So there’s this one blog I read quite frequently, by John August the writer of Go, Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and the writer and director of upcoming “indy” hit, The Nines starring Ryan Reynolds.

One of his more recent blogs was a response to a comment made by a 16 year old girl named Veronica, who is pretty darned lost in her course right now. Here’s an excerpt from her letter:

I’m 16 and have wanted to pursue a career in filmmaking since 8th grade. I’m sure you’re not too old to remember what it was like to be 16 years old and trying your best to not ruin your own life forever. (I really don’t want to be a receptionist.)…And here I am. Terrified that I might be making all the wrong moves. Should I have taken drama and bitten my tongue every time that insane teacher opened her mouth? Should I be doing more after school type programs? And, of course, should I go to film school?

John’s response contains this parcel of information:

You’re sixteen. Go out and experience life. As interesting things happen, write them down. If something other than screenwriting appeals to you at some point, pursue it with full abandon and no regrets. You’re at an age when you don’t need to be making any firm decisions, or beating yourself up about missed opportunities. A bad high school drama class is a bullet dodged, in my opinion.

Of course there’s more to their conversation, and you should definitely check it out.

I also wrote a response in the comments, and since its my own writing I’ll post my thoughts right here for anyone in the biz at my level or around it to read. Tell me your thoughts on the subject in a comment though, and maybe I’ll post yours on the main page, with a link to your site as well!
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I can really sympathize with this girl.

I am a 20 year old communications major who is just now on his second year of digital film making, learning studio work, been out in the field etc. I started the work on my own and learned it on my own.

Film making consumes my life.

That’s a problem because it means I learn less about life and more about film making. The strength of that is that I can look at everyday situations and talk about them as film, but it also makes a weakness in the communication to some people- I don’t think in linear conversation, I think in movie angle vision, always trying to throw people off.

My point is it wasn’t until last summer where I literally just dicked around in my car, had no money, met with a bunch of younger people (and same aged and older) who were just sitting around, doing and selling drugs, fighting each other and trying to cause problems in the most white-bread area ever, that I learned where my Voice comes from.

You need to find your voice. I pray that you get out of the movie-watching business and start life watching.
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I didn’t really find this particularly interesting, but there were some choice moments listed in AOL’s most recent “top 25.”

Included are scenes from Don’t Look Now, Out of Sight, Monster’s Ball, as well as embarrassments to film such as American Pie.

Here’s one of the better scenes to make it onto the list:

You can see the full list here, although I think its incomplete- from what I’ve heard, there’s not one but TWO coital shoot outs in SHOOT ‘EM UP! , a movie I still have yet to see!

Yep…cinema’s gotten pretty messed up. Would you have it any other way?

Everyone’s seen the trailers where, previous to the video footage, you get the green template wtih white lettering saying “This has been approved for all audiences” blah blah blah.

Well apparently another big fad of the internet is the release of the Red Band trailers- trailers that, themselves, are rated R or NC-17, just because of how much violence or debauchery they can pack into 2 minutes.

WARNING: THESE VIDS CONTAIN EXTREME VIOLENCE

Today I’ve got quite a special for everyone reading the site: embedded vids of the red-bands of two of the hottest up coming action flicks: Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (renamed from Survival of the fittest, thank GOD!) and SHOOT ‘EM UP

This is looking to be the most violent movie I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t want it any other way. When it comes to an Alien film, yes- I want deep stories and tight scares. When it comes to a predator film, I really could care less- I just want completely competent and off the wall gorey action. Mix both together, and all I want is a clusterf#^K of gore, scares, and action. Because when you’ve got two movie titans on the screen like that, there is NO ROOM for story!

Speaking of movie titans, here’s the red band for my personal favorite action flick I haven’t seen this year: Shoot ‘Em Up!

So there you have it folks! The last third of the year will be full of the REAL action! Not this fake Pirate/Spiderguy/whateverthreequel BULL!

So what do you guys think? Gonna see these flicks? Feel free to comment!

Does “WAR” achieve victory? Hardly. Just like Hitler didn’t learn from Napoleon, Jet Li didn’t learn from Cradle 2 the Grave and other past Americano mistakes.

The music video director has to be the guy to blame. Or maybe its the screen writer? Or could it be Lee himself? This movie felt like a hollow drum- something constantly to be banged on to produce the same noise over and over again until it becomes irritating. Can you still make music with such a device? Sure! But it really won’t have a lot of notes, and it won’t get any prettier. There were maybe 3 good fight scenes in the whole thing, only one of which involved Statham and only one involved Li. The rest were just sorta…meh. I mean I can’t even write a particularly intelligent review of this film.

This was a movie I had been looking forward to for over a year now, since it was announced that Jet Li would be FIGHTING Jason Statham. Now this movie was announced right around the time Jet Li was going into “retirement.”

Did his change in pace work out? Not really. See, he wasn’t retiring- he was merely changing his agenda- no more classical, long drawn out choreography? Ok, I can deal with that- after all Danny The Dog (also known as UNLEASHED in the states) was a great drama with some action sprinkles to keep it thrilling. His acting in Hero was the main emphasis of his role, with you never knowing which side he was playing.

That role particularly could be compared to this film, with Li’s new character Rogue being phoned in as a harsh Asian ripoff of the Man With No Name played by Eastwood (which, circularly, is a ripoff of a Japanese character, Yojimbo, played by Mifune). The setting for a such a character is well imagined- Yakuza vs. Triads in the dingy, dirty evil town of…San Fransisco…? Wow. Aside from the Golden Gate Bridge in two scenes this movie could have taken place in any town- with most of the locations even being referred to as generically as “Yakuza Turf” and “Triad Turf” and at the worst “Chang’s Warehouse 16.” I mean how freaking lazy can you get? Have you guys ever BEEN to San Fransisco? The one time the environment works to its advantage is one of the only passable action scenes in the film- a car chase down SF streets. However the chase actually starts strong and ends poorly. You see Statham chasing Li around trolley cars, across the huge gaping drops, and through tunnels, only for his car to slightly…dip over a guard rail or something and him to walk away barely even injured. This can essentially be seen as a metaphor for the whole film- great premise, poor execution, and a very weak and empty conclusion. And for future reference- Jason Statham does NOT LOSE CAR CHASES. Who the hell said “Hey Jason, you’re gonna let JET LI of all people out drive you.” And this is where the biggest problem with the movie really occurs- it was not made for the fans.

Now is it wrong to wish that? In most cases I’d say hell yes. But when you have such a simple meal ticket in the works with both Jet Li and Jason Statham being box-office gold in their last two separate movies (Li’s Fearless and Statham’s Crank both got in the top 5 opening weekend), the ambition in this movie seems to aim more towards Gangster Noir than action film- with cheesy character stories and overly cliche motivations pushing the story along. These are the types of movies designed to make big bucks, have big bangs, and get big cheers. I laughed a couple of times at both moments intentional and unintentional, but by the time the third act arrived and I still hadn’t seen Statham beating Jet Li to death or Li whipping Statham’s ass I knew there was something wrong.

By the end of this movie you’ll realize a few things you already knew:
1. Statham can act. Really well actually, and given a better script he could probably get A List in no time.
2. Jet Li can act- when the conventions of the film aren’t going against him and his accent issues. It’s forgivable in something like Unleashed because his character hardly ever speaks the first 20 some years of his life. In this movie its just plain irritating that he can’t speak English without any inflections. Perhaps the director is to blame, because I KNOW he was trying a lot harder in Kiss of the Dragon to pull off the English Accent and Anti Hero roles.
3. Neither of those things will matter when the script is inept enough to label a location with an exposition lettering “CHANG’S WAREHOUSE 16″

This movie was just made for dumb people. And I feel dumb for being cheated out of what would have been the coolest grudge match of the year. Maybe one of the best of all time. They better try a sequel or something and do it right. Get Luc Besson to back it and Yo Wuen Ping to choreograph and maybe we’ll have some REAL action.

WAR Totally does not strike a pose- both actors need to stay the hell away from Music Vid directors…you think Li would have learned that by now after Cradle 2 The Grave.

**/***** (2/5)

Our next film, Line of Sight, is currently under production. We shot an hour of footage over 6 hours today, and 3 hours the previous day. Doesn’t sound like a lot, I know, but that’s cause we were hoofin it big time to get these beautiful shots in some of the woods near Seneca Creek State Park (but not in it).

The film takes place in The Peregrine Saga, with two characters, Stray (Bob Novich)- an exiled cage fighter from Canine Town, happening across The Monk (Rob Ramirez), a warrior from places unknown using an ancient style.

When they cross paths on the border of Canine Town, they are both targeted by the mercenary bounty hunter, Flintlock (Sam Anderson). Confused by the random shooting and luckily fast enough to jump out of the way, The Monk gives chase to Stray- thinking it he who fired first.

This is mostly just a simple demo for some choreography performance and editing, but we also got to work on Make Up and Costume selections for a change. Not to mention, we’ve actually started planning movies at least 1 day in advance- this one was 3- like Clarity last month.

All in all it was a GREAT learning experience, and we’ll have a lot of pre-production teaser stuff on the site in the coming days and weeks. Damien McCoy assistant directed for me, and took a lot of behind the scenes photos and some footage for us to enjoy while I take my sweet time editing it. We still have two scenes to film, one for background and one for the ending (after 6 hours both batteries I had were VERY unfortunately DEAD), and hopefully I can get those done before I go on vacation with my lovely girlfriend.

Well, we’re definitely striking some great poses over here. I love the people I work with- the crew has really formed a bond and I’m proud of everyone- most of them never really considered themselves actors, martial artists or stuntmen. I would like to say that this movie, for everyone I’ve worked with, confirms that you have all done it, you have come the full way, and whatever future’s you’re looking for are right ahead of you. You guys could do ANYTHING- film or not.

So, I’ll get to editing stuff a bit this week, and maybe have a teaser for something to show you soon. Goodnight everyone!