Sgt. Angle reporting for duty!

At ease, henchmen. Today I’m happy to bring you the highlights of the historical career of one of the best film editors of all time. This Spotlight seems to fall at an entirely appropriate time here at Semantink — just last week, Ben studied the glory days of comics, and Akatzen wound a 10,000 year clock with a superb recollection of Anathem. What better way to study the effects of time in film than by focusing on the skills and assets of the visual trickery of the film editor. I present to you our subject of this week’s film creator spotlight: Thelma Schoonmaker.

Schoonmaker is best known as “Scorsese’s gal,” having edited all of Martin Scorsese’s pictures since 1980’s Raging Bull (with the exception of his Rock-Docs No Direction Home: Bob Dylan and Shine a Light). Known for her versatility and editing against type (dissolves, simple angle/reverse angle as opposed to MTV style fast cutting, as well as the techniques of split screen and dissolves for the documentary Woodstock, Thelma has made quite the name for herself in the world of movies, and has three Oscars and countless other awards to show for it.

Originally, Thelma tested for state department exams and sought a position to work internationally for the state department. Having been born in Algeria and living in Aruba, she didn’t move to the states until her teen years. Because of the limitations on what she could say or do in mingling situations (for instance, not able to criticize Apartheid in the presence of South African dignitaries), Thelma exited her desire for a State Department position. She placed herself in line for a job she found in the classified ads for an assistant editor, and then took a six week course at NYU to learn the basic skills of cutting on film. It was here that she was pulled by a professor to help a young filmmaker struggling with his student project. That filmmaker was Martin Scorsese.

She then cut Scorsese’s first feature, Who’s That Knocking at My Door which starred a young Harvey Keitel. As you can see from the clip above, the filmmaking team already formed styles to compliment each others’ abilities.

After this, Thelma worked on several documentaries, most notable of which is the iconic Woodstock. For this film, she was able to bring musical performances out of a simple cinematic experience and make them more dynamic. Schoonmaker earned her first Oscar nomination for this film, but, oddly, was still not allowed to be a member of the editors’ union.

At the time, there was a catch-22 with the editors’ guild. You couldn’t edit a feature film unless you were in the union, but you couldn’t become a member of the union unless you cut a feature film. Thus, it wasn’t until TEN YEARS LATER (1980) that Thelma was able to cut a feature film and become a member of the union… mysteriously. She says, to this day, that she doesn’t know who pulled their weight to get her into the guild (she guesses it was Pacino).

Her first feature as a member of the union was Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, which also earned Thelma her first Oscar. Filled with gritty black and white sparring, boxing matches choreographed like dance routines, and improvised scenes filmed with multiple cameras led to a completely refreshing film dynamic that translated perfectly from life to script to screen, Raging Bull is not only one of the greatest films of all time, it’s an amazing foray into the blessed relationship between Scorsese and Schoonmaker that continues to this day.

With Goodfellas, we were treated to freeze-frames and long tracking shots to create a rocky road from the top of the world to the fall from grace. Notice how, in the scene below, we don’t cut away from Henry’s attack of this dude. It’s all in one take, such that we are not given the chance to look away. We’re this deep in Henry’s world, we’re not allowed to break away.

In The Color of Money, each and every game of pool was suddenly granted a personality and tone of its’ own, some with long lingering dissolves, and others chopped into jump cuts and overhead fly-on-the-wall shots. Here’s one clip of Tom Cruise ruling the school, with only a brief cutaway that serves us a wordless moment of introduction between Cruise and Paul Newman.

In the late ‘90s, Schoonmaker and Scorsese brought to us a classic, sprawling epic in the life story of the Dalai Lama.  Kundun allowed the filmmakers to take their time in a personal recollection of the spiritual and political leader, and the result is a colorful, true spectacle. That attention to detail was combined with character-based cross-cutting in Gangs of New York, another historical epic focused on cultural and moral diversity in 19th Century New York City.

Schoonmaker won her second Oscar for snipping The Aviator, the biography of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. Like most of Scorsese’s films, The Aviator is devoted to detail — from the costumes, music, and design to the carefully chosen shots and editing. Simple transitions to show the passage of time and also reveal Hughes’ devotion to his creations as much as his lovers. Notice the quick cutaway to DiCaprio’s foot in this scene, which hints at his OCD taking effect.

For  The Departed, Schoonmaker won her third Oscar, and Scorsese his first — for the kinetic and erratic chopping in a film that combined extended takes, simple match-cutting dialogue scenes, quick-slick jump cuts that made cell phones cool for once, and a flowing nature between scenes that helped us understand a fairly complex plot.

Most recently, both filmmakers combined their knowledge of the history of film styles in the elaborate and swell-paced thriller Shutter Island.

Up next for the acclaimed editor is Scorsese’s 3D adaptation Hugo Cabret. Let’s see what she can do with the exploration of 3D in the period piece adaptation — I’m sure it’ll be something great.

Thelma Schoonmaker is a true treasure in the history of film, now more than ever, as she, like Scorsese, respects and pays homage to (and builds upon) films and techniques of the past to improve upon the movies of today. This quote from her applies to forays from young filmmakers: “From MTV on, the speed of editing has increased, and that is now entering into narrative editing. People are not relying on good shots to tell the story, and I don’t think you can sustain that kind of cutting for the full length of a film.”

You are dismissed.

Sgt. Angle

Sgt. Angle Reporting for Duty!

At ease, fresh fish!

First, let me say that I was appalled by last weekend’s weak show of solidarity and support for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World! You’re spending  your time and money on what, Vampire’s Suck ?! Really??! You’ve made some bad decisions, maggot…real bad. Get with the program, mount up, and sit your butts down in the theater!

Now, onto business. This past weekend, we were given a hearty dose of blood, gore, and frightful waters in Alexandre Aja’s Piranha 3D, a semi-reboot, semi-sequel to the popular Joe Dante Cult film Piranha, from 1978. The original story (scripted by indie-darling John Sayles) told of a school of piranha’s let loose on a small town lake, and was meant as a B-style parody of JAWS. Roger Corman produced it — as only Corman would — and that film involved dozens of practical effects, from rubber fish tied to fishing lines to a simple hotel waitress standing in as a “boob double” for actress Heather Menzies.

Aja’s remake is brutal in many ways — overuse of CGI, terrible 3D conversion, gratuitous and plentiful nudity, hundreds of gallons of fake blood. And it’s also glorious — Christopher Lloyd doing a moderately watered down Doc Brown reincarnation, Richard Dreyfus in a classic and referential cameo, and Ving Rhames going medieval on killer fish. But even the water ballet by two naked women is hilarious only for a few seconds, then it just becomes a tedious distraction from, you know, the gore.

At the end of the day, after seeing Piranha 3D, I still could’ve walked right along the shores of the ocean and taken a dip, had I been off duty. The problem with this Piranha is that not enough is done to scare me. The script doesn’t have an underlying agenda, nor are any of the deaths filled with spine-tingling suspense. They’re all gruesome, the sort of way that the bloody kills of a Friday the 13th movie are gruesome — that is, without tension. With no tension comes no fear the minute you walk out of the theater.

There are a few “make-you-jump” moments — a bloody hand darting out of the water, a penis-less dude spurting his last bloody breath — but director Aja really needs to work out the meaning of “suspense” — odd, considering his breakout film was titled High Tension. Piranhas dash through dark waters and towards kicking feet at casual speeds. Most of the chomping that occurs in the first half of the film is of one person at a time. When the body count truly starts to climb, we’re left with mangled gore — body parts that become Spaghetti-o’s rather than recognizeable as humans. This effect was put to much better use in Peter Jackson’s early film Dead Alive. But Jackson had the foresight to frontload his movie’s setting in a bizarro-small town setting, and new how to play to the comedy. The actors in Piranha try to under or oversell their parts, and it’s sad that they weren’t given specific quirks that could’ve helped set the tone (something done to better effect in a movie like Scream).

Granted, we’re not talking high art here. We’re talking B-Movie schlock — get to the scares, character be damned! Then show me the schlock! Guts and gore and chomping CG fish will only take us to the edge of what your movie “wants to be”. You have to hand me the cheese on a silver platter. I don’t care about the teen kid’s high school crush, and I’m kind of sick of the whole sheriff’s department being full of tough folks who never made it out of the small town. Overkill is too narrow a concept to describe the level of gratuitous breasts in Piranha 3D — and this is coming from a man with more guts than Gianna Michaels’ breasts have surface area.

There’s been a lot of chatter that Piranha 3D is a movie that “knows what it is”, but it doesn’t. This isn’t a grindhouse flick, nor is it even an exploitation film, in the truest sense of the word. It’s a cheap imitation of B-grade horror, that fails to scare. However, I will admit that the amount of creative kills is quite remarkable in the scheme of things. As is the underwater lesbian ballet provided by Kelly Brooke and Riley Steele.

Perhaps the one missing element from JAWS…

The unbalanced ratio of scares to gratuitousness displayed in Piranha got me thinking of another great scare picture, told with incredible skill and depth, yet still able to scare the bejeezus out of the audience — JAWS (The original mama piranha, if you will).

Now, before you sound off about the differences in these two movies’ intentions, and the (attempted) exploitation aspect of Piranha vs. the serious artistic merits of Jaws, let me remind you that I’m not saying one film is better than the other. Piranha 3D obviously offers up a large dose of gore and blood, along with sex and c-grade jokes — all aspects of a movie to enjoy with a dozen loaded partygoers on a Friday night.

JAWS, on the other hand, will make you think twice about going in the water, and yet also tosses us a bone — literally — or two in the gore department.

My main point here is that you cannot compare apples to kumquats without at least acknowledging the context of where you pick the fruit. I’ve seen people get angry — angryyyyy — when talking about which Dawn of the Dead is better, Romero’s brilliant original or Zach Snyder’s career-making remake five years ago. One was labored and offered up strong social commentary as well as gruesome scares, while the other was fast-paced, unrelenting in jump-scares, and just as disgusting — but also included inside jokes and throwbacks to the original. Piranha 3D does the same, in its’ cameo offerings and the mocking of Girls Gone Wild’s Joe Francis via Jerry O’Connell.

I guess what it comes down to is that, however you play within the genre, know your part and play it to the fullest extreme. Piranha 3D is fun and brutally gruesome, but you’ve got to at least try the practical effects and utilize suspense. How hard is it to create suspense — real tension, I’m talking — when thousands of deadly piranha are swimming towards a whole lake full of drunk Spring Breakers?

Now get your asses back in the field and go see SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD!!!

You are dismissed!

Sgt. Angle

Sgt. Angle Reporting For Duty!

At ease, maggots!

Today I’m starting up a new type of briefing report, one that you’ll get monthly. It’s meant to be a lesson to you, a recap of the good and the bad of a filmmaker — the ups and downs…the highs and lows. Different than a spotlight, “The High Low Country” is a listing of the best and worst in the professional journey of the person in focus — rather than a simple summary of a career under the spotlight.

Hope you get a little out of the new feature. Now, to this week’s High Low Country, we take a journey through: Sylvester Stallone.

Name: Sylvester “Sly” Stallone

Ranking: Three Star General

First Battle Victory: Rocky. Career-defining film about an underdog boxer made more incredible by the fact that the film overcame the odds and defeated Taxi Driver and Network for the Best Picture Oscar. Stallone himself, nominated for Actor and Screenplay, which he wrote on his own, became the third person nominated in both categories — after Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) and Charles Chaplin (The Great Dictator). That’s Chaplin, Welles, Stallone.

Deepest Depths: Rocky II, Staying Alive, D-Tox, Rocky V, Driven

Signs of Life: Rocky IV, First Blood, Demolition Man

Best Asset: His veins. And buckets of red paint during Rambo and The Expendables.

Weak Point: The Specialist and Judge Dredd. You, Sly, are certainly NOT the Law.

Secret Weapon: Cop Land. Here’s a quick scene to give you a taste, Stallone’s sheriff getting schooled by the big city cop played by DeNiro.

Declassified Missions: According to a recent Q & A at Ain’t It Cool News, Stallone was offered the job of writing, starring in, and directing Godfather 3. He basically turned it down by shatting in the head of Paramount’s neck.

Victory March: Rocky Balboa, Rambo, and The Expendables have brought Stallone out of isolation and back into the fray.

He has the eye of the tiger…it must go.

Sly Stallone’s file, thick and padded with battles and blood, nevertheless keeps  you guessing at what you’ll see next if you were to take the time and watch his entire career in one sitting.

Determination: Remains a three-star general, fully qualified force in the celluloid battlefield.

You are dismissed!

Sgt Angle

Sgt. Angle Reporting for Duty!

As the summer of 2010 winds down, and the ever-constant barrage of mediocre movies continue to churn their way out of Hollywood, we’re left with only the annual “awards season” crop of movies to look forward to. But wait! Fall approaches, and with the changing leaves comes a fresh start to your cinematic experiences. Below is a short list of some goodies to keep your eye out for before the expected “great films” start to be bandied and tooted by mass amounts of critics everywhere.

The American — Anton Corbijn follows up numerous music videos for Depeche Mode, as well as his first feature, Control, with this art-house thriller about an assassin who hides out in Italy for one last job. Said assassin is played by George Clooney in another in a line of “subtle, quiet” roles akin to his parts in Syriana and Michael Clayton.

Never Let Me Go –Based on what has been called one of the best English-language novels of the last 100 years, written by Kazuo Ishiguro, this is an eerie tale, fitting for screenwriter Alex Garland to adapt (28 Days Later, Sunshine). NLMG is about a British boarding school’s young inhabitants who discover love and friendship before facing the harsh reality of their own existence. Telling you more just might spoil the true reveal. This is also Mark Romanek’s first film since the creepy One Hour Photo. Here’s hoping he can keep his expert, careful visual style with an even bigger budget and covering a larger span of time.

The Town - Based on a novel by Chuck Hogan, this is the movie that has a heist shoot-out scene that is being called — by anonymous sources who have collapsed under pressure exerted by the Sgt. — better than the one in Heat.

I was not a large fan of Gone Baby Gone, Ben ‘FFlick’s first directorial effort. The movie had its’ faults and cliched moments which weakened the emotional impact. But he showed potential, and the previews for The Town have been nothing but great so far. Plus, you have a cast that includes Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner, so it can’t be all bad.

Buried - An hour and a half, alone in a box with Ryan Reynolds. If this poster is any indication, we’ll be getting a suspense-filled, Hitchcock-like tale about an American contractor in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried alive in a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone to seek help, we are handed an apparent adrenaline rush of action in limited space. Lionsgate plucked this up at Sundance earlier this year, and it’s about time the film has reached public consumption.

RED — Adapted from the Warren Ellis comic, Bruce Willis plays a former black ops agent whose relaxed, retired lifestyle is threatened by an assassin. Willis wrangles his former team together for one last effort to survive the threat and reclaim his idyllic living arrangement. Helen Mirren plays his handler, and other actors you’ll see include Mary Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich. The director is Robert Schwentke, whose other credits include The Time Traveler’s Wife, Flightplan, and the pilot for “Lie to Me”. The Red panel at SD Comic Con KILLED with the crowd. Will the excitement spill over to general audiences?

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Woody Allen’s latest about life and love for a pair of couples with anxieties. Cast this time around includes Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas, and Freida Pinto.

I’m Still Here — Casey Affleck directs this “documentary” about Joaquin Phoenix’s bizarre attempt to leave the acting world and become a rapper.

I Spit on Your Grave — Remake of the horror, slasher, gross-out revenge cult film of the same title about a woman who is raped and brutalized who takes revenge on the jerks herself.

The Social Network — Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher’s intriguing tale about the start of Facebook.

What movie are you most looking forward to this fall??

You are dismissed!

Sgt. Angle

Sgt. Angle Reporting For Duty!

At ease…

This week, I’m giving you a quick summary of some of San Diego Comic Con International’s finer TV/Film moments — the “fringe” moments, not the over-publicized Avengers jargon or even Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch extravaganzas.

1. The Walking Dead – AMC’s newest foray into scripted television looks to be the best new show of the season. With the script written by Frank Darabont, and subsequent season one episodes by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, Walking Dead will pull no punches, the only limitation being the use of the F-Word in any episode. Everything else is on the table.

Walking Dead Comic Con 2010

At Friday’s Comic-Con panel, Darabont said as much, also adding that the footage shown had to be clipped in terms of the amount of bloodshed because this was a “family-friendly” convention — odd, then, that they included the word “sh*t” and the Expendables footage shown earlier at the Con was bloody violent throughout.

Nevertheless, panel was entertaining and full of information about how great the actors were, weathering the intense heat of on-location filming in Atlanta, and even attempted to answer a local union dude’s question about why Hollywood chooses to shoot outside of Los Angeles and the center of the industry — “we’re starving, too!” It was awkward and his tone was accusatory, but as Darabont handled it, 1) The story takes place in Atlanta, 2) The tax breaks are incredible. Tell California legislature to get off their butts and offer breaks to Hollywood to actually film in the heart of the industry, and we’ll all be able to get out of our own beds in the morning.

Footage looked fantastic, shot on glorious Super 16 mm — apologies for the handheld homevideo quality of the clip on this page, hopefully we can update soon. Darabont told us that, in terms of story, all the moments from the comic that we love will be included, and they’re trying to add some new plot points to keep us guessing. Also, look forward to the DVD release of the season, as they’re going to try and get a full-on black and white version of the pilot included (just like The Mist!). and the list of upcoming episode directors is impressive — directors of Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, and The Shield. One of the two female directors, Michelle Maxwell MacLaren, also directed Breaking Bad’s finest hour, “One Minute.” Looking forward to seeing what she pulls out of her hat.

2. Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.

The cream of the crop for Con experiences. I missed out on the actual “SPCC Experience”, which was available to badge-holders Thursday — Saturday outside the Hilton Gaslamp. I also missed the Scott Pilgrim Panel, though I’m reading only good things about it.

However, I was lucky enough to enjoy not just one, but TWO viewings of the film, Friday and Saturday night, and both times Edgar Wright was there to introduce the film with multiple cast members.

Both nights, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala spun records and led the crowd to root for fans partaking in pillow-fights and staring contests, all after 1000 + withstood hours in the sun and heat just for a decent seat in the Balboa Theatre.

Night one guests: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick, Jason Schwartzman, Ellen Wong, Satya Bhabha, Brie Larson, and Mark Webber. The standing ovation after the screening lasted about 2.5 minutes, and Edgar Wright was visibly thrilled.

Night Two guests: Brandon Routh, Chris Evans, Kieran Culkin, Mae Whitman, Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick, Jason Schwartzman, Ellen Wong, Satya Bhabha, Brie Larson, and Mark Webber. And Bill Hader. And Thomas Jane.

Writer of the comic Bryan Lee O’Malley also ran out to thundering applause both nights. I’ll have a review of the film for you next week.

Now, onto redder pastures:

3. Machete — Robert Rodriguez’s faux trailer wedged between films in Grindhouse is now a reality. Starring Danny Trejo as a badass Mexican gangster with a love of knives, this movie looks to be a lot of pointless violence for sh*ts and giggles — and ladies. Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba, to be precise.

On Thursday night at a random parking lot in San Diego, Rodriguez (Robert and Michelle) and Trejo served tacos out the back of a truck while the Impala Car Club of San Diego showed off low-riders and lucky Comic-Conners enjoyed free tequila, Tecate, and exclusive footage from the movie.

Footage started off with the trailer as we’ve seen it before, followed by a couple of clips of Trejo about to have a soft moment with a few ladies until gangsters break through the window — causing mass violence and havoc, and eventually a dude’s intestines yanked from his stomach. This was all played on a large screen up high in the parking lot, so people driving by could munch their lousy burgers while watching guts fly out of stomachs. Also in the background were a few dancers up on stage and Michelle Rodriguez spinning records with the DJ. All in all, even if his movies are sometimes just “meh,” Robert Rodriguez knows how to throw a good party.

And your Sgt. got a nice fist-bump at the taco truck from Danny Trejo himself.

4. Hawaii Five-O. Not a panel I was particularly interested in, before or during. The footage of the upcoming series reboot on CBS (guh) looked like a typical cop show…set in Hawaii. It’s supposed to be fun and good-natured, but looks to be something we’ve seen on countless other shows by now. Seriously, when will the quirky cops on TV genre fade away for a few years?

Panel highlights included Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim, both portraying characters who were only recurring roles in the original series. Oh, and Grace Park was in a bikini in the clip they showed of her character’s introduction. Bikini Park.

And finally, for those of you wondering about “big panels” this year, such as the unveiling of the Avengers and such, here’s a taste of the Green Lantern himself, Ryan Reynolds, reading the Green Lantern Oath:

Until next year, Con!

You are dismissed!

Sgt. Angle

Sgt. Angle Reporting for Duty!

At ease, film soldiers. This week, we’re going to talk about one current great young American actor and his quest to further the artistry of filmmaking: Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

This young whipper-snapper had a few co-starring and starring roles on television before taking a hiatus to “go to college,” thereupon returning to the land of Hollywood Dreams as an indie-darling and eventual star of one of the surprise hits of 2009, (500) Days of Summer.

Ahh, the young man who will soon be king of “classic” Hollywood, in his younger days under the towering John Goodman. And before that, he was already a star for young kids who dig chocolate cereal:

By the end of the 90s, Levitt had made his feature film debut in Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It, had fought alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween: H20, and earned a SAG nomination along with the rest of the cast of TV show “3rd Rock From the Sun”.

After a hiatus from acting to attend Columbia University, Levitt returned in some indie favorites: Manic, where he plays an angry young man sent to a juvenile mental institution. Brick, a high-school-noir in which Levitt is the new generation of Sam Spade; and then as a gay hustler haunted by his sexually abused past in  Mysterious Skin.

Darker, brooding characters seem to attract to Levitt’s sensibilities, as one of his stronger roles is the lead in The Lookout, screenwriter Scott Frank’s directorial debut about a high school athlete’s life as a janitor after a horrific accident causes memory loss and damages his senses and perception. He gets involved in a heist, and his battle with his own personal demons, as well as the thieves who’ve coerced him into the crime, are heightened to extraordinary levels of suspense.

Recently, audiences the world over grew to love JGL in the best film ever made, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, in which he starred as Cobra.

Of course, no one loves this film more than your Sergeant. Everyone else in the world was enamored and still might be, but Levitt’s hopeless romantic lead in (500) Days of Summer. He starred opposite Zooey Deschanel, who was easy to love and hate through and through. He would listen to Zooey’s debut as a singer/songwriter, She & Him, in the mornings to prep for their scenes together. How can you not fall in love with Zooey after hearing her tunes?! They even made this video with director Marc Webb ((500) director and also taking over Spider-Man’s reboot):

Since 2004, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has run a website called hitrecord.org. This is a great place for folks in the filmmaking and multi-media creatives to get together and collaborate using each others’ materials, videos, songs, and creative talents to create and create and create. As JGL says in the website’s New Deal Video: “The media that used to be a monologue is becoming a dialogue.”

This concept of collaboration is nothing new in the land of cinema, and could even be a lesson learned for some of the heavyweights of Hollywood — just read up on the sudden war of words between Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige and Incredible Hulk star Ed Norton over Marvel’s search for a new actor to play the Mean Green Avenger. Their reason was “rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt worked well in the ensemble for 3rd Rock, and even better as a lead in Brick, and finally was pitch-perfect in (500) Days. In just four days, he’ll be returning opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan’s apparent masterpiece Inception. Will JGL top himself once again? Will he hold his own opposite Leo DiCaps? Or will he steal the show again and show Hollywood and the world over just how “collaborative” and “creative” he can be?

Sound back on your Inception experience below!

You are dismissed!

Sgt. Angle

Sgt. Angle Reporting for Duty!

I’m here this week to discuss a couple of new movies that are each excellent viewing experiences for very different reasons. Cases in point:

Knight and Day

This is a good movie because it is exactly what it sets out to be. This not reason enough for you? Okay, how about Tom Cruise. Sure, he’s had a fair share of setbacks in recent years, both in the public eye and on screen (in the forgettable Lions for Lambs). But I’ll tell you right now, privates, there is something to be said for actors who can take their enjoyment of the craft to the extremes, and show you just how much they enjoy it.

Maverick!

When Cruise’s Roy Miller smiles, does his little chuckle at Cameron Diaz, he’s almost parodying himself. Even the character — a deep undercover spy who has apparently gone rogue, and crazy, over a top-secret device — is a complete parody of his Mission Impossible Ethan Hunt character — typically brooding, dark, barely breaks a smile, work is number one, etc. Roy Miller likes the work he does, likes the people he meets despite having to cut himself off personally from the world.

Likewise, Cameron Diaz plays an ultimate damsel in distress, crying out for help when she can probably, by now, learn to fend for herself, and being the thorn in the side of our hero as he tries to reach his goals.

Okay, at times the film’s “plot” becomes repetitive (you drugged her how many times?), and the “plot” truly is paper thin. But Cruise…come on. He is a screen presence. It’s high time the dude found a middle ground between brooding, self-centered anti-heroes and comedic caricatures (Knight and Day, Tropic Thunder). Then again, watching Maverick on a screen will always hold a special place in the box office charts. The dude knows what movies he wants to do, and luckily, he gets his pick.

Winter’s Bone

Double-award-winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival (Grand Jury and Best Screenplay), Debra Granik’s second film as writer/director is a wonder, to be sure. Images and the synopsis will cause one to think of “typical indie fare” — a girl who takes care of her siblings in an economically deprived, drug-ridden town searches for her missing father, a meth cook.

To the contrary, Winter’s Bone is a startlingly original take on the classic detective tale, set in a depressing place, filled with criminals and grungy neighbors, untrustworthy friends, and danger around every turn. Jennifer Lawrence, plays Ree. She is truly a star, embodying a strong resolve despite her familial and economic strife, who has grown “beyond her years” despite a lack of parental guidance. She aims only to care for her brother and sister, and the county is threatening to take away their home, which her father put up for bond on arrest. If her father doesn’t show up to court, they will be out of a home.

So begins her journey, inquiring her father’s old friends, namely his brother, Teardrop. John Hawkes plays Teardrop. You know John Hawkes, even if you don’t know him. Teardrop is a waste of space, a mean-mannered man who wants nothing to do with Ree or her situation. Does blood run thin in this hole in the world, or are there some ties that just won’t let go?

Ree’s trek to find her father brings her to a Southern crime-lord’s beat up house, a drug-addict’s shack, and to dark corners of realization and last resorts.

This is the kind of film that screenwriter John August (Go, Big Fish) would tell you to write — asking you, constantly, does everything that can happen on screen happen on screen, or are your characters sitting around talking about food?

There are a lot of shots, you see, of Ree with her brother and sister — teaching them how to shoot squirrels, for instance — that we might think are lingering pointlessly on the moment. But they are not. They advance her character when her character has gone into all the corners she knows to go, and then the story finds her. I do not think this is a bad thing. In fact, this is a great thing. When your characters is down and out and lost, with nowhere else to go, show us how he/she will react to a typical situation, then turn that situation upside down. In this instance, Ree is teaching her too-young-to-hold-a-gun siblings to shoot, when her friend shows up with a nice surprise to take her to the next step in finding her father.

Unlike Knight and Day, for instance. In that film, Tom Cruise will show up out of the blue to rescue our damsel in distress again and again. But this is different, isn’t it? This is an example of a writer forcing the story to happen, whereas in Winter’s Bone, Ree has done all she could do, and along the way we’ve met her friend turn her away once. Now’s the time to come back. It’s a payoff, ten-fold.

Knight and Day features predictable rescue moments, and Winter’s Bone, because of the strength of the character and her determination coming to a sudden halt, we’re given unpredictable solutions in a world where everything should be dark and everyone should be turning their backs on you.

Winter’s Bone takes the classic detective genre and A) gives us a female detective with a heart of stone, and B) sets it in such a wasted and decrepit location, we don’t even recognize the structure until her second or third inquiry. Then, it’s all a thrill ride until the end.

Please do yourselves a favor and see both of the above films when you get your next free moment. You’ll see Cruise at his best, and with Winter’s Bone you will get a chance to witness one of the best movies of the year, as well as a possible award-winning performance from John Hawkes.

Dismissed!

Sgt. Angle.

Sgt. Angle Reporting for Duty!

At ease, new recruits.

This past weekend, I shared a movie experience with a fellow officer. There were toys, and there was a story about an escape of sorts, but I don’t recall the title. How’s that for a laugh?

Before the movie, my fellow viewer and I had a deep discussion about “the previews,” aka “trailers” for upcoming films. He argued that he prefers to see movies fresh, with knowing as little about them as possible, while yours truly argued that some of the fun of seeing the current movie is the trailer for an upcoming movie, and that the point of the trailer is to get your ass in the seats in the near future. Here now is a brief history of trailers — their role in the past, the present, and the future.

Trailers were named as such because they used to be attached to the very end of the credits of the film playing in the theater. This was a practice dropped very quickly after the invention and integration of these promotional pieces, and “trailers” became “previews”, wherein short scenes from an upcoming production would be inter-cut with a narrator and a text description of the story of the film.

Yippity-do-dah, and we scoot to the 1960s, when the New Hollywood Era began kicking in — fast cutting, montage editing, and the always cheerful Stanley Kubrick pieced together trailers that were as much an art as his feature films.

Then came big blockbuster films and a need for the studios to blow their loads on any movie by replicating three-act-structure and, in some ways, blowing the whole film before we have a chance to purchase a ticket.

Beyond that, you should have learned by now that trailers are built by marketing companies and specialty editing folks who often use rushes, or dailies, in order to piece together something enticing to look at before a foot of film is pieced together by editors. Thus you’ll end up with a shot of Spider-Man’s web between the Twin Towers in the trailer, but then notice it absent from the final product (okay, bad example, but you get my point).

Or, you simply get spoiled by the trailer.

These days, companies like Ant Farm, The Cimarron Group, and Trailer Park, build trailers for all the big-shot studios. But each of these companies was created by a person or persons who put in their time at one major trailer company born out of the 1960s: Andrew J. Kuehn’s Kaleidescope Films (along with Dan Davis). Kuehn built his empire, and the future of trailer-making, on his self-produced trailer for the John Huston picture Night of the Iguana.

Kuehn helped re-invent movie advertising overall, and paved the way for the massive amounts of trailers, TV Promos, and Teasers we now see today.

For instance, check out this little bitty teaser trailer, in the truest sense of the concept, for David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s “facebook movie,” The Social Network.

Always be watching, always enjoy the little things between each movie you see. If you have a favorite trailer, post it below. We’ll revisit the best of the best in the weeks to come, including a look at: Viral marketing and teaser trailers, fan-made trailers, and trailer rehashes that seem to be all the rage these days.

Dismissed!

Sgt. Angle

Sgt. Angle reporting for duty!

Looking at the fantastic cover for the Mythoi Book One: Birth book that is due out later this year, written by James Ninnes (buy it here!), I noticed a beautiful creature that deserves to have a film made about it.

Then, just the other day, I was off-duty from a grueling set of rounds, and I therefore had more than a brief moment of time to peruse the cable channels for something fantastic to stimulate my visual senses. Thus I came across the SyFy channel (no relation to syphilis), and the wondrous plethora of low-budget “monster” movies that are upcoming and/or already screening, and I thought, how is it that these movies can get made, and I can’t get promoted above Sgt. in my ranks?

Folks, the movie and television industries are truly magnificent creatures in their own rights, because you can work for years to earn that million-dollar paycheck for a silly idea that is high-concept (Get Him to the Greek), or make just a few thousand dollars for another high-concept story that is sold to a cable channel (Attack of the Sabretooth). But really, which is more fun: drunk Russell Brand or a sabretooth f**king tiger?!

But there’s more than meets the eye happening at SyFy over the next year or two. Below is a look at some of their original movies, the B-grade and the (possible) A-grade, as well as a glimpse of their series development, and an interesting-only-after-you-think-about-its’-long-term-potential idea.

WYVERN: “When global warming unearths an ancient dragon, a small Alaskan town will be destroyed, unless Hell freezes over in time.” (That is the actual tagline from the website.)

MEGA PIRANHA: “When a science experiment goes horribly wrong, gigantic fish gain appetites for human flesh.” And air-cycling, it seems:

DINOCROC VS. SUPERGATER: “Two giant creatures terrorize tourists on the Big Island.” (The doctor’s breasts — real or fake?)

In an interview at shocktillyoudrop.com in February of this year, EVP of Programming Thomas Vitale explained that monster and creature movies are a specified genre of film that, for decades, have been around on Saturday nights to thrill, scare, and cause uncomfortable laughter in audiences across the US and beyond. Because of filmmakers like Roger Corman (I’ll shine a spotlight on that genius in a few short weeks), who always want to take a chance on a different story if there’s any way to turn a profit, the SyFy channel has been able to re-brand itself to be the mainstay for the return of Saturday Night Movies to bring its’ status above and beyond the typical science fiction flare (AKA Star Trek, Stargate, and gold-star show Battlestar Galactica).

Another upcoming project on SyFy’s plate is to take classic fairy tales and give them a “contemporary twist”. For example, the descendant of Little Red Riding Hood discovers that her family secretly hunts werewolves; Hansel returns to the woods after many years to seek revenge. These movies already began in February with Beauty and the Beast (see the trailer below).

You’ve got to give SyFy credit for twisting itself in some interesting ways — movies made as international co-productions for $2 million, gaining an audience of 2 million each premier, and re-inventing classic stories despite low-budgets). The channel is taking free risks with familiar material to reign in an audience beyond their typical viewers, and is doing so in such a way to target a very niche market with each new film experience. The network’s Ghost Hunters series was just picked up for another season, “Eureka” maintains credibility as a family-friendly science fiction based show about a small town where everyone’s a genius, and you can always catch a “Twilight Zone” rerun if you’re a night owl.

Finally, the good folks at the SyFy network are teaming IGN to bring cheesy monster-movie filmmaking to you, the viewer. Over the next 15 months, viewers will vote on every aspect of production — from the concept to the wardrobe, to the dialogue and arbitrary character deaths. Enjoy being a stay-at-home producer.

SyFy, despite your bizarre rendering of your own channel name, I salute you, and look forward to watching Malibu Shark Attack soon.…

Dismissed!

Sgt. Angle

Sgt. Angle Reporting for Duty!

Doubtless that the lot of you have already been reading and speculating on the news that Guillermo del Toro is no longer directing The Hobbit.

Hobbit to Hobbit, this town is too big for us.

Wah, wah! Boo-hoo! Now let’s get to the bare bones of it all and pick a winner to take up the reins of this beast.

Del Toro first signed on in April of 2008 to direct, coupling up with Peter Jackson to write two scripts out of the Tolkien story, with a tentative release date in 2012. Then, MGM sh*t hit the fan in terms of, you know, lack of funds. Then, not even a month ago, barely a month ago, del Toro bowed out of the directing gig, citing the fact that constant delays keep him from his passion projects.

Rumors abounded — Sam Raimi, who is apparently a great fan of Tolkien, has had his name thrown into the fire more than once. Yesterday, however, an interesting, reasonable, and dare-I-say logical choice was reported in the name of David Yates.

Below is a breakdown of why Yates is a great choice, as well as a quickie list of other top contenders who just might do the film justice. This is all, again, speculation, and it could even be less than a week from now when a real choice is made, which would make this write-up amount to nothing more than space on the screen — then again, perhaps we can brainstorm up another project for one of the below directors.

David Yates. This dude almost came out of nowhere when he picked up the Harry Potter franchise to direct Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and the upcoming Deathly Hallows (split into two movies). Before that, he directed the very mature, very complex, and very great thriller for British Television State of Play. If anyone understands the intricacies of character relationships, as well as big-budget effects — and the balance between the two — Yates is your guy.

He’s not a very showy director, and his trimming of memorable scenes from the Potter books during their translation to the screen can range from reasonable to beneficial to downright frustrating storytelling. It’s almost as if he truly does start as late as possible and ends as soon as possible — despite his Potter films climbing upwards of 2 and 1/2 hours.

While Yates has yet to gain household name status, I’d like to think that his character sensibilities and great shot composition can really push the envelope in the world of Middle Earth, if that’s possible, to a point beyond Peter Jackson’s physical landscapes.

Sam Raimi. Though never building to much more than rumor — especially as he preps his film version of Warcraft followed by a possible dip into the land of Oz — the thought of the Evil Dead maestro taking the reins of perhaps one of the best film franchises in history is only a little exciting, considering his not insignificant bungling of the latter two Spider-Man films. Not all of the negative aspects are Raimi’s fault, but when a filmmaker gives up on story and character simply for the sake of the studio’s explosive profit eyes, you have to wonder where their dedication lies. He briefly made up for his mistakes with the delightfully scary Drag Me to Hell, but could Raimi return to a big budget world — under the guiding hands of fellow-filmmaker Peter Jackson — with anything other than a mixed mess?

Alfonso Cuaron. Possibly only a rumor to the few and proud dedicated Prisoner of Azkaban lovers, Cuaron’s visual sensibilities are equivalent to Jackson’s in as much as his deft camera moves and the simple way he captures the heart of poignant and even otherwise bland scenes. However, this could also lead to his downfall, as The Hobbit, while powerful in the creation of the epic journey, is not a trip for the feint of heart, or for the child within. It’s for the grown-ups we will become. Granted, he contributed a great deal to the development of Harry Potter into a young adult, and handed us a more-mature-than-it-needed-to-be tale of friendship in Y Tu Mama Tambien, but is he ready for the gigantic budget and all-encompassing universe of Tolkien? All signs from Children of Men point to yes.

I’m telling you, you smell like cheese.

Kenneth Branagh. Go ahead, finish laughing. Who is to say that the director of many-a Shakespeare play or film couldn’t take on the intricate world and character intrigue within The Hobbit? Add that depth to the fact that he is currently shooting Thor, a big-budget Marvel action picture with devious villains (perhaps) and colorful action and special effects, and there’s a side to Branagh that’s ready to branch out. He is one of the greatest actors around today, so maybe he’ll even take on the monumental task of directing himself? Eh?

Frank Darabont. The guy’s too tied up on The Walking Dead TV adaptation to really dedicate to the project, but wouldn’t he be a great choice for the smooth editing and the way his stories unfold? Shawshank Redemption and The Majestic both unfolded in  way that basically implied that these movies always existed, and all we had to do was uncover the filmstrip. The Mist, while perhaps weaker in dialogue and character development, did however unfold almost casually; there is no other way to tell a Darabont script. His writing is always a clean, fast, easy read. I would even go so far as to suggest that Darabont take a pass at The Hobbit script before hoisting the camera over his own shoulders on this one.

George Lucas. Just F**king with you.

Neill Blomkamp. Finally, and perhaps the most obvious horse in the race that I’ve just made up, Neill Blomkamp, Peter Jackson’s protege. The double L Neill rocketed to success after his first feature District 9 — which also featured stunning CG work that was unmatched last year, okay, maybe by Avatar — and also found a way to develop the character of an alien to this planet through mockumentary footage mixed with the “in home” scenes of a father and son just trying to get home. He’s kind of an obvious choice to pick up the reins, but is also the most inexperienced in dealing with the huge budget, sprawling story, and majestic camera sweeps that are the true ingredients to Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth.

So there you have it. Who do you want to consider to take over Middle Earth territory from Guillermo del Toro’s departure? Sound off like you’ve got a pair!

Dismissed.

Sgt. Angle