Author: Will Harris

“Punk is musical freedom. It’s saying, doing, and playing what you want. In Webster’s terms, ‘nirvana’ means freedom from pain, suffering, and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of punk rock.” – Kurt Cobain Unfortunately, despite the above quote, punk rock didn’t save Kurt Cobain’s life. In “Long Way Back,” the new novel by Brendan Halpin (“Donorboy”), it does, however, work wonders to bring Francis Kelly back from the abyss. Whether or not it proves to be a permanent savior…well, that would be telling. Francis and his sister, Clare (who serves as the narrator of the…

There’s a line in the original 1956 “Godzilla” flick that goes, “You have your fear, which might become reality…and you have Godzilla, which IS reality.” While reality, in this case, is decidedly relative, it’s kinda funny to think that, once upon a time, Godzilla shared his reality with the universe of Marvel Comics. Yes, in the late ‘70s, Marvel managed to briefly obtain the rights to use everyone’s favorite radioactivity-mutated lizard in their comics…but rather than simply publish a magazine that was owned by the company but didn’t take place in the midst of the continuity of their super-hero creations,…

Todd Rundgren built a name for himself as a pop singer/songwriter in the ‘70s, as well as for his abilities as a top-notch producer, and he’s maintained a solid reputation in the music industry ever since. After releasing a solo album (Liars) in 2004, Rundgren surprised folks with the announcement of his new gig: fronting the New Cars, replacing Ric Ocasek as the band’s frontman. The group released a live album earlier this year which included a few new studio tracks for good measure, and they’ve been touring behind it ever since, so we knew we had to take a…

I admit it: I am so blinded by my unabashed disappointment with the direction that Steve Martin’s career has taken that there’s no way for me to be 100% sure that the reason I didn’t enjoy “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” is solely because it’s not that great a movie. I’m confident that, no matter who was in it, it wouldn’t have been very good; I’m just not sure if I find it worse because it’s another cinematic waste of time for a guy who’s so much funnier than the scripts he’s been signing off for the last fifteen years.…

When Dan Aykroyd turned in his original script for “The Blues Brothers,” he had never written a screenplay before; indeed, his first draft was 324 pages long. (To put this in perspective, your average screenplay is generally anywhere from 120 to 150 pages in length.) In the documentary, “Stories Behind the Making of ‘The Blues Brothers,’” included on the new 25th anniversary edition DVD of the film, director John Landis laughs at the memory of it. “I thought, ‘Well, there’s no way to shoot this.’ It was pretty incoherent,” he admits. “But it had great ideas, epic characters, and a…

It’s a Roger Corman film, and it’s from the ’70s. Even before watching “Big Bad Mama,” these facts alone should tell you that you’ll want to prepare for a flick that was A) a huge success on the drive-in circuit, and B) not nominated for an Academy Award. As far as Corman’s oeuvre goes, however, this is easily one of the most fun, and it’s that way right out of the starting gate, before the credits even kick in, as this dialogue from the opening moments indicates: Mama (exiting the house, followed by her two daughters): I don’t like it…

Seth Rogen is the kind of guy who you can’t help but cheer for…and, okay, maybe hate a little. He’s 23 years old, but he’s already starred in two critically-acclaimed (if short-lived) TV series – “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared” – and appeared in movies alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Will Ferrell and Steve Carell. Bullz-Eye had a chance to chat with Rogen about the upcoming release of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” on DVD, his past and future work with Judd Apatow, and his pleasure at not having had a particular vegetable lodged in his rectum…oh, but I’ve said too much already. Bullz-Eye:…

Statistics show – and please don’t ask to see the statistics, because someone set their coffee down on them, it spilled, and now the ink’s all smeared, so you can’t read them, anyway – that there are essentially only two types of R.E.M. fans: those who discovered the band prior to the release of their 1987 album, Document, and those who discovered them when the band’s single, “The One I Love,” unexpectedly began its stampede into the Billboard Top 10. Me, I cut it pretty close. I discovered them with Dead Letter Office, a B-sides and rarities collection that showed…

Of all the animated shows on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, the one that’s managed to fly almost completely under the radar – despite being one of the funniest series in recent years – is “Home Movies.” The show’s lead character is eight year old Brendon Small…who is voiced, in what can only be described as an eerie coincidence, by a very funny man who’s also named Brendon Small. “Home Movies” has, season by season, eased its way onto DVD thanks to the fine folks at Shout! Factory. Small took some time to chat with Bullz-Eye about his time at the…

To cult movie fans, Jeff Dowd’s greatest accomplishment will likely forever be the fact that he’s credited as being the inspiration for the character of The Dude in “The Big Lebowski.” (For the record, it only requires a few moments worth of conversation with him to determine that Jeff Bridges really nailed the impression of Dowd’s voice.) There’s a lot more to Dowd than The Dude, however. His movie career spans decades, and he’s had his hand in many classic films, from “Gandhi” to “War Games.” Dowd spoke with Bullz-Eye about some of those flicks, his upcoming book, and the…