• Courtesy of the Loft Cinema
• Max and His Big Gong.

Max Cannon, who has been the host for seven years, says, “People can submit films here, and since we don't pick and choose which ones we show, filmmakers can get a great honest critique on a film no matter what.”

The films are not pre-screened, and there is only time for the first 15 submissions to be shown.

Even if you aren’t a filmmaker, the show is very entertaining for the audience. The way it works: Each film will be played for three minutes, and then stopped. If the audience is unhappy with the film, the gong will be struck. When the gong is struck, the filmmaker has lost their chance at winning the month's contest, and the next film will start.

“We get films ranging from great to terrible, so comedy plays a big part...” says Cannon. It's obvious that many filmmakers do take it seriously, though, since making a film takes a lot of effort.

This is a great way for a filmmaker to experience how an audience reacts to their film. The best filmmaker at the First Friday Shorts monthly event collects a prize of $200—lus, a guaranteed spot in the annual Golden Gong Awards, which is a showing of all of the monthly winners from that year. That winner is awarded $1,000 and receives a trophy.

“First Friday Shorts is one of the most popular recurring events, always a big draw, guaranteed,” says Loft program director, Jeff Yanc.

So come check it out! The next showing is at 9 p.m., Friday, Sept. 7, at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tickets are $6, or $5 for Loft Cinema members. Visit the Loft's website for more information.

If you're anything like me, in your heart of hearts, you've been crying out to watch a locally based and filmed webseries, aimed at those of us who love not only vampires, but wizards.

Well folks, we can take off our wizard robes and false fangs to rejoice. I present to you Wizard Hunters: The Series:

The series is produced by local husband-and-wife team Antonio Villagomez and Cori DiSimone, who constitute Uphill Pictures, a local company that's made a bit of a name for themselves in filming and editing commercials for local companies.

But now, they appear to have jumped right into telling the story of the long-standing war between magical beings and blood-sucking undead.

Follow the series at YouTube and Facebook.

Reel Arts 6 at Crossroads Grand Cinemas (4811 E. Grant Road) presents the film Ingenious at 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 24. The movie was filmed in Tucson in 2006 and shows many local landmarks. The film stars two-time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Lockerer and The Town) and Dallas Roberts.

A summary from imdb.com: A rags-to-riches story of two friends, a small-time inventor and a sharky salesman, who hit rock bottom before coming up with a gizmo that becomes a worldwide phenomenon.

Reel Arts 6 is hosting a film fan event sponsored by Coyotemoon Films. Before the screening, a panel will discuss the way the film was constructred from pre-production, principal photography and post-production. The film's producer, Tim Flood, will be in attendance.

Special prizes and gifts will be available for those attending. Admission is $5. The film will be shown for one week after the event.

Watch the trailer here.

The Loft brings you some chilling cinema based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft tonight with a double feature of Whisperer in the Darkness and The Call of Cthulhu. Both movies were created by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

Salon reviews Whisperer in the Darkness:

Nicely paced and decently acted — there’s no question that the more naturalistic demands of the talkie pose some challenges—“Whisperer in Darkness” has a chiller-diller conclusion and some moments of real terror. (Along with its not especially terrifying, but potentially delicious, mind-reading seafood villains from space.)

More details from the Loft here.

As regular readers know, James DiGiovanna is the Weekly's former film critic who won so many awards that he was the consensus pick as the best film critic in an Arizona newspaper.

But a year or two ago, the selfish bastard retired his reviewing pen to focus on his "career." He wanted to do something that "paid well." He wanted a "life."

Pfft.

Anyway, he just wrote a film review, after a bunch of his friends asked him for his thoughts on Prometheus.

It’s loaded with ridiculous bad science like the dumbest of low-brow sci-fi, but it keeps hitting you with high-brow visuals. It’s an incomprehensible amalgam only because it’s such an unprecedented conglomeration of high and low. It’s also, for my money, tremendously entertaining. It’s the rare movie that you laugh at while simultaneously admiring. It’s a, I dunno, horror-comedy-art film-bad movie?

Meanwhile, I will continue my quest to get James to abandon his philosophy career and return to low-wage film freelancing. Wish me luck.

Due to incorrect information that we received, we included a list of films to be shown at the Screening Room in today's paper.

The following films will not be shown on the dates indicated:

Meek's Cutoff 8/16
The Red House 8/17
Rolling Stones: Some Girls 8/17

A representative from the Screening Room has confirmed the following:

Double Kung Fu (3D) on Saturday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. $5.

We apologize for the errors.

This just in, from some Tucson Weekly readers. Note the gratutious kiss-up effort at the end:

WHO: All Short Film Fans!

WHAT: Short Film (20 min) by local director Rio Finnegan and Donny Tran

WHEN: 7 p.m., Friday August 17th

WHERE: Temple of Music and Art

Talented up and coming local filmmakers Rio Finnegan and Producer Donny Tran will premiere their 20 minute short film titled Pinata on Friday August 17th at the Temple of Music and Art at 7pm. The film was shot in Tucson, Arizona including Barrio Anita using local actors Mike Miller and Tanya Aksamentova and music by local musicians Eli Roepke and Ruben Moreno from the mariachi band Luz de Luna. The plot focuses on a man who brings the body of a murdered woman into his house. The mystery of the body becomes a catalyst to his mental breakdown. Rio recently won at the Loft’s “First Friday Shorts” for his short film My Life Has Stood A Loaded Gun. The filmmakers are thankful that the Temple of Music and Arts proudly supports their art and offered a venue dedicated to promoting local talent.

Following the film, Rio Finnegan, the movie’s director will host a Q&A session. The film will be screened at the Temple of Music and Art at 330 South Scott Avenue. There will be snack and refreshments afterwards.

*adult themes/situations PG-13

Rio Finnegan is a recent City High Graduate. Donny Tran taught documentary arts at VOICES Community Stories, which had numerous stories in the Tucson Weekly ... THE BEST PAPER EVER!

There’s some bad news for those anxiously awaiting the Christmas movie release of The Great Gatsby. The original release date is now pushed to next summer. Apparently, the movie isn't artsy enough to compete with the Oscar-baiting holiday films and will seemingly fit better among the superheroes and kids movies of the summer. Does Either way, watching Leo DiCaprio take on F. Scott Fitzgerald on the big screen won't be part of anyone's Christmas list this year. Check out the news here and feel free to watch the trailer above.

Not that there was too much interest when I posted about the barrage of Jeff Buckley biopics possibly coming to theaters at some point last year, but it is somewhat promising to hear former Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley's not-at-all-terrible take on Buckley's "Lilac Wine" recorded in some club somewhere. However, due to licensing issues, "Lilac Wine" won't be in Greetings from Tim Buckley (they could only get his father's catalog, plus Hallelujah, which we're all sick of at this point, right?), but at least we'll all know that Badgley was capable of singing Buckley's music, which has to count for something.

If you’ve watched all three Paranormal Activity movies, you know there are many questions that the series has left answered even though several plot threads have been wrapped up already. After watching the trailer for Paranormal Activity 4, released today on iTunes, I’m not sure what we’ll be finding out in this movie. But as a fan of the franchise thus far and of movies that make you jump and keep the lights on before you go to bed, I anticipate what will happen this October in the newest installment of hits theaters.

Check out the trailer above; just this two minute preview has me a little scared.