Will be screening this Sunday at 4pm in Building 76 Auditorium on RIT Campus.
Further screenings I'll keep ya's updated.
Rock and Roll.
Dan
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Last Actor Title Screen
Been mad busy finishing the movie.
Will be screening this Sunday at 4pm in Building 76 Auditorium on RIT Campus.
Further screenings I'll keep ya's updated.
Rock and Roll.
Dan
Will be screening this Sunday at 4pm in Building 76 Auditorium on RIT Campus.
Further screenings I'll keep ya's updated.
Rock and Roll.
Dan
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The Last Actor: End Credits
Been trying to figure out how to do the end credits for my movie. One idea is to just do the classic freeze frame of the main actors of the movie with their name next to it, but leading up to the final frame there would be other quick frames of similar composition but different facial expressions. Kind of like a short looping gif before the final image.
thoughts?
thoughts?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Helicopter!
The US Marines were here on campus today giving helicopter rides to anyone that could do 15 pull ups. Easy. So I popped my helicopter cherry. It was really awesome. Felt like I was going somewhere really important and official when i was walking up to it with the beating blades and grass blowing around like crazy.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Last Actor: Last Day of Pickups
Shot three different locations and set ups for the intro sequence for The Last Actor: Episode I: The First Act today.
This was the first time in the films making that everything went exactly according to plan. It felt mad good. Got some really awesome footage.
Matt, Ben, Jim, and John:
This was the first time in the films making that everything went exactly according to plan. It felt mad good. Got some really awesome footage.
Matt, Ben, Jim, and John:
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Review: Green Zone
I watched the new Paul Greengrass film Green Zone at the dollar theatre this week. Again he collaborates with Matt Damon as the lead. The film follows Damon as a US Soldier who is the head of a team who's mission is to find WMD's in post-invasion Baghdad 2003. Hmmmmm I wonder what happens?
If you've been alive this decade you know exactly what happens. They don't find any WMD's. Thus the film then focuses more on the (excuse my language but this is really the only suitable way to describe it) CLUSTER-FUCK of the whole situation. Delving into the struggle between US officials trying to cover their ass while the CIA tries to find out the real truth, with you're American Joe american soldier stuck in between just following orders. Now you may say to yourself, "Wow Dan, that really sounds like an interesting and compelling film". Well, I must say to you, no, no sir or madam, it play's out in the most contrived and boring fashion I think could be put to celluloid.
The biggest problem with the film is the dialog. It sounds like it's from a student film. Every character states their exact intentions, their exact feelings at the time, what they are thinking at the moment without any filter, and to top it off in the most clichéd way possible. I know we are in a military setting where most people talk pretty straight laced but this is just ridiculous. There is absolutely no subtleness in any characters lines, we know everyone's motivations from the very beginning thus drastically getting rid of any tension that could have been made later in the film. There is no mystery. It's like reading a the alphabet. Look at the Green Zone page on IMDB, under memorable quotes... there are no memorable quotes, because they are all as stale as a 4 month old turd.
The next worst if not equal worst part of the film is the characters. Matt Damon's lead role of Miller is about the most boring person you could follow. He's about as interesting as a cup of sand. His intentions are good in the film as all he wants to do is honestly find the truth behind why they aren't finding any WMD's but he's just so boring of a person that we don't even care if he succeeds or not. Every other character is a one note stereotype. We have the intrusive female news reporter, the douche bag Government Administration liaison guy who will do anything to cover up his governments mistakes, and the good guy CIA dude who wants to find out the "truth". It's really kinda painful watching these characters interact as we know exactly what they are going to say next before they even say it. None of them are compelling and only suffice in representing broad generalizations of the groups they are part of.
As I've talked about before in other reviews and my newest film, I really have a disgust for most CG. One of my biggest pet peeves in film is the use of CG Helicopters. They 99% of the time look like total crud. It really pisses me off. When you have a 100 million dollar budget, GET SOME REAL HELICOPTERS!! Seriously. It takes me out of the movie every time. I know they can be dangerous when doing dangerous things with them, but when operated by professionals they are safer than driving a car. When you are just flying them without doing any sort of stunt or maneuver there is no reason to do it in CG. Along with this film, another film of the many that unnecessarily did this was Terminator Salvation. The very last shot of that film had two CG helicopters fly into the sunset. It made me want to punch a puppy. It was so freaking stupid I wanted to stomp McG's face in with an Iron. God dammit. Stop. Do these helicopters do a loop-d-loop? No. Do they fight a big Robot? No. They just fly away from the camera towards the sunset. FTS. Anywho, back to Green Zone, there was a scene near the end where a Helicopter got shot with an RPG and crashed which didn't look too bad. But again, you can do that practically, for example Live Free or Die Hard, Rambo First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Die Hard With a Vengeance and Black Hawk Down. All the other shots with Helicopters weren't doing anything special, just regular old helicopter stuff, yet all CG. I really don't want to talk about this anymore because it's so stupid.
Another big problem I had with the film is not the fault of the filmmakers but the people in charge of marketing and cutting the trailer. So much of the trailer is footage from the climatic third act that I already knew a lot of what was going to go down before it eventually went down. Thus again deleting tension and mystery. It should be a more common practice for trailers not to show ANYTHING from the third act of a film. Too often it ruins the movie watching experience. The Dark Knight did it completely right because it showed nothing of the final 20 min of the film in the trailers. When I saw it for the first time I thought the movie was going to end at a much earlier point then which it eventually did because I had seen all the stuff in the trailers play out, so I was like, Oh ok I guess it's almost over now. Nope. It kept going and was even more captivating because i wasn't spoiled at all from any trailer footage. Bottom line is, movie trailers show off too much of films nowadays. What ever happened to the good old "Teaser", just a couple shots, sometimes no shots at all. If you know how it all plays out before you see it, well, you might as well just read the book version, and that's always boring as fudge.
I won't delve into how it is shot. Same old Greengrass shaky cam style. It works sometimes here, other times it's annoying. As usual. The night scenes look like total crap with all the grain.
Overall, this is the Iraq War film for stupid people. It's only use would be to show it to High School kids in 20 years that are too lazy to read what happened and want a simple straight forward dumb as doorbells "story" of what went down those many years ago in a sandpit on the other side of the world.
If you've been alive this decade you know exactly what happens. They don't find any WMD's. Thus the film then focuses more on the (excuse my language but this is really the only suitable way to describe it) CLUSTER-FUCK of the whole situation. Delving into the struggle between US officials trying to cover their ass while the CIA tries to find out the real truth, with you're American Joe american soldier stuck in between just following orders. Now you may say to yourself, "Wow Dan, that really sounds like an interesting and compelling film". Well, I must say to you, no, no sir or madam, it play's out in the most contrived and boring fashion I think could be put to celluloid.
The biggest problem with the film is the dialog. It sounds like it's from a student film. Every character states their exact intentions, their exact feelings at the time, what they are thinking at the moment without any filter, and to top it off in the most clichéd way possible. I know we are in a military setting where most people talk pretty straight laced but this is just ridiculous. There is absolutely no subtleness in any characters lines, we know everyone's motivations from the very beginning thus drastically getting rid of any tension that could have been made later in the film. There is no mystery. It's like reading a the alphabet. Look at the Green Zone page on IMDB, under memorable quotes... there are no memorable quotes, because they are all as stale as a 4 month old turd.
The next worst if not equal worst part of the film is the characters. Matt Damon's lead role of Miller is about the most boring person you could follow. He's about as interesting as a cup of sand. His intentions are good in the film as all he wants to do is honestly find the truth behind why they aren't finding any WMD's but he's just so boring of a person that we don't even care if he succeeds or not. Every other character is a one note stereotype. We have the intrusive female news reporter, the douche bag Government Administration liaison guy who will do anything to cover up his governments mistakes, and the good guy CIA dude who wants to find out the "truth". It's really kinda painful watching these characters interact as we know exactly what they are going to say next before they even say it. None of them are compelling and only suffice in representing broad generalizations of the groups they are part of.
As I've talked about before in other reviews and my newest film, I really have a disgust for most CG. One of my biggest pet peeves in film is the use of CG Helicopters. They 99% of the time look like total crud. It really pisses me off. When you have a 100 million dollar budget, GET SOME REAL HELICOPTERS!! Seriously. It takes me out of the movie every time. I know they can be dangerous when doing dangerous things with them, but when operated by professionals they are safer than driving a car. When you are just flying them without doing any sort of stunt or maneuver there is no reason to do it in CG. Along with this film, another film of the many that unnecessarily did this was Terminator Salvation. The very last shot of that film had two CG helicopters fly into the sunset. It made me want to punch a puppy. It was so freaking stupid I wanted to stomp McG's face in with an Iron. God dammit. Stop. Do these helicopters do a loop-d-loop? No. Do they fight a big Robot? No. They just fly away from the camera towards the sunset. FTS. Anywho, back to Green Zone, there was a scene near the end where a Helicopter got shot with an RPG and crashed which didn't look too bad. But again, you can do that practically, for example Live Free or Die Hard, Rambo First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Die Hard With a Vengeance and Black Hawk Down. All the other shots with Helicopters weren't doing anything special, just regular old helicopter stuff, yet all CG. I really don't want to talk about this anymore because it's so stupid.
Another big problem I had with the film is not the fault of the filmmakers but the people in charge of marketing and cutting the trailer. So much of the trailer is footage from the climatic third act that I already knew a lot of what was going to go down before it eventually went down. Thus again deleting tension and mystery. It should be a more common practice for trailers not to show ANYTHING from the third act of a film. Too often it ruins the movie watching experience. The Dark Knight did it completely right because it showed nothing of the final 20 min of the film in the trailers. When I saw it for the first time I thought the movie was going to end at a much earlier point then which it eventually did because I had seen all the stuff in the trailers play out, so I was like, Oh ok I guess it's almost over now. Nope. It kept going and was even more captivating because i wasn't spoiled at all from any trailer footage. Bottom line is, movie trailers show off too much of films nowadays. What ever happened to the good old "Teaser", just a couple shots, sometimes no shots at all. If you know how it all plays out before you see it, well, you might as well just read the book version, and that's always boring as fudge.
I won't delve into how it is shot. Same old Greengrass shaky cam style. It works sometimes here, other times it's annoying. As usual. The night scenes look like total crap with all the grain.
Overall, this is the Iraq War film for stupid people. It's only use would be to show it to High School kids in 20 years that are too lazy to read what happened and want a simple straight forward dumb as doorbells "story" of what went down those many years ago in a sandpit on the other side of the world.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Review: Kick-Ass
Went to the matinée at the Henrietta Regal Cinema this afternoon to see Mathew Vaughn's new film "Kick-Ass". I have not read the graphic novel by Mark Millar of the same name for which this is based. I definitely want to check them out now. Like most books I'm alright with checking out the Cinematic equivalent first.(I really love this poster, one of the best I've seen in a while)
The film follows your average high school kid Dave Lizewski. Think Peter Parker but without being smart. A big fan of comic books he begins to wonder and discuss with his friends why no one ever tried to actually be a super hero in real life. (you've seen the trailer, you know the story). He does. Shit goes down. Hard core.
I had a blast with this movie. Without a doubt the most entertaining film I've seen this year so far. From beginning to end I was completely captivated and in the movie. Not once was there a "hmmm i should check my email" or "I wonder if it's still nice outside" or "Why's the floor so sticky?" thought moments. For a movie to have this effect deserves quite the high five to the creators. First and Foremost, I'll admit that I'm dead center within the films "Target Audience" of the american young adult dreamer who likes superhero's and has an odd yet scientifically normal amount of blood-lust. I'll be honest, I've thought about being a superhero/real-life vigilante myself and have even drawn up some costumes. You could say that it's like feeding mice cheese, or monkey's bandannas or Paris Hilton STD's. Give'em what they like. I agree with that, but I feel like this film really did a lot of things right on a level beyond that.
The film was perfectly casted across the board. Aaron Johnson did an awesome job as the lead of Dave/Kick-Ass. I connected with him within the opening credits and he was totally believable the whole time as the naive superhero wannabe. The role of Kick-Ass's love interest Katie played by Lyndsy Fonseca is a great casting choice as well. She is the perfect girl next door that you instantly fall in love with when you see her on-screen. Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin) plays the kid with no friends... again. With this film it works. Sure he's being typecast, but that's the character of Red Mist. Nicholas Cage brings out an excellent Adam West impression as the revenge crazy Big Daddy. One girl killing machine Hit Girl is played by the cute as button Chloe Moretz. Again, great casting of a gifted young actress who can deliver all those lewd and crude lines with a level of sincerity and reality that doesn't feel forced or cheesy.
The World where Kick-Ass resigns is grounded in a believable and relatable reality with flares of fantasy that is well within the confines of suspension of disbelief without being too extravagant. The violence is brutally real. Without spoiling anything I'll just say some serious shit goes down to our hero Kick-Ass. Stuff that would definitely happen to someone if they did decide to be a Superhero in our modern world. Not to say that all of the violence and is realistic, but there are enough realistic consequences to enforce the sense of reality needed to make the more flourishy stuff even more exciting. One of the best aspects of the film was damn fine tension. In a lot of superhero films real tension is hard to accomplish due to the fact you know there is going to be a sequel and everything will turn out fine. (a good exception is the train sequence in Spider-Man 2). Kick-Ass is not your typical kind of super hero movie, all rules are out. Characters could die at any moment. This is legit. Another thing the film go right was it's recognition of the power of the internets. People don't read the newspaper. It's 2010. Welcome. How are you? Here's a computer machine.
If you are a teenage to twentysomething American male, or ever were one and not a stuck up butt head, go see this movie. If you're not, you'll probably find this offensive and reprehensible. That's cool. I'm just saying, I enjoyed it. So it did it's job fully.
The film follows your average high school kid Dave Lizewski. Think Peter Parker but without being smart. A big fan of comic books he begins to wonder and discuss with his friends why no one ever tried to actually be a super hero in real life. (you've seen the trailer, you know the story). He does. Shit goes down. Hard core.
I had a blast with this movie. Without a doubt the most entertaining film I've seen this year so far. From beginning to end I was completely captivated and in the movie. Not once was there a "hmmm i should check my email" or "I wonder if it's still nice outside" or "Why's the floor so sticky?" thought moments. For a movie to have this effect deserves quite the high five to the creators. First and Foremost, I'll admit that I'm dead center within the films "Target Audience" of the american young adult dreamer who likes superhero's and has an odd yet scientifically normal amount of blood-lust. I'll be honest, I've thought about being a superhero/real-life vigilante myself and have even drawn up some costumes. You could say that it's like feeding mice cheese, or monkey's bandannas or Paris Hilton STD's. Give'em what they like. I agree with that, but I feel like this film really did a lot of things right on a level beyond that.
The film was perfectly casted across the board. Aaron Johnson did an awesome job as the lead of Dave/Kick-Ass. I connected with him within the opening credits and he was totally believable the whole time as the naive superhero wannabe. The role of Kick-Ass's love interest Katie played by Lyndsy Fonseca is a great casting choice as well. She is the perfect girl next door that you instantly fall in love with when you see her on-screen. Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin) plays the kid with no friends... again. With this film it works. Sure he's being typecast, but that's the character of Red Mist. Nicholas Cage brings out an excellent Adam West impression as the revenge crazy Big Daddy. One girl killing machine Hit Girl is played by the cute as button Chloe Moretz. Again, great casting of a gifted young actress who can deliver all those lewd and crude lines with a level of sincerity and reality that doesn't feel forced or cheesy.
The World where Kick-Ass resigns is grounded in a believable and relatable reality with flares of fantasy that is well within the confines of suspension of disbelief without being too extravagant. The violence is brutally real. Without spoiling anything I'll just say some serious shit goes down to our hero Kick-Ass. Stuff that would definitely happen to someone if they did decide to be a Superhero in our modern world. Not to say that all of the violence and is realistic, but there are enough realistic consequences to enforce the sense of reality needed to make the more flourishy stuff even more exciting. One of the best aspects of the film was damn fine tension. In a lot of superhero films real tension is hard to accomplish due to the fact you know there is going to be a sequel and everything will turn out fine. (a good exception is the train sequence in Spider-Man 2). Kick-Ass is not your typical kind of super hero movie, all rules are out. Characters could die at any moment. This is legit. Another thing the film go right was it's recognition of the power of the internets. People don't read the newspaper. It's 2010. Welcome. How are you? Here's a computer machine.
If you are a teenage to twentysomething American male, or ever were one and not a stuck up butt head, go see this movie. If you're not, you'll probably find this offensive and reprehensible. That's cool. I'm just saying, I enjoyed it. So it did it's job fully.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Review: Naked Lunch
Finally watched David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch all the way through today.
The book for which it is based by William S. Burroughs is now on my next to read after I finish "Cronenberg on Cronenberg". Now I don't know much about Mr. Burroughs and his writing. Cronenberg talks a lot about him in the book, and states that he is a major influence. From this small bit of exposure of the mountain of ideas and concepts in this man's head I look forward to delving into more of it.
As for the film. Now I've watched some bizarre films in my day but this definitely ranks among the top of them. It's not just the abstract and often freakish visuals but the overall concepts and themes surging below and through the images which create the ultimate sense of bizarreness. I'll admit that I do not fully grasp everything, or even most of what was "really" going on in this film.
What made Cronenberg's film adaptation really memorable is the reality for which all these odd things occur. The film is shot and directed in a way that has a sense of reality where all of this actually did occur. You really believe, "alright, so typewriters can turn into bugs and talk out of their butt holes, i can buy that". The use of practical effects is incredibly well done with the centipede processing plant, to the Mugwumps, to the Typewriters of different kinds. The main performance by Peter "Robocop" Weller is oddly hilarious as he is so nonchalant about most of the weird stuff going on in his "hallucinations". With his performance it helps the audience just accept these things within the story and continue moving on which definitely helps the overall effect. After reading the book I'll go back and see this again.
Recommended for everyone. Especially for Mugwumps and Centipede People.
The book for which it is based by William S. Burroughs is now on my next to read after I finish "Cronenberg on Cronenberg". Now I don't know much about Mr. Burroughs and his writing. Cronenberg talks a lot about him in the book, and states that he is a major influence. From this small bit of exposure of the mountain of ideas and concepts in this man's head I look forward to delving into more of it.
As for the film. Now I've watched some bizarre films in my day but this definitely ranks among the top of them. It's not just the abstract and often freakish visuals but the overall concepts and themes surging below and through the images which create the ultimate sense of bizarreness. I'll admit that I do not fully grasp everything, or even most of what was "really" going on in this film.
What made Cronenberg's film adaptation really memorable is the reality for which all these odd things occur. The film is shot and directed in a way that has a sense of reality where all of this actually did occur. You really believe, "alright, so typewriters can turn into bugs and talk out of their butt holes, i can buy that". The use of practical effects is incredibly well done with the centipede processing plant, to the Mugwumps, to the Typewriters of different kinds. The main performance by Peter "Robocop" Weller is oddly hilarious as he is so nonchalant about most of the weird stuff going on in his "hallucinations". With his performance it helps the audience just accept these things within the story and continue moving on which definitely helps the overall effect. After reading the book I'll go back and see this again.
Recommended for everyone. Especially for Mugwumps and Centipede People.
Review: CORE
After the Collegiate Climbing Series Competion at the Red Barn this past Saturday we all watched the new climbing movie "CORE" by Chuck Fryberger.
Here is the trailer:
Shot on the RED Camera the film follows climbers across 3 Continents. The scenes in the Rocklands of South Africa are absolutely stunning. The whole area feels like it belongs on another planet. I was bummed that we watched it on an Standard Def projector but nevertheless it looked really good throughout and am interested in seeing it on BluRay.
The film like many other climbing movies follows a bunch of climbers that make me want to quit haha. It's ridiculous how good these guys and girls are. There was this one section where this guy was going up this rock face with nothing but single finger pockets. It was excruciating in that you thought his fingers were just going to snap off. Overall it just really solidified my desire to travel out West of the USA and experience the mountains out there. Check it out if you're into climbing movies, as it's definitely one of the most well made ones I've seen.
Here is the trailer:
CORE Official Trailer from Chuck Fryberger on Vimeo.
Shot on the RED Camera the film follows climbers across 3 Continents. The scenes in the Rocklands of South Africa are absolutely stunning. The whole area feels like it belongs on another planet. I was bummed that we watched it on an Standard Def projector but nevertheless it looked really good throughout and am interested in seeing it on BluRay.
The film like many other climbing movies follows a bunch of climbers that make me want to quit haha. It's ridiculous how good these guys and girls are. There was this one section where this guy was going up this rock face with nothing but single finger pockets. It was excruciating in that you thought his fingers were just going to snap off. Overall it just really solidified my desire to travel out West of the USA and experience the mountains out there. Check it out if you're into climbing movies, as it's definitely one of the most well made ones I've seen.
RIT Rock Climbing Site
The brand new RIT Rock Climbing Club Web Site is now up and operational.
Checkedy Check it out:
http://www.rit.edu/sg/rocks/
Checkedy Check it out:
http://www.rit.edu/sg/rocks/
Monday, April 19, 2010
Review: The Man From London
Went to The Dryden Theatre to see the 2007 film "The Man From London" from the Hungarian director Béla Tarr. This is the second film I've seen from him, the first being the incredible 2000 film "Werkmeister Harmonies" I saw over the summer during Eastern European Film Class. Without a doubt or exaggeration "Werkmeister Harmonies" is one of the best and most enthralling films I have ever seen so I was instantly interested when I heard his newest film was being played here in Rochester on the big screen in 35mm.
I knew nothing about the film going into it for which I quite enjoyed. We are too often over-saturated with what's going on in the movie from trailers, behind the scenes photos, and director interviews before the film is even released. So it was really refreshing to have none of that and just watching the movie from frame one.
The film follows a railway worker as he gets mixed up with a man from London. Much like Werkmeister Harmonies, the story is not what draws you in. It is how it is portrayed and put on screen. Through a series of long takes, some lasting upwards of 10 min, you are hypnotically enthralled into the movie, no time to blink, no time for escape, you are there with the characters within the space. The film is also shot in stunning black and white, with vibrancy that would even make Pandora jealous.
There were some dubbing issues that seemed odd in this print of the film. Where some characters were speaking English with no subtitles but their mouths were definitely saying something else. This also occurred to characters who were speaking French, with English subtitles, again with their mouths saying something different. This was a little jarring at first but as you got more into the film it actually kinda added to the sense of uneasiness.
This film is not for everyone. But if you enjoy great cinematography and camera-work and can deal with a slow pace and story then check it out. Try to see it on the big-screen though, or at least a really big TV and sit up close.
I knew nothing about the film going into it for which I quite enjoyed. We are too often over-saturated with what's going on in the movie from trailers, behind the scenes photos, and director interviews before the film is even released. So it was really refreshing to have none of that and just watching the movie from frame one.
The film follows a railway worker as he gets mixed up with a man from London. Much like Werkmeister Harmonies, the story is not what draws you in. It is how it is portrayed and put on screen. Through a series of long takes, some lasting upwards of 10 min, you are hypnotically enthralled into the movie, no time to blink, no time for escape, you are there with the characters within the space. The film is also shot in stunning black and white, with vibrancy that would even make Pandora jealous.
There were some dubbing issues that seemed odd in this print of the film. Where some characters were speaking English with no subtitles but their mouths were definitely saying something else. This also occurred to characters who were speaking French, with English subtitles, again with their mouths saying something different. This was a little jarring at first but as you got more into the film it actually kinda added to the sense of uneasiness.
This film is not for everyone. But if you enjoy great cinematography and camera-work and can deal with a slow pace and story then check it out. Try to see it on the big-screen though, or at least a really big TV and sit up close.
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