Tackling Notes...

Image Probably the lamest blog title in the history of blog posts but really I’m not sure it can be engaging or exciting because the reality is, I’m not sure how exciting this post is going to turn out. This is a post about approaching notes you receive when writing a screenplay (insert explosions and something else cool to hold attention).

A handful of posts that I write are formed from procrastination but really are formed from me needing to mentally work things out. I talk my friends ears off so I take to this blog to really help myself. Right now I currently have maybe one of the greatest problems of all time – I have too many notes.

First, I should mention that I’m in two different writers groups. I’ve been in one for years with a group of friends and the other I’m fairly new to. Both consist of opinions I trust, and both consist of screenwriters. The groups meet at different times and function differently than each other. The jist is that you submit your writing and then everyone discusses/dissects it. Pretty standard protocol for a writers group.

It’s rare that I’d submit a feature to both groups at the same time, but in this case, it happened. For the first time ever I have an overload of notes. I’ve been staring at them for about a week to try and make sense of things. Trying to figure out which people overlap in their critiques, which notes are good, which aren’t, which notes I’m not incorporating because I’m stubborn, etc…

I’m curious as to how people deal with a ton of notes. I suppose the basic way to deal with them is to just break them down and throw out which notes ultimately work for you, that seems to make the most sense, right? Looking at notes is like looking at a massive puzzle that’s only sort of put together, but I suppose that’s what writing is. Fuck, I suppose that’s what any creative process is.

Notes on something you create are very interesting; they’re basically saying do this, instead of that. They have the ability to get in your head. They’re also a constant reminder that you don’t actually know everything in the world… Well, for me at least.

Note to self: I don’t know everything.

Off to tackle these notes (may be back on here writing about not incorporating notes).

Did You See Empire Strikes Back In The Theater?

 

My first introduction to the Star Wars films was from VHS. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alive when they hit the theaters but honestly, if I could get my time machine working I’d seriously consider going back for the Empire Strikes Back / Vader is Luke’s father reveal.

This weekend I had a conversation with my girlfriend about what it must have been like to sit in the theater and be blown away at the reveal. I can imagine people asking each other if they just heard that correctly, or god forbid, the people who had to deal with a crying child and missed it… or the stoner who couldn’t comprehend… or the guy who got sick and had to run to the bathroom and will forever regret the day he had to leave the theater.

Somewhere in my conversation I concluded 3 things: 1) I want to talk with people about their reaction to seeing Empire Strikes Back in the theater and what they did when they heard Vader was Luke’s father. 2) I want to talk to the few people who missed the reveal. 3) I am going to find people from 1 and 2 and make a video.

Not sure if you’re aware but I also make videos here on the web. I’m thinking that something I’m going to work on is exactly what I mentioned above. So, if you are someone who saw Empire Strikes Back in the theater or if you know anyone who did, please let me know or have them get in contact with me. I need to talk with them... And film them. Also, if you know anyone who left the theater please let me know.

Best email: josh@thebigshoe.tv

This quest starts today. I need to know exactly what it was like when people found out the baddest dude in the universe was the dad to Luke Skywalker.

(plug) If you want to check out any videos on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/thebigshoetv

Affleck = Badass

I like irrational bragging rights. Not the bragging rights where you win a legit game and you’re champion for a season, but rather the bragging rights where you make a prediction or statement and it turns out to be true, and the only people who know it’s true are you and whomever else you said it too. I feel that I’m the champion of a lot of irrational bragging rights. At this current moment in time I’m cashing in on a statement I made years ago in a possible intoxicated moment, a statement that I doubled down on.

I was in a deep movie conversation with my buddy and the topic was Ben Affleck. I told him that Affleck was a badass to which he disagreed with the fury of a man who may have just been told Brett Favre was traded to the Vikings. The badass comment then started an ongoing thread that resulted in many conversations and even this blog post.

The truth is, even as of a few years ago I couldn’t have seen where Affleck was going with his career. Who could? At this moment in time thousands of people are writing about Argo and wondering how this guy went from low in the Hollywood rankings, to one of the most bankable individuals around. But I don’t want to get into that, because there is no reason to drift into wonderland to think about how a talented individual did something.

Buuuut….

For the sake of irrational bragging rights I’m going to stretch this out and be a little smugger and say these final things about Affleck:

Extract is underrated and he had a great performance.

Hollywoodland was the turning point for him.

He should direct the next Jack Ryan film and have a cameo in it to be the first actor director to ever be in a film of the character he once played, then he’d be more of a badass than Jack Ryan… did that make sense.

I’m looking forward to Argo, and if I didn’t mention it above – I called it. I knew Affleck was a badass*. F you Ottford. *Irrationally bragging.

Goon: Perfect Netflix Clutter

You know when you’re putzing through Netflix and see more shit than you know what to do with, but then you watch something and it reminds you that you’re getting a bargain by only paying 7.99 – that reminder is Goon.

I should note that Netflix streaming has always been a source of clutter and total randomness for me. One day I go to my home screen and it’s promoting Felicity and the next day it’s showing Mission Impossible as a new release. I think they need a better organization system, especially when their “new release” was released to the world in the 90’s.

The clutter that is Netflix steered me to the film starring Sean William Scott and Jake Baruchel. It reminded me to trust Netflix and their options (unless they change their name to Qwikster) and it also reminded me that Netflix is more than just TV series and random reality shows – for now.

The best way I can describe Goon is … shit … that’s the thing - I can’t describe this movie. Maybe that’s why I like it so much. Is it Rocky meets Miracle? Eh, sort of. The film follows William Scott, the insanely nice and self describe “stupid” bouncer whom hangs with Baruchel (also the writer of the film). Baruchel takes William Scott to a hockey game where one of the players rushes the stands and attempts to kick Baruchel’s ass. William Scott steps in and drops this guy in seconds – unleashing his talent: Kicking ass.

The ass kicking capabilities of William Scott gets him a job on the hockey team. His sole purpose is to fight and protect his players, which he does aka a “Goon.” Many fights later he’s brought up to a semi pro team to serve the same purpose. However, William Scott isn’t the only person in the world who serves this exact purpose. A crafty vet played by Liev Schreiber is currently positioned in the semi-pro league and he’s a legend. He’s also probably the best part about this film (more on that later).

As William Scott unknowingly makes his team better and forms bonds with his teammates we build to the inevitable conclusion of Liev (not using his last name because I like his first name so much) and him meeting in a “who gets into the playoffs” game where the two are destined to face off in one historic fight… And they do.

I’ll avoid the spoilers, but what you need to know about this film is that it somehow is filled with a heartbeat. William Scott carried this film. I would argue that aside from playing “Kar” in Bulletproof Monk this might be his best film. No, but seriously, this is his best film.

Liev kind of killed it as the old man who has seen everything but is still fighting to fight. As I was watching I kind of forgot how much I liked him as an actor. Aside from the performances, it was funny, fast, to the point, and was quite possibly the perfect Netflix movie.

Having said all of that I should probably note that there are some definite flaws in the movie, but I don’t want to dive into them because it’s not exactly a movie that you’d try to tear apart, you just enjoy it. Also, I kind of like trusting Netflix…

See Goon.

The Truman Show: Underrated!

Image It’s been brought to my attention that just about every 8-12 months I get into long drawn out conversations about The Truman Show. I feel that I’m currently tipping the 12-month range so I was fortunate to catch it this weekend because it sparked something. I wanted to take a moment and lather, rinse, repeat – The Truman Show is completely and totally underrated.

Even if the movie didn’t have Jim Carrey aka The most bankable movie star at the time, this would stand alone as something that was so completely inventive and ahead of it’s time. Speaking of Carrey, this was his first non “I’m morphing my face” film when he was a star and I think that speaks volumes about the project itself.

As I watched this movie over the weekend I got a tad bit reminiscent and I need you to stick with me for a second. I specifically remember going with my buddy and two girls, one of those girls I had a massive crush on, the other was the buffer chick for the girl I had a crush on to default to when we got weird because we were 13. I walked into the movie with a super crush that could define me at the time and I left the movie basically forgetting that I even went with her, and somehow had an even bigger man crush on Jim Carrey movies. To my knowledge this was one of few films that really did this for me.

The film was more than just some movie, it was something that made you actually think about the possibility of a life being recorded for 24 hours a day without knowing and the future of entertainment. After thinking about the possibility you realize that this will probably one day be a reality and then it takes the next step of diving into the layer of our society and why we’re so voyeuristic. Why are we so curious of others? What makes their lives so special? Why am I investing in a person that doesn’t know I exist?

…And that’s what the Truman Show did for me. It made me ask questions and think about where we’re going. It also allowed me to look at Jim Carrey in a totally different way. Since we’re on the subject - Jim Carrey got robbed at the 1998 Academy Awards, the guy wasn’t even nominated, yet he won the Golden Globe that same year. ANNND since we’re on this subject I should probably note he was snubbed a year later with “Man On The Moon.”

I digress.

From a film point of view I think the structure of this film is insanely unique. Without getting to deep into this, it’s not your typical structured film but at the same time it is (wrap your head around that). The film doesn’t show its hand for the first 30 minutes which means we’re basically living with Truman and watching what everyone else is watching… That’s the brilliance of it!

I don’t feel like this movie gets enough credit. Come to think about it, I don’t know who would be giving the credit or how this can even be measured but I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say that they were influenced from this film.

Does this make me crazy? Am I the only one? I can’t be. Can I?

If you haven’t seen The Truman Show do yourself a favor and watch it. I don’t imagine how you can be disappointed, and if you are, you need to let me know so I can set you straight - Cause you’re nuts.

Note to self: Future underrated movie rant - Vanilla Sky.

3 Trailers: The Game

I kind of love the Internet. Why? Well, simply because we have the opportunity to run the spectrum of “stuff”. Below I present to you the spectrum of trailers that have recently been released. We’re playing a game, you need to decide which film falls into which category. The categories are as follows…

Oh my God was this movie made in 1995 and being released in 2012? No. Okay, wow. Seriously?

Wait, another one?

And

I love you James Bond.

Below are the trailers. Good luck guessing which fall into which category.

Trailer #1 Home Run Showdown

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAVDugRfe5s&w=560&h=315]

 

Trailer #2 Skyfall

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwp5z-JaIoc&w=560&h=315]

 

Trailer #3 Paranormal Activity 4

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aCKnVXzt-4&w=560&h=315]

 

***Hint: Skyfall is in the I love you James Bond category.

 

M. Knight drops "After Earth"

Random fact: I’ve been defending M. Knight Shyamalan for so many years that I started to lose street cred. I loved The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village, and Signs so much that I forgave him for things that came after.

I try to forget the dark days of Lady in the Water, The Happening AKA Oh-my-God-this-can’t-be-happening-what-am-I-watching-what-is-Mark-Whalberg-doing-but-seriously-what-the-fuck-am-I-watching, and The Last Airbender movie. I give this guy a lot of credit for taking chances.

One would think that with his last three movies I’d be burned and never want to watch another movie of his ever again; even I kind of think so. But then he goes and drops a movie with Will Smith and his son and my hopes are once again somewhere in between The Village and Signs.

I’m so scared I’m going to be burned by M. Knight and I may regret saying this but… This movie looks and sounds fucking cool. Check out this poster that indicates almost nothing… but somehow I’m oddly excited. It hit the internet today.

 

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(Future) The Dark Knight Rises review.

 

I should note that I haven’t actually seen The Dark Knight Rises but at this moment my expectations are starting to take over. I wish this wasn’t the case, I swore off high expectations for films after I pre bought tickets for a midnight showing of Indiana Jones 4 with my buddy. Never again would I think something was going to be so insanely cool that I may have to have a drink afterwards, but it’s happening at this current moment in time.

The worst part about all of this is that my tickets aren’t until next Sunday afternoon (don’t ask) so I now have to hear all of my friends talk about the awesomeness that is Christopher Nolan and just grin and bear it because they saw it on Friday and Saturday. I hate when people see things before me, it’s like someone taking the almanac from Back To The Future 2 and touting it around.

I have to get over that aspect and realize that ultimately this doesn’t stop what I hope my future Dark Knight Rises review is going to be. Judging from the trailers, the pictures, and other various aspects of the current onslaught of marketing I imagine I’m going to be saying something like this: — One week from now— Coolest fucking movie ever. I don’t really know where to begin or how to digest The Dark Knight Rises. Somehow Nolan and his crew managed to conclude this trilogy with the best installment yet. Somehow they made Batman’s voice sound normal and not like he’s about to have a hernia. Somehow Anne Hathaway didn’t annoy me with her on again off again over acting. Somehow Joseph Gordon Levitt worked. Somehow the same reoccurring characters in all Nolan movies were seamlessly intertwined. Somehow the political undertones of the 99% revolting seemed to somehow make sense. Somehow Liam Neeson once again stole the movie and all that was missing was him calling someone telling them his skill set. Finally, somehow Tom Hardy has just bumped himself into the “best Batman villain” conversation.

That’s it.

I realize that my review may not be all that in depth, as a matter of fact I know it’s not, but that’s because I’m a fan first and once something I like starts to exceed expectations then I stop caring about over analyzing it.

I walk away from The Dark Knight Rises with a greater appreciation for Nolan and his pure vision. He managed to move forward with his series after setting the bar so high and somehow moving the bar even higher.

If it’s not already being done in film classes, people will one day analyze this trilogy and ultimately how it changed the game. How Nolan changed the complexity of what a “comic book” film was and what it can be. He sent a ripple through out Hollywood by being as ambitious as he was and it paid off. When it’s all said and done the only question that will linger is:

“How the shit was Katie Holmes in the first movie?”

Go see The Dark Knight Rises.

Movies you must watch when they're on TV

Image This weekend the greatest thing in the world happened – as I was trolling through my guide on TV I randomly stumbled upon The Shawshank Redemption. I immediately switched from whatever I was watching and I think the clouds parted because I was roughly 15 minutes away from one of 9,236 quotable lines from the movie: Get busy living or get busy dying. I’m not talking about the first time when Andy and Red are sitting in the courtyard but the second time when Red is out in the world and Andy has dropped breadcrumbs for him to come be with him on the Pacific.

I’m not sure if it was the slight hang over that I may or may not have been nursing, or the fact that I really wish I changed the channel earlier to see Andy escape from Shawshank, but I suddenly felt a bit emotional. I called my girlfriend into the room and said “babe, check it out. Get busy living or get busy dying.” She watched it with me - Like she’s done every other time. Once the movie was coming to an end she stood up and said, “Wow, you really love this movie.”

Fuck yeah I love this movie. If you don’t love this movie you have issues.

Her small comment led me to do some thinking. I wondered why she said that, and was there a tone to the way she said it? It’s not like I always talk about Shawshank. So, I asked her.

“Hey, why did you say I loved this movie? I mean, I do love this movie, but why’d you say that?”

“Because you always stop watching whatever you’re watching to turn it on.”

I always do irrationally turn on Shawshank as though I directed, wrote, and produced it. There is something that feels great about catching a movie you love on TV, as though you can just plop in and say hello to it.

I started thinking about movies that no matter what’s happening, I’d change the channel for. It’s those movies that you’ve seen 18 times but if you don’t change the channel there’s some sort of internal conflict that ultimately challenges how much you like film in general – whether it be for a scene, line, sequence, character, or third act, you need to turn on that movie.

I dug deeper and ultimately accumulated my first ever: Movies that if you ever see are on television then you need to change the channel and peek in on it otherwise the movie Gods will know list.

The Shawshank Redemption: See above.

The Matrix: If you catch this on a channel like TNT or TBS, then you’re basically only watching until you realize they took out great action scenes and also the curse words. But if you catch it on a premium channel and get to watch the groundbreaking action and Keanu almost being emotional then you’re set. At some point in this channel change you’ll inevitably say “Whoa” and then “Wow, this movie was awesome, but the others weren’t.”

Back To The Future: Come on. I feel like people turn this on for nostalgic purposes and you inevitably realize that you’re watching a perfect movie.

Good Will Hunting: I feel like there was a moment when Affleck was bringing down the credibility of this movie but then redeemed everything with Gone Baby Gone and The Town. You’re probably turning this on for the first act of the film when Damon is outsmarting everyone and saying “How do you like them apples” or you hope to catch the final sequence, which in my opinion is insanely underrated, when Affleck heads to the vacant house of Damon.

ET: If you’re sitting by someone who’s never seen this movie then you need to evaluate your friendship with whomever you’re sitting next too.

Pulp Fiction: Last week I changed the channel just to watch the dance scene with Travolta.

The Truman Show: I’ve argued the greatness of this movie for years. Jim Carrey was robbed of an Academy Award nomination (He WON for Golden Globe by the way) and this film is way ahead of its time. If you’ve never seen this movie… Do it… Now.

Minority Report: Some of the best running Tom Cruise has ever done is in this movie. Take a second and turn this movie on, you’ll notice that roughly 80% of the “science fiction” is actually here today.

The Empire Strikes Back: I’m not ever going to mention why someone needs to turn on this movie.

The Karate Kid (original): If you see this on television then just hope it’s the moment when all the badasses are dressed as the skeleton’s aka the best continuous Halloween costume ever.

Top Gun: This was essentially a perfect storm. It’s kind of when Jerry Bruckheimer figured out how to do action, it really put Tony Scott on the map, and Tom Cruise could essentially do no wrong (insert any joke here). If you’re fortunate enough to turn on this movie during the montage of volleyball and motorcycle riding then you should go buy a lottery ticket.

The Sixth Sense: If you’re the person who says, “I knew Bruce Willis was dead” then you’re full of shit. This movie was an amazing break out for M Knight Shyamalan and even though he made some… um… uh… questionable movies afterwards we can’t let The Happening ruin liking this.

Yes, I’m aware there are hundreds of other movies to fill the list, and yes I know all the movies above were released no later than 1980, but that’s neither here nor there right now. The next time you find yourself lounging on your couch and you see one of the films above – I dare you not to change the channel. See how good you feel about yourself afterwards.

Get busy living or get busy dying.

Dumb and Dumber - No Mas

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I just heard that the Dumb and Dumber sequel was not going to happen because Jim Carrey thinks the studio isn’t as excited as he is. Does that even sound right? What does sound right is what the title of the sequel was going to be: Dumb and Dumber To.

When I read the name of the sequel I can’t help but feel mildly depressed that this isn’t going to happen. Let’s be honest, Jim Carrey needs this, the Farrelly Brother’s need this, and humanity needs this. I can only hope that this is a mild speed bump in the process of Dumb and Dumber.

Just because:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAWoP1kncRE&w=420&h=315]