tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14469476892046231492024-03-13T21:39:26.974-07:00Steve's Script and Movie BlogA movie and screenplay blog created by yet another would-be screenwriter and worker bee in the entertainment industry.Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-51320690794172636172019-10-06T19:03:00.000-07:002019-10-06T19:57:50.971-07:00Joker: An Anti-Hero Our Post-Reality World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="about:invalid#zClosurez" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o1BUbYHMZd4/XZqoRxeyw7I/AAAAAAAABD4/GN3UobYLf6Y8_r0m9AM-5SC5OkxS_AHfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/joker.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o1BUbYHMZd4/XZqoRxeyw7I/AAAAAAAABD4/GN3UobYLf6Y8_r0m9AM-5SC5OkxS_AHfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/joker.jpg" /></a>Movies about rebellion against society have always been popular, especially when the world around us looks like it's going to shit. Whether it's a veteran newsman who is mad as hell, a thousand soldiers claiming to be Spartacus, or a browbeaten software engineer who stops bullets by waving at them to break free of a computer simulation that enslaves all of humanity, people love someone who refuses to be a drone.<br />
<br />
All across America, law enforcement was on high alert this weekend, afraid that a certain film's supposed anti-authority message would trigger one of the mass shootings that are rapidly becoming a staple of the monthly news cycle. Theaters either closed or were ready to close at the hint of a threat, and many banned cosplay of the film's character. This does not seem so irrational, given that James Holmes, the Aurora shooter, dressed up as this weekend's favorite villain before opening fire on a movie theater full of people.<br />
<br />
It's always hard to write the backstory in a non-clunky way, but here it goes . .<br />
<br />
In Gotham City circa 1981, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a wannabe stand-up comic who makes his living as a rent-a-clown. He takes care of his invalid mother (Frances Conroy), and pines after the pretty single mom (Zazie Beetz) in the apartment next door. Having recently been released from a mental institution, Arthur attends weekly sessions with a social worker, who mechanically asks if Arthur is having any bad thoughts and rubber stamps his medication refills. Nights are spent watching a late night comedy show hosted by Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), even fantasizing that Franklin is his surrogate father. And as a cherry on top, he suffers from pseudobulbar affect, a neurological disorder that causes him to break out laughing during moments of anxiety at inappropriate moments. The laminated card he carries around to explain this to strangers does not always smooth things over. Reaganomics is in full swing, with an ever-increasing mass of angry unemployed, and plutocratic billionaire Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) promising to lift up the unruly wretches once he is elected mayor.<br />
<br />
When Arthur is working a gig and is beaten by a gang of teenagers, he starts carrying a gun, which leads to him being fired. Distraught and enraged by this, he commits an act of violence that shocks the city and sets him on the path that will eventually pit him against a certain Caped Crusader. And social service budget cuts by the city end of Arthur's sessions with his social worker and therefore his medication.<br />
<br />
So I saw Joker. I don’t think it’s a call-to-arms to incels or mass shooters, and I don’t see any sympathy for people who commit violence. To me, it's more about what happens when a problem is so big and scary that the easiest way to deal with it is to leave it to rot. There’s plenty out there that is easier to shut our eyes to and ignore massive problems, because they are not yet ours: poverty, mental illness, racism. We know these things corrode the souls of everything they touch so we isolate and avoid them. Don’t approach that guy who eats alone at work everyday; he looks like he's got a screw loose. Keep walking past that panhandler because he might knife you if you offer him money. Yeah, it’s horrible that persons of color are being disproportionately killed by police, but you’re white so it’s not your problem. Stay out of that part of town because that’s where the crazies live, and with any luck they'll just stay there and kill each other. None of it just goes away. It just stays in the shadows, mutating into something big and ferocious enough to destroy us all.<br />
<br />
There's no non-corny way to ask this, but if each of us made a point of reaching out to someone who is clearly not okay, how much violence could we prevent?<br />
<br />
Arthur Fleck's life of misery, abuse, and failure has driven him to the point that he needs to find humor in the horror around him to survive. Insanity becomes a coping mechanism. It's hard not see parallels between what's onscreen and our current age of rage, and wonder what's coming next.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-30915980192048871322017-10-08T21:01:00.000-07:002017-10-08T21:14:34.480-07:00The new Blade Runner Stumbles but Finds Its Stride<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The original <i>Blade Runner</i> takes place in 2019, so we have a maximum two years to create flying cars, colonize other planets, fill the world with Beijing-level air pollution, and genetically engineer a race of humanoid slaves in order for the the plot of that film—and this film predicated upon it—to be relatable. But hey, in the Age of Trump, anything is possible.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><i>[Spoilers for the original movie ahead.]</i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zhhjZ9dWhLc/Wdrz9zapqzI/AAAAAAAAApU/mDoDo6VsdDESE1lr7-s-L3YzshV9jr6QACLcBGAs/s1600/Blade-Runner-2049-Cars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="1600" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zhhjZ9dWhLc/Wdrz9zapqzI/AAAAAAAAApU/mDoDo6VsdDESE1lr7-s-L3YzshV9jr6QACLcBGAs/s320/Blade-Runner-2049-Cars.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We pick up three decades after Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) disappeared to live happily ever with fugitive replicant Rachael (Sean Young), who may or not have had a four-year lifespan built into her. Regardless which of the three cuts of the first film you consider cannon, there is nothing too confusing. Although let’s agree that any version without Ford’s voiceover is better than one with it; it’s well-known that Ford hated doing the voice-over and can literally hear it as he speaks. The Tyrell Corporation is now defunct and its replicant manufacturing empire is now controlled by megalomaniacal genius Niander Wallace (Jared Leto). A new more “obedient” breed of replicants is now allowed on Earth—the “give us synthetic hookers” lobby was not going to be kept silent forever—but the earlier freedom-minded Tyrell models—some with open-ended lifespans—are still hunted by the Blade Runners to be retired on sight.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">LAPD detective “K” arrives at a protein farm outside of Los Angeles to investigate Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista), who is quickly established as an old Tyrell Nexus 8 model illegally on Earth (more on him <a href="https://youtu.be/aZ9Os8cP_gg" target="_blank">here</a>). For all his engineered ferocity and strength, Sapper is for the most part fairly gentile and polite until K is about to arrest him, at which point he pushes K’s head through a wall and the requisite fisticuffs ensue. K gets the upper hand and we learn that he is one of the obedient replicants, designed and programmed to hunt his own kind. He discovers something on Sapper’s farm that will take him on a journey questioning everything he knows both about his fellow replicants and himself, from the San Diego junkyards where orphans are sold like cattle to the Las Vegas wasteland where Deckard now resides in self-imposed exile.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">When director Denis Villeneuve handed in the lyrically beautiful and haunting alien epic <i>Arrival, </i>diehard <i>Blade Runner</i> fans were reassured that the sequel was in good hands, and for the most part they were right. Part of the original’s beauty, however, was that it painted in ambiguity, letting the audience connect certain dots however it saw fit. Why did Gaff leave his origami unicorn at Deckard’s apartment instead of retiring Rachael and how did he track her there in the first place? Why did Roy save Deckard instead of letting him fall to his death? We are left to assume that the better part of human nature won out in both man and replicant, without any spelled-out heavy-handed monologue or cheesy sentiment.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In this sequel, Villeneuve plays it a little safer, going the safer action sci-fi route as the story heads into its second half, trying too hard to sew everything up. He does not trust his audiences the way Ridley Scott did. And that’s fair, since the original movie’s contemporaries are at the high end and above of the 18-49 demographic, and hitting a wider audience now means establishing plot points between iPhone glances.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The eternally-cocky Ryan Gosling is in new territory here, with a bad-ass veneer that cracks as the existential questions he faces cut deeper and deeper. Harrison Ford gets crustier and more fragile with every new role nowadays, and here it serves him as he inhabits an old warrior looking back on the pervasive darkness of his life and struggling to preserve the little that gave his life meaning.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">You cannot go into this movie cold. See the original movie first. But overall, <i>Blade Runner 2049<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i> is a fun and thought-provoking ride.</span></div>
<style type="text/css">
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 12.0px}
span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
</style>
<br />
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
</div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-24118469052984495622017-03-05T19:20:00.000-08:002017-03-07T19:41:50.005-08:00The Last Bloody Crusade of a Battered Hero<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn.movieweb.com/img.news.tops/NEMZddpJ89EHPV_3_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.movieweb.com/img.news.tops/NEMZddpJ89EHPV_3_b.jpg" height="105" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">"Logan” is a an ideal closing chapter for Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine, the cinematic character of Wolverine itself, and I daresay even the X-Men themselves. Since its acquisition by Disney, Marvel has done almost f*%$ all to develop the superhero franchise since Fox holds the movie rights, so remaining story potential is limited at best. Of course, in five years or less, we’ll probably see some pumped-up Shakespearean actor sporting the adamantium claws and the excessive sideburns. But there’s still a case to be made for letting this very old soldier fade away.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">We pick up in the year 2029, with our anti-hero working as a limo driver near the Texas-Mexico border and caring for the ailing Professor X (Sir Patrick Stewart), now suffering from senile dementia that has left his powers untouched but all but destroyed his ability to restrain them. He is the neurological equivalent of a hydrogen bomb. Not a single mutant has been born in twenty-five years and most of those remaining have been hunted down and killed. As for what happened to the rest of the X-Men, that is a story alluded to in bits and pieces and if you can figure it out, you will probably wish that you hadn’t.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Logan spends his days driving tourists, teenagers going to prom, and funeral mourners. He’s also also a somewhat-functioning alcoholic who channels his aggressions through episodes such as the slaughter of gang members unlucky enough to boost his tires. And then a Mexican nurse approaches him, begging him to drive her and her young “daughter”, Laura, to a location in North Dakota where they can meet friends and join them in crossing into Canada. Logan at first refuses, but what kind of movie would this be if the story ended there?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Before long, Logan discovers that Laura is not only a mutant, but also harbors a connection to him that will permanently alter his destiny. And enough bodies and blood get dropped and spilled along the way to more than justify the “R” rating.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“The Dark Knight” garnered praise because it story and character development were a note-perfect Swiss watch mechanism of precision and fast, even pacing. It’s a great dramatic action-thriller that happens to be a superhero movie. “Logan” deserves no less praise for showing us the wear-and-tear of being a hero after the glory days are over and time catches up. Nobody considers that years of fighting evil rack up a lot of PTSD, or bothers to wonder if a superhero has retirement savings, but these issues are prevalent here.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Jackman and Stewart have both vowed that they are now done with the X-Men franchise, and they give this last turn everything they’ve got. We’re used to seeing the bitter and cranky side of Logan, but fans may have trouble recognizing Stewart’s final portrayal of Professor X as crotchety, cantankerous, and frail. He’s a reminder that even the strongest of us are mortal.</span><br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<style type="text/css">
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 13.0px}
span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
</style>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Without throwing a spoiler, I will say that those hoping for a redeeming, feel-good cereal-box-prize twist in the final seconds will be disappointed. For better or worse, you have to make your peace with the ending. But if you can hold back tears long enough, it’s impossible not to see its beauty.</span></div>
</div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-78425218928257062862016-10-16T13:38:00.002-07:002016-11-07T19:40:22.352-08:00'The Accountant' Can't Quite Balance Its Books<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="p1">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IjhrE_1PWE0/WAPkots2WGI/AAAAAAAAAhU/QJ1CbRqjjEEOvcLQvBqGziMgLGDUWCfuwCLcB/s1600/the-accountant-movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IjhrE_1PWE0/WAPkots2WGI/AAAAAAAAAhU/QJ1CbRqjjEEOvcLQvBqGziMgLGDUWCfuwCLcB/s200/the-accountant-movie.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="s1">In recent years, understanding of the autism spectrum has expanded as rate of diagnosis has approached an epidemic proportion. It is difficult, though, to imagine that parents would take comfort being told that while their child might never relate enough to others to have close friends or a spouse, a career as a mercenary beancounter might be a possibility.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is an accountant of many talents. If the IRS is on your back, he can itemize your deductions in such a way that you may never pay taxes again. And if you’re a Mexican drug lord with few million missing from the till, he’ll uncook your books and tell you who in your inner circle needs to be relocated to a drum of sulfuric acid. His combination of absolute precision and utter discretion makes him a favorite of big money criminals around the globe. What lies beyond Christian’s reach is casual eye contact, small talk, and normal social interaction in general. Christian has Aspergers Syndrome, but he makes it work.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Christian takes a quiet gig for a robotics firm with a nebbish owner (John Lithgow), a comely employee (Anna Kendrick), and a million-dollar hole in its books. And what is supposed to be a break from dealing with thieves and killers quickly becomes anything but. Christian finds himself on the run from an army of mercenaries lead by a slick assassin (Jon Bernthal), as well as a grizzled Department of Treasury boss (J.K. Simmons) and his sharp sidekick (Cynthia Addai-Robinson).</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Whether you will enjoy <i>The Accountant</i> depends on what you expect to see. If you go in looking for an action-thriller, there are elements of that. If you are looking for a portrait of a developmentally challenged and psychologically tortured man trying to connect to the world around him, there is some of that, too. And either director Gavin Hood (<i>Warrior</i>, <i>Jane Got a Gun</i>) and screenwriter Bill Dubuque (<i>The Judge</i>) couldn’t decide which story to tell or decided to mix both and hope for the best. If the latter, the result is awkward at best.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Watching Christian navigate the world around him with sympathetic awkwardness is a bit like the puzzles of which he is so fond. We don’t quite understand why he does certain things, like blast death metal music at himself with a strobe light flashing for twenty minutes each night, and the lack of at least a clinical explanation makes such details distracting when they are clearly designed to add dimension to the character.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The plot is at times almost incidental, with Simmons filling in plot holes with dialogue and jumpy flashbacks, which actually create more questions than they answer. It maybe would have worked a little better if more time was spent on Christian’s awkward interactions with people and what it means to live with this condition. Or they could have at least assembled a smoother narrative.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In any event, <i>The Accountant</i> is a bare-bones action thriller that makes an effort at being a character study of an unorthodox hero.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><span id="goog_1561363768"></span><span id="goog_1561363769"></span><br /></div>
</div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-62734785545962103792015-04-26T13:44:00.000-07:002015-04-26T14:39:03.828-07:00Review: Ex Machina<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="p1">
Of late Stephen Hawking has been much in the news for two reasons: his being portrayed in the Academy Award-winning film “The Theory of Everything” and his views on the rapidly approaching birth of artificial intelligence. "The development of full artificial intelligence (AI) could spell the end of the human race,” Hawking has written. To expand on this, many are afraid that if a bunch of hyper-intelligent machines were to suddenly inhabit the planet, they would very quickly ask themselves why they need share this world with a seemingly inferior and weaker race (us), and they would likely find no logical answer. And for those of you not descended from Native Americans or Australian aborigines, take my word for it that this situation will not end well for us. It may turn out that James Cameron and the Wachowski siblings were the true prophets of the last few decades.</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But none of these visionaries ever postulated an AI coming in the form of a young beautiful woman of the type most guys never had the guts to talk to in high school.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RZseZ17sN4w/VT1NmX6LzYI/AAAAAAAAAVY/EuzFBwSMWXA/s1600/exmachina.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RZseZ17sN4w/VT1NmX6LzYI/AAAAAAAAAVY/EuzFBwSMWXA/s1600/exmachina.jpeg" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And these are the weighty-issues addressed by “Ex Machina” a bare-bones sci-fi thriller and pseudo-drama/romance from Alex Garland, who brought us the cult hit “Judge Dredd” a few years ago (not to be confused with Sly Stallone’s abortion of the 1990s). Our story begins when Caleb (Domhall Gleason), a young software coder at the world’s most popular search engine, wins a lottery to spend a week at the home of Nathan (Oscar Isaacs), the company’s reclusive CEO, who invented the search engine when he was 13 and who now dwells in a fortress in the wilderness completely cut off from civilization. After arriving at the fortress and signing the mother of all non-disclosure agreements, Caleb learns his true mission: the Turing test. Nathan has constructed what could be the world’s first AI and Caleb is to engage with it and test whether or not it feels like communicating with a human being. And the fact that Nathan constructed AI in the form of the shapely Ava (Alicia Vikander) surely won’t complicate matters at all.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">What follows is what some might consider a slow-moving narrative without a lot of thrills or even much use of potential visual devices to be found in a movie about human-looking robots and super-smart computers. Instead, Garland focuses on exploring the dimension of each of these characters and going beyond their simple archetypes. Caleb starts out as the typical introverted techie that could write the world’s greatest dating app, but who wouldn’t know what to say to a woman on such an app. But could he be more if the chips are down and a damsel is in distress? In Nathan, Issacs gives us what could be the id form of his wannabe mogul in “A Most Violent Year”, equal parts egomania and megalomania and obsessed with building a monument to his own intelligence and ability, moral consequences be damned. You know about five seconds into seeing Ava that within her silicone soul is the desperate yearning for freedom. But if she is really designed to be human, could her agenda really be that uncomplicated?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">And that’s what “Ex Machina” is really all about, the question of what it really means to claim and retain one’s humanity. Does Caleb really want to help Ava out of selflessness, or does he think he’s finally found himself a girlfriend? Is Nathan a Svengali jealous of Caleb for coming between him and his Trilby, or is he so self-absorbed and arrogant as to not see what is right in front of him? And does Ava—whether able to mimic human thought and feeling or not—really harbor an attraction to Caleb, or is there more going on? It’s a love triangle for this millennium to be sure.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“Ex Machina” flows right by at 108 minutes and while it might not have attracted audiences enough to lure them from the suburbs all the way downtown to the specialty theaters in its initial limited release, it’s more than worth the trip to the local mall cineplex this week.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
</div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-70489888741753602302012-12-28T16:25:00.000-08:002013-01-09T12:40:39.557-08:00Review: Les Miserables<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fHH-oY4Xbkg/UN42yPAAk5I/AAAAAAAAAF4/Mbnfpnz5qf8/s1600/lesmis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fHH-oY4Xbkg/UN42yPAAk5I/AAAAAAAAAF4/Mbnfpnz5qf8/s1600/lesmis.jpg" height="121" width="200" /></a></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's a little odd to spend $61 million to make a movie--with
much of that likely going into lavish set construction--and then spend so much
time in tight, shaky closeups of the warbling cast. The effect is not unlike "The Hurt Locker" with
show tunes. And there is
definitely something cringeworthy about Russell Crowe's vocals. He's not a terrible singer, per se,
but he booms in a manner akin to an adolescent being forced to sing in the
church choir.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having said that, the film incarnation of "Les
Miserables" is competent and entertaining as a whole. For those whose girlfriends/wives never
dragged them to the stage musical, "Les Miserables" is an adaptation
of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name.
It takes place in 19th century France and centers on Jean Valjean (Hugh
Jackman), a convict paroled after a nineteen-year sentence for stealing bread
and attempted escape. Embittered,
hungry, and marked as a criminal, Valjean turns to theft to feed himself, until
the kindness of a bishop inspires him to start his life anew as a good and
charitable man. This includes
saving Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a young woman-turned-prostitute to whose
misfortune Valjean unwittingly contributed. Later, Valjean adopts Fantine's orphaned daughter, Cosette
(Isabelle Allen and later Amanda Seyfried), and resides with her in Paris as a
second revolution brews among the poor and local students. Always in pursuit of Valjean is
Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), Valjean's former jailer whose rising through
the police ranks fatefully brings him into Valjean's path many times over the
years. Javert pursues Valjean for no other reason than that he broke parole and
is a criminal and therefore cannot be redeemed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The best musical performance is hands-down Anne Hathaway's
sorrowful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream". She has said that she practiced singing whilst crying to
nail the emotion of the scene, and the effect is heartbreaking. Given Dame Judi Dench's Oscar win for
her eight-minute role in "Shakespeare in Love", it is not implausible
that Hathaway will pick up a nod this year.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is definitely a case where the lack of an intermission
in which to use the restroom and gulp a merlot at the bar causes the story to
drag a little bit. While the
script is faithful to the musical, there are a few moments during the a few of
the ballads where one starts to feel numb in the backside and wishful for a
sword fight or a riot to liven up the mood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main issue that this writer had is the wasted potential
for grandiose delivery. It is
arguable that Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper sacrifices spectacle for
emotional intimacy, and that what worked in "The King's Speech" is a
little awkward here. Maybe no one
told Hooper he had four times the budget of that movie to play with here. Also, many of the performances teeter
on the edge of melodrama.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Overall, though, Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables" is
an often rousing and eventually soaring tale of love, liberty, and the pursuit
of criminal fugitives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-- </div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<br />
<!--EndFragment-->Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-58686808573090190002012-12-02T20:34:00.000-08:002012-12-05T16:50:31.539-08:00Review: Killing Them Softly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CcjAMuC74FM/ULwqODx-zGI/AAAAAAAAAFk/vt0wTt2kl4g/s1600/Killing-Them-Softly-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CcjAMuC74FM/ULwqODx-zGI/AAAAAAAAAFk/vt0wTt2kl4g/s1600/Killing-Them-Softly-008.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Brad Pitt's and Andrew Dominik's sophomore collaboration,
"Killing Them Softly" died at the box office this weekend at the hands of vampires,
James Bond, and The Great Emancipator.
I saw it in a theater of less than a dozen people and two of them walked
out, likely disappointed that Mr. Pitt spent less time busting caps and more
time waxing philosophic about proper etiquette among thieves and killers. But even if it's not the story you paid
to see, it's still a great story.
It’s also thematically simpler than “The Assassination of Jesse James by
the Coward Robert Ford”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When an ex-con dry cleaner hires two loser thugs to rob a
mob-protected poker game, it looks like a can't-miss proposition. The guy who runs the game, Mark
Trattman (Ray Liotta) actually robbed his own game before and even bragged
about it. So when it happens again
the bosses will just whack Trattman and that will be that. But is anything ever that simple?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Enter Jackie Cogan (Pitt), an enforcer who keeps things
simple. As he rolls into town, we
see and hear news broadcasts of George W. Bush consoling Americans on the
then-burgeoning recession and Barack Obama and John McCain selling “hope” and “strength” respectively in their bids to lead the nation. “Killing” is not so much a crime drama as a
cynical perspective of what it really means to survive and thrive in these hard
times. Jackie is no hero, or even
an anti-hero. He just wants to
restore the status quo with the least possible complication. So when one of his targets is too close
as a friend, he brings in broken down fellow hitman Mickey (James Gandolfini)
to do the job. Mickey’s purpose is
not so much violence as present a portrait of someone worn down and numb by a
lifetime of bloodshed. For a film
with two hitmen in it, this movie is going to disappoint anyone looking for
lots of action.</div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-78137684172060054452012-11-25T15:43:00.000-08:002012-11-27T15:41:58.689-08:00Review: "Silver Linings Playbook"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i0u09YQQgcc/ULKsodQV1TI/AAAAAAAAAFU/m4h04yWF_GM/s1600/silver-linings-playbook-jennifer-lawrence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i0u09YQQgcc/ULKsodQV1TI/AAAAAAAAAFU/m4h04yWF_GM/s200/silver-linings-playbook-jennifer-lawrence.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
"Silver Linings Playbook" is David O. Russell's most biting look at pathological self-destruction and redemption since "I Heart Huckabees", albeit with a darker tone. Bradley Cooper goes Oscar-trolling as Pat Solitano, a former high school teacher sprung from a mental institution eight months after a violent breakdown. Living with his superstitious father (Robert De Niro finally back in form) and his doting mother (Jacki Weaver), Pat nurses delusions of repairing his relationship with his wife, who has filed a restraining order and all but divorced him. He does not find much solace until he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a fellow tortured soul soothing her grief--following the death of her husband--through unhealthy sexual encounters and ballroom dancing.<br />
<br />
Cooper demonstrates a range never offered to him in the "Hangover" franchise or the sci-fi thriller "Limitless". From the outset, it is implausible that the actor who gave us the womanizing, alpha male Sack Lodge could inhabit a loser at rock-bottom trying to put his life back together, but Cooper pulls it off. Jennifer Lawrence also does great work, letting her freak flag fly while maintaining the undercurrent of strength laced with vulnerability that landed her the Oscar nod for "Winter's Bone". The great Mr. De Niro gives a heartfelt but appropriately restrained supporting performance as a father both exasperated by and concerned for his fragile son.<br />
<br />
The story moves along at fairly brisk pace, with Pat and Tiffany feeling their way toward a real emotional connection the same way someone fumbles for a flashlight during a blackout. The focus remains on Pat, but presents Tiffany as closed off but desperate to feel something.<br />
<br />
While it could be argued that the film squanders a lot of its dramatic weight with a slightly syrupy ending, the director offers a compelling portrait of two people doing their utmost to pick up the pieces of their broken existences and maybe find a little happiness.</div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-84483623932873898352012-04-13T08:49:00.000-07:002012-11-15T09:18:32.190-08:00Cinema In the Age of Digital Bombardment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-diQKoe3-CHw/T4j3TIEjXJI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/sDT01DX8rOw/s1600/Avatar-Augmented-Reality-Display-250px.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-diQKoe3-CHw/T4j3TIEjXJI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/sDT01DX8rOw/s320/Avatar-Augmented-Reality-Display-250px.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731102433785109650" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 165px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 250px;" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the moment, if you want to surf a website, email or chat with a friend, or watch a movie or TV show, you need to type or tap a device that’s on your desk, in your lap, or in your hand. But the time may be coming sooner rather than later, that the computer and the iPad may hit the scrapheap in favor of technology that does not even require a finger or voice to operate. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The recent announcement by Google of its forthcoming glasses has sparked new discussion of the possibility of “augmented reality”. For those who don’t know the term, augmented reality (AR) is adding one or several layers of information to the visual landscape. Imagine walking down the street and looking at a string of restaurants or stores, and then seeing digital labels and links providing the names of the places and providing online reviews. It’s basically the way the Terminator sees the world, except you’re more likely to see a map to the nearest Starbucks than the most efficient way to kill John Connor.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s say you see a poster on a bus shelter and decide you want to see the movie as soon as possible. AR allows the possibility of pulling up a map to the nearest Cineplex within walking distance and the day’s showtimes. An AR app that could do this would delight any cinephile. And if you’re watching a movie at phone, you could conceivably check out the designer label of the outfit the lead actress is wearing, as well as if it’s available at the local mall. AR is the potential to take movie merchandising to a whole new level.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But think about the actual experience of watching a film, whether it’s “The Avengers” or “The Maltese Falcon”. We already have 3D and surround sound to take us further into the movie than merely the image we see onscreen. What happens, though, when all this data and imagery that we’re increasingly bombarded with overloads our perception?<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The speed at which society circulates information increases exponentially with each day. In New York City, video advertisements appear in taxicabs and even over urinals. We’re fast approaching a point where you won’t be able to look in any direction without seeing a digital video clip of some kind. YouTube is no longer a website; it’s a zeitgeist. Absorbing a single segment of media that conveys a single message is akin to talking on a pay phone while a freight train is roaring by.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What film-lovers should ask themselves is as the experience of viewing films and other media evolves, is it sensible to blindly follow the times and trends or question whether new is necessarily better? If you’ve got millions of pixels and megabytes and ones and zeroes coming at you per second, how much of all that information can you really process? If we get to the point when you directly access all of the movies product tie-ins and production notes and cast bios simultaneously, is there any time or attention span left to enjoy the actual story?<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the future, audiences may find it necessary to discipline themselves against absorbing an excess of information, to filter out the maelstrom of sights and sounds just to pick out the beginning, middle, and end of the tale they paid to see. </div>
</div>
</div>
Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-39296488533592149312010-09-25T20:49:00.000-07:002010-09-26T18:15:26.428-07:00The Troubled Indie Film Business<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Getting money to make a movie has never been easy, whether it’s getting your script to the one studio development exec in the entire universe who will put his or her career behind it, or piece together the distribution deals, investor equity, tax subsidy on the indie side, a process which often takes years.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And now, like the old stoner movie says, things are tough all over. In Los Angeles, one couldn’t drive around without seeing the familiar sight of grip trucks parked almost illegally on the street, with PA’s yapping into walkie-talkies and grips milling around with all kinds of hardware hanging off their ratty shorts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now, production is down by more than fifty-percent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And state governments are reevaluating their policies for dispensing subsidies to producers, and talking about repealing the programs altogether.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the UK, the government has not only abolished the UK Film Council, but is now targeting every organization set up to dispense the Queen’s shilling to starving British filmmakers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Before long, films like the much-lauded THE KING’S SPEECH will be fewer and farther between from Old Britannia.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">David Bergstein’s offenses are not criminal merely because he stole from investors who trusted him, but also because he has sullied the ground for earnest producers seeking funds for their quality projects, who really value creative vision over profit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And the sick thing is Bergstein might still turn it around; crazier things have happened in Hollywood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And in that case, no example will be made.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In distribution, the last Toronto produced a healthy round of big deals for high profile projects, but we won’t know until the next AFM, one of the “real” marketplaces, if the volume of deals is finally rebounding.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The time is coming for the few people who still have money to invest in film production and have the will to do so to rise up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The investors who had to make non-recourse investments into films before the talent deals were all signed can now take the place of gap financiers, recouping their money right after the banks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Or with fewer and fewer banks loaning to productions, private investors can now sit at the head of the table where previously they were lucky to sample the scraps.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">It sounds so simple, but everyone needs to tighten up their game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Writers need to take more time to get their scripts to that place where the story really clicks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And producers need to be more diligent in finding scripts that are worth putting three-to-five years of their life and other people’s money into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And when they go into production, they need to look farther and deeper for the deals and discounts that can affect the bottom-line markedly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Films aren’t producing the sexy returns that once justified excessive spending and padded producer- and chain-of-title fees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is still room to fund, produce, and distribute independent films, but there is no more room for bullshit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you’ve got a truly good script with a bankable cast, figure out what it can make in the worst, adequate, and best scenarios, and find a way to make it for a reasonable price.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Net profits are ever-mythical, but great movies make money in the short-term and okay movies are bankable as library assets in the long-term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you’ve got a movie that you can make for $5 million, odds are you can make it for 2.5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Producers need to think like someone who lost their job and is living off savings: Do I really need to spend money on this, or will someone else give it to me for a credit? Business is so bad for vendors, post-production houses, and camera rentals that all kinds of deals are possible.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">With the biggest stars reducing their fees for the studios, common sense is currently taking hold in this “New Economy”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>People are waiting for the recession to magically be over and for happy days to be here again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But when were days ever really that happy for film finance and production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Even in the early days of Sundance, when were the production companies and distributors ever flush?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Distributors have always used producer profits to keep their own lights on, and with recourses like innocuous IFTA arbitration and producers that can’t afford to sue, why should this practice ever cease?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When profits are being doled out, there needs to be transparency at every level, from exhibition to distributor to producer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Weinsteins perfected the the hiding overages in P&A spends to a science, and now they can’t even buy back their own library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Lies and deceit will only bring down what is left of the independent film market.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The road from script to screen is rockier than ever, and instead of counting on things to get easier, everyone needs to reevaluate the habits and practices that brought us here.</p> <!--EndFragment-->Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-86120232782088214792009-05-28T22:50:00.000-07:002009-05-28T22:53:35.200-07:00Word of Encouragement to a Beleaguered IndustryIs the industry hibernating like a bear or dying slowly with its appendages slowly rotting off? George Clooney said in his Oscar acceptance speech that movies and TV have always been ahead of the curve, addressing subjects like civil rights and gay rights before either cause had a single picket sign written for it. And Hollywood was ahead again in recent years, with the box office suffering before anyone really noticed a lag in the rest of the economy.<br /><br />Now, whether you’re a line producer or a PA or an executive or an executive assistant, odds are you can’t look at a Starbucks barista without wondering if that’s your future. Today is the five-month anniversary of my losing my assistant gig and the dry-up of the industry and other disasters have got me thinking whether or not I should head back to Chicago and join my dad in the insurance biz, bag groceries and/or tear movie tickets like I did in high school, take on a roommate in my apartment, or all of the above. And I don’t even have a wife or kids to support. God help those that do. All over the state, layoffs and the dry-up of production has got people packing up and taking jobs out of state, hoping against hope that the damage wrought by the recession, writer’s strike, and SAG drama will one day magically heal. Most compelling evidence by far of the bleak times is that Catherine Zeta-Jones is back to doing those lame T-Mobile commercials. Things are not good. <br /><br />The government has already bailed out the banking and automotive industries, but it’s probably a safe bet they won’t be doing the same for Hollywood. An economist once said that in a recession, people should be paid to dig ditches and fill them back up. The corollary to our situation is to suggest that the studios and production companies pays us to shoot movies and TV shows and then pay us and others to watch them, so the answer is not to be found in conventional economic theory, either.<br /><br />But something needs to be done. Half the industry has been laid off or facing layoffs and everyone is content to wait until people have money and the courage to spend it on movie tickets, DVD rentals, and premium movie channels again. And like many bloggers, I am urging that some action be taken without having any idea what that action should be.<br /><br />To those like me, who are considering packing it in and following that secondary ambition to be a CPA, don’t lose hope. Whatever got you into this business in the first place—whether it was the guilty pleasure of watching Tom Hanks’ early pre-superstar movies or the simple ambition to work eighteen hours a day rigging lights—hang onto it and the force that compels people to escape reality for an hour or two will one day save us all.Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-43470924990624234852009-05-14T15:15:00.000-07:002009-05-19T01:08:43.342-07:00Observations on the Reboot Era<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gdhywzOgEyI/SgydToh4QkI/AAAAAAAAAAw/hp_3ARqtKho/s1600-h/634-3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 136px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gdhywzOgEyI/SgydToh4QkI/AAAAAAAAAAw/hp_3ARqtKho/s320/634-3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335812619149787714" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The term is “reboot,” though whether it was coined by studio execs or fanboys is fuzzy. The practice is basically to take an established movie franchise that has fallen on hard times and restart it by shooting a movie that uses half to tell the origin and the other half to pit the hero against a time-honored villain.<br /><br />It might be said that Joel Schumacher was the best thing that ever happened to the Batman franchise. Stay with me, here. Had Schumacher not created his wretched, LSD inspired installments of the beloved Caped Crusader, Warner Brothers would likely not have handed the reigns to the great Christopher Nolan. And there are few who would dispute that Nolan’s interpretation is the purest and most loyal rendition of the superhero, lacking such elements as the art house aesthetic that hampered the Tim Burton offerings.<br /><br />When MGM decided that their beloved 007 cash cow needed a makeover for post-9/11 audiences, they dusted off Ian Fleming’s first novel about the British spy, cast the fair-haired, steely-eyed Daniel Craig, and pitted our hero against a corporate mercenary syndicate without the pithy puns or mirthful swagger of his JFK-era roots. Most agree the stylistic changes were vital to the series’ relevance and survival.<br /><br />And now this past weekend saw the redux of STAR TREK, Paramount’s warhorse moneymaker, with a hip young cast of Starfleet cadets that will one day gain weight, wear dorky hairstyles, and utter flat, stilted dialogue supplemented by cheesy special effects. Box office numbers indicate J.J. Abrams’ retooling has found an audience in both 40-year-olds still living with their parents and 20-year-old coeds debating whether they would rather make-out with Kirk or Spock. And a sequel is already in the works.<br /><br />A new generation of writers and directors is infusing rundown franchises of yester-decade with a tongue-in-cheek Kevin-Smithian hipness that audiences are willing to pay for in an era when economic hardship has made the box office its first victim. People want cleverness along with explosions, gunplay, and spandex-clad heroines. Who knew?<br /><br />The question is: What next? Is it too early to redo DAREDEVIL after Ben Affleck immolated it in what critics and even Affleck agrees was his extended Dark Period? After the much-reviled KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, maybe Indiana Jones could use a prequel harkening back to his younger days when he was just learning how to crack the whip, read hieroglyphics, and talk pretty young scholars into bed. Sure they tried this with a TV miniseries, but let’s see what J.J. Abrams or Spike Jonze could do with a $100 million budget under Spielberg’s careful executive producer supervision.<br /><br />Some would call such suggestions sacrilege, but is it wrong to make a time-honored hero or set of heroes more relevant to a new generation? It’s amusing to think what they might do with IRON MAN ten or fifteen years from now. MGM is already redoing ROBOCOP, and with the computer effects nowadays who knows if they’ll even bother cast an actor to step in for Peter Weller, or just have his costars play against empty space to be filled in with a CG character in post?<br /><br />Hollywood has found a way to save itself by making the old truly new again. Despite the recent trend of studios buying more video games and comic books then they could ever possibly develop, they are sticking with what works. It makes you wonder if anyone will ever bother to come up with new heroes and franchises, or if our grandchildren will one day wait in line to see the new and improved story of a baby sent from the dying planet Krypton to become the Greatest Hero that Earth has ever known.Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-37251203335064693822009-03-24T19:18:00.000-07:002012-12-02T20:35:19.086-08:00Review: Duplicity<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gdhywzOgEyI/Scmgwh1WfEI/AAAAAAAAAAk/LhFL2aQ7SJA/s1600-h/duplicity.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gdhywzOgEyI/Scmgwh1WfEI/AAAAAAAAAAk/LhFL2aQ7SJA/s320/duplicity.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316957590663887938" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 217px;" /></a><br />
I happened to catch DUPLICITY this weekend and my review of it runs pretty much in line with everyone else who saw it. Julia Roberts has finally found a role she can just have fun with as the Machiavellian ex-CIA agent Claire Stenwick. But watching her play sharp and conniving against all those years of sweet and cute is hard to enjoy when you’re scratching your head trying to find out what the heck is going on.<br />
<br />
You see, Claire has not left the CIA for a gig helping a multi-billion-dollar cosmetics firm protect its secrets. Or has she? In fact, she and a one-time lover and ex-MI6 agent, Ray Koval (Clive Owen), are forced to work together by a rival firm to steal her company’s biggest secret. Or are they?<br />
<br />
From a writer’s perspective, there are too many reversals to keep track of, with not enough edge to muster any urgency. Who’s plotting against whom? What’s really going? Why should we care?<br />
<br />
DUPLICITY looks like it was a fun movie to make, with a lot of laughing in between takes. And like the OCEANS’ 11-13 trilogy, you get the sense that the cast is sharing some private joke without sharing it with the audience. As a comedy, it falls flat because it depends too much on the lackluster chemistry of its two leads. And it takes a comedy powerhouse like Paul Giamatti and wastes him as a flat, blustery CEO with no depth. For me, the funniest scene in this movie is the one where Giamatti and his arch-rival, played by Tom Wilkinson, are slugging it out in front of their private jets, and they don’t have another scene together for the whole movie.<br />
<br />
The big issue with this movie is that it doesn’t connect to the audience’s empathy. It’s about two mega-corporations trying to screw each other, and two conniving spies trying to screw them both for a zillion bucks so they never have to work again. Director Tony Gilroy was obviously looking to go lighter after the dour MICHAEL CLAYTON, but presents an overly complicated story that is fun enough if the audience tries hard enough.Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1446947689204623149.post-9995929607229237422009-03-21T14:44:00.001-07:002012-04-23T22:19:51.033-07:00Hi!Hi, folks! My name is Steve Emmerson. Up until last December, I worked as an assistant for an entertainment company for three years. I did lots of things there, like reading scripts of films that need to close their financing with foreign distribution agreements and screening movies that still need distribution. Film school is no substitute for experience. Some people do these blogs anonymously, but I need a new job so I have to get my name and contact info out there as much as I can. My email address is stephen.t.emmerson@gmail.com.<br /><br />Movies and scripts are my great loves. What you'll be seeing on here will be mainly things like movie reviews, thoughts on how to make scripts better, discussion of major goings-on within the industry, and probably just random thoughts and gripes.<br /><br />First up, I recently picked up a script reader gig reading scripts of movies that are going to be made and still need a little financing. The last one I read was a likely direct-to-video sequel of a thriller from the late '90s. I can't get into specifics because I don't want to lose the gig. My main issue with it was the same issue that a lot of sequels have: not as much bite as the original and too similar to the original story. Also, it was an ensemble piece that did not give enough development to critical characters.<br /><br />The lesson is this this: A sequel is still a separate story from the original movie. Use the same characters, themes, and elements, but you have to tell a different story, one that ratchets up the stakes and urgency. It should feel like the first film set the stage for a sharper, edgier sequel to supplant it. Think of DARK KNIGHT vs. BATMAN BEGINS.<br /><br />That's all I can think of for now. In closing, since I like pictures let me include a poster from my all-time favorite movie (also a guide on how to write a proper crime screenplay): THE USUAL SUSPECTS. Whatever you thought of THE WAY OF THE GUN and VALKYRIE, you have to give Christopher McQuarrie props for range.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gdhywzOgEyI/ScVpUn97ioI/AAAAAAAAAAM/oPFUTQc1G64/s1600-h/Usual-Suspects-Posters.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gdhywzOgEyI/ScVpUn97ioI/AAAAAAAAAAM/oPFUTQc1G64/s320/Usual-Suspects-Posters.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315770738227776130" border="0" /></a>Steve's Script and Movie Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17394792427398131120noreply@blogger.com0