Jumble of Mumble

Drinking Buddies

Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia

The film, made for less than $1 million, stars well-known actors Olivia Wilde (Tron Legacy), Jake Johnson (Fox’s New Girl), Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air, Pitch Perfect), and Ron Livingston (Office Space). The improvisation is the thing most interesting about this film. Director Joe Swanberg only gave the actors outlines with plot points and what had to happen for each scene. Being a romantic dramedy detailing the status and complications of a relationship, the dialogue comes through very real and touching. The movie is set in a brewery and follows Wilde and Johnson’s character interactions along with their respective partners. A-

Related: Before Sunrise/Sunset, Like Crazy (Although it’s slightly more “light” in mood than these)

Tiny Furniture

Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia

Aura (Lena Dunham) returns to her parent’s home in Tribeca with no job and a film studies college degree.  She is stuck in the weird stage (that many college grads face) where she is post-grad but not yet in the real world. The film, shot for just $65,000 is not for everyone. The pacing is slow and nothing seems to be going on at first. Dunham shows the numbness that many (nervous, desperate, helpless) recent graduates feel but she doesn’t seem to give much more. Aura never does more than just shuffle around hopelessly. It’s a phase that many recent college graduates have but not of an extendedly long period. B-

Related: Perks of Being A Wallflower, Giant Mechanical Man

“We’re Going to See This Through to the Bitter End”

The World’s End is the third installment in the Cornetto Trilogy by writing duo Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. Building upon the same formula of their previous successes (Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz) The World’s End adequately delivers laughs and embraces Wright and Pegg’s writing talents.

Image by Focus Features via imdb
Image by Focus Features via imdb

Instead of fighting zombies (Shaun of the Dead, 2004) or being a by-the-book cop (Hot Fuzz, 2007) Simon Pegg plays Gary King. Gary is a low life who peaked in high school who is hoping to re-ignite the good times he remembers having. At the start of the film, Gary tries to gather up his old high school buddies to revive an old tradition they did called “The Golden Mile.”

“The Golden Mile” involved going around and drinking a pint of beer at each of 12 pubs in the characters hometown of Newton Haven. Shortly after starting the quest, Gary gets into a fight with an odd acting teenager in a bar bathroom. Gary knocks the teen against the wall causing his head to fall off and exposing him as a robot.  The chaos starts to ensue shortly afterwards when Gary and his friends notice that the whole town of Newton Haven is infested with human-looking robots filled with blue ink.

Characterization is great in the film. Simon Pegg successfully play a drunk and druggie who is looking to have a good time with friends. Nick Frost (Pegg’s partner in crime in Shaun of the Dead) pulls off a solid performance as the reserved one of the group. Martin Freeman from the movie The Hobbit is also in the film.

The film project formed from an early screenplay that director/co-writer Edgar Wright wrote when he was 21. The original story involved a group of teenagers visiting several pubs. Wright reworked the script with Pegg to have a story that embodied the “bittersweet feeling of returning to your hometown and feeling like a stranger.”

Enjoyment will come from watching the film if the viewer liked the first two films in the Cornetto Trilogy. Crazy antics and surprisingly cool action scenes help keep the viewer watching. A sign of relieve can be given for the fact that the film does not employee the standard apocalypse movie format of people just running around and screaming.

Whether you have a love of sci-fi, action, or comedy, The World’s End employees all three while still giving new things to laugh at. The World’s End is a slapstick comedy that gives more to love from the creative minds of Pegg and Wright.

Evolution of the Romantic Comedy

“Boring”, “Overdone” and “haven’t I already seen this?” are some of the common comments that sit below a YouTube Trailer for an upcoming romantic comedy. People are getting tired of the predictable genre and are moving on from it to cinematic romance movies.

Romantic comedies used to be viewed in a positive way for most. They were easy to follow, had a predictable but nice ending and made you feel a mushy gushy warm feeling inside. For the most part, women would go in attendance to these types of films. Now it seems as though no one wants to see the dying genre anymore.

The 2012 film What to Expect When Your Expecting, even with a star studded cast, made only $41 million domestically against a budget of $40 million. The Jason Segel and Emily Blunt romantic couple comedy The Five Year Engagement grossed $27 million domestically against a budget of $30 million.

Studios seemed to try to take on a different approach this year with the guy-centric romantic comedies That Awkward Moment and Cavemen. That Awkward Moment seemed more like That Awkward Movie to most viewers due to its lack of a clear theme. The movie’s success seems to be attributed mainly due to the star power of its leading stars Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan rather than any compliments to the actual movie.

The cinematic romance and romantic dramedy have faired well recently. 2013 featured the films Enough Said, The Spectacular Now, Before Midnight, Drinking Buddies, and many others. Enough Said and Before Midnight  went on to gross more than $25 million each.

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Movie goers seem to divert from the clique plots and happy endings of rom-coms in favor of the realistic portrayals of romance in the films like Enough Said, Before Midnight and others. The films feature characteristics like natural lighting, complex conflicts, *real looking* people and natural dialogue (particularly in the case of Drinking Buddies which had largely improvised dialogue).

So in the times of decreasing box office returns, studios should look into romance films that people want: ones that show there isn’t always a happy ending to relationships…and that’s okay.

 

 

Review: Carpe Diem & Dead Poet’s Society

By the end of Dead Poet’s Society (1989), you won’t be able to get the motto “Carpe Diem” out of your head. Dead Poet’s Society is a drama film set in 1959 at a conservative school called Welton Academy. It tells the story of new teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) and his unconventional teaching methods. Keating inspires his class of students through teaching poetry.

Image by Touchstone Pictures via http://cinemud.com/dead-poets-society-1989-720p-brrip-x264-yify/
Image by Touchstone Pictures via http://cinemud.com/dead-poets-society-1989-720p-brrip-x264-yify/

The only storyline that is given depth is with the character of Neil (Robert Sean Leonard), who has ambitions to become an actor. His strict  father forbids him from doing so. He wants Neil to go to military school, then enroll at Harvard University for a career as a doctor. The pressure from his father and teachers at school drives Neil over the edge.

Robin Williams gives a fine performance as the boys over-the-top zany teacher. Williams brings a witty yet intelligent characterization to teacher. He articulates his words nicely and makes every word he’s saying meaningful. Williams was honored for his performance with an Academy Award-Best Actor nomination.

Being in a privileged, conservative and strict all boys school, the boys are sheltered from the many things of life. William’s character does unconventional methods of teaching in order to get the boys to start thinking for themselves and questioning the things in life.

Many people might be slightly disappointed by the film. The script does not fully develop any of the characters (including teacher John Keating). Scenes in the in the movie do not seem to fully fit together with each other. Many people might think the film does not explain the characters actions on their pursuit of “Carpe Diem” enough.

Despite any short comings one may experience, the film is sure to give one a new motto to keep in mind: Carpe Diem. Suck the marrow out of life and make your life extraordinary.

Although the ending to life has already been written, one can still compose the story.

Note: Apple recently made a commercial with the voice over of Robin Williams doing the “What will your verse be?” scene in Dead Poet’s Society.  The commercial is promotion for Apple’s iPad Air. Watch below.

It’s a James Franco Summer

Note: I don’t normally talk about myself but…I’ve been in hiding for the past three weeks. College work and a huge pile of applications have consumed me. A bunch of great things in film and television happened and I missed it (the Parks and Recreation season finale was awesome!) Anyways, I’m back, and decided to post about James Franco’s never ending list of projects.

When you think of the upcoming summer movie season, thoughts of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars or the new Transformers film fill your mind. Well actor James Franco has managed to sneak his way into having four films coming out this summer. Every month from May to August, Franco will have a movie coming to theaters.

May 2014: Palo Alto

Based on the 2010 bestselling short story collection written by Franco himself, Palo Alto focuses on the happenings of a group of rebellious teenagers. The film is the directorial debut of Gia Coppola, granddaughter of director Francis Ford Coppola and niece of Sofia Coppola.

Coppola mentioned how she fell in love with the book when reading it and how it depicted teenagers is a realistic way. She adapted the short story collection written by Franco and collaborated with the teenage cast in order to make it more authentic.

James Franco appears in the film as a soccer coach who hits on a high schooler (Emma Roberts).

May 9, 2014

June 2014: Third Person

In this ensemble romantic drama, Franco plays a New York-based painter who fights with his ex(played by four-time co-star Mila Kunis) over the custody of their son. The film ties in several stories over the course of three cities.

June 20, 2014

July 2014: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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A follow-up to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the film follows Caesar, the ape, as he leads a rebellion through San Francisco. Franco makes a small cameo (leaving the lead role he had in the first film) as Will Rodman, Caesar’s former owner.  July 11, 2014

August 2014: Child of God

Lester Ballard is a murderer and an outcast in 1960’s Tennessee. Franco plays Jerry, who is part of the mob hunting down Lester.  Franco (who served as director) adapted the film from Cormac McCarthy’s critically praised 1973 novel of the same name.   August 1, 2014

 

“Wanted: Someone to Go Back in Time with Me”

WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED.

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Safety Not Guaranteed follows Jeff (Jake Johnson), a cocky writer at magazine who spots an ad in the classifieds that mentions time travel. Jeff wants to investigate the man behind the ad. With the help of two interns, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni), they set out on a trip to Ocean View, Washington to find the man.

The team is able to track down the guy who placed the ad. He is a man named Kenneth(Mark Duplass) who is in his 30’s working at a supermarket. Kenneth is resistant when confronted with the hard hitting efforts made by Jeff. Darius, using her sarcasm and deadpan humor, is able to quickly form a bond with him. Kenneth will take Darius along with him in his time machine. Kenneth wants to travel back to 2001 to save a girlfriend who died.

Safety Not Guaranteed, produced for just $750,000, is a film that enhances the mumblecore films that have come before it. It has a characters that are putting their quirky natures to use. The dialogue is great. Mark and Jay Duplass, producers on the film, helped start the movement with films like The Puffy Chair and The Do-Deca-Pentathlon.

The film is based upon an actual newspaper article. The inspiration for the script came from a 1997 Backwoods Home Magazine classified ad written by an employee as a joke filler.

The film’s performances are great. Mark Duplass shows how versatile an actor he is. Known very well for his award-winning directing and writing, Duplass brings something special to the character of Kenneth. Kenneth is odd but there are reasons for it. Duplass nails the job of giving long bursts of lines and making them all count. Aubrey Plaza shines in her first starring role. Plaza demonstrates more beyond her already widely known deadpan skills that she does on NBC’s Park’s and Recreation. Plaza play the role of Darius, a sarcastic recent college grad, very well. Plaza and Duplass are the standout performers of the film.

The film is vague when it comes to whether time travelling actually takes place or not. Nonetheless, the writer, director and actors provide a solid film to remember.

Derek Connolly, screenwriter for the film, won both the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

Image by FilmDistrict from http://www.imdb.com/

 

SXSW: Veronica Mars Gives a List of Firsts

Veronica Mars debuted on the now defunct network UPN in 2004. Despite middling ratings, it had good critical praise and a dedicated following. Maybe if it had been in the days of high DVR viewership and Netflix it would have survived. In 2007, the CW cancelled it after three seasons.

Marshmallows, the nickname for Veronica Mars fans, did a series of intense things to revive the series. A plane was hired to fly over a city, marshmallows were sent in to CW studios, and an endless string of (strongly worded) letters were written to TV executives. It was still a no go. CW and Warner Brothers Studios were ready to move on and had no interest in reviving the series and producing a much anticipated movie.

Things changed when a Kickstarter campaign launched on March 13, 2013. It was the first time a network show attempted to return as a feature film via crowdfunding. Short story? It worked. Less than 24 hours into the run, the campaign had surpassed it’s $2 million goal. It went on to raise $5.7 million from over 91,000 backers by the end of the month long campaign.

The Veronica Mars film is shifting up things once again. It will become the first film to be released simultaneously in theaters and video on demand by a major Hollywood studio (Warner Brothers).

A long time ago we used to be friends…and we still are. (Theme song tweak).

Veronica Mars premieres at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas on Saturday, March 8th and will hit AMC theaters and VOD platforms (iTunes, Amazon Instant) on March 14th.

Wish I Was Here (2014 film)

Website for Wish I Was Here (film)
Website for Wish I Was Here (film)

Wish I Was Here, the movie Zach Braff co-wrote/directed, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival two weeks ago. I was a little excited about the movie premiering due to the fact that I pitched in via Kickstarter to fund it back in April 2013 (I can call myself a movie producer!). While my excitement was somewhat high, it quickly went down. Zach Braff and the rest of the staff working on Wish I Was Here haven’t done a really good job of making their Kickstarter backers (which funded $3.1 million of the $6 million budget) feel very appreciated.

Being a public relations major I felt the need to point out some of the missteps that Braff and the rest of the Wish I Was Here team have done. Discontent among the backers for the project has become more evident since its premiere at Sundance. Flavorwire pointed out about how the film and its production is becoming a public relations nightmare. Read the article here.

The first thing wrong with the Wish I Was Here Kickstarter production is the delay of the rewards. Kickstarter backers were promised to receive rewards based on the varying levels of money they pledged to the project. Yet since the finish of the project campaign in May 2013, backers have gotten nothing except a few behind the scenes videos. They have basically gotten nothing more than the average user would get when purchasing the home media DVD.

To make matters worse, in November 2013 Braff decided to open the wishiwasheremovie.com site to everyone. Everyone had access to the videos. Backers who pledged their money were receiving nothing more than what the typical internet surfer could find.

Zach Braff should have thought twice before reaching out to crowdfund his film. He said the reasoning for the kickstarter campaign was so he could remain creative control over the film and not have to cut things. His rational doesn’t hold much clout given the fact than nearly all filmmakers have to be willing to sacrifice some things to get their movie made.

Veronica Mars, the other big film financed through kickstarter, differs from the public relations nightmare of Wish I Was Here. Veronica Mars was backed by fans before the campaign even started. Rob Thomas (creator of series) kept constantly communication with the backers. Rewards were put out not too long after the film finished shooting. Veronica Mars was not co-financed with the help of a major hollywood studio like Wish I Was Here.

Main Point: Communicate more with your backers Braff. Give them the rewards they were promised, sooner rather than later. Make them feel part of the production rather than just providing the stock behind the scenes videos.

50 Follows

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)
Site Redesign: Before/After
(for Web Design & Publishing class)

Movie Marketing Playbook

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.