Buy the Rights is a Movie Pitching Party Game for 3-10+ players. In Buy the Rights, players create their own movies based on four decks of cards. Each round, one player is the Producer and the other players are Screenwriters. Using the cards as a starting point, Screenwriters pitch their movies to the Producer, who then buys the rights to their favorite ideas. Get as creative as it takes to out pitch your friends and make the most cash!

The line wrapped around the building at Gourdough's Public House in Austin as fans lined up to meet the Super Troopers in the flesh. The setting was oddly appropriate; Gourdough's sandwiches are smashed between two pieces of donut bread, which definitely qualifies as stoner food in my book and is pretty ironic given the whole cop/donut cliche. Although, when mentioning this to the Broken Lizards themselves, which consists of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Steve Lemme and Erik Stolhanske, they didn't seem to think so. In fact, Paul even said he'd be scared to eat one of Gourdough's sandwiches if he were stoned, favoring the simplicity of a banana and a glass of milk instead. Talks of stone food fare aside, the troopers gave me a few minutes of their time to talk about their latest crowd-funded sequel, Super Troopers 2, which releases this Friday, April 20th. 

First off, a carbon copy American remake is never needed (*looks at Spike Lee's Old Boy remake*). However, with today’s political climate and youth leading the charge for change, I believe it is the perfect time to revisit some of the themes presented in Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale.

The Sight & Sound critics poll that takes place once every decade is regarded as the most trusted guide to cinema's greatest. The long-reigning champion of nearly 50 years, the monolithic classic Citizen Kane, was toppled in the last vote back in 2012 to Hitchcock's Vertigo, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in early May of this year. With this in mind, it has us questioning if Vertigo is really the crème de la crème. 

Say what you will about the cinematic universe trend, but episodic films can be pretty fun when they're done correctly. Plus, it’s always great to have another chapter to look forward to every year or so. Most of the great franchises are either in production or are being reinvigorated, but there’s still plenty of good ones not being discussed or explored. 

Nearly 10 years before the 1997 live action film released, Sunrise and Bandai Visual produced a six-episode Anime adaptation of Robert  Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. This series followed the novel closer than the 1997 adaptation structurally and thematically. However, more importantly...there’s the POWER ARMOR!

Will theaters go extinct? What's the face of future cinema look like?! We've stared into our mystical orb to peer into the not-so-distant future. Click read more to see what we found.

Now that Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has been announced as his 9th film, we’re reminded that it’s just one film away from his alleged retirement. For anyone unfamiliar, QT announced some years ago that he would only direct 10 films. He's since stated this choice is done to preserve his legacy as one of best filmmakers in history. "Drop the mic. Boom. Tell everybody, 'Match that shit'," He reiterated to The Hollywood Reporter. 

The Ready Play One variant posters released last week further reinforce the film's pop culture-obsessed future by recreating iconic movie posters using the character's OASIS avatars. The concept is mildly interesting, but it leaves a bit of a wonky taste in your mouth — several of these posters look like a high school student experimenting with Photoshop. Preying on the likes of Blade Runner, Beetlejuice, The Goonies, and The Matrix, amongst others, the posters don't really get us more amped to see the film. If anything, it makes us curious how or if some of these films will find their way into Ready Player One. 

The glittery finale in Rudy Ray Moore’s cycle of 1970s blaxploitation gems, Disco Godfather is without a doubt one of the most batshit insane and bewildering blaxploitation offerings to emerge from the 70s. It's full of drug-induced hallucinations, wonderfully schlocky camp, and Rudy Ray Moore at his absolute best. It's tighter and more cohesive than any of the Dolemite films, and it veers into avant-garde experimentation with surprising success. The last ten minutes of this film are hilariously insane and take the war on drugs to an entirely new extreme. 

Long before we got The Human Centipede, Rudy Ray Moore gave us the hilarious sequel to Dolemite,  The Human Tornado. The film is an unruly, ribald cyclone of satiric blaxploitation hilarity, full of cheesy karate action, campy thrills, proto-rap, and hilarious one-liners that only Rudy Ray Moore is capable of delivering with his distinct holler that clearly inspired the likes of Mr. T. The sequel lacks a bit of the blissful looseness of its predecessor, but it manages to be a better film in every respect; without a doubt, it's the most essential of the Dolemite films.

More action and adventure than most blaxploitation films of the era, Cleopatra Jones ventures beyond the city and its ghettos into lands far away. Out of the handful of blaxploitation films we watched in preparation for this month's programming, Cleopatra Jones was by far the most fun and well produced. For such an early entry into the blaxploitation canon, it's positive in its message as well as its depiction of African Americans, which really sets it apart from its peers. 

Perhaps the most lasting element to come out of the blaxploitation movement of the 70s was the music. Some of the most iconic names in funk, R&B and soul contributed to the lush, energetic soundscapes that inhabited the genre's many films. On several occasions, the music becomes bigger and more larger-than-life than the genre's many vibrant characters, and even the films themselves. Take the most infamous and iconic blaxploitation picture, Shaft, for instance. The film can't come to mind without Issac Hayes' driving score.

Though Viddy Well is primarily a film blog, Derek W. Lipscomb (writer/illustrator) approached us to discuss his comic book series: The Maroon. We gave it a crack and discovered a fantastic series with genre combinations that have yet to be explored on screen. The Maroon combines Leone’s Man with No Name trilogy with the fantastic mythology of American legends and history, all while never once pulling a single punch or tomahawk throw.

Oscar season is upon us once again, so it's that time of year to speculate on who we think deserves those silly golden statues.

The thing that you'll quickly find when cruising the net for blaxploitation posters is that they're so similar, they almost become as interchangeable as the films themselves. Even the iconic films of the era, like Shaft and Super Fly, fall victim to the same bland marketing tactics. More often than not, the blaxploitation films that took a step in a more unique direction were the crossover horror and more overtly controversial titles. 

We’re taking a look at the lesser known Pam Grier-fronted blaxploitation film, Sheba, Baby. Written and directed by William Girdler (Grizzly), and co-starring Austin Stoker (Assault on Precinct 13) and D’Urville Martin (Dolemite). The film may forever live in the shadows of Coffy and Foxy Brown, but we don’t think it should be entirely forgotten. 

Melvin Van Peebles' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was a revolutionary achievement in black cinema, and is so badass that a double "a" and quintuple "s" are required for explicit emphasis. And, well, speaking of explicit, the MPAA thought Sweetback was so sexually explicit that they slapped it with an X-rating, which Van Peebles churned into one brilliantly badass tagline: "Rated X by an all-white jury." Despite The Man's attempts to keep Van Peebles' film down, it would go on to gross a staggering 15 million dollars (that's 90 million in 2016 dollars), becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1971. Forever famous for its black protagonist who sticks it to The Man and wins, this film shook the fabric of cinema and lit the match that would ignite the blaxploitation movement. 

During the dawn of Viddy Well, we asked each interested contributor to fill out the same questionnaire. The questions spanned from grave to goofy, but the replies were nearly always unexpected. This week our contributors discuss the worst film we've ever seen.

This month, we're taking an in-depth look into the blaxploitation genre and al its cinematic glory. To lay down a proper foundation, we begin by examining the history of the film movement from its formation in the early 70s through its decline in the 80s and revitalization in the 90s to present. Later on in the month, we'll take a look at some quintessential films and key figures of the genre.