You will never catch me expressing the opinion that the world is, could be, or even should be "fair." Even so, one blazing symbol of universal injustice sticks in my craw. Why does the world shovel piles of money at the feet of directors like Gore Verbinski and (God help us) M. Night Shyamalan for them to set fire to, while a true artist like Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg is forced to engage in the cinematic equivalent of turning tricks on a street corner to get his tiny yet brilliant movies funded?
by Matthew Howe
You will never catch me expressing the opinion that the world is, could be, or even should be "fair." Even so, one blazing symbol of universal injustice sticks in my craw. Why does the world shovel piles of money at the feet of directors like Gore Verbinski and (God help us) M. Night Shyamalan for them to set fire to, while a true artist like Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg is forced to engage in the cinematic equivalent of turning tricks on a street corner to get his tiny yet brilliant movies funded? by Matthew Howe Dear Santa, I know you're as avid a movie buff as I am (after all, those long nights at the North Pole must get kind of boring. And since you've known all the elves for a few hundred years, I would guess you're heard all their comedic industrial accident stories by now.) Here are a few cinema-related requests I humbly submit for your consideration: by Matthew Howe Working in the film business often puts you in, shall we say, strange situations. A few years back my buddy Chris Ingvordsen, with whom I've had countless film adventures, landed us a job to shoot some second unit footage for an upcoming Rodney Dangerfield flick, The 4th Tenor. Second unit is exactly what it wounds like, a second, smaller filming unit that runs around getting establishing shots, close-ups of props, shots of picture cars driving by and stuff like that. For instance, shots of building exteriors in The Avengers were shot by the 2nd unit. Joss Whedon wasn't there, though the units all work under the supervision and vision of the director. (On big movies, there are often more than two units, all of them focusing on different elements that need to be captured to put the film together. There's a pile of great second unit stories in the book Bonfire of the Vanities.) by Matthew Howe Even at the low end of the film biz in which I work, every once in a while you get to work with a celebrity. Folks I've done time with include Julie Andrews, Selma Hyak, Bradley Cooper and Julianne Moore. My M.O. for dealing with the famous is to pretend they're not. No gushing, no fan-boy bullshit (though that was tested when I shot an interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and absolutely no posing for photos or getting autographs. They're professionals, I'm a professional. There. by Matthew Howe The story of my solitude If my solitude were a fish It'd be so enormous, so militant A whale would get out of there In 1975, a bad English to Japanese translation of an obscure novel (called Fish Story) inspires Gekirin, a Japanese proto-punk band, to write a song called Fish Story. The band's first and only album (also called Fish Story) flops, the band breaks up, fades into obscurity having missed the punk revolution by just a few years. Yet Fish Story, the song that is the one true expression of their artistry, lives on. It echoes through the decades to the year 2012 when a comet on a collision course threatens to destroy the world. But there is one last hope: Fish Story. Or How a New York Indie Filmmaker Refought the Civil War. By Matthew Howe FULL DISCLOSURE: I was the first-unit cinematographer on The Battle of Pussy Willow Creek. Contrary to what some of you might think, that does not make me biased toward the film. I'm very, if not more, critical of the films I work on than I am on other movies. I honestly hate most of the films I've shot and their memory only brings me pain. If you want proof of my merciless self-critique, check out my book: Film is Hell: How I Sold my Soul to make the Crappiest Movies in History. PWC is different. I knew from the script that this was something unique and exciting. That's why I signed o. After shooting a bunch of movies that were less than artistically fulfilling, I wanted to put my efforts toward making on something I could be proud of. And proud I am. The Battle of Pussy Willow Creek is one of the most unique films I've ever seen. Not to mention hilarious. I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. by Matthew Howe Jack Nicholson's performance in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman is the grain alcohol punch that, as at a college party, gets you drunk enough to think you're having a great time only to wake up the next morning in a pool of stale vomit, with a pounding hangover and a dick drawn on your forehead in Sharpie. Director Tim Burton may be one of the most frustrating figures in modern cinema. The man is obviously brilliant, and yet rarely makes a great or even good film. Nor has he produced a true masterpiece, something on the level of David Cronenberg's The Fly, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive or even Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight. Batman is a perfect example of Burton's weakness: style over story. by Matthew Howe So I got sick of indies and obscure old movies and wanted to see something easy on the brain, something Hollywood, filled with action and eye-candy. Olympus Has Fallen seemed to fill the bill. Overall, a decent mid-level action flick of the type Lionsgate seems to revel in. The opening attack on the White House by sinister North Koreans (and are North Koreans the only people left who can be villains in Hollywood these days? Other than home-grown right-wing extremists a'la White House Down?) is the movie's strongest sequence. You just hate these bastards who are shooting up Washington and can't wait to see them humbled by Gerald Butler in spectacular fashion. by Matthew Howe As I watched Observe and Report, I hated it. I mean really, really hated it. Yet kept watching it. And I'm glad I did, because maybe for the first time in my viewing lifetime a movie not only turned it around in the last five minutes, but actually showed me that everything I had been thinking was wrong about the film was actually right. I've also never been a big Seth Rogan fan. While I loved him in The 40 Year Old Virgin, I usually find him obnoxious. Especially in lead roles. (There is only so much Rogan one can take, after all.) The exception to this rule is the hit Superbad. I love the first half with all the Jonah Hill/Michael Cera stuff, but the Seth Rogan/Bill Hader/Christopher Mintz-Plasse subplot is almost unendurable. And I didn't like him in Observe and Report, either. His character, Ronnie, a mall cop with dreams of glory, is arrogant, obnoxious, dangerous, and downright mean. Unpleasant as hell. And yet, as I discovered, that's the whole point. by Matthew Howe General Erwin Rommel was a dick, working for the evilest world leader in history, but that doesn't mean he was stupid. One of his more famous quotations involved the four qualities any soldier could have. Think of it like an old school Chinese restaurant menu: COLUMN A: A soldier can be STUPID or SMART. COLUMN B: A soldier can be LAZY or INDUSTRIOUS. Every soldier had one attribute from column A and one attribute from column B. According to Rommel, most soldiers are stupid and lazy. Which is fine. you tell them what to do, they do it. Your basic cannon fodder. The ones that are smart but lazy rise to the middle ranks of command but never much further. The ones who are smart and industrious rise to become commanders, generals and great leaders of men. |
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Keep up to speed with the latest news from the world of cinema Must See Movies - A list of independent films we are looking forward too! Movie Monologues - Paul Costello counts down the best speeches in cinematic history every Thursday. Movies In Motion - Jo Johnstone explores the world of stop-motion animation from adverts to features every last Friday of the month. Experiment 626 - Our writers exchanged DVDs and here are the results We'll Fix it in Post - Graham Osborne gives us the run down on how certain movies could be improved. The Horror Vault - The dark side of cinema You May Have Missed - Movies that passed you by. From The Trenches - Matthew Howe delights with stories from the front line! Hidden Heroes - Celebrating those incredible people often in the shadows of cinema Terribrill - So bad they are actually good! Straight On Till Morning - Leah looks at the impact of childhood films Monthly Musical Moment - Taking a look at the best soundtracks and music moments Film FriendsCategories
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