As promised, here’s the full-length “Rionegro” for those of you who haven’t had the chance to see it. Basically, we wanted to take a common story, an urban legend, and kind of warp it and make it subjective, nonlinear, and personal. At under eight minutes, it’s a small time investment for a film you might find yourself liking quite a bit. So check it out and spread it around if ya get the chance, friends.

Back with updates next week! We’ll be shooting the South Beach Comedy Festival over the next four nights, so give us a holla if you see us there!

-Tim

Slow news week.  We’re gearing up to shoot some more shorts, and Manifest Destiny is still going through sound.

This is a trailer for a film we did last year.  It was a winner in the Canes Film Festival and screened in the Paramount Theater in LA with John Landau and Ray Liotta in the audience.

We’re going to post the whole thing up here next week.  Don’t worry, it’s pretty short. Till then, enjoy the trailer!

I’ll be back with updates next week.

-Tim

Fun little post today- I’ve been trying to up my movie-watching since the New Year (with great success so far) so I’m going to share some thoughts on two recent-ish ones.  But- only after I give another update on our long-brewing project “Manifest Destiny.”

“Manifest Destiny” Update

So- we’ve finally got this guy picture- locked, color corrected, and effects are pretty much in.  We’re moving to the audio phase- Pablo Manavello has already come up with some beautiful themes for the film and I’m very excited to get the whole thing done. It’s always surprising, for me at least, how much sound really contributes to the picture.  You look at this rough cut of only the dialogue and the picture over and over and over, tweaking, and you do kinda get it in your head that this is close the final film, and sound is only going to help here and there. Patently false.  Just watching the rough cut with the temp music Pablo wrote already has an entirely different effect- that’s why I love post, especially sound.  Eric and Brian will begin the final mix sometime next week- so we’re definitely still on track for the end of February.  Can’t wait to show this one around!

Lightning Round “We Need to Talk About Kevin” Review

Since I”m cramming three film reviews into a single post, I’m going to keep them short and sweet.

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” is an independent film that came out in 2011 and wowed critics while still struggling for a wider release, despite the earth-shattering performance from Tilda Swinton as a mother who tries to deal with the fact that her son is inherently evil and commits a heinous act.  Is this her fault, somehow? How does one’s relationship change with someone who they’ve loved unconditionally their entire life when they do something awful?  These questions are tackled with wonderful effect in this film.

Heavy material aside, the film is incredibly watchable thanks to the way in which it is constructed- time is extremely fluid, and we are teased to images (flowing, white curtains and the sound of sprinkles, the sound of alarms, a grating, saw-like sound) that gain great meaning once we have seen what the titular character, Kevin, has done.  The film metes out just the right amount of information and emotional tease to make the exact circumstances of the ending a must-see, even though the nature of the ending is quite clear from the first frame.

But it’s most noticeably a rousing success because of Swinton- one can clearly see and empathize with her struggle as the unwilling mother of a monster as she tries to recover from a terrible tragedy, accept her shortcomings as a mother, and possibly forgive and continue a relationship with her son. Deeply touching, powerful, and stylish, with a great moody score by Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood.

GRADE: A

Lightning Round “The Fighter” Review

I must admit that I was not excited about this film at all.  Due to the nature of story structure, there’s only a handful of ways in which a boxing movie can end- he either loses the most important fight, or he wins it.  The ways of getting there are all very well-trodden territory, and we’ve seen so many variations of this structure- he wins but he shouldn’t have, he loses but he gains hope and finds himself, he loses even though he wanted to win but it’s better for him that he loses, he straight-up wins (ala Rocky), etc.

Two things to report- one, the ending is predictable, the events along the way aren’t anything new, and it proceeds pretty much how you would expect.

But the other thing- the film is so choosy with his details (like having his crack-addicted brother tell his family that HBO is making a documentary about his big comeback when in fact they are making it about his crack addiction, and then forcing that character to watch his own documentary, thinking he will love it, and absolutely hate it and make him turn his life around, ARE pretty damn fresh.  But fresh aside, they’re effective in engaging us in characters who we’ve basically seen before but give them a slightly new flavor so that you forget about the old archetypes entirely. It also doesn’t hurt that the performances are so insanely committed across the board, particularly from Amy Adams and Christian Bale (no surprises on the latter) that they bring new life and meaning to an otherwise well-performed but stock Mark Wahlberg main character.  Was pleasantly surprised.

Also the fact that it’s a true story and that they may have used actual broadcaster remarks from the original fights and timed and edited the fight footage to the  broadcaster’s retelling of the fights is pretty awesome.

GRADE: B+

See you next week!

-Tim

So, film reviews are a big part of what I do on this blog. I’m going to try to keep an even balance of pretty-good movies that you guys have probably heard of in theaters, and little independent movies that you should be Netflixing right now, should you have both the interest and the capacity.  The mere, unpretentious truth about the best films is that many times, you’ve never heard of them- so this is my way of reaching out and letting you know about movies that you may be missing.

Also-if you live in a major metropolitan area, much of these films can be seen at art-house cinemas- while thoroughly more challenging and not for the passive viewer, film buffs and people looking for more original fare will swear off the multiplex after a few winning experiences.

If you live in Miami-

http://cosfordcinema.com/

http://www.o-cinema.org/

http://mbcinema.com/

http://www.mdc.edu/tower/

These are all pretty f-ing fantastic establishments and they’re all over the city.

OK, done ranting.

“Dogtooth” Review

The reason I went into that was because this Greek film I saw the other night, from last year, “Dogtooth”, would definitely only be seen in this country at an art-house establishment.

The film has one of the most fascinating openings of recent memory- three people, staring intently at speaker as a woman’s voice comes on, addresses them as her children, and then proceeds to provide incorrect definitions of many common words as the three people eat it up eagerly, earnestly. Although all are clearly in their twenties, the act as children, controlled by impulse, easily amused, insanely competitive, and not a scrap of societal know-how between the three of them.

We learn after a few minutes that the three children are kept locked on the property by their father, an extremely suspicious and overprotective man who has done this to try and protect them from what he views are the corrupting tendrils of modern-day life. The son has reached an age where he must satisfy his sexual impulses or turn into a rage of hormones, so the father goes out and finds a woman who is willing to sleep with their son for money, a security guard at a local office park. He blindfolds her, takes her to the remote house, pays her, blindfolds her again, and drops her off.

The film deals with whether or not a highly idiosyncratic family such as this one, completely cut off from the world (so tightly controlled that the parents are able to redefine what common words mean without question, create fictional siblings that live on the other side of the wall, and tell them that planes are bird-sized artifacts by throwing a tow plane into the yard after actual aircraft pass overhead) can survive if a single fleck of outside influence is introduced.  Furthermore, the film explores whether or not such a world is so hideously unnatural to a communal species such as humanity that it will inevitably punish those who try to escape from it altogether.

The film is perfectly weird, captivating from the get-go, and wildly successful as a narrative in terms of conveying both theme and emotion. While the aesthetics seem to want to distance the viewer from the strange characters (or simply paint them as people we will never understand) with long, long shots (three cuts a scene seems to be the law of the land) in which character’s heads are often cut off at the top of the frame and have entire conversations offscreen, we still have immense empathy for these literal adult children, people who have been robbed of an intrinsic part of the growth process and suffer daily for it.

While the film’s style may put some people off, it is the most original film I’ve seen in years in terms of setting and concept, is completely spot-on in its screwy execution, and the ending consequences result in some of the most powerful 2 minutes I’ve seen in a movie in a long, long time. It’s a film that is extraordinarily surreal, like many films try to be, but completely grounds its surreality in theme and actual human emotions- nothing feels unbelievable about it by the end, even though there are some out-LANDISH stuff in here.   It is a rare film that is out-there enough to seem completely original and yet controls its narrative elements so well that it manages to be 100% clear on its themes and story without being stupid-obvious.

Highly recommended.

GRADE: A

See you next week.

-Tim

Hope you had a wonderful holidays and all that.  We’re back in business for 2012, and very excited about it to boot.

Enough about us for now, though- I’ll have an update on that stuff next week.  Needless to say “Manifest Destiny” is nearly picture-locked and ready to head to sound, after many months.  Huzzah!

For now-

“Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” Review

Two caveats:

1. I have not read the wildly popular thriller novel that this film is based on, so I am coming from a fresh point of view on the story and will not address problems with adaptation (Hey! They changed the story from the book!)

2. David Fincher easily makes my top three in terms of favorite directors.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo tells the story of Lisbeth, a ward of the state since a very early age in Sweden, no parents, all of that- and Mikael, a Swedish journalist who has had his name sullied by an alleged libel against a billionaire businessman.  His career appears to be in ruin when Vagner, a rich man who has shut himself and his family away on a remote island, calls him in to write the story of his family legacy, with his actual intent being to use his investigative skills to find out who murdered his niece almost 30 years ago.  Lisbeth, who performed a background investigation on Mikael earlier, is called to help him with the investigation, and the two form a strange partnership- that of two people, rejected by society in entirely different ways and using that as common ground in the absence of anything else.

Fincher is traditionally known for cultivating atmospheres of tension and dread and for an aggressive visual style that brings the material to new significance through style (see “Fight Club”.) These elements are present, though certainly subdued from his work in the 90s and the 00s- more stylized than “The Social Network”, to be sure, but certainly restrained.  Still, his visual style is extremely effective in highlighting character emotions and the dire-ness of certain situations in the film. The acting is great, particularly on behalf of Rooney Mara, who really commits to the tortured role of Lisbeth. Fincher relies heavily on partner/composer Trent Reznor to heighten mood and tension throughout, and is wildly successful- perhaps Reznor’s best score, though he has not done too many yet to date.

Story-wise, the film is unsatisfying on a few levels.  As a character piece revolving around Lisbeth, in which she fights to leave a system that considers her incompetent and criminal and actually shine as a brilliant hacker/investigator in the real world, and her struggle to form relationships (to varying degrees of success) with people who judge her by her looks (she, of course, is covered in tattoos, piercings, etc.) and her attitude rather than her actual merits.  The film is fascinating in this regard, and serves as an interesting indictment of a society that forms opinions of people and dismisses them without proper due diligence- just because someone is different. Lisbeth’s arc, fully realized by Mara, is fascinating throughout, and Fincher reserves the best of his style moments for her scenes. Daniel Craig, as Mikael, does well to bring life to a character who really doesn’t change or learn much over the course of two hours.

The problem lies in the actual procedural murder mystery that both characters are tasked to solve. Fincher isn’t incorrect on focusing on this story- it is, after all, the series of events on which Lisbeth’s emotional journey is framed- but it is predicable.  It feels stock. It’s not bad in any way- it makes perfect sense and the scenes are by no means boring- but they are pretty unspectacular.  You can predict the killer relatively early on in the film, and it lacks the twists and turns of a really, really good whodunit film. It’s rather straightforward, with the end result being somewhat underwhelming from a plot perspective. Tension really only exists in a few scenes, and I wouldn’t call it edge-of-your-seat, and Mara’s role in the investigation is pretty slight.

Fincher and his actors, however, do well with material that might not deserve them, and do their best to make it captivating.  The result? Success, and two hours very well spent, even if the film is far from seminal for Fincher and is his least important movie since “Panic Room” (though it is much better than that film.)

GRADE: B+

Hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season, celebrating whatever holiday your family history/faith/culture dictates that you celebrate.

Good news- we have successfully raised our funding for the Manifest Destiny pickup shoot that is happening next Monday, Jan 2.  We couldn’t have done it without the loving support of our family, friends, and the community of arts-supporters here in Miami Dade and elsewhere. We’re excited that you guys believe in us and we want to return your enthusiasm with a great film- so stay tuned! We should be finished with this thing some time in February. I’ll keep you all posted.

In the meantime, we’re taking the week off at Artex to recover from the holidays (more taxing on the body than work), but I’ll leave you with this nugget:

Enjoy!

-Tim

Hope all is well.  I’ve got an update on our short film, “Manifest Destiny.”

Thanks again for your support for “Manifest Destiny.” If you’ve been reading the blog posts I’ve made up here, you know that we are waiting on completing re-shoots in order to finish the project.

While we had hoped to latch up with another film that was using the same camera on one of their days off, this has not worked out as we expected.  We have no other choice but to fund another day of production, and the day is the 17th of December- getting closer and closer. We have no choice but to raise fresh funds if we want to finish the project- and we are so close.

Here’s the link to the new Kickstarter page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1890597342/manifest-destiny-pickups?ref=menu

If you can afford to help us and make this great project see its proper end, I will list your name in the credits and you will receive your own IMDB page as a backer!  That goes to everyone, even if you didn’t back us the first time!

Remember- if you are unable to give again, at least try and spread the word!

I’ve attached some screenshots from the original shoot for you all to look over as well. 

Thanks so much guys!

-Tim

Hope all is going well.

Not much going on this week except for the usual moviemaking business. Our short film, “Haircut”, played at the Miami Short Film Festival over the weekend.  It’s being shipped to a few festivals right now so I can’t release the whole thing, but if you haven’t seen it, here’s a trailer I cut together:

We’ll be able to release the whole thing eventually, once we hear back.  Enjoy!  I’ll be back next week with some updates and a bunch of  other goodies.

-Tim

Hope all is going well.

A lot of you already know about this, but I feel the need to plug it here anyway.

A close friend of ours (and Ricardo’s girlfriend), Nina Cortes, designs beautiful jewelry down here in Miami.  She applied to be on “Project Accessory” on Lifetime, which is a spin-off of Project Runway- and, against staggering odds, was accepted as a contestant on the show. One of twelve, and thousands must have applied.

Anyway, the show premiered last Thursday- and not only is she on the show, and heavily featured, but she won the first challenge! Also, she is contractually obligated not to tell us how far she got, so we’re watching this unfold with 0% dramatic irony. Huzzah.

A few months back, we started shooting a promotional video for her company, Nina Loren.  We’ve finally finished it, so we’re proud to put it up right here.  Check it out!

If you or anyone you know needs a stylish, professional video with our aesthetic for your website, such as this one,  don’t hesitate to drop us a line via our website. Almost any business with a website needs to have some kind of video content. You can also check out the rest of the corporate portfolio at:

http://artexproductions.com/en/portfolio_categories/corporate/

So check out Project Accessory every Thursday night on Lifetime, root for her, and be sure to throw Nina a “Like” right here on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/NinaCortesPA

I’ll be back with Artex updates later this week!

-Tim

“Breaking Bad” Season 3 Review

I’m going to try hard here and do something pretty difficult- I know a lot of you haven’t seen the whole season yet, so I’m going to give you my recommendation and say what I like about it without giving away any plot details, nor any plot details of the previous two seasons.  So, if you’re current with the show, it will sound like I’m skimping on some detailed analysis- this is intentional.

If you aren’t familiar with the premise of the show- what are you doing in your free time? Walter White, a high-school chemistry teacher down on his luck, discovers he has lung cancer and starts using his expertise of chemistry to cook meth in order to leave money for his family.  In order to do so, he must team up with a former student of his who dropped out to sell drugs.

If that’s not a juicy premise, I don’t know what the hell a juicy premise is.

I find this season of Breaking Bad to be the best yet (and that is saying quite a lot- even Season 1 is a 5-hour masterpiece, but it only gets much bigger, wider, and better from there on out) for several reasons.

What the writers of Breaking Bad do better than anyone else on the planet, in my view, is maintain surprise and a “what-happens-next” feel. At every possible opportunity, these writers set up your expectations not to see them play out as expected, as bad writers do, and not simply to move the plot along- each and every setup betrays the obvious and flips what you thought of characters and situations, constantly.

 The writers understand what it takes  to really be unpredictable, and they do so without tripping on logic, backtracking, sudden unbelievable changes, or the slightest hint of convolution.  The entire plot is a masterful tapestry, with each part fitting neatly, perfectly into the next- no characters are wasted, literally every moment is significant in unexpected ways, and characters constantly evolve and turn against type.

The finale episode, “Full Measure”, is a complete masterpiece of television and indeed filmmaking, going from clever to bad-ass to traumatizing within 48 mere minutes.  In the last three minutes alone, I experienced extreme tension, then shock, then more extraordinary tension, to pity, to dislike, to panic, to awe at the resolution- I had NO IDEA how Walter White was going to get out of that one, and rarely am I surprised by story anymore.  Of course, the writers then took it a notch further- the ending image is one of the most heart-rending moments I have ever seen, and is probably one of the best filmic representation of “collateral damage”, ever.

Not to mention that the filmic techniques- the slick, desert-nightmare, hot-sun cinematography and a visual style that knows the power of symbolic images and frame construction to amplify emotion, the gorgeous sunset color palate, and the INCREDIBLE sound design textures that drive home feelings of unbelievable dread or high emotional power, the dead-on performances from Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, and Dean Norris- all of it culminates into a truly unforgettable, life-enriching experience that will influence my own film-making for as long as I am able to forsee.  Please go watch “Breaking Bad.”

Grade: A+

Manifest Destiny Updates

As with many films, we have discovered over the course of post-production that we still owe a few shots to really finish the film.  As many of you know, the film was shot on the RED EPIC, which is expensive to rent- fortunately, we’re getting help from Jokes, who is gearing up to shoot his feature film with it (more on that next week.)

But what that does mean is that we probably aren’t going to get this puppy all the way done, including sound and polish, until January or February. Anyone who has ever made a film before will tell you that they are almost never done when you thought they were, for a variety of reasons. I’ll still keep you guys posted here- but trust me, the project isn’t going to lose momentum or anything.

Enjoy this rainy-ass week! If you can. I’ll be back next Wednesday.

-Tim