Chelvendra Sathieaanandha
I’m not sure if anyone’s been watching On The Lot but it’s a show on Fox, created by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett. I’ve heard about it a number of times, but I only happened to catch it earlier this week. For those who don’t know, it’s sort of like an American Idol for filmmakers with a prize of a one-million dollar development deal at dreamworks. So as expected, many people apply and only a handful are selected. Each week a group of contestants are given a theme for a short, and once made, viewers vote on their favorite films. The contestant with the least votes is sent home.
Anyway, when I saw the show earlier this week there were quick highlights of the previous week and the judges comments, which I find hilarious. One judge, Gary Marshall, loves quoting other people in his appraisals of short films. Carrie Fisher is equally amusing. You probably need to watch just one episode and you’ll enjoy the somewhat non-constructive feedback.
I’m not sure if this is a regular thing on the show, but there was a guest judge on this episode who was one Luke Greenfield. He’s quite a young filmmaker, just over thirty years of age. I looked him up on IMDB just because I was bored, and I wanted to know who he was. His notable directing achievements are basically The Animal with Rob Schneider and The Girl Next Door with Elisha Cuthbert. Both films had their amusing moments, but neither was really that good in my opinion (but who the hell am I?) and his comments on the show which could be summarised as “totally unexpected is good” were a bit strange. I was just wondering why he was on a show as someone with authority where they are trying to find a good new filmmaker. I was reading his bio, and I read that Adam Sandler searched out Luke Greenfield to direct the Animal after seeing his short film The Right Hook which was made a good six years after he left the USC under-graduate film school. I checked out the film on YouTube, and it was quite decent – written and directed by Luke Greenfield, check it out here.
If you’re willing to respond to this blog-post and are short on time, perhaps reading the last two paragraphs of this post is enough because I’m really interested in what people think.
Chinatown is a really good film. The characters and the strange character relations are somewhat unique. Another particularly interesting element of the film is its structure, and it is discussed in Alternative Scriptwriting at some length. I’m probably inadvertantly spoiling the film for you in the rest of this post, so if you plan to see the movie (which you should) perhaps skip over this of this paragraph. The structure of Chinatown isn’t particularly noticeable,, seemingly framed almost standardly in the three acts, but then the last act of the film illustrates otherwise, revealing to the audience something classically unexpected. (more…)
Filed under: News
I’m sure a lot of people have already seen this, but it’s really interesting if you haven’t. Gupta’s “keeping him honest” piece has so many quick edits! I’m glad Michael Moore makes his documentaries with a clear argument and opinion; and it’s interesting to hear him speak his mind on television, and refuse to be edited in any way. I definitely find his films entertaining, and interesting and thought-provoking. Obviously, nothing should be taken at face value. I look forward to seeing his newest film, Sicko.
I was in Los Angeles early last year, and I remember the greatly contrasting attitudes of two cab-drivers I was lucky enough to meet. Strangely enough, I had the same cab-driver for most of my time in LA. He must have been watching out for me (the chump) every morning, knowing that he’d get a decent fare and that he could suggest a place in LA, even if it was quite out of the way, and I’d check it out. I liked LA quite a bit. I spent my time in the nicer areas so I didn’t get a complete impression of the place, but I did like the areas I frequented. Regardless of that, this cab-driver that was taking me around the place probably improved my opinion of LA simply because he seemed to love place, and in fact, he even said so. He told me how happy he was that he moved to LA, and he told me that he would never want to live anywhere else. So, considering that I want to move to LA for a bit, I found his enthusiasm for the place quite contagious. I mean, I wanted and want to live in LA for a couple of years, and I was becoming increasingly optimistic of having a decent time while living in the city. (more…)
