Glad I don't have to listen to myself speak on a daily basis

Oh my, haven't blogged for awhile so this might be a long one.

First off!

Last week I went to Guerrilla Shorts at Hyde Park picture house. It was really good. Nice to see other shorts and how they are put together. What I took from it was that short films don't try to tell a full story, but a section from a story. Like a couple of scene pulled out of a feature. It's a bi-monthly event so keep your eyes peeled for it because it needs the support. They also take submissions visit there myspace.

Righto

I've been reading loads of books about short film making, digital film making, well, anything and everything about film making and how you can achieve good cinema on the cheap. I think that's what I really want to do with my career, make good films with super low budgets. I like finding cheapo ways of doing stuff. MAKING SHORT FILMS was a good read with some nice tips and there is a couple of copies in the college library. Digital Film making by Mike Figgis is great, bought that on play.com for £7. Also, I've reading a load of scripts. its really helped me write one.

Anyway

Major project. WOW, its going great. We've really hit the floor running. We need to be though because were aiming really high. I've been playing the role of writer and producer so far. Were taking little steps at a time. I finished the screenplay today and Graeme as tidied up my appalling spelling and grammer, plus added and changed some of the action and dialogue for the better. I think we've made a really good team and work hard at it. We was on Skype all weekend mainly arguing or taken the piss, but we also sorted a lot out. The wonders of technology saving me bus fairs. If only we could get it set up in college! I wouldn't have to leave my bedroom.

I went to see a location on Monday, not sure if it'll work, but I was on the phone to Kieran the manager of Subculture (night club in Leeds) this evening and he seemed ok for us to film there, which would work. So all being well that is one location down!

What else

I tried doing a video blog on the weekend for this major project, but its harder than I thought. I'm not that pleasing to listen to, glad I don't have to listen to myself speak on a daily basis, sorry friends! Would still really like to do a Video Diary, so i'll stick at it.

Not sure if there is anything else I've done that I should report. ermmmm...

No thats it.

WANTED.

Wanted.

An over the top cheesy action film, with a god awful plot, but i liked it.

It was like the Matrix, but with better actors and a different plot... well there was just the slow down, time lapse fighting that made it like the Matrix.

If your big on special effects and violence then this is the perfect movie for you. And, it as Angelina Jolie in it, although i thought she looked a bit like a crack whore.

You don't really see special effects like these anymore, where they actually blow up things, its all CGI... don't get me wrong there were a lot of CGI in this... i mean they even CGI'd the rats! But there was a nice balance between the two styles.

I'd definitely recommend people to rent it out, but not buy it, unless you can get it for under a fiver.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

This has been one of those films that i've bought, put with my DVD collection and forgot about... what a silly mistake!

You should watch this film just for Tommy Lee Jones' performance and the beautiful cinematography of the landscapes.

The story is alright, but T L Jones really pulls out a performance, but he did direct it! Again i cannot stress the cinematography, very, very good.

If you get a chance give it a watch.

Speed Racer.

I'm not sure why I watched this one... possibly because i get free rentals and i was house sitting and there were a blockbuster near by... And when a film gets shot to dead by the reviewers I like to see if they were correct...

In this case i think they were a little harsh, the concept is dire, some of the acting is weak and it all looks a bit bright and colourful, but lets not forget this is a kids film.

The special effects are pretty good. I don't like the style, but what they have done is proper good. But what do you expect from the guys that made the Matrix (first one, the other two are laughable). There are little bits of design that float around in the background that you know the CGI guys slaved over, and your average weekend film renter will not even notice. The camera work is very impressive and to say most of it would have been green screened, the actors and directors will have had to really think about what they were doing on set. I enjoyed the layering of footage, especially on the transitions. In the races they used the commentators as screen wipes.

I'm a massive Emile Hirsch fan, so it was hard for me not to like this. However, it wasn't a great film, not even a great kids film... probably 5 or 6 out of 10, but it was entertaining. 

Howard the Duck.

Howard the Duck. (1986)

This month saw the realise of a childhood classic that had been lost in my memory.

One day last week at work i opened a box of deliveries and there it was the DVD of Howard the Duck. I couldn't believe my eyes, the memories came flooding back.

I bought a copy right away for the bargain price of £3.20 (blockbuster discount). When i watched it I was shocked to see that it still looked good! Howard was made in 1986 (the year i was born). So, obviously i wasn't there for the release, but i caught it on TV.

Produced by the KING of Sci-Fi films George Lucas, but not even that saved Howard from bombing at the box office. Hopefully now it can get its glory on DVD.

Howard the Duck is a strange story about a parallel world, with the dominant species being DUCKS. When a scientific experiment goes wrong in our world, Howard gets sucked from his to ours. He lands outside a nightclub where he meets struggling rock singer Beverly. Beverly helps him find away back home through two scientists. But, when they try to send Howard back they accidently suck down the Dark Overload of the Universe. Then its Howard's task to save the world.

You can see how this film failed.

For 1986 the final Dark Overlord effects are great, just as good as The Terminator (2 years before it.) The stop motion is smooth and looks like it was there on set, but obviously it would have been green screened, or black screened, or whatever they used back then.

It also features a young Tim Robbins and a great comic performance by Jeffery Jones.

I'm not saying you should rush out and buy a copy, but if you do come across a cheap one, don't hesitate just buy it. This cult classic will look cool in your collection.

The Constant Gardner

Constant Gardner.
Written by James Wall.

Constant Gardner was a powerful movie about corruption, politics and miss-use of a third world country.

The first fantastic point I’d like to mention about the Constant Gardner is its narrative, the story is told in an unusual way. Once we get past the introduction of the characters the film shows us an important incident. Then the story splits into two timelines. The two timelines start at different points, one being of how the incident happened and the other being how the incident is investigated. The film switches between the two as we learn more. I believe this helps to portray how unexpected the incident is to the main character (Ralph Fiennes) and also shows us how scattered and confused this mind is.

This dual timeline doesn’t last the whole film and the two meet about halfway through, which makes the story back to a linier timeline. I personally would have liked that style of story telling to have lasted longer. It made what could have been a long drawn out drama very interesting. I also felt it made me (the audience) feel closer to the film, as if I was investigating the mystery with him.

I thought the use of camerawork was good. In certain scenes the camera wasn’t traditionally set straight on a tripod. It was wobbly, handheld, like it was in first person view. Again this made me feel apart of the action.

The acting was ok, but nothing better than I have already seen. The stand out performance for me was from Pete Postlethwaite. He wasn’t in the film long, which was a shame. But, if I had never seen Poslethwaite before I wouldn’t have realised he was putting on an accent. Ralph Fiennes was good, but I have seen him playing the “English gent” too many times. It was refreshing seeing him earlier in the year completely out of character in “In Bruges,” were he played a-double-hard-cockney-bastard and he blew me away.

The use of colour and scenery was really nice, helping with the story. The use of de-saturating the scene leading up to the incident helped the viewer realise these scenes were in the past. The long shots of the deserts showed us how isolated and alone Fiennes was. Nobody seemed to want to help him without a push.

I did feel there was an over use of showing starving African children. Sometimes it felt like a red nose day commercial. It seemed like a cheap shot to make the movie more hard hitting and it didn’t need it.

I give The Constant Gardner a James Wall rating of 8/10.