Hooray for Me!

I woke up this morning to find that the results for the screenplay championship challenge 2 were posted. Somehow, someway, yours truly found himself at the top of the leaderboard. My screenplay for challenge 2, "Bishop Takes McQueen" took first place in the group. My first screenplay took second place. Together, my combined score propelled me to the top of the group. We are the champions, my friend.

There's one more challenge for this round (I think) this weekend. I'll get the genre, location, and prop at midnight tonight. Let's see what happens. With the snow coming down like an upended snow globe, I won't have much else to do.

Looking back on this last challenge, I was definitely thrown out of my comfort zone. The genre was Romantic Comedy (not my strong suit), the location was an aquarium, and the prop was a chess board. It took me quite a while to get a handle on what I wanted to do but, once I got everything settled out, it came out of my mind onto the page very quickly. It doesn't hurt that it's only five pages. If you're intrigued or morbidly curious, here it is.

On a vaguely related tangent, I'm set to see Mishima: A Life in Four Acts tonight with a post-flick Q and A with director Paul Shrader. I'm looking forward to it.

How Did I Miss This? Enterprise vs. Star Destroyer Video

Sometimes I wonder about my internet skills. Better late than never (I guess), I ran into this gem of a gem of a video positing a sci-fi nerd's dream: putting the Enterprise (Next Generation flavor) up against a Vader-helmed Star Destroyer. Let the battle commence!

Say Hello to the New World Order, Same as the Old World Order

I watched Network yesterday as well as read the script as part of my winter scriptwriting initiative. The movie is impressively prescient on so many levels- from shock jocks to reality TV and beyond- but a particular speech I found particularly meaningful to our present. (I've quoted the script below, skip to the bottom to see it in glorious video).

Arthur Jensen:

You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it, is that clear?! You think you have merely stopped a business deal -- that is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars!, Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet! That is the natural order of things today! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?

You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen, and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and A T and T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They pull out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories and minimax solutions and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably deter- mined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale! It has been since man crawled out of the slime, and our children, Mr. Beale, will live to see that perfect world in which there is no war and famine, oppression and brutality -- one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.

Here it is in video:

Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

Black Friday Blues

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I had a most excellent time. But that was yesterday. Today, I am at work while most of America is a churning mass of sweat, flesh, mangled adverts, clawing, sweaty palms, being bilked by false advertising, supply shortfalls, and smarmy, rude salespeople- wait, what am I missing again?

My sister and I drove up to visit our mother's sister (whom we only met a month ago) and her husband (who we hadn't met at all) in Schenectady, NY.

Highlight #1: Seeing a DVD of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo on the rack of the news shop at a random rest-stop on the New York Thruway:

Highlight #2: Learning that Robert, my mother's sister's husband (he doesn't feel like an uncle), is good friends with Kevin Grevioux who wrote (and had a small role in) Underworld. He also writes for Marvel Comics. How cool is that?

That segways rather imperfectly into this slightly old news. Last weekend was the second challenge in round one of NYC Midnight's 2008 Screenwriting Championship. My first challenge screenplay placed second in my group. I felt better prepared for challenge #2. If you're interested in giving it a read, here it is.

Maybe They Should Have Called Him Istanbulman?

As Yakov Smirnoff likes to say, 'What a country!" In this case, the country is Turkey in which the major of a town named Batman, (yes, Batman) is suing just about everyone involved with the celluloid caped crusader. From E Online (via Yahoo):

The mayor of Batman, a small oil-producing town in Turkey, has filed suit against The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros., the studio behind the record-shattering blockbuster, looking for a cut in the film's royalties in exchange for using the city's name without permission.

...In addition to the name share, [Batman's Major] claims the emotional distress that apparently comes from having one of the most indelible superheroes share a moniker with your town has led to several unsolved murders and a high suicide rate.

Source: "Batman's Latest Archenemy: Batman" by Gina Serpe

Let's hope the major of Joker, Texas, is less litigious.

Stop the Punishment

Marvel Comics must think they can do no wrong. Clearly they must if they're planning yet another Punisher film. From the looks of the poster, they're neither going back to Tom Jane or the venerable Dolf Lundgren (who probably could use the work). I have no idea who this guy is. I'm not sure I care.

Dare I suggest that this film will be right up there (down there) with Elektra and Ghost Rider? Yes, I dare.

I think part of the problem with bringing the Punisher character to the screen is that he really doesn't translate well off the screen. He's too dark, too unrepentant, too stern and grim. He's a character that's just begging for Hollywood to reimagine, soften, and cuddli-fy. Of course, won't that destroy the character? Yes. Yes, they do.

If they really want to do justice to the Punisher, put him against a hero such as in a Spiderman film. So you have the hero, and the anti-hero, and the film can revolve around the question of justice, justification, etc. It could be powerful. It could be. Really.

Barring that, why can't we skip this one and go directly to a Powerman & Iron Fist movie. That's where it's at. Really.

The Casting Call of the Wild

As they say in Hollywoodland, it's a wrap. Today's casting call is a done deal. Let me say this: I do not want to be a casting director. Do not want.

As an aspiring writer, I've been subject to the buyer's market in which writers are a dime a dozen and publications hold all (or most) of the cards. I had assumed actors were in the same general situation but, until today, I did not realize the extent. To see the number of actors with credits under their name come in to try out for a non-paying part shocked me. I'm still not over it. Attracting an actor looking for experience I expected but to see actors with plenty of experience, experience to spare in a few cases, I did not expect. There are some great actors out there looking for parts. And then there are the others.

First, I have much respect for someone making the time to come and perform cold in front of strangers with zero promise of pay. That being said, some of these folks were scarily bad, some hilariously bad, and some just awful. Easy for me to say, right? Yes, yes it is but no less true.

The coolest thing about this whole day was that I got to watch people act out my words. This stuff I had put to paper was here coming out of people's mouths, with their interpretations, emotions, and energy. My creation had come to life, unpredictable, sometimes great, sometimes not, life. It's alive! It's alive!

DIVX Returns from the Dead?

After spending the better part of last night waffling over whether to go to Philadelphia this morning, I went, somehow rousing myself up at five this morning to make a 7:00AM train. While I waiting at the station, I wandered into the Hudson News and was confronted by this display:

Disposable DVD rentals? Does this remind anyone of anything?

DIVX was a rental format variation on the DVD player in which a customer would buy a DIVX disc (similar to a DVD) for approximately $4 US, which was watchable for up to 48 hours from its initial viewing. After this period, the disc could be viewed by paying a continuation fee, typically $3.25.

(From Wikipedia)

The trick with DIVX was that it needed a dedicated player and involved internet connectivity for some extra-charge billing tomfoolery. It looks like this evolution (called Flexplay) works with ordinary DVD players. It also doesn't have any options for extended rentals or ownership. What's old is new, like bell-bottoms and moon-walking, or something.

An Apology for Laziness and Then... News!

For reasons of only pure, unadulterated laziness, I took the better part of ten days off. I have no excuse and I actually had a lot to say but somewhere between my brain and my keyboard, it all got lost. In order to absolve myself of guilt, I shall blame Saints Row 2 which I've been playing on my 360. Perhaps I should take Dr. Phil's Gaming Addictive Behavior Audit. Probably not.

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I'm home from work this morning because I am having a couch delivered. My speed at furnishing my apartment could be described as glacial but this is a big step. Actually, it's the first brand-new couch that I've ever bought. I am excited... provided they can get it into the buildings. I think I've mastered the arcane formulations and calculations of mass and space but I have my doubts. I shall soon see if the mind can really conquer matter.

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I've written two short screenplays (one inspired by the Brooklyn Film Race). My sister, an aspiring film director, is planning on filming both of them, beginning next week with the longer of the two (as yet untitled). Here are the cast and crew calls:

CAST

Untitled Student Project

The project is a dark comedic short that takes an offbeat look at climbing the corporate ladder. The project will be shot across two weekends in November in and around Philadelphia. Our budget is very limited, so we will not be able to offer compensation, but meals and a reel will be provided.

We are looking for hard-working volunteers who share our passion for excellence in filmmaking. We will be taking this short to the Cannes International Film Festival as well as others.

This is a great opportunity for anyone trying to expand their resume and their reel!

Format: miniDV
Compensation: Meals and Credit
Location: Philadelphia Area

Breakdown (age ranges are flexible):

ALEX-Lead / Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 35
Description: Strong-willed main character who challenges the status quo and is forced to fight for his survival. An ordinary man thrown into an extraordinary situation.

JOHN-Co-Star / Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: Alex’s best friend at the office. Is faced with a dire situation when he is shown a possible successful future brutally taken away. Looking for a male who can easily cry.

SANDMAN-Featured / Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: A character inspired by Logan's Run. Mysterious and intimidating man. Works for the corporation and functions as Alex’s antagonist for the majority of the film. Stunt experience a plus.

FELIX-Featured/ Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: Slight and bitter maintenance man that works at the office building. He is tired of fixing the Sandman's damage around the office.

FLO-Featured / Female / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: Discontent cleaning woman who doesn't feel like cleaning up anymore.

THULSA-Featured / Male / Caucasian / age 40 - 65
Description: CEO of the corporation. Imposing boss that is pulling all the strings behind the scenes.

THORGRIM-Featured / Male / Caucasian, Hispanic, Multi-Ethnic / age 25 - 35
Description: A character inspired by Conan the Barbarian and one of Thulsa’s bodyguards. Must be extremely well built and be willing to wear barbarian garb and wield a battle-ax.

REXOR-Featured / Male / Caucasian, Hispanic, Multi-Ethnic / age 25 - 35
Description: A character inspired by Conan the Barbarian and one of Thulsa’s bodyguards. Must be extremely well built and be willing to wear barbarian garb and wield a giant maul.

OFFICE EMPLOYEES-Cameo / Male or Female / All Ethnicities / age 20 - 65
Description: Employees who have been broken and tortured by the same means as John.

Auditions will be held by appointment only on Friday October 24th and Saturday October 25th at the University of Pennsylvania. Please email us your resume and availability to schedule an appointment and receive a set of sides. Please contact us no later than Thursday October 23rd.

Contact Information:

Name: Courtney Terwilliger
Email: championsfilms [at] gmail [dot] com

CREW

Untitled Student Project

The project is a dark comedic short that takes an offbeat look at climbing the corporate ladder. The project will be shot across two weekends in November in and around Philadelphia. Our budget is very limited, so we will not be able to offer compensation, but meals and a reel will be provided.

We are looking for hard-working volunteers who share our passion for excellence in filmmaking. We will be taking this short to the Cannes International Film Festival as well as others.

This is a great opportunity for anyone trying to expand their resume and their reel!

Format: miniDV
Compensation: Meals and Credit
Location: Philadelphia Area

Crew:
Director of Photography
Camera Operator
Gaffer
Sound Recorder/Mixer
Wardrobe
Makeup
Production Assistants

Interviews will be held by appointment only on Friday October 24th and Saturday October 25th at the University of Pennsylvania. Please email us your resume and availability to schedule an appointment no later than Thursday October 23rd.

Contact Information:

Name: Courtney Terwilliger
Email: championsfilms [at] gmail [dot] com

If you or someone you know is interested in participating, drop her a line.

Hop Along

I saw the Ed Harris western, Appaloosa, with my sister in Philly. It is interesting in that it is a portrait of relationships that, in ways, turn the familiar Western tropes on their sides. I'm not sure though that it is ultimately successful though I did enjoy it.

When you've got Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson at work, you know there's going to a basic high level of performance and it shows. Rene Zellwegger fills out the third point of this protagonistic triangle with Jeremy Irons playing the villain (why he's so villainous we never really know- though we do get hints at his motives).

While we at least get hints of why the men do what they do, Zellwegger's character's motivation is utterly puzzling to me. She is certainly complex but perhaps too complicated and too incomprehensible. It was difficult for me to sympathize with her when I can't figure out a motive to match her behavior.

Because much of the movie concerns itself with that behavior, and the results, this puzzlement can do nothing but detract from what the film is trying to do. Despite this weakness, there is a good western here.

In the Unforgiven vein, gunfights are short and sharp. The best gunmen aren't the strongest or fastest but the most heartless. Appaloosa is clearly striving to wonder what happens when the heart intrudes into heartless men. It doesn't wholly succeed but it is worth watching it try. Having personal fave Lance Henriksen in a small role doesn't hurt either.

Veni Vidi Vidi Vidi Vidi

I was on my way home from work today when I meandered past the movie poster for Saw V. That's the Roman V as in five. Five. Really? Do we really need another Saw film? What spare acre of rough acre in the Saw landscape can this film tread that has not already been tread?

In all fairness, I have not seen any of the Saw films. However, I read the reviews and talk to friends who have been friendly to the torture-porn series. Even so, by all accounts, this franchise has been heading steady downward since Saw II, fully three films ago. By all objective measures, this film should be a direct-to-video Frank Stallone vehicle. This is Uwe Boll material. No, this is beneath Uwe Boll material.

Yet, somehow, despite my righteous indignation, this film looks to come out "just in time for Halloween" as the movie pitchmen like to say. Just in time for me... to see something else.

BD-Dead

When all I have to talk about is my failure to download the hyped-on-the-box BD-Live feature from the Iron Man blu-ray, you know it's a slow week.

I wasted over two hours trying to download this feature that I really didn't even care about before I finally gave up on it. Luckily, I went to dinner during this dead time and didn't suffer overmuch.

Word comes via blu-ray.com that confirms Paramount had bandwidth issues regarding the download content:

The Iron Man Blu-ray went on sale Tuesday and... an unprecedented demand was placed on the BD-Live connection... As such, the heavy amount of traffic strained the servers due to so many people heading to the same destination.

Source: "Iron Man BD-Live Statement from Paramount" by Ben Williams

There you have it, from the horse's head itself. I still don't know if this "first of its kind BD-Live application" is worth the hassle (or any hassle). I'm guessing not but, if someone has seen this groin-grabbingly wonderful application, maybe you can tell me what it actually is.

The Legend of Hancock?

My friend Paul sent me this tidbit from Dark Horizons:

They may be amongst the weakest films he's done, but Will Smith's two most recent major hits look like they're about to become franchises.

Source: "Legend" Prequel, "Hancock" Sequel? by Garth Franklin

My response? No. And I mean it. No.

Sour Grapes

I saw Bottle Shock in Philly. It's not good. It's got not enough Alan Rickman, too much of some guy I don't know in a bad surfer wig, a terrible (TERRIBLE) tacked-on love triangle, and a too-big dollup of wine masturbation. Hey, I liked Sideways but enough is enough and this was too much.

It's too bad too because the story is pretty fascinating. Essentially, in 1976, a British wine merchant in Paris decided to hold a blind taste test between a selection of French wines and Californian wines. In one of the great culinary upsets, the Californian wines won. Great story, right?

Unfortunately, it's a short story and so, to pad it out to feature film length, all sorts of detritus has been flung in the way. Maybe this stuff was true too but it doesn't make a good story. We've got the father-son static between bitterman farmer Bill Pullman and surfer-wig-guy, we've got Freddy Rodríguez as the great oppressed voice of the vinyard, and a blond hotty intern. Blah.

Too much Napa Valley melodrama and not enough Rickman, nor enough Dennis Farina who was criminally underused.

Sloshing underneath this film like a turgid sea is an overwrought wine-as-religion frottage that is just too much as if the scenes had been brought to the screen by the Napa Valley Chamber of Commerce or the Wine Makes of America. Fondling grapes like testicles while smiling guiltily does not a movie make. Well, a movie for the messy crowd maybe.

If you're tempted by Bottle Shock, then rent Die Hard for your Rickman fix and top it off with some classic Pullman in The Serpent and the Rainbow. Now THAT's a movie.

A World Without Movie Voice-Over Guy

It feels a bit strange to mourn a man whose talent was providing a deep, overly serious voice to movie and TV commercials and trailers but there it is. They called him the voice of god and now he's gone. RIP.

Don LaFontaine, the man who popularized the catch phrase "In a world where..." and lent his voice to thousands of movie trailers, has died. He was 68.

...LaFontaine made more than 5,000 trailers in his 33-year career while working for the top studios and television networks.

Source: "Don LaFontaine, voice of movie trailers, dies" by Raquel Maria Dillon

As a poor memoriam, here's the GEICO spot that featured the voice a bit back:

On A Marrakesh Express

Reading through some movie feeds this morning, I ran across a review by the Times of a documentary, Crossing Borders. From the review:

In 2007, the German filmmaker Arnd Wächter brought four college-age Americans to Morocco to join four Moroccans of similar age for a weeklong tour of their country.

Source: "In Morocco, With Worlds to Learn" by Andy Webster

It's obvious, without reading anything else, that this is a film about bridging the Western and Islamic worlds. Interesting that they chose Morocco to stage this study. Morocco is very far from the center of the Islamic world and I think this shows in Morocco's culture. It is both very Eurocentric and very liberal compared to most (all?) the rest of the Islamic world. As a worlds-colliding backdrop, I would think there's a number of Islamic nations that would be more compelling than Morocco. [As an aside, Morocco has been, historically, very friendly with the U.S. In fact, Morocco was the first nation to formally recognize the United States.]

It's hard to say then whether the experiences in the documentary are somehow less authentic because of this. I'll have to see it first. Still, it's nice to see someone making an attempt to tell this type of story.

I've always thought that everyone should be forced to travel somewhere, anywhere outside of where they live to see what life is like for people somewhere else. I hope these four Americans take something positive out of their trip and I hope that positive message is transmitted through the film.

The Righteous?

I found and watched the trailer for Righteous Kill and it looks good. Very good. It reminds me of Narc which I really liked. There are some great lines in the trailer- I hope this isn't because they loaded all the good ones into it (I hate it when they do that!). I already sent a link to my dad. This is so much his sort of film. Too bad it comes out in September. I won't be able to see it with him. Still, I am ready for this film. I only hope it delivers.

Here's the trailer, courtesy of YouTube:

It's also available via the movie's official site.

Please, please don't stink. Please. It's not too much to ask.

Random Detritus: Friday Edition

Another weekend, another set of changes to service on the mighty G train. Weekends on the G are always special occasions but these weekends make it even more of a precious experience. However, I am lucky in that, other than getting to and from kickball on Sunday, I don't have to take the G if I don't want to. I'm close enough to things that I can walk to down Myrtle to Burrough Hall or take off down Washington to the C train. The G is closest though and its siren song is strong.

I noticed a new poster on the platform yesterday for Righteous Kill. It caught my attention because it's got both Robert Deniro and Al Pacino in it. This got me immediately thinking back to Heat which is probably the whole point of the thing.

In one important regard, it won't be like Heat at all. This time, Deniro and Pacino are working together. Wikipedia says:

Two veteran New York City detectives (De Niro and Pacino) work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?

It sounds pretty ordinary but I'm a sucker for these things so I have no doubt I'll give it go. Time to track down a trailer!

On the topic of movies I want to see, I still haven't seen Tropic Thunder. Maybe this weekend. I pass this poster of the flick everyday on my way to work and it makes me giggle every single time.

Who the heck is McBride? I don't know but I want to find out.

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In other news, my iPhone has been acting up all week but, of course, now that my appointment with the Apple store "genius bar" draws near, it's begun acting perfectly normal again. It's as if someone flicked a switch inside the cursed thing. Hmm.

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In other other news, I said previously that I would avoid reading The Watchmen until after the movie comes out. Well, I lied. I saw the damn book at a bookstore on lunch a couple of days ago and I couldn't talk myself out of buying it. I'm about two-thirds of the way through with it. It really is an excellent piece of literature. It's very talky- I wonder how the film will handle all of it. I'm sure I'll finish it this weekend.

Isaac Hayes RIP

I'd like to bypass all the "He was a bad mutha-" Shaft references and just focus on the role closest to my heart: The Duke of New York: from John Carpenter's Escape from New York. He was A-Number-One.

Things move quickly in the internet so it comes as no surprise that someone has already cobbled together a montage of the Duke in action. Submitted in meek tribute, I give you the Duke:

RIP, you will be missed but you will always be the Duke of New York.

Not to be confused with John Wayne, or this duke:

Who Will Watch the Watchmen?

I think I will after catching the trailer attached to The Dark Knight and then watching it again on YouTube. I never read the graphic novel. Now I'm wondering if I should now or wait until after I see the film. I'm leaning towards after for the simple reason is that I will be able to watch the film as a single, stand-alone experience without the comic hanging over it.

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As a somewhat casual aside, I'm getting pulled into more "higher level" conversations at work of late. I suppose this is a good thing but it might not be. Like Frodo moving through Mordor, the attention of the Great Eye is best avoided.

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I'm going to run down to J & R at lunch to try a second external hard drive enclosure. I just don't trust the one I've got holding my ex-laptop hard drive. If this one doesn't work, I'll be pretty close to the end of my rope.