Son of Rambow

It's hard for me to resist an artsy dramedy about two kids discovering the joys of filmmaking. I suggest you don't even try. Just see it more than once...I've noticed that it takes at least two viewings to really appreciate these types of films.

The Rebels Guide to Joy

These videos are short biographies on some of the great Christian song writers. I think that these videos do a beautiful job of showing that the Christian life is more than the stereotype "be a good person and your life will be great!" These artists suffered, even after their conversion. But what they achieved in their lifetimes has brought countless blessings to other believers for generations. Even if you're not a Christian, check these out...I think that you'll find these stories interesting no matter what your religious belief.

You can find more videos at www.marshillchurch.org/special/saints

Spring

When the weather starts to get warm, and everyone else is getting "spring fever," the strong desire to make a movie hits me like a brick. I always make a film in the spring time, and for some reason, these spring projects are always the most intense. Here are some movie posters that are inspiring the lok of my own film's poster...I'm digging the collage look.

The Jane Austen Book Club

I refuse to feel stupid for liking this feel-good chick-flick. The characters are all intelligent and funny and certainly more real than your average comedy character. Yes, I know the likely hood of getting a guy to read all of Jane Austen's books are pretty slim...or the likely hood that a divorced couple will get back together...or the likely hood that every time you break a bone you happen to get a new girlfriend. But hey, it's still a chick flick, right?

Quote of the Week

"I write so the endangered thoughts roaming naked and vulnerable through the misty jungles of my mind aren't slain by the guns of practical living."

-Kim Krizan

August Rush

Alright, so this movie is about sugary sweet and hopeful as they come. But that doesn't mean you should discredit August Rush, a musical urban fairy tale that gives a twist to the classic orphan-finding-his-parents fable. The orphan, Evan, "believes in music like some people believe in fairy tales." If he could only play it loud enough, maybe his parents could hear him. Its this young boy's undying belief in the power of music that sets the film apart and binds together the film's otherwise implausible plot points. The hypnotic melody of a street performer draws Evan's parents to the rooftop where they meet. Rock and classical overlap as characters thinking about each other play at separate venues. The sounds of the street inspire the ten year-old Evan to write a symphony that is played in Central Park. The music is the movie's core, and its what makes it such a beautiful film. Despite the syrup.

Quote of the Week

Luke: Very romantic.

Lorelai: Says the man who yelled "finally" at the end of Love Story.

-Gilmore Girls

Fashion Flash: Scarlett Johansson @ Venice Film Festival

I love this dress. I love the idea of arriving at a film premiere in Venice by boat. With Josh Hartnett waiting for you.

Working Crush

Ever had a "working crush"? It's not the kind of crush where you like someone romantically. It's when you really admire someone's work and they're on the top of your list of people you'd like to collaborate with. Well, I have a "working crush" on Christian Bale. He's an incredible actor, and he brings such an intensity to every role that he plays that you're never thinking of him as being "Christian Bale." He's completely that character at that moment. He also has the most believable American accent of any British actor. Ever. And he's in a good percentage of my favorite movies (Newsies, Little Women, Howl's Moving Castle, Batman Begins, etc, etc, etc.)

Howl's Moving Castle

I've recently fallen in love with the beautiful animation of Miyazaki. His films have an ethereal lyricism to them...(to use some big words.) Howl's Moving Castle, the story of a girl cursed to look like a 90-year old woman and her lover, a vain, cowardly wizard who's possesed by demons of his own, iscompletely different than any American animated film. Period. I could analyze all of it's elements, talk about the wonderful music, all star cast (yay for Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, and Billy Crystal!), and layered story....but I'll let you see all of that for yourelf.

Stardust

This movie was "the one" I had been waiting for all summer. "Stardust" carries on the complicated but wonderful genre of "romantic fantasy action comedy" established by neo-classics such as "The Princess Bride" and "Lady Hawk." The film flollows the story of Tristan, an English shop boy who tries to catch a falling star to impress the snobby Victoria. The star is actually a girl named Yvaine, and immortal witches and bratty princes are after her as well. Newcomer Charlie Cox is wonderful as Tristan, and Robert DeNiro shows a side I'd definitely never seen before as the supposedly villainous Captain Shakespeare, a pirate who just wants to cut hair and wear feather boas. I could write more, but it might take a while...

Ocean's 13

I love this movie! It's like James Bond sans the erotically named sluts plus a wicked sense of humor and lots of attractive men instead of just one. I can't imagine what it was like to film in the hotel they used in the movie...it was completely gorgeous, the people were completely gorgeous...everyone must have had a lot of fun at work.

POTC: At World's End Soundtrack

This soundtrack is incredible. It incorporates electric guitar and reminds me of those fantasy movies from the eighties I used to watch with my dad. Gives me goosebumps. I ran out and bought it right after I saw the film.

Coming Soon...

"It's scary to put yourself in a situation where you feel like you should feel something, because you feel that if you don't feel that something that you really should have felt it and something just went terribly, horribly, unbeleivably wrong."

-Line From An Upcoming Screenplay

Faerie Tale Theatre

This show was one of the defining elements of my childhood and inspires me to this day in my work. Faerie Tale Theatre was a television program that would take a different fairy-tale each week and let a different director and celebrity cast transform it into a play-like story. Sometimes the stories were comedic (like in "The Frog Prince" or "The Princess and the Pea",) sometimes they were lyrical and poetic ("The Nightingale" "The Snow Queen"), or frightening ("The Boy Who Left Home To Find Out About the Shivers" "Beauty and the Beast"), or just plain corny ("Thumbelina".) These one-hour shows intruduced me to the work of artists I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to at such a young age, like Francis Ford Coppola, Tim Burton, Helen Mirren, David Bowie, James Earle Jones, Matthew Broderick, Angelica Huston, Billy Crystal, and Christopher Lee. These directors, actors and writers didn't treat fairy tales as something just for children (a la Disney,) but rather as wonderful adventures in their own right that the whole family could enjoy. Their enthusiasm inspired me even at the age of five to put my own spin on the stories that I heard, and so I started to create stories of my own (which I would act out with the neighborhood kids on my back porch.) Even to this day, my work is influenced greatly by folk tales and legends. The stories that we tell as a culture defines who we are. But the way each of us individually interprets these stories defones who we will become.

Some favorite Faerie Tales Theatre Quotes:

Cinderella: Do you know anything about kissing?
Prince Charming: I'm almost certain it has something to do with the lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prince: I need something warm and soft and gentle...like a hamster!
Fool: I think what you mean is a wife.
Prince: A wife? Is that better than a hamster?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Narrator: ...the prince was thrown into the dungeon and the princess was sent to a very strict boarding school, where she was forced to learn latin and play hockey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Impact

It's funny how sometimes things that we think don't impact us really do. This past summer one of my film teachers at Interlochen told me to see the movie "A Room With a View", because she thought I'd really like it. However,a certain scene in the movie involving very much NOT dressed guys frolicing in the woods wiped from my mind any good associations I had with the film (and caused my brother to laugh uncontrollably.) But as I was working on my current film project, I remembered some of the other witty (non-nude) moments in the film and they inspired aspects of my own project. It's funny how stuff like that happens. And here I thought that "A Room With A View" was just a movie with a bit too much of a "view."

Good Taste/Bad Taste

Cool house, isn't it? It belongs to Joel Shumacher, a film director known for his entertaining albeit poorly executed movies (such as "Phantom of the Opera", "The Number 23", and the "Batman" movie w/ George Clooney.) I wouldn't have expected his house to look like this...but I love it!

"Amazing" Film

I'll admit it: I was cynical about this film beore I saw it. A lot of Christian films float by on poor quality and aren't seen by anyone but Christians. This, I feel, defeats the point. Shouldn't Christians, armed with their relationship with the Greatest Storyteller and Creator, make the best films? Film is a visual media, and when Christians try to translate a wordy "altar call" into their pictures, they alienate themselves even more from the people you're trying to reach. Alright, so I'll step down from my soapbox now. The recent film Amazing Grace was incredibly refreshing. Here was a film that was infused throughout with a Christian worldview, yet didn't blatantly scream "JESUS LOVES YOU!" I think for the key to good Christian filmmaking you should look to how Christ told His stories: parables. Jesus didn't say "The Kingdom of Heaven is..." He said "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..."

What kind of movie would Jesus make?

Behind the Scenes Oscar Pics

Photos taken from the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly

Little Miss Sunshine

This movie is hilarious, especially if you've ever felt like your family is crazy (so everyone should like this film, no?) I'm not going to write you a comprehensive report on the whole thing...go to www.rottentomatoes.com to find that. But I will tell you that more movies like this should be made-subtle, circumstance comedies with a quirky, dark edge. (Want more? Rent My Man Godfrey, the original screwball comedy, and the first film to have actors nominated in all four acting categories at the Academy Awards. Also check out Expiration Date and The Truman Show...they're a lot of fun.)