I COULDA PHOTOBOMBED CHAD MICHAEL MURRAY!

The following is an example of how Life occasionally likes to brighten your day with a surprise event. It's also a running example of how the internet is a blessing of easy access to answers to spontaneous questions and how the internet is also a curse of time-eating detours caused by associative discoveries...

This past Friday afternoon (3/28) my wife suggested (to my surprise!), "Hey, you want to catch a movie this afternoon?"
So, we planned to see the 5:00 showing of Wes Anderson's latest, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL at the Eastern Hills Mall. Right now, there's only two films playing there (instead of three), THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL and PHILOMENA's still hanging in there.
To our amazement, when we got there around 4:15 for dinner, the hallway by the box office was PACKED with teenage girls and young women (mostly), and I'm like, "Wow, Wes Anderson's got a big fan following!" Actually, it was more like, "WHAT THE HELL???"

Turns out that later that night there was going to be a sneak preview of the film CAVEMEN, and as part of the promotion one of the stars was there: Chad Michael Murray! IN PERSON!
Okay, I only knew him from the remake of HOUSE OF WAX a few years ago (I thought he was good and the film was much better than expected!), but I'm sure his fan following is not from that film. Anyway, it was bizarre -- and actually pretty cool -- seeing that mob of excited young femininity waiting in line to talk with him, get a signed glossy photo and also maybe a picture WITH him.
When we finally went to buy our ticket, we almost photobombed Chad Michael and some excited fan because his table was just a few feet away from the ticket counter, and when he stood up to have his picture taken, we were right behind him.

When we left the movie, my wife and I went to our separate cars (we had come from our jobs) and I happened to see a broadly smiling teenager running to her car with an 8x10 in her hand. It was just before the 7:00 sneak preview at that point. I called out and asked her how long she had been waiting in line. She had gotten there at 4:30 and she had JUST gotten to see him. And the line still looked as long when we left as it was when we first went into the film.
How fun!

I posted the above on my Facebook account, and to my surprise, a number of FB friends commented and informed me that "CMM" is actually from the area originally, born in Buffalo and went to Clarence High School. Judging from the comments, he seems like a pretty nice guy and comes back home fairly often. So, that was fascinating and fun to discover, too.

Oh, and THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL was pretty awesome, too!

UPDATE: I found an article about CMM's appearance in the Buffalo News:
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/for-chad-michael-murray-theres-no-place-like-buffalo-20140329

Here's a trailer for HOUSE OF WAX (2005). 

NOTE (and a total, but brief, detour of subject): Now, when I first watched the trailer for HOUSE OF WAX today, there was an ad playing for a horror film before it, and it was interesting enough that I wound up watching the whole thing instead of skipping it (uh, if I actually had that option...). Anyway, it turned out to be for OCULUS, which is the latest film from writer/director, Mike Flanagan. Previously, Flanagan has written and directed the horror film ABSENTIA, which I saw at the Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival a couple years back. Well, ABSENTIA was pretty damn good and it won the the Best Film award at the festival. It was also cool seeing it later on the shelves at Family Video. Judging by the advertising for OCULUS, it looks like Flanagan's career is starting to significantly take off. And I also discovered he was the Director of Photography for writer/director Jimmy-O Burrill's CHAINSAW SALLY. Crazy!

Here's a trailer for CAVEMEN:

Well, this film looks alright. I've never heard of Skyler Astin before, and I mostly recognize Camilla Belle from the remake of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, which I haven't actually seen, so yeah, I'm pretty clueless.

I thought the voice talking to Astin from the loudspeaker in the subway car was a funny idea. Hmmm... okay, if I actually check this out -- and I do like romantic comedies--  it's because Chad Michael Murray's in it...

Okay, this wasn't much of a film post, but I did write something, by God!

And theoretically, I'll write a post devoted to THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL... theoretically.

Okay, in case I don't, here's a trailer for THAT:

Heh heh. I didn't see this or any trailer before actually seeing THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, but I've enjoyed watching it each time I have since. By the way, the actor playing the Lobby Boy, Zero, is Tony Revolori, and I think he's surprisingly good. I say "surprising" because I sort of dismissed his role (in anticipation) as merely a supporting player to the great cast assembled, but I liked him a lot from the first time he spoke on screen.
The film is a journey back in time that we witness, but that journey is also told verbally from one man to another, so the story itself is represented in different layers of time and we see how that resonates with some of the major players, and also to the writer hearing the story, and to the audience responding to the same story that the writer than shares himself. It's all information but its information about people.