Filed under: Movie Reviews | Tags: Billy Crudup, Christian Bale, Don Frye, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Michael Mann, Public Enemies, Stephen Dorff
I’m a huge Michael Mann mark. I mean huge. I’ve got all his movies. I’m working on getting all his TV shows (just picked up Crime Story). And I was really excited to see how he was going to approach the legendary bank robber John Dillinger, and the FBI agent who took him down, Melvin Purvis. I got even more excited when I saw that Johnny Depp and Christian Bale were cast as Dillinger and Purvis, respectively. Then I saw the movie. And while it was good, it certainly wasn’t great.
I’m going to throw this out there, maybe you’ll agree, maybe you wont, but I don’t think anybody does gun fights as well as Michael Mann. I don’t care if it’s HEAT, Collateral, or Miami Vice, Mann just brings a level of realism to them that I don’t think any other director does. Gun fights in other movies seem like something out of a video game, Michael Mann gun fights seem like something you’d see on the news or in documentary footage. Real gun shot sounds. People running out of ammo. Stuff getting torn to shreds. I think they’re just bliss. And there are plenty of them in Public Enemies.
But gunshots don’t make a great movie, characters and story do. And while I thought the characters felt realistic, I found myself just following them through an intense part of their lives. I never got a real feeling that I understood why they were doing what they were doing. I never got to find out what caused Dillinger to choose a life of crime. Why he pushed the edge and risked it all every time. Purvis never came off as more than just a career law man doing his job and taking advantage of a promotion. I didn’t feel like he really had a vendetta against Dillinger, some deep down reason inside to take him down. I’m not taking away from Depp or Bale either. They were fine on screen, they just didn’t have the material to really hit a home run here. If anything, I thought the dynamic between the two of them was safe and by the numbers.
I think a lot of my problems come down to just liking the movie HEAT so damn much. Dillinger and Purvis have a similar set up to that of Neil McCauley and Lt. Vincent Hanna in HEAT. The criminal and the uber cop charged with taking him down. On top of that you’ve got two of the top actors of our time in Public Enemies, Depp and Bale, much like you did with two of the top actors of their time in HEAT, DeNiro and Pacino. I just loved the dynamic between McCauley and Hanna in heat, their face to face conversation, their one up man ship, their both knowning that one of them was going to end up killing the other…I wanted to see that in Public Enemies. And maybe that was a problem.
HEAT was fictional. Public Enemies is not. It’s based on reality. History. Actual events. And while “based on a true story” leaves an amazing amount of room for dramatization, some people stay closer to the source material than others. In this case, I think Mann stayed pretty darn close. Maybe too close. I’m not sure. But I’ve never used the word accurate to describe a movie before, that is until I saw this one. It seemed accurate. Like there was little deviation from what actually happened. I didn’t feel like there was dramatization. Creative liberties. This was a by the book presentation of the events sped up to fit in their alloted time.
And, again, this is NOT a bad movie. This is a good movie. A solid movie. The supporting cast was all great. From Billy Crudup playing a young J. Edgar Hoover who is obsessed with establishing the F.B.I. as an institute of superior science and intelligence, to Stephen Dorff as Homer Van Meter, Dillinger’s right hand man and loyal until the bitter end. Marion Cotillard was solid as Billie Frechette, Dillinger’s love interest, and I can’t wait to see more of her (evidently she’s HUGE in France). I also popped pretty hard when Don Frye showed up on screen. I don’t care what that guy does, but he can look totally badass just standing there picking his teeth. There were plenty of other great actors and actresses in the flick, which is actually something of a downer, since there were SO MANY characters a lot of them were blurred and drifted into the background more often than they should have.
Maybe there was just TO much. To many characters. To long. To much attention to detail. To historically accurate. I’m not sure. But something prevented this from being a great film, and it certainly had the subject matter and talent to be one. Again, I’m not saying this wasn’t a good flick, because it was, I’m just disappointed it wasn’t a great flick. Public Enemies is well worth the price of admission and I’m glad I went to see it. If only for the glorious gunfights alone.
Enjoy.
-Steve
Filed under: Uncategorized
By the way, I’ll be out of town starting tomorrow so no posts until I get back. However, I will be catching Public Enemies, so expect a review either Sunday night or Monday morning.
Enjoy
-Steve
Filed under: Reflections, Served Cold | Tags: act 2, Act 2A, Act 2B, beat sheet, screenplay, screenwriting, Served Cold
I’ve made some good progress on Served Cold. I’ve been trying to work in about an hour each night. Sometimes I get a lot done. Sometimes I end up watching YouTube videos. I guess you gotta take what you can get.
My 14 point beat sheet for Act 2A changes little by little as I work on Act 2B. It’s pretty normal stuff. I add in something in 2B, I decide to make a reference earlier in 2A. I do something in 2B, I remove a redundant scene from 2A. Things like that.
Served Cold has been interesting for me to work on on a creative level. A lot of the times in the past I wrote without having a real feel that I’ve got control over the story. However, with Served Cold I’m really comfortable with the subject matter and the narrative. I’ve really been able to take a step back and view things from a high level, and seeing what’s working and what isn’t. Before starting on this project, I’d always found myself trying to convince myself to let things stay, instead of letting go of what I knew deep down inside wasn’t working.
For whatever reason that isn’t happening this time. I’m able to just cut what isn’t working. I can see when things that sounded good in my head don’t play out well in the narrative. I’m not sure if it’s how I’ve prepared for this specific project, of if it’s just because of me having more writing experience now. I don’t know, but whatever the reason it’s working.
I’m going to post where the Act 2B 14 point beat sheet is at right now. You can contrast it to my earlier post showing just a few lines here and there to see how it’s grown. Just remember, it’s not spell checked, or grammatically correct, just notes as they get fleshed out.
1. Fisher meets Koteric at the zoo. Fills him in on the reality of what’s going on, the upcoming heist at Metro Bank and Trust, and things with Garnier. In the end he asks Koteric for help. Witness protection. AA for his mom, or something.
2. More planning. They’ve got a get a system scan of the security system. Everything runs through a junction box in a utility building across the street. Fisher and Carter hit it up, do the scan while avoiding security, and get out.
3. Surprise visit with Adele. They go back to Fisher’s place. We see his paintings. Machine shop. Etc. A bigger glimpse into how he lives, but not too much. This can also be the time where we see a car under a tarp, but Fisher prevents Adele from pulling it back. We just catch a glimpse of the front right panel. “That’s a project I’m not done with yet.”
4. Vasser gets up from a bed. Loud techno music blaring from a room nearby. He pulls up his pants. Another body in the bed next to him. A man. He snorts a quick line. Then puts on a shirt. He wanders through the house as he buttons up the front. The room with the techno has Bernard roughing up some guy. Me moves into a warehouse area/chop shop and lights up a cigarette. Sparks fly everywhere. We se the burgundy Lincoln town car from earlier being worked on. He looks up to see Garnier in the office overhead and walks in. Garnier and some squirrly guy go over some numbers. They’ve got just about all the money, save 250 grand or so (Fisher’s hospital payment). Word getting out to Gambini that it was Garnier’s doing. Good, he likes that. Keep the pressure on and they’ll come to us looking for consseions.
5. Koteric and joint FBI/DPD team set up sting. Briefing in some sort of planning room. Joint operation. FBI calls the shots, but it’s DPD on the ground, their people, so they have tactical command. This is a snatch and grab program. Koteric outlines the two parties, and where the handoff will take place. The DPD is in the know on the Metro Heist, Koteric has already briefed who he needed to on that matter, and local officials will handle and downplay the response accordingly.
6. After the meeting Koteric outside lighting up. Spots Lim on a cell phone. Lim says he didn’t know he’d be on this, had to tell the wife he’d be home late. New baby and all.
7. PINCH TWO Start of Heist. They get in via a rooftop drop. Mostly smooth sailing. Security matches what they had on hand. Access is in an air duct that runs from an interior roof room or whatnot.
8. Heist goes to hell. A guard on station leaves to go downstairs for his “break,” but leaves his gameboy behind. With the guard gone, Fisher and the team enter from the air duct and start the break in. Downstairs the guard tells the other guard he’ll be right back, left his gameboy upstairs. The guard arrives and discovers the break in. Brief firefight. Fisher owns a couple of guys. Alarms, all sort of shit going off. Some of it effective, some of it not. They get the goods in the main safe and head to the rooftop. some more shooting and high stakes. Once on the roof, they grab the chopper line and it drags all four of them away.
9. The FBI and DPD teams are in position on the rooftops of the auto park.
Hand off goes to shit.
10. Funeral.
11. Fisher at the dock. We’re lead to believe Fisher is killed.
12. A surprise visit to Manny.
13. Guns and more guns.
14. Plot Point 2 – Fisher meets with Gambini.
As you can see, there is still work to be done, it’s just a matter of staying consistent and seeing this through.
Enjoy.
-Steve
Filed under: Weekend Box Office Numbers | Tags: Away We Go, Box Office, My Sister's Keeper, Night at the Museum, Star Trek, The Hangover, The Proposal, The Taking of Pelham, Transformers 2, Up, Year One
We all know who number one was. We knew who number one was going to be this weekend MONTHS ago. And regardless of the terrible reviews, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen still printed money for Paramount over it’s five day run.
I haven’t seen it yet. But I will, if only because my boy Lance Ranzer worked on the film. None of you know Lance, but I’d venture to say almost all of you have seen some of his work. Don’t beleive me? Check out his IMDB page here.
Anyway, The Proposal barely hung in ay number two by holding off The Hangover by less than two million. Up continued to rack it up for Pixar at number four. And My Sister’s Keeper (the feel good movie of the summer?) opened up in fifth.
The bottom five include Year One, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Star Trek, Night at the Museum 2, and Away We Go. Nice to see Land of the Lost off the radar.
Here’s the numbers:
1. Transformers 2 $ 112 Million
2. The Proposal $ 18.5 Million
3. The Hangover $ 17.2 Million
4. Up $ 13 Million
5. My Sister’s Keeper $ 12 Million
6. Year One $ 5.8 Million
7. The Taking of Pelham $ 5.4 Million
8. Star Trek $ 3.6 Million
9. Night at the Museum 2 $ 3.5 Million
10. Away We Go $ 1.7 Million
Opening up this week we’ve got Public Enemies shooting up the joint on July 1st. I’m a huge mark for Michael Mann, and a pretty big Johnny Depp and Christian Bale fanboy (when Bale isn’t beating women or yelling at DPs), so I’m pretty stoked about this one. Also opening July 1st is Ice Age 3 Blah Blah Blah… enjoy that one with your kids, if you have them. That’s really it, unless you dig art house films. Which in that case you’ve got I Hate Valentines Day and Local Color to look forward to opening up on July 3rd.
I’m more interested to see how Transformers stacks up against Public Enemies next week. I think TF2 will stay at number one, but PE definitely is the adult movie of the weekend. And we all know how much the ladies love Johnny. So it’ll be interesting to see how that effects the TF2 take for the second weekend.
I’m out of town this weekend, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch TF2 or PE. I’d like to see one of them, but if I can’t corral up some interest with the people I’m staying with it looks like I’m screwed.
Until next time kiddies…
-Steve
Filed under: Reflections
Clearing my mind is always a difficult thing. Having ADHD in generally makes staying focused difficult. Trying to unfocused often proves just as hard. Instead, I’m forced to take my thoughts through a wind down process.
It’s something akin to how a computer shuts off. You can’t just yank the power cord of a computer out of the wall. That can ruin a system, especially if it is in the middle of moving or writing an important file on the hard drive. No, a computer has to be shut down. Program’s need to be closed. System processes need to be allowed to complete themselves. My head works much the same way.
First, I need to let my thought process end. Whatever stimulus that got my mind moving in the first place needs to expire. Second, a calm environment is important. Too much buzzing and whirring and my senses try to turn the randomness into some sort of form. Third, a distraction needs to be introduced. For me melodic trance music does the job. A steady bass beat, absence of lyrics, and melodies that drift in and out in an organic measure. On occasion I’ll listen to jazz as well, but usually it’s trance. It’s enough to keep the left side of my brain occupied, while the right side gets down to business. Only after all three of these steps are accomplished can I really get into the writing mood. There is only one ting left to do…
Each writer has their own ideal writing environment. However, few get to operate in that environment. My ideal environment is early morning sun, a nice cool breeze, and some piping hot coffee. On the rare occasions I’ve had that the end results of what I write are outstanding. So the last step, after the thoughts expire, after the environment is calm, after the trance is moving, is to visualize my ideal environment. I have a picture I found on the internet that I use. I’ll share it with you now:
If you live in Los Angeles you might recognize the scene. It’s early morning. Things are just beginning to stir. A morning breeze comes in through the window. You can almost imagine the person sitting on the balcony sipping some coffee. This is what does it for me. This puts me in the mind set.
That’s what I do to get ready to write. I try to work in as many of those four steps as I can. It could be in my living room. It could be in a coffee shop. Wherever. I go through that process as best I can. And when I’m done, it’s time to write.
Enjoy.
-Steve
P.S. Sometimes as a short cut I just watch The Big Lebowski. Does the trick every time.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: act one, act two, act two A, Act Two B, midpoint, plot point two, screenplay, screenwriting, Syd Field
With act one of Served Cold in the can, I’ve been laying the formal ground work for act two. Many people I know agree that act two is the toughest act to structure and/or write. I’m not going to go into reasons why this is, but what I will do is talk a bit about how I’m going about writing it for Served Cold.
Free screenwriting has been a real godsend for me in regard to exploring what parts of the story to set in act two. I’ve already explored all of the plot points that will occur in act two while doing my free screenwriting. So for me, it’s really just filling in the blanks.
What I’ve done is take the core elements and placed them in some what of a beat sheet. I set up a textpad file with 14 points, and start plugging them in. From there I will flesh them out and rearrange them accordingly. This allows me to start to put together a really high level view of what I want to do for the act.
Using Syd Fields “Three Act Screenplay” methodology, I split act two into part A and part B, which means I actually have two files I’m working within. So that’s a total of 28 beats I’m roughing out.
Currently, and this is subject to change, act two A breaks down like this:
1. Meet the bad guys. Garnier’s filled in that the money is missing. We end with him saying “Un–fucking–” and cut to…
2. Flashback to the money in the vault, coming in with Fisher saying “–believable.” Fisher is hesitant, it’s way more than they planned on, but they grab the money and we see their escape.
3. Koteric meets Lim at the scene. We get back story on who the money really belonged to, and that the FBI is after Garnier. This is a chance for us to really get an understand of who Garnier is, and what his organization is doing without someone having to spell it out to us directly in dialog.
4. Quick call of Fisher making a wire transfer to pay off the medical bill before he and Adele go out on their date. While they nab Fisher, he manages to really hurt two of them (Bruno and Issac), and does his best allow Adele to escape.
5. Fisher is tied to a chair. We see they’ve got his whole crew. Quinn is tossed down in front of them dead. The stakes are laid out. They’re going to do jobs for Garnier. They stop, or they fail, and they die. End of story.
6. Fisher calls Adele. Let’s him know he’s alright, and that he won’t be able to see her for a while. No he’s not in jail, just in some trouble he’s got to figure out how to get out of.
7. Planning of the ice heist. It’s at a big mansion on Jefferson. It’s the Hecker-Smiley Mansion, law offices… specifically, law offices that Gambini and the Detroit Partnership uses (though Fisher doesn’t know this, and neither do we). There is a big party Friday night. Fisher and the crew plan a con to get in, and make their way to the top floor to get the diamonds out of a safe that Worm has to crack. Escape is smooth after that, they just leave in the workvan. No one will even know they were there.
8. PINCH 1 – Diamond Heist – The crew hits up the Hecker-Smiley Mansion and steals the gems in an elaborate heist. However, things don’t go as perfect as they should. Private security on the lawn notices a light on in the top floor, wants someone to check it out. Probably some of the guests up there getting fresh. Go shoo them out. The guard goes up and discovers the heist. Worm and the guard struggle, and Worm is tossed down a flight of stairs. The guard gets one round off at Biggs, hitting him in the leg. Carter and Fisher have their sites on the guard, mexican standoff. Finally, Fisher puts a bullet in the guards forehead. Ultimately, they get away, with the gems.
9. Fisher and the crew crash a doctor’s office. Biggs gets stitched up (including a hot iron to cauterize the wound) and Worm get’s an ankle brace (mild fracture). Fisher leaves the doctor with some dough, but the doc says to keep it, and that he can’t do this anymore. It’s not like five years ago, he’s got a family, a practice, he just can’t risk it…and maybe it’s time for Fisher to do the same. Fisher forces the money on the Doc, no hard feelings, and walks.
10. Fisher tosses the ice on Garnier’s desk. Garnier tells them of the next job. They’re going to hit Detroit Metro Bank and Trust. Fisher flips out, says that’s the Partnership’s bank. Garnier is aware of that. Fisher finds out the diamonds also belonged to the partnership. The money will be there Thursday night. Fisher get’s the plans and whatever else Garnier’s team has (and they have EVERYTHING).
11. Fisher breaks it down for his team. All of them look upset. Fisher keeps them focused. They go over a rough outline of possible routes. Duties are split up.
12. Fisher doing recon on the bank, looks frustrated. Get’s a call from his mother. It’s Shawn. Fisher heads over. Stopping at the comic store first.
13. Fisher talks to Shawn. Rough day at school. Picked on. Shoved to the floor. Fisher gives him the comic books he picked up. On the way out he leaves an envelope of money on the counter. Tells his mother he wants him out of the school, and into a private school before the end of the semester. And that this is not up for debate.
14. MIDPOINT – Fisher talks to Manny. Fisher isn’t sure what to do. Manny tells him to play the only card he’s got. And that’s Koteric and the FBI.
Now, some of these are pretty detailed, some are really simple, but you can see my thought process as I go about fleshing things out. When I feel satisfied, I’ll boil each beat down to one or two lines, and then move into notecard planning in Final Draft.
However, before I do that I want to make sure I have act two B fleshed out as well. This way I can see the pacing over the whole act before I actually start writing. Now, I’m not done with this yet, but I’ll post up what I’ve got so you can see how it grows:
1. Fisher asks Koteric for help.
2. More planning. They’ve got a get a seucirty scan of the security system. Everything runs through a junction box in a utility building across the street. Fisher and Carter hit it up, do the scan while avoiding security, and get out.
3. Surprise visit with Adele. They go back to Fisher’s place.
4.
5. Koteric and joint FBI/DPD team set up sting.
6.
7. PINCH TWO Start of Heist.
8. Heist goes to hell. Firefight. Fisher owns a couple of guys.
9. Hand off goes to shit. Everyone dies.
10. Funeral.
11. Fisher at the dock. We’re lead to believe Fisher is killed.
12. A surprise visit to Manny.
13. Guns and more guns.
14. PLOT POINT TWO – Fisher meets with Gambini.
Lots of these beats are really bare. Some of them are blank. I’ve shuffled certain points between the acts, but all in all, you can start to get a feeling for the peaks and valleys of act two.
Now, a lot of the beats I’ve got in my two lists came from the stuff I fiddled with while I was doing my free screenwriting. And this has helped my development IMMENSELY. I’ve been able to see visually in my head how things will look. I’ve been able to see on paper how things will work. But most importantly, I know how some things already work. The pressure to develop is gone. If anything, I’m almost too relaxed while I work on act two.
It’s going to take me a few more days, likely through the weekend, to finish fleshing out act two, but when I complete it I will post it up. This way, if anyone is interested, they can see how the beats translate into the actual screenplay.
Until then…
Enjoy.
-Steve
Filed under: Weekend Box Office Numbers | Tags: Box Office, Box Office Numbers, Weekend Box Office Numbers
The Hangover continues to lead the box office staying at number one for a second week. Though this will likely end after this weekend. Up hung on to second place. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 opened okay at number three, though the studio can’t be too pleased with that. After all, it was the “biggest” film to open last weekend, so if it was going to land number one this was it’s shot. That didn’t happen, which is a shame because I’ve heard good things about Denzel and Travolta.
Outside of Imagine That, which opened at 6, the remaining spots on the top ten are filled with the also-rans that have littered the top ten since the start of May.
From what I’ve read Moon did pretty well in LA and New York, so I hope that means that it will see positive support for it’s national release. I just hope they show it here in Atlanta sometime soon.
Opening up this weekend is the Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds rom-com The Proposal. I like Reynolds, and don’t have anything against Bullock, but I’m so over romcoms right now. Honestly, I’d prefer to see Reynolds take on some sort of Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China type character, but that’s me. The Jack Black and Wally Bleeker Michael Cera comedy Year One about…I don’t know, something about guys that are cavemen going through time or something. Obviously the trailers have done a bang up job explaining the premiss. It looks dumb, though considering it’s competition at the box office I’m sure it’ll do fine. Woody Allen’s next flick Whatever Works opens in NY and LA, so feel free to get excited if you’re into that sort of thing.
For those interested, here are the “official” numbers for the weekend:
1. The Hangover – $33.4 Million
2. Up – $30.5 Million
3. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 – $25 Million
4. Night at the Museum: Smithsonian Edition - $9.6 Million
5. Land of the Lost - $9.2 Million
6. Imagine That – $5.7 Million
7. Star Trek – $5.6 Million
8. Terminator Salvation – $4.7 Million
9. Angels & Demons – $4.2 Million
10. Drag Me to Hell - $3.8 Million
Enjoy.
-Steve
Filed under: Served Cold, Writing Samples | Tags: act one, first draft, Served Cold
Technically I finished act one of Served Cold about two weeks ago. However, when I was finished I was looking at about 24 pages, and thought there was some stuff that I needed to move from act one into act two, and vice versa.
So I spent a few days looking at my note cards and beat sheets and did my shuffling. When the dust settled I started writing again.
What I ended up with is the 31 pages I’ve posted down below.
There is certainly plenty of room to trim. I’d like to get it down to around 27 pages, but the time for that is later. Now I need to move on to Act Two.
If anyone is interested, you can read Act One by clicking on this link.
Enjoy.
-Steve
Land of the Lost tanked this weekend. No other way to put it. I don’t know if I’d blame Will Ferrel, or the fact they turned a cheese ball show from the 60s (that most people thought sucked even back then) into a multi million dollar summer “blockbuster.”
Up stayed strong in it’s second weekend barely edging out the newcomer and R rated comedy The Hangover. Hangover’s 43 some odd million box office was the third highest opening ever for an R rated comedy. That tells me that regardless of what the studio suits think, there is still VERY MUCH an audience and market for adult comedies. People are tired of watered down PG-13 fare. Adults will show up for a comedy if you make it for adults.
Nice to see Drag Me To Hell still doing pretty well.
Anyway, here’s the formal top ten…
1. Up $44,244,000
2. Hangover, The $43,275,000
3. Land Of The Lost $19,523,945
4. Night At The Museum: Battle Smithsonian $14,650,000
5. Star Trek $8,400,000
6. Terminator Salvation $8,175,000
7. Drag Me To Hell $7,341,750
8. Angels & Demons $6,500,000
9. My Life In Ruins $3,225,000
10. Dance Flick $2,000,000
Not a whole lot coming out next week. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 should do okay, though I don’t hear a whole lot of good buzz about it. Moon is being released in NY and LA, hopefully it does well enough to encourage them for a decent sized national release because I REALLY want to see that one.
Releasing June 12th…
- Call of the Wild 3D (limited)
- Food, Inc. (limited)
- Imagine That
- Moon (NY, LA)
- Sex Positive (limited)
- The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
- Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love (NY; LA release: July 3)
Enjoy.
-Steve
Filed under: Film News | Tags: Moon, Moon movie trailer, Movie Trailer, Sam Rockwell, sci-fi, Science Fiction
I literally JUST caught window of this a little bit ago. It’s a movie called Moon, staring Sam Rockwell.
The gist is that a guy has been working for a company mining some sort of gas on the moon for the last three years. His tour of duty is up in two weeks. But just as he’s getting ready to come home things begin to get weird.
I will be seeing this one opening weekend. It’s got a real creepy sci-fi vibe to it.
Enjoy.
-Steve
