Archive for Slinger’s Notes

halo 3

I recently searched some of my favorite news sites and found a link to a great article:

20 Movies Not Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

Containing such titular titles as Terry Gilliam’s long-lost Don Quixote project, and the Halo movie that we probably will never see (which was recently rumored to be made into an animated series- that rumor apparently also been denied )

don quixote

There are some great lost titles in here, so do yourself a favor and read it over. You guys in to the gaming are missing out on Duke Nukem Forever, while us film nuts are totally dying to see Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis.

Here’s the site’s description of that project:

Potential Cast: Nicolas Cage, Russell Crowe, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, and Kevin Spacey.

Francis Ford Coppola has almost as impressive a career of films that never came to fruition as he does of films that have. Coppola’s list of projects-not-made include his long-in-the-works adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (which he will now produce for Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles) and a personal take on Pinocchio (following the tragic death of his son in 1985) that led to a lengthy legal battle with Warner Bros. over the film’s rights. As much as we’d like to see either of those films directed by Coppola, The Godfather director really broke our heart when he announced he was scrapping Megalopolis, an ultra-ambitious epic about the battles between art and commerce, history and the future, told through the architectural restructuring of New York City. The film, however, was hatched in early 2001 and crumbled in that same year following the September 11 attacks.

Project Status: Coppola isn’t ruling out a return to the sci-fi epic, recently telling Ain’t It Cool News, “I have abandoned that as of now. I plan to begin a process of making one personal movie after another and if something leads me back to look at that, which I’m sure it might, I’ll see what makes sense to me.”

THIS is another essay I did for my Literature in Film class at Salisbury University, this time comparing the book, The Talented Mr. Ripley written by Patricia Highsmith to the movie directed by Anthony Minghella. I got a pretty good grade on it, as it details some drastic changes in the two narrative styles. If you have seen the film or read the book, give it a read, and if you haven’t done either, you should probably watch or read both. This is a great story about a dark character and real human drama.
ripley book
A Brief Summary:
Tom Ripley (depending on the medium) is a young man who lives in New York, tricks people out of money, and then does whatever he likes, getting his fix by being mischievous. With an almost Holden-Caulfield like view on society, he only ever enjoys a few people. The thriller was written in the 1950’s, and focuses on themes that might not have been…popular at the time, such as identity theft, European vacationing, and of course, homosexuality. Tom goes to Europe to bring back the son of a wealthy aristocrat, only to become psychotically attracted to his way of life. So…he steals it. See (or read) the drama for yourself, the suspense is also QUITE a rush!

Dylan Hintz
12/4/06
Film Lit
Dr. Johnson

The Alleged Mr. Ripley

“‘Pardon me, are you Tom Ripley?’” Herbert Greenleaf asks the protagonist Tom this initial question on page four of Patricia Highsmith’s thriller novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley. In the first of many two-faced conversations and hidden agendas Tom comes across, the novel starts out with a question he answers with complete honesty. This prompted encounter, in which Herbert Greenleaf was looking for Tom by name, differs from the alternative reality presented in the film version written and directed by Anthony Minghella: a chance encounter brought on by Tom borrowing a Princeton University jacket. The start of the first major part of both stories- Tom’s life in New York prior to embarking to Europe is radically different depending on the creative outlet. Thus, while his lifestyle is similar, the characteristics of Tom Ripley from the opening of the novel and the opening of the movie are both diverse enough to lend an audience two complete interpretations of the character through his interactions with other characters and his own isolated scenes of exposition.

The film starts out with Tom playing the piano to a lovely operatic tune, in which a close up slowly reveals that he is sitting in a bedroom with eyes full of pensive regrets. Matt Damon puts great effort into giving a very unreadable look to Tom Ripley- the character constantly appears as if he’s thinking about what the audience will expect him to, but then when he speaks, his lies begin to snowball, such as in the first scene with the Princeton Jacket and the Greenleafs. Tom is asked about Princeton and their son, Dickie Greenleaf. He appears completely oblivious to what they are talking about, however his words of response are “How is Dickie?” He is completely prompted by the parents to have already known Dickie in a case of somewhat mistaken identity.

Tom Ripley

In the novel, however, Mr. Greenleaf has been looking for him, and Tom actually remembers Dickie from a personal encounter. At this point the reader has a greater opportunity to get inside Tom’s head. In one self-monologue Tom describes how he may have been recommended by a man he worked for as an accountant- a job that was never mentioned in the film. Tom says “Charley could have told Mr. Greenleaf that he was intelligent, level-headed, scrupulously honest, and very willing to do a favor” (6). Tom quips to himself how the compliments were erroneous, however he holds this back from Mr. Greenleaf in favor of asking questions, rather than turning him down immediately. This one introspective thought already sets a ball in motion different from that of the film, in that Tom is a scheming and poor man with intelligence and cunning that helps him to survive a desperate lifestyle. This can also be seen when he describes his current occupation of conning people into paying extra taxes as an activity that causes him much joy, to the point where after conning a complete stranger out of over 200 dollars, “Tom sat there for a moment, giggling, with his thin hands pressed together between his knees” (16) as if he were a conniving school-boy.

In the film, making the acquaintance of both Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf on the rooftop party is a grand deviation from the seedy bar Mr. Greenleaf chases Tom into in the beginning of the novel. He is at the top of the world in Manhattan, shown playing a piano, a talent not really expressed within the first forty pages of the novel that detail his lifestyle in New York City. His musical empathy is a trait highly referenced in the first major act of the film. The writing and direction of the film, especially in the opening scenes, accompanied by Matt Damon’s portrayal, lend Tom to be a sympathetic character- someone for the audience to care about and hope for. One scene that provides a dimming wink of hope for the character is when Tom is sitting in the theater he works for, playing the piano after hours, only to be interrupted by one of the janitors and shooed out of his one seemingly sanctuary. It is obvious that this version of Tom has hopes and dreams, which are expressed in the novel, however only later out of anger, in which Tom had “wanted to be an actor…” and how he “thought he had the necessary talent…” (38). These failed dreams of his in the novel are always focally placed on a very specific character omitted from the film: his Aunt Dottie.

talented cast
The character of Aunt Dottie in the novel causes the greatest deviation in what the audience gets out of Tom Ripley from a two hour movie and a 300 page novel. For a film that ends up displaying a savagely alone character committing murder out of desperation and fear, the motivation for such heinous acts seems to be missing: His motivation to do anything dastardly from Matt Damon’s portrayal doesn’t even seem to exist until he’s backed into a corner by Jude Law’s loathing Dickie Greenleaf character. Of the characters adapted to the film, in the opening sequence Tom only meets or mentions a few from the original novel. The Greenleafs, and perhaps some of his noisy neighbors are the only ones physically presented. Tom in the novel, however, references at least a dozen other characters, including his parents, the people he’s stayed with, a woman named Cleo Dobelle, and his dreaded Aunt Dottie. Tom’s feelings towards Aunt Dottie boil down to his memory of the only goal he had in life as a child: “to run away from Aunt Dottie, the violent screams he had imagined- Aunt Dottie trying to hold him in the house, and he hitting her with his fists, flinging her to the ground and throttling her, and finally tearing the big brooch off her dress and stabbing her a million times in the throat with it” (39). Throughout chapter six of the novel, Tom goes on about how it had been Aunt Dottie who held him back and caused him to be such an unsuccessful person. He has true hatred in his heart for this woman, and a long-lived lifestyle of deserving vindication for never knowing life outside of her rule. Tom’s motivation and ability to live life without a conscience in the novel can be solely attributed, even quite possibly admitted by the character himself, to his childhood being raised by Aunt Dottie.

talented mr ripley
The different person presented in the film then is Matt Damon’s portrayal, even when confronted by the janitor in the theater, crashing down upon his one, singular attempt to feel as though he can strive higher, is an apologetic young man who has a tendency for feeling bad for the trouble he could cause others. He has guilt and a conscience, clearly from these few moments. His lie then is most likely motivated by seeing a slim chance at a better life.

By the end of the opening credits, which oddly enough last the entirety of the opening ten minutes, the audience of the film sees Tom as a kind hearted person who’s only taking advantage of what seems to be the best offer he’s had in years. He’s still strange and peculiar in his need to please others, but he certainly doesn’t seem like a bad person. Forty pages into the novel, however, the reader can conclude Tom gets a thrill out of being devious, has a penchant for being underhanded, and even could lean towards being a completely psychopath after his life growing up with a woman who only motivated him to escape with a murderous finale to their relationship. Thus, the difference in the film and the novel is what kind of transformation the respected Tom Ripley will go through by the end- will he be a kindhearted man who was driven away by people who he thought loved him, or will he end up only unleashing his murderous potential upon those who lower his own perceived self worth? Either way, his story ends with murder, but the beginning of it shows that in the film’s reality, Tom had a chance to be healthier. The novel’s reality creates a killer from the outset.
talented death

rambo

Ok, so once upon a time there were 2 major action stars: Arnold Schwarzenneger with his charming accent and hilarious bulgy face and buck teeth, and Sly Stallone, the somewhat-ugly duckling cousin who was a better actor than Schwarzenneger (in a technical sense- Arnold can hold his own in pure “STAR POWER” better than anyone except maybe Clint Eastwood). Sly only did a marginal amount of “huge hit” films. One of those was RAMBO, the excellent story of a Vietnam war vet on the run in the Washington State countryside, with the not-so-nice homecoming of cops out to get him. He waged a one man war against well…the US Army, and unknown to most people only killed a few guys in the first film.

Here’s a fan made trailer that sorta logs the entire series:

Rambo 2 and 3 came out over time…and well…the kill count just racked up. This is probably because they had created an “uber-killing machine” character who, unlike in the novel, did not commit suicide in the riveting climax in the first movie as expected.

Well, following in the footsteps of ROCKY BALBOA (hell, even the title is stylistically remaining true to that), comes JOHN RAMBO, the fourth movie in the series and this one is going to be insanely ultraviolent. Don’t believe me? You think GRINDHOUSE was off the charts? I haven’t seen this much realistic gut spilling since SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Well, anyways, AINT IT COOL NEWS (AICN to those who don’t know) has an EXCLUSIVE trailer up of the fourth installment, which will hopefully be less cheesy and more explosive than the previous two. Sly bowed out the Rocky franchise finally with a touching tribute to his Oscar winning character (he wrote the original Rocky story himself), so maybe he can do the same with his now-classic genre-spinning, Metal Gear-inspiring action packed blood spilling messiah of the Really Big Knife.

Read the exclusive news here and then
See the video HERE

john rambo

Hey guys, Dylan here, reporting in after a lot of gaps in posts.

I’d like to take some time out right now to report on the status of the group this summer:

Damien McCoy
and Stuart DeMattia are both doing films for other companies this summer, but are hopefully going to be involved in our projects. Sam Anderson supposedly only has one summer left with us, but we’re going to make it a full one! I’ll be living in Silver Spring and should hopefully get some upper level talent to help us out this time. In the meantime, my friend Dan Gvozden from NYU and I might co-op on something, though no final deals have been made.

The upcoming projects, however, are as follows:

The True To John Woo Contest

    strangle

    This contest is about making a 2:30 minute film dedicated/inspired by John Woo movies to help promote the game Stranglehold for the Xbox 360. Now, it’s going to be tricky, but the group actually has a chance, seeing as how most of the entries are complete crap and the only good ones are using licensed music, have poor sound quality, and don’t tell a very complete story. They also just happen to be by the same guy. HOWEVER the production values for that film are INSANE. If I manage to get my new camera (hopefully a Canon GL2), we might have a slim chance, and I want everyone I know to take it with me (I’ll divvy up the money in some respectable way if we win, of course). The prize? 25,000 dollars.


THE PEREGRINE SAGA: Exodus of Youth (or some other corny title that I haven’t come up with , formally known as The Darkest Places)

    Dark Glow

    Hopefully we’ll finally be filming this summer. I need to get in contact with talent of course, and we’ll probably need some martial artists and GENUINE actors for this, but Sam’s ready to go, and I think I can get David involved. This is going to be a story about deciding whether to leave the comfort of home for useful experience, set in the PEREGRINE SAGA, my epic storyline. It’s supposedly trying to reflect the decision to go to college or just hanging around your hometown the rest of your life, and a wakeup call that can change that point of view. Action and drama will be the big parts of this.

Car Trouble Sequel???

    Blindsided
    Ya know, I might just assign that as the title, because this is supposed to be a movie chronicling the events between Curse of Bodangofish and Car Trouble. In any case, this wacky bizarre comedy will be about the quartet from Car Trouble embarking in a magical…messed up journey through Washington DC and end on a pier (where the hell?) fighting…you guessed it…super ninjas. WHY? Why NOT?


Dan Gvozden Team Up?

    This one’s kinda up to Dan, but maybe we’ll figure something out soon. He wants to pull me out of the action gamut and have me direct one of his scripts, and I’m more than cool with that- I’m ECSTATIC. Might even skip the John Woo contest for that, but it all depends on what is put together last minute when I get home. This will be a guaranteed cool team up.


Sam Anderson’s Swing Project

    The Third Path

    This is a sketchy one, we need a lot of extras, a highschool gym or some dance hall, and a fake band. We’ll also need choreography and good equipment. If it works though, it’ll be great. You ever seen what a mix between Swing Dance and Ong Bak would be like? No. We’ll show you.

I really want to do something amazing with all of my other crew mates this summer, I know we have the potential now, and its time to strike while the iron is hot! So let’s do something great and really enjoyable, and then laugh about it later. I look forward to working with all of you again.

oldboy

I’m sure it comes with no surprise to anyone how much pain this terrible tragedy has caused in our fragile little nation. With people being blown up all over the world (120 killed just the other day in Iraq), the terror finally came back home on Monday, April 16th, in Virginia.

Now, I don’t need to go over all the details with everyone, but yes, a South Korean student (who’s been living here for 15 years, so I don’t see how that REALLY matters…we’ll get back to that), went crazy and blasted 32 people from this world to the next. I feel awful for the families and I really do wish them my best sympathies.

It got me thinking, and I wrote a screenplay about an imaginary conversation I’d have with Cho, whom I nicknamed in the screenplay John due to the name of his constant characters in his own scripts. You can read his scripts here
and here.
Quite frankly the scripts are pretty damn awful. They’re graphic, and gory, and obviously communicate some disturbing thought almost in a David Lynch sort of way- that is to say if the dialogue is intentionally illegible. The second script, Mr. Brownstone, is sort of interesting, and let’s us in to this kid’s VERY cynical mindset (he pretty much sees himself as not only being physically raped, but financially and morally raped no matter where he goes), and would make a weird production.

In any case, I really don’t understand how someone can snap and kill 32 people. The number is sorta random in my opinion, but I suppose that’s not the point. I wish someone had stopped him, personally, and the VA Tech Gun Club is pissed about that too. They said in an interview that if they were allowed to carry their guns responsibly on campus, they themselves would have stopped him. You can find more of the relevant information to the case at this AOL news link, which I actually found rather interesting and not so cluttered with bias (as is usual with AOL).

So, once all the media hubub of finding out who this nut job is, and how many people he slaughtered is over, what’s the next step? Finding a piece of media to blame.

cho

The 2003 Cannes Grand Prix (one of the highest honors) award winning South Korean revenge film, Oldboy, one of my top ten favorite movies of all time, is now being connected to the murders. Maybe not in a direct “this is what made him do it” sense, but as for how he chose his style. The picture above shows him holding a hammer in a SIMILAR fashion to the main character, Oh Dae Su.

Here’s the funny thing though, readers: For once I completely agree with the media connections. There is far more evidence supporting his feelings to this degree than against them. It’s simple thematic things, such as his long winded, almost uber-cliche revenge speeches, his desire to pose and be seen as “dressed to kill,” and his South Korean heritage. This is the biggest Korean film in the last 15 years…but there’s more connections to it than that.

In the film, Oh Dae Su is a man who is imprisoned and tortured (emotionally) for 15 years.

Cho, the serial killer at VA Tech, has lived in America for 15 years.

It’s been awhile since I’ve used coincidences as meanings, but c’mon folks, this is seriously too obvious. If he worshiped film, as shown in the stylish photos he took of himself, then this is one obvious example. Sky News, a British based website, lists more examples of the comparisons between his character and the fictional ones.

One image is a clear cut comparison, and it might not even be stretching it:

oldboycomparison

In the three Chan Wook Park films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the motive is an inhuman desire to deride the opponents through brutal torture and emotional destruction beyond what we normally expect from a revenge film. Some of the scenes in these movies are more brutal than gore fests such as Hostel or The Hills Have Eyes.

Now, obviously this guy went after people with guns, and that’s the main difference. I’m not actually claiming Oldboy as an inspiration for his attack, but there are certain comparisons to his mental state and his ability to cope with reality to the main character. It’s more along the lines of the guy who tried to shoot Regan than anything else, except that followed a similar plot to Taxi Driver. However, both Bickle (the character) and that shooter were messed up in similar ways.

I honestly wish I knew this kid and had a chance to talk him out of it. Maybe if he really did like the movie, we could have had a conversation and gone to lunch or something. It’s a tragedy when people get so messed up that they turn to a form of media to reshape their reality, but it DOES happen. I’m not sure what was responsible- it could have been the film Elefant by Gus Van Sant for all I know, but one thing is for sure- Cho wasn’t living in our reality anymore. When you make pictures like that and send them to the media, it means you want people to remember you as a fictitious character, not an actual person.

This articles based around the film are starting to pop up all over the net. It’s even spread to the IMDB forums by now, and I’m sure it’ll be a wiki reference in no time. Some professors apparently made the connection after seeing the hammer picture on the net.