And the Oscar goes to...
Best Picture: "The Artist."
Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants."
Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris."
Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist."
Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady."
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners."
Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help."
Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist."
Foreign Language Film: "A Separation," Iran.
Animated Feature Film: "Rango."
Art Direction: "Hugo."
Cinematography: "Hugo."
Sound Mixing: "Hugo."
Sound Editing: "Hugo."
Original Score: "The Artist."
Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets."
Costume Design: "The Artist."
Documentary Feature: "Undefeated."
Documentary Short: "Saving Face."
Film Editing: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."
Makeup: "The Iron Lady."
Animated Short Film: "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore."
Live Action Short Film: "The Shore."
Visual Effects: "Hugo."
Oscar winners previously presented off camera because the were tech awards:
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Oprah Winfrey.
Honorary Award: James Earl Jones.
Honorary Award: Dick Smith.
Gordon E. Sawyer Award: Douglas Trumbull.
Award of Merit: ARRI cameras.
Pretty much what we all thought - "Artist" sweeps. I liked the movie - and it's an example in my Visual Storytelling Blue Book, so I'm happy.
But what about you? Comments section is open.
- Bill
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Lancelot Link: Passion Of The Chimps
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are nine cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Kubrick's Unused Movie Titles
2) British Intelligence Have No Idea Where Charlie Caplin Was Born - Was He A Space Alien?
3) Amazing Charts Of Hollywood's Hits.
4) Long Running LAST SAMURAI Legal Despute.
5) TOTAL RECALL 2 - was it a real project, or only in their minds?
6) End Of The Indie Film On Screen?
7) Behind The Scenes Filming THE ARTIST.
8) The Secret History of STAR WARS revealed.
9) John Logan - He wrote all of the Oscar Nominees this year (okay - some of them).
And the Car Chase Of The Week uses a *boat anchor*...
From KHILADI 420 from Bollywood.
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: 110 Pages - No Waiting! Why people in movies never say Goodbye before hanging up the phone.
Dinner: Panda Express - Peppercorn Shrimp, plus...
Here are nine cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Kubrick's Unused Movie Titles
2) British Intelligence Have No Idea Where Charlie Caplin Was Born - Was He A Space Alien?
3) Amazing Charts Of Hollywood's Hits.
4) Long Running LAST SAMURAI Legal Despute.
5) TOTAL RECALL 2 - was it a real project, or only in their minds?
6) End Of The Indie Film On Screen?
7) Behind The Scenes Filming THE ARTIST.
8) The Secret History of STAR WARS revealed.
9) John Logan - He wrote all of the Oscar Nominees this year (okay - some of them).
And the Car Chase Of The Week uses a *boat anchor*...
From KHILADI 420 from Bollywood.
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: 110 Pages - No Waiting! Why people in movies never say Goodbye before hanging up the phone.
Dinner: Panda Express - Peppercorn Shrimp, plus...
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
John Carter...
This is a fan made trailer for JOHN CARTER (OF MARS) that blows away the official Disney trailer and makes me wonder why Disney isn't firing people.
Compare it to this official trailer...
And JOHN CARTER (not of Mars)...
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Dramatizing Emotions And a film that won THREE Oscars.
Dinner: Taco Bell - and not even the Dorito-Taco.
TV: CASTLE - okay, I probably haven’t mentioned that I’m a big fan of this show, but as a mystery writer how could I not be? This has been a really good season so far - which is amazing because by this point most shows are limping along. KILL SHOT dealt with Beckett’s PTSS over being *shot* at the end of last season and almost dying - and really dug deep into her character’s fears. This has been one of the great things this season - they have taken these characters we know from the outside and takes us deep inside - like in KICK THE BALLISTICS, where Ryan’s stolen gun is used in a murder and he has to deal with his guilt over losing it... that episode also had a triple twist ending that was great. The other episodes have been fun - Castle & Beckett handcuffed together in bed, etc... and though I didn’t like the 1940s Noir episode, it was at least trying to be different and fun (I just didn’t think it worked).
Now we come to this 2 parter, and it just kicked ass in many ways. Part 2 (Monday night) was amazing - but it took part 1 to set it up. What starts out as a murder takes a strange turn when their suspect - a mysterious man named Gage - says that they are in over their heads and the whole case will vanish... and it does! The body vanishes from the Medical Examiner’s table and Gage vanished from a locked cell. All of this brings them to a secret CIA operation in NYC run by the always sexy Jennifer Beals - who is Castle’s ex-lover. So we get some great tension and a nice triangle and Gage is an assassin who is after some target in NYC... but who? As bodies pile up, Castle & Beckett find clues that the CIA never considered and all of this leads to a dead man - who is still alive: a scientist working on a “linchpin theory” that one small event can change the world - create a domino run of events that will result in the destruction of the US economy. As soon as they find this guy, he gets shot by a sniper (Gage?) and Beckett and Castle get rammed into the Hudson in Beckett’s car...
Part 2: The car sinking into the Hudson, slowly filling with water as they try to escape, is a big feature film type scene. Just amazing. And some great suspense. It’s hard to believe you can do stuff like this on TV - it seems like something out of a BOURNE film. And that Linchpin Theory is an awesome concept - when they break it down in this episode you can see how easy it would be to destroy the world with a single bullet - provided you could figure out the one person to shoot who would cause the domino run. The great thing about these two episodes is that they are like a feature film - and yet still have a bunch of series running plot material. The CIA forbids them from discussing the case with Ryan and Esposito... and Iron Gates. So that fuels those running plots. Plus the ex-lover creates conflict between Castle and Beckett - and there’s a nice scene in part 2 where Beals and Beckett discuss how a romance with Castle plays out... Beals’ past and maybe Beckett’s future. The story still has a bunch of plot twists and a great race against time to prevent the assassination of a little kid!
Season 4 of a show that kind of has a simple premise, but still manages to find interesting ways to explore it... and hasn’t run out of steam yet. Created by Nicholl winner Andrew Marlowe who also wrote AIR FORCE ONE.
Compare it to this official trailer...
And JOHN CARTER (not of Mars)...
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Dramatizing Emotions And a film that won THREE Oscars.
Dinner: Taco Bell - and not even the Dorito-Taco.
TV: CASTLE - okay, I probably haven’t mentioned that I’m a big fan of this show, but as a mystery writer how could I not be? This has been a really good season so far - which is amazing because by this point most shows are limping along. KILL SHOT dealt with Beckett’s PTSS over being *shot* at the end of last season and almost dying - and really dug deep into her character’s fears. This has been one of the great things this season - they have taken these characters we know from the outside and takes us deep inside - like in KICK THE BALLISTICS, where Ryan’s stolen gun is used in a murder and he has to deal with his guilt over losing it... that episode also had a triple twist ending that was great. The other episodes have been fun - Castle & Beckett handcuffed together in bed, etc... and though I didn’t like the 1940s Noir episode, it was at least trying to be different and fun (I just didn’t think it worked).
Now we come to this 2 parter, and it just kicked ass in many ways. Part 2 (Monday night) was amazing - but it took part 1 to set it up. What starts out as a murder takes a strange turn when their suspect - a mysterious man named Gage - says that they are in over their heads and the whole case will vanish... and it does! The body vanishes from the Medical Examiner’s table and Gage vanished from a locked cell. All of this brings them to a secret CIA operation in NYC run by the always sexy Jennifer Beals - who is Castle’s ex-lover. So we get some great tension and a nice triangle and Gage is an assassin who is after some target in NYC... but who? As bodies pile up, Castle & Beckett find clues that the CIA never considered and all of this leads to a dead man - who is still alive: a scientist working on a “linchpin theory” that one small event can change the world - create a domino run of events that will result in the destruction of the US economy. As soon as they find this guy, he gets shot by a sniper (Gage?) and Beckett and Castle get rammed into the Hudson in Beckett’s car...
Part 2: The car sinking into the Hudson, slowly filling with water as they try to escape, is a big feature film type scene. Just amazing. And some great suspense. It’s hard to believe you can do stuff like this on TV - it seems like something out of a BOURNE film. And that Linchpin Theory is an awesome concept - when they break it down in this episode you can see how easy it would be to destroy the world with a single bullet - provided you could figure out the one person to shoot who would cause the domino run. The great thing about these two episodes is that they are like a feature film - and yet still have a bunch of series running plot material. The CIA forbids them from discussing the case with Ryan and Esposito... and Iron Gates. So that fuels those running plots. Plus the ex-lover creates conflict between Castle and Beckett - and there’s a nice scene in part 2 where Beals and Beckett discuss how a romance with Castle plays out... Beals’ past and maybe Beckett’s future. The story still has a bunch of plot twists and a great race against time to prevent the assassination of a little kid!
Season 4 of a show that kind of has a simple premise, but still manages to find interesting ways to explore it... and hasn’t run out of steam yet. Created by Nicholl winner Andrew Marlowe who also wrote AIR FORCE ONE.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Writers Guild Award Winners
Film: Original Screenplay
"Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen
Film: Adapted Screenplay
"The Descendants," screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Film: Documentary Screenplay
"Better This World," written by Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
Television: Drama Series
"Breaking Bad," Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, George Mastras, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett
Television: Comedy Series
"Modern Family," Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Carol Leifer, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Brad Walsh, Ilana Wernick, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker
Television: New Series
"Homeland" Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Gideon Raff, Meredith Stiehm
Television: Episodic Drama -- tie
“Box Cutter” ("Breaking Bad"), written by Vince Gilligan
“The Good Soldier” ("Homeland"), written by Henry Bromell
Television: Episodic Comedy
“Caught in the Act” ("Modern Family"), written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman
Television: Long Form - Original
"Cinema Verite," David Seltzer
Television: Long Form - Adapted
"Too Big to Fail," written by Peter Gould, based on the book written by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Television: Animation
“Homer the Father” ("The Simpsons"), written by Joel H. Cohen
Television: Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) Series
"The Colbert Report," writers: Michael Brumm, Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Dan Guterman, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Barry Julien, Frank Lesser, Opus Moreschi, Tom Purcell, Meredith Scardino, Scott Sherman, Max Werner; Comedy Central
- Bill
"Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen
Film: Adapted Screenplay
"The Descendants," screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
Film: Documentary Screenplay
"Better This World," written by Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
Television: Drama Series
"Breaking Bad," Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, George Mastras, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett
Television: Comedy Series
"Modern Family," Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Carol Leifer, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Brad Walsh, Ilana Wernick, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker
Television: New Series
"Homeland" Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Gideon Raff, Meredith Stiehm
Television: Episodic Drama -- tie
“Box Cutter” ("Breaking Bad"), written by Vince Gilligan
“The Good Soldier” ("Homeland"), written by Henry Bromell
Television: Episodic Comedy
“Caught in the Act” ("Modern Family"), written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman
Television: Long Form - Original
"Cinema Verite," David Seltzer
Television: Long Form - Adapted
"Too Big to Fail," written by Peter Gould, based on the book written by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Television: Animation
“Homer the Father” ("The Simpsons"), written by Joel H. Cohen
Television: Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) Series
"The Colbert Report," writers: Michael Brumm, Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Dan Guterman, Peter Gwinn, Jay Katsir, Barry Julien, Frank Lesser, Opus Moreschi, Tom Purcell, Meredith Scardino, Scott Sherman, Max Werner; Comedy Central
- Bill
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Book Report... Happy Valentines Day!
I know that I've been a slacker when it comes to the Blog so far this year, but I hope to turn that around now that I'm done with the Visual Blue Book and think I have figured out the best way to expand future titles. I wrote a monster article on Silent Films, then took my primary example and re-ordered the techniques covered in the original BB to match the film... then completely integrated the "Bonus Material" articles into the main body of the book to prevent duplicate lead paragraphs. Now that I know what I'm doing, the next BBs will be better. Using BRIDESMAIDS for Supporting Characters BB, and writing a new article on comedy characters that uses HANGOVER (1) plus adding some articles from the vault.
The 63k words (full length book!) on VISUAL will probably not happen again (but who knows) - the new silent movie article is actually longer than the original paper BB. But now that I've figured out the best way to expand the Blue Books there will be less beating my head against the wall and more time for blogging and those new Script Tips I promised. Hey, since we're talking about books...
I just began reading my friend Nancy's Oprah-endorsed Best Selling Novel THE CROWN on my Kindle – and it's off to a great start! Not my usual genre (since it's a period story I don't expect many car chases) but I'm trying to get around to reading books written by my friends (a problem – because they are mostly writers!) and *Oprah* loved this book. I feel by reading Nancy's book, I'm closer to touching the hem of Oprah's garment...
But here's the great thing – not my genre, people wearing frilly shirts... and from the first page I'm *hooked*! Nancy opens with conflict, which not only gets us involved in the protagonist's story, it also exposes the protagonist. After only a couple of paragraphs I'm totally with the protagonist. The year is 1537, the country is England, and a broke young woman is trying to get a ride into town so that she can attending a woman's hanging... wait, it's not just a hanging - they're burning her alive. The dude who owns the cart wants *cash*, and even thought this young woman might clean up real good – at this point in time she's been wearing the same sweat stained clothes for a while – which she has probably slept in – and to top it all off she's biracial at a time when that was not considered “hot”. So there is no way in hell this guy is going to let her on the cart.
She is the uber-underdog and yet finds a way to get herself of that cart headed to the hanging, er - burning alive. The method she uses (not sexual – more tragic) shows that she is resourceful and driven to get to this burning. Which also creates a fair amount of mystery. Oh, and to add to the mystery we discover that this scruffy looking gal is a *nun* who has escaped from a convent, and the woman being burned alive is her cousin (more of a sister). This is a great
opening to a story... and a lesson that works in screenplays as well.
Nancy's Author Page on Amazon – this photo looks more like the real Nancy than the photo on the book.
Whether you are writing a screenplay or a novel or a short story, you need to grab the reader on page one! This is nothing new, by the way, Edgar Allan Poe said you need to grab your reader in the first sentence or you have lost them. My friend Joshua Grover-David Patterson – I think his zombie novel with heart MERCY was one of my past book reports – has a novelette on Kindle called BABY TEETH that opens with this sentence: “This is the night I'll finally kill my baby.” Okay – don't you want to know why someone would kill their *infant*? And why they've been thinking about it, maybe planning it, for long enough that it's *finally*? I know I did, and that's why I kept reading.
No matter how we tell our stories, we need to start strong and find that scene or line or situation that pulls the audience into the story and makes them want to read more. If we're writing a screenplay and it takes a while before anything interesting happens, there's a good chance you need to cut those boring scenes or at least find some way to reorder your scenes so that the story hits the ground running. Even “slow burn” screenplays like THE SIXTH SENSE opens with *something interesting happening* - going down into the dark wine cellar and having the light explode... plunging the scene into scary darkness. This sets the stage for the rest of the screenplay – it tells us that spooky things *will* happen, wait for them!
One of the reviews of Nancy's book says you can't put it down – and though I've obviously stopped reading to write this blog entry... I can't wait to get back to those people in frilly shirts in 1537 England!
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Writing Sequels -
Dinner: Togos #9 sandwich.
Movies: SAFE HOUSE and THE GREY (plus lots of others I haven't told you about... but will!)
The 63k words (full length book!) on VISUAL will probably not happen again (but who knows) - the new silent movie article is actually longer than the original paper BB. But now that I've figured out the best way to expand the Blue Books there will be less beating my head against the wall and more time for blogging and those new Script Tips I promised. Hey, since we're talking about books...
I just began reading my friend Nancy's Oprah-endorsed Best Selling Novel THE CROWN on my Kindle – and it's off to a great start! Not my usual genre (since it's a period story I don't expect many car chases) but I'm trying to get around to reading books written by my friends (a problem – because they are mostly writers!) and *Oprah* loved this book. I feel by reading Nancy's book, I'm closer to touching the hem of Oprah's garment...
But here's the great thing – not my genre, people wearing frilly shirts... and from the first page I'm *hooked*! Nancy opens with conflict, which not only gets us involved in the protagonist's story, it also exposes the protagonist. After only a couple of paragraphs I'm totally with the protagonist. The year is 1537, the country is England, and a broke young woman is trying to get a ride into town so that she can attending a woman's hanging... wait, it's not just a hanging - they're burning her alive. The dude who owns the cart wants *cash*, and even thought this young woman might clean up real good – at this point in time she's been wearing the same sweat stained clothes for a while – which she has probably slept in – and to top it all off she's biracial at a time when that was not considered “hot”. So there is no way in hell this guy is going to let her on the cart.
She is the uber-underdog and yet finds a way to get herself of that cart headed to the hanging, er - burning alive. The method she uses (not sexual – more tragic) shows that she is resourceful and driven to get to this burning. Which also creates a fair amount of mystery. Oh, and to add to the mystery we discover that this scruffy looking gal is a *nun* who has escaped from a convent, and the woman being burned alive is her cousin (more of a sister). This is a great
opening to a story... and a lesson that works in screenplays as well.
Nancy's Author Page on Amazon – this photo looks more like the real Nancy than the photo on the book.
Whether you are writing a screenplay or a novel or a short story, you need to grab the reader on page one! This is nothing new, by the way, Edgar Allan Poe said you need to grab your reader in the first sentence or you have lost them. My friend Joshua Grover-David Patterson – I think his zombie novel with heart MERCY was one of my past book reports – has a novelette on Kindle called BABY TEETH that opens with this sentence: “This is the night I'll finally kill my baby.” Okay – don't you want to know why someone would kill their *infant*? And why they've been thinking about it, maybe planning it, for long enough that it's *finally*? I know I did, and that's why I kept reading.
No matter how we tell our stories, we need to start strong and find that scene or line or situation that pulls the audience into the story and makes them want to read more. If we're writing a screenplay and it takes a while before anything interesting happens, there's a good chance you need to cut those boring scenes or at least find some way to reorder your scenes so that the story hits the ground running. Even “slow burn” screenplays like THE SIXTH SENSE opens with *something interesting happening* - going down into the dark wine cellar and having the light explode... plunging the scene into scary darkness. This sets the stage for the rest of the screenplay – it tells us that spooky things *will* happen, wait for them!
One of the reviews of Nancy's book says you can't put it down – and though I've obviously stopped reading to write this blog entry... I can't wait to get back to those people in frilly shirts in 1537 England!
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Writing Sequels -
Dinner: Togos #9 sandwich.
Movies: SAFE HOUSE and THE GREY (plus lots of others I haven't told you about... but will!)
BRAND NEW!
*** VISUAL STORYTELLING *** - For Kindle!
*** VISUAL STORYTELLING *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more techniques to tell stories visually! Using the first Oscar Winner SUNRISE and Oscar Nominee THE ARTIST plus other Oscar Winners as examples... as well as RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 250 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage! (limited time price)
FINALLY!
*** THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a used version of the 240 page 2000 version that used to retail for $21.95? (check it out!) when you can get the NEW EXPANDED VERSION - over 500 pages - for just $9.99? New chapters, New examples, New techniques!
"SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING is the best book on the practical nuts-and-bolts mechanics of writing a screenplay I've ever read." - Ted Elliott, co-writer of MASK OF ZORRO, SHREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and the sequels (with Terry Rossio).(ie; 4 of the top 20 Box Office Hits Of ALL TIME.)
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is almost *200* pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Lancelot Link: Honey I Blew Up The Chimps!
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are six cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Lost Films - movies that there are no known prints of.
2) How To Win An Oscar - "Everybody knows you never go full retard." (that was from TROPIC THUNDER, so don't write me letters, okay?)
3) David Mamet's hand written outline for HOMICIDE.
4) Banned Movies! Shocking! Disgusting! Time Travel!
5) Great advice on crowd funding your film!
6) How about all of the audio tapes of Truffaut's interviews with Hitchcock? 12 HOURS!
And the Car Chase Of The Week....
ARMOR OF GOD with Jackie Chan. Love the explosive cardboard boxes.
- Bill
Here are six cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) Lost Films - movies that there are no known prints of.
2) How To Win An Oscar - "Everybody knows you never go full retard." (that was from TROPIC THUNDER, so don't write me letters, okay?)
3) David Mamet's hand written outline for HOMICIDE.
4) Banned Movies! Shocking! Disgusting! Time Travel!
5) Great advice on crowd funding your film!
6) How about all of the audio tapes of Truffaut's interviews with Hitchcock? 12 HOURS!
And the Car Chase Of The Week....
ARMOR OF GOD with Jackie Chan. Love the explosive cardboard boxes.
- Bill
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Bourne Again
From the Universal press release:
The narrative architect behind the "Bourne" film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise that has earned almost $1 billion at the global box office: "The Bourne Legacy." The writer/director expands the "Bourne" universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.
For "The Bourne Legacy," Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles.
"Narrative Architect"? Is "writer" a dirty word?
And the poster:
August 3rd... I wonder if Renner has those headaches?
- Bill
The narrative architect behind the "Bourne" film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise that has earned almost $1 billion at the global box office: "The Bourne Legacy." The writer/director expands the "Bourne" universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.
For "The Bourne Legacy," Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles.
"Narrative Architect"? Is "writer" a dirty word?
And the poster:
August 3rd... I wonder if Renner has those headaches?
- Bill
IT'S BACK!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a *used* copy of the 2000 version when you can buy the Expanded 2011 Version - now over 500 pages - for $9.99? NEW Chapters! NEW Techniques! NEW Examples! It's the book pro screenwriters recommend! An Oscar Winner and the co-writer of FOUR of the Top 20 Box Office Movies Of All Time recommend it! (which is probably why someone is selling a used copy for $510.) Filled with techniques you will not find anywhere else!
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with dozens of ways to improve your dialogue! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is almost 200 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Lancelot Link: Groundhog Day
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) STAR WARS... remade by a bunch of different people one scene at a time, often with Legos.
2) More Oscar Nominated Screenplays - Legal Download!
3) The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores In Rge World!
4) SXSW Line Up (with clips)
5) Ridley Scott wants *your* movie!
And this week's car chase...
From FASTER.
- Bill
Here are five cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) STAR WARS... remade by a bunch of different people one scene at a time, often with Legos.
2) More Oscar Nominated Screenplays - Legal Download!
3) The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores In Rge World!
4) SXSW Line Up (with clips)
5) Ridley Scott wants *your* movie!
And this week's car chase...
From FASTER.
- Bill
IT'S BACK!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a *used* copy of the 2000 version when you can buy the Expanded 2011 Version - now over 500 pages - for $9.99? NEW Chapters! NEW Techniques! NEW Examples! It's the book pro screenwriters recommend! An Oscar Winner and the co-writer of FOUR of the Top 20 Box Office Movies Of All Time recommend it! (which is probably why someone is selling a used copy for $510.) Filled with techniques you will not find anywhere else!
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with dozens of ways to improve your dialogue! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is almost 200 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sundance Winners
Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic:
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Grand Jury Prize, Documentary:
"The House I Live In"
World Cinema Jury Prize, Dramatic:
"Violeta Went To Heaven"
World Cinema Jury Prize, Documentary:
"The Law In These Parts"
Dramatic Audience Award:
"The Surrogate"
Documentary Audience Award:
"The Invisible War"
World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award:
"Valley of Saints"
World Cinema Documentary Audience Award:
"Searching For Sugar Man"
The Best of NEXT Audience Award:
"Sleepwalk With Me"
Directing Award, Dramatic:
Ava DuVernay, "Middle of Nowhere"
Directing Award, Documentary:
Lauren Greenfield, "The Queen of Versailles"
"ERIC KOHN World Cinema Directing Award, Dramatic:
Mads Matthiessen, "Teddy Bear"
World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary:
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, "5 Broken Cameras"
Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award:
"Safety Not Guaranteed"
World Cinema Screenwriting Award:
"Young & Wild"
Documentary Editing Award:
"Detropia"
World Cinema Documentary Editing Award:
"Indie Game: The Movie"
Excellence in Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Excellence in Cinematography Award, Documentary:
"Chasing Ice"
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
"My Brother The Devil"
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary:
"Putin's Kiss"
Special Jury Prize: Dramatic (Acting):
The cast of "The Surrogate"
Special Jury Prize: Dramatic:
Jonathan Schwartz and Andrea Sperling for producing "Smashed" and "Nobody Walks"
Special Jury Prizes: Documentary:
"Love Free or Die"
"Al Weiwei: Never Sorry"
World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary
"Searching For Sugar Man"
World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
"Can"
Alfred P. Sloan Prizes
"Robot & Frank"
"Valley of Saints"
Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award:
Jens Assur, "Close Far Away"
Short Film Audience Award:
"The Debutante Hunters," directed by Maria White
- Bill
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Grand Jury Prize, Documentary:
"The House I Live In"
World Cinema Jury Prize, Dramatic:
"Violeta Went To Heaven"
World Cinema Jury Prize, Documentary:
"The Law In These Parts"
Dramatic Audience Award:
"The Surrogate"
Documentary Audience Award:
"The Invisible War"
World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award:
"Valley of Saints"
World Cinema Documentary Audience Award:
"Searching For Sugar Man"
The Best of NEXT Audience Award:
"Sleepwalk With Me"
Directing Award, Dramatic:
Ava DuVernay, "Middle of Nowhere"
Directing Award, Documentary:
Lauren Greenfield, "The Queen of Versailles"
"ERIC KOHN World Cinema Directing Award, Dramatic:
Mads Matthiessen, "Teddy Bear"
World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary:
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, "5 Broken Cameras"
Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award:
"Safety Not Guaranteed"
World Cinema Screenwriting Award:
"Young & Wild"
Documentary Editing Award:
"Detropia"
World Cinema Documentary Editing Award:
"Indie Game: The Movie"
Excellence in Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Excellence in Cinematography Award, Documentary:
"Chasing Ice"
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
"My Brother The Devil"
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary:
"Putin's Kiss"
Special Jury Prize: Dramatic (Acting):
The cast of "The Surrogate"
Special Jury Prize: Dramatic:
Jonathan Schwartz and Andrea Sperling for producing "Smashed" and "Nobody Walks"
Special Jury Prizes: Documentary:
"Love Free or Die"
"Al Weiwei: Never Sorry"
World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary
"Searching For Sugar Man"
World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
"Can"
Alfred P. Sloan Prizes
"Robot & Frank"
"Valley of Saints"
Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award:
Jens Assur, "Close Far Away"
Short Film Audience Award:
"The Debutante Hunters," directed by Maria White
- Bill
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
And The Nominees Are...
Best Picture
"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi
Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"
Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"
Animated Feature Film
"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
"Rango" Gore Verbinski
Art Direction
"The Artist" Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"Midnight in Paris" Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
"War Horse" Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Cinematography
"The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
"Hugo" Robert Richardson
"The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
"War Horse" Janusz Kaminski
Costume Design
"Anonymous" Lisy Christl
"The Artist" Mark Bridges
"Hugo" Sandy Powell
"Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
"W.E." Arianne Phillips
Directing
"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Alexander Payne
"Hugo" Martin Scorsese
"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick
Documentary (Feature)
"Hell and Back Again" Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Pina" Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
"Undefeated" TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Documentary (Short Subject)
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
"God Is the Bigger Elvis" Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
"Incident in New Baghdad"James Spione
"Saving Face" Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing
"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Kevin Tent
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
"Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen
Foreign Language Film
"Bullhead" Belgium
"Footnote"
"In Darkness" Poland
"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
"A Separation" Iran
Makeup
"Albert Nobbs" Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Music (Original Score)
"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource
"Hugo" Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse" John Williams
Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated)
"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø
Sound Editing
"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Sound Mixing
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
"Hugo" Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
"Moneyball" Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
"War Horse" Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
"Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
"Real Steel" Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
Okay - what got snubbed? And - with the controversy - should THE ARTIST have been nominated for best score?
The Comments Section is open!
- Bill
"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan
Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi
Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"
Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"
Animated Feature Film
"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
"Rango" Gore Verbinski
Art Direction
"The Artist" Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"Midnight in Paris" Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
"War Horse" Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Cinematography
"The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
"Hugo" Robert Richardson
"The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
"War Horse" Janusz Kaminski
Costume Design
"Anonymous" Lisy Christl
"The Artist" Mark Bridges
"Hugo" Sandy Powell
"Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
"W.E." Arianne Phillips
Directing
"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Alexander Payne
"Hugo" Martin Scorsese
"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick
Documentary (Feature)
"Hell and Back Again" Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Pina" Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
"Undefeated" TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Documentary (Short Subject)
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
"God Is the Bigger Elvis" Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
"Incident in New Baghdad"James Spione
"Saving Face" Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Film Editing
"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Kevin Tent
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
"Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen
Foreign Language Film
"Bullhead" Belgium
"Footnote"
"In Darkness" Poland
"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
"A Separation" Iran
Makeup
"Albert Nobbs" Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Music (Original Score)
"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource
"Hugo" Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse" John Williams
Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Short Film (Animated)
"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Short Film (Live Action)
"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø
Sound Editing
"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Sound Mixing
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
"Hugo" Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
"Moneyball" Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
"War Horse" Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
"Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
"Real Steel" Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
Okay - what got snubbed? And - with the controversy - should THE ARTIST have been nominated for best score?
The Comments Section is open!
- Bill
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Amazon Semi-Finalists!
Best Script Award: $100,000 - Semifinalists
12 Princesses Rob's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Rob Gardner
74 Hours Dan's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Dan Hall
The Alchemist Agenda Marty's 7th Draft (Script 7)
› Writer: Marty Weiss
The Alien Diaries Glenn J.'s 8th Draft (Script 8)
› Writer: Glenn J. Devlin
America’s Ben Franklin in: The Electrocution String Jason's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Jason Ungate
Animal Heads Alexis's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Alexis Piza
BALL George's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: George Gary
Blackburn Burrow Jay's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Jay Levy
Brand New Bag of Blues Matthew's 6th Draft (Script 6)
› Writer: Matthew B. Morrell
Children of Others Barrington's 2nd Draft (Script 4)
› Writer: Barrington Smith-Seetachitt
A CLAUS WORTH FIGHTING FOR Lucas's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Lucas Clark
Cody & The Cubnappers Bill's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Bill S.
Contrition David's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: Erin Berry, David Pluscauskas
Dancaster's Pardon Ed's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Ed Gray
Darkest Before Dawn Sean Nichols's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Sean Nichols Lynch
Dead Reckoning Lauri's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Lauri
The Detourist James's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: James Nash
Devil's Pass Michael's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Michael Coady
Evolver Zaki's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Zaki Rubenstein
For Sale By Superhero James's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: James Nash
Frank vs. God schminema's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: schminema
Gaia 4 Jay's 4th Draft (Script 4)
› Writer: Jay Levy
GIDEON'S LAW Chris's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Chris Bullett
Going, Going, Gone Phil's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Phil Hwang
Grand Theft UFO Chris's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Chris Keaton
Hipster & The Schoolgirl Jake's 6th Draft (Script 12)
› Writers: Brenton Lonkey, Jake Mynatt
Home Invasion Indigo's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Indigo Thomas
The House That Evil Built Michael's 8th Draft (Script 8)
› Writer: Michael Coady
I Think My Facebook Friend is Dead Donnie's 2nd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: CT Clark, Donnie Clark
In The Silences Scott's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Scott Mullen
Indian Summer M.J.'s 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: M.J. Rust
LEON Kevin's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Kevin Scannell
Loved Ones Vicki's 6th Draft (Script 6)
› Writer: Vicki Speegle
Memory Christian's 2nd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: Christian Davis, Alex Greenfield
My Father's House Alex's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writers: Alex Greenfield, Ben Powell
The Nevsky Prospect L's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writers: S K Berry, L Norgard
THE NIGHT RUNNER Richard's 2nd Draft (Script 8)
› Writer: Richard Stern
Origin Of A Species Matthew's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Matthew A Gossett
Pack Behavior Michael Ezell's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Michael Ezell
Rayfield Scott Ryu's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Ryu Miyaki
Return Fire Antony's 7th Draft (Script 15)
› Writers: Antony Davies, Joe Dinicola
Roadtrip Sex Party Jerry's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: Jerry Sandhu, Errol Villegas
Rock Daddy Chad's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Chad Pennington
SUPER FAN Mark's 4th Draft (Script 4)
› Writer: Mark von Sternberg
The Text Andrew's 4th Draft (Script 4)
› Writers: Joshua D. Morrison, Andrew P. Sweat
Thanksgiving Day Parade Tom's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Tom Benton
Touching Blue Scott's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Scott Mullen
Villain Richard's 8th Draft (Script 11)
› Writer: Richard Stern
WizardsQuest: The Princess Queen Michael's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Michael Oldham
ZvG: Zombies Vs Gladiators Lauri's 2nd Draft (Script 71)
› Writers: Greggzane, Lauri, Michael Weiss
WOW! I know half the people on here! Two of my friends have *two* scripts in competition! I can't root for anyone, because that would be rooting against one of my other friends. Wish you could all win... but to get this far, I think you all have! Good luck to everyone!
- Bill
12 Princesses Rob's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Rob Gardner
74 Hours Dan's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Dan Hall
The Alchemist Agenda Marty's 7th Draft (Script 7)
› Writer: Marty Weiss
The Alien Diaries Glenn J.'s 8th Draft (Script 8)
› Writer: Glenn J. Devlin
America’s Ben Franklin in: The Electrocution String Jason's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Jason Ungate
Animal Heads Alexis's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Alexis Piza
BALL George's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: George Gary
Blackburn Burrow Jay's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Jay Levy
Brand New Bag of Blues Matthew's 6th Draft (Script 6)
› Writer: Matthew B. Morrell
Children of Others Barrington's 2nd Draft (Script 4)
› Writer: Barrington Smith-Seetachitt
A CLAUS WORTH FIGHTING FOR Lucas's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Lucas Clark
Cody & The Cubnappers Bill's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Bill S.
Contrition David's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: Erin Berry, David Pluscauskas
Dancaster's Pardon Ed's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Ed Gray
Darkest Before Dawn Sean Nichols's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Sean Nichols Lynch
Dead Reckoning Lauri's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Lauri
The Detourist James's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: James Nash
Devil's Pass Michael's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Michael Coady
Evolver Zaki's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Zaki Rubenstein
For Sale By Superhero James's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: James Nash
Frank vs. God schminema's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: schminema
Gaia 4 Jay's 4th Draft (Script 4)
› Writer: Jay Levy
GIDEON'S LAW Chris's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Chris Bullett
Going, Going, Gone Phil's 5th Draft (Script 5)
› Writer: Phil Hwang
Grand Theft UFO Chris's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Chris Keaton
Hipster & The Schoolgirl Jake's 6th Draft (Script 12)
› Writers: Brenton Lonkey, Jake Mynatt
Home Invasion Indigo's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Indigo Thomas
The House That Evil Built Michael's 8th Draft (Script 8)
› Writer: Michael Coady
I Think My Facebook Friend is Dead Donnie's 2nd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: CT Clark, Donnie Clark
In The Silences Scott's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Scott Mullen
Indian Summer M.J.'s 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: M.J. Rust
LEON Kevin's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Kevin Scannell
Loved Ones Vicki's 6th Draft (Script 6)
› Writer: Vicki Speegle
Memory Christian's 2nd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: Christian Davis, Alex Greenfield
My Father's House Alex's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writers: Alex Greenfield, Ben Powell
The Nevsky Prospect L's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writers: S K Berry, L Norgard
THE NIGHT RUNNER Richard's 2nd Draft (Script 8)
› Writer: Richard Stern
Origin Of A Species Matthew's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Matthew A Gossett
Pack Behavior Michael Ezell's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Michael Ezell
Rayfield Scott Ryu's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Ryu Miyaki
Return Fire Antony's 7th Draft (Script 15)
› Writers: Antony Davies, Joe Dinicola
Roadtrip Sex Party Jerry's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writers: Jerry Sandhu, Errol Villegas
Rock Daddy Chad's Original Draft (Script 1)
› Writer: Chad Pennington
SUPER FAN Mark's 4th Draft (Script 4)
› Writer: Mark von Sternberg
The Text Andrew's 4th Draft (Script 4)
› Writers: Joshua D. Morrison, Andrew P. Sweat
Thanksgiving Day Parade Tom's 2nd Draft (Script 2)
› Writer: Tom Benton
Touching Blue Scott's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Scott Mullen
Villain Richard's 8th Draft (Script 11)
› Writer: Richard Stern
WizardsQuest: The Princess Queen Michael's 3rd Draft (Script 3)
› Writer: Michael Oldham
ZvG: Zombies Vs Gladiators Lauri's 2nd Draft (Script 71)
› Writers: Greggzane, Lauri, Michael Weiss
WOW! I know half the people on here! Two of my friends have *two* scripts in competition! I can't root for anyone, because that would be rooting against one of my other friends. Wish you could all win... but to get this far, I think you all have! Good luck to everyone!
- Bill
Lancelot Link: The Destroyer
Lancelot Link Thursday! This week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are eight cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) 50 Originals For 2012!
2) Retro Posters of DIE HARD and DRIVE!
3) FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION - Oscar scripts, legal, free:
Universal Pictures.
Fox Searchlight.
Sony Pictures.
Dreamworks.
Some others!
4) THE BARK SIDE...
5) Bitter Script Reader on *George Lucas* having problems getting a film released!
6) Which Producers have deals with Which Studios? The answers!
7) Classic stars screw up lines:
8) VERTIGOED! - The VERTIGO theme stuck into other films.
9) And this week's car chase (did I show this before?) is from a movie by some kid named Luc Besson...
- Bill
Here are eight cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) 50 Originals For 2012!
2) Retro Posters of DIE HARD and DRIVE!
3) FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION - Oscar scripts, legal, free:
Universal Pictures.
Fox Searchlight.
Sony Pictures.
Dreamworks.
Some others!
4) THE BARK SIDE...
5) Bitter Script Reader on *George Lucas* having problems getting a film released!
6) Which Producers have deals with Which Studios? The answers!
7) Classic stars screw up lines:
8) VERTIGOED! - The VERTIGO theme stuck into other films.
9) And this week's car chase (did I show this before?) is from a movie by some kid named Luc Besson...
- Bill
IT'S BACK!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a *used* copy of the 2000 version when you can buy the Expanded 2011 Version - now over 460 pages - for $9.99? NEW Chapters! NEW Techniques! NEW Examples! It's the book pro screenwriters recommend! An Oscar Winner and the co-writer of FOUR of the Top 20 Box Office Movies Of All Time recommend it! (which is probably why someone is selling a used copy for $510.) Filled with techniques you will not find anywhere else!
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with dozens of ways to improve your dialogue! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is almost 200 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Golden Globes
Best Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
The Descendants (2011)
Other Nominees:
The Help (2011)
Hugo (2011/II)
The Ides of March (2011)
Moneyball (2011)
War Horse (2011)
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
The Artist (2011)
Other Nominees:
Bridesmaids (2011)
50/50 (2011)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
George Clooney for The Descendants (2011)
Other Nominees:
Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar (2011)
Michael Fassbender for Shame (2011)
Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March (2011)
Brad Pitt for Moneyball (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011)
Other Nominees:
Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Viola Davis for The Help (2011)
Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011)
Other Nominees:
Brendan Gleeson for The Guard (2011)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for 50/50 (2011)
Ryan Gosling for Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Owen Wilson for Midnight in Paris (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Other Nominees:
Jodie Foster for Carnage (2011)
Charlize Theron for Young Adult (2011)
Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids (2011)
Kate Winslet for Carnage (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010)
Other Nominees:
Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Albert Brooks for Drive (2011)
Jonah Hill for Moneyball (2011)
Viggo Mortensen for A Dangerous Method (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Octavia Spencer for The Help (2011)
Other Nominees:
Bérénice Bejo for The Artist (2011)
Jessica Chastain for The Help (2011)
Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Shailene Woodley for The Descendants (2011)
Best Director - Motion Picture
WINNER
Martin Scorsese for Hugo (2011/II)
Other Nominees:
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (2011)
George Clooney for The Ides of March (2011)
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (2011)
Alexander Payne for The Descendants (2011)
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
WINNER
Midnight in Paris (2011): Woody Allen
Other Nominees:
The Artist (2011): Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants (2011): Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Ides of March (2011): George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Moneyball (2011): Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
WINNER
W.E. (2011): Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry("Masterpiece")
Other Nominees:
Albert Nobbs (2011): Brian Byrne, Glenn Close("Lay Your Head Down")
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011): Elton John, Bernie Taupin("Hello Hello")
The Help (2011): Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas("The Living Proof")
Machine Gun Preacher (2011): Chris Cornell("The Keeper")
Best Original Score - Motion Picture
WINNER
The Artist (2011): Ludovic Bource
Other Nominees:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo (2011/II): Howard Shore
War Horse (2011): John Williams
W.E. (2011): Abel Korzeniowski
Best Animated Film
WINNER
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Other Nominees:
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Cars 2 (2011)
Puss in Boots (2011)
Rango (2011)
Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER
A Separation (2011)(Iran)
Other Nominees:
The Flowers of War (2011)(China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)(USA)
The Kid with a Bike (2011)(Belgium)
The Skin I Live In (2011)(Spain)
Best Television Series - Drama
WINNER
"Homeland" (2011)
Other Nominees:
"American Horror Story" (2011)
"Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
"Boss" (2011)
"Game of Thrones" (2011)
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
"Modern Family" (2009)
Other Nominees:
"Enlightened" (2011)
"Episodes" (2011)
"Glee" (2009)
"New Girl" (2011)
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
"Downton Abbey" (2010)
Other Nominees:
Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
"The Hour" (2011)
"Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
WINNER
Kelsey Grammer for "Boss" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Steve Buscemi for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
Bryan Cranston for "Breaking Bad" (2008)
Jeremy Irons for "The Borgias" (2011)
Damian Lewis for "Homeland" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
WINNER
Claire Danes for "Homeland" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Mireille Enos for "The Killing" (2011)
Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" (2009)
Madeleine Stowe for "Revenge" (2011)
Callie Thorne for "Necessary Roughness" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Matt LeBlanc for "Episodes" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" (2006)
David Duchovny for "Californication" (2007)
Johnny Galecki for "The Big Bang Theory" (2007)
Thomas Jane for "Hung" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Laura Dern for "Enlightened" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Zooey Deschanel for "New Girl" (2011)
Tina Fey for "30 Rock" (2006)
Laura Linney for "The Big C" (2010)
Amy Poehler for "Parks and Recreation" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Idris Elba for "Luther" (2010)
Other Nominees:
Hugh Bonneville for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
William Hurt for Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Bill Nighy for Page Eight (2011) (TV)
Dominic West for "The Hour" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Kate Winslet for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Romola Garai for "The Hour" (2011)
Diane Lane for Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
Elizabeth McGovern for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
Emily Watson for "Appropriate Adult" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Peter Dinklage for "Game of Thrones" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Paul Giamatti for Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Guy Pearce for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Tim Robbins for Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
Eric Stonestreet for "Modern Family" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Jessica Lange for "American Horror Story" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Kelly Macdonald for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
Maggie Smith for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
SofÃa Vergara for "Modern Family" (2009)
Evan Rachel Wood for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)
- Bill
WINNER
The Descendants (2011)
Other Nominees:
The Help (2011)
Hugo (2011/II)
The Ides of March (2011)
Moneyball (2011)
War Horse (2011)
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
The Artist (2011)
Other Nominees:
Bridesmaids (2011)
50/50 (2011)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
George Clooney for The Descendants (2011)
Other Nominees:
Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar (2011)
Michael Fassbender for Shame (2011)
Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March (2011)
Brad Pitt for Moneyball (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011)
Other Nominees:
Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Viola Davis for The Help (2011)
Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011)
Other Nominees:
Brendan Gleeson for The Guard (2011)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for 50/50 (2011)
Ryan Gosling for Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Owen Wilson for Midnight in Paris (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Other Nominees:
Jodie Foster for Carnage (2011)
Charlize Theron for Young Adult (2011)
Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids (2011)
Kate Winslet for Carnage (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010)
Other Nominees:
Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Albert Brooks for Drive (2011)
Jonah Hill for Moneyball (2011)
Viggo Mortensen for A Dangerous Method (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Octavia Spencer for The Help (2011)
Other Nominees:
Bérénice Bejo for The Artist (2011)
Jessica Chastain for The Help (2011)
Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Shailene Woodley for The Descendants (2011)
Best Director - Motion Picture
WINNER
Martin Scorsese for Hugo (2011/II)
Other Nominees:
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (2011)
George Clooney for The Ides of March (2011)
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (2011)
Alexander Payne for The Descendants (2011)
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
WINNER
Midnight in Paris (2011): Woody Allen
Other Nominees:
The Artist (2011): Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants (2011): Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Ides of March (2011): George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Moneyball (2011): Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
WINNER
W.E. (2011): Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry("Masterpiece")
Other Nominees:
Albert Nobbs (2011): Brian Byrne, Glenn Close("Lay Your Head Down")
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011): Elton John, Bernie Taupin("Hello Hello")
The Help (2011): Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas("The Living Proof")
Machine Gun Preacher (2011): Chris Cornell("The Keeper")
Best Original Score - Motion Picture
WINNER
The Artist (2011): Ludovic Bource
Other Nominees:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo (2011/II): Howard Shore
War Horse (2011): John Williams
W.E. (2011): Abel Korzeniowski
Best Animated Film
WINNER
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Other Nominees:
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Cars 2 (2011)
Puss in Boots (2011)
Rango (2011)
Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER
A Separation (2011)(Iran)
Other Nominees:
The Flowers of War (2011)(China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)(USA)
The Kid with a Bike (2011)(Belgium)
The Skin I Live In (2011)(Spain)
Best Television Series - Drama
WINNER
"Homeland" (2011)
Other Nominees:
"American Horror Story" (2011)
"Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
"Boss" (2011)
"Game of Thrones" (2011)
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
"Modern Family" (2009)
Other Nominees:
"Enlightened" (2011)
"Episodes" (2011)
"Glee" (2009)
"New Girl" (2011)
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
"Downton Abbey" (2010)
Other Nominees:
Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
"The Hour" (2011)
"Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
WINNER
Kelsey Grammer for "Boss" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Steve Buscemi for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
Bryan Cranston for "Breaking Bad" (2008)
Jeremy Irons for "The Borgias" (2011)
Damian Lewis for "Homeland" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
WINNER
Claire Danes for "Homeland" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Mireille Enos for "The Killing" (2011)
Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" (2009)
Madeleine Stowe for "Revenge" (2011)
Callie Thorne for "Necessary Roughness" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Matt LeBlanc for "Episodes" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" (2006)
David Duchovny for "Californication" (2007)
Johnny Galecki for "The Big Bang Theory" (2007)
Thomas Jane for "Hung" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Laura Dern for "Enlightened" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Zooey Deschanel for "New Girl" (2011)
Tina Fey for "30 Rock" (2006)
Laura Linney for "The Big C" (2010)
Amy Poehler for "Parks and Recreation" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Idris Elba for "Luther" (2010)
Other Nominees:
Hugh Bonneville for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
William Hurt for Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Bill Nighy for Page Eight (2011) (TV)
Dominic West for "The Hour" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Kate Winslet for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Romola Garai for "The Hour" (2011)
Diane Lane for Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
Elizabeth McGovern for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
Emily Watson for "Appropriate Adult" (2011)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Peter Dinklage for "Game of Thrones" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Paul Giamatti for Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Guy Pearce for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Tim Robbins for Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
Eric Stonestreet for "Modern Family" (2009)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER
Jessica Lange for "American Horror Story" (2011)
Other Nominees:
Kelly Macdonald for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
Maggie Smith for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
SofÃa Vergara for "Modern Family" (2009)
Evan Rachel Wood for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)
- Bill
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Lancelot Link Rises!
Lancelot Link Thursday! Here is the New Year's first list of articles about screenwriting and the biz plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) The Ultra Exciting Poster For The Oscars! - okay, it's boring.
2) Things screenwriters should just stop doing - NOW!
3) If *Stupid* Movies Were Remade As Oscar-Bait.
4) Detectives On Film.
5) Interesting British Location Names For Your Next Screenplay.
6) Lucas Film Christmas Cards Through The Ages - I really like the Nighthawks one.
7) WGA Awards - once again a bunch of films that will get Oscar Noms are not here! Pointing out how many movies are not WGA signatory.
And the car chase of the week...
PEACEMAKER - female director. It's about time Hollywood noticed that women *can* handle a big summer action flick and hire some! Kathryn Bigelow and Mimi Leder and Kimberly Pierce should be getting more work!
- Bill
Here are seven cool links plus this week's car chase...
1) The Ultra Exciting Poster For The Oscars! - okay, it's boring.
2) Things screenwriters should just stop doing - NOW!
3) If *Stupid* Movies Were Remade As Oscar-Bait.
4) Detectives On Film.
5) Interesting British Location Names For Your Next Screenplay.
6) Lucas Film Christmas Cards Through The Ages - I really like the Nighthawks one.
7) WGA Awards - once again a bunch of films that will get Oscar Noms are not here! Pointing out how many movies are not WGA signatory.
And the car chase of the week...
PEACEMAKER - female director. It's about time Hollywood noticed that women *can* handle a big summer action flick and hire some! Kathryn Bigelow and Mimi Leder and Kimberly Pierce should be getting more work!
- Bill
IT'S BACK!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a *used* copy of the 2000 version when you can buy the Expanded 2011 Version - now over 460 pages - for $9.99? NEW Chapters! NEW Techniques! NEW Examples! It's the book pro screenwriters recommend! An Oscar Winner and the co-writer of FOUR of the Top 20 Box Office Movies Of All Time recommend it! (which is probably why someone is selling a used copy for $510.) Filled with techniques you will not find anywhere else!
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with dozens of ways to improve your dialogue! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is almost 200 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
Friday, January 06, 2012
Fridays With Hitchcock: TV show
I'm going to save the next Hitchcock film until next Friday, and mention the TV show.
Hitchcock had a TV show from 1955-1962 that was similar to THE TWILIGHT ZONE - but with stories of suspense and mystery (usually with a twist end). He introduced each episode, and poked fun at the dreaded commercials. The show began as a half hour, and eventually became an hour long show. He directed a couple of episodes, but many of the others were directed by young TV directors who would later become famous film directors - like Robert Altman. It's fun to look for big movie stars in early roles, too - Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds pop up in episodes. Some of the episodes are great, some just good. Like all TV, there are a handful that made airdate and are in focus. Universal has been rolling them out on DVD... but you can see many of them *for free* on Hulu.com. There are commercials - but Hitchcock makes fun of them in his little monologues (though, these are new commercials - made after he was long in his grave). Here's a link:
Alfred Hitchcock TV Shows - Free!
And here's someone's compilation of Hitchcock monologues:
Next week we'll be back with another Hitchcock movie, but first... another one of those you-know-whats from you-know-who.
- Bill
Hitchcock had a TV show from 1955-1962 that was similar to THE TWILIGHT ZONE - but with stories of suspense and mystery (usually with a twist end). He introduced each episode, and poked fun at the dreaded commercials. The show began as a half hour, and eventually became an hour long show. He directed a couple of episodes, but many of the others were directed by young TV directors who would later become famous film directors - like Robert Altman. It's fun to look for big movie stars in early roles, too - Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds pop up in episodes. Some of the episodes are great, some just good. Like all TV, there are a handful that made airdate and are in focus. Universal has been rolling them out on DVD... but you can see many of them *for free* on Hulu.com. There are commercials - but Hitchcock makes fun of them in his little monologues (though, these are new commercials - made after he was long in his grave). Here's a link:
Alfred Hitchcock TV Shows - Free!
And here's someone's compilation of Hitchcock monologues:
Next week we'll be back with another Hitchcock movie, but first... another one of those you-know-whats from you-know-who.
- Bill
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Friday, December 30, 2011
Why I Hate The Post Office
I am standing in line with several USPS boxes filled with stuff, addressed, customs forms filled out, money ready for payment - completely prepared. The three people in front of me are completely unprepared - one just has the item to be mailed, no address label, no nothing. Another has not filled out their address label and has a used box with a bunch of writing on it including two addresses that must be marked out, one has not filled out customs forms. After waiting for the people in front of these three (who may have been unprepared, but I was too far away to know) and waiting for these three unprepared people who could have easily done what I had done and doing all of the crap out *before* getting in line, it is my turn.
My first items - no problem. Then I get to a USPS box and the postal worker tells me that I need a different customs form. Different than the ones that worked fine with the other boxes. "Why?" "The size of the box requires the over 4lb customs form." "But the box weights exactly 3 pounds. I have the under 4lb customs form - and at 3lbs, that is correct, right?" "No. You must have the over 4lb customs form for this." "But it is *under* 4lbs - wouldn't that be the wrong form?" "I will not mail this without the over 4lb customs form." "But it is *not* over 4lbs! Have I filled out the correct customs form for under 4lbs?" "Yes." "What is the weight of my parcel?" "3 pounds." "So this is the correct customs form, right?" "No. I will not mail your pacvkage unless you have filled out the over 4lb form." "This makes no sense to me." "Next customer please."
So I call the USPS, and after a long time on hold I get a human, who begins by telling me that I am correct. That the rules say I have filled out the correct form. I think this is solved... but it is not. Because after going over this several times the person on the phone says that there *is* a glitch in the system - and the computer will not accept the under 4lb customs form on this size box. I ask if I would be breaking the law by using the wrong customs form, and get put on hold for a long time again. Then I get transferred to International Mail where they tell me I need to use the under 4lb form if my package weighs less than 4lbs, and *not* to use the over 4lb form. This is international stuff, and you can not break these laws! I mention that the person that transferred me told me that the USPS box requireds that I used the over 4lb form no matter what the weight. They tell me that is wrong. They put me on hold while they consult some international dude - maybe a lawyer - and then come back to tell me that I am using the correct form, but it seems the PO computers have a glitch and will not accept this form, and she tells me the easy way to do this is just break the law and use the incorrect form - though she can not tell me to do that or advise me to do that. I ask, who does the prison time if I get caught? She says - not the post office. I ask if there is a legal way for me to mail this package. She says "No." WTF???? I say I do not want to break the law - especially if it is the post office that is wrong, here. She gives me a phone number to complain to a voice mail... and that's that!
So, already the post office hires slow moving people, allows unprepared customers to get service, and has a computer system that makes the employees go through a half dozen options when all I want to do is mail a danged package first class with none of the extra stuff they want to charge me for... but now they want me to break the law because their computer system is flawed?
This will only end when the US Postmaster General either does time (for forcing me to break the law) or calls me to apologize personally.
They are in debt because they are run by idiots.
Someday, a real rain will come...
See? I couldn't end the year with nice happy stuff about movies, I had to complain!
- Bill
My first items - no problem. Then I get to a USPS box and the postal worker tells me that I need a different customs form. Different than the ones that worked fine with the other boxes. "Why?" "The size of the box requires the over 4lb customs form." "But the box weights exactly 3 pounds. I have the under 4lb customs form - and at 3lbs, that is correct, right?" "No. You must have the over 4lb customs form for this." "But it is *under* 4lbs - wouldn't that be the wrong form?" "I will not mail this without the over 4lb customs form." "But it is *not* over 4lbs! Have I filled out the correct customs form for under 4lbs?" "Yes." "What is the weight of my parcel?" "3 pounds." "So this is the correct customs form, right?" "No. I will not mail your pacvkage unless you have filled out the over 4lb form." "This makes no sense to me." "Next customer please."
So I call the USPS, and after a long time on hold I get a human, who begins by telling me that I am correct. That the rules say I have filled out the correct form. I think this is solved... but it is not. Because after going over this several times the person on the phone says that there *is* a glitch in the system - and the computer will not accept the under 4lb customs form on this size box. I ask if I would be breaking the law by using the wrong customs form, and get put on hold for a long time again. Then I get transferred to International Mail where they tell me I need to use the under 4lb form if my package weighs less than 4lbs, and *not* to use the over 4lb form. This is international stuff, and you can not break these laws! I mention that the person that transferred me told me that the USPS box requireds that I used the over 4lb form no matter what the weight. They tell me that is wrong. They put me on hold while they consult some international dude - maybe a lawyer - and then come back to tell me that I am using the correct form, but it seems the PO computers have a glitch and will not accept this form, and she tells me the easy way to do this is just break the law and use the incorrect form - though she can not tell me to do that or advise me to do that. I ask, who does the prison time if I get caught? She says - not the post office. I ask if there is a legal way for me to mail this package. She says "No." WTF???? I say I do not want to break the law - especially if it is the post office that is wrong, here. She gives me a phone number to complain to a voice mail... and that's that!
So, already the post office hires slow moving people, allows unprepared customers to get service, and has a computer system that makes the employees go through a half dozen options when all I want to do is mail a danged package first class with none of the extra stuff they want to charge me for... but now they want me to break the law because their computer system is flawed?
This will only end when the US Postmaster General either does time (for forcing me to break the law) or calls me to apologize personally.
They are in debt because they are run by idiots.
Someday, a real rain will come...
See? I couldn't end the year with nice happy stuff about movies, I had to complain!
- Bill
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
These Films Are Treasures (2011)
Every year the Library Of Congress' National Film Preservation Board selects 25 films that are pivotal in the history of American Cinema to save and honor. These are 25 of the very best American Films. Every year I post the list, this year I'm also posting the NFPB's descriptions of the films as well - you may never have heard of some.
Allures (1961)
Called the master of "cosmic cinema," Jordan Belson excelled in creating abstract imagery with a spiritual dimension that featured dazzling displays of color, light, and ever-moving patterns and objects. Trained as a painter and profoundly influenced by the artist and theorist Wassily Kandinsky, Belson collaborated in the late 1950s with electronic music composer Henry Jacobs to create elaborate sound and light shows in the San Francisco Morrison Planetarium, an experience that informed his subsequent films. The film, Belson has stated, "was probably the space-iest film that had been done until then. It creates a feeling of moving into the void." Inspired by Eastern spiritual thought, "Allures" (which took a year and a half to make) is, Belson suggests, a "mathematically precise" work intended to express the process of becoming that the philosopher Teilhard de Chardin has named "cosmogenesis."
Bambi (1942)
One of Walt Disney’s timeless classics (and his own personal favorite), this animated coming-of-age tale of a wide-eyed fawn’s life in the forest has enchanted generations since its debut nearly 70 years ago. Filled with iconic characters and moments, the film features beautiful images that were the result of extensive nature studies by Disney’s animators. Its realistic characters capture human and animal qualities in the time-honored tradition of folklore and fable, which enhance the movie’s resonating, emotional power. Treasured as one of film’s most heart-rending stories of parental love, "Bambi" also has come to be recognized for its eloquent message of nature conservation.
The Big Heat (1953)
One of the great post-war noir films, "The Big Heat" stars Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and Gloria Graham. Set in a fictional American town, "The Big Heat" tells the story of a tough cop (Ford) who takes on a local crime syndicate, exposing tensions within his own corrupt police department as well as insecurities and hypocrisies of domestic life in the 1950s. Filled with atmosphere, fascinating female characters, and a jolting—yet not gratuitous—degree of violence, "The Big Heat," through its subtly expressive technique and resistance to formulaic denouement, manages to be both stylized and brutally realistic, a signature of its director Fritz Lang.
A Computer Animated Hand (1972)
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, renowned for its CGI (computer generated image) animated films, created a program for digitally animating a human hand in 1972 as a graduate student project, one of the earliest examples of 3D computer animation. The one-minute film displays the hand turning, opening and closing, pointing at the viewer, and flexing its fingers, ending with a shot that seemingly travels up inside the hand. In creating the film, which was incorporated into the 1976 film "Futureworld," Catmull worked out concepts that become the foundation for computer graphics that followed. Watch it here!
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)
Robert Drew was a pioneer of American cinema-verite (a style of documentary filmmaking that strives to record unfolding events non-intrusively). In 1963, he gathered together a stellar group of filmmakers, including D. A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, Gregory Shuker, James Lipscomb, and Patricia Powell, to capture on film the dramatic unfolding of an ideological crisis, one that revealed political decision-making at the highest levels. The result, "Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment," focuses on Gov. George Wallace’s attempt to prevent two African-American students from enrolling in the University of Alabama—his infamous "stand in the schoolhouse door" confrontation—and the response of President John F. Kennedy. The filmmakers observe the crisis evolve by following a number of participants, including Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Gov. Wallace and the two students, Vivian Malone and James Hood. The film also shows deliberations between the president and his staff that led to a peaceful resolution, a decision by the president to deliver a major address on civil rights and a commitment by Wallace to continue his battle in subsequent national election campaigns. The film has proven to be a uniquely revealing complement to written histories of the period, providing viewers the rare opportunity to witness historical events from an insider’s perspective.
The Cry of the Children (1912)
Recognized as a key work that both reflected and contributed to the pre-World War I child labor reform movement, the two-reel silent melodrama "The Cry of the Children" takes its title and fatalistic, uncompromising tone of hopelessness from the 1842 poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. "The Cry of the Children" was part of a wave of "social problem" films released during the 1910s on such subjects as drugs and alcohol, white slavery, immigrants and women’s suffrage. Some were sensationalist attempts to exploit lurid topics, while others, like "The Cry of the Children," were realistic exposés that championed social reform and demanded change. Shot partially in a working textile factory, "The Cry of the Children" was recognized by an influential critic of the time as "The boldest, most timely and most effective appeal for the stamping out of the cruelest of all social abuses."
A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)
Largely forgotten today, actor John Bunny merits significant historical importance as the American film industry’s earliest comic superstar. A stage actor prior to the start of his film career, Bunny starred in over 150 Vitagraph Company productions from 1910 until his death in 1915. Many of his films (affectionately known as "Bunnygraphs") were gentle "domestic" comedies, in which he portrayed a henpecked husband alongside co-star Flora Finch. "A Cure for Pokeritis" exemplifies the genre, as Finch conspires with similarly displeased wives to break up their husbands’ weekly poker game. When Bunny died in 1915, a New York Times editorial noted that "Thousands who had never heard him speak…recognized him as the living symbol of wholesome merriment." The paper presciently commented on the importance of preserving motion pictures and sound recordings for future generations: "His loss will be felt all over the country, and the films, which preserve his humorous personality in action, may in time have a new value. It is a subject worthy of reflection, the value of a perfect record of a departed singer’s voice, of the photographic films perpetuating the drolleries of a comedian who developed such extraordinary capacity for acting before the camera."
El Mariachi (1992)
Directed, edited, co-produced, and written in two weeks by Robert Rodriguez for $7,000 while a film student at the University of Texas, "El Mariachi" proved a favorite on the film festival circuit. After Columbia Pictures picked it up for distribution, the film helped usher in the independent movie boom of the early 1990s. "El Mariachi" is an energetic, highly entertaining tale of an itinerant musician, portrayed by co-producer and Rodriguez crony Carlos Gallardo, who arrives at a Mexican border town during a drug war and is mistaken for a hit man who recently escaped from prison. The story, as film historian Charles Ramirez Berg has suggested, plays with expectations common to two popular exploitation genres—the narcotraficante film, a Mexican police genre, and the transnational warrior-action film, itself rooted in Hollywood Westerns. Rodriguez’s success derived from invigorating these genres with creative variants despite the constraints of a shoestring budget. Rodriguez has gone on to direct films for major studios, becoming, in Berg’s estimation, "arguably the most successful Latino director ever to work in Hollywood."
Faces (1968)
Writer-director John Cassavetes described "Faces," considered by many to be his first mature work, as "a barrage of attack on contemporary middle-class America." The film depicts a married couple, "safe in their suburban home, narrow in their thinking," he wrote, who experience a break up that "releases them from the conformity of their existence, forces them into a different context, when all barriers are down." An example of cinematic excess, "Faces" places its viewers inside intense lengthy scenes to allow them to discover within its relentless confrontations emotions and relations of power between men and women that rarely emerge in more conventionally structured films. In provoking remarkable performances by Lynn Carlin, John Marley and Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes has created a style of independent filmmaking that has inspired filmmakers around the world.
Fake Fruit Factory (1986)
An expressive, sympathetic look at the everyday lives of young Mexican women who create ornamental papier măché fruits and vegetables, "Fake Fruit Factory" exemplifies filmmaker Chick Strand’s unique style that deftly blends documentary, avant-garde and ethnographic techniques. After studying anthropology and ethnographic film at the University of California, Strand, who helped noted independent filmmaker Bruce Baillie create the independent film distribution cooperative Canyon Cinema, taught filmmaking for 24 years at Occidental College. She developed a collagist process to create her films, shooting footage of people she encountered over several decades of annual summer stays in Mexico and then editing together individual films. In "Fake Fruit Factory," Strand employs a moving camera at close range to create colorfully vivid images often verging on abstraction, while her soundtrack picks up snatches of conversation to evoke, in her words, "the spirit of the people." "I want to know," Strand wrote, "really what it is like to be a breathing, talking, moving, emotional, relating individual in the society."
Forrest Gump (1994)
As "Forrest Gump," Tom Hanks portrays an earnest, guileless "everyman" whose open-heartedness and sense of the unexpected unwittingly draws him into some of the most iconic events of the 1960s and 1970s. A smash hit, "Forrest Gump" has been honored for its technological innovations (the digital insertion of Gump seamlessly into vintage archival footage), its resonance within the culture that has elevated Gump (and what he represents in terms of American innocence) to the status of folk hero, and its attempt to engage both playfully and seriously with contentious aspects of the era’s traumatic history. The film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Growing Up Female (1971)
Among the first films to emerge from the women’s liberation movement, "Growing Up Female" is a documentary portrait of America on the brink of profound change in its attitudes toward women. Filmed in spring 1970 by Ohio college students Julia Reichert and Jim Klein, "Growing Up Female" focuses on six girls and women aged 4 to 34 and the home, school, work and advertising environments that have impacted their identities. Through open-ended interviews and lyrical documentation of their surroundings, the film strived, in Reichert’s words, to "give women a new lens through which to see their own lives." Widely distributed to libraries, universities, churches and youth groups, the film launched a cooperative of female filmmakers that bypassed traditional distribution mechanisms to get its message communicated.
Hester Street (1975)
Joan Micklin Silver’s first feature-length film, "Hester Street," was an adaption of preeminent Yiddish author Abraham Cahan’s 1896 well-received first novel "Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto." In the 1975 film, the writer-director brought to the screen a portrait of Eastern European Jewish life in America that historians have praised for its accuracy of detail and sensitivity to the challenges immigrants faced during their acculturation process. Shot in black-and-white and partly in Yiddish with English subtitles, the independent production, financed with money raised by the filmmaker’s husband, was shunned by Hollywood until it established a reputation at the Cannes Film Festival and in European markets. "Hester Street" focuses on stresses that occur when a "greenhorn" wife, played by Carol Kane (nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal), and her young son arrive in New York to join her Americanized husband. Silver, one of the first women directors of American features to emerge during the women’s liberation movement, shifted the story’s emphasis from the husband, as in the novel, to the wife. Historian Joyce Antler has written admiringly, "In indicating the hardships experienced by women and their resiliency, as well as the deep strains assimilation posed to masculinity, ‘Hester Street’ touches on a fundamental cultural challenge confronting immigrants."
I, an Actress (1977)
Underground filmmaker George Kuchar and his twin brother Mike began making 8mm films as 12-year-old kids in the Bronx, often on their family’s apartment rooftop. Before his death in 2011, George created over 200 outlandish low-budget films filled with absurdist melodrama, crazed dialogue and plots, and affection for Hollywood film conventions and genres. A professor at the San Francisco Art Institute, Kuchar documented his directing techniques in the hilarious "I, an Actress" as he encourages an acting student to embellish a melodramatic monologue with increasingly excessive gestures and emotions. Like most of Kuchar’s films, "I, an Actress" embodies a "camp" sensibility, defined by the cultural critic Susan Sontag as deriving from an aesthetics that valorizes not beauty but "love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration." Filmmaker John Waters has cited the Kuchars as "my first inspiration" and credited them with giving him "the self-confidence to believe in my own tawdry vision."
The Iron Horse (1924)
John Ford’s epic Western "The Iron Horse" established his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most accomplished directors. Intended by Fox studios to rival Paramount’s 1923 epic "The Covered Wagon," Ford’s film employed more than 5,000 extras, advertised authenticity in its attention to realistic detail, and provided him with the opportunity to create iconic visual images of the Old West, inspired by such master painters as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. A tale of national unity achieved after the Civil War through the construction of the transcontinental railroad, "The Iron Horse" celebrated the contributions of Irish, Italian and Chinese immigrants although the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country legally was severely restricted at the time of its production. A classic silent film, "The Iron Horse" introduced to American and world audiences a reverential, elegiac mythology that has influenced many subsequent Westerns.
The Kid (1921)
Charles Chaplin’s first full-length feature, the silent classic "The Kid," is an artful melding of touching drama, social commentary and inventive comedy. The tale of a foundling (Jackie Coogan, soon to be a major child star) taken in by the Little Tramp, "The Kid" represents a high point in Chaplin’s evolving cinematic style, proving he could sustain his artistry beyond the length of his usual short subjects and could deftly elicit a variety of emotions from his audiences by skillfully blending slapstick and pathos.
The Lost Weekend (1945)
A landmark social-problem film, "The Lost Weekend" provided audiences of 1945 with an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink. Despite opposition from his studio, the Hays Office and the liquor industry, Wilder created a film ranked as one of the best of the decade that won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor (Ray Milland), and established him as one of America’s leading filmmakers.
The Negro Soldier (1944)
Produced by Frank Capra’s renowned World War II U.S. Army filming unit, "The Negro Soldier" showcased the contributions of blacks to American society and their heroism in the nation’s wars, portraying them in a dignified, realistic, and far less stereotypical manner than they had been depicted in previous Hollywood films. Considered by film historian Thomas Cripps as "a watershed in the use of film to promote racial tolerance," "The Negro Soldier" was produced in reaction to instances of discrimination against African-Americans stationed in the South. Written by Carlton Moss, a young black writer for radio and the Federal Theatre Project, directed by Stuart Heisler, and scored by Dmitri Tiomkin, the film highlights the role of the church in the black community and charts the progress of a black soldier through basic training and officer’s candidate school before he enters into combat. It became mandatory viewing for all soldiers in American replacement centers from spring 1944 until the war’s end.
Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies (1930s-1940s)
Fayard and Harold Nicholas, renowned for their innovative and exuberant dance routines, began in vaudeville in the late 1920s before headlining at the Cotton Club in Harlem, starring on Broadway and performing in Hollywood films. Fred Astaire is reported to have called their dance sequence in "Stormy Weather" (1943) the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen. Their home movies capture a golden age of show business—with extraordinary footage of Broadway, Harlem and Hollywood—and also document the middle-class African-American life of that era, images made rare by the considerable cost of home-movie equipment during the Great Depression. Highlights include the only footage shot inside the Cotton Club, the only footage of famous Broadway shows like "Babes in Arms," home movies of an all African-American regiment during World War II, films of street life in Harlem in the 1930s, and the family’s cross-country tour in 1934.
Norma Rae (1979)
Highlighted by Sally Field’s Oscar-winning performance, "Norma Rae" is the tale of an unlikely activist. A poorly-educated single mother, Norma Rae Webster works at a Southern textile mill where her attempt to improve working conditions through unionization, though undermined by her factory bosses, ultimately succeeds after her courageous stand on the factory floor wins the support of her co-workers. The film is less a polemical pro-union statement than a treatise about maturation, personal willpower, fairness and the empowerment of women. Directed by Martin Ritt, "Norma Rae" was based on the real-life efforts of Crystal Lee Sutton to unionize the J. P. Stevens Mills in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., which finally agreed to allow union representation one year after the film’s release.
Porgy and Bess (1959)
Composer George Gershwin considered his masterpiece "Porgy and Bess" to be a "folk opera." Gershwin’s score reflected traditional songs he encountered in visits to Charleston, S.C., and in Gullah revival meetings he attended on nearby James Island. Controversy has stalked the production history of the opera that Gershwin created with DuBose Heyward, who had written the original novel and play (with his wife Dorothy) and penned lyrics with Gershwin’s brother Ira. The lavish film version was produced in the late 1950s as the civil rights movement gained momentum and a number of African-American actors turned down roles they considered demeaning. Harry Belafonte, who refused the part of Porgy, explained, "in this period of our social development, I doubt that it is healthy to expose certain images of the Negro. In a period of calm, perhaps this picture could be viewed historically." Dissension also resulted when producer Samuel Goldwyn dismissed Rouben Mamoulian, who had directed the play and musical on Broadway, and replaced him with Otto Preminger. Produced in Todd-AO, a state-of-the-art widescreen and stereophonic sound recording process, with an all-star cast that included Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll, "Porgy and Bess," now considered an "overlooked masterpiece" by one contemporary scholar, rarely has been screened in the ensuing years.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins and director Jonathan Demme won accolades for this chilling thriller based upon a book by Thomas Harris. Foster plays rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling who must tap into the disturbed mind of imprisoned cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in order to aid her search for a murderer and torturer still at large. A film whose violence is as much psychological as graphic, "Silence of the Lambs"—winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay—has been celebrated for its superb lead performances, its blending of crime and horror genres, and its taut direction that brought to the screen one of film’s greatest villains and some of its most memorable imagery.
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Based on a true story, "Stand and Deliver" stars Edward James Olmos in an Oscar-nominated performance as crusading educator Jaime Escalante. A math teacher in East Los Angeles, Ca., Escalante inspired his underprivileged students to undertake an intensive program in calculus, achieve high test scores, and improve their sense of self-worth. Co-produced by Olmos and directed by Cuban-born Ramón Menéndez, "Stand and Deliver" became one of the most popular of a new wave of narrative feature films produced in the 1980s by Latino filmmakers. The film celebrates in a direct, approachable, and impactful way, values of self-betterment through hard work and power through knowledge.
Twentieth Century (1934)
A satire on the theatrical milieu and its oversized egos, "Twentieth Century" marked the first of director Howard Hawks’ frenetic comedies that had leading actors of the day "make damn fools of themselves." In Hawks’ words, the genre became affectionately known as "screwball comedy." Hawks had writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who penned the original play, craft dialogue scenes in which lines overlapped as in ordinary conversations, but still remained understandable, a style he continued in later films. This sophisticated farce about the tempestuous romance of an egocentric impresario and the star he creates did not fare well on its release, but has come to be recognized as one of the era’s finest film comedies, one that gave John Barrymore his last great film role and Carole Lombard her first.
War of the Worlds (1953)
Released at the height of cold-war hysteria, producer George Pal’s lavishly-designed take on H. G. Wells’ 1898 novel of alien invasion was provocatively transplanted from Victorian England to a mid-20th-century Southern California small town in this 1953 film version. Capitalizing on the apocalyptic paranoia of the atomic age, Barré Lyndon’s screenplay wryly replaces Wells’ original commentary on the British class system with religious metaphor. Directed by Byron Haskin, formerly a special effects cameraman, the critically and commercially successful film chronicles an apparent meteor crash discovered by a local scientist (Gene Barry) that turns out to be a Martian spacecraft. Gordon Jennings, who died shortly before the film’s release, avoided stereotypical flying saucer-style creations in his Academy Award-winning special effects described by reviewers as soul-chilling, hackle-raising and not for the faint of heart.
***
This will probably be the last Blog Post for 2011. I was going to post some links tomorrow, but decided I'll save them until next week... since many people are away for the holidays. I would like to thank all of you who visit the blog - listen to my bitches about the biz, read my rants, and laugh with me about this strange business.
Next year we will finish up the Hitchcock films, I hope to make Scene Of The Week a regular feature, and may get to the background of all of my films (promised 5 years ago when I began the blog!). Plus - more general bitching about the biz and some looks at some of my favorite films.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Your *Second* High Concept!
Dinner: Sweet & Sour Pork at 3 Brothers.
Pages: Not going to get anywhere near finishing this new spec before the end of the year.
Bicycle: No.
Movies: MI:4, SH2, GWTDTre, HUGO...
Allures (1961)
Called the master of "cosmic cinema," Jordan Belson excelled in creating abstract imagery with a spiritual dimension that featured dazzling displays of color, light, and ever-moving patterns and objects. Trained as a painter and profoundly influenced by the artist and theorist Wassily Kandinsky, Belson collaborated in the late 1950s with electronic music composer Henry Jacobs to create elaborate sound and light shows in the San Francisco Morrison Planetarium, an experience that informed his subsequent films. The film, Belson has stated, "was probably the space-iest film that had been done until then. It creates a feeling of moving into the void." Inspired by Eastern spiritual thought, "Allures" (which took a year and a half to make) is, Belson suggests, a "mathematically precise" work intended to express the process of becoming that the philosopher Teilhard de Chardin has named "cosmogenesis."
Bambi (1942)
One of Walt Disney’s timeless classics (and his own personal favorite), this animated coming-of-age tale of a wide-eyed fawn’s life in the forest has enchanted generations since its debut nearly 70 years ago. Filled with iconic characters and moments, the film features beautiful images that were the result of extensive nature studies by Disney’s animators. Its realistic characters capture human and animal qualities in the time-honored tradition of folklore and fable, which enhance the movie’s resonating, emotional power. Treasured as one of film’s most heart-rending stories of parental love, "Bambi" also has come to be recognized for its eloquent message of nature conservation.
The Big Heat (1953)
One of the great post-war noir films, "The Big Heat" stars Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and Gloria Graham. Set in a fictional American town, "The Big Heat" tells the story of a tough cop (Ford) who takes on a local crime syndicate, exposing tensions within his own corrupt police department as well as insecurities and hypocrisies of domestic life in the 1950s. Filled with atmosphere, fascinating female characters, and a jolting—yet not gratuitous—degree of violence, "The Big Heat," through its subtly expressive technique and resistance to formulaic denouement, manages to be both stylized and brutally realistic, a signature of its director Fritz Lang.
A Computer Animated Hand (1972)
Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, renowned for its CGI (computer generated image) animated films, created a program for digitally animating a human hand in 1972 as a graduate student project, one of the earliest examples of 3D computer animation. The one-minute film displays the hand turning, opening and closing, pointing at the viewer, and flexing its fingers, ending with a shot that seemingly travels up inside the hand. In creating the film, which was incorporated into the 1976 film "Futureworld," Catmull worked out concepts that become the foundation for computer graphics that followed. Watch it here!
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)
Robert Drew was a pioneer of American cinema-verite (a style of documentary filmmaking that strives to record unfolding events non-intrusively). In 1963, he gathered together a stellar group of filmmakers, including D. A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, Gregory Shuker, James Lipscomb, and Patricia Powell, to capture on film the dramatic unfolding of an ideological crisis, one that revealed political decision-making at the highest levels. The result, "Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment," focuses on Gov. George Wallace’s attempt to prevent two African-American students from enrolling in the University of Alabama—his infamous "stand in the schoolhouse door" confrontation—and the response of President John F. Kennedy. The filmmakers observe the crisis evolve by following a number of participants, including Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Gov. Wallace and the two students, Vivian Malone and James Hood. The film also shows deliberations between the president and his staff that led to a peaceful resolution, a decision by the president to deliver a major address on civil rights and a commitment by Wallace to continue his battle in subsequent national election campaigns. The film has proven to be a uniquely revealing complement to written histories of the period, providing viewers the rare opportunity to witness historical events from an insider’s perspective.
The Cry of the Children (1912)
Recognized as a key work that both reflected and contributed to the pre-World War I child labor reform movement, the two-reel silent melodrama "The Cry of the Children" takes its title and fatalistic, uncompromising tone of hopelessness from the 1842 poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. "The Cry of the Children" was part of a wave of "social problem" films released during the 1910s on such subjects as drugs and alcohol, white slavery, immigrants and women’s suffrage. Some were sensationalist attempts to exploit lurid topics, while others, like "The Cry of the Children," were realistic exposés that championed social reform and demanded change. Shot partially in a working textile factory, "The Cry of the Children" was recognized by an influential critic of the time as "The boldest, most timely and most effective appeal for the stamping out of the cruelest of all social abuses."
A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)
Largely forgotten today, actor John Bunny merits significant historical importance as the American film industry’s earliest comic superstar. A stage actor prior to the start of his film career, Bunny starred in over 150 Vitagraph Company productions from 1910 until his death in 1915. Many of his films (affectionately known as "Bunnygraphs") were gentle "domestic" comedies, in which he portrayed a henpecked husband alongside co-star Flora Finch. "A Cure for Pokeritis" exemplifies the genre, as Finch conspires with similarly displeased wives to break up their husbands’ weekly poker game. When Bunny died in 1915, a New York Times editorial noted that "Thousands who had never heard him speak…recognized him as the living symbol of wholesome merriment." The paper presciently commented on the importance of preserving motion pictures and sound recordings for future generations: "His loss will be felt all over the country, and the films, which preserve his humorous personality in action, may in time have a new value. It is a subject worthy of reflection, the value of a perfect record of a departed singer’s voice, of the photographic films perpetuating the drolleries of a comedian who developed such extraordinary capacity for acting before the camera."
El Mariachi (1992)
Directed, edited, co-produced, and written in two weeks by Robert Rodriguez for $7,000 while a film student at the University of Texas, "El Mariachi" proved a favorite on the film festival circuit. After Columbia Pictures picked it up for distribution, the film helped usher in the independent movie boom of the early 1990s. "El Mariachi" is an energetic, highly entertaining tale of an itinerant musician, portrayed by co-producer and Rodriguez crony Carlos Gallardo, who arrives at a Mexican border town during a drug war and is mistaken for a hit man who recently escaped from prison. The story, as film historian Charles Ramirez Berg has suggested, plays with expectations common to two popular exploitation genres—the narcotraficante film, a Mexican police genre, and the transnational warrior-action film, itself rooted in Hollywood Westerns. Rodriguez’s success derived from invigorating these genres with creative variants despite the constraints of a shoestring budget. Rodriguez has gone on to direct films for major studios, becoming, in Berg’s estimation, "arguably the most successful Latino director ever to work in Hollywood."
Faces (1968)
Writer-director John Cassavetes described "Faces," considered by many to be his first mature work, as "a barrage of attack on contemporary middle-class America." The film depicts a married couple, "safe in their suburban home, narrow in their thinking," he wrote, who experience a break up that "releases them from the conformity of their existence, forces them into a different context, when all barriers are down." An example of cinematic excess, "Faces" places its viewers inside intense lengthy scenes to allow them to discover within its relentless confrontations emotions and relations of power between men and women that rarely emerge in more conventionally structured films. In provoking remarkable performances by Lynn Carlin, John Marley and Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes has created a style of independent filmmaking that has inspired filmmakers around the world.
Fake Fruit Factory (1986)
An expressive, sympathetic look at the everyday lives of young Mexican women who create ornamental papier măché fruits and vegetables, "Fake Fruit Factory" exemplifies filmmaker Chick Strand’s unique style that deftly blends documentary, avant-garde and ethnographic techniques. After studying anthropology and ethnographic film at the University of California, Strand, who helped noted independent filmmaker Bruce Baillie create the independent film distribution cooperative Canyon Cinema, taught filmmaking for 24 years at Occidental College. She developed a collagist process to create her films, shooting footage of people she encountered over several decades of annual summer stays in Mexico and then editing together individual films. In "Fake Fruit Factory," Strand employs a moving camera at close range to create colorfully vivid images often verging on abstraction, while her soundtrack picks up snatches of conversation to evoke, in her words, "the spirit of the people." "I want to know," Strand wrote, "really what it is like to be a breathing, talking, moving, emotional, relating individual in the society."
Forrest Gump (1994)
As "Forrest Gump," Tom Hanks portrays an earnest, guileless "everyman" whose open-heartedness and sense of the unexpected unwittingly draws him into some of the most iconic events of the 1960s and 1970s. A smash hit, "Forrest Gump" has been honored for its technological innovations (the digital insertion of Gump seamlessly into vintage archival footage), its resonance within the culture that has elevated Gump (and what he represents in terms of American innocence) to the status of folk hero, and its attempt to engage both playfully and seriously with contentious aspects of the era’s traumatic history. The film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Growing Up Female (1971)
Among the first films to emerge from the women’s liberation movement, "Growing Up Female" is a documentary portrait of America on the brink of profound change in its attitudes toward women. Filmed in spring 1970 by Ohio college students Julia Reichert and Jim Klein, "Growing Up Female" focuses on six girls and women aged 4 to 34 and the home, school, work and advertising environments that have impacted their identities. Through open-ended interviews and lyrical documentation of their surroundings, the film strived, in Reichert’s words, to "give women a new lens through which to see their own lives." Widely distributed to libraries, universities, churches and youth groups, the film launched a cooperative of female filmmakers that bypassed traditional distribution mechanisms to get its message communicated.
Hester Street (1975)
Joan Micklin Silver’s first feature-length film, "Hester Street," was an adaption of preeminent Yiddish author Abraham Cahan’s 1896 well-received first novel "Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto." In the 1975 film, the writer-director brought to the screen a portrait of Eastern European Jewish life in America that historians have praised for its accuracy of detail and sensitivity to the challenges immigrants faced during their acculturation process. Shot in black-and-white and partly in Yiddish with English subtitles, the independent production, financed with money raised by the filmmaker’s husband, was shunned by Hollywood until it established a reputation at the Cannes Film Festival and in European markets. "Hester Street" focuses on stresses that occur when a "greenhorn" wife, played by Carol Kane (nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal), and her young son arrive in New York to join her Americanized husband. Silver, one of the first women directors of American features to emerge during the women’s liberation movement, shifted the story’s emphasis from the husband, as in the novel, to the wife. Historian Joyce Antler has written admiringly, "In indicating the hardships experienced by women and their resiliency, as well as the deep strains assimilation posed to masculinity, ‘Hester Street’ touches on a fundamental cultural challenge confronting immigrants."
I, an Actress (1977)
Underground filmmaker George Kuchar and his twin brother Mike began making 8mm films as 12-year-old kids in the Bronx, often on their family’s apartment rooftop. Before his death in 2011, George created over 200 outlandish low-budget films filled with absurdist melodrama, crazed dialogue and plots, and affection for Hollywood film conventions and genres. A professor at the San Francisco Art Institute, Kuchar documented his directing techniques in the hilarious "I, an Actress" as he encourages an acting student to embellish a melodramatic monologue with increasingly excessive gestures and emotions. Like most of Kuchar’s films, "I, an Actress" embodies a "camp" sensibility, defined by the cultural critic Susan Sontag as deriving from an aesthetics that valorizes not beauty but "love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration." Filmmaker John Waters has cited the Kuchars as "my first inspiration" and credited them with giving him "the self-confidence to believe in my own tawdry vision."
The Iron Horse (1924)
John Ford’s epic Western "The Iron Horse" established his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most accomplished directors. Intended by Fox studios to rival Paramount’s 1923 epic "The Covered Wagon," Ford’s film employed more than 5,000 extras, advertised authenticity in its attention to realistic detail, and provided him with the opportunity to create iconic visual images of the Old West, inspired by such master painters as Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. A tale of national unity achieved after the Civil War through the construction of the transcontinental railroad, "The Iron Horse" celebrated the contributions of Irish, Italian and Chinese immigrants although the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country legally was severely restricted at the time of its production. A classic silent film, "The Iron Horse" introduced to American and world audiences a reverential, elegiac mythology that has influenced many subsequent Westerns.
The Kid (1921)
Charles Chaplin’s first full-length feature, the silent classic "The Kid," is an artful melding of touching drama, social commentary and inventive comedy. The tale of a foundling (Jackie Coogan, soon to be a major child star) taken in by the Little Tramp, "The Kid" represents a high point in Chaplin’s evolving cinematic style, proving he could sustain his artistry beyond the length of his usual short subjects and could deftly elicit a variety of emotions from his audiences by skillfully blending slapstick and pathos.
The Lost Weekend (1945)
A landmark social-problem film, "The Lost Weekend" provided audiences of 1945 with an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink. Despite opposition from his studio, the Hays Office and the liquor industry, Wilder created a film ranked as one of the best of the decade that won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor (Ray Milland), and established him as one of America’s leading filmmakers.
The Negro Soldier (1944)
Produced by Frank Capra’s renowned World War II U.S. Army filming unit, "The Negro Soldier" showcased the contributions of blacks to American society and their heroism in the nation’s wars, portraying them in a dignified, realistic, and far less stereotypical manner than they had been depicted in previous Hollywood films. Considered by film historian Thomas Cripps as "a watershed in the use of film to promote racial tolerance," "The Negro Soldier" was produced in reaction to instances of discrimination against African-Americans stationed in the South. Written by Carlton Moss, a young black writer for radio and the Federal Theatre Project, directed by Stuart Heisler, and scored by Dmitri Tiomkin, the film highlights the role of the church in the black community and charts the progress of a black soldier through basic training and officer’s candidate school before he enters into combat. It became mandatory viewing for all soldiers in American replacement centers from spring 1944 until the war’s end.
Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies (1930s-1940s)
Fayard and Harold Nicholas, renowned for their innovative and exuberant dance routines, began in vaudeville in the late 1920s before headlining at the Cotton Club in Harlem, starring on Broadway and performing in Hollywood films. Fred Astaire is reported to have called their dance sequence in "Stormy Weather" (1943) the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen. Their home movies capture a golden age of show business—with extraordinary footage of Broadway, Harlem and Hollywood—and also document the middle-class African-American life of that era, images made rare by the considerable cost of home-movie equipment during the Great Depression. Highlights include the only footage shot inside the Cotton Club, the only footage of famous Broadway shows like "Babes in Arms," home movies of an all African-American regiment during World War II, films of street life in Harlem in the 1930s, and the family’s cross-country tour in 1934.
Norma Rae (1979)
Highlighted by Sally Field’s Oscar-winning performance, "Norma Rae" is the tale of an unlikely activist. A poorly-educated single mother, Norma Rae Webster works at a Southern textile mill where her attempt to improve working conditions through unionization, though undermined by her factory bosses, ultimately succeeds after her courageous stand on the factory floor wins the support of her co-workers. The film is less a polemical pro-union statement than a treatise about maturation, personal willpower, fairness and the empowerment of women. Directed by Martin Ritt, "Norma Rae" was based on the real-life efforts of Crystal Lee Sutton to unionize the J. P. Stevens Mills in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., which finally agreed to allow union representation one year after the film’s release.
Porgy and Bess (1959)
Composer George Gershwin considered his masterpiece "Porgy and Bess" to be a "folk opera." Gershwin’s score reflected traditional songs he encountered in visits to Charleston, S.C., and in Gullah revival meetings he attended on nearby James Island. Controversy has stalked the production history of the opera that Gershwin created with DuBose Heyward, who had written the original novel and play (with his wife Dorothy) and penned lyrics with Gershwin’s brother Ira. The lavish film version was produced in the late 1950s as the civil rights movement gained momentum and a number of African-American actors turned down roles they considered demeaning. Harry Belafonte, who refused the part of Porgy, explained, "in this period of our social development, I doubt that it is healthy to expose certain images of the Negro. In a period of calm, perhaps this picture could be viewed historically." Dissension also resulted when producer Samuel Goldwyn dismissed Rouben Mamoulian, who had directed the play and musical on Broadway, and replaced him with Otto Preminger. Produced in Todd-AO, a state-of-the-art widescreen and stereophonic sound recording process, with an all-star cast that included Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll, "Porgy and Bess," now considered an "overlooked masterpiece" by one contemporary scholar, rarely has been screened in the ensuing years.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins and director Jonathan Demme won accolades for this chilling thriller based upon a book by Thomas Harris. Foster plays rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling who must tap into the disturbed mind of imprisoned cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in order to aid her search for a murderer and torturer still at large. A film whose violence is as much psychological as graphic, "Silence of the Lambs"—winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay—has been celebrated for its superb lead performances, its blending of crime and horror genres, and its taut direction that brought to the screen one of film’s greatest villains and some of its most memorable imagery.
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Based on a true story, "Stand and Deliver" stars Edward James Olmos in an Oscar-nominated performance as crusading educator Jaime Escalante. A math teacher in East Los Angeles, Ca., Escalante inspired his underprivileged students to undertake an intensive program in calculus, achieve high test scores, and improve their sense of self-worth. Co-produced by Olmos and directed by Cuban-born Ramón Menéndez, "Stand and Deliver" became one of the most popular of a new wave of narrative feature films produced in the 1980s by Latino filmmakers. The film celebrates in a direct, approachable, and impactful way, values of self-betterment through hard work and power through knowledge.
Twentieth Century (1934)
A satire on the theatrical milieu and its oversized egos, "Twentieth Century" marked the first of director Howard Hawks’ frenetic comedies that had leading actors of the day "make damn fools of themselves." In Hawks’ words, the genre became affectionately known as "screwball comedy." Hawks had writers Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, who penned the original play, craft dialogue scenes in which lines overlapped as in ordinary conversations, but still remained understandable, a style he continued in later films. This sophisticated farce about the tempestuous romance of an egocentric impresario and the star he creates did not fare well on its release, but has come to be recognized as one of the era’s finest film comedies, one that gave John Barrymore his last great film role and Carole Lombard her first.
War of the Worlds (1953)
Released at the height of cold-war hysteria, producer George Pal’s lavishly-designed take on H. G. Wells’ 1898 novel of alien invasion was provocatively transplanted from Victorian England to a mid-20th-century Southern California small town in this 1953 film version. Capitalizing on the apocalyptic paranoia of the atomic age, Barré Lyndon’s screenplay wryly replaces Wells’ original commentary on the British class system with religious metaphor. Directed by Byron Haskin, formerly a special effects cameraman, the critically and commercially successful film chronicles an apparent meteor crash discovered by a local scientist (Gene Barry) that turns out to be a Martian spacecraft. Gordon Jennings, who died shortly before the film’s release, avoided stereotypical flying saucer-style creations in his Academy Award-winning special effects described by reviewers as soul-chilling, hackle-raising and not for the faint of heart.
***
This will probably be the last Blog Post for 2011. I was going to post some links tomorrow, but decided I'll save them until next week... since many people are away for the holidays. I would like to thank all of you who visit the blog - listen to my bitches about the biz, read my rants, and laugh with me about this strange business.
Next year we will finish up the Hitchcock films, I hope to make Scene Of The Week a regular feature, and may get to the background of all of my films (promised 5 years ago when I began the blog!). Plus - more general bitching about the biz and some looks at some of my favorite films.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
- Bill
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Your *Second* High Concept!
Dinner: Sweet & Sour Pork at 3 Brothers.
Pages: Not going to get anywhere near finishing this new spec before the end of the year.
Bicycle: No.
Movies: MI:4, SH2, GWTDTre, HUGO...
IT'S BACK!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Kindle!
*** SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING *** - For Nook!
Why pay $510 for a *used* copy of the 2000 version when you can buy the Expanded 2011 Version - now over 460 pages - for $9.99? NEW Chapters! NEW Techniques! NEW Examples! It's the book pro screenwriters recommend! An Oscar Winner and the co-writer of FOUR of the Top 20 Box Office Movies Of All Time recommend it! (which is probably why someone is selling a used copy for $510.) Filled with techniques you will not find anywhere else!
Only $9.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Kindle!
*** DIALOGUE SECRETS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with dozens of ways to improve your dialogue! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is almost 200 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Kindle!
*** YOUR IDEA MACHINE *** - For Nook!
Expanded version with more ways to find great ideas! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
NEW!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Kindle!
*** CREATING STRONG PROTAGONISTS *** - For Nook! (coming soon)
Expanded version with more ways to create interesting protagonists! Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is once again around 155 pages!
Only $2.99 - and no postage!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
