The Dialogue Series

Interviews with Top Hollywood Screenwriters

by Jaden

Who better to learn about the craft of screenwriting than from those who are succeeding at it?

Host Mike De Luca (an entertainment executive who has reigned over at New Line Cinema, Dreamworks, and Columbia Pictures) asks all the right questions, reading your curious mind, as if you were the one sitting there.

During the interviews with screenwriters, topics covered are: story ideas, story structure, studio politics, pitching, breaking into the business, and lots of personal screenwriters’ Hollywood tales working with actors, directors, and studio execs.

Your favorite screenwriters that are offered on DVD are:

• Paul Haggis

• Stuart Beattie

• Sheldon Turner

• David Goyer

• Jim Uhls

• Ted Griffin

• Ganz Mandel

• Jose Rivera

• Scott Rosenberg

• Callie Khouri

• John Hamburg

• Nick Kazan

• Jonathan Hensleigh

• Robin Swicord

• Marshall Herskovitz

• Nia Vardalos

• Billy Ray

• Paul Attanasio

• Susannah Grant

• Bruce Joel Rubin

• Kurtzman-Orci

• David Seltzer

• Simon Kinberg

• Jeff Nathanson

• Ed Solomon

• Peter Tolan

• Farrelly Bros

My favorite interviews are the ones with Jim Uhls (writer of Fight Club) and Callie Khouri (writer of Thelma & Louise).

Made just for the education of you screenwriters, I recommend supporting and checking out The Dialogue Series, a DVD series that shines the light on writers, writers who are the beating heart of cinema.

February 27, 2010 | Filed Under Interviews | 4 Comments

The Reflecting Skin Movie Review

by Dirtbag

Tonight’s film, The Reflecting Skin (1990) starring Viggo Mortensen, Lindsay Duncan, and Jeremy Cooper, written and directed by Philip Ridley, comes from the Goodwill second-hand store in Los Angeles where Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards split. They had a surprisingly good selection of forgotten VHS tapes, all at $.99 each. Reflecting Skin had a 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood on the back of the box, so I had to buy it.

One of the things I look forward to most about watching movies on VHS are the old previews that often lead me to other movies I would have never otherwise found or wanted to see. The film previews on Reflecting Skin were for The Miracle and Tatie Danielle, which I am going to track down for a later review.

Of the three VHS movies I purchased, Reflecting is the darkest. It is a story of a young boy in the 50′s growing up too fast in a small Idaho town, all the while his friends are being murdered.

The opening scene is a little dark and it only continues to get darker throughout the movie. Rodger Ebert compared it to a David Lynch film but I really saw no relation.

The story follows a few months with a nearly nine-year-old boy named Seth. His home life seems fairly normal but it’s his daily life that has him keeping a cross under his pillow at night. When you are a young child the smallest things can seem like the biggest to you and adults never relate to what you are experiencing.

With a Black Cadillac full of hooligans roaming the town and his older brother dating a vampire, young Seth has quite a bit on his plate. Seems waterboarding was taking place in rural Idaho long before Guantanamo, and that was just for keeping the oil lamp on too late!

After an exploding frog incident involving his friends and the girl next door, he is sent to Dolphin’s house to apologise where he discovers she’s a vampire. The boys discuss how to handle this vampire next door they know they need the help of an angel, but what’s an angel? One boy believes an angel is a baby with wings, the other believes it is a person who doesn’t blink, and Seth has no idea. They all agree when you make your mom cry, an angel dies.

With Seth’s friends being murdered one by one and eye witnessing a suicide via drinking and bathing in gasoline, he must still find a way to save his brother before the girl next door sucks the last bit of life from him. With his best friend reincarnated as an angel fetus at his side, he manages a way to avoid the Cadillac of Death and devises a plan to keep his brother’s youth, but can he keep it all together at only eight years old?

Reflecting Skin doesn’t have much nudity in it; you see Viggo’s hairy chest and his man butt. The only female nudity is a picture of a nude pin-up girl Cameron keeps in his wallet. It did have that Black Cadillac in a few scenes so that was worth the $.99 alone.

I love traveling and finding new film treasures in thrift stores throughout the States. Only the older films are on VHS so you can never go too wrong, even if only the previews are what’s good about it.

Till next time,

The VHS Vagabond,

DIRTBAG

February 12, 2010 | Filed Under Home Movies | 2 Comments

Jaden’s Picks for the 82nd Academy Awards

Here are the Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards!

For whom would you vote?

Best Picture

“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

JADEN’S PICK: “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
“Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

JADEN’S PICK: “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

JADEN’S PICK: “District 9″ Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
(Precious is a close runner up though.)

One of the nominated movies, I won’t say which one, I thought was the worst movie I have seen in ages and can’t believe all the accolades it is getting. Strong concept, but nothing interesting happens in the whole dang movie. All the main characters are snobby, empty, boring, nauseating, no redeeming qualities, and so full of themselves, which seems to reflect upon the writer/director; material winners, soul losers. Talk about uninspiring! Uhg.

Point is, always forge ahead because there is a market for you somewhere at the top, whatever your topic or style is, even if certain people think you suck sulfur vapors, other people will think you are the greatest thing ever. Never be derailed by someone who doesn’t like your work. We all have different tastes.

JADEN’S ACTOR PICKS:

Let me also add some knockout performances this year by…

Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

February 6, 2010 | Filed Under What Sells | Leave a Comment