Errant Thoughts From A Week Of Movie Watching.

'The Proposal' is a film you see with your girlfriend. If you're girlfriend's not available, you download it illegally. If you can't find it online, you wait for DVD. And preferably, you wait for a girl to watch it with. Or you do what the Kid In The Front Row did, and go see it on the big screen, alone. I was surrounded by either twentysomething couples, or thirteen year old girls. Either way, I was completely out of place.

But, as usual-- once a film starts, I couldn't care less. And surprisingly, I kind of enjoyed 'The Proposal'. It's got a lot of crap from people for being formulaic, predictable, etc etc-- and they're probably right, but I was able to forgive it -- I just enjoyed drifting into the light fluff and being swept away in beautiful wide shots of Alaska, and the simple, fun comedic happenings on screen. It was a perfect way to begin my week of movie watching. A much different experience to...

'Trouble The Water' is a documentary showing a very personal account of Hurricane Katrina, filmed by an amateur filmmaker on her little camera, as it was happening. Seeing the effects of the Hurricane and what the people of New Orleans went through is uncomfortable, yet riveting viewing. And of course, like the Spike Lee documentary 'When The Levees Broke' (which I feel is a far superior film), the main thing that comes across is the complete ineptitude of the Governmental response. I'm not a particularly political guy, and it's rare you'll see me ranting about stuff on here. But in a country like America; the way the people, mostly black, of the poorest areas of New Orleans were treated is unacceptable. America can get aid to all areas of the world in no time at all, America can send armed forces anywhere in the world in no time at all -- and perhaps the most important thing, America can build incredible, amazing buildings and structures anywhere in the world in no time at all. But they couldn't get help to the people of New Orleans, they couldn't get them food; they couldn't provide New Orleans with an adequate Levee system. In a country like America, it just seems unacceptable to me to leave your own countrymen in that kind of predicament. The worst part is that I wasn't aware of the scale of neglect until a few filmmakers told me about it. It makes you wonder about the media.

But yeah, go watch 'When The Levees Broke' and 'Trouble The Water.'

Watching the original 'The Blues Brothers' in the cinema is a great experience. It reminds you of everything that is incredible about the movies. 'The Blues Brothers' feels like it's been written by a hyperactive fourteen year old. You can imagine him writing the script "um, I know! And then a lady shoots them outside a hotel. And then a thousand police chase them into a building! And then all the police cars crash! and then they sing an old song! yeahhhh!" The strange thing is that it actually works. It's funny, it's entertaining, it's action-packed, it's heart-warming. It's everything. What a wonderful, wonderful film. Magic. And even more so when viewed on the big screen, as I was lucky enough to do last week.

'Duplicity' with Julia Robert and Clive Owen looked pretty interesting. After twenty minutes, I gave up.

'Revolutionary Road' is a film I'd been meaning to watch for a long time, but I had kept putting it off due to my belief that all Kate Winslet films look really boring. I eventually rented it. And I kinda enjoyed it. But I enjoyed it in a way where I was easily distracted and more than happy to go stop and start, finding time for mini Facebook intervals, raiding the fridge intervals, daydreaming intervals.

The film was a little pretentious, at times. I guess that was kind of the idea, I mean-- Kate and Leo's characters both think they're better than everyone and destined for great things, despite getting caught up in the mess of life like everyone else. Come the end, I felt I was right in my assumption about Winslet films. Because despite being watchable and occasionally intriguing-- 'Revolutionary Road,' for the most part, was quite boring.

Did I watch as many films as I'd planned this week? No. But I watched quite a few. And I did manage to write 51 pages of a feature script, so all in all, it was a good week, film-wise and other-wise.

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Writing? Huh? Wha? Why?

She said, "But why? Why do you want to be a writer?"

Because I get to have a voice. Because I get to have something to say and I get to say it. I get to create the world I want through putting words on a page. And maybe, just maybe, some people might like those words, they might relate to those words. And maybe those words will change them a little. Maybe a story about dreaming will make a little girl dream a little bit more, maybe a script about war will make someone care a little bit more, maybe a film about imagination will make a bunch of people feel inspired at least just a little bit more.

I write because if I just take things in and experience them, they'll get polluted with my judgements and belief systems, whereas if I turn what I think and feel into some kind of words, then it takes on meaning. And if I work hard enough on myself I can rid myself of those judgements and tear through the belief systems and then what will come out on the page is pure truth. Truth like Jimmy Stewart's voice, truth like Tom Hanks' eyes, truth like Marylin Monroe's body, truth like Billy Wilder's dialogue.

I could not write. I could try that. I could keep clicking on people's Facebook profiles and I could argue with someone in the street and work in a job I hate, but I'd rather do this. I'd rather live by inspiration-- I'd rather something just hit me out of nowhere and feel it say "Hey! I am an idea! Take a look at me! See if we get along! Dance with me baby! Come on, throw me down on that page. Give me some letters, give me some words."

When people say "Why do you write?"

I'm gonna say "Why do you have that ugly look on your face? You'd be a lot more beautiful if you said "You write, that's amazing!"

I write because a tree is just a tree. But once you get an idea of a tree, you can turn the tree into anything. You can imagine a beautiful woman sitting on that tree, you can write about the beautiful sunset behind the tree, you can do whatever you want with that damn tree. You see that tree outside your window right now? It's been sitting there for years and apart from when you jumped off it as a kid it hasn't had much reason to be there. But if you have that picture in your head when you write a script, that tree could take on a life of it's own. It could be the kind of tree that Forrest and Jenny would sit on, or a tree that the boys from Stand By Me would like . Before you know it the tree outside your window that inspired you is part of something sitting on some desk in Hollywood that's making some balding Executive think, "this is a movie!".

What people forget when they pull an ugly and say "A writer? What? Why?" is that anything any of us have ever been excited by or inspired by has usually come from a writer. A book you loved, a song you sung, a movie that scared you, a love letter that made you cry, a poem that changed you. This is all at the hands of some writer.

I don't care if you're a successful screenwriter, a hilarious twitter-updater, a novellist or a speech writer. Whatever you are, be proud that you do what you do. Take those letters, take those words; do something with them. Write a movie, write a love letter, write a text message, write yourself a note.

It's the write thing to do.

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The Writing Of The Feature.

I am not currently blogging very much as I am writing a feature film. And when I'm not doing that, I'm going to the cinema a lot (I'll be blogging about that soon).

I am writing the film right here.

And when I get a bit confused I walk around the garden bare-footed until I get a feel for the next few scenes.

Also, I added a new little thing to the left hand side of the blog.. which shows the last film I watched. I'll update it every time I watch a movie.. and the pictures are clickable, they take you to the IMDB page of the film.

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The Cinema Week.

Yes I love movies and yes I love going to the cinema-- but do I do it enough? No. So over the next week; I'm doing it as much as I can. Yes, I have work to do and things to get done-- but any second not spent doing those will be spent watching films in various places around London. It starts on Monday. So I'll see you all in the front row.

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Inglourious Basterds Review - from the UK Premiere.

Quentin Tarantino came bouncing onto the Leicester Square Odeon stage with his usual, crazy amount of energy. His first comments were instructing the audience to turn off their cellphones, which he waited for everyone to do. And then after introducing Christoph Waltz and Diane Kruger (Brad Pitt was absent) he asked, "Are we ready to see some some basterds?' repeatedly until he got the required enthusiasm from the audience. It didn't take long. As he slammed the microphone to the floor - it was time for us, finally, to see Inglourious Basterds.


I offer my opinions honestly, I don't claim to be a film critic or have any kind of authority on film reviewing. I just know that I really didn't love the film. 'Basterds', as you might expect-- gets the full Tarantino treatment of retro titling, obscure music (featuring many post-war artists and styles) and over the top violence. Now don't get me wrong, the violence was fun to watch; but it's starting to feel a bit too Tarantino; like he's impersonating himself.

The things that made 'Kill Bill' inspired made 'Inglourious Basterds' seem old, and self-indulgent. As a Director, Tarantino has always liked the long, drawn out scenes. But I remember watching that painfully lengthy restaurant scene in 'Death Proof' and wishing it was about ten minutes shorter. Well, that happened in nearly every scene in this film-- everything was screaming out to be shorter. For vast sums of the film I felt one thing; pure boredom. The scenes were unnecessarily long without good reason; they weren't integral to the story and they didn't build tension. I hated feeling this way, who wants to be bored during a Tarantino film?

I think, for me, the main thing that was missing was any kind of characters we could care for, or believe in. Whilst Brad Pitt's smug look throughout was kind of amusing, it was hard to take seriously. The only character who really had depth to her was Shosanna (Melanie Laurent); who's tale of revenge was something the audience could really get behind.

Anyways, I don't mean to slam the film -- there were some great moments; I laughed quite a lot throughout. It's the little things that stick out in my mind, like Hitler turning to a soldier, looking serious, and just saying, "gum?," or Pitt sticking his finger in an open leg-wound as a way of torture, along with some typically brilliant violence (eeek, not a good phrase!) such as Eli Roth battering a soldier to death with a baseball bat, which will no doubt go down as one of the all-time great Tarantino scenes.

The film, as many of you will already know, does rewrite history in some small ways. This will cause a lot of division between viewers, I would imagine. Personally, as ridiculous as it is, I kind of enjoyed it. I kind of got to see what I would have loved to have happened in real life. But to say any more would give away the ending.

If you're a war veteran looking for a respectful account of your heroic work in the war, this isn't the film for you. If you have any interest in history or World War 2, again, this film isn't really for you. But if you like Tarantino and you like seeing shit blow up and all the cool stuff that comes with his movies, then you'll probably enjoy this.

I have always been a big Tarantino fan, and whilst this does show his usual skills and bountiful ideas; it seems a bit forced at times, and about 40 minutes too long. There were moments of boredom, interspersed with moments of being truly gripped, and other moments of laughing out loud. Worth a watch, but 'Pulp Fiction' this is not.

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Quentin Tarantino at the London Premiere of Inglourious Basterds.

So this was Quentin's introduction tonight for the Premiere of 'Inglourious Basterds' - as recorded sneakily by my friend.

My review shall follow tomorrow morning!

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My Self-Imposed Detachment From The Film Industry.

"The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."

-Alan Alda, Actor.

I started out as a dreamer. My heart and mind were full of big ideas, dreams of inspiring people and saying something. And making people laugh. My early short films were full of ideas, full of energy. And they were sometimes awful, sometimes funny, always fun. They were just a front row kid running around with a camera, learning how to get his dreams on the screen.

And then people in the industry said "but the lighting is really bad" and "some of the acting is poor. Amateur." And I was like "okay okay, but did you smile?" and they'd say "the scene looks flat." And I'd say "okay, cool-- but did you like the way the characters met at the end?" and they'd say "Professional films would use a dolly, they wouldn't zoom like that."

So I met this Producer, and I was like, "here's my crazy, funny idea" and he was like "I love your crazy funny idea- let's make a feature!" So I started writing the feature, and then he said "What are you doing? That's not the story, let's make the character less sympathetic and let's make him insane," and I was all "If he's insane then he couldn't logically do the things he does in the later scenes," and the producer said "yeah but I want him to be a bit insane." It became clear that if I didn't make the changes he'd never produce my film and I'd still be sat at home not having "made it" in the industry. I made the changes and he still didn't make the movie.

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
-Albert Einstein

But still I'd be bursting with energy and creativity. And I'd start to look at the bulletins on ShootingPeople.org, but people would be arguing over whether actors are getting paid enough, and they'd be insulting some young writer for wanting to use a different font in his screenplay. And I would jump on mandy.com and apply for a writing job with a big company.

They'd say "We like your writing, we want to hire you,"
So I'd say "That's great!"
"But we can't pay you,"
"That's not great,"
"No it's not but we are 'big company' so you'll look good"
"Yeah but my bank account won't,"
"But we don't have the budget to pay you."
"Are you getting paid?"
"Excuse me?"

Everyone in the industry would be bound by these rules and these principles; namely how you have to do this, you will only be paid that, you can't have an idea with an elephant in it because elephants don't interest audiences.

I'd had enough. It got me down down down. I know we all know that "film is an industry, it's business." And I'd even begun to learn that and be a part of it. I produced a feature film last year; and it was fun for a while. But I realised that it's not me. It's really not me. I worked on a feature film earlier in the year, and as I plugged things in and got shouted at by the 1st AD, I decided that, no-- I really don't enjoy this. I don't enjoy the Assistant Director yelling at me just because he's the AD and thinks he's entitled. I don't believe that, just because I'm working on a film set that everyone should be assholes to each other. I'm not happy with peoples creativity being reduced to "Sorry, you can't have fruit in that scene. Fruit isn't funny," -- I'd had enough.

After a brief spell of industry-induced misery, I found myself again. I found the kid in me. It was like the beginning of Jerry Maguire. Breakdown? Breakthrough.... I set up this very blog; and rediscovered what I love about the movies;

"I DON'T REALLY CARE HOW MUCH THE LATEST SUPERHERO FILM TOOK AT THE BOX OFFICE, ALTHOUGH I'D PROBABLY KNOW IF YOU ASKED ME. WHEN I WATCH A FILM THE MAIN THING I AM LOOKING FOR IS A GOOD STORY. I LIKE IT WHEN I LOOK UP AT THE BIG SCREEN AND CAN SEE A PART OF ME STARING BACK AT ME. MORE THAN ANYTHING, I AM STILL LOOKING FOR JIMMY STEWART AND JACK LEMMON AND BILLY WILDER IN EVERY FILM I SEE."

When I put together a cast and crew for my new film-- I did it outside the confines of the industry. I only worked with people who I had a LOT of time for. I found people I was truly in-line with, creatively and personally. It was a set full of fun and enjoyment, and it felt like nothing to do with the film industry. Because what you begin to realise is that when you make a film, like when you do anything in life, you can choose to have anyone you want around you. At no point on the set did anyone moan about losing a cable, or bitch about a crew member. We just did the work, drank lots of tea, and shot a great film. Films can be wonderful. Life can be wonderful.

"The key to this business is personal relationships."
-Dicky Fox, in 'Jerry Maguire'

My point is-- I am now more of a Writer and Director than ever. And it has nothing to do with the film industry. I want to write what's in my heart-- of course, I'd love for millions to see what I do, and that's the plan--- but I want to do it without being talked down to, without being told no. Without being told I know best because I'm a proven producer. Because that means nothing to me.

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