AMUSEMENT #1

Ever get pulled over and wish you could say what you feel?
This video will make you feel better.

Miracle Mile (1988) - review

Since Lis has just had her premier of The Commune, I'm throwing up this review of one of her early favorites. So I found it on YouTube, as can be seen below.

Now, if you didn't grow up in the era, you might find this strange. They promised we'd die in a nuclear war when we were young, and they lied. So all the drumming of it in the news lately is like listening to oldies ... out of date. And now they tell us we're going to die of nukes, global warming, the end of the mayan calender, etc. I don't believe it. It's too easy. Honestly, either pollution or a lack of clean water will be our downfall, and both will take several generations to occur.

Back to the story, best performance was by Mare Winningham. You probably know her from Grey's Anatomy. A close second would be Mykelti Williamson. Most of the other performances weren't particularly great. The nice ending was the part about becoming diamond. I think the opening was better, but then, I'm a romantic at heart. Waiting 30 years to meet the one for him. Well, I'm still waiting. I see the best relationship is that of Lucy and Ivan Peters. Well, except the not speaking for 15 years. But I've known many who've spent their whole lives together with only one wife/husband. That's what I guess I want.

While I don't love it as much as Lis does, mostly because I'm not in that 80's mindset anymore, I'll give it a good overall story. I would have preferred a different ending, but I understand the Romeo & Juliet ending of better to be dead together in love.

All Parts of Miracle Mile:

David Eddings Dead at 77.

I just found out he passed away a few days ago. It's to be expected, he loved his wife, and she died a couple years back, so he kind of lost all want to live.

I remember how I was introduced to his work. I was working as a shuttle driver for Budget Rent-a-Car at the airport and a book was left behind. I was bored alot, so I read it. Damn it was good. Turned out it was the second or third book of the Mallorean. So I ended up reading ALL his books.

Listed as #17 on the Top 20 Greatest Fantasy Writers.

I haven't slept much lately, so I'm keeping this short.

Film Review: I-Trek or Star Trek(2009)

Okay, I'll post more on Monay AFTER everyone has seen this. But the answer is to see it. It's right up there with Star Trek IV.

White And Nerdy

Wierd Al is great!
White And Nerdy

Minority Report ...

I'd be offended, but would also end up doing the same thing. It's one of those things that will keep race an issue. Then again, classism is more prevalent in society outside of the major cities, though it's often reported as racism. The media is the biggest pusher of racism, I think it would have died down alot had they not continually pushed it. Then again, lawyers try to use it even when it wasn't an issue. Though I've got to wonder, being mostly "white", how many times I've been passed over for someone who met the affimative action requirements for a company though less qualified.

IJ4 Feelings...

Much the feeling from Indiana Jones 4. Biggest problem was that it had been established in the previous three films that Magic/God/Myths were real. Then you brought Aliens/Sci-Fi to the table. The above comic reminded me how I felt about the movie when I heard about that. Specifically :"You got your crappy sci-fi all over my fantasy RPG."

That would be useful for dating ....

Kangaroo Ninja

I wonder if this was a new cvharacter for Pixar or Disney...

First Movies...

The new Witch Mountain movie made me think about the movies I saw during my childhood. So what was your first Big-Screen movie. No, not on TV, or a Theatrical release on Video. Only at some kind of theater.

I'm not sure if it was animated, it would have been Disney in the early 70's, but I have only vague memories of where/when I saw those. The first one I can remember is probably Herbie Rides Again at a Drive-in.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High was the first R-rated film I saw. Again, at the Drive-in.

The drive-in was a great place, the cost was per carload, not per person. So, if you had siblings, as I did, and parents who weren't wealthy, again as I did, then it only made sense to go that way.



Movies I watched at the theater growing up:
(note: 1987 - those later in the year technically were after I was an adult.)

1973
Charlotte's Web
Robin Hood

1974
Herbie Rides Again
Benji

1975
The Apple Dumpling Gang
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Adventures of the Wilderness Family
Gus

1976
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Freaky Friday
The Bad News Bears
No Deposit, No Return
The Shaggy D.A.

1977
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Pete's Dragon
The Rescuers
Candleshoe
Star Wars
Oh, God!
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training

1978
Revenge of the Pink Panther
The Cat From Outer Space
The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
Watership Down
Return from Witch Mountain

1979
Just You and Me, Kid
The Black Hole
The Muppet Movie

1980
Herbie Goes Bananas
Airplane!
The Empire Strikes Back

1981
Fox and the Hound, The
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark
The Devil and Max Devlin
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Great Muppet Caper

1982
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The Dark Crystal
48 Hrs.
The Secret of NIMH
Trail of the Pink Panther

1983
Something Wicked This Way Comes
KRULL
Trading Places
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Flashdance
WarGames
Mr. Mom
The Outsiders
Christine
Rumble Fish
Blue Thunder
Class
Eddie and the Cruisers
Curse of the Pink Panther
Private School
Sudden Impact

1984
Conan the Destroyer
Ghost Busters
Beverly Hills Cop
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Gremlins
The Karate Kid
Police Academy
Footloose
Romancing the Stone
Purple Rain
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
The Terminator
Sixteen Candles
Splash
The Natural
Red Dawn
Revenge of the Nerds
Bachelor Party
Starman
The Last Starfighter
Firestarter
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
The Muppets Take Manhattan
Johnny Dangerously
Streets of Fire
Tightrope
Night of the Comet
Moscow on the Hudson
Blame It on Rio
Runaway

1985
The Black Cauldron
Back to the Future
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rocky IV
Cocoon
The Goonies
The Breakfast Club
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Weird Science
Ladyhawke
Pale Rider
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
Teen Wolf
Enemy Mine
Brewster's Millions
Mask
Desperately Seeking Susan
Young Sherlock Holmes
Silver Bullet
Phenomena
Once Bitten
King Solomon's Mines
Just One of the Guys
Volunteers
Vision Quest

1986
Flight of the Navigator
Highlander
Top Gun
Crocodile Dundee
The Karate Kid, Part II
Back to School
The Golden Child
Aliens
Ruthless People
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Stand by Me
Labyrinth
Big Trouble in Little China
Cobra
Pretty in Pink
Short Circuit
Police Academy 3: Back in Training
Heartbreak Ridge
Raw Deal
Jumpin' Jack Flash
F/X
Iron Eagle
Crossroads

1987
3 Men and a Baby
Fatal Attraction
Beverly Hills Cop II
Good Morning, Vietnam
The Secret of My Succe$s
Lethal Weapon
Dirty Dancing
The Witches of Eastwick
Predator
RoboCop
Raising Arizona
The Running Man
Empire of the Sun
The Lost Boys
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Overboard
No Way Out
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol
Throw Momma from the Train
Adventures in Babysitting
Near Dark
*batteries not included
Stakeout
Mannequin
Some Kind of Wonderful
Blind Date
Harry and the Hendersons
Less Than Zero
Summer School
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
Project X
Three O'Clock High

Battleground (1949) - DVD Review

Okay, definately hollywood version of the battle. My neighbor across the street was near there for the Battle of the Bulge. Messier, colder, and less considerate. This could probably use a remake. Overall, a good story, but I didn't really feel deeply enough for the characters, and the ones I did feel for, they survived. As a War film for its time, I'd give it 7 out of 10 stars. I'd probably drop a star or two modernly as it would not really hold up.

And yes, there really was a bunch of Nazi infiltrators who dressed up in American uniforms/equipment and spoke english, and did alot of damage. They were Otto Skorzeny's Grief Commandos from the SS Panzer Brigade 150 and were officially named Einheit Stielau. Of the 2500 that were to break into allied territory, only 44 managed to do so and 18 were captured and shot as spies.

Not your kiddy superheroes...

I went and saw Watchmen at the theater.
Not having seen the graphic novel, I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10 mostly because of the ending. Interestingly enough, others agree.

NOT a kiddified Superhero flick. Definately R for sex, violence, etc. If this had been done by other than a major studio, it would probably have gotten an NR-17 rating.





*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***





I'd say there were points I disagreed with...

First, that a psychopath like The Comedian would be tolerated. But then I think of the blue wall that the police have. Yup, "good cops" tolerate bad ones because, for reasons that I can't fathom, they think they owe them something because they have the same uniform. I feel more sympathetic towards Rorschach. He goes after bad guys, and isn't just willing to pull the company line. I think Rorschach was insane, but not mad, while Rorshach was both mad and insane.

Finally, I would have thought killing Ozymandias and not Rorschach would have been a better final solution. Ozymandias would have been punished, and Rorschach would have probably been okay with keeping quiet after that, though I understand that they were probably following the graphic novel.

The last part is the kicker ... I think it's going to hurt the numbers in the end. While there are alot of fans, there are alot of non-fans who will see this and not understand that it may be because the graphic novel went that way. Like I've said in previous posts ... think of it as Watchmen : Re-imagined.

Even with my complaints, It's still worth seeing at the theater. Everyone says it's better the second time. With money being tight, I'll wait for DVD.

To the readers:

Thanks for your patronage.

I thought I'd share where you're coming from...

1. United States 55
2. Germany 9
3. United Kingdom 6
4. Australia 4
5. Canada 3
6. Brazil 2
7. Nicaragua 1
8. Croatia 1
9. Norway 1
10. Japan 1

I'd like your thoughts ...

Was reading an article from moviemaker and the following question popped up.

If you had made a film at 16, what would it have looked like?

My answer:
It probably would have been a post-apocalyptic film. Very dark. That's where I was at that time. It would have been mediocre. The other possibility was a fantasy film, and it would truly have sucked.

SONY Slam!

First they make their PS3 difficult to program for.

Next, they come out with a difficult to electronic gadget.

Quality

Quality is like buying oats.If you want nice fresh oats,you must pay a fair price. However, if you can be satisfied with oats that have already been through the horse --- they come alot cheaper.

John Wayne Quotes:

"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid."

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

"A man's got to do what a man's got to do"

"I eat as much as I ever did, I drink more than I should, and my sex life is none of your goddamned business."

"I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble."

"Getting rid of a man without hurting his masculinity is a problem. 'Get out' and 'I never want to see you again' might sound like a challenge. If you want to get rid of a man, I suggest saying, 'I love you.... I want to marry you.... I want to have your children.' Sometimes they leave skid marks."

"Look, I`m sure there have been inequalities. If those inequalities are presently affecting any of the Indians now alive, they have a right to a court hearing. But what happened 100 years ago in out country can`t be blamed on us today."

"You can`t eat awards -- nor, more to the point, drink `em."

"Screw ambiguity. Perversion and corruption masquerade as ambiguity. I don`t trust ambiguity."

"I`m a progressive thinker, even though I`m not in the liberal strain."

"We must always look to the future. Tomorrow - the time that gives a man just one more chance - is one of the many things that I feel are wonderful in life."

"You can`t whine and bellyache because somebody else got a good break and you didn`t."

[on why he never wrote an autobiography]
"Those who like me already know me, and those who don`t like me wouldn`t want to read about me anyway."

"God, how I hate solemn funerals. When I die, take me into a room and burn me. Then my family and a few good friends should get together, have a few good belts, and talk about the crazy old time we all had together."

"I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either."

"When people say a John Wayne picture got bad reviews, I always wonder if they know it`s a redundant sentence, but hell, I don`t care. People like my pictures and that`s all that counts."

"I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please."

"My main object in making a motion picture is entertainment."

"A man`s got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job."

"It`s kind of a sad thing when a normal love of country makes you a super patriot. I do think we have a pretty wonderful country, and I thank God that He chose me to live here."

"When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it."

"Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway."

MEME: 10 Films to judge a suitor by

Okay this is my response to a tag by Lis.

1. Star Wars - When I say this, if you thought asking "which one?" instead of thinking of the 1977 film, I'm going to question your age.

2. The Last Boy Scout - It's about love and commitment and duty.

3. Some Kind of Wonderful - We've all been 'the friend' at one time and hoped it would end up like this movie.

4. Good Will Hunting - If you knew me, you'd understand the analogy.

5. The Fifth Element - Love, guns, and spaceships.

6. The Princess Bride - True love ... and vengeance.

7. Casablanca - Witty and at the same time heartbreaking.

8. Better Off Dead - It's about how life can change for the better when you have the right woman in your life.

9. Serendipity - We say we don't believe in fate, but we all hope for it.

10. Streets of Fire - How far would you go to rescue someone you love?

Mozy Commercial

I have to admit. It's good. A stove causing a computer crash.
Memorable. To the point.

Axe: Dark Temptation

Have you seen this Valentine's Day Commercial?
Frickin' disturbing.

Mamihlapinatapai

Mamihlapinatapai (sometimes spelled mamihlapinatapei): a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate. It describes "a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start."

Beating a Joke vs. Beating it to Death

Humor is a funny thing. The same joke can be told by two people, once it is funny, the other may fall flat. Assuming that the audience has not heard it before, why is it funny or not?

Timing, or beats, in humor is all about how the joke should play out. One must not issue it to quickly, nor in the wrong order, nor explain too far. If one rushes the joke, the humor is past before the people have time to fully appreciate it. If in the wrong order, it becomes muddled, and leave the audience confused. If explained too far, the audience fails to achieve their own humor.

Rushing it tends to be portrayed as cramming several jokes in at once. They can be orchestrated together, with skill, but are often just placed without reverence to escalating the component jokes into a crescendo of humor. Instead it will tend to fall flat. In the wrong order, it creates a discordance and it plays out poorly, leading to a disharmonious conclusion. Over explaining the joke instead interrupts the flow of the humor and leads to cacophonous resonance which echoes several beats beyond it's intrusion.

You may wonder why I've used musical terms to explain humor. The truth is they have a surprising number of similarities. Both have to be well composed. Both sound off when beats are missing or fall out of order. A single chord can throw off an entire symphonic recital, much as a single bad joke can ruin a well constructed piece of comedy.

The final problem to watch for is beating the joke to death. It's not that a joke may not be repeated or become the running joke; but it does require that they not be repeated so often as to lose their humor. Again, this is a matter of timing. Much like music or song, a chorus can be repeated, but if you repeat it too often, it strains the ear.

I'll use a personal example:

I was working on a romantic comedy, and was trying to show the protagonist in a non-harmonious relation with someone. It went well, but later in review, I found that I had stated, as part of the joke, that she was a bitch. The audience should deduce that she was being a bitch. That single line wasn't needed and it's inclusion blew the rhythm of the joke by going a beat too far.

It would or at least should get cut in editing, but never assume that the editor has a good sense of comedic timing. By removing this impediment, the scene flowed more seamlessly into the next. It also allows the audience to make their own moral judgements, which is dangerous, but a crafted risk. If you don't allow the audience to do this, you risk alienating them altogether.

Lucas on Star Wars...

If you listen to Star Wars IV: A new hope on DVD, during the Geoerge Lucas commentary. Specically the last chapter (50), this is my transcription:

The first three films I couldn't even have considered at this point and time ... I mean there's no way. This film was very carefully constructed around the technology I had available at the time. It's very, very controlled where we go. It's very limited in what we see. And decisions were made in the storytelling, to say well, I'll only go here and I'll only see this. It'd be great to do all this other stuff, but I can't.

No I can't do that ... like ... in this particular film, well, going to see the Emperor on Coruscant was not a possibility. Psshhtt! No way I could go there. Y'know I kind of knew what the planet was and everything but I didn't... I didn't ... there is no planet. So Y'know I had to create it. I couldn't .. Y'know. Just physically, you can't do that. It's too big. It would take a huge, huge miniature that would be that would be vastly expensive. Y'know on all these films I had limited resources; so I was sort of saying, well, can't do that.

I was very careful not to deal with alot of the other issues that would come up, especially fashion issues and cultural issues. Y'know just enviromental issues that...I was able to do it all in a desert... that kind of looks spacey... and then I'll do a little bit in the jungle. But, Y'know I had ... I controlled my enviroments very carefully, and then...went to the next film. And now we'll do snow...and, y'know, pretty much used up every ... in the couse of these three movies ... every bit of natural terrain that looks exotic, that I could find.

But to go places, to other planets, that were truly exotic, was unthinkable.
And so you couldn't tell a story like that. Like the first three stories .. I mean the first three parts of the trilogy could never have been told using this technology. I mean, it just couldn't be done. So you just don't think about it.

I mean, you could write it as a book or something, but you .. it'd never be a movie. And now ... using digital technology, we're able, esecially in terms of fantasy films, go to places, and make them realistic. That wasn't possible before. That... it's something that was a literary idea. And most science fiction is literary in nature, it's perfect for a book, but it's not ... very good for cinema. It's very easy to create those magical worlds in language. It's very hard to create them ... in a realistic way on the screen... and make them believable. And, the one thing that digital effects have allowed us to do, is to create these alternate realities, in a believable fashion. And tell more fantastic stories, than we were able to do before. Which is, y'know, great for the people trying to put these things into a cinematic medium.

The bold section in the italics is the most important area for Low-budget Indies.
1) Find your limitations, whether financial or technical, and write/shoot within them.
2) Control where the characters go and what is seen, don't build more than you need.
3) It's great to want to do lots of other stuff, but being limited by finances or technology, don't write it in.

It worked in Star wars, he had to keep it tight and personal, because it allowed him to trim expenses. But I think it was why it worked best. You might need a wide-shot or three, but if over-used, it pulls you out of the story.

Do You Love Obama?

In other news, if you love Obama, then now you can truly love obama.

My niece is dating someone who works in an adult store, who told me about this. I just had to look it up.

SAG pulls plug on Indy stoppage waivers

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117998732.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

SAG pulls plug on stoppage waivers
Suspended program covered 800 productions
By DAVE MCNARY

With a SAG strike becoming less likely, the Screen Actors Guild has announced it's pulled the plug on offering waivers to indie film producers that would allow production to continue if there's a work stoppage.

SAG made the brief announcement Friday evening, suspending a program that's covered over 800 productions in about a year.

The so-called guaranteed completion contracts provide for a producer to be allowed to continue shooting if a work stoppage occurred, in exchange for agreeing to observe the terms of whatever new deal SAG negotiates with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

The move comes on the heels of SAG national exec director Doug Allen and president Alan Rosenberg announcing that they've delayed sending out the strike authorization vote to explore making a run at a last-ditch round of negotiations with the congloms. Allen was nearly fired earlier in the week at a bitter national board meeting by the moderate majority with Rosenberg and his Membership First allies filibustering to block a vote.

SAG said in Friday's announcement that the national board had made the decision to suspend the waiver in a meeting Friday.

"Screen Actors Guild today announced that in light of the over 800 productions signed to Guaranteed Completion Contracts, SAG’s national board of directors has determined that the GCC’s have served their purpose and has decided to discontinue offering GCC’s," the announcement said. "Screen Actors Guild will continue signing independent productions to the terms of the 2005 Codified Basic Agreement for Independent Producers."

The waivers were granted solely to non-AMPTP companies. [more]

Y'know this would be good on stage also...

Late Night Film Festival

I swear I've seen porn that boring before. I know I've seen non-porn movies that were that bad, yet I wanted to see it through to the end (must be some masachistic streak).

At least it's not the kind of porn that makes you run screaming for the brain bleach.

Ice Storm Inbound

There's nothing to be done about it, not to mention the snowstorm following it.
So I borrowed a selection of DVD's from the library.

Juno
Rush Hour 3
The Bank Job
August Rush
The Great Debaters
December Boys

Hopefully, I'll have reviews ready soon.

Nerdgasm!

Every once in awhile I come across a term that works, rather than because people have created a term to be lazier in writing or because they transposed letters.

Here's one such instance of it working.

New Year's Resolution!

This year's resolution is to write and film* a short. Even if that short is only a minute. Hopefully, I'll do something more than that, but I've established the minimum.

Happy New Year!

Well it can't be much worse than the last one. I'll do a Resolution later.

Death of Cinema Part Three

Yeah, I wasn't around for Part One in the late forties and there weren't blogs in the 80's for Part Two when video tape was going to kill them. But we are around for the Internet. The death of theatrical releases still hasn't proven true.

(An off-side is that at the beginning of the rennaisance, they thought the same thing of the printing press in relation to books. Really it was about controlling content and distribution. Also Books were going to be killed off by audio recordings and later video recordings, but we have more books published now, than ever before.)

Of course if they keep raising the price of tickets dramatically, they will kill Theatrical release. Well, that and playing crappy movies. They need to slash prices at the theaters by at least a third and food by maybe half.

As for movies this past year:

They say that the economy will now kill movies and that the movies aren't making money. What most people look at are the biggest box office hits and major losers. But it's more interesting to see #11, #12 & #17 for the year, since they're not F/X or Animation oriented.

#11 Sex and the City
Budget: $65 million
World Wide Box: $415,129,126
DVD sales: $85,376,850
If you figure they take about 50% of all that, and subtract about $50,000,000 for advertising and prints; they made around $340,000,000 minus percentages for above the liners and residuals.

#12 Momma Mia!
Budget: $52 million
World Wide Box: $572,225,617
Figuring 50% of that, and subtracting $50 million for P&A; they made around $470,000,000 minus percentages.

Compare that to Dark Knight
Budget: $185,000,000
World-Wide Box: $996,889,925
DVD Sales: $158,737,619
Giving it a standard of $50 million for P&A. It did probably no better thatn Sex and the City around $340 million; though they'll get better merchandising.

By the same Calculations, Hancock did $250 million, IJ4 did $215 million, Kung Fu Panda did $195 million, Iron Man did about $135 million, Wally $105 million, Horton Hears a Who made $30 million, QOS, Mummy3 making up $ on the DVDs, Madagascar2 spent so much advertising that it will have to make it up in merchandising.

Twilight will be making a big splash, with a $37,000,000 budget and a box so far of $237,027,235 it's already in the black.

And not to forget #17 Juno at a tiny budget of $7 ends up with around $225 million.

Wanted turned around $110 million.

(Note all the above doesn't subtract above the line percentages of box nor residuals but also doesn't cover all other streams of income).

Point of the above, is that Big budgets sometimes equal smaller profits than lower budgeted films; which is not to say there aren't crappy low-budget films, or that there aren't great large budget films. But then there's sometimes ALOT of waste on large-budget productions and they aren't as challenged to be inventive to remain inside a smaller budget.

If you ever read on Hollywood accounting, it doesn't appear that any movies made money, but if they really didn't as often as Hollywood claims, the theaters would have closed years ago.

Star Wars: The Musical

At leat they didn't do 'Episode One'. Officially it's called Star Wars: A Musical Journey.

In the Christmas SPIRIT

Went and saw The Spirit tonight. Very stylized. Very comic-like. If you can appreciate the theatrics of 60's batman, then you'll enjoy this. I liked the noir look. I'll post more on this later, so I don't spoil it for anyone. Overall, an okay movie ... just nothing to rave about. There are a couple things in it, though, that I'll rave about later (in a good way). It's a Frank Miller film so it's not just stylized, it VERY stylized. Everything Frank Miller does is over the top, that's his style.

Hollywood futures

Taking the Hollywood futures to the next level.

I'm not sure that this will benefit much of anyone except the largest studios. Their design is too closed. What actually occurs on HSX is probably a better system. More importantly, the reporting systems would have to be overhauled.

Dream or Hallucination

I was up for way too many hours the last few days. I had a dream yesterday in my short sleep. I think it may end up as a comedic/fantasy. Y'know Princess Bride, Monty Python's Holy Grail, Willow ... that sort of thing. Now my keyboard is dying. It's ancient anyhow. The H and G keys are randomly not functioning. The N and M keys are almost worn away, with E being worn off soon.

Off to deliver the sister K to work.

Still Around

It's not that I'm not around, it's just that I haven't had sleep. And I need to take the dog to the vet today, and a dozen other things. I'm driving my sister to work because she hasn't had a vehicle for about 4 weeks. She was bad about protecting her information on the net, got her bank account cleared out ... twice, and then couldn't make payments on her truck. They repo'd it, and sold it, in under the time for state guidlines, so she can either find another vehicle or sue them for two years. Supposedly there's a good chance she'll have one by the weekend. But I've been running 2-3 times a day for that, plus runs for mom, plus meals for mom, plus trying to straighten things up.

*UGH*

It gets frustratingly difficult sometimes. One sister doesn't help, and just consumes, and is basically just a pain in the ass. The other is too consumed by her own problems, but at least she does dishes sometimes. I get to do the rest.

I know there's a contigent who wonder why I'm at home. I spent 10 years with my father and his cancer. It only was difficult in the last few years at the end. About a year after that, my mother went all Parkinson's and lost most of her vision. In between I went to school for computer technology. But then 9/11 happened and all the jobs went away, mostly outsourced to India. Then I was laid off, compounding multiple financial crisis. Et cetera, et al.

There were several other emotional roller-coasters in there, which I'm not blogging about right now. Basically, right now, I'm stuck. Stressed. Depressed. If it weren't for the internet, I'd probably implode.

Still Around

It's not that I'm not around, it's just that I haven't had sleep.

Buffalo

Was listening to NPR the other day. Steve Rinella was doing what he called a history of the buffalo. So he went to Alaska ... and shot one.

- shortly later in the show
(quote)
"We should all be glad that he's not an anthropologist."

Christmas Gifts...

15 ideas:



1. Pistol Hand Dryer - Talking about blowing your hair...


2. Two-Way Watch Radio - Just like Dick Tracey.

3. Darth Vader Tie Fighter Webcam - Look into the dark side.

4. Anime eye contacts - Now you too can look like manga porn!

5. Bloody Serial Killer Shower Curtain - For your favorite horror script writer!

6. Kickboxing Plug-N-Play Video Game - get that video game junkie some exercise.

7. Superhero Bobbleheads - For your lovable comic geek.

8. The Naughty Knot - let someone in on your Christmas cheer.

9. Knuckle Duster Mug - Don't get between a coffee lover and the pot.

10. Monty Python Killer Rabbit Slippers - The most foul, cruel,
and bad-tempered rodents you ever set eyes on.


11. Shooting Silhouettes of your Ex - Because keeping that anger in is bad for your health.

12. Yoda Backpack - Act like Luke Skywalker without making out with your sister.

13. Control Your Man / Woman Talking Remotes - Better than ESP.

14. OhMiBod - Getting off to the beat - MP3 music player vibrator adapter.

15. Kama Sutra : Oil of Love - Chocolate Mint - a tasty way to go down on you partner

Star Wars

Star Wars (now known as A New Hope)
Classic story structure put into a sci-fi setting. Because of this, it is the best of the bunch.

The Empire Strikes Back
Overall, a good movie. With the best cliff-hanger in the history of episodal movies.

Return of the Jedi
Meh. Incestous relations revealed, Wookies downgraded to Ewoks, and lots of other lackadaisical writing. Worst of the original three. Special effects never trump story. Probably the best thing was Leia in the slave-girl outfit.

- - -

The Phantom Menace
Just when you think the series couldn't get more provocative than incest, lucas goes for pedophilia with a nine-year-old Anakin(Jake Lloyd) and a seventeen-year-old Padme(Natalie Portman). Jar-Jar Binks who made C3PO look cool(not even touching the Jar-Jar french kiss candy). About the best part of this was the pod-races, as it made for a good video game. In fact, all the flying seems to be specifically to sell video games. That's not bad for the bottom line, but only if it doesn't detract from the story.

Attack of the Clones
Terrible Title, good action, but lucas had lost a huge amount of the crowd with his error in judgement for phantom menace. Now the main 'romnce' players are at least the same age(apparently using Star Trek Continuity). Zam Wesell rather than padme was the strong female. Padme's parts were missing the complexity that leia had. If Jango were a mandolorian, and storm-troopers were his clones, then genetic drift must have taken place by the time of episode IV as the troopers then were easy to knock-out and kill. Overall the best of the newer trilogy.

Revenge of the Sith
Lots of good points on this movie. Wookie warfare instead of Ewoks. The big battle scenes are cool, but lack the individual perspective that makes people love movies. Significant over-evilling of Anakin with the padawan scene. The worst of this movie is Padme. I died from heartbreak for anakin, rather than love my children. That's pathetic on a new level, and what makes this one a bad apple.

The Clone Wars
This one came down to small screen video game graphics for a big-screen movie. It should've just been direct to dvd. Again, this is directed more at selling video games and related merchandising rather than telling a great story.

- - -

So what could have been better? Well, I'll focus on the new movies since he was not limited by budgetary concerns.

The Phantom Menace
The kid should have been at least on the verge of teenager-dom. Age twelveor maybe a small thirteen would be a good figure. Remember, kids want to grow-up to be the hero ... Always. I would have probably used a younger Padme and an elder matriarchal advisor.

Attack of the Clones
Instant title change, not sure to what, but something better than this. I would have killed off the previously added elder advisor with the Padme deception. Given Padme a more girl-power role, and kept the focus on character rather than huge battle scenes. Make Anakin start the gradual descent to the dark side here.

Revenge of the Sith
Probably a different approach to Anakin's descent into the dark path. Padme should have died in child-birth, probably from injury rather than a broken heart. And the whole mention of midi-chlorians should have been avoided.

The Clone Wars
Live action or at least they should have invested in at least SHREK type of graphics. It's like sitting next to the X-box while someone else plays.

This is not a digg against Lucas as a whole, but he seems a tad out of focus with the movie-goer now. This is also shown by IJ4, but I'll save that movie for another post.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

More or less...

Family wasn't too horrible, the food was good, no major disasters. All in all, a pretty good Thanksgiving.

How to deal with a Telemarketer

Telemarketer Revenge

Have a Nazi Christmas???

WTF?

Let's see:
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Playing Now
The Reader - December 10th
Valkyrie - December 25th (A christmas release?)

Three movies about Nazi Germany in 2 months over the holidays?

While I don't mind films set in WWII, there's a time for release, and I'm not sure that these are the right time.

Missing The Good Movies

A Christmas Tale - not playing locally - But is in New Salem, MA. I might just hit this one, even with subtitles (it's in French).

Religulous - Just found out that I can get to this one ... I'll have to check it out.

Slumdog Millionaire - not playing locally - though if I were really motivated, I could see it in NY or Boston.

The Wrestler - Missed it ... apparently played at NY Film Festival. I've got to start hitting festivals. Hope it plays somewhere nearby.

Black Dynamite - Hope this plays nearby.

I guess I'm tired of the same old movies, not to say there aren't any selections from Hollywood, just I think I need something to break up the monotony.

Charity

Since the last episode of life was sponsored by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. It got me thinking about a few charities, I'll add this one to the list.

Some others are Habitat for Humanity, and Hunt Of A Lifetime. I used to also do the Make a Wish Foundation, until they got in a tizzy about a hunting trip. Hell, if the kid's dying, give him his wish if it isn't illegal somewhere. But no ... we have to be politically correct. Cancer sucks, dying before you've had fun sucks, people being all P.C. when your dying need to experience a chemo treatment.

-If you aren't in the scraping for money category, at least donate what you can write off your taxes, preferably more. Hell, I don't even care if it's just for publicity, but if your sincere, it will help fill that void that you try to fill with drinking, drugs, or both.

On final charitable note:
This is a link for orphanages and their needs. You can actually see what needs doing and where. Lists include both regular needs and special projects like fixing the heating system or just having food. See, most people in America tend to take certain things for granted: food, clean water, heat, clothes. But when you don't have family, and you don't live where there are craploads of excess, then your pretty f****d. So before you drop $5 on a magazine that will be outdated in a few weeks, or on a coffee that will be gone in an hour, consider instead on donating that much to kids who really need it. Click on the Orphanages we sponsor and then you can look at their regular needs or special projects (which are often what we consider needs rather than wants).

More on Life

Just watched the last couple episodes ... I can never seem to watch much TV anymore. Other than the Dove commercial that really got annoying. Perhaps that should be a hint for advertisers. If you want us to see your ad over and over again, you might want ... oh, say three variations. Even an interesting commercial wears thin after 5 times in a row.

WGA Negotiations

I know I'm out of date, but this was funny.

Thanks to all

Thanks to all those who respond to the meme. It gives me movies that I haven't seen to my list of movies I want to watch.

Review: Dark City - Pt1

Dark City.
I caught the end of this some time last year, on TV. A friend handed me the DVD. I just watched it last night for Holloween. It was a pretty good selection for the night. Definately Noir, if a Sci-Fi Noir. I'll add more since I'll be going through the extras tomorrow.

Holloween

Since I won't be going out on Holloween. :(

I decided to post a Meme.
Top 10 Holloween Movie List.
List your top 10 selections and reasons for the selections.

Mine are:

1) Return of the Living Dead
Zombies, not scary at all, and funny as hell
2) Holloween III
Probably the best of the Holloween series, though it wasn't particularly related to the others.
3) It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
The original 1966 version, not the modern dialog version.
4) From Dusk Till Dawn
Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino pair up to make a great movie.
5) The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Not that scary, but a good story line.
6) Dracula 2000
A nice take on the Dracula tale.
7) The Lost Boys
A good fun vampire flick.
8) An American Werewolf in London
Great Pre-CGI werewolf flick
9) Split Second
Monsters and Automatic Shotguns(the only movie I've ever seen them in) - What more could you ask for
10) The Ninth Gate
A book collector and Satanic Ritual

As you can see, more on the lines of Horror or Halloween story lines, but not slasher messy. Honestly slasher flicks don't do it for me, if I want that, I'll listen to the news. It also reminds me I have several horrors to do more on:
Very violent and offensive Werewolf script.
Vampires and zombies with christian overtones.
Vampire Science flick

I'm sure there's more ideas on the list, but those are some I have some work completed on.

Do not pass go, Do not get my business.

Went to ABC after finally getting a chance to watch the first episode of Life on Mars and then it turns out that I'd have to up?grade to XP or Vista to view. Ummm.... No.

CWTV as above.

FOX wants me to install software. Umm ... No.

All of the above are with Move Networks

I've use Windows 2000 or Linux (Kubuntu). Can't support that? Then I'll watch CBS, or NBC via Hulu.

Star Wars - Luke & Leia

Reading through old entries I came across:

Kid Sis said...
I already need therapy for picturing Luke and Leia together for six years before Lucas effed with all our heads. thanks for the incest complex, george.
8/30/2005 02:49:00 PM

And I'd like to point out what I've said several times. Let's see. You've got Rebels, with American accents, and you're suprised that brother and sister are making out? Okay, so maybe it would have been more obvious what was coming if they had southern accents, still...

And if that wasn't enough to scar you, then the first book Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster in 1978 definately shows an inclination between the (as yet unknown) siblings. Bits from the book:


Moistly parted in sleep, her lips seemed to beckon to him.

and

Luke felt the warnth of the body next to him, lowered his gaze. Framed in the faint light from above, the Princess looked more radiant, more beautiful than ever.


and

At the same time, the Princess grew aware of how tightly she was clinging to him. Their proximity engendered a wash of confused emotion. It would be proper to disengage, to move away a little. Proper, but not nearly so satisfying.She was utterly drained, and the comfort she derived from leaning against him was worth any feeling of impropriety.
They stood like that for a timeless stretch. Luke slid his arm around her and she didn't resist. She didn't look yearningly up at him, either, but this was enough for him, for noew at least.

Scenes of the Seasons.

There are lots of issues with shooting outside. Also you want to schedule certain things at certain times, but that may take you from one season into the next. You can fudge a certain amount of time. This is for seasonal areas rather than those that don't significantly change throughout the year.

Late autumn - winter - early spring.
If snowless, these look almost alike, though in the early-spring, buds appear on branches, but this is only noticeable in close-ups or when you have people go frame-by-frame looking for asynchronous events. If the temperatures are below freezing, it is relatively easy to make a snow-making machine and turn the scene into winter. If you need a slushy mess for a scene, late autumn and early spring allow for you to snow it at night when it is freezing, then let the morning sun make it go all slushy.

Late spring - early summer
These look similar in green leaves. Make sure that if you want certain flowers in bloom in a scene, you know when they're going to bloom and for how long in the location you're shooting.

Late summer - early fall
You can shoot some late summer for fall with the use of foral spray dyes. Quickly add color to leaves cut a some off and leave them on the ground. Instant autumn. This I noted back when they had shot the live-action Charlotte's Web and they freaked out because the corn-field had gone yellow. Spray dye green could fix this in several hours with bunch of people out there.

Late autumn - if you're shooting anywhere besides a complete evergreen forest, it will be obvious as all the trees are colored and leaves are falling.

The other thing to remember is that the sun falls at different angles through the year. High sun in the summer and low to the horizon in the winter. Also there are color temperature differences due to those angles. If you're shooting night scenes, generally the only obvious item is the moon, which is constantly changing. Also the direction / apparent size can change from night to night. Also if you're far enough from civilization, the stars might be obvious, not to mention that you have to keep on aeroplanes and satellites if they become obvious. Try to limit the times that the sun or moon is present in a shot, and when they are, try to match the angle and color by shooting them together whenever possible. Also try to shoot them as quickly as possible. If you're actors want to crack each other up on set, these are NOT the scenes to be wasting time screwing around.

Knight Rider (the next generation)

Just Hulu'd the last episode. Better action-wise than the first, but still kind of flat; especially in regards to the military. Apparently the writers were never military. If a friend had betrayed your country and your friendship and nearly killed you intentionally, you wouldn't try to save him. You certainly wouldn't feel bad they were dead, though you might feel bad that they had gone bad. Doubly so since he had punched the woman he loved in the face and was going to dispose of her as well. Please, Dave Andron, at least consult with someone who is military. Okay, first interesting thing I've seen with the new K.I.T.T. is the object replicator. I'm still trying to figure out where they stashed the fusion generator. Don't they know how much energy that would take? Bah . . . I gave it a couple chances . . . maybe some other time, when I'm doing the insomnnia thing again.

Life ... or something like that

Mother is out of hospital. Seems not all there sometimes. Not good.

Found Jango on the webb and am listening to music again. I apparently miss music. Who'd have thunk it? Guess I need an emotional out. Music does that for me. Does it do that for everyone? I never really considered the impact of music on the rest of the universe.

TV ... sort of...

Watched the new KnightRider on Hulu. Ugh. That was enough of that. Not at all impressive. OTOH, I won't need to watch anymore. It isn't horrible, but it isn't enough to make me want to continue watching.


Caught The Mentalist on CBS.com. Much like Sherlock Holmes ... yet also egotistically flawed. Might see if it develops.

Saw Heroes on Hulu. Sadly, looks like season 1 revisited. Honestly, can a main character die and stay dead. Friggin feels like a Marvel comic where almost everyone comes back.

Watched the rest of New Amsterdam on Hulu. Not sure if this one is worth following. Interesting and not at the same time.

More to come as I sum up the new seasons.

The best movies aren't

Huh?!

That's the usual response to deep thoughts.

I began thinking about the best TV and movies I've liked, and most of the reason that they were above-average is that they weren't about the genre; they were only set in the genre.

Mister Roberts is a WWII film taking place on a naval vessel, but is NOT about war.
The Shootist is a western, but not about shoot-outs.

I'm sure you can add to the list, it's a long list.

Good-bye Television ... It was great while it lasted.

Today I started listing all the movies I've ever seen. Thousands. Well that aint too bad ... maybe 5% of my lifetime.

Then I started on TV. Holy $#!+. I spent how much of my life on TV hours?

I just gave it up. I will now make a list of TV shows to buy when I retire. Until then, I'm going back to living life.

You might think that I watch too many movies, but that 5% also includes movies that I've seen on TV/Cable, but doesn't include reruns, and neither did the TV listing.

I'm going to allow myself one new movie, and one old movie per week MAX. That'll be about 3%.

Of course that will not include any time I'll be writing. I've become disconnected from the real world and it's time to hop back in.

12 Movie Meme by Lazyeye via Emily of Bamboo Killers

Monday
Braveheart
Dune
Epic Bodycounts

Tuesday
Lawrence of Arabia
Saving Private Ryan
WWI & WWII Epic movies.

Wednesday
Five Deadly Venoms
The Sholin Temple
Martial Arts Movie Classics.

Thursday
Pale Rider
The Quick and the Dead
Heroic Gunslinger Westerns.

Friday
Raiders of the Lost Arc
The Mummy
Archeological Action Adventure Movies.

Saturday
The Last Starfighter
Star Wars
Science Fiction movies that show the little guy can win.

Key scenes from Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” have been rediscovered

This is great news, hopefully they'll make it available on DVD for us.
Article

Review: Buster Keaton Collection

A collection of 10 short talky comedies starring Buster Keaton.

General Nuisance: Rich man enlists to impress a woman.

His Ex Marks the Spot: An ex-wife, alimony payments, and a shotgun wedding.

Mooching Through Georgia: Brothers enlist on opposite sides and do anything neccessary to keep each other alive.

Nothing But Pleasure: Trying to save a few dollars on shipping fees, a couple goes to detroit to buy their car.

Pardon my Berth Marks: A novice reporter goes to follow a story and gets caught up in it.

Pest from the West: A hapless millionaire falls for a two-timing (or three-timing) woman while vacationing in Mexico.

She's Oil Mine: An honest plumber duels a charlatan nobleman for the heart, and checkbook, of an oil heiress.

So You Won't Squawk: a lowly employee gets a taste of respect when people mistake him for the big-shot gangster, Louie the Wolf.

The Spook Speaks: New caretakers are hammered by an onslaught of spooky illusions as an old apprentice searches for new tricks.

The Taming of the Snood: A hatmaker almost gets killed when he becomes accidentally involved with a jewel-thief and her drunk maid.


Each has at least one great gag, so worth a go-through. More so if you love slapstick.

DVD Review: Buffalo Soldiers

A decent film, didn't really get me emotionally, but was okay. I was suprised at the rating of G on the box. Seems to me it would be more accurately rated PG. Danny Glover stars as a First Seargent in charge of an all black unit of federal soldiers who are in charge of the new mexico territories. They have to put down an indian uprising. Interesting topic, and worth a gander.

DVD Review: CASABLANCA

I have to leave it to Howard Koch, Philip G. & Julius J. Epstein; they know how to write a witty screenplay. So I finally got around to watching the entire thing. I was suprised. I had previously only caught snippets. There's alot of witty dialog in there. I don't know who put in the real witty bits, but I think I'll track down some of the writers other titles to figure it out. The pacing is relatively slow compared to today's standards; for those who haven't watched it. This is one of those things that, whether it was due to writers, actors, director, or the combination thereof, just worked wonderfully. I hope they won't try another remake.

Here's Looking at you, kid.

Film Review - WANTED

At first I was going to go because the digital effects shots (or some of them) were filmed with a RED ONE, but after seeing the trailer, I decided it might be worthwhile to catch bigscreen.

On the action, digital effects, I wasn't dissapointed. The rest was an Okay movie as far as action movies are concerned. But as a whole, the plotline is good for a video game, but not for a movie. I am suprised, in fact, that a video game isn't readily available.

I think this will do well, especially among the disenfranchised people in America. There were some flaws that keep it from going really long term in the theatres. But if you want some boom, bang, and digital effects this weekend, then go out and see it now.

Most people either Love it, or Hate it, with only a few in between.

Death of another Icon

George Carlin died.

:(

Unanswered question Meme...

Questions not answered by the UNKNOWN SCREENWRITER.

Should I type FADE IN: at the beginning of my screenplay?
You should use BEAM IN when writing for Paramount.

Should I number my scenes?
yes and use the word SCENE before it; you should also give each one a title.

Generally speaking, about how many parentheticals should I have in my screenplay?
One less than you put in.

Can I just type FIN at the end of my screenplay?
WTF? Are you Quebecois or French?

Do you use Celtx?
Yep, but that probably has to do with being near Boston.

If I use Celtx to write my screenplay will I have a better chance of selling it?
Yes, but a crayon is better and cutting words from newspapers and pasting them onto paper is the best.

Should I sign my screenplay?
Yes, with a quill.

Should I include my email address on my screenplay?
You should use paper watermarked with your E-mail address.

Why do I have to put my character’s name in caps througout my screenplay?
The other option is to give each one a unique color.

What do I do with my screenplay when I’m finished with it?
Use it to line the birdcage.

Can you take a look at page 69 of my screenplay and tell me if it’s correct?
Is that the one with your gay oral sex scene?

Should I send my screenplay to you in a box or an envelope?
Aluminum case with a lock. Keys should be mailed seperately.

If I pay you $5000, will you help me sell my screenplay?
Of course. I guarantee it.

If I pay you $10,000 will you help me sell my screenplay?
Again. I guarantee it. It will happen twice as fast.

Will you marry me?
I'm willing to take offers from any female millionaire nymphomaniacs.

What font should I use to write my screenplay?
Battlestar Galactica Font.

Can I just write my screenplay in Word?
Most screenplays are longer than one word.

How many pages should my screenplay be?
Depends on what genre it is.

How long should each act of my screenplay be?
Depends on what gender it is.

Is it okay if my hero and villain both have the same name?
And I'm sure someone someday will think that's brilliant.

Is it okay if my Protagonist is Hillary Clinton?
Only if it involves a strap-on.

Is it okay to thank my Mom in my screenplay?
You can thank her by getting her the part of a street walker.

Is it okay to thank my husband in my screenplay?
You can thank him by having him star against Hillary with her strap-on.

Is it okay to thank YOU in my screenplay?
If you do, I have lawyers available.

Do you accept credit cards?
If your credit limit is high enough.

Do you live alone?
Only when my luck holds.

What’s your favorite color?
Greenbacks.

What’s your favorite food?
Weinkraut

What’s your favorite drink?
Non-alcoholic : Venti White chocolate Mocha with whip cream
Alcoholic : Slow Comfortable Screw Up Against The Wall

Do you smoke?
three cigarettes a day, but going to quit soon.

Do you drink?
Only about twice a year now.

What color are you eyes?
Ice Blue

When’s the last time you had sex?
Four times today, all by myself.

DVD Review - A History of Violence

The public Library has been good to me. Currently it is saving me alot of money I don't have by being able to check out DVDs.

My latest borrowing was A History of Violence. Overall, not a bad movie. The ending was inconclusive, but is otherwise good. The pacing of the movie is somewhat slower. The nice thing about watching this on DVD is getting the extras. The featurettes are worth watching, the Director's commentary is very similar to what you'll get out of just watching the featurettes. If you're in a hurry, skip the commentary, and just do the featurettes.

Personal notes:
I like the rough 'street-fight' style of fighting that was done. Real fights tend to toss out pretty styles for what works. No 'Rambo-isation' of the Protagonist, he gets injured almost as much as the bad guys. About the only thing that felt missing from this is a father-son talk. There occurred at least twice in the film where I expected it. It was well shot, with only one scene that I really disagreed with the lighting.

Underated flicks

There are several older good films to catch, and since the ones in the theaters have been pretty lame. I'll post on these.

Ladyhawke - A relatively well known flick, based off medieval french romance, about the only thing that truly ruins this movie is the helmets at the end. They look appropriate to sci-fi not medieval history. You should see this.

Flesh+Blood - More medieval and less romanticized, the criticisms are a DaVinci-esque siege engine and the plague that works too quickly. But it is worth seeing.

Wanted: Dead or Alive - A film that is appropriate to today's audience: going after terrorists. A grenade scene near the end makes it more than worthwhile.

Blind Fury - White guy learns from oriental master and kicks ass. Popular genre of the time. Good flick.

Split Second - Automatic shotguns?! YES! that makes this film alone worth watching. The story is okay also.

I Come in Peace - Seems listed as Dark Angel on IMDB now. Drugs, aliens, and a bad-ass cop.

The Last Starfighter - I was annoyed at the time that they did not come up with this as an arcade game. Merchandising cross-marketing was not what it was then. Good flick.

Escape from New York - good action of anti-hero Snake Pliskin.

Mad Max - The beginning of the Mad Maxx series. Great car.

Dune (1984) - I still like most of it better than the more modern version.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai - Still a classic.

The DEATH WISH series - Bronson killing badguys, a vigilante classic.

First Blood - The best story of the rambo series, though later ones have a higher blood and guts ratio. Alot of the younger crowd haven't seen the first one.

Dirty Harry, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact -and all the Dirty Harry movies with clint eastwood, though some are better than others.

Red Dawn - WWIII flick, america invaded.

Streets of Fire - urban action-adventure. Check it out.

The Dirty Dozen - WWII behind enemy lines, killing nazis

RAN - japanese medieval war scenes with lots of colorful armies.

Big Trouble in Little China - action comedy.

The Five Deadly Venoms - Foreign Martial Arts flick.

Better Off Dead - teen love comedy of the eighties, not as well known as others.

My list of films for the next 6 months

A list of films I'm considering and why:

April 4th
Nim's Island: hearing mixed reviews, but sounds interesting.

April 18th
Forbidden Kingdom: Jackie Chan AND Jet Li ... no more needs saying.

May 2nd
IRON MAN: This looks good, though they really should have done the suit in aluminum or used a metallized paint, it looks plastic in the stills, maybe it'll look better on screen. But since I've read the comic as a kid (though my best friend at the time was more into it), I am going to see it. Then again I liked Ghost Rider.

May 16th
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian : Big special effect film which (due to DFX not being finished) was pushed to summer release from this past christmas. I hope they kept a bit truer to character than the last one. Then again it's been Disney-fied.

May 23rd
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: I've watched the first three, and I might as well finish it, though we've been told that it will probably piss us off how they finish it. Like that's something new in Hollywood?

May 30th
Sex and the City: Yes, I am going to see this. Either I am going to be on a date, or looking for more sexually liberated women. We'll have to see. Yes, there is a difference between sexually liberated and slut. Way too many male and female sluts out there as opposed to sexually liberated.

June 6th
Kung Fu Panda: Animated safe flick, maybe get my mother out for a change.

Mongol: I generally don't go for films in other languages, but they're haven't been alot of Mongol films since the John Wayne version flopped.

June 24th
Wall-E: Again safe family film, probably will take my mother out in the second week.

WANTED: Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman ... nerdy nobody gets trained to be superhero and saves the world. Always a popular theme. Some scenes shot with Red Camera and I want to see how it looks.

July 11th
HB II (Hellboy 2): Not high on my list, but if I need to do something.

July 18th
The Dark Knight: It's a batman flick ... which means usually good. I expect alot of Heath Ledger fans will propel this one to #1 even if it is bad.

August 1st
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (a.k.a. The Mummy 3): Well, again the first two went well, so I'll give 3 a shot.

August 15th
Star Wars: The Clone Wars I'll catch this because I generally like Star Wars and because I can get someone else to pop for the ticket for my birthday.

August 26th
Babylon A.D.: Vin Diesel, Action, Sci-Fi ... enough said.

September 12th
Punisher: War Zone: Punisher flick, it had better have a good body count, or it can't be considered a Punisher flick.

September 26th
Death Race: Remake based on the 70's film. pretty low on the list of things to do. Might improve as we get closer.

October 3rd
Valkyrie: WWII film ... depends ... have to see when it gets closer.

October 10th
City of Ember: Family Adventure flick ... we'll see as it gets closer.

October 17th
Max Payne: Based off video game. Depends on how much big-screen action over small-screen action ... not high on list.

November 7th
Madagascar sequel: maybe ... day out with mother or something.

November 21st
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: As the books get worse, the movies will probably be better. Since the first four books that were good were badly hacked to make mediocre films.

November 26th
The Road: I got out of post-apocolyptic films years ago, but Viggo Mortensen & Robert Duvall, hmmm .... might be interesting, I'll keep an eye out as it gets closer.

December 12th
The Day the Earth Stood Still: Remake of the classic 50's film. I personally think they'll screw it up, but then again it might be fun.

--------------------

You might notice that most are fantasy/sci-fi and not much comedy or drama or romance, etc. Now if I add in DVD to this, it would have plenty. At least FX can make it worth paying the exorbant fees that they want at the theaters. If I were dating regularly, there might be some rom-coms and drama tossed in, but where I'm not, I go for what is most visually spectacular. That's why I've put films that are not as large in story but are action heavy, and sometimes both. I also have alot in the fantasy because they don't put enough money into it as compared to sci-fi, though there is a definate market for it.

Part IV - Book Review - The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein

You might want to begin with my first, second and third posts on The Big Picture : The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood by Edward Jay Epstein.

This is on the Social Logic of Hollywood.
Chapter 22 About the difference between only making movies for money, and those for social reasons.
Chapter 23 Hollywood community vs. the outsiders
Chapter 24 about the Elites of Hollywood (categorically)
(Stars, Directors, Agents, Writers, Producers, Execs, & Gurus)
Chapter 25 Reasons for work
Chapter 26 Hollywood Deceptions (Psuedoheroes, Psuedorealism, Psuedoyouth, Psuedoacting, Psuedopraise, Psuedo credits, & Psuedonews)

Political Logic of Hollywood
Chapter 27 Shaping the views of people watching
Chapter 28 Politics & social pressure groups and Hollywood
Chapter 29 Politics that affect Hollywood globally.

Epilogue The Future of Hollywood and movies.

I'm off to the library to get the book I read years ago that just arrived by inter-library loan, and there's another few books that I'll probably read next week, plus maybe a DVD or two.

Quotation Meme

I have been Tagged by Fun Joel for this meme.

Also quotes by
Emily Blake of White Board Markers
Maggie of Bootstrap Productions
Christina Ferguson of Developmental Hell

Original Rules:Look up 15 of your favorite films on IMDB and take a quote from each. List them below. When someone guesses the quote correctly, cross it off the list. NO CHEATING.

Hugo's Rules:Either look up 20 of your favorite film quotes on IMDB OR look up your the movie scripts online and take a favorite line. Only theatrical release movies. List them below. When someone completes information on the quote correctly, cross it off the list. NO CHEATING.
1 point for each of the first three categories (+1 point for each correct writer involved):

1. Movie Title
2. Actor/Actress who said it
3. Character Name
4. Writers

A little bit more difficult, but much more entertaining.

AGAIN ... No cheating.
I admit, sadly, that I can only occasionally get the writer(s) but can get the films, characters, and actor/actress quite a bit.

1) Do you know that the harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing? Nothing that has meaning is easy. Easy doesn't enter into grown-up life."

2) Ah, experience has conditioned you into thinking that all hearts are red and all spades are black because their shapes are similar. It's easier for your mind to interpret them based on that past experience instead of being open to the idea they could be different. We see what we expect to see, not necessarily what's really there. Children who have never played cards always pass this test. Makes you wonder how many other things are right in front of you - sights, sounds, smells that you can't experience because you've been conditioned not to. The good news is, if we do the test again, you'll pass. Once you're aware that there can be black hearts and red spades you'll be able to perceive them. Our brain's wiring is like the interstate highway system. It's easier to go from one well-traveled place to another. But the places in between, off the highway, even though they're there, most people zip right past them. 3) You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line."4) Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

5) I don't like warriors! They're too narrow-minded, no sublety. Worse, they fight for hopeless causes...for honor! Honor has killed millions of people but hasn't saved a single one.(pause)You know what -- do I like though, I like killer. A real dyed in the wool killer. Cold-blooded. Clean. Methodical. Thorough.

6) Yeah, I believe in love; I also believe in cancer.

7) Well Satan is in deep shit.

8) And there is no such thing as a no sale call. A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close? You or him? Now be relentless, that's it, I'm done.

9) I still maintain that he kicked himself in the balls.

10) Hello Peter. What's happening? Um, I'm gonna need you go ahead and come in tomorrow. So if you could be here around nine, that would be great. Oh, oh, yea…I forgot. I'm gonna also need you to come in Sunday too. We, uh, lost some people this week and we need to sorta catch up. Thanks.

11) Oh, absolutely I believe in God. And I absolutely hate the fucker.

12) Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had a no problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Oh, Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure fuck it, while I'm at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.

13) Some of the best things in life are total mistakes.

14) If a friend borrows a twenty bucks and you never see him again, it was probably worth it.

15) We can't shoot a dog. People? Okay, but not dogs.

16) If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness. Back from the pit of hell to fight at your side.

17) Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail us now.

18) Summa cum laude. Magna cum laude. The radio's too laude. Adeste fidelis.

19) This isn't the state of California, it's a state of insanity.

20) To a New Yorker like you, a hero is some type of weird sandwich, not some nut who takes on three tigers.

Busy week : Reviews: Books, DVDs, ETC.

I'll be posting Part IV later on The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein. Meanwhile, I finished Hype and Glory by William Goldman. It's a good look into the behind the scenes on film festivals, in this case, specifically Cannes Film Festival. Though dated, I doubt much has changed in regards to judging for the festival.

I watched 10 epidodes (on 3 DVDs) of IFC's "FILM SCHOOL" which covered NYU students making their 10 minute shorts and all the problems they encounter, and how they overcome many of them. It's good for anyone trying to make a short for a film festival. My only real peeve was they did not include the entire 10-minute films that these people finished. It would have been enjoyable to watch them in complete after seeing the work put into them.

I 'I.L.L.'ed a book I read 19 years ago, that I could remember neither the author of, nor the title to, but since I remembered the storyline, I managed to discover it. I use the library to read it again, and see if it was as good as I remember it to be. If so, I'll get a copy, if not, I'll save a few dollars.

I am now on disk 3 of EDISON: The Invention of the Movies. I also managed to get this one at the local library. I had it on my wishlist, which I can now remove. It does have several things I'll note when I get done. For those who are interested, It's 4 Disks, costs about $80, and is available from Kino Video. I figure, to make a film above average, I should make it understandable without dialog or sound, those should only enhance it. Therefore, I'm researching quite a bit of the silent era. Also, some of their low-budget techniques could still be used today.

More later, hope you all are well.
-H.F.

Part III - Book Review - The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein

You might want to begin with my first and second post on The Big Picture : The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood by Edward Jay Epstein.

We start with Production aspects.
Chapter 6 - details Developmental Hell.
Chapter 7 covers getting the green light.
Chapter 8 is a short synopsis of pre-production work, post-greenlight.
Chapter 9 is a synopsis of production shooting.
Chapter 10 is a synopsis on CGI and sound in post.
Chapter 11 covers editing and the costs of getting it caught up in a clearing house.

We move onto creating (or finding) the audience.
Chapter 12 covers the basis to create an awareness of a movie.
Chapter 13 covers the publicity and marketing campaign and costs for a film.
Chapter 14 covers theatrical release dates.

On to the economics of hollywood.
Chapter 15 deals with how theaters make (or lose) money, ratings, length of stay for a film, etc.
Chapter 16 deals with foreign market distribution and advertising.
Chapter 17 covers the the home video revolution (in all formats).
Chapter 18 covers television distribution.
Chapter 19 covers basic merchandising.
Chapter 20 covers why violence, or nudity may be added or subtracted to fit the audience, regardless of the story.
Chapter 21 talks about winning rough formulaes, especially those in relation to the billion-dollar-earning movies.

That's about it for now, tune in for part IV.

Earthquake

Apparently there was an earthquake here in Connecticut last night. I only found out about it this morning. It was 2.0 on the richter scale. This is only noteworthy as I had posted about feeling the 2.5-2.8 one in 2001, after the latest 2.0 had occurred but before hearing about it. Strange but true. Apparently Maine also had one a couple days ago. Looks like the lands getting lively on the east coast.

Part II - Book Review - The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein

In my first post on The Big Picture : The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood by Edward Jay Epstein, The first chapter covered 60% of the old system and 40% of the new system.

Then it moves into Part I: The New System which consists of chapters 2, 3, 4, & 5. Chapter two is about those who created the new Hollywood entertainment conglomerates and how they did it. Chapter three is on the problems with moving product into foreign markets, and how they overcame them. Chapter four covers the "Big Six" in entertainment. Detouring around problems, and creating the various axis of controlling the market. Chapter five covers, in a nutshell, how they make money while rarely making a profit.

It's truly interesting stuff, and while I can understand their wish not to pay the gluttonous governments of the world their over-taxation beyond the minimum due. It also serves to fill their greedy pockets. Well, if they avoid paying most of the taxes, the government raises business rates across the board to compensate, thus further burdening other businesses often most detrimentally, small businesses. Second it provides that they can shelter themselves from paying much in the way of back-end to anyone. Now I'm not against anyone making a profit, nor even a big profit. However, when it doesn't help your workers who are helping make that profit, or worse, you screw them to make your profit, then you are really just a greedy bastard.

Part of this can be stated because they are publicly traded companies & that their bonus' are paid in stock. Therefore rather than concentrating on dividends, they focus on raising stock price. Of course, the fact that the government always wants more in taxes, rather than coming up with ways to reduce spending, means that they are at least as much of the problems as the companies themselves.

Bah, anyways, 5 chapters down, 24 to go, plus epilogue, notes, acknowledgements.

I'm going to I.L.L. Planning the Low-Budget Film by Robert Latham Brown on Tuesday and probably be able to pick it up later in the week. If you haven't heard of it or him, I'll sum it up. He is a well known line-producer who doesn't go over budget. His book, contrary to it's title, covers budgeting any movie, regardless of budget, and is basically the industry bible as far as books on the subject go.

Film Review - Jumper

This is a pretty good escapist film, kind of a immature super-hero thing. Basically, the young protagonist has the ability to jump space. The antagonists are a group of religious zealots who kill any jumpers they find. Toss in love intrest, lost mother, drunk father, a bully, and stir. I'm still wondering why he has a passport, considering he can avoid customs anytime he wants.

DVD review - Waiting

I watched Waiting, which is both sick and funny, if you've ever done any kind of food service, and had to deal with people who existed to make others miserable, then you'll get the humor. Of course some of it is still pretty disgusting. Mainly about someone who finds themselves in the common rut of working in food service.

DVD Review - Cashern

I Watched Cashern on DVD. It's a good film, which is moderately unusual for a japanese film. Doubly so, when you consider that it only had a $6,000,000 or so budget. Sci-Fi anime that was turned into a live flick.

Part I - Book Review - The Big Picture by Edward Jay Epstein

I stopped by the library. I decided to invest some time in books. Mostly will have topics on either Film or writing. So for the first installment: The Big Picture : The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood by Edward Jay Epstein. The first 60% of chapter one is on The origins of Hollywood and the creation of the 'Studio System'. I figure this is about six hours of reading, but I'll be breaking it up over the next two three days before flipping it for another. I also have to put in some more time writing scripts.

DVD Movie Review - Daredevil

Daredevil was a great flick. The copy I had was 2 disks and had lots of behind the scenes and commentaries. Good stuff.

DVD Movie Review - "O"

Modern retelling of Othello. Actually pretty good. I passed it to a friend and will listen to the commentary later. It's definately worth a watch, especially if you're teaching Shakespeare at the high school level. Maybe your students will get this version easier.

DVD Movie Review - Monster's Ball

Watched Monster's ball. Starred Billy Bob Thornton, so had less than high expectations for it. His acting wasn't too bad. The movie was somewhat deep, but the pacing killed me. Way too slow, english ending. I'll probably listen to the director's commentary sometime, but it's not high on my list of things to be done.

DVD Movie Review - Shrek the Third

Watched Shrek the Third. Not a bad story, but not nearly as good as 1 & 2. They put alot more into the computer graphics end though. That looked great. It just didn't do enough for me in the laugh department. Made some French Toast. Not sure what I'll eat now.

They complain about what they pay writers, but still have enough to buy

Warner Bros. to absorb New Line

Something to think on writers...

They say if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. But world will only do that if they know the moustrap exists.
-Stan Lee

Every time someone says, but if I put my script out, then somebody can steal the idea. Yeah ... it's a possibility ... but even if you have the world's greatest script, until people READ it, they won't come asking to buy it ... will they? So pop a few bucks to the WGA & to the copyright office in DC. Then GET IT OUT THERE or stop whining.

End of Destiny

Had to move more snow from the storm this morning, ran a movie out to my niece. Can you believe that she's never seen Raider of the Lost Ark? I found out when she wanted to see the fourth one, and then her mother tells me she hasn't seen the other three. So I ran across the first one and got it to her, and I'll pick up the The Last Crusade later in the week. Temple of Doom can wait until I come across it on discount some time. I finished the first disk of Daredevil, and am now on the second one. At the store today, I saw an extended version with more commentary. It will have to wait for now. Haven't done any writing for the last couple of days, so I'll have to put some time in tomorrow. Monday I have to go to the bank, then pay the cable bill.

Destiny Sucks!

Okay, so they named this storm Destiny. It's been snowing, and it seems likely that it will continue until ... TOMORROW. That's a long time to snow, and it means I'll be running out at least twice to remove snow. Ugh!

I suppose that gives me a couple hours before I make my first run. So I better get to it. Also watching Daredevil DVD with multiple commentaries, 6 featurettes, scene-studies, music videos, and a bunch of other extras. That's what made me pick up a copy of a movie I have already watched. Studios take note, that's what sells a DVD now. Had someone ask me whether to buy Blueray or HD-DVD the other day. My answer was, I was waiting to see whether VHS or Beta would win, or if 4-track tape or 8-track cassette would win. They got my point. One will eventually win, one will lose. If they get the cost of HVD disks to affordable, then both those standards will go bye-bye in favor of the MUCH larger HVD (Holographic video disk).

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

I completed a basic outline of my Romeo & Juliet variation. Took awhile to, figure out who was who and what sex, what occupation, what age, etc. Then of course there's the challenge of not just offing them both. Sorry, Hollywood doesn't often make money on tragedies.

I finished
Breaking In: How 20 Film Directors Got Their Start by Nicholas Jarecki. Read most of the directors, skimmed a few that I never heard of, and I knew none of their works, so the ability to make their knowlege work for me wasn't there. I still skimmed them looking for and finding the inner workings of the Hollywood system.

Anti-Piracy

So I picked up a direct-to-DVD flick and am now just popping it on. "The Circle" is the name of it. I picked it up because on the back cover it lists:

"Shot in one uninterrupted take with no edits, the approach is not a mere cinematic device, but a thematic extension of the story."

So it sounds like it may be interesting visually, even if everything else sucks ... I'll post more after watching it.

As to the Anti-Piracy Title, this DVD has a great Anti-piracy message. Much Better than the you wouldn't steal a pocketbook or a car one. I'll credit Hart Sharp Video for it until I know otherwise.


"GIVE ME A BREAK.
I downloaded some movies for free.
SO WHAT?
Now big-time Mr. Moviestar can't the really big boat?
He can only have nine cars instead of twelve?
BOO FREAKIN' HOO.
Actually, if you bought that DVD, the sale would've hit a milestone in the actor's contract, which kicked in a nice bonus, which he used to buy that car, where the paparazzi took those embarrassing pictures, that were posted by the mysterious blogger StarClops, who got interviewed in that magazine you get, but your creepy neighbor keeps stealing yours, so you knock on his door, but he moved away, and now a very cute girl is standing in front of you.
Watch Movies Legally.
It's good Karma."

A couple of contributions to entertainment I've made

used to be a less zealot trekkie. So I tossed a couple bones during conventions that were tasty enough to get used.

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Bloodlines
The Subspace transporter I gave to them (it was in the technology meeting) during a convention in Springfield, MA. The reasons it wasn't adopted by the federation (dangerous instability) was their puppy though.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Fascination
Well, I know it wasn't JUST me, but when the show was brand new, I hit a convention where Nana Visitor (who played Major Kira Nerys) spoke. During the signing phase, where I got her autograph on a Kira Nerys action figure (which I must remember to Ebay soon). I asked her what she thought of the Doctor and the Major getting together. She replied that Kira would just as likely bounce him off the ceilings. I replied that it'd be funny though. She agreed, and I went on my way leaving the line of people behind to get their autographs. This was probably just after the 1st season of the show. So when the comedic episode of Fascination came on, I said "That's what I was talking about."

Yes, I could sit and create another easy thousand ideas of things for shows, the execution would be done mostly by those who have something more in industry experience, but they really need someone in many shows to add in ideas.

On that note, Broadcast TV Networks (free airwaves) are lacking having a sci-fi show. Really, whatever station puts one on right now will have 100% of the audience that doesn't get sci-fi channel. Consider that if people are willing to pay for sci-fi, then putting such a show on the air is good. While the nielson people generally don't seem to like sci-fi shows, it could be deemed remarkable that most shows get bought for the Sci-Fi channel or end up getting a movie made due to popular demand.

While there doesn't seem to be as much popularity for medievalesque shows on TV, given the success of LOTR, there should be at least some exploration into something along that lines. What most studios fail to do is give enough to create a depth of feel to shows like that, they'd need to have a toy, clothing, costume, etc. media campaign with them to be successful.

It's all about axes.

I'm a fan of fantasy film amongst other genres. I make no excuses for this. But one of the things that consistently irritates me is when you see a character with a battle-axe, and he goes all Paul Bunyan with it. Since most people are unfamiliar with archaic combat, I'll brief you a bit.
There are a large number of axes out there. The modern axe is more of a jack-of-all-trades master of none system. Formerly, you had an axe for each specific job. There were a large number of them solely dedicated to wood for felling and shaping the trees into lumber, and utilitarian items.
Those aren't what I'm going to sit and blog about though. I'm blogging about combat weapons, axes to be precise. The axe is a both a lever and a wedge. Mostly in movies it is being used as a sharp club. Or as a hammer with a sharp edge. While there are times when using it as such is useful, mostly it was used differently.
Against a steel plate, it will similar to a flanged mace edge and buckle the metal, and doing significant blunt trauma force injury. The problem occurring with that is if if does penetrate the metal. It will tend to get stuck in your opponent. That may not be a particular problem if you only have a single opponent AND you manage to kill him with that blow. If you fail to kill him, he is going to do you some damage with his weapon. He may die, and you may not, but would you bet your life on that being the case consistently. If he has friends, you'd best have alternative weapons, as you'll be dead from their weapons by the time you wrest the axe out of your opponent. That is why flanged maces were clubs that had metal heads and unsharpened flanges to keep from cutting into and getting caught on the armor. Against an unarmored opponent, the problem gets worse. Instead of being caught on the armor, it tends to get caught on and in the bones.
This brings us to how one does fight with an axe. Well first forget most fantasy axes. Generally they have, at best, the right profile. They are generally to thick in the blade. It needs to be light to preserve your strength in a long fight, and relatively thin, like a spear or a longsword. The blade is designed to shear through your opponent, not hack through them. To shear you want to use the outer top edge of the blade, and you want it to only cut a couple or three inches deep.
If you need an experiment to show you how this works, do the following. Take a piece of 18 gauge steel. Take a chisel to represent the axe. Clamp the metal firmly to a heavy immovable base. Put on safety equipment, a face shield at the very least. Place the chisel 90 degrees to plate. Hammer the chisel as hard as you can without slipping off it and taking out the hand holding the chisel. You've now dulled the edge a bit, and have made a dent. Now if you Take the same chisel near the edge so it can bite into the metal, and hold it at a good angle, it will do significantly more damage. You've sheared the metal. That's how metal snips, beverly shears, and other physical metal cutting equipment cuts.
I've seen it done well once on film. The citation is below. It is well worth watching for the battle scene. F. Braun McAsh sword was the swordmaster, and with his background with HACA (Historical Armed Combat Association) I believe it was mostly his accomplishment. On the other hand, I also have to give it to Richard A. Buswell for fight choreography, as it came out amazingly well even though axe fighting isn't on his resume, however his dealings with The Nordic Stage Fight Society amongst others couldn't have hurt.

Highlander the Series: 4th Season
"Homeland"