NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH INDY 4 INDY 4

Lucas has finally said Ok to a script and they'll start filming in 2007, releasing Indy 4 in May of 2008.

Da Worst

Oh my Christ, Domino was a complete mess. Finally got around to seeing it, and it had to be the worst movie I've seen in quite some time. I wanted it to be great. Cool. Kick-ass. It wasn't. I blame the script, although I'm hoping for Richard "Donnie Darko" Kelly's sake that it was ripped apart prior to production - because it stunk.

I liked the idea of the movie, the actors did the best they could with the trash they were given, and some of the action scenes were ok - I think. With Tony Scott's "directing" of late, you simply can not tell what the hell is going on. All of his scenes are a mess of useless flashes and jumpcuts. He's never been a great director but at least with his past successes, stuff like Top Gun and Days of Thunder, you could see that he knew how to put scenes/sequences together.

I think with True Romance he started to decline, depending too much on visual gimmicks. Enemy Of the State was a good effort, at least he had some actual direction going on, however, he threw all that out the window with Man On Fire and this tragedy on film - Domino. Tony - just make a movie that we can see and enjoy without having a fucking seizure.

I did see another God-awful movie - A Sound Of Thunder, starring Eddie Burns. Holy shit was this bad. Decent concept, but what an atrocious execution. The F/X in this steaming pile of llama shit made the effects in Space Pirates seem cutting edge. How could they have edited this together, added the effects, and said - Yup! It's awesome!! Wow. Bad.

These pieces of crap got me thinking though, of bad movies that you can actually enjoy that they're so bad. Like Arnie's Commando. Loved that! He throws the pipe into the baddie at the end and says "Let off some steam, Bennett." Classic. John Matrix rocks.

Two questions - what are some of the worst movies you've seen lately, and what movie (or movies) are really really bad but you still love them?

X-Mas

Merry Christmas!!!!!

It's funny. This time last year I was saying the same thing on this blog, and that one goal was to get writing off the ground finally and leave my day-job-pays-the-bills-thing behind and get my writing career going full-time.

Haven't quite done that yet. Things are still on the move, had some action this year on scripts and stuff, and I do believe I'm closer, but nothing has officially sold and my pilot isn't in production or anything, so while I'm closer, I'm not all that close. I'm hoping to kick some serious ass in 2007 though. And I hope you guys/gals do the same!!

Happy holidays.

King Of California

Well, 2007 is looking to be quite a year. i'll do a forecast soon of at least the shit that interests me. Anyway, following Trade, here's another film that looks like a good one, King Of California, starring Michael Douglas. Loved him in the awesome Wonder Boys. I like how he doesn't stick to the glossy stuff, he jumps in and out of indies every now and then like Bruce Willis. Check out the trailer.

Trade

So far, this is my #1 film to see in 2007, hands down. Amazing trailer, best since Little Children. But this is also an important film, a must-see. Check out the trailer. Amazing stuff.

Holla!

Sorry, I had to.

Some updates - New plan for Cricket Hill - We've decided to turn the pilot back into a 1 hour pilot, which I'm totally ok with. The first several drafts I made were 1 hour, so it'll be easy to re-expand it. The main reason is that it's more of a comedy/drama in its tone, not really a sitcom-ish line-line-punchline, line-line punchline type of story. So I'll be working on that, we've got a couple pretty big TV producers that we're taking it to soon.

Still plugging away on The Stand-In. My Manager is super-excited about this, he's already pitched the idea to a few of his peeps in H-Wood and they've all said it's something they'd like to see. The plan is to have that script completed next.

Haven't gotten to the movies lately, but if I did go I would NOT see Deja Vu (it just doesn't do anything for me, but I'll catch it on HBO) or The Nativity Story (doesn't look at all interesting). But I would like to see We Are Marshall. It just looks so damn inspiring and all, yeah, it's sure to make me weep like an open sore. I just gotta see it.

Saw Nacho Libre on DVD, enjoyed it, didn't blow me away. also saw The King which was an interesting movie, it was well done, but one you'd never have to watch again.

Music - I love that Fray song, How To Save A Life. Oh that's a good one. Broke out an old mix tape and caught some of my 90s goodies - James, Ride, Ocean Blue, REM, New Order, Depeche Mode, great stuff.

TV - We've been watching My Boys, a new sitcom on TBS. It's actually a very funny show, well written, and the cast is great. Nip/Tuck blows hard this year. Not into Daybreak at all. Still loving The Office, and my wife and I are hooked on Heroes, Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, Studio 60, and Dexter. Oh, and Dirty Jobs!

Best Pix? Well, so far it's been United 93 at most of those critics awards, with Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima taking some. It looks like it'll go down like this for the Best Pic race:

United 93 (my fave of '06)
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Departed
Dreamgirls

As for #5, it'll likely be Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, or Pursuit Of Happyness.

Script Excerpt - Temp'd

The following excerpt is the beginning 3.5 pages of Temp'd. In a nutshell, it's about 3 buddies who gets jobs as temps in order to rob an escort service located in the same building. No, that is not an official logline. Also, sorry for the format, I know some of you post excerpts and they look all page-like, but I ain't be knowing how to do that. Anyways, here it is......

TITLE CARD ON BLACK: “SEND LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY....THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN...” WARREN ZEVON

FADE IN:
INT. CAR - DAY
Three men in their early 30s sit in the car. In the back seat is MORRIS. In the front are DAK (driving) and ED.They are stopped, waiting for a bunch of geese to cross the road.

MORRIS

This is bullshit.

DAK

Lotta damn ducks here.

ED

They’re geese, dude.

DAK

Ducks, geese, what do you fucking care?

ED

Just drive around.

DAK

They’re all over the road, I can’t.

MORRIS

Ed, ain’t they pissing you off?

ED

I like geese. Look at them. Just minding their own fucking business. They don’t give two shits about us.

MORRIS

Well, I say we run them down.

ED

No way. Don’t you wish we could be like that? Like, people in general I mean. Just kinda doing our own thing, not getting in everybody’s face. Just living life, man.

DAK

You’re nuts.

MORRIS

I don’t wanna be like no damn bird.

ED

I didn’t say I wanted to be a fucking bird, Morris. It’s a fucking metaphor.

DAK

Since when are you all thoughtful?

ED

What crawled up your ass and made you Mr. Bitter?

DAK

I’m not Mr. Bitter.

ED

Sure you are. Dak Bitter. That’s your new name.

DAK

I don’t want a new name.

MORRIS

Up your ass with your metaphors. Let’s kill the birds.

DAK

I am not driving over them. This is my car. I just washed it. I even waxed it.

MORRIS

Then we should have a party because you cleaned your car.

DAK

Look!

They look, there’s just one left.

DAK

Go, bird!

ED

Follow your bird-friends! Go on!

MORRIS

Move, you fucking bird!

The fucking bird stands there.

DAK

What an asshole. Look at him.

MORRIS

How about now, Ed? Still wanna be like a bird?

Ed looks out at the road. The bird seems to stare directly at him.

ED

Fine.

Ed steps out of the car and approaches the bird.

BIRD

AACCK! AACCK! AACCK!

Ed draws a gun, aims and BAM!

TITLE CARD ON BLACK: 3 Weeks Ago
INT. ELEVATOR - DAY
Standing in the elevator with Ed is JULIA (early 20s). NEIL (late 20s) runs in as the door is closing.

NEIL

Three, please.

ED

We’re all going to three. We’ve been going to three all week.

NEIL

Good morning to you, too, sunshine.

(to Julia)

What’s your name again?

JULIA

Julia.

NEIL

I’m Neil.

Julia nods politely.

NEIL

Oh. Gonna be like that, are you? Your shit don’t stink? I bet you a twenty it stinks. I bet you twenty more that it stinks like shit.

Silence as the elevator travels. Neil farts.

NEIL
Whoa, speak of the devil. That was me. Don’t worry about it everybody.

They’re all disgusted.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY
The elevator door opens. They get off quickly, waving away the odor.
MR. STONE (late 30s) approaches.

MR. STONE

TGIF!

They stare at him blankly

A Piss Poor Logline

I saw this logline on the Movie-bytes website, and it made me wish explosive diarrhea on myself. Here it is, for a script called Operation Longbow, Before 9-11:

"Aborted attempted assassination of a terrorist, in the Sahara by the use of a special sniper rifle called the Longbow. However, most of the story and subtext deals with serial murders in New Orleans during the height of Mardi Gras."

And my reply is - What? C'mon dude. First of all, your title is insanely dumb. 2nd, this logline is complete shit. If you (the writer of this crap) happens across my blog, I hope you're not too offended. I don't mean to make you feel like an asshole, but have you read the logline? It's terrible. All it sounds like to me is a really stupid, shall I say retarded, idea.

I'd hate to read the synopsis, probably make me want to beat Tom Crymes with a shovel.

My point: As most of you (except for Mr. Longbow) are aware, your logline is your first attack on a producer. If it comes across as dopey-sounding as this, do you think they'd really want to read the script? Hello, no. And if they do, well, then you deserve each other.

These Darn Kids of Today

What the hell do they like? I've been thinking over the past few days, what movies/tv shows/music will stay with them?

Back when I was a kid, there was a ton of stuff that always amazed us, inspired us. Like the original Star Wars Trilogy. Amazing stuff. I can still watch them now and wax nostalgic. (Don't get me started on the prequels again..............). But these were movies that changed everything. And stuff like Jaws, Close Encounters, Gallipoli, Manhattan, Indiana Jones.

What will the kids of today remember in 10, 20 years? Lord Of the Rings? Maybe, but it's not really a movie/series you can just toss in for a good time, and I think most of the fans from those epics were geeks my age and older anyway.

"Remember that time when we were playing with our Yu-Gi-Oh cards?"
"Oh, man, how 'bout that time when we were watching the Wiggles and they say about potatoes?"
"Guess what I made with Floam?!"

I just can't see it.

TV always had something cool on. From Dungeons & Dragons on Saturday mornings, to Star Blazers, Thunderbirds 2086 (not the marionettes/puppet things) and of course, the original Muppets.

Music - I listened to a lot of stuff growing up, I even went through a Quiet Riot phase, and my first favorite band was Asia. Thankfully I got some sense and moved on to stuff like U2, REM, 10000 Maniacs, Radiohead, Youth Group, etc (although I'll still give Asia a blast when it comes on the radio).

But what will this generation listen to as "Classics?" London Bridge? Milkshake? My Humps? God, I hope not.

Strike back below with some of your oldies/favorites from "back in the day." Also, what will be remembered from now in 10 or 20 years?