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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

9


Ugh.

Here's a good example of one of my least favorite types of film: the underachiever. This could have been so much more. The potential was definitely there, but it is so obviously an exercise of style over substance...to the point where the script needed a faux-trendy 'dark' animation to give it basic credibility. Oh, and how about we tack on a bunch of A-List actors to do the voices? Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer...and Crispin Glover? Youch guys.

It's pretty sappy, hollow and poorly written. Scenes jump around with barely an ounce of useful exposition or character development, and the most interesting part (the background of the little machine dudes and their creator) is glossed over and hardly touched upon.

But I guess it's nice to look at. The creativity is all squeezed out and stretched thin on the giant (and admittedly impressive) machine baddies, especially the frightening snake creature that captures the little cloth doll dudes and sews them into it's belly, only to regurgitate them later for the boss machine...and the cat-skull beast thing is also quite imaginative.

Otherwise, 9 seems like a film chopped to pieces in post-production. It's missing pivotal moments that may have taken away from the action, but would have served to connect the viewer most closely with the story and the movie as a whole.

Here's hoping for an uncut/director's cut version on the DVD...

Friday, September 25, 2009

Captain's Log...er...I mean, Director's Log...


I've begun taking a course in 16mm film production and I figure some reflections are in order. It's basically a boot camp in making a short film from scratch, with all the details on my lonesome shoulders. I guess I'll try and keep a bit of a log once I start actually filming the short I am intending to produce, but for now here's just some initial thoughts.

I suppose I bitch and moan and champion film enough that its about time I buckle down, shut up and make one myself. And while I am excited to be involved with the process and get my hands dirty, I know damn well the amount of effort and time this will take...especially since this is going to be filmed on 16mm, with all the post-production and editing and literal cutting-and-pasting to go along with it. Getting right in there and handling the film is about the most exciting propect I can think of, and translating my love of film into a creative outlet is something deep and meaningful for me at this junture of my life.


So what to film?

I am limited only by imagination, of course, but thats a decieving notion. Realistically, I am limited by budgetary and production constraints (basically, for this project, thats no money and about 20 minutes of 16mm film stock). However, within that framework, imagination is definitely key. It's not about simply choosing a topic or idea, but taking those constraints and turning them to your advantage. Some of the best films are made under pressure and with a limited budget. It forces directors to be creative. They can't just throw money into something hoping a solution can be bought and easily formed.

Obviously, I know what you're thinking - I'm going to film a horror flick. And of course I am! Something nice, short and tense. Something with minimal gore and loads of atmosphere. Something that reflects the true motivation of the best of horror films. The possibilities are endless...and I'm starting my script soon, so the masterpiece will soon be underway.

I'll keep ya posted. That's if you don't see me accepting my Oscar first ;)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Contraband


I've been delving into some interesting sub-genres as of late, and finding some incredible gems. Spaghetti Westerns are quickly becoming some of my very favorite movies...and I'm starting in on the awesomeness which is the Poliziotteschi films. For those unaware (ie: everyone reading this), Poliziotteschi are sort of low-key, grimy crime flicks with lots of blood & guts, typically from Italy in the late 60's through to the 80's (wiki article here).

Case in point, we have Fulci's Contraband. Now, I am familiar with the auteur's catalog (too familiar, perhaps, for a giant hack, but i digress), and have been consistently disappointed with his output beyond his major horror and giallo works. However, Contraband was a breath of fresh air. I won't lie - this film isn't for everyone. In fact, it's hardly for anyone except a select few familiar with the sleazy Italian works of the 60's and 70's. I, however, loved loved loved this flick. It's chock full of ridiculous machismo and testosterone, and has the usual Fulci gore, but also has a fun and interesting story to back it up.

Having only seen a few of the other films available in the Poliziotteschi sub-genre (region 1 DVDs are very difficult to find for most of them) this, along with Castellaris' The Big Racket truly has me excited to find more and more. If you're willing to take a sleazy, chessy chance, I highly doubt you'll be disappointed with this entry. Great stuff!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

7th Inning Stretch


I love this time of year. Love it. It's like the 7th Inning Stretch of the seasons. Summer is taking it's time to close its sunny doors, yet winter is still a ways off. Halloween is quickly approaching. Fall is soon upon us.

And it's my favorite movie time of the year. Typically, of course, Summer and Christmas are the 'big' movie release seasons...blockbusters fill the cineplexes. Oscar candidates begin their campaign. But for me, this time of year rocks. Film Festivals abound (or have just completed, with critical acclaim or disdain following quickly in their tracks), which inevitably birth the best of the best indie, cult and horror films. Fantasia Festival looked ace as usual with a tonne of international flavour making its North American or World premiere. TIFF is happening as I type this, which has morphed into arguably the largest and most important festival of the year (it's generally considered a sounding board for Oscar noms).

This year has certainly spawned some doozies that are making their mark quickly and smashingly - Von Trier's Anti-Christ, Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Park Chan-wook's Thirst, Herzog's redux of Bad Lieutenant, Romero's Survival of the Dead, Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Heath Ledger's final film)......and on and on and on

Horror films are typically 'dumped' this time of year. Those with lower expectations are shown. And, hence, the movies I love the most are most likely to appear this time of year. Of course, you have to wade through the shit too...Zombie's Halloween 2 was a veritable abomination (it showed promise, but that's hardly saying anything as it's the director's 4th major release...he 'showed promise' with The Devil's Rejects as well...hmmm). And even the DVD shelves are loaded with great releases and sales just in time for October 31st.

There's a certain amount of 'rounding out' i think. I can tolerate the giant blockbusters as long as the quiet, poignant movies are given their due. It's like the karma of filmdom...I put up with all that garbage most of the time, but I figure that I dedicate enough of my life to watching this type of cinema and the universe owes me a Fantasia Festival now and again...

Monday, September 7, 2009

Upcoming Flicks


Fantastic Mr. Fox (2010, Wes Anderson)

Trailer


Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, and all their fox babies live under a hill under a tree, along with Badger, Rabbit, Weasel, and all of their families. To make ends meet, every night, Mr. Fox steals a meal from one of the three crooked farmers--Boggis, a chicken farmer, Bunce, who has a little bit of everything but only eats duck liver, and Bean, who farms turkeys and apples and subsists solely on apple cider. With his keen sense of smell, and the farmers' distinctive diets, Mr. Fox has no problem evading them.

After so much treatment, the greedy farmers band together to end Mr. Fox. They ambush him at the base of his hole in the hill, and while Mr. Fox survives, his tail does not. Thus begins an obsession on the part of the farmers. They first try to dig the foxes out, but they are outdug by eight sets of paws. Then, they move to starving them out. This is unfortunate, as no other creatures living under the hill (though now more of a valley; a bulldozer was involved at one point) can get out, either. Mr. Fox is not a very popular figure until he chances across the idea of digging under the farmhouses...


Animated film based on the Roald Dahl story and directed by one of my absolute favorite directors, Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenebaums, Rushmore)...with the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe...and on and on. I am usually not an animated film guy, but this looks amazing.

Seriously, check out the trailer. The animation looks quirky and Anderson-esque and has some very funny scenes...

Saturday, September 5, 2009

A Vicious Circle

It's remarkable to me how closely many great movie moments mimic life. It's what makes them inherently great moments, naturally. I can recite specific scenes from a wide variety of films that connect deeply with me and that I admire greatly in some way, shape or form. There is a scene in Garden State, for instance, where Zach Braff and Natalie Portman are in a friend's pool discussing life that just gets me. It is so true and simple that despite the disconnect I feel from the characters the rest of the movie, I like to think I can understand them in context...or connect with them in some way. And perhaps more importantly, that they understand me (albeit in some existential way), if you can grasp what I am saying.

Anyway, that's not quite as interesting to me in general terms than the exact opposite of the idea. I mean, I have related more moments in my life to movie scenes than I can begin to fathom. It happens daily...hell, nearly hourly with me. Or at least, my mind makes the connection whether I verbalize it or not. Interesting. Film mimics life, but in the same vein i've become accumstomed enough to so many films and they have become such an entrenched facet of my existence that the opposite seems to be true as well. Life, for me at least, mimics film...or, more broadly I suppose, life mimics art. For some people it's TV shows (The Simpsons and Family Guy seem especially prone to this amongst folks from our generation) or music, but I bet most people can recite many more relevant film anecdotes that mirror some happening in their life. I dunno, it's just an intriguing concept to me how natural a process this seems to me, and just how much it actually happens on a day to day basis.

Maybe I'll make a film someday about this cycle - one scene mimicking another in a strange, perverse pinwheel of a script. I guess that would be the ultimate string of great 'connecting' moments for me, if you think about it: the perfect circle of film and art, art and film, and on and on and on...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Documenting My Love Affair With 70's & 80's Trashy Movies, Part II

2) Giant Walls of Blinking Lights! For real, though...I hesitate to call these 'computers' 'cause I'm not even sure that's what they were meant to be. Most of the time there aren't even screens or buttons, just a mosaic of blinking bulbs that would make the most complicated carnival ride blush. I mean, this was an actual staple of set design since sci-fi was put on film and we are just in the last ten years moving away from it. How can it not be a source of pure hilarity? Here's some fun examples:

Escape From New York
This is the 'command station' that Carpenter dreamed up that basically only functions to keep an eye on Snake as he infiltrates the futuristic gangs in Manhattan to steal back Donald Pleasance from Issac Hayes. But really, I am willing to forgive and forget seeing as it's Tom Atkins and Lee Van Cleef posing in front of it. But frankly, that amount of on-screen awesomeness would negate anything any director could have done, so perhaps the point is moot...?

Wargames
Seriously...WOPR? (It stands for War Operation Plan Response). Loved this movie as a kid, though. This 'supercomputer' (okay, so this one is in fact a computer of some sort) calculates outcomes of war scenarios, back when the Russians posed a viable threat to the US. Of course, in the end it can't even win a game of tic-tac-toe, but I'd leave it in charge of the largest nuclear arms program on the globe anyday, especially since it's got all those pretty lights!

The Last Starfighter
You get extra points if you've seen this one. Basically, it's about a kid from a trailer park who masters the sole arcade game at the local convenience store...only to find out the game is actually a training module for an alien space ship. He is whisked away by a guy in a low-rent Delorean and becomes the key factor in an intergalactic battle against some baddies who threaten...something nice about the good guys. The 'space ship' scenes are appropriately humbling.

There are SO many of these I could write an entire blog on that subject alone, and they never cease to make me chuckle.