Film

On New Years Resolutions

Last year I wrote up a post about my new years resolutions. Out of the 20 I posted, I ended up completing only one. So this year I decided to re-think the resolution thing and come up with more attainable goals so I feel less pathetic when the 2011 rolls around. Although, I have a feeling that history will repeat itself like it usually does and I’ll be writing a post similar to this one next year. Yay for New Years Resolutions, eh?

Anyway, here’s the list in all it’s listy glory.

Finish a final draft of Year of the Con, my nerdy road-trip comedy.
Acquire an Agent and a Manager to help sell my script and future ones I write.
Complete writing of two web series I want to produce.
Get at least one of the web series produced.
Write a third screenplay.
Get Photoshop CS2 and Flash 8 back on my compruter. Srsly, the newer ones blow.
Write every day.
Find either a better-paying job or a second job.
Start up my old webcomic.
Go to more shows.
Go to a rave.
Go to at least 2 nerdy conventions. Dress up for both of them.
Go to comic con.
Write a sci fi novel.
Complete Script-Frenzy this year and do NaNoWriMo again!
Write a spec script for a sitcom, hour-long drama, procedural, and whatever you call the ooey gooey goodness that’s on HBO and SHOWTIME these days.
More dates. Some blind dates perhaps.
Do one of those speed dating things and have at least as awkward a time as Steve Carrell did in The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Drink more cranberry juice. So delicious.
Get a suit. I’ve got the pants. Just need to get the rest.
Co-write a film script with someone.
Hang out more with friends and be less of an anti-social bitch. God, srsly.
Do two things I would never otherwise do.
Get my toon to level 80. God, srsly. I’m such a terrible nerd.
Visit at least 2 Friendfeed people. ROAD TRIP!
Take Killer (my cat) to the groomer. Be able to afford that.

Here’s to the new year!

Why I Don’t Like Indie Films (mostly)

Posted on August 10, 2009 by movieguyjon Film 4

I have a strange relationship with indie films and the people who make / consume them. For me, indie films came to my attention through Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, which then led me to Steven Soderbergh, Allison Anders, Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater, et al. The 90’s indie film movement was a big part of my film viewing experience and if you let me talk at you long enough, you’ll hear all about how much I long to go back to it. But my opinion of independent films has changed in the past decade, and I think I might have an idea as to why: they are all essentially the same.

It seems like there’s a basic formula these days to make an indie film: Ql + MfP + Um = Profit, where Ql = Quirky lead, MfP = Music from Pitchfork, and Um = Uninspired marketing. Have you seen an indie film these days that doesn’t have the same font used in the posters and title sequence? What about the quirky lead (usually female)? There’s really no characterization other than dorky for dorkiness’ sake. These characters are written in this manner and the viewer is lead to believe that this is how things are because it’s “indie” and “indie” means “real.” Not so. A friend of mine said that “Badass for badass’ sake” is stupid. The same applies here. Sadly, it’s a successful part of the formula.

Let me explain “Music from Pitchfork” a little so you don’t get me wrong. MfP occurs when the filmmakers compose a soundtrack for their indie film (and it’s trailers) with music they found by scanning the Pitchfork site. While I like (500) Days of Summer and am on record for giving it an excellent review, it is a perfect example of the formula. Regina Spektor in the opening credits? Sure. Maybe toss in some Pixies as well for good measure. Juno was another offender in this category as was Away We Go. Granted, I’ve only seen the trailers to Away We Go, but that brings us to the “Uninspired Marketing” or Um.

Every single film lauded as indie borrows the same boring font and claims it as their own, like it has never been used before. The trailers are also cut like a hollywood romantic comedy, if a retard pieced a rom-com trailer together.

The formula is THE reason I don’t like indie films. Now you might be saying, “Those aren’t indie films, they just pretend they’re indie.” I guess. But then you go on to describe everything that’s in the formula. Really, any film that doesn’t fit into the well-established, mainstream formula is called independent and oftentimes it just follows it’s own popular formula. Mumblecore, for example, has a simple formula of BCW (Bad Camera Work) + NM (No money) + NP (No plot). Although, at least the mumblecore crowd is actually out there making things and gaining some traction in their movement with Hump Day.

Agree, disagree? Feel free to voice your thoughts.

A Little Rany-Pants About Watchmen

Posted on July 13, 2009 by movieguyjon Film Screenwriting 0

Piracy From A Film Student’s Perspective

Posted on June 22, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Film Screenwriting 5

I was recently asked the question of whether or not I would offer any film I made for free via peer-to-peer or Bittorrent. It didn’t take me long to respond with a resounding “hell no,” and I’ll explain why. Back in the day, I was quite the swashbuckler. When confronted on the issue, I would defend my lecherous ways to the teeth by exclaiming such proverbs as “fuck the man” and “the MPAA are jerk-faces!” If I was feeling particularly rowdy, I would just say something along the lines of “lol butts.” However, things changed for me and I did a 180 on how I view the whole “piracy” issue. This happened as I walked onstage and accepted my fake diploma, along with the germs of the President of Columbia College.

Fuck.

My career IS film.

If you think about it, the movies you see on screen are the result of hundreds of people working their asses off to create an end product that you can enjoy at your leisure. When you get it for free and share that free-ness with others, you’re essentially punching all those people in the nuts and stealing their lunch money. Do I need to give you a worse metaphor? Fine! When you decide to download Wolverine: X-Men Harder instead of paying to see it, you’re killing babies.

The argument that films these days are just too expensive has always been strange to me. When you go out to the bar, you usually blow anywhere from $20-$40 depending on your level of alcoholism. When you go out to eat at a place that isn’t Popeyes or McDonalds, you’ll probably put away somewhere in the ballpark of $10. Sporting events of any kind usually drain you more than a movie ticket’s worth. And what about matinee prices? What about second run theaters?

As I enter into the realm of filmmaking, I can’t help but think about all the people out there who feel it’s their right to watch a movie and never compensate anyone for it. Girl’s gotta eat, folks!

Writing and Re-Writing

Posted on April 7, 2009 by movieguyjon Film My Life Screenwriting 0

One of the frustrating things about my process is the part where I go back and change a bunch of shit and essentially rewrite my script from page one. It’s not like I actually want to do this, especially considering I have to get 100 or so pages done by the end of the month. What ends up happening is that I get ideas about what I wrote before and those ideas pester me until I do something about them. Case in point, day one and two for me for Script Frenzy. I wrote roughly four or five pages that were solid and took a break from it. As I went about doing other things, the need to change EVERYTHING surfaced and it was all I could think about.

I need to get a better writing process..

I’d Like To Thank The Academy

Posted on January 28, 2009 by movieguyjon Comics Film Screenwriting 0

I had a rather large post written up in textedit about the Oscars and who I thought should win based off the nominations. Truth be told, I haven’t seen any of the films that were nominated this year, with the exception being Wall-E, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight. Therefore, I chucked the post in favor of a shorter one that I think will be just a wee bit more discussion worthy. See, I’ve noticed a lot of backlash about the snubbing of Gotham’s finest hero at the Oscars, and how it should have been nominated for Best Picture and yadda-yadda-yadda. “OMG, Chris Nolan should have been nominated for BEST DIRECTOR EVAR!”

Sigh.

Truth be told, I think The Dark Knight was nominated for everything it deserves. The only makeup worthy of note is the Joker’s. The only performance worthy of note is the Joker’s. There’s no art direction to speak of, and the directing is inconsistent throughout the film. The screenplay is nothing special, and feels particularly bloated with the Hong Kong sequence. Bruce Wayne was not the focus of the film, and because of that, it felt more like “The Joker” than “The Dark Knight.”

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the hell out of The Dark Knight. It’s definitely a favorite of ’08. But Oscar worthy? Bitch plz!

Feel free to try and convince me otherwise, but I hold to the fact that Heath Ledger was the only AMAZING thing in that movie. The rest was WAY below the standard set by Batman Begins.

These Aren’t Resolutions

Posted on January 15, 2009 by movieguyjon Film Internets My Life Screenwriting 12

It’s late, I can’t sleep, and my mind is racing a million miles a second. I figured that since this is the case I would write out a list of things I’d like to do in 2009. Before I go any further, I need to clarify: these are NOT resolutions. Resolutions (if you recall) are things that people break. I don’t want that to be the fate of these items, and if I don’t call them by the “r” word, maybe I’ll actually succeed. Following so far?

Sell my first screenplay.
Finish my second screenplay.
Sell that one.
Produce my short film that got rejected by the Columbia College Practicum.
Write a third screenplay.
Ice skate.
Take a road trip with friends.
Find a job that parallels my interests and be able to keep it.
Continue my webcomic.
Draw a new one that’s been kicking around in my head for some time.
Go on an honest to god date. You know, where you dress up super nice and drink wine.
See at least 12 bands in my library.
Cook more. (I’ve cooked more this year than before just in these past few months!)
Go to a rave.
Do my part in making the production company I’m a part of the big thing this year.
Go to at least 2 conventions of any kind and get my picture taken with someone “famous.”
Go to comic con.
Record an episode of Geek Troika at each of my co-hosts’ places.
Get to writing that fourth screenplay.
Submit my writing to competitions.

I definitely plan to add to this list as I think of more things. There’s so much to do this year and only 365 days to do it in. Not much time, if you ask me. Oh yeah, and if you enjoyed this list, make your own and share it. I kind of like the idea of being accountable to the internet on this one.

A Thought On Method

Posted on November 21, 2008 by movieguyjon Blather Film Internets My Life Screenwriting 10

As a writer for any medium, you often get asked (or are made to ask yourself), “What’s your method?” Some people respond with a very complex list of how they get into the mood to write and then how they go about building their magnum opus while others go at great lengths to explain how they just do things in bursts. I tend to fall into that latter category. My writing inspiration seems to come and go, usually without much warning. I could be sitting in the classroom arguing the semantics of storytelling when this “need” will rise to the surface and eat away at me until I scribble something down. Or, I could be sitting at the local Starbucks drinking a Grande White Mocha when this happens, oftentimes in mid-sip. If I’m lucky, I’ll have a pen nearby. If not, I resort to my laptop.

There was a period of time where I tried to maintain a more organized writing method, what some might call a regimen if you will. I put this into practice during the summer, since I chose not to take any classes, and went to a coffee shop to spend a few hours a day writing. I would ask for a real “froofy” drink and then sit down and write until the battery died. I was able to get a decent amount of work done in around two to three hours (I need a new battery for the ole macbook pro). After about a week or so of this, though, I stopped and went back to my more sporadic method of writing every couple of days or whenever I felt like it.

And then I had a conversation with the Chair of the Film and Video Department at Columbia College. I (alongside a producer from our Practicum class) had pitched a story I was working on and he gave some excellent advice on how to go about fixing the then incomplete story. Later on, we bumped into each other in the hall and talked about the process of writing. I explained my exasperation at the process and he chuckled. He told me that it was a day to day process, and that in this business you need to continually write. It’s a competitive business and if you aren’t writing, you won’t make it. That hit home with me, and I decided to work on my method some. Now, I try to write something every day, whether it be my scripts, Twitter, Friendfeed, this site, or for Generation Tech. But I don’t force myself, either. If I don’t have anything, I don’t write anything.

That’s pretty much my method, explained in a bunch of barely strung together paragraphs. Hopefully the insight was helpful, and gave you something to take away. So, I turn the question to you. “What’s your method?”

Thanks goes out to Kent Nichols for making me think. :)

An Edit To My Nick & Nora Post

Posted on October 9, 2008 by movieguyjon Film 0

I was informed that Nick didn’t have sex with Nora, but rather fingered her.

WHAT?!

WHAT THE….

That makes the damn film WORSE!!!

Sorry. Was watching the latest TRS episode and their review of the Nick and Nora film and am surprised at their love of the film. For once, I violently disagree. I don’t think I can really put much stock in their reviews anymore.

Good Playlist; God-Awful Film

Posted on October 2, 2008 by movieguyjon Film 0

I mistakenly thought, upon seeing the advertisements for Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, that this film was aimed at my age demographic, and that it would try to evoke some kind of feeling that Garden State (see: one of my favorite films) did earlier. Admittedly, I did no real research on the film going in, and just knew that it starred stereotypical nerd Michael Cera and some gal I didn’t recognize (EDIT: but now remember quite well from “40 Year Old Virgin”). The commercials had music in it that I liked, and I knew from reading You Ain’t No Picasso that Bishop Allen had a brief cameo in it as themselves. You can imagine my disappointment, then, when I finally got to see the film.

Here’s a brief (and convoluted) summary of the film, as brought to you by wikipedia:

After seeing his ex-girlfriend, Tris, with a new boyfriend at his band’s gig, Nick O’Leary, a member of The Jerk Offs, is asked by college-bound Norah Silverberg to be her boyfriend for five minutes to prove something to her friend Tris. Little does Norah know, Nick is Tris’s ex-boyfriend, who Norah has developed a crush on even before seeing him. This is due to his mix CDs he had made for Tris after she broke up with him. Nick’s friends then attempt to set them up, thinking it would help Nick get over Tris.

The problem with this film, for me at least, lies in the sum of it’s parts. There are some great moments in here, ones that still stick with me since I saw it a few weeks back. But when combined with all the rest, it makes me realize how little anyone cared whether or not this reached an audience.

Right away in the film we’re introduced to the characters as they converge on a music venue in Manhatten. Nick and his band “The Jerkoffs” open for Bishop Allen. Herein lies the first issue that takes me out of the film. I’ve seen Bishop Allen and bands like them live and to get into the venue they were playing at, I had to prove to the scary guy at the door that I was of legal drinking age. So, even if this is an 18+ venue, why the hell is one of the characters drinking? How did this slip by the bartenders? I’m pretty sure that people in these venues aren’t THAT careless, are they? As we traverse the film further, we end up in more clubs and we see more young high schoolers getting it on with the liquid courage. Really?

I know that high schoolers drink. It’s one of those facts of science, like gravity and Thetans. But what I don’t get is how they can be so careless about it in a big city and not get any flak for it, or at least get picked up by the police. How is it that these morons can get away with so much shit and come out unscathed? Take the character of Caroline, the wasted partier / comedic relief of the film. Not a moment went by in that film where I didn’t wonder how the hell she survived. Granted, this is a comedy and things like this can’t really be challenged, but it did take me out of the film.

And then there was the overt “I’m cool because I listen to x” motif that really turned me off. At times, it was like watching a PR push from hipster central. We see a list of bands in the opening credits, and each of the characters echo the other’s tastes in music. In fact, it was hard to tell the characters apart because of this. Nick likes x, and Nora agrees, and “The Jerkoffs” agree, and the ex agrees, and they all agree that the fictional band “Where’s Fluffy” is where it’s at. They all decide to find “Fluffy” and they all turn on the same damn songs on their car rides to the potential hiding places. The whole music aspect to this film felt like it came from the point of view of someone out of touch with the current generations and their differing tastes in music.

And then there’s extremely awkward sex scene, which you can see being set up a mile away. It’s lame, uninspired, and feels very much like a ripoff of the flashback sex scene in Juno. We don’t see anything happen but still experience the awkwardness of it. They’re young, so this must be how it goes down..so to speak. Right?

But there are good things about this film. I’m not ALL doom and gloom. The way in which Nick and Nora’s feelings grow for each other doesn’t feel fake or forced. They genuinely seem attracted to each other. The acting on everyone’s part is energetic and no one feels like their just doing this for the hell of it. The side characters are colorful, and I believe them all (with the exception of the aforementioned Caroline). There’s a moment in the end of the film where Nick and Nora kiss while on an escalator. It’s all in slow motion and they glide off screen as the music swells. It’s a good moment.

If I had to give this film some kind of grade, I’d give it a C+. The filmmakers never quite figured out who to market this one to, and the end result is that it’s quite the forgettable little flick.

P.S. I don’t think I’ll ever chew gum again.