On Monday (February 24th) I hit 50 followers for Reel Deal Film/TV. I’m super happy about it. I originally started this blog back in September 2013 as a class project for my Fundamentals of Digital and Online Media course. Since the ending of the #fdom class in December 2013, this blog has really grown into something of its own. I tweaked the topic, changed the layout and added some new things. I really like the progress I’m making with this as I near my college graduation later this year (December 2014).
I’m taking a web design class this semester with the same lecturer I had for Fundamentals of Digital and Online Media. The class exposes me to a lot of new skills to learn (HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, iMovie) so I’m excited to see how I can incorporate some of what I learn there into this site. Below is a before/after picture of my site redesign for colinashby.org
Site Redesign: Before/After (for Web Design & Publishing class)
You know that weird gut feeling you get sometimes? It’s a feeling you get whenever your tired of seeing the same type of movie over and over. It’s the feeling I had after seeing over the top comedies and big action movies one after the next. Going to see Gimme Shelter was the solution.
Plot: 16-year-old Agnes “Apple Bailey (Vanessa Hudgens) is a troubled, aggresive girl who has lived in abusive environments her whole life. Apple’s mother June, played by Rosario Dawson, is a sleazy drug addict who doesn’t care much for Apple besides the extra welfare money she gets for being her parent. Apple, fed up with her living situation, sets out to find her long lost father. Upon meeting him, she finds out that he is a successful Wall Street Broker with a wife and two kids. After a dispute she leaves. Apple eventually ends up in a shelter for pregnant young women run by a spritiual women.
Main Point: Despite a line of capable actors, the film falls flat with dull dialogue and a script that does little more than go beyond standard cliches.
Slow mutterings start the movie. “I’m okay. I’m not scared. I can do this.” Apple says to herself in the mirror while chopping off her black hair strand by strand. It’s noticed from the get go that Apple is misguided, not having a clear head to make decisions. She is leaving the abusive house she lives in with her druggie mom. With an addressed letter to guide her, she lands at her long lost father’s house. Tom, her father (Brendon Fraser), greets her with a former look and a head of hair gel (typical).
Apple sticks out like a coffee stain on a t-shirt compared to Tom’s lifestyle. Tom lives with his wife and two kids in a wealthy, picket fence neighborhood. When the married couple find out Apple is pregnant, they schedule for her to get an abortion. Frustrated, she storms out and onto the streets again. Stealing a car and wrecking puts her in the hospital and under the guidance of a chaplain Father McCarthy (James Earl Jones).
Only halfway through runtime and the film is already unsettling. The dialogue feels weirdly unnatural. The acting and scripting does little to add originality to an environment that has been seen several times before. Apple is constantly in angst against the ones around her. Then suddenly shortly after arriving at the group home for pregnant teens, she changes. She likes the place she is at. There is stability and a sense of safety. The problem is that the viewer never sees this. The script does nothing to make it seem like a new sense of being has been developed. The idea that Apple has developed close relationships and belonging with all the girls feels false. There wasn’t enough building. The whole film starts to feel like a gimmicky PBS TV special.
The start of the film was promising but interest quickly drops after Apple is taken into the care of the priest and group home. Despite the lacking script, Vanessa Hudgens, Brendon Fraser and Rosario Dawson give refreshing performances. This just isn’t the best work to see these actors in. Hudgens shines farther with her acting chops in The Frozen Ground and Dawson with her performance in Kids. Rating: C
Well this series has gotten a part II so I feel a bit accomplished. I created this series to refer to some interesting articles and news from the week. This week has been filled with a lot. The thing on most people’s minds was probably the grateful comeback of Netflix’s House of Cards. All the lonely hearts can happily spend today (Valentine’s Day) binge-watching on all the 13 episodes of season two with no regrets (“no ragrets” if you’ve seen 2013’s We’re the Millers).
House of Cards: Season two streaming (Netflix)
Binge-watchers, couch potatoes and TV fanatics can rejoice! The online-only political drama series released season two for streaming in the wee hours of February 14th (Valentine’s Day). A new batch of political secrets, arguments and suspense awaits. With all 13 episodes of season two streaming, everyone is sure to have something to snuggle up to for V-day.
It was announced earlier this week that Comcast, the nation’s No.1 cable provider, is going to buy Time Warner Cable, the nation’s No.2 cable provider. The agreement happened for a reported $45 billion. With a huge backlash voiced on Twitter, many are worried the deal will create a weak future for filmmakers, content creators and consumers. Many wondered the same question: Will the merger create a too powerful company that will dominate the film and media industry? Read about it here.
Behind the Scenes of Oscar-Nominated film American Hustle
“American Hustle: The Art and Soul of Survival” is a 30-minute special that goes into the making of the David O. Russell directed film, actor performances and more. Note: It’s okay to freak out in excitement.
Creating Meaningful Content for a Blog
FastCompany is great site for smart working tips (among other tech/media news). The article covers ways to create good content that isn’t just in similar patterns that other related blogs have. It details ways to make content pop and keep visitors coming back for more. Click here to read.
Remember last year when a Zombieland TV pilot popped up on Amazon and was panned? It eventually got “hated out of existence” (Rhett Reese, creator of the TV adaption’s words). Well fear not, a new batch of television pilots have been released on Amazon and nothing to negative has been said so far.
Amazon pilots coming to a screen near you.
On February 6th, Amazon released 10 new pilots for free. Continuing the plan they had last year, viewers watch and vote on what pilots live and what pilots bite the dust. Out of the several pilots released last year, only two made it through the chopping block. The first was Alpha House, a show starring John Goodman that revolved around four U.S. Senators. It was met with acclaim and positioned Amazon as a serious contender against Netflix and its original programming.The second series that received a series order was Betas, a program showcasing a group of app developers looking for an investor.
Below is a list and description of the different pilots to take a look at.
The After:An apocalypse show from the creator of The X-Files. It centers on eight people of various backgrounds (lawyer, actress, etc.) as they face the events ahead.
The Rebels:Sports comedy revolving around a woman who must take over a team of football players after her husband passes away. It seems brainless, overdone and generic but worth a shot to watch. Plus it has Josh Peck (Drake & Josh) so you know it has some funny laughs to give.
Transparent:Not your typical sitcom comedy but it serves well. It involves a family as they face their host of problems. Three not-so adults including Jay Duplass (brother of Mark Duplass and mumblecore filmmaker). One might think it follows a bit in the footsteps of Arrested Development since it features Jeffrey Tambor. Rest assured it holds it’s own by providing good dialogue that doesn’t just go for cheap laughs.
Reading through my RSS feed of Indiewire, I came across this article about the marketability to different age groups. The article isn’t all that suprising, everyone already knows that most movie studio executives are very cut and dry about the movies they pick up and how to market them. A particular line of it provides a general synopsis of the value in the playbook: No one sets out to make a movie without a particular audience in mind. One line of the playbook rings suprisingly true in a time of social media cravings and short attention spans: films no longer have time to find their audience; that audience has to be captured well in advance.
The article details the marketing drive that has a huge impact on the content of the film. It mentions why few films are made for certain age groups. Seeing the article’s title, most would brush it off as insignificant but it has some suprising statements.
Recent examples of that go off this guide could include the January openings of this year. The Kevin Hart/Ice Cube comedy Ride Along, with it’s humor filled action scenes and witty dialogue, went on to make $41 million in it’s opening weekend against a budget of $25 million. The film targeted the 18-30 demographic looking for a mindless comedy to gravitate to. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit failed in attracting much of the younger demographic but got a suprising turnout with viewers over age 50. Jack Ryan had what many older viewers liked: action, classic genres and men being adventurous. Ride Along targeted much of the younger generation with it’s mindless humor and comedic tone.
Movies are more manufactured than most outside the industry imagine. It’s time to take a closer look.
I’m starting this new series of posts where I signal out the best articles of the week. Most of them will include movie/television or media career news. A lot of them might be Buzzfeed lists or Entertainment Weekly articles (sorry, I maybe practice some favoritism). Anyways, below is a list of some great articles I found. They include things about a Forrest Gump mini reunion (yes!) and having a creative career (you aspiring film directors/oscar winners can relate).
It’s easy to dismiss That Awkward Moment as another cliche, feel-goodie rom-com. It has the standard set of characters and scenarios to make it like others: main character is down on their luck, a talkative friend stands nearby and eventually the main character falls for another newly introduced character that is beautiful (but not conventionally so).
Suprisingly That Awkward Moment provides a fresh take on the romantic comedy film genre that many thought was dying. The dialogue holds viewer interest with its witty fiascos and funny liners. The film has a lot of “bromantic” nature to it yet it remains something that any viewer (male or female) could laugh at and relate to.
The film starts with Jason (Zac Efron) as he goes through a “break-up” with a girl he has been seeing for the past six weeks. She wants to break up yet he didn’t even know they were dating. He has a hard time deciding if he is “officially dating” any of the girls he sees. It doesn’t help that he has a talkative womanizer friend named Daniel (Miles Teller) who flows through girls with the help of a female friend luring them in to talk.
Things change when Jason and Daniel learn that Mikey’s wife has cheated on him. Jason and Daniel make a pack with him: stay single with him. Things prove tricky when Jason and Daniel both end up falling in love and have to start hiding it.
The film is hilarious and not like other generic love dove rom-coms. The dialogue points out common cliches of the bar dating scene. The film never seems to go stale as it tells the tale of a group of people trying to understand how to have a stable relationship with another person.B+
With the downward trend of romantic comedies and their less than stellar box office results, Director Tom Gormican took a good move in making the film (with a cast of well-known stars hot off successes) for only $8 million.
Jack Ryan is back, this time going to Moscow to stop a Russian radical from collapsing the U.S. economy. 2002’s The Sum of All Fears (with Ben Affleck in the main role) was the last time the Jack Ryan character has seen the big screen. The late Tom Clancy started the successful literary series. Now five films in the film lineup, with Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck all having a slice of the Jack Ryan pie, the film series has a history of reaping box office success (despite mixed critical reviews).
Plot: College-aged Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) decides to join the Marines following the 9/11 attacks. the decision to join leaves him skeptical and wanting more. A helicopter crash leaves him injured, retired from the military, and wondering what to do next. In comes mentor Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner). Harper recruits Ryan into the CIA, having him investigate companies on Wall Street suspected of funding terrorist actions. In the standard action move, Ryan discovers a plan by Russian radicals to collapse the U.S. economy via various transactions. Ryan is tasked with taking down the head of the operation Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh, who also directs) while holding together his complicated relationship with longtime girlfriend Dr. Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley).
Main Point: Everyone loves a good action/spy flick and this film , with it’s standard set of action intense scenes, satisfies that without being to over top.
The Jack Ryan name has been mostly forgotten following a string of successful action films in the past 12 years mostly due to the successful James Bond and Bourne film series. Action packed scenes and witty dialogue keep the viewer’s attention intact during the whole ride of 100 minutes runtime. The starring cast fill their roles well and Branagh, who has previous directed Thor, finds his filmmaking niche. The camerawork is great, shots done well, and the actors know what to do without feeling dull.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a great, solid film. The film’s MLK weekend opening didn’t attract quite the audience it was targeting (most of audience was over 50 rather than 18-25) it still holds well with it’s near 18 million debut opening. Go forth and watch it if you feel an adventurous itch inside or are tired of seeing the standard weepy rom-com’s and parodies this time of year. B+
I just finished reading the book The Giver by Lois Lowry. The book follows a boy who is selected to be the ‘Receiver of Memory’ in the utopia-esque community he lives in. The film adaption, starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep and Taylor Swift, comes out this August.
I wanted to take a moment to look at some of the great films coming out this year. Not being a huge fan of movies with mindless explosions, most of the films on the list are not from adapted comics.
The Monuments Men
Image via Slate
George Clooney’s latest directorial effort deals with the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Program, a group that saved art and important cultural items before their destruction by Hitler in World War II. It is scheduled for a February 7, 2014 release.
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Image via Screenrant
Seth MacFarlane’s follow-up to his smash hit directorial debut Ted, deals with a sheep farmer (MacFarlane) who lacks courage. With the help of a lady (Charlize Theron) he develops a sense of confidence. The film includes a top notch supporting cast consisting of Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris and Amanda Seyfried. It will be one of the first movies released during the summer season, settling in on May 30, 2014.
The Fault in Our Stars
Image via Wikipedia
John Green’s beloved book dealing with a cancer-stricken 17-year-old named Hazel is coming to the big screen. The film follows Hazel as she deals with the trials and tribulations of cancer while making a friend, Augustus Waters, along the way. Scheduled to release on June 6, 2014, it is sure to welcome book lovers and anyone wanting to go against seeing an action blockbuster in favor of a smaller more personal story.
The Giver
Image via Wikipedia
Jonas is a 12-year-old living in a society where jobs are assigned based on evaluation of skills and couples are matched according to their personalities. The community is seemingly perfect as the citizens take pills to suppress “stirrings.” Jonas is selected to be the new ‘Receiver of Memory’ where he discovers the power of knowledge. He starts to see the faults in the community he lives in.
The film adaption stars Brenton Thwaites in the main role of Jonas. Jeff Bridges plays the giver, the one who trains Jonas. Meryl Streep, Taylor Swift and Katie Holmes round out the cast a film that will cause the viewer to think about the world they live in. Hunger Games trilogy and dystopian world fans would like. It comes out August 15, 2014.
The film known to many as the “12-year project” is finally making its debut. Richard Linklater’s film will have its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, January 19th.
Image via Hollywood Reporter
The film is unlike the majority of films surrounding it. Instead of filming for the traditional two-three months that most movies do, Boyhood took 12 years to make. The film follows the changes of a boy, Mason, as he goes from childhood to becoming an adult. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play the boy’s divorced parents.
The project has been filming in short periods (to chronicle the growth of the boy) over a period of nearly 12 years. It started filming in summer 2002 and recently completed its last shot in October 2013.
Linklater was at Sundance last year for the premiere of Before Midnight, the third installment in the ‘Before’ trilogy that followed a married couple examining their marriage years after meeting on a train in Paris.
