Author Topic: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)  (Read 6288 times)

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Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #30 on: April 16, 2014, 09:33:04 pm »
Just ordered a whole buttload of movie tickets for the film festival.  Got a bit expensive but whatever, it's once a year.

There's gonna be days where I'll just be LIVING in that dang theater.  Gonna take my sketchbook with me this year so I can note down all my thoughts between showings instead of trying to retain it all in my head like an idiot.

I'm REALLY excited for one flick, "Before I Disappear," I had NO idea that it existed-- a feature-length remake of the wonderful short film "Curfew" that one the Oscar a couple years ago.  Totally psyched to see that.  Got some very high expectations.

Chiprocks1

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #31 on: April 16, 2014, 10:17:00 pm »
What film festival is this? And don't forget to take pics and post em!
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #32 on: April 16, 2014, 10:46:32 pm »
Nashville Film Festival.  I'm taking my camera but I'm not sure what I'm going to get a picture of.

NINE DAYS of programming.  I'm in for 7.  I'm trying to see the stuff that might not get distribution.  So a lot of shorts.  And my sister worked on two movies, "Boulevard" with Robin Williams (and Bob Odenkirk, I was so jealous when I found out) and The Identical, which is in rush so I might not be able to get tickets.

Chiprocks1

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #33 on: April 17, 2014, 05:46:02 am »
Very cool. Have fun with that. I'm sure you're gonna have a blast!! :)
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #34 on: April 18, 2014, 10:12:31 pm »
Before I Disappear


Unfortunately, there isn't a trailer for this one yet, but dang, this was good, and I don't want to say too much about it because I don't want to ruin it and I have an early day tomorrow (ten in the morning, what am I, amish?), but the film follows f*cked-up drug addict Richie's suicide attempt is interrupted by a call that his straight-laced sister has been arrested and she needs him to pick up his niece and take care of her.

The filmmakers followed the formula and style of the original short to a T (why wouldn't you, it won an Oscar!) and it's insane how accurate the film is to the original, there are shots and whole sequences that look like they could have been lifted out of the original (but they couldn't have, since the actress had grown up a considerable bit between filming the two).  And of course, they kept the scene where she dances in the bowling alley (the SAME bowling alley), which I'm happy about b/c it was one of my favourite moments in the original.

I'm pretty darn sure this is going to get some kind of release.

Chiprocks1

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #35 on: April 19, 2014, 05:26:43 am »
How many films do you have lined up for today?
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #36 on: April 19, 2014, 06:00:21 am »
Three programs of short films in the afternoon.  This morning I have a workshop thing about auditioning.  Should be interesting.

Oh god, the short films last night, some were good, some weren't, but some *sshole made a last-minute change in his film and didn't check the finished product off the edit bay before submitting it (I assume a different copy made it through the selection process) because about three minutes into the movie, the audio and video go out of sync by a WHOLE MINUTE.  And the characters would spend all this time talking and then not saying anything, so you had silence with their mouths moving and dialogue with their mouths shut.  We had to sit through the whole thing like that.

So the first big thing I learned from the festival this year is ALWAYS WATCH YOUR EXPORTED FILE THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH BEFORE SENDING IT OFF.  I didn't ask any of the filmmakers who were there yet if they did this (because I didn't want to be a snarky *sshole), but I guarantee everyone in that showing will do that in the future.

BTW, both movies I've been to so far, someone asks me if I'm a filmmaker.  I must have that vibe.

Chiprocks1

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #37 on: April 19, 2014, 06:07:34 am »
I anxiously await the moment I get to sit down and watch your stripper movie. So, you're already a film maker whether you agree with that or not, even if you haven't shot a roll of film yet. As for the film that went out of sync, it's something that gets under my skin, one that would have prompted me to get up and walk out. I wouldn't have wasted my time on a film if the director had done quality check on the final product. You clearly have more patience then me.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #38 on: April 19, 2014, 10:59:01 pm »
Well, there were more shorts after that.  And amazingly enough, it happened AGAIN in two more programs.  It's nuts.

I will say, the OMG WTF movies this year weren't as WTF as I remember, they used to be really nuts.  Normally it's the home to really messed up stuff, the sort of films that are like part of a recovery program for people in mental hospitals and it shows and it's awesome, but we didn't have much of that this year.  Now we did get to see Michael Cera empty his p*ss bag into a toilet and wipe it off on his hands, Amanda Seyfried feed a dog to a guy, Sammy Davis Jr give an HJ to a dying fat guy hooked up to a life support machine, and Michelle Rodriguez staba  guy in neck with a dart, but it was TAME.  It was so tame, man.  There was one time we had a short film that I think was literally trying to drive you insane and shorts that were so clearly induced by drugs YOU needed to enter a 12-step program.  But that's all slowly going away.

The kids shorts, "Grow Up Already," those were good, a little on the... not on the mature side, but it was ABOUT kids, not necessarily FOR kids.  Which made it feel a little awkward because this little girl was sitting next to me... literally, THIS little girl was sitting next to me...


...and every time someone would curse (which was often) or a character cut themselves intentionally or anything like that (which there was plenty of), I kept checking to make sure she was okay.  And the cutting thing I mentioned before, it was part of this film that had some really f*cking creepy ghost crawlies that pulled out people's eyeballs and stuff and climbed on walls and turned into big clouds of soot, and you KNOW she's never going to remember the film but she will NEVER forget those freaking demons crawling on the ceiling.  They'll lie low, lurk somewhere in the back of her memory and chill until she's a teenager and a random passing association will bring it all back and she will see these horrible things and have no idea why.

Anyway, this girl, Amelia, was IN one of the movies, not just IN but the main character, totally silent performance, she was good, but I was just fascinated by HER, I was talking to her from the moment she sat down until the first film started and I just couldn't wrap my head around it, you know?  "Oh, so was this made by someone you know, or...?" "No, I'm a professional actress." "How old are you?" "Eleven." Jesus!  And her little sister was sitting next to her, I asked "is she an actress too?" and Amelia just goes "no."

This is the trailer for the film she was in, and she was still that tiny today.  And I had to see her watch a movie where a beached whale gets cut up.


I spoke to a couple other young actor/actresses today and it's so WEIRD, especially compared to what *I* was like when I was 11 or 16, me, I'd want all evidence of my teenage years erased, like juvenile records they should be sealed, and they're not just letting it all out there, but they're so professional and career minded it's MIND boggling to me.  I feel so old AND immature at the same time!

Amelia, the little girl, asked me if I was a filmmaker, as did SO many people that I spoke to, and I just now say "writer," they ask "are we about to watch yours?" "No, I don't have anything this year."  And I get this vibe of... you know when you're in a band performing at a show and the audience is just the other bands?  I feel like the short film makers are expecting that, and that kinda sucks.

You know, I'm getting cards and I'm making connections, which is awesome, so hopefully when the time is right to do a little project I can be like "hey, what if we did this?" and get a lot of "yeah, let's do that!" 

I went to a audition panel and, dude, I'm a decent looking guy and I was rocking the jacket and was looking d a m n fine if I may say so myself, I went into that room and I was the ugliest dude by a MILE.  WOW.  I've never been amongst more photogenic people in my life.  And tall, I was talking to one girl, Ryn, after the show, I thought she was seventeen, eighteen... she was thirteen and she was taller than ME!  VERY few girls are taller than me.  It was strange.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2014, 11:51:01 pm by Neumatic »

Chiprocks1

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #39 on: April 20, 2014, 04:49:27 am »
Great review dude. Thanks for the update. I know there are genuine film lovers like yourself that go to festivals for the joy of discovery. But festivals by nature are really just a place to network with other like minded people looking to sell or find work. So, I think it's only natural that everyone in attendance expects the person next to them to have "something" up on screen that day. Speaking of which, did you know that the kid next to you was in the movie you were about to watch? Or were you just making small talk about the festival and then realize the kid next to you was THE star once the film began and do a double take?
« Last Edit: April 20, 2014, 05:48:48 am by Chiprocks1 »
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #40 on: April 20, 2014, 08:09:18 am »
I knew, she told me.  In fact, other people were recognizing her and congratulating her, they must have seen it in advance or something like that.  But there were so many people there who were getting stopped and chatted up and photo'd with and I didn't know who any of them are (I think there's another film fest going on, so we're not getting any of the big celebs).

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #41 on: April 20, 2014, 07:08:25 pm »
As for my stripper movie, I started prep a year ago (around festival time), so where I am now with it is WAY ahead compared to anything else I worked on in the past.  I had an insight into how to fix the ending, and I have to fill in some spots, then I think it's ready for some friend review.  It's tricky because I want to make sure guys love it, but I also really want to make sure girls love it, and not just b/c a lot of script readers ARE female, but something that they'd get together and watch, like I think Flashdance was, Dirty Dancing was...

I sent the first 25 pages to my friend Natalie to get a read on what she thinks, it's probably the darkest and most off-putting stuff, so if that works, then I just gotta nail the ending beats.  Then I think I'll be open to some feedback.

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #42 on: April 22, 2014, 11:29:04 pm »
Okay, I'm still trying to figure out how to describe Art War... I must relate its' awesomeness to you.  But in the meantime, here's what else I saw...


A Story Of Children And Film
This was an okay movie... I was kind of expecting it to be more like Miss Representation, but it was more like a collection of great moments from great movies in which children are protagonists.  Okay, that's fine.  And a lot of the movies are classics and some of them are rare.  That's great.  Unfortunately, the thickly-accented Scot who made the movie can't stop f'ing talking to let us actually experience the scenes!  He speaks throughout the WHOLE. THING.  It's really annoying because his voice is TOO loud in the theater and just... it isn't a great narration voice.  It's a fine voice, but, you know, there ARE professionals who do this, who are more pleasant on the ears when it's two hours straight.  Also, he breaks a fundamental rule of voice over by DESCRIBING WHAT'S ON THE F*CKING SCREEN!  We KNOW what's on the screen!  It's one thing to give us some context, that I get, but let us watch the freaking scenes!



OJ The Musical
I knew this was going to be bad, but I got a ticket anyway for one reason: Larisa Oleynik.  I don't think I've ever actually seen her on the big screen, but she glows up there, man.  She's so cute and sweet.  And actually, everyone in the supporting cast was good, and the movie did a great job of recreating the visual aesthetic of the Christopher Guest movies.

Unfortunately, it's not as funny.  AND the worst part was that the lead, Jordan Kenneth Kamp, was just an unlikeable, unwatchable jerk.  And he's the focus of EVERY GODD*MN SCENE.  EVERY SINGLE ONE.  You CANNOT get away from him, and you want to SO bad.  And what's amazing is that, at the end, he can sing, he's wonderful, but I'm sick of him at that point.

The ticking clock is manufactured and nonsensical.  The protagonist is unlikable and I don't care if he succeeds.  And he overpowers the cast every chance he gets, it's HIS movie and everyone else GETS to be IN it and I hate that.  And like I said, Larisa Oleynik is really good.  The best friend, Malcolm Barret, I don't know if I'd seen him in anything before but I liked him a lot.  I wanna see him in more stuff.  You know who else is in the film?  Todd Barry and Paul Scheer.  I love them.  What do they get to do?  Nothing really.  F*ck. That.

And what's worse is that these problems are an easy solve.  In the Christopher Guest films, we follow three throughlines: in Best In Show it's the three dog couples, and in a Mighty Wind it's the three bands.  And this movie HAD the perfect way to set that up: it was three childhood friends reuniting, they should have had equal time.  Not only would this cut down on Kamp's screen time (I feel like if he wasn't the focus, I would have liked him more), but it would give all the side characters more to do because we would also get to see them around Larisa and Malcolm, and they would get to do more because they'd interact with those characters differently than they would with Kamp, who's a weird-o liar.

But honestly, the script just wasn't that funny because I didn't find Kamp that funny, I don't remember laughing much, the premise just reminded me too much of Hamlet 2... ugh, the amount of comedy movies in recent years that I've actually laughed at is so low.  I saw plenty of people walk out, and honestly, the only reason I stayed was because of Oleynik.  Cards on the table, I have a role I'm writing that I want her to play (NOT in the stripper movie just in case you're reading this, Lar) and I wanted to make sure she still had it and she totally did.  If it wasn't for her, I might have left.

Oh, you know who else was in this movie?  Crab Man, from "My Name Is Earl."  I haven't seen him in ages.  Had nothing funny to do or contribute to the film.



The Animal Project
I got a ticket for this one because it reminded me of a story from My Dinner With Andre, about these actors going into the woods.  IN this flick, it was about a group of actors who decide to go out for one day in these big animal costumes and see how it affects them.  And it does.  It's interesting, very low-energy, feels kind of real (outside of one guy apparently being bi all of a sudden)... uh, it's definitely something to watch if it pops up on Netflix, especially if you're into acting or self-exploration or quiet drama, but I can see how it wouldn't work for some people.  I guess I liked it.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2014, 02:26:26 am by Neumatic »

Neumatic

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #43 on: April 23, 2014, 10:10:45 pm »
The Identical


The premise is simple: Elvis' long-lost twin brother's life story.  Actually, it's not Elvis, it's an analogue of Elvis named Drexl Hemsley.  Yeah.

It was.... better than I thought it would be, but the opening just annoyed the heck out of me.  I just didn't like it, it was Christianity on overload and I just felt that you can't possibly hope to nail the scene where parents decide to give up one of their kids, they could have skipped it and had us slowly discover the truth with the main character, that would be fine.

The other thing that annoyed me was the voice-over.  It was grating, just a loud annoying fake southern accent, and it was mostly there to describe what we were seeing.  We didn't need it, and it undermined a couple scenes: for example, when the dude goes up on stage for the first time, it doesn't matter if "rock and roll was born that night," it just matters that the moment is important for HIM, and we can TELL that without having someone flat out TELL us.

The dialogue was just... very flat, it was people saying exactly what they needed to say.  Now, this annoyed me, but Titanic had the same problem and that's one of the most popular movies of all time, so maybe it's a personal annoyance.  It just didn't feel inspired, there was no subtext.  The filmmakers cited "The Notebook" as a reference in the Q&A afterwards and I wasn't surprised, it was THAT level, and I just felt like... they could have fixed that.

Of course, the movie got picked up, so who the f*ck cares what I think?

I will say that the music was very good.  They wrote about 30 original songs for the movie and did a dang good job recreating the feel of Elvis.

Now, here's the f'ing crazy bits.

As you can see from the picture above, the lead looks JUST like Elvis.  Well guess what, he was THERE.  And he saw my sister and walked up to us and gave us a "Neumann!" like from Seinfeld.  Seriously, that happened.

Now that dude was good in the movie, the movie had a good cast, but I kept wanting to turn to my sister and ask "you know Ray Liotta?" "You know Seth Green?" "You know Joey Pants?" on and on and on.

Oh, by the way, my sister and my mom were talking CONSTANTLY throughout the movie.  I felt uncomfortable because there was a dude sitting next to me who kept looking at them because they were distracting him.

Chiprocks1

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Re: What Are You Looking At? (Multiplex Edition)
« Reply #44 on: April 24, 2014, 02:18:20 am »
Haha. You need to put your Sister and Mom in their place. Out in the car, if they are going to talk throughout it all! Talk (pun intended) about getting an earful for you! They talk and talk and you still have to deal with sh*tty narration all night long. I think everyone that ever decides on using narration should be forced to hire Morgan Freeman, even if the story says otherwise! Just sayin'. I'd say out of the movies you mentioned, I'm interested in checking out The Identical. I'm a sucker for anything Elvis-related.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

 

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