewis (in either GANGS OF NEW YORK or THERE WILL BE BLOOD, take your pick).

And exhale.

SUNDANCE ’11 – UPDATE #9

FOND FAREWELL
Author: Glen Matthews
January 29th, 2011 – 12:52pm

Hello blog, the last time we spoke I was half-way through my return home and developing a bit of a nasty cough. Well that cough then developed into a nasty flu. And that flu developed into an intense depression over the fact that I’m not in Park City with a bunch of awesome people any more. Seriously. It’s like camp is over.

Although I’m happy to report that my cough, and flu symptoms have passed, I’m still going through a little bit of Sundance withdrawal. Actually, myself and Kevin A. Fraser (HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN‘s behind-the-scenes-documentary director) are checking out Denis Villeneuve‘s INCENDIES today, the Canadian film playing at Sundance that has just been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Despite the sickness, this trip down to Sundance was even better than last time (although I did manage to get shingles last time). There’s something truly magical about it. Almost everyone you encounter has a film in Sundance, either that they directed, wrote, acted, or picked up garbage for. And although my part in Hobo was not a huge one (ET Canada did not request an interview with me at the time of this blog-post), I had an immense pride in the project; being able to say I was there from stage one, and also to see something from Nova Scotia grow into such a true force, something that is officially a part of pop culture, that is really terrific to witness.

First TRAILER PARK BOYS, now HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN: I’m glad that we Nova Scotians are at the forefront of making the rest of the world think Canadians are fucked.

One thing that hasn’t been touched on much on the blog, was the night that we checked out the protest of Kevin Smith‘s RED STATE by the Wesboro Baptist Church (GodHatesFags.com). Much the same as shark attacks, nuclear power-plant meltdowns, and other mind-blowing events, the Westboro Baptist Church’s methods of protest were so extreme that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to view something that (like it or not) is so chock-full of shock-value.

We were not let down.

My favourite sign was definitely a toss-up between “GOD HATES YOUR FEELINGS” and “FAG ENABLER”. I would buy a t-shirt of either or those.

Just when the novelty started to wear-off and the horror started to set-in, Kevin Smith came outside surrounded by fans and papparazzi. We were standing right in his path, and thus we were standing in the papparazzi’s path. It was fascinating to experience the physical rush of a crowd of papparazzi as they surround their target. It was violent, it was quick, it was desperate. Like a damned feeding frenzy!

Christ. Not gonna lie. Wish they would have protested Hobo.

Last but not least, check out HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN on Entertainment Tonight Canada! BLUTS!
Vodpod videos no longer available.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD7mkMqHKzY

Anyways, this is my last entry on the blog in regards to Sundance ’11. Thank you all so much for following along with our adventures here on the blog, it was a true honour to represent this movie, and Nova Scotia, and Canada on one of the greatest stages of them all! Thank you.

PS. I’m told that there are still a couple of folks who have blog entries to chuck up on here, so stay tuned for that!

SUNDANCE ’11 – Update #3

THE MORNING AFTER
Author: Glen Matthews
January 22nd, 2011 – 12:30pm

Last night was the night that we all were waiting for–the HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN world premiere. Check out these handsome devils, looking all proud and what-not…

Let me apologize in advance if my brain isn’t able to write proper sentences this morning. We had ourselves a really terrific night. Really terrific (that’s secret-speak for “open bar”). Thus, let’s try and do this blog entry as economical as possible, so I can go back to sipping tea and avoiding bright lights.

The screening was amazing. No other way to put it. The amount of pride that I felt for a movie that I had only technically spent one day working on, was enormous. Realistically though, I’ve been privileged to witness the creation of this cinematic anomaly from it’s inception, and wouldn’t have missed this night for the world.

Check out Jason Eisener & Rob Cotterill‘s intro for the premiere last night…

Myself and Mr. Henry “Stoked” Townsend (Make-Up Effects) all spiffy’d up with our premiere to attend…
Literally within an hour of the film ending, glowing reviews started popping up online. Three great reviews are HitFix (http://www.hitfix.com/), UGO (http://www.ugo.com/) and Vulture Magazine (http://nymag.com/). There are plenty others online, so do yourself some Googling if you like!

That’s all for now. Back to my solitude den for now. Another Hobo screening tonight in Salt Lake City!

Oh, and PS. The short film that played before Hobo, THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM (also Canadian) was effing terrific! One of the best short flicks I’ve had the pleasure of viewing. G’Oh Canada!

SUNDANCE ’11 – Update #2

TANIGHT’S THE NIGHT
Author: Glen Matthews
January 21st, 2011 – 3:10pm

We are t-minus 8.5 hours away from the world premiere of HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival! Through the miracle of having an awesome Producer (Rob Cotterill), all of the lovely folks who have made the trek from Canada to Utah (including myself) now have their Maple-Syrup-coated hands on tickets for tonight’s screening! Rejoice! Exclamation-marks abound!

So if you’re too impatient to wait for tomorrow’s blog update(s) and would like to keep updated on the happenings of tonight’s screening, you’re best bet would be to check out the Twitter pages of some of the members of the cast & crew. They are myself (@GlenJM), Jason Eisener (@JasonEisener), Rob Cotterill (@RobCotterill), Greg Smith (@GregoryTheSmith), & Elana Zatzman (@__Nova__).

We’re gonna make you effers proud!

Also, make sure to check out this terrific news video by the CBC’s Colleen Jones @ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/01/21/ns-video-hobo-shotgun-sundance.html & this article by The Chronicle Herald’s Andrea Nemetz @ http://thechronicleherald.ca/ArtsLife/1223195.html.

And last but not least, have a peep at the Hobo swag toques being given out to all sorts of disgusting folks here at Sundance…

Odd. As I get older, my nose appears to get broke-r.

Matthews out.

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN POSTER #2

Look Ma’, I’m on a poster! For the first time in my career, I’ve made it onto the poster of a feature length film (baby steps), HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN. That’s me in the  top right sporting the yellow balaclava (you’ll have to take my word for it), along with fellow gang-member Zach Tovey (owner of Pro Skates).

She’s a beaut’, isn’t she?

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN premieres in six days in Park City, Utah as part of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival! In five days, I will be touching down in Utah to take part in the fest. Check back on the 2oth for frequent updates from myself and other members of the Hobo posse!

Credit: First Showing

SUNDANCE-BOUND!

Hello folks, I hope your holidays were filled with chocolate, cheer, and all of that other good stuff that surrounds family-related-anxiety. The LOGAN AND I remount was an even better experience than the first time around, and I also managed to get some work done on a top secret project that you all will be able to have a peak at shortly! Fun? Yes.

As I’m sure you’ve already heard, Jason Eisener’s HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN has been accepted in to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where TREEVENGE (also by Eisener) played and accepted an Honorable Mention two years ago. As was the case with the last time I went down to Utah, I will be blogging up a storm for the five days that I’m there (January 20^th to the 25^th), and also having guest-bloggers write an entry or two to keep everyone back home updated.

So make sure to check back between January 20^th to the 25^th for all of the Sundance madness!

Happy Almost New Year, internet-people!