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« Show all entries for APRIL 2004
Wednesday, 28 April 2004 02:13:21
Two quick things: First, I'm not happy with the title of this Blog, but I needed something to offset the other, previous "Reasons to Fear 'Serenity,'" which made me sound like an a-hole, but c'mon, I made some good points. Second, we all know this movie's gonna be good. Great. But the following could push the movie beyond, into Legend: 5) Score. We already know the dialogue is going to be quotable, which arguably is the best way to make a movie Immortal (Star Wars IV & V, anything Monty Python... the list goes on). Can Joss integrate a pop song into the movie, and not make it obtrusive? If not (and when the studio asks, I hope they say NO), can the score be as memorable as Star Wars? You can't outdo the orchestra, but underdoing it with acoustic guitar could be bloody brilliant. 4) Joss. The Actor. I feel bad putting this number 4, but I feel very strongly about this. If no one has created a "Numfar" fansite, I'm about $20 away from buying an HTML book and building one myself. Numfar is the MAN... can Joss give himself THE cameo? Not Hitchcock standing by the front door; not Shyamalan locking an alien in the cupboard... I mean, y'know, the ONE. The one we haven't seen yet. Something like Walken in Pulp Fiction, except... better. I'm babbling. 3) Is it GRAND? Is it an EPIC? ... Or is it just a TV show on the movie screen? I get in more arguments with people about the X-Files movie, because it was just a 2-hour TV show. It was shot like a TV show, it was written like a TV show, it was acted like a TV show. It was budgeted like a feature film, but that don't make it so. The film screen has WIDTH. It has DEPTH. Both figuratively AND emotionally. You know the only movies that figure this out? Cartoons. Think "Duck Tales: The Movie." Think, wait for it, the epic Shakespearian makeover that was "Transformers: The Movie." "Dude, Quicksand, you're a crack smoker." Okay, just think of 1989's Batman. Except, replace the TV show with the graphic novel, and that's what Serenity needs. BIGGER, WIDER (David Lean used to use the Extreme Wideshot all the time; John Ford, Kurosawa. They gave movies SIZE, SCALE. Even James Cameron does this. X-Files? TV show). Long story short: Joss supposedly did MAJOR rewrites on "Speed." That movie had the DEPTH, the EMOTION, and more than one location. Okay, it had 3 locations, but that was also the same number of characters it had, and Serenity has nine, THAT WE KNOW OF. So he'll nail this one. Or he should, anyway. ;) Jan de Bont (Speed) can't direct actors, and Joss can. The writers and director of "Fight the Future" had never made a movie before, and Joss has. In the words of Mr. Burns: Eeeexcellent. 2) Rating. This was close with #3, but I gave this one the edge. "It's a TV Show, Joss," the executives will say, "We know a lot about these things, and the smart play is to make it PG-13, because more people will come see it. Your key demographic...." If Joss is the man we know and love (and the man who had his soul rearranged when they killed AlienFour), he'll punch them in the face. This movie needs a cinematic, R-RATED MOMENT, in the first five (maybe ten) [i]MINUTES[/i]... and we've achieved the Legend I spoke of above. I was 11 when I saw "Transformers: The Movie," and that was supposed to be a cartoon... well, half those characters died GRAPHIC, VIOLENT deaths in the first SCENE. I was never the same again. I'm not saying Joss should kill anyone, but having Mal (better yet, Jayne) drop an F-Bomb on an authority figure would be pretty freakin' sweet. And you know it. 1) This carries us to the #1 thing that will make this movie Legend: the characters we haven't met yet. Martin Landau in X-Files? Taking up Space. Nicholson in Batman: BRILLIANT. Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II: [b]LEGEND!!!![/b] It's not just that we should have stunt casting-- which ... we... should... NOT... but the trick is, you put a famous movie star in there, and then you have Fillion or Baldwin or Torres EAT HIS FACE. (Or, alternatively, HER FACE
Wednesday, 28 April 2004 13:11:58
Well, they say good luck comes in threes... I guess I can rest awhile now. Last night I converted the third of my of three closest friends to Firefly. He was putting on his Browncoat just about the point that Serenity was getting ready to "moon 'em". The slide guitar background music came up (my friend plays guitar) and combined with everything else up to that point, it was enough to put him over the edge.
Wednesday, 28 April 2004 19:43:23
Hey blog readers, doubt you'll be reading this but i shall endevour to make use of a blog. Hmm feel like an idiot for not signing up sooner or even just trying to get SCI FI UK just so i could see the great firefly, i'm just glad i finally saw it, and well i was just blown out the window. It just isn't star trek which is a good point :smile: most space sci-fi's just have dodgy aliens, wierd languages, unpronouceable characters, objects, places.. dare i go on... only about two shows actually hit this criteria of not having most of those Firefly and Red Dwarf. ok thanks for reading this if you are, if you're not reading this....then i don't know what to say. keep flying
Wednesday, 28 April 2004 20:17:53
Well, due to crummy support from what had previously been a great web hosting service and constant down time I have migrated to a new host and my website is down while I do a massive overhaul in content and look. So my head is stuck two feet deep in the sand at the moment. So - the latest ont he Firefly Fan Film is this - stand still. A script is done, the ugliest computer crash and virus infection i have ever suffered has made me upgrade to a new system (poor me) and I am now having to re-do ALL my 3d work, can we all say "learn to back up" with me. Stupid guy that i am. Anyway, so I'm playing catch up while prepping a feature film I am shooting at the end of the summer called "Asylum Alcatraz" you will be able to see the latest over at www.asylumalcatraz.fof-films.com in the next few days. I am hoping to entice some "talent" into the cast of this Mamet meets King meets Wood Jr. horror-thriller film. In negotiiations with some familiar TV faces (if you watch TV and certain shows - more to come at my site) And all the while my pet project of Firefly: Orpheus is stepping back and forth. Mostly back. Now forth. Now forth again. Back. Back. Forth. Sideways. With a twist. Hope everyone here is happy, healthy and wise. I'd add wealthy, and if you are email me - you can produce a feature :) otherwise have a great day. Drop me a line. Stop by the site after 4/30/04 for updates and away we go.