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Archive for May, 2007
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Daniel Garcia directed this video for T.V. on the Radio with the help of Mixtape Club. The narrative matches the lyrics and quirkiness of the song, titled “Me-I”, perfectly. Quirkiness is a delicate thing and can go very very wrong if not handled with some sophistication. Dan G. plus the Mixtape club have more than enough tricks up their sleeve to handle such a challenge. That’s just an opinion, and opinions are bullshit, in my opinion.
The Video is a web exclusive so you’ll have to use the Adult Swim flash player to view it, sorry.
And don’t miss the production shots!
Posted in Filmmaking | No Comments »
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Celebrities and Controversy, The Weinstein Co., Michael Moore, Hold the 'Fone, Images, Summer Movies Last week, we debuted the key art and a few photos from Michael Moore's upcoming health-care documentary Sicko, and today we have an exclusive first look at two new posters for the film. (Click on the art below for larger versions.)
 
Whether you love or hate big Mike, you have to admit that both posters are pretty humorous. I mean, what isn't funny about Moore rubber-gloving up to give the U.S. health care system a metaphorical colonic? And the combo of the skeletons in the doctor's office waiting room and the 'What seems to be the problem?" tagline is definitely worth a chuckle -- especially since they're sitting next to the very non-skeletal Moore.
Get more info on Sicko Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted in Celebrity Gossip, cinematical, Movie News | No Comments »
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Cannes, Celebrities and Controversy, Distribution, Movie Marketing, Politics, Religious  Larry Charles made his feature directorial debut with the utterly ridiculous Bob Dylan film Masked and Anonymous, but he has been a big name in television for years. He wrote several classic Seinfeld episodes and is a frequent Curb Your Enthusiasm director. Those two credits make him a hero to me, but it was his last film that really catapulted him onto the A - list: Borat. You would think after the enormous critical and commercial success of that film, the guy would have no problem setting up another project. Unless that project is a sure-to-be controversial flick about "the role of institutional religion around the world." Charles showed a ten-minute promotional reel of his new film to around 200 buyers at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, and it already has people speculating that it will cause an uproar. The film, currently titled A Spiritual Journey is said to be "a blend of comedy and reportage," which makes it sound like some of the lighter segments of Michael Moore's work. The movie has finished production, but has yet to be edited. Comedian Bill Maher will narrate the film, and he is no stranger to controversy himself. His comments criticizing the US government after September 11th led to the cancellation of his show Politically Incorrect. A Spiritual Journey has been selling quite well to foreign distributors, but America might be a trickier proposition. Those who saw the advance footage think it would be an extremely difficult film for a division of a major studio to handle. We live in a world where even the suspicion of religion bashing can cause huge protests and boycotts -- Dogma and The Last Temptation of Christ are just a couple examples of flicks that infuriated religious groups. That sort of controversy can make the big studios wary, but it can also sell a lot of tickets. I have no doubt we'll see A Spiritual Journey here at some point, but it sounds like it's going to come with a whole lot of hubbub. Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted in Celebrity Gossip, Movie News | No Comments »
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Filed under: Documentary, Cannes, Festival Reports, Celebrities and Controversy, The Weinstein Co., Politics, Michael Moore  "What you call 'over-sensationalizing,' I call 'A rocking good way to tell a story that leaves you wanting more. ..." Obviously tired -- but fiercely combative and fairly good-humored -- Michael Moore, here at Cannes with his new documentary Sicko, took part in an intimate press conference at the American Pavilion this afternoon. Speaking frankly about everything from his process to the nature of American society ("People like to refer to the United States as a 'Christian' nation; I'd like to see that. ...") Moore took on his challengers and defended his methods. Cinematical was there -- you can hear your corespondent asking about Moore's trip to Cuba and it's implications and later asking about his movie making methods as soon as you download an audio feed of the entire conference right here -- and get the early insight on what's sure to be one of 2007's most controversial films.
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Posted in Celebrity Gossip, Movie News | No Comments »
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Reader Josh C wrote in with one solution to a problem that’s been frustrating me for months. When you want to save a script as a .pdf, Final Draft won’t always include the title page. It’s frustratingly inconsistent. The obvious workaround is to save the title page as a separate file, which is what I’ve often done. But then you end up emailing two documents, increasing the confusion on the other end.
Josh was using Final Draft version 6.0.6.0. It turns out, the issue is whether the “Title Page…” window is open or closed.
1. Save your screenplay as normal (as a .fdr)
2. With your saved screenplay still open, go to Document > Title Page. A new, blank Title Page opens.
3. Fill in the blanks, then just CLOSE THE TITLE PAGE. This is the part that I got hung up on forever. If you leave the title page open, then try to save as a PDF, it won’t work. The Title page WON’T attach itself to the PDF if the Title Page is still open when you try to Save as. Just close the Title Page. It saves automatically to your screenplay.
4. With your screenplay still open, go to File > Save As — then select Adobe Acrobat Document (*pdf) - or whatever your computer says. Save the new PDF file somewhere and open it up. The Title Page should be attached at the top of the screenplay where it should be 
In my tests with 7.1.3, the .pdf will also include the title page even if that window is still open — provided you have a certain checkbox checked in “Preferences.”
 Yes, I’ll admit that I didn’t read the manual with version 7 of Final Draft. But this is a pretty questionable place to put this checkbox. After all, sometimes you’ll want to include the title page, sometimes you won’t. Does it really make sense to have this be an application-wide preference, housed in a panel that has nothing to do with printing, saving or the specific document you’re working on? It’s pretty much the last place I’d think to look for it.
What’s more, at least on the Mac, Final Draft is using the built-in .pdf facility of OS X. It’s basically just printing to a file. Since it seems to be using the standard print architecture, you’d think that choosing the “Print Title Page” option in the Print dialog box would have some effect. It doesn’t. And that’s why it’s frustrating.
Whenever I complain about Final Draft, I get a nice note from the developers asking me to help out with the next version, and a few emails from companies working on competing applications. So let me make it clear where I stand. Despite its annoyances, I end up using Final Draft because what it gets right generally outweighs what it gets wrong. There’s certainly some inertia on my part, but given a better alternative, I’d switch in a heartbeat. The shipping versions of Screenwriter, Montage and Celtx aren’t better, particularly when it comes to revisions.
I’m hoping the upcoming Screenwriter 6 gives Final Draft some real competition, because that’s what’s lacking. When we were cutting The Nines, I realized that editing software has benefitted tremendously from the battle between Avid and Apple, with new features, better interfaces, and dramatically lower prices. I started out a Final Cut Pro man, while my editor was firmly Avid. We had the luxury of both being right. Both systems are terrific, and I think that’s largely because of the competition.
Posted in How-To, Screenwriting | No Comments »
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Filed under: Documentary, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand  Departed star Leonardo DiCaprio is getting a little touchy over claims that's he's a convenient environmentalist. Over at Cannes, the actor has screen his own eco-documentary, which he wrote, produced and narrated, called 11th Hour. Of course, as soon as someone tries to be a voice in anything, questions will come to check for hypocrisy. In this case, he was asked if he took a "fuel-guzzling" jet to the Festival. DiCaprio's response: "No, I took a train across the Atlantic." Snap! Apparently, a British journalist explained that many stars say they're environmentally conscious, and then use huge-emission private jets, to which he replied: "I try to travel commercial as much as I can." There is just something about the thought of Leo sitting next to a large, snoring man who begins to drool on him that amuses me to no end. I wonder, when can he not fly commercially? Is it a matter of whether they can wipe out the first-class section and let him sit there in peace with his entourage? DiCaprio says that the environmentally inconsistent are "all trying the best we can, truly, we really are." Now I understand wanting to better the environment, but still doing some environmentally-questionable practices -- it's a scale of means. However, it's completely valid to question whether he's doing enough. Of course, part of the conversation turned toward Al Gore, and DiCaprio said: "This person is truly trying to relay a message to the public and the way he travels and the way he leads his life should not be splayed out like that." But shouldn't they, to some extent? We're a society testy about hypocrisy, and we like to try and fish out the genuine from those that are full of bull. Should Leo spew all that fuel from his private jet because he doesn't want fangirls molesting him and that old man drooling on him? I understand there are safety concerns, so where in the world is the Hollywood jet-setter airline? Get a saucy, decked-out plane that can take 50-100 stars from place to place instead of different jets for each person traveling somewhere. Maybe those green limo guys can look into it. Or, corral all the stars going to one area and say: "Hey, why don't we all go in one jet? It would be good for the environment, and just imagine the PR!" Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted in Celebrity Gossip, cinematical, Movie News | No Comments »
Monday, May 21st, 2007
 | | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - Featurette
In the follow-up to the record-breaking smash 2006 hit Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Ma’s Chest, we find our heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones’ locker - while the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones, under the control of the East India Trading Company, wreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final, titanic battle - as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way, hangs in the balance.
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Chow Yun-Fat, Geoffrey Rush |
Posted in Movie Trailers | No Comments »
Monday, May 21st, 2007
After last week’s wonkfest regarding the WGAw’s foreign levies program, I suspect of number of you passed out from boredom.
Forgiveness, please. Things will continue to get wonky around here as we get closer to negotiations and possible strikes, but that doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom.
For instance, this week I’m serving clams.
According to Jane Espenson, clams are one-liners or comic concepts that have gone stale from overuse. Now, that was a new one on me. I knew the term was used in music for a bum note, and for the ultimate usage in that context, one need only review a transcript of just one of Buddy Rich’s infamous rants at his band (in this excerpt, it’s the trombonist getting the brunt).
You’ve got your f—kin’ horn so far deep in the f—kin’ bell, we don’t need to have a band here tonight. You afraid you won’t be heard? Everybody can hear your f—kin’ clams out there. You don’t need a mike for that. You’re takin’ up too much f—kin’ time blowin’ what? Shit!! You stand out here all night tryin’ to blow your f—kin’ brains out… when it comes time to play, what do you play? Clams!! You got nowhere to f—kin’ go tonight the next set because if I hear one f—kin’ clam from anybody, you’ve had it! One clam and this whole f—kin’ band is through…tonight!!
Yeah, Buddy was a real sweetheart.
Anyway, anyone who writes comedy for a living has written a clam, but we all recognize that they’re awful, and so when we’re together in a room, we’re supposed to keep ourselves from using them. In my room, we usually call them “badump bumps,” but I think Jane’s got a better, clammier term.
Here’s a short list I came up with, as well as some additions from friends. Feel free to use the comments section to add your own. As for definitions, I’m pretty lenient. It could be a single line of dialogue, or it could be a setup and payoff.
Maybe if we shine enough light on these things, we can eliminate them from the world.
The Inside Voice: “I’m sorry…did I say that out loud?”
The Freudian Slip: “Hey, Carol, I see you’re wearing some new boobs…I mean boots!”
The “Mr.” Insult: “Oooh, check you out. Mr. Big Man! Mr. Crazy hat-wearing guy!”
The Nutty List: “All I know is I want to eat a steak, get laid, and play some golf…not necessarily in that order.”
Dante’s Clam: “This is the date from hell!”
Albert Hoffman’s Clam: “This is like Ice Capades on acid.”
The Apollo 13: “Houston, we have a problem.”
The Ignored: (as the character is being talked about) “I’m standing right here…”
The Fork-Dropper: “Check please!”
The Optimist: “Well, I thought that went pretty well…”
The Invisible Puke: “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.”
The Dismissive Segue: “Anyway….” (typically after another character goes off on a long, complicated rant)
The Factory: This is a visual one. Someone gets hurt in a factory, and a worker flips the “Days Since An Accident” sign back to 0.
The Upward-Looking Rejoice: “Thank you, God!”
Okay, now it’s your turn, li’l clamsters. As they come in, I’ll cull and add your contributions here in the main article.
Posted in Screenwriting | No Comments »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Dayum!!!
Is that Bono or Ringo Star???
All that trying to save the world stuff may be taking its toll on the U2 frontman’s former pretty little face!
The band performed at the Cannes film festival on Saturday before the premiere of their new concert film, U23D, which – yes, you guessed it – will be seen in 3D.
Pretty cool!
Posted in Celebrity Gossip | No Comments »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
The Gossip Gangstar is featured in the new issue of Newsweek.
How respectable!
CLICK HERE to read the awesome article. It’s one of our favorite ever.
Perez is compared to Oprah!
He can die happy now.
Posted in Celebrity Gossip | No Comments »
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