Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
To Rayson
So yes it is my birthday and I thank you all in advance for your well wishes. But I'll take a moment on this day to keep a Cal State Long Beach colleague and fellow artist of mine in my thoughts, Rayson Pu. Rayson is a phenomenal illustrator and one of the nicest guys I've ever known but for the past couple of years he's been battling brain cancer. In the process he lost his sight and suffered memory loss and recently underwent a 2nd operation but is now in a critical state as a result of an infection. So if you have a moment go to his page and show your support with a "like" then check out his story, and most definitely check out his artwork.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Party like 1995...
See SAKI alumnus Lawrence Kao break it down in his new joint, "Bring Your Own Balloon." So good.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Khan can
I usually don't make a habit of seeing old movies or movies I've already seen but there's been a general reverence towards STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KHAN that I could never quite remember. In short, I like the idea of massive starships battling it out and of course the tragic cost of winning. I may have liked JJ Abram's version if there were more starship battles and strategy like in KHAN.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The Dark Knight falls on its face
Ugh, I can't believe how incomprehensible and bad THE DARK KNIGHT RISES was. I liked the reminder that Ra's al Ghul had a daughter in the Batman animated series but everything leading up to that was so poorly executed with so many expository and/or soap-box speeches. I can't believe TDK is of the same pedigree.
Monday, January 21, 2013
DREDD it
DREDD may not be the smartest of films but it turns that on its head with sheer brutality and really interesting cinematography. I've seen a lot of filmmaking lately that's trying to be something it can't or doesn't know how to be, but DREDD is seriously pitch perfect on what it knows it can deliver.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Crimson October
Recently rewatched THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER - I'm more of a CRIMSON TIDE guy myself but man, they just don't make films like this anymore. A damn shame.
Masa vs Fox
Check out SAKI action-man Lance Masa in the upcoming epic EMPEROR starring Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox. Lance knocks out Fox at about 2:23 into the trailer!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
SAKI tonight
Hold the mutha-frackin presses! Apparently you can still watch SAKI in Japan tonight. Apparently...
"1/15(火）深夜 1:45" means "1/16 Wed 1:45am" (Japan time)
and
"1/28(月）深夜 1:00" means "1/29 Tues 1:45am" (Japan time)
Man, that's confusing.
"1/15(火）深夜 1:45" means "1/16 Wed 1:45am" (Japan time)
and
"1/28(月）深夜 1:00" means "1/29 Tues 1:45am" (Japan time)
Man, that's confusing.
SAKI to me
SAKI the film I wrote and shot will be on TV in Japan tonight (1/15) at 1:45am... wait, shit it's already 4am Tues in Japan. Ok so check it out on Mon 1/28 at 1am instead. And BTW it's being shown along with other movies that are pretty scandalous if yer into boobies and stuff.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy
I very much liked TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY because the nuances of the language are as intriguing as the title. Not quite sure I understood all that happened but the themes and performances were compelling.
Pursuit of Legend
So Will Smith turns down Tarantino's DJANGO but goes for Shamalamadingdong's AFTER EARTH (which ridiculously looks like PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS meets I AM LEGEND). This is strange math to me.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Man of Steel
Visually the film looks great - Snyder knows how to shoot men in capes. But origin stories are tired - just get on with it, we all know that super heroes exist...
Is the world ready for the Man of Steel? Watch the exclusive new trailer now:
Thursday, December 06, 2012
House of Laughs
CASA DE MI PADRE es una película muy divertida. But beyond it's "stupid done strait" bit, it is a treasure trove of anti-convention filmmaking - I realize that on a production it's no fun when you take continuity, screen direction, motivated light, logic, etc, etc, way too seriously.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
An adventure begins...
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN is one of the most exciting adventures I've seen in a long time. Awesome contemporary filmmaking and I liked how I didn't need an origin story to get on board.
Sunday, December 02, 2012
Locked in
LOCKOUT is proving to be laughably bad. It's like it got ripped out of the 90's with stringed up bad one-liners and action that just jumps around (what the F just happened?).
American Remake
I was entertained by the 1st season of "American Horror Story." And I would've been even more entertained if I didn't see it as one big regurgitation/repackaging of every contemporary horror convention I've come to know from the horror films I've seen before it. That sounds kind of snobbish but that's what happens when you become a connoisseur of a genre.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Lian amongst the Walking Dead.
Just caught SAKI star Lawrence Kao get gutted by a katana blade on the TV series "The Walking Dead."
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Centurian ho... hum
I finished watching CENTURIAN with Michael Fastbender. Thought the dialog was too contemporary. Story just seemed like a bunch of Roman fails - kind of a downer.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Write and Wrong
This script must've been optioned on its premise alone - admittedly it is a catchy one. But while the actual feature script seems to understand when and where to hit a story beat, it's so poorly executed - full of cliches and random situations with no sense of theme or character development. This rewrite is going to be harder than I thought.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Oldies are still the best
I actually have a fondness for Joe Dante's original PIRANHA movie - more so than JAWS. I remember seeing it on TV as a kid just thinking how the truth about such a carnivorous fish could be scarier than fiction. Of course piranhas are now Discovery Channel cliches.
Double the disappointment
I really wanted to like PIRANHA 3DD but it seemed to flop between the ridiculously stupid and the paces of logistics, backstory, drama - I would've preferred either or. I wish the whole movie was as entertaining as the end credits.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
3's a charm
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 is the better of the series - in fact, it's the only one I actually like. 1 and 2 are just too excruciatingly slow with not enough payoff. 3 is still a slow burn but there are enough false scares and the centerpiece and end gags are intriguing enough.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Pandemic Pandering
Season 2 of "The Walking Dead" kind of wore thin on me. So I re-watched Soderbergh's film CONTAGION and still really appreciated the craft that went into it. Now I'm reading APOCALYPSE Z - trying to narrow down what exactly my interest is in global pandemic plots.
Saturday, November 03, 2012
A Miss
You know there are distinct moments within the film BATTLESHIP where I thought the concept would work. But by the end of it all I was completely appalled by its pretensions. It should've just stuck with big ships with big guns engaged in bombastic war games.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
iGone
It really sucks that the iGoogle homescreen is being discontinued on Nov 1st. I've somewhat migrated to other newsreaders like Taptu and Pulse but I like the no-frills text feeds on iGoogle - it lets me scan the moment's news and jump to any article. I guess I'm just used to the iGoogle layout. Nothing tragic, just a bum-dinger.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Silent House holds
SILENT HOUSE had some decent scares and had a good start hiding it's transitions as it simulated one continuous 1.5 hour camera take. Midway the transitions became a little noticeable and the scare gags didn't seem to pay off. The plot ended up being too simplistic (or maybe under developed) for all its elaborate setup. That said the DP did a great job making the Canon 5D2 footage look good considering the camera moves all over the place and in all manner of lighting conditions.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Next Script
So now that money talks to finance my last pitch have fizzled I'm back to the decision to either continue and just finish the script despite struggling with tuning the plot or shift gears and write the script I've actually been wanting to write (I'll probably not want to write it so much once I actually start writing it but that is the nature of the beast). The decision came up because there are certain people that have been waiting a while for this script, though they don't necessarily have the means to get the film financed they certainly have the enthusiasm to give it some forward momentum. Time is waisting and this year will end soon. Assuming I finish this script this year, I'd be still on track with my 1 year 1 feature script minimum (I think). Regardless it's important to get something done and I'm giving myself until next February to finish this next one. It's an action-comedy and may be a little eccentric to attract initial financing but I think it's a fairly interesting concept that can blossom into something unique and fun. But it doesn't exist until it's written so I've got my work cut out for me. It'd be even nicer if I can get both scripts done but things change and my mood shifts so we'll have to hope and pray that I can find my muse.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Game of Professors
So for those of you who were writing a script based on, or inspired by, the rise and fall of our CSULB film program, here's your lead into the 3rd act with the showdown coming next winter.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Two become one
Damnit! Spent almost a year developing a script and it only occurs to me now that I should merge it with another concept I've been wanting to write. I feel like I've been spinning my wheels but then again it now seems to make sense.
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
You mock the horror genre, don't you?
We need to sit down and have a serious talk - CABIN IN THE WOODS was a bit disappointing. It entertained, but I think it was geared more towards a gamer crowd rather than a horror cinema crowd. It's ok that you led me on, it's an OK movie. But it just sucks balls as a horror movie.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
More like a snack
I liked John Gulager's FEAST and I wanted to like part 2 but the movie kind of spiralled into a pointless ending. I hope part 3 hits it home.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
SAKI to me
Just read a middling review of the feature film I wrote, SAKI - it wasn't completely bad but it certainly wasn't approving (otherwise I'd include a link). It just fuels the fire to hit harder when it comes to my next feature.
Sunday, September 09, 2012
Ego Boost
You know what, I was rereading the last feature script I wrote and thought it was pretty decent.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Theater Language
I'm definitely more the film guy, versus the look and feel of theater. But there are certainly interesting ideas and modes of conveying theme, things that could make for fresh concepts for a feature script. The idea of ghosts trailing the Sachiyo's character is a really cool concept.
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