A young Canadian actor named Michael Cera came to our attention with a breakthrough performance as part of the brilliant ensemble cast in the masterful comedy TV series Arrested Development (immense gushing praise I know…but it was a damn good show). As with many an excellent show before it, it was taken away from us much too soon. Though for the young actor, in the glass half full category, being freed up from the television series opened up big screen possibilities for Cera.

He made his post – Arrested Development leading man debut in Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg’s semi-autobiographical high school tale Superbad. The movie came out during the tidal wave of success branching from Judd Apatow and all of his comedic friends that he took under his wing. The film gained a quick fan-base of worshipers and made Cera into a bona-fide movie star.

His next film made a hell of a lot of money considering it cost nothing to make, and even garnered a bunch of Oscar nominations. Not afraid to take a supporting role, he played the romantic opposite to tough semi-punk knocked up young mother to be Ellen Page as she played the title role in Juno.

Cera then starred in another out of nowhere low budget indie sleeper hit. It was not quite the box office leader as the previous couple movies…but Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist gained a popular cult status none-the-less. It was another underground music filled high school themed romantic dramady of a gig for the actor. Where he was again paired up with a girl fit for any respectable geek’s dream, in this case, Kat Dennings.

He finished up 2009 with his participation in Paper Heart. A wonderful weird romantic pseudo-documentary about a girls inability to find, accept or understand love. Sure, there was also Year One in 2009…but no one’s perfect (doing a movie from the writers of the U.S. version of The Office and the director of Groundhog Day seemed like a good idea at the time I’m sure).

Cera has managed to retain respectability, keep the Hollywood brass interested and keep up some indie cred by not going back to the well with a carbon copy follow-up roles over and over. Sure, he does take some criticism for always playing Michael Cera, but Jimmy Stewart always played Jimmy Stewart and Jeff Goldblum always plays Jeff Goldblum.

Youth in Revolt, his latest off kilter youth skewed romance features the tale of a lowly young man who’s in love with and almost gets the unattainable girl of his dreams. When things start going horribly wrong, his only option is to create an imaginary alter ego to boost his mojo factor. Seems logical enough to me…but of course, as these choices tend to turn out, things don’t go exactly as planned for our multi-personality inflicted hero.

The Michael Cera fan club that is the Mayfair presents his latest film, Youth in Revolt, at 7pm on March 31st / April 1st.

As legend has it, Robert Zemeckis hired the more or less unknown (to mainstream Hollywood) Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh to work on a Tales from the Crypt film, which he would direct. Zemeckis was so impressed with the movie-making couple, that it was decided that The Frighteners would serve well as Peter Jackson’s break-out directorial debut for an American audience (he had of course already directed bizarre New Zealand cult classics Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead, and the critically acclaimed festival film Heavenly Creatures).

Zemeckis and Universal were so pleased with the rough cut of the film that they further decided to release it as a stand alone project, and bump up the release by a few months so it would come out in the peak summer blockbuster movie-going season. Their gamble did not turn out so well for the film or for Jackson and Walsh. It was released in a year that included such 90’s staples as Twister, Mission: Impossible, The Rock, Ransom, The Nutty Professor and Jerry Maguire, and specifically came out right in-between Independence Day and A Time to Kill. All of those films did a whole lot better at the box office. Once again proving that a film being a flop doesn’t necessarily equal bad quality, and a hit moneymaking film doesn’t always equal good quality.

Peter Jackson’s master plan for his follow up project was sidetracked thanks to the films inability to find an audience. He had hoped to do his remake of King Kong immediately afterward, but had to walk away from that near and dear to his heart project and concentrate on another. He did those Lord of the Rings pictures instead. Things worked out okay for him. He gained himself the power in Hollywood to do whatever the damn hell he wanted to, and with that power did King Kong.

Anyhow, disastrous money losing flop of a movie aside, that doesn’t stop The Frighteners from being a great comedic horror movie. Produced by Robert Zemeckis from a day when he actually made movies instead of traced them. In the lead role is his Back to the Future collaborator Michael J Fox as a tragic nice guy scam artist ghost-buster turned unlikely hero.

Also appearing are cult favorite character actor’s the like of John Astin (the original Addams Family TV series), Dee Wallace (E.T.’s mom), R. Lee Emery (Full Metal Jacket), and horror movie master thespian Jeffery Combs (the Re-Animator trilogy).

Peter Jackson’s ambitious young fx company Weta Digital (before their Oscar winning years) undertook an assignment that required more digital effects shots than almost any other movie made up until that year.

This is my birthday movie pick for the year. And believe me, when you’re involved in a theatre that already screens so many great movies, it’s quite difficult to pick something extra special for a birthday wish (my first choice was Hudson Hawk, I cannot lie, but the powers that be wouldn’t let us show that one). So, if you’re a fan of Peter Jackson, if you haven’t seen this one before, or if you haven’t seen it in a theatre since the nineties, this is a rare chance to see this modern cult classic up on the big screen in all it’s glory.

The Frighteners – Friday March 26th – 11:30pm – only at the Mayfair.