Break-in

This is a short about breaking in, either to the world of movie-making or into somebody else's apartment on a cold New Years day, perhaps. Originally posted as "Occupant," the pivotal opening sequence padded with weather shots of lovely snow that happened to be there. It plays better now as a bare bones attack scene and without cut-aways. There were sound issues, but they seem to be somewhat improved in this version.

Why Playing Spider-Man Broke Andrew Garfield’s Heart

I wonder about this business about story serving the character, especially in the case of Lois Lane. In Superman II (1981 theatrical version) Margot Kidder's Lois drove the initial sequence because of her tenacious propensity for trespass in the name of journalism which put her in harm's way. Later, she put both herself and Clark and ultimately the world in harm's way by testing Clark and uncovering his identity for the abstract sake of truth and her pride as a journalist compulsively pushing. Today, these traits would be torn apart by the busybody internet bogging itself down with blogs on feminist behaviour versus "woman in trouble" or "woman as problem" narratives. In Man of Steel and Batman Versus Superman, Amy's Lois Lane has to be shown as tough and one step ahead of everybody and solving problems. By solving problems, she is by definition serving the story. If she is creating problems, them her character is driving the story. So the actress may be better off not getting what she wants. I don't know.

Some early shorts

A lot of my stuff, not just the shorts that can be looked at with the distance of time, are pretty cheesy. But they may as well still kick around. Posted as archive material. 16mm film 5 minutes writer-director 2nd Year of Humber Film and TV Production Actors: Frank A. Caruso and Denise Bitidis 3/4 inch tape 5 minutes writer-director for Rogers Cable Community Channel 3/ inch video and VHS writer-director parody of dating line PSAs.

John Cleese - The Dead Planet Sketch (Born Free)

Jacob in a suit

Are Creepy Clowns the Real Danger ?

10 Thoughts on Directing Movies

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Be the first to say it is "just a movie" or "First World Problems" to get that nonsense out of the way. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/movie-director-6.jpg _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. With money tight, is it worth paying hundreds of dollars for a directing workshop without exploring the information and tutorials available for free on-line and on DVDs ? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ https://www.instagram.com/lilyinapad/?hl=en _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Is it true that "Once the script is right and the casting appropriate, ninety percent of the director's job is done" is has the job just begun? Some films and many TV shows use directors only as guests and already have the script in place and the cast already attached or established. The director may have to initial each page of a script to ensure it is all shot. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://67.media.tumblr.com/b78ca5314f53b8754bff183a55a92311/tumblr_mh95s3iewL1rovfcgo1_1280.jpg _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Is Wernor Herzog right in saying that "storyboards are for cowards" or is Roger Corman right that especially directors starting out with respect for everyone's time should prepare storyboards and/or pre-vis? Does it matter that a storyboard "implies a cut" or is it up to the director to decide the psychological use of the frame, a move, and the displacement impact of an edit? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://www.tribute.ca/images/videos/ruba-nadda-inescapable-6016-300x226.jpg 5. Do you aspire to the Auteur Theory or is Peter Farrelly right that, "If you come off like you think you are Stanley Kubrick, the crew will make your life hell" so it is better to tell them to save you and you know nothing? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/film-director-quentin-tarantino-is-photographed-for-shortlist-on-7-picture-id173215132 6. What part of a director's duties could be delegated before the directing credit feels fraudulent? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Martin_Scorsese_by_David_Shankbone.jpg _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. How do you honestly develop a reputation for a style or even competence without establishing a vision in advance? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://static1.purepeople.com/articles/3/13/44/43/@/1348944-la-realisatrice-jane-campion-62eme-950x0-2.jpg _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Is important to have a social issue as your masthead or is the language of directing itself enough to draw fans? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://www.trbimg.com/img-56567b8c/turbine/la-ca-mn-conversation-spike-lee-chi-raq-interview-20151129 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Is it better to work independently or join a union, paying for workshops between clocking set hours as PA/AD, third AD, second AD, and First AD, giving yourself years to climb a theoretical ladder to Director? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Sofia-sofia-coppola-562139_395_480.jpg _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. Will you have time to schmoose and drink with the right person to get a job, or will you be focused on developing your craft? And must you be a musician or actor or stand-up comic as a prerequisite for directing or is that the advice you will get from a director who is a musician, actor or stand-up and wants to psyche you out? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Francis-Ford-Coppola.jpg

Various Shorts from the recent past

Some new, some as old as 15 or 20 years.

Film Directing as Political Football

If movie directing is becoming a political football, it must be what we call soccer. The goal here will be to diffuse outright falsehoods being promoted. 1. The CBC has already committed to hiring women for at least fifty percent of its positions for directing TV shows. 2. If a script is submitted for funding to the Canadian Film Center or any other entity in Canada, there is an opportunity to indicate gender and visible minority. http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/entertainment/lack-of-canadian-female-directors-a-political-issue-researcher-says-1.3071157 3. In TV especially, the writers/producers have more say about the content of an episode than the guest director of an episode. So it is false to assume that power resides in the director to turn a scripted lesbian triumph over the patriarchy into a hard-edged macho cop show that condones racism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDHqDEa1ed4 4. There is a "get the job done" work ethic in Assistant Directors, and a "never miss tiara Tuesdays" crew-service perspective that is of great human value on a set but does not have any relationship toward that person directing the audience through the frame once elevated to the job of "Director." Some comedy directors I enjoy keep it simple, keeping the cast in focus while they improvise, but there isn't much room for directing as an art form, by which I don't mean "fancy shots" (a term I hate) but the most appropriate shot for each beat or transition. https://youtu.be/3FOzD4Sfgag?list=PL2w4TvBbdQ3sMABf317ExCob_v6rW2-4s 5. Even though it may be true that having a "beer with the right person" or being "the kind of person people want to have a beer with after a long shoot," may result in getting hired as a Director on a project, it is questionable whether or not that is good news for the craft. Who has time for a beer after each shoot day, and even if that means the wrap party, it is movie lore that Steven Spielberg skips the last shot and wrap party on everything since Jaws - initially out of fear the crew would prank him or get revenge for a long shoot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q4X2vDRfRk 6. The argument that a writer or director must have empathy certainly is valid, but it is more important that the material is presented in a way that engages empathy and it is nearly impossible to tell just how much "empathy" any ambitious person in the film or TV business actually has. If that refers to male empathy for the plight of women who are not employed enough as directors, that is a First World Problem anyone can identify with who does not have that job. Many women hate Woody Allen because of his personal life and the writings of Mia Farrow, but some of the best acting roles for women have his name on them. Some of us might weep in life only when watching a movie or play or reading a book but in life respect ourselves and others enough to put up layers. As the line goes at the end of The Madness of King George, "I have remembered how to seem." So an actor or director feeling something is not the same as an audience feeling it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqFd_niDWA4 7. It has been said that, "Once the script is solid and the casting is appropriate, Ninety percent of the director's job is done." As vital as those aspects are, for the sake of evaluating a movie director, I would focus only on that remaining ten percent which makes as much difference as the microscopic difference of an extra chromosome at conception makes to the grown adult that results. Coppola talks about "performance" meaning the way a director presents on the set as only half of the actual directing and the other is preparation or vision. Being a social butterfly isn't part of it. Coppola has also said that, "A dictatorial reputation comes from the fact that an experienced crew after a while can do certain things by rote" and introducing something new can meet resistance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1D2_bovy20 8. There is little difference between having no script and having no storyboards. Unless the point of excess dialogue is to eat up time and be able to claim a huge number of pages have been covered on a given shooting day. For most of us who are slowly developing projects, there is time to do what we only need time for: sketch the shots to see the movie, how to visually introduce characters, what we need to see and what is more powerful without being focused on. The argument that storyboards "imply a cut" and may cramp the style of the editor may be something to discuss when choosing an editor. Or assistant editor who can be elevated to full credit after the fact and circumvent any politics. For low budget, storyboards respect the time crunch. A look book may additionally be provided to the art department but it is secondary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egwLenvNG0E 9. Anecdote: In a system where the statistics for women in film where far worse than they are now, in the Nineteen Nineties, Ruba Nadda was publishing poetry and making shorts with her sisters using a Bollex and 16mm film and spending her wages from Ontario Hydro to send prints to festivals overseas. She made a feature on black and white 16mm, another in colour, took a producer's course at the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and cast Arsinee Khanjian in her next feature which became Sabah. Atom Egoyan became her mentor. Christine Vachon became executive producer of her next few films. When people talk about influencing cinema to be more diverse, all they have to do is look at Christine Vachon's producing credits or read her books like Shooting to Kill. That's a producer with a voice and ideology that is rare. It comes from an individual and her own networking, not imposed from the top down with false expectations. https://www.facebook.com/The-Adventures-of-Porno-the-Clown-1561237830831389/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel 10. Do some Canadian productions put ideology before aesthetic? When Vincenzo Natalie submitted Cube to the Canadian Film Center Feature Film Project, it would become its biggest success but there was resistance to it because of the attitude, "This isn't the kind of thing we do." In other words, a major statement of visual invention almost didn't make the cut because it wouldn't blur together with small character pieces that pretty much all blend together. I had the pleasure of working on a CFC feature called Clutch toward the end of their shoot in 1998, and made a point to see the film when it was released. There were quirky elements, and it is the last CFC film to date I can remember finding and watching. I have tremendous respect for Norman Jewison's directing. I have And Justice For All, Moonstruck, and Fiddler on the Roof. I respect In the Heat of the Night, and got to see Jewison speak before a screening of Hurricane at the former Bloor Theater in Toronto. But even with my own politics leaning to the left (not leaning so far I topple), buzz words like story and character can ring hollow if over-shadowed by mission statements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfZYVLRoPTo

"Star Wars" breakfast cereal

Millennial song

Sarah Silverman - "Perfect Night" ft. Will.i.am

Hacksaw Ridge (2016 - Movie) Official Trailer – “Believe”

[Movies] Sorry Houston Press...GHOSTBUSTERS is a flop

Sony Fabricated Fake Review for GHOSTBUSTERS!

Classes of Movie Comedy

In 1980, Private Benjamin was released. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081375/?ref_=nv_sr_1 In 1981, Stripes followed close behind, having shot around the same time. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083131/?ref_=nv_sr_1 Either one of these movies - or the one-two punch of both - could have been the final statement of the long-standing comic premise of "funny people join the army." Goldie Hawn's character Judy Benjamin allows the titular name of the Nancy Meyers script to be male, despite there being no disguising the hook of the movie in posters - Goldie's clearly female peepers under a military helmet. Her film had the added element of not only a funny person in the army but a woman and also a fish out of water in the sense that she is a spoiled upper-class type who must win over her hard-nosed working-class drill Sargent who is also a woman and ultimately overcome her short comings to an extent and gain self-respect. Even though there is a plot twist later in the film which involves a blatant sexual overture that is clearly coercion rape which Judy has to escape by skydiving. So it manages to get its digs in. What is remarkable in our present culture of twitter wars and SJW Facebook discourse is that this popular and award-winning film plays indeed as a final thesis statement and not the start of a trend with feminist narratives. Nine-to-Five, produced by Jane Fonda and directed by the late Colin Higgins, came out the same year. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080319/?ref_=nv_sr_1 That got a short-lived TV series but nothing much else. Again, perhaps it said what had to be said at the time about sexism and injustice in the workplace. Decades Later, Horrible Bosses 2 came out. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170439/?ref_=nv_sr_1 This is noteworthy because it contains a scene where the the men at the core of the two films acknowledge that their story is basically Nine to Five and which one of them is the Jane Fonda. Nine to Five is to Horrible Bosses what Stripes and Private Benjamin are to the 1994 Paulie Shore vehicle In the Army Now. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110123/?ref_=nm_knf_i4 By the same principle, the 1984 Ghostbusters is to the 2016 Ghostbusters by Paul Feig. The Ivan Reitman film written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis with improvisations by Bill Murray and much of the cast (it was Sigourney Weaver's idea that she become possessed), could have been the last statement of the premise "funny people chase ghosts" which acknowledges a legacy that goes back to Abbott and Costello. Stripes contained a mud wrestling scene that ultimately involved toplessness. It also had the Aunt Jamima treatment scene in which Bill Murray's character lifts P.J. Soles (Halloween, also in Private Benjamin!!!) onto a stove and playfully uses a spatula on her -- something that as described might be infuriating and would cause hard core bloggy types to hit the roof but someone like Bill Murray and P.J.'s measured reactions allow to be funny and light. It may have been improvised by Murray as it would cause false red flags in a script. Both the characters played by P.J. and Sean Young in Stripes are MPs - Military Police. They out-rank Murray and Harold Ramis their love interests and they are the ones licking in fences and doors and shooting the guns and driving the souped-up recreational vehicle at the end. It would be a hard-nosed, humourless person that would call the movie sexist in that context. Ghostbusters with the same crew three years later contains a scene where a ghost visits Dan Aykroyd's character Ray in bed, unbuckles his pants (which he is wearing in bed for no reason) and gives him oral. It also has a scene where Dr. Venkman (Murray) administers thorazine to the possessed Dana Barrett (Sigourney) without explanation of why he happened to have the substance on him when he had only showed up at her apartment expecting to go on a date. We can choose, again because of Murray's tone in the scene, to write that off as convenient screenwriting and/ or the eccentricity of a scientist. It is most likely a scripting quirk and not meant to imply that Venkman is so far gone that he would recreationally drug a date. Especially because of the way he reports this matter-of-fact to his fellow ghostbuster on the phone. Now let's jump ahead to the much-hyped 2016 Paul Feig remake of Ghostbusters, for which the appearance of feminism and the importance of female role models busting ghosts took the focus away from the true concern of most fans, the abandonment of the continuity and universe created in 1984 embellished in the seven seasons of The Real Ghostbusters animated series and also 1989's under-appreciated Ghostbusters II. We might have liked to meet Oscar Barrett, the grown son of Dana, who might have become a Ghostbuster as the adopted son of Venkman. Maybe he would have a sister from Peter and Dana who is also in that field. Re-connecting with the surviving cast and giving fans a chance to mourn and pay tribute to Harold Ramis who played Egon would have been a substantive, culturally healthy thing to do. On top of that, they also could have introduced a count of four female ghostbusters anyway. But instead, the bare bones of the brand were strip-mined and a comedy of lower class ended up passing itself off as Ghostbusters. Along with Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig, as well as others in support of the remake, throwing shade on anyone who is not excited about the bait and switch Amy Pascal at Sony and Paul Feig had connived to foist on the "Mother's basement-dwelling, forty-year-old, neck-bearded Trump supporting assholes" that aren't eager to shell out admission for something that appears to close the door on something that had been teased out in drips for ten or fifteen years. Not that the 2016 film doesn't have some charm and entertainment value, but so so the most reviled Adam Sandler movies that Sony has cranked out of late. If it had been announced after the death of Graham Chapman that Benny Hill would be in charge of remaking Monty Python's Life of Brian, the drop in comedy cachet would be similar.

Half in the Bag Episode 112: Ghostbusters (2016)

Why Being Honest about Ghostbusters is Important

Ghostbusters (2016) Angry Movie Review + Rant!

These guys are entertaining and accurate.

Solid Points !! Ghostbusters (2016) | Great Movie Review

Blade Runner Transitions

Ghostbusters Reboot: Sony Hits Back at Fan Backlash

Very handy video putting this into perspective. Especially the "nerd-shaming" element which has damaged our view of some talented people as the spin has gone on.

FEIG YOU, GHOSTBUSTERS!!

Not sure I like this wig and falsetto on a guy trying to lecture on comedy

and I don't agree about Ghostbusters II, which is actually not as bad as

its reputation.  But many of his points are logical and there is a

clip of Ray from Casper at least.

Blade Runner Transitions

Counterfeit Ghostbusters ?

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Abortion and Gestation

On the ongoing debate over abortion, sparked by the clumsy ramblings of Donald Trump and some interviews by Hillary and Bernie. . . Here is my unsolicited two cents: These are parallel points, not mutually exclusive: a) science/biology tells us gestation IS a stage of human life b) if the fetus lives in her mother's womb she is subject to that real estate like it or not c) It is impossible to police everything an unhappily pregnant woman does and what she eats or drinks that might cause a deliberate miscarriage d) The real issue is whether the feelings of those who have had abortions need be protected from the reality of point a). A sperm carrying 23 chromosomes is not a human being. It is cute to joke about and to put a voice-over onto a sperm or have Woody Allen dress as a sperm, but contrary to the Catholic teaching and the excellent satirical tune by Monty Python "Every Sperm is Sacred" they are not sacred at all. If you believe human life has inherent value, then that issue begins when its 23 chromosomes join with the 23 chromosomes (and RNA) of the ovum and the process of cell division - the process of becoming - begins. That's the process that is still going on in your life at this moment. Whether or not the fertilized embryo attaches to the uterus wall (as Bill Nye the Science Guy tells us it must) the conception of a human being has occurred. A spontaneous abortion may occur if an IUD or such other obstruction prevents attachment. But whether that makes you sad or indifferent - and whether or not you feel anything for a homeless person freezing to death in the street for the inherent value of his/her human life - gestation remains a phase of human life just as infancy, childhood, adolescence and menopause are called stages. If abortion were legally treated as murder there are pragmatic real work concerns that make it a solution worse than the problem. What would be the statute of limitations on that form of murder? Could someone be charged as an accessory if they drive the abortive mother home from the clinic? And context is everything. We are told it is not murder and not immoral to respect an agreement within the military to allow oneself to be deployed to a battle and kill people with whom we have no personal or business grudge. And yet it is illegal to kill someone we have witnessed personally killing friends or family or to kill a rapist whose existence is negligible. It is unfortunate that these discussions are spurred by the most careless opinion - like that of Trump - for whom punishment is an abstract thought and for whom everyday suffering can be shrugged off. It's not a squeaky clean matter in any case. Anti-abortion law is a carrot appealing to emotion, something that just can't be sustained and that likely be one more way to make poor people miserable while rich people use connections to do as their whims dictate.

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Shared Universe or Clean Slate on Ghostbusters

Just looking at reports on changed plans to have a Channing Tatum Ghostbusters introduced as competition for the Kristin Wiig vehicle that is coming out this summer. Apparently the new male version won't be this decade, and I could not care less. There is tweeting and clucking that bemoans the idea that these movies might not all connect, Marvel-style. The time to think of shared universes was before Feig e-mailed Amy Pascal with his idea that humans have had NO evidence of the afterlife and the 1984 Ghostbusters never happened. The Orkin pest control idea was already suggested in the 2009 original cast video game, wasn't it? The old traps did not have to look like bear traps, since the essence of a ghost has nothing to do with apparent size. The original props could have been made available if Wiig and team simply bought into the franchise as a branch of Ghostbusters. They could have moved into a property across the street from a Westboro Baptist Church type of organization and might even find ghosts or possessions there. Maybe their branch doesn't have to be in New York. If Dan and Ernie Hudson just were seen in an ad that might have been enough. There are plenty of satirical reasons to justify people not believing in ghosts despite there having been huge events. There was no twitter nor smart phones in 1984 or 1989. Cell phones weren't even common when The Real Ghostbusters show ran. It is possible that ghost believers might be treated as 9/11 Truthers. That is what should have happened. Speaking as a moviegoer.

Better Young Han Solo possibilities?

I've posted a few links compulsively on imdb discussion boards, because that is the sort of deranged nerd I am. Also, it only took a few minutes. But who do you try to "contact" through an imdb board? Kathleen Kennedy? The directors of the proposed new Han Solo movie? Or the writers Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon? I didn't even go that far. The most the message might reach is a handful of fans who happen to click on a given argument... I mean discussion. Though they are not on the short list being publicized, a Young Han Solo doesn't need an established celebrity name. The name above the title is the name IN the title - Han Solo. It would be a big mistake to cast anyone who does not evoke Harrison Ford. Who are the best of the non-short-listed (that we know of) that should come to the attention of the directors? Jamie Costa (most famous for a Robin Williams impression reel) or Anthony Ingruber (young Ford in Age of Adeline) Here are others talking about the options out there.

johns and Jians

Standing on a crowded subway train, I had a Now Magazine open to a page spread that gave a full view to the woman peeping over my shoulder of either a Jian Ghomeshi trial analysis or an article about migrant sex workers at odds with well-meaning activists who want to end human sex traffic as a form of slavery. My only thought on human traffic is that an actress from The Walking Dead and the recent sequel to Dumb and Dumber had famously helped out with a sort of "underground railroad" operation to rescue some women who had been exploited that way. Law enforcement may state that they will focus on johns or clients, eliminating the demand for the supply. But then it could be argued that if the supply remains the same and demand is reduced then the price goes down and lower-end clients are attracted. And if those guys absorb all of the arrest risk, they might even take measures to make sure they won't be arrested. Sex workers of any stripe might be in more danger of violence. Just as rape or sexual assault victims in the future might more commonly disappear so the offenders won't be spending ten years waiting for a ticking Cosby or Ghomeshi time bomb to go off. What's in the Now magazine diverges quite a lot from my own concerns that these issues dredge up. Now usually takes the uber-progressive stance, while an umbrella like progressive or feminist or Christian or Humanistic just clouds the specifics. One might sympathize with sex workers not wanting to have contact with police, while at the same time understanding that no segment of society (even police) should be a permanent blind spot where it is understood that there just won't be investigation or policing of any kind. It would be like advertising the section of a bank where the CCTV cameras don't work. One might understand that a woman must be free to express herself as she sees fit in the say she dresses and use her body in sex work if that is her choice; the same could be said about the client using his body as he chooses. Is he merely circumventing the conventions and leagues of society or enjoying a thrill in an otherwise tame surface life, or is he cultivating a detachment from the feelings of a sex partner and a focus on his own whim that can escalate by increments into the demands of a rapist? If the latter possibility is true, then the availability of prostitution may provide baby steps for even the most cowardly character to embolden himself in the various forms or gestures of sexual assault or rape, overt physical struggle or covert with a drug in a drink. That sensibility might not grasp the idea that whatever joy or elevation comes from sex itself is part in parcel of a shared moment of individuals conspiring together like sharing a secret or simply accepting and wanting the contact of another human being. Not that some johns don't have that motivation. But it is all about the anomaly. The Crown prosecutor in the Ghomeshi trail seems like the only person in Canada who did not know how it would play out. The only reason the rest of us knew was by looking at the pattern. It is more difficult to prove rape or sexual assault than it is to create the impression that a witness is not credible. Certain things could have been checked as the witness was prepared. In movies or TV, we see practice runs with hard questions double-checking claims about whether the alleged victim tried to contact the offender at any time afterward. The prosecution team might make sure psychiatrists are brought in as witnesses to establish officially the well known human nature to behave irrationally following an event that is hard to process. They certainly could have done their due diligence to verify that a car specified as the location for an assault was of a make and colour the accused in fact owned and used at the time. Since there is the possibility of a witness lying, a continuity error can't be dismissed. Because there is so much unpunished or unreported abuse, assault and rape around the world, any high-profile case will have the added burden of being an effigy of evil and sadism incarnate waiting for a bonfire. A Ghomeshi or a Cosby might be notorious for behavior that is only finally talked about openly once that individual is vulnerable and people might well want to imprison someone simply for being an asshole. We now know Ghomeshi is not fondly recalled by those who worked with him. We can wait for someone to do a super-cut of interview clips where he is rejected by female guests of Q he asked on dates over the air, like Andrea Martin and Carrie Fisher. Either they dodged a bullet or he did, because entertainment icons don't have to worry about their future and would not likely have taken any quarter from him. The trial of an individual for several different crimes or counts of an offense might be efficient, but it also seems that we assume testimony for one specific incident supports the fact of another alleged incident witnessed by a separate person. But the only thing it bolsters is the character sketch of the accused and the likelihood of a seemingly soft-spoken and friendly persona to do something violent, criminal or otherwise creepy. We might conflate an impression of the accused as a person (two-faced, kinky, mean boss, hypocrite) with whether each allegation witnessed by one person in each case. If fifty women stood watching as Bill Cosby put something into a woman's drink and then grope her once she was asleep, those testimonies would support that case. As separate individuals with unrelated claims, they can only damn the accused in the court of public opinion. If Jian adversary Billy Bob Thornton were said to hit a woman, he would not be a pristine God falling from Mount Olympus. Nobody is salivating to prove Billy Bob is not Bad Santa or not someone capable of a dark side. Had Bill Cosby refrained from lecturing young black men about droopy drawers and staying with the mother of their children and education in general, he might not have angered Hannibal Burress and whoever used a cell phone to record the anti-Cosby bit and he might still be rambling on the Tonight Show for a polite Jimmy Fallon. If Toronto didn't have such a small entertainment community, downsized broadcasting industry, and executive indifference to building on-air personalities or talent in general let alone celebrities, a Jian would not be such a big fish rising under a girl swimmer. Is anyone from CBC checking out Second City or Lunacy Cabaret or other comedy shows around the city? There are veteran comedy folk still getting air-time, as well they should, but there could easily be open floodgates of exposure for a true cutting edge, new blood, and new faces. No need to compromise themselves or be quiet about rotten behavior when there is more investment in opening doors and building new brands.

Movies They Should Make: What About Max?

What About Max ? A combined sequel. Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) while vacationing with his wife in a new place at Cape Fear inadvertently takes on psychopath Max Cady (Robert De Nero) as a new client years after Cady survived burning, drowning, a broken jaw and gun injuries in that area to become a folk hero.

Movies They Should Make: Regarding Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr.

Movies They Should Make Regarding Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. In the summer of love, 1968, an archeologist-adventurer gets shot by an antique camera with a bursting flashbulb that sends a fragment into his left eye causing a hematoma that makes him forget meeting his own son, or inter-dimensional beings, or ever being rattled bounced around in a flying refrigerator to escape an atomic blast. His wife Marion helps him recover and gets him a nice eye patch (as seen in the originally aired bookend segments of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in which George Hall played an elderly version of Dr. Henry "Indy" Jones Jr.). Marion introduces Indy to a scientist from the future, Dr. Emmet L. Brown, who has agreed to take his time machine back to the moment before an incident at the Area 51 storage facility. He has made a phone call to arrange American troops to arrive there in advance of Russians disguised as American troops who have kidnapped Indy and his associate Mack. They have ambushed the Russians at the main gate and arrested them as well as detaining Mack for questioning. Unfortunately, in the battle, Area 51 was burned to the ground with its contents unknown.

Movies They Should Make: Jaws 5 (People 0)

In the early 80's, John Hughes was assigned a script that was never produced, National Lampoon's Jaws 3 (People 0) about producers who hire a novice director for a doomed film hoping for him to fail. The aesthetic of Jaws works against the idea of comedy, since there is nothing relaxing about the dangers under the water surface. But if they stay in the realm of fakery, trying to avoid the pitfalls of the original Jaws, and shoot in a tank it might have potential. One gag I remember from the script is the introduction of an actor who is to wear the shark suit with his legs sticking out the bottom (presumably chroma green) as having "experience playing Godzilla." The movie-within a movie could involve more than that version did, which got caught up in jokes that were off topic and not up to the standard that Hughes eventually evolved into. It was more like his work on National Lampoon's Class Reunion, which is not necessary to look for. Suppose there is an audition for a "Young Robert Shaw" for a pre-credit sequence depicting Quint saying goodbye to his first wife and her patting her tummy as he leaves, implying that even if that marriage failed or he died in war there was a child. Events from the Indianapolis could be shown, with Quint the last up the ladder to the PBY after witnessing a fake Great White shark who looks like Bruce kill someone in front of him and appear to flip him the fin and cause him to go from a patriotic believer and optimist to a grizzled bastard who decides to abandon his first family as he suffers post traumatic stress disorder. His granddaughter could show up at a book signing of Matt Hooper and fail to introduce herself because he is a no show due to Richard Dreyfuss refusing to return. The girl might be the opposite of her grandfather. She might be a Greenpeace activist fighting to protect the last Great White shark from extinction. But things go horribly wrong when her fellow activists end up getting eaten one by one and she has to consider whether to enlist the help of her adversaries the shark hunters for protection. She ends up feeding them to the shark. A real shark should invade the tank through a miscommunication with production e-mails and the guy in a shark suit might have to fight it off. Ultimately the novice sacrificial director should end up having to sacrifice executives to the shark. Due to objections from John Williams, the original shark theme should have to be traded out for the A&W Root Beer "Root Bear" theme.

Movies They Should Make: And Another Thing

... And Another Thing is a sequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), set immediately after the events of that film, while also a sequel to The Thing (2011) prequel directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.. Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) rides a snow-cat from the devastation of her settlement in the prequel to find a man collapsed in the snow. She passes him by at first but a pang of conscience brings her back to lift his sleeve and check for a pulse. She sees a watch or a tattoo - something inorganic that could not be replicated - and risks reviving him. It is R.J. MacReady (Wyatt Russell, the spitting image of his father Kurt, with a beard) the last survivor of the American camp. He is rambling about Childs, who escaped him and abandoned him after being questioned as a Thing. They have to find the next settlement and/ or communications to alert people of danger without sounding nuts. When they find someone who can fly them, this person turns and they are able to throw him out of the helicopter in mid air as MacReady takes over as pilot. When they land in a more populated area, they have to tread lightly because anyone there could be a Thing, from punks on the street to the police. This premise might be fertile ground for engagement with current concerns despite being set in 1982. There could also be reference to people enjoying the E.T. craze.

The Positive State of Star Wars

George Lucas claimed that first-generation fans looked at the Original Trilogy of Star Wars (or episodes IV, V, and VI) with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia which caused a disproportionate level of disappointment with the prequels, especially Episodes I and II. The other argument, usually brought about by children, was that older fans rejected new characters and environments because they were new. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens disproves that spin because it actually delivers brisk pacing and clear narrative, as well as new characters who display integrity and make choices that earn our stake in them. Detractors now say that follows the footsteps of the original 1977 film, as J.J. Abrams stated in publicity, "Going backward to move forward." A few on-line geeks have pouted that the new film is following the "save the cat" blockbuster format of screenwriting and that it must be the work of a "committee." If that is the case, then Star Wars is ideally suited for that approach, because the circumstance we all claim that we want - the one auteur who can write and direct anything and answers to nobody - became out-of-touch in his later years running a business and living in the Xanadu of Skywalker Ranch. Not to disparage Lucas, who is by all accounts a kind and charitable person who kicked off a grand vision and in the 1970's got 2 Oscar nominations for directing. Events happen in The Phantom Premise and Attack of the Clones, but they aren't especially good screenplays. Lucas now refers to the tone of The Force Awakens as "retro." In other words, it feels like the product he brought out between 1977 and 1983 and the brand he built as opposed to the counterfeit Star Wars movies presented between 1999 and 2005. Nostalgia may have sold those but it did not save them from being mediocre. Arguably the "retro" tone began when he started delegating work to other writers and directors, with a 2003/4 Clone Wars animated series for the Cartoon Network and then in 2008 with a CGI-animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and after the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm the best of the batch Star Wars: Rebels. Even Lucas would admit that the Clone Wars shows were closer in tone to the breezy and compassionate Original Trilogy despite being set between the events of prequel Episodes I and II. Rebels keeps the retro done, set before the events of the original Star Wars (or Episode IV) and with less baggage from the prequels. Billy Dee Williams was a guest voice for Lando and Frank Oz was the disembodied voice of Yoda in season One with James Earl Jones returning to voice Darth Vader in Season 2. So what is being extracted and followed are the qualities that people who love Star Wars and understand it - as opposed to being jaded by it and believing one's own hype - are the simple but engaging characters and principles we can commonly get behind. The Force Awakens committee in question is J.J. Abrams whose "Mystery Box" TED talk is applied to the use of reveal here and Lawrence Kasdan who gives the movie authority as a connection to the Original Trilogy. Michael Arndt is credited as well, but it is unknown how much of his work they kept. The Art of The Force Awakens book shows illustrations and character descriptions who were abandoned. Simon Pegg was an on-set consultant for J.J. Abrams, who himself was a superfan. Kathleen Kennedy's first comment to J.J. was, "We are talking about a female Jedi." Kasdan's first comment to J.J. was, "It has to be delightful." These are all people making a movie that they were all eager to see as audience members, and that is the make-or-break deciding factor in my definition of personal expression versus drudgery. The spirit of Star Wars formally, officially, awakens with the wide release of Episode VII.