Sony HC3 is an amazing little HD camera for any aspiring filmmaker on a budget.
B&H have a used one (in excellent condition) for around $500. You can get it here.
While in B&H used equipment department, check out the other HD camcorders too. They’ve got discounted Canon H1, Sony FX1, and even Panasonic HVX200 but you’ll need more than $500 for these babies.
Personal Effects starts with much confusion (e.g. who’s the narrator/protagonist) and ends with a simplistic happy end.
So is there a meaty middle part?
Here’s the plot: Ashton’s character has lost his twin sister in a violent crime and he’s having a tough time recovering from it.
Michelle’s character is similarly struck by her husband’s being shot to death.
Being a MILF (in the parlance of our times), requires her to be a mother (of a a deaf/mute teenager). Michelle’s son becomes the link between the two. This guy makes an unlikely Cupid and I couldn’t find anything likable about him.
In short, Michelle and Ashton fall in love… and the only twist is that the son (Cupid) ends up in jail.
I hope I’m not ruining the surprise factor (there is none), since both Michelle and Ashton are type-cast and regardless of the context (recovery from losing a loved one), the movie does play like an extra long version of MILF hunter.
I saw Killshot for one reason only – Mickey Rourke. After his acclaimed performance in The Wrestler, he has made an impressive comeback. So has he the Midas touch too?
The short answer – NO. Long answer is NO because a good actor needs a lot more than just good acting to make a come back. He needs a good plot, a good director… the list goes on.
At least on surface, Killshot has a good plot. After all, it’s based on Elmore Leonard’s book by the same name.
Mickey plays a Toronto hitman who messes his last job and has little choice but to take an unlikely partner – Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – a petty thief and extortionist.
The two are seen by a couple going through divorce and in Mickey’s character’s world that means a death sentence. The couple is supposed to have their own problems but they are so cliche that one is forced to look for entertainment in Joseph Gordon-Levitt performance who chews the scenery both literally and metaphorically.
Monty Python are one of the prime examples of indie cinema. Look at this episode and tell me it cannot be shot on shoestring budget.
No fancy lighting, the camera is static (no dolly)… the list goes one but you don’t think about production values. You think about how a “farcical aquatic ceremony” cannot be the basis of a government system. Hilarious!