Saturday, January 03, 2009

A brief ode to Michel Gondry

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Location Scouting

I’m informally location scouting for the big summer film project.  I’ve already got some leads (thanks, those who have reached out), and I’m pursuing more.  If you have access to any of these locations, or have a friend who might, please let me know:

-A cubicle-heavy office, preferably with a windowed conference room, an elevator, and a lobby.  (Single location needn’t meet all of these criteria.)

-A therapist’s office, preferably with a big ‘ol desk, chairs, and a stereotypical couch.

-A hotel lobby

When filming eventually happens, I’d obviously work around the constraints of the owners, on off-hours.  Any lead is helpful.  Thanks!

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

From Los Angeles to Bar Harbor

In which I mourn the passing of August.

Where did the month go?

-A spectacular Del Close Marathon
-A weird and wonderful five-day vacation to Los Angeles
-A majestic three-day vacation to Acadia National Park
-A sweaty photo shoot for Michelle Barbera’s sitcom pilot
-The angsty completion of two very different drafts of my own television pilot script
-A sad farewell to Jason and Jessica, now Boston expatriates
-A celebratory engagement brunch with my two families
-Two birthdays, a handful of headshots, and giddy wedding planning shoved into every nook and cranny….

September’s calendar is forecasted to be less dense, but a return to the ImprovBoston Mainstage will keep me busy, as will more writing/revising, the kickoff of work’s main stage season, and a quick GRE prep course (like, barf).

I hope to be able to codify the month of August into some interesting reading.  I’m writing like crazy, but none of it seems to be in blog format.  So, until I can summon the strength to reflect, here are some pictures from August…

Acadia at Dusk

Acadia at Noon

Code Duello @ DCM10

Code Duello @ DCM10

Pageant costume fitting

Pageant choreography rehearsal

“This Blue Earth” photo shoot

Monday, April 21, 2008

The Imitation Game

This is the finished cut of Kilroy Productions’s 48Hour Film Project, Boston 2008 edition.  Competing teams have 48 hours to create a short film, from script to score, from scratch.  Our designated genre was sci-fi, and we had to incorporate 3 items: a receipt, a character named Reginald H. Higginbotham (diplomat), and the line “This could get complicated.”  I’m proud of my team!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Midgets/Jessica Alba will not make your movie funnier

Is it Mini-Me’s fault?

Since the success of Austin Powers 2, there has been a glut—a glut, I say!—of small people in comedies.  I’ll get my disclaimer out of the way: I have nothing against midgets or dwarves; they’re actors too, and they deserve equal casting opportunities.  Some day an extremely talented small person will play Hamlet or Othello to massive critical acclaim, and drop-kick open the doors for dwarven dramatic acting.  But until that day, small people will be the easiest, cheapest way to visually telegraph “funny.”

Springing to mind:

• Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me
• Austin Powers 3: One Too Many
• Bubble Boy
• Epic Movie
• Meet the Spartans
• In Bruges
• The Love Guru

Feel free to add your own in the comments.  I haven’t seen half of the movies on this list, but I think it’s fair to judge them by their trailers.  Maybe it’s the mashup-movies (Epic, Date, Meet the Spartans) that have poisoned me.  I even hear “In Bruges” is pretty good.  But every time I see a small person in a trailer, I wince.  Who’s to blame for the consistent belittling of the little?  The trailer editors?  The writers?  The casting agents?  A more vast Hollywood conspiracy?  The audience, for continuing to laugh at airborne dwarves?

I have to give Mike Meyers credit for exploiting Verne Troyer as Mini-Me so thoroughly in Austin Powers.  Maybe the reason small people feel so tired in comedies is because Austin Powers did every midget joke twice over.  Better still, Mini-Me actually had a bit of relationship with Dr. Evil, too—something to do on screen besides fly around and look small.  Mini-Me is deepest small-person-character since… Tattoo?

But whatever credit I just gave Mike Meyers, I now have to take away.  Have you seen the trailer for “The Love Guru” yet?  The optimist in me cries, “You can’t judge a movie by its trailer!”  The me in me cries, “You are meant to judge a movie by its trailer!  History has proven this with alarming accuracy!”  Either I’m wrong or Mike Meyers, whose comedic mind I worship and envy, needs to break some habits.

The Love Guru boasts the return of Mini-Me and the most precise Mini-Me joke to date:  “You are a midget.”  Yes.  Yes!  Finally, the culmination, the alpha-and-omega of a joke ten years in the making.  (Even more sadly, we’ve seen Mike Meyers do the same joke setup before: the running “Mole” gag in Austin Powers.  Is he just tired?)

The Love Guru also features a new, terrible trend in comedies: Jessica Alba.  Has Jessica Alba ever made anybody laugh?  Intentionally?  I watched half of “Good Luck Chuck” over somebody’s shoulder on a train ride, and Alba’s “comic timing” seems to consist entirely of well-edited pratfalls.  In fairness, nobody (besides Jessica Alba) would claim she’s funny.  She’s bankable.  She’s eye-candy.  She’s a prize, a superficial motivation for male leads to leap into wacky scenarios.  Perhaps a female comic lead with something interesting to say/do would attract a more talented comedienne.

In summary: The Love Guru looks terrible.