L.A. Twister, Piracy and Sticking It To The Man by Mystic Slippers (Some schmuck from vcdquality.com).
Rather than make this like some autobiographical textual auto-fellatio, i'll just get to the point.
L.A. Twister is a truly groundbreaking movie.
For those that think it is not, look between the lines. L.A. Twister is a fantastic piece of moviemaking. Period. But that is not the issue at hand here. L.A. Twister is a groundbreaking movie in the sense it is solely responsible for bringing the glitz of Hollywood's trumped up fat studio execs closer to the dark cavernous underworld that is The Internet (or rather, the movie piracy scene).
Having championed independent cinema for many years, I look forward to the latest indie releases to see what the real moviemakers are putting out. Not what the next major studio with oodles of cash is throwing it's money towards. Whilst scouring my favourite places for the latest movie releases, I stumbled across an interesting little movie named L.A. Twister. Having casually checked out the trailer, I was left startled at how utterly excellent this movie proposed itself to be through the duration of the trailer. Thus, my anticipation to see this movie was building up hence forth.
Now, as someone who loves movies, I visit both my local theatre and download the latest releases to my computer. I believe in the old adage that if you like something that much, you'll pay for it. Be it a music CD, a movie or a pair of designer jeans. Whatever. In the case of L.A. Twister, the movie was distributed on such a small scale that I stood next to no chance of getting to see this movie. That is until a workprint copy appeared on the Internet.
Having seen the movie now and immensely enjoyed it, I wrote a review on the movie at a forum i regularly contribute to at www.vcdquality.com. Imagine my surprise when a forum member informed us that the director had seen the review and posted it on the official L.A. Twister website! Hark! An actual director had not only noticed the review, but had equally embraced the fact a pirate copy of his work had appeared online by posting on our forums!
It is this kind of enthusiasm for what good can come of piracy that has genuinely impressed me with Sven Pape, director of L.A. Twister. Not only has it impressed me, but it has proven what good has come from this by the barrage of enthusiastic responses from fellow 'downloaders' that have spawned from the initial review on the forum.
It leaves me thinking where all this could lead to in the future. As a community, i think i speak for a whole in saying we are all duly impressed with the reaction Mr. Pape has given to his work being illegaly distributed online, but also the enthusiasm with which he has approached it and his new found army of fans. I believe it proves wholeheartedly that some good can arise from movie piracy. It's just a shame that the MPAA and other bodies don't see it this way and treat what are basically the movie world's best customers as cretinous oiks out to destroy them.
In the wake of recent issues in today's modern world, I believe these 'people' (for want of a better word) would be better off spending the money they currently waste on fruitless court cases and ignorant ad campaigns on better projects. Consider investing more in independent filmaking. Failing that, try paying so called 'stars' a more reasonable amount of money rather than the ludicrous sums today's A-List currently demand.
In closing i would like to take this opportunity to thank all the groups past and present across all areas of 'the scene' for risking so much to bring us 'freeloaders' the wonderful product they do. For if it wasn't for you we would all be brainwashed by the money monster that is the corporate machine.
Enjoy the movie. Impeach George W. Bush. Free Tibet.
Mystic Slippers for www.vcdquality.com.
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