A couple reviews on some great storytelling
13 Assassins
This is not a story for the squeamish or under 17. The rating is spot on for gore and violence.
Summary: Cult director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition) delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan’s feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a wartorn future.
Style: With several nods to Akira Kurasawa, 13 Asassins shows the complexity of political/fuedal relationships and the true honor of the warrior. Miike does an incredible job of communicating the different styles of warriors and championing them all as they travel through this story.
Extras: All of the pieces to any Samurai story are all here from the supernatural to the reality of taking a life and the code of Bushido. My personal favorite was Tsuyoshi Ihara and his portrayal of Hirayama – everytime this character was on screen his blade moved like the wind.
Sherlock (BBC)
I started watching this to the acting chops of the future Bilbo, The Hobbit’s Martin Freeman, and he didn’t let me down. This modern update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most favorite of characters is a great rendition. It’s a great collaboration of technology, intrigue and misdirection.
Summary: Co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the new Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as his loyal friend, Doctor John Watson. Rupert Graves plays Inspector Lestrade.
The iconic details from Conan Doyle’s original books remain – they live at the same address of 221b Baker Street, have the same names and, somewhere out there, Moriarty is waiting for them.
Style: This Sherlock admits right out of the gate that he’s a, “high functioning, sociopath” and, like Guy Ritchie’s film from 2009, Dr. Watson is dashing and brace versus bumbling and a fan boy. Mystery stories can take two different roads, the first to show you all the info and then watching the characters move through the story. This style of storytelling fills us with dread because we know what’s coming. However, with this show, we are along for the ride and in a sense standing next to Watson throughout the story. We never get the full picture until the very end and we’re guessing the whole time. It’s really enjoyable.
Extras: There’s great use of typography troughout the show to illustrate the use of phones, texts, notes and to see the wheels turning in Sherlock’s mind. The show is currently streaming on Netflix and each episode, while only 3, are 1.5 hours each.
Recently, the business side of my brain is adjusting. Adjusting to accommodate change. It would seem that I’m forever refining what I’m working on, sometimes because it would be nice but mostly out of necessity. With all the adjustments and stretching I’ve been going through I’ve been encouraged by a documentary this week and you should know it.
Foo Fighters – Back and Forth
After 7 studio albums, packed crowds for world tours and millions of records sold, it’s easy to look at Foo Fighters as a success. What I didn’t realize was the struggle they’ve had since their inception 16 years ago. Nothing seemed handed to them, instead most circumstances seemed conflicted. I’m sure it din’t hurt Dave Grohl that he had massive success in his last band but since he was starting on a different instrument and in a different role, it was a whole new ball game.
It’s a great documentary walking through each of the albums and the backstory behind each member of the band. With highlights on each person that was added and those who quit, were forced out or asked to leave. Huge drama unfolding on the MTV stage for all the world to see. As you’d imagine there’s lots of musical gems for anyone who’s been following their career for a while and the people around the band like Butch Vig and Eddie Vedder.
The part that struck me the most was just months after Kurt Cobains suicide and the dissolving of Nirvana, Grohl gets a phone call from Tom Petty and is asked to join the Heartbreakers. The screen fills with footage of Grohl actually playing with the band on Saturday Night Live in 1994. An Dave recounts that he had to make a tough decision; to play drums with Tom Petty and idol of his or start trying to do something with this demo tape he recorded all on his own where he’d be the front man/guitar player.
It’s a classic decision that we all get in do I stay with the comfortable shoes or do I swing for the fences. It’s a battle of “I took the road less traveled by and that made all the difference.” (Robert Frost) versus “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them” (Thoreau).
When I hear that the struggle to know the right answer in those circumstances hits all of us… it’s so encouraging. Don’t put pressure on yourself to know the answer right off the bat instead of going 12 rounds with the idea and figuring out how it’s going to work.
So start lacing up your shoes and tape up your hands. Make a decision: Will you stay with what you’ve already done and not experience anything new or buckle your emotional safety belt and go for the gusto? Let’s know what “made all the difference” together.
Also see this documentary, it’s great story especially if you dig on the Seattle music scene in the 90′s.
I’m 50% the way through his 4 day seminar on Story. I thought you might like to experience a taste of what I am. Here’s Robert McKee talking about setting.
I wrote this review at Netflix right after I watched the film, The Wolfman
When I think The Wolfman, I’ve got ideas in my head about scary Old School horror. The movie could be a little slow and the effects could be obvious and terrible but that makes sense because it was made in 1941.
Its obvious as it gets started why this film was shelved for as long as it was..
The crazy part? The studio didn’t like the effects so they redid them.. and they’re still terrible. I cant imagine what filming this movie must’ve been like – super disjointed, quality actors working from a bad script that just roars and grunts through 2 hours of your wasted life. This is a classic case where the art of the film overpowered the actual story. The shooting of this film is absolutely beautiful, each shot so carefully color corrected but when cut together on a insipid script full of drivel.. well, its just awful.
PS. I love Emily Blunt but this movie is just bad news bears.
Usually the Friday Morning Meeting is a filmmaker term used for the meetings that take place the Morning that your movie comes out. It’s important for cast and Crew to have good meeting because it ensures a good showing for their next project regardless of the box office take. This is also the pinnacle of buzz surrounding a movie.
I have a Friday Morning Meeting too.. and it’s one of my favorite things to do in Los Angeles.
Each Friday that a big blockbuster is coming out my good friends and I head to our local cinema and take it in. The group is diverse, from producers to writers and cinematographers to the an enthusiast like myself. It’s a great time because LA movie theaters open at 10 and we can usually beat the rush and the hype to the box office while making our own opinions about that weeks movie.
There something about getting a cup of coffee and sitting in a mostly empty theater with other enthusiasts taking in the big film of the week. The movie is usually followed by a conversation over lunch about the movie and it’s a real treat to hear about it from the different perspectives from the true film auteur to the ‘splosions guy.
We kicked off this season of fun this past weekend with Iron Man 2 and it was a great time. It’s hard to not be a fan of guys like Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. in this movie. A great continuations
Soon we’ll be checking out the highly anticipated lineup of the summer with films like Inception, The A-Team, The Other Guys, Predators, Toy Story 3 and pretty much everything in between. I love the guys I get to experience these films with and it’s usually a lot of laughing.
Do you have any film rituals?
