(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Take three freaky characters with tenuous grips on reality and stick them into an aging apartment building in a rundown neighborhood of Montreal and what do you have? Good Neighbors. You also have a film noir mystery which rivals anything the Coen brothers (Blood Simple, Fargo, No Country for Old Men) have ever done. […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) The creative process – with its joy and disappointments, its triumphs and tragedies – is for many artists an intensely private experience. The writer in front of a computer or the artist alone in a studio has the privilege of privacy. This is not the case for those who express their […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Writers, long domesticated by publishers, producers, and other men in suits, are now empowered to break through the barriers and take charge of their careers as never before. That was the message writers Jim Sorenson (Transformers Animated: The Allspark Almanac, Vol. 2 ) and Courtney Joyner (Stealing Candy) shared at the Alameda Writers Group (AWG) July general membership […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) About two thirds through this film I began to recall The Graduate, the 1967 Dustin Hoffman classic, which was a key artistic moment for my generation. I believe that The Art of Getting By, a Fox Searchlight film which opens in limited release Friday, June 17, 2011, can be of equal significance for this generation and […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) It was one of those moments. As a screenwriter or filmmaker you’re constantly studying structure, dialogue, what makes a good scene, distribution, financing, who’s hot, who owes you a favor, and pondering your latest rejection. Then one of those moments happens. One of those moments that reminds you why you decided […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) The success of an independent film can often depend on getting a “name star” to sign on to the project. The “Big Names, Small Budgets” seminar, presented by SAG and SAGIndie at this past weekend’s “Produced By Conference” (PBC), focused on how to accomplish that. The PBC, presented by the Producers Guild […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Winston Churchill once said, “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” So, too, is The Perfect Host, a Sundance 2010 selection by filmmaker Nick Tommay which premieres on video-on-demand on May 27 and opens in theaters July 1, 2011. On the surface, the story in this psychological thriller is straight […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) You guessed it…then you gotta do it yourself. That was the advice from show creators and writer-producers at this year’s LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival at the Downtown Independent Theater. The “write-it-yourself” panel consisted of Kevin Shinick (writer/creator/producer of Cartoon Network’s Mad and writer/creative director of Robot Chicken), Phoef Sutton (writer/exec producer of Cheers, writer/producer Boston Legal), and […]
How do you deal with fame? That’s one of the questions that LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival Creative Director Gary Anthony Williams directed to the participants of the “Famous People Talkin’ About S—t” panel. The famous panelists included Stephanie Courtney (Flo from Progressive Insurance, Mad Men), Larry Jo Campbell (According to Jim), Wayne Brady (The Wayne Brady Show, […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Opening night at the Los Angeles Comedy Shorts Film Festival packed the Downtown Independent Theater, 251 S. Main Street in LA’s gentrifying inner city. (Only my respect for the Fire Marshal keeps me from telling you how packed.) If you were there, you enjoyed the unique experience of watching films, sitting amongst […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Earthquakes, war in Iraq, tsunamis, unemployment, war in Afghanistan, housing prices in the dumps, nuclear reactor meltdowns, riots in the streets, and Moammar Qaddafi in really cute sweaters: isn’t there anything in the news that can bring a smile to my face?Well, if, besides smiles, you don’t mind having to text […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) I received an epiphany as a result of having parts of two SyFy Channel movies inflicted on me this weekend: The current crop of screenwriters is totally clueless about things military. Granted, SyFy movies, especially Battle of Los Angeles (not to be confused with the now-in-theaters Battle: Los Angeles), may be the bottom of the barrel in many […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Producer John Aglialoro obtained the rights to Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged 18 years ago. Several attempts to move forward with the film failed. In April 2010, he called Harmon Kaslow and told him he had three months to start filming or the rights world revert to Ayn Rand’s literary estate. By June, the […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) The first line of Black Death, which opens in New York and Los Angeles March 11, “The fumes of the dead hung in the air like poison…,” sets the tone for an action flick that tries to delve much deeper into the soul than most sword and sorcery fare. This ScreamFest 2010 […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Cold Weather, which opens at LA’s Laemmle Sunset 5 Theater Friday, February 11, is not your typical American movie, despite the fact that it takes place in Portland, Oregon, with an all-American cast and a purportedly Raymond-Chandler-like plot line. It left me dazed and confused, but, in a good way. This was not a […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Bran Nue Dae (Brand New Day) is fun. I have a few minor complaints, but I’ll save those for later. I viewed this film at the Wilshire Screening Center, a tiny theater tucked in between doctors’ offices and concealed in a nameless glass and steel office tower. The film, not yet rated, […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) “I’m always glad to publicly discuss a great subject – me!” was John Lithgow’s tongue-in-cheek opener at the Los Angeles Film Festival for an evening of humorous and insightful stories about movies and acting. “Over the Top: A Conversation with John Lithgow” was moderated by David Anson, Artistic Director for the […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) “We shot improvisational style and edited documentary style,” explained Mark of the brothers Duplass. Mark and Jay Duplass, screenwriters and directors, used the indie talents they developed on earlier projects to bring to life Cyrus, a creepy romantic comedy which premiered June 18 at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Moving on up […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) Enough with the producers already. How did the Producers Guild of America’s “Produced By Conference” look from a writer’s perspective? Peter Ong Lim is a Seattle-based “writer/producer/creative entrepreneur.” Peter started out in entertainment, took a detour through medicine, but now is back with his first love: “I sold my first script at age 14 […]
(Originally published on blogcritics.org) At this month’s Producers Guild of America “Produced By Conference”, a distinguished group of filmmakers tackled the question “Do producers bring anything to the creative process?” Maybe it doesn’t apply to every producer, but these gentlemen bring a lot. David Pickler, former CEO or United Artists and producer of Lenny, The Man with […]