Of course, Star Wars merchandise has little (if anything) to do with the world of independent filmmaking. However, I find the concept of Star Wars sneakers strangely attractive!
Archive for the 'Research / Influences' Category
Adidas Star Wars
Published by November 24th, 2009 in Film School, News bits and Research / Influences. 0 CommentsPrince of Persia workout
Published by November 7th, 2009 in Digital Technology, Film School, News bits, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 0 Comments
Now, Jake was pretty ripped in both Jarhead and Brokeback Mountain.
He takes it to a whole new level for the Prince of Persia. The Jerry Bruckheimer’s production seems to be of epic scope indeed, since Jake has an year to get in character: note the hair, it’s not a wig (I think).
I find it amazing that someone in Hollywood has “underwritten” transferring Prince of Persia to the big screen – as a summer blockbuster too.
Effectively, this is a $150-million one-way bet on video games. Uwe Boll shot video game movies in Canada for 10M and barely broke even. Some even claim he did it for tax purposes, as German investors could write off the losses as an “investment in art.”
I can tell you right now what the NEXT game movie blockbuster is going to be. Sam Raimi was attached as Director to a World of Warcraft movie. Blizzard makes a billion a year in revenues from their MMO, I’m certain they can fork up $150 million.
Spinal Tap goes to 11
Published by October 25th, 2009 in Film School, News bits, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 0 CommentsI’m a big Spinal Tap fan and I just caught it on TV. Like good wine, this mockumentary gets better with age! Check out this classic segment:
Sam Raimi joins Warcraft movie
Published by July 24th, 2009 in Digital Technology, Film School, News bits, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 1 CommentBlizzard have just announced that Sam Raimi joins the team working on a Warcraft movie. Now, I can understand where their excitement is coming from. After all Sam Raimi has turned the Spiderman franchise into a goose that lays golden eggs.
And on the surface, you could say that Warcraft and Spiderman aren’t that different. Both are cartoony and appeal to nerds.
However, I can’t imagine what a scrip meeting will be like … in Blizzard’s Global domination HQ. Sam will want to limit the protagonists to a reasonable trio, with one being a love interest and one being the comic relief (see Conan). Blizzard will argue that a party of three will get nowhere even if they have been twinked up. Plus, PVP isn’t balanced in groups of three.
A Diablo movie on the other hand will be Sam Raimi’s dream come true. After all, he made his name with the Evil Dead (at least in my book). Total nightmare, one protagonist… hell, he could use the already excellent Diablo 2 cinematics as a jumping point!
Worst of all, when the Warcraft movie gets awful reviews, Uwe Boll will be telling everyone that he was the first to come up with the recipe for turning a good game into an awful movie.
RIP Karl Malden
Published by July 8th, 2009 in Book/DVD Reviews, Film School, News bits, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 0 CommentsKarl Malden stars in one of my favorite movies – Patton. Admittedly, the role of general Omar Bradley isn’t the one he’ll be remembered for… but frankly, A Streetcar Named Desire isn’t on my favorite movie list.
What an amazing career – spanning 60 years! Rest in peace.
Great movies
Published by July 4th, 2009 in Book/DVD Reviews, Film School, Movie Reviews, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 1 CommentI was lying in bed thinking about great movies that I revisit a lot. So what’sthe first line that comes to mind… No objectivity whatsoever!
Conan The Barbarian
Amazing soundtrack and little dialogue to distract you from the imagery/music
Das Boot
The only war movie that runs close to 4 hours and I still feel it was cut short
The Engish Patient
Walter Murch took an year to patch this movie together and I’m still confused after seeing it for the fifth time.
Lawrence of Arabia
Every time someone tells me I’m the most arrogant person they know, I check out Lawrence to make sure I’m still a dwarf (albeit standing on the shoulders of a giant)
American Movie
I think of Mark whenever I feel I’m giving 110% and still failing miserably.
The Producers
When I was a kid I dreamed of meeting Mel Brooks because he’ll recognize me as his rightful heir… the time is running out
What’s your reason for viewing a movie again and again?
Must-see Transformers
Published by June 27th, 2009 in Book/DVD Reviews, Film School, Movie Reviews, News bits, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 0 CommentsNow, this isn’t a review of Transformers 2… I haven’t seen it myself yet.
I have seen part one and it was typical teenage fair. In typical Michael Bay tradition, he amped it up in the sequel. The most obvious result is that Megan Fox is SO sexy, it hurts my eyes.
That’s her at the LA Premiere of Transformers… The only way for Michael Bay to go further will be to have Megan Fox go topless in T3!
Anthony Minghella RIP
Published by March 18th, 2008 in News bits, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 1 CommentAnthony Minghella died earlier today. What a loss. He was only 54.
I loved The English Patient, I feel his treatment of the material has converted a so-so novel into a masterpiece.
Most recently, I saw Breaking and Entering which isn’t in the same league as The English Patient but it’s still an interesting and thought-provoking movie.
Goodbye and rest in peace.
Peter Sellers Interview
Published by October 12th, 2006 in Film School, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 1 CommentPeter Sellers is one of my favorite actors. His 15 minutes in Lolita are the best part of the movie (for me). I’ve seen Dr. Strangelove at least a dozen time and I find new entertaining bits every time.
Here’s a one-minute interview with him doing accents – just after he completed Dr. Strangelove. (Courtesy of Gootube).
Mardi Gras & Easy Rider
Published by March 1st, 2006 in Film School, News bits and Research / Influences. 5 Comments
I was listening to the BBC (drive time) today and they said Mardi Gras was over in New Orleans. Made me think about Easy Rider and my “writer’s block” when it comes to reviewing great movies.
In my book, Easy Rider stands out for two reasons: Jack Nickolson and Laszlo Kovacs (cinematographer). Jack did a good job which took him to A-list status. Quite a different thing happened to Laszlo.
Laszlo Kovacs had to wear a “I’m not Vilmos” t-shirt, so he doesn’t get confused with Vilmos Zsigmond. Both of them left Hungary in 1956 with footage of the Soviet invasion which they sold in Hollywood.
For a long time “Easy Rider was my least favorite film, interestingly enough, because “Easy Rider” caused me the most heartache and the most bad times and all because I was rejected because of “Easy Rider.” It was just a few years back, you know, I just fell in love with this movie. And especially one element in that movie was so important to me because all these bike riding scenes through the trees and the forest, you know, you had this dappled light and you have this rainbow reflection in the lens, and that was a pretty unique creation at that moment. Nobody had ever done it.
Lens flares were considered a mistake back then. If you have an eye for detail, that’s not the only “mistake” in the movie. In the scene where the choppers are first seen, if you pay close attention, you’ll see a ton of lights getting reflected off the chrome surfaces. That’s another “mistake” that gets the message across in a powerful way.
His camera rig consisted of a “1968 Chevy Impala convertible… and put a half sheet of 4×4 plywood”. That’s why my dream “car” is a Toyota Hilux. It’s the low-budget filmmakers killer rig.
Laszlo recently got four Lifetime Achievement Awards. He’s a living proof of what my photography professor used to say: “underexpose or overexpose, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s consistent. You call this style.”
Jeff Skoll on making movies
Published by February 3rd, 2006 in Film School, News bits, Research / Influences and Storytelling. 1 CommentDon’t go to IMDb to look for Jeff Skoll, you’ll get the wrong person. Skoll is eBay’s ex-President … with about 2 Billion in eBay stock.
What’s he got to do with movies? A lot. See, when he retired from eBay, he founded a production company (Participant Productions) that is behind quite a few movies (incl. Syriana).
His focus is on issues that tackle important issues and social problems: oil dependence, sexual harassment and domestic violence, disability and discrimination, global warming.
In his recent Wired interview, Jeff described how he got the idea:
A few years before I formed Participant, I met a producer named Richard Lewis who had been very successful with a number of big movies. I asked him why there weren’t more movies like Erin Brockovich and Schindler’s List coming out of Hollywood. And he said, “People just don’t finance those movies. Though, by the way, those are the kinds of movies I’d like to do.”
Skoll is on a roll (excuse the pun) with recent movies such as Syriana, North Country, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Murderball.
I tuned to BBC – just in time to get the confirmation for Hamas’ winning the elections in Palestine. It’s not something that came out of the blue. Most polls indicated that Hamas could score an easy win.
Considering both the USA and the EU have banned Hamas and renounced it as a terrorist organization. The EU subsidizes the Palestinian government with some 500 Million euros which leaves an important question: how will Hamas spend these? A good start for Hamas is “wiping out Israel” as suggested by Iran’s president Ahmadinejad. It’s been on their agenda, they simply lacked the funds.
Iraq’s election yielded a similar result in that the vast majority of the parliamentary parties are religious – some more radical than others. I don’t wanna be the CIA guy who’s looking at the map of the Middle East.
An interesting question is: “what are the chances that Zawahiri will send Hamas a letter similar to the one he sent to Zarqawi?” Something like “does and don’ts of running a successful Al Qaeda franchise.”
Bruce fights Terror
Published by November 15th, 2005 in News bits and Research / Influences. 1 CommentBruce Willis has offered a million dollars (US) to anyone who turns in any of the Al Qaida leaders. It seems that Al-Zawahiri’s letter to al-Zarqawi has put Zarqawi’s name at third place so if you have any info on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, Aymen Al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, you better contact Bruce Willis.
It’s kind of ironic that Bruce’s most memorable perfomance is that of John McClane in Die Hard. Even more ironic, the movie was stolen by Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber – a terrorist. How much terrorists have changed since 1988… The quality of the photos still sucks though.
Al-Zawahiri’s letter to al-Zarqawi
Published by October 20th, 2005 in Research / Influences. 0 Comments
I know this sounds like a BAD joke. While I’m blogging and checking my email at the same time, some people still persist with writing letters. The problem with any letter (yes, even emails) is that they might end up in the wrong hands. CIA’s hands.
In a 6,300-word letter, Ayman al-Zawahiri addresses his Iraqi “colleague” al-Zarqawi (read the letter here: English; Arabic).
I still need to go through (at least part of) it myself. Although some sources doubt its authenticity, I have toread it. I do write several scenes that are related to Al Qaeda in general, and Al-Zawahiri in particular. No wonder it took Arthur Hailey 2 years to do his “Airport” research.
Update: Hamas wins the Palestine elections. Will we see another letter from Zawahiri (ايمن الظواهري)?
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