Rush Hour film series

The Rush Hour film series is a series of Hong Kong-American martial arts/action- comedy films starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, directed by Brett Ratner, and distributed by New Line Cinema. The main plot centers on a pair of police detectives: a Hong Kong Police Force inspector and an American LAPD detective (portrayed by Chan and Tucker) who go on a series of misadventures often involving corrupt crime figures. All three films achieved commercial success and incorporate elements of martial arts and the buddy cop sub-genre. 

Rush Hour was released on September 18, 1998 grossing $244,386,864 worldwide.  Martin Lawrence and Dave Chappelle were originally considered for the role of James Carter, but Chris Tucker was finally chosen for the part. Director Brett Ratner, a big fan of Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies, felt that American audiences would not be familiar with the jokes in Jackie's other movies, and deliberately re-used some of his gags. For example, the scene where Inspector Lee accidentally grabs Detective Johnson's (Elizabeth Peña) breasts is a reference to Jackie Chan's film Mr. Nice Guy (1997).  Jackie Chan, fortunately, did win over the hearts of the audience.  Many people found him hilarious, and a great actor. 

Rush Hour 2 was released on August 3, 2001. The film grossed $347,325,802 worldwide, making it the most successful film in the Rush Hour series. In an interview, director Brett Ratner admitted that the first part of the karaoke scene with Chris Tucker was not supposed to be filmed. Tucker refused to act like Michael Jackson with the cameras running. During takes, he went up as entertainment for everyone. Secretly, Ratner told the cameramen to film it but to not let Tucker notice them. On an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Tucker said that while he was filming this movie in Hong Kong, many locals mistook him for NBA star Kobe Bryant. In the film, while Tucker's character is running up the stairs, the old woman shouts, "Move out of the way, Kobe" to him. This film obviously had a very strong cast and crew connection, which is key for a well-made film to be produced.  It also creates the feel-good emotion that comes with great films. The mural on the wall of the Heaven on Earth Massage Parlor was copied from one in Scarface, which Harris Yulin and Ratner appeared in. It is funny to see a parody take place in such a popular film.  The scene where Jackie Chan and Tucker are running down the street naked in Hong Kong was an actual take; production could not block the street off for the shoot. The scene where Chan and Tucker run in the streets was inspired by a scene in The Accidental Spy (2001) which Chan made before this movie. Ratner saw the film and decided to include a similar scene in Rush Hour 2 (2001).  Although this film incorporates a lot from past films, it was very well put together, and obviously, the public reacted positively to it.  

Rush Hour 3 was officially announced on May 7, 2006, and filming began on July 4, 2006. The film, set in Paris and Los Angeles, was first released on August 10, 2007, and grossed $258,022,233 worldwide. Academy Award-winning film director Roman Polanski co-stars as a French police official involved in Lee and Carter (Chan and Tucker's characters) case.  This movie, said by most audiences, did not live up to the expectations of the last two movies in the series.  Rush Hour 3 was literally, rushed, and not as well made, I believe.  The story and plot could have been executed better. All in all though, it was a good third movie to a big series.  

Because of the films' collective box-office success, director Brett Ratner and writer Jeff Nathanson were considering the production of a fourth installment. In the DVD audio commentary for Rush Hour 3, Brett Ratner joked that the fourth Rush Hour film could be released in 2012. Ratner and Nathanson are exploring many concepts, including the use of the motion capture technique for the possible sequel and various different film projects with Chan and Tucker. It has been reported that the fourth film may be set in Moscow.  Although I think that this series has had its run, and maybe they should just leave the legacy of the great movies alone, I don't think I would mind seeing a Rush Hour 4.  I would not like to see actors that are not Chan and Tucker.  To conclude, I think they should just leave it as is and count their blessings.  

This series was hilarious and is a must see for everyone who loves comedies!  Chan's stunts are impeccable and fun to watch.  Tucker's humor ties it all together in a fun, feel good, action-comedy. 

THE INTERSECTION OF MARKETING AND LOCATION SHOOTING: THE AHS MURDER HOUSE MADE REAL

One of the most interesting phenomenons happens with the intersection of marketing and location shooting. One particular example of this is the film location that was used for the first season of American Horror Story, which has since become titled, "Murder House." The interesting thing about this house is that it is a real place in Los Angeles about fifteen minutes from Hollywood Blvd. 

This facade should look very familiar to people that have seen the first season of American Horror Story. This is the same house that is supposedly haunted by the ghosts of murder victims that enact their vengeful wraths on the current owners of the home. Now for a little history lesson on the property at 1120 Westchester Place, which is the real world address of the house. Originally built in 1902 by famous architect Alfred Rosenheim as a personal residence for him and his wife, it was sold to a wealthy mining magnate in 1918. The mining magnate owned the house from 1918 until 1930 and then sold it to famous actor Edward Everett Horton who lived at the location for two years before selling it to a Catholic nunnery that owned the house from 1932 until 1997 and even put a church in on the grounds. In 1997 the nunnery left the property due to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and the house was put on the market  for 3 million dollars and it has been there ever since. 

Now one might naturally question why a house that is attempting to be sold on the market would court bad press like murderous ghosts. Well, there is one simple answer to the question, MARKETING. Below are two such examples of this marketing....

  

"FILM, TV, MUSIC VIDEOS, AND SPECIAL EVENT RENTALS

Welcome to the infamous Murder House...

For over 100 years, this property has been a very popular Filming Location, having been the set for countless Major Motion Pictures, Television Commercials, and Still Photography shoots, with the biggest names in Hollywood, and around the Globe, utiliziling this property for their projects, many of whom have been back several times throughout this Century.

The list of Feature Films shot at this pristine property is endless, and the list is very long, beginning long ago, when Charley Chaplin was busy making movies.

For Television, the property has been most recently used for the Pilot, and the entire Season 1 of American Horror Story, which almost overnight, became the biggest television series 20th. Century Fox Studios EVER released, starring an amazing cast of characters, and just weeks later, becoming the most popular TV Series on Earth, even surpassing True Blood ! The property has had dozens of TV Series episodes filmed here, including, CSI Miami, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter, Dragnet, Hill Street Blues, Six Feet Under, Crime Story, The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, Wiseguy, Law & Order, Ghost Whisperer, NCIS, The Closer, Nurse Jackie, CSI New York, Miami Vice, The Unit, 90210, Cold Case, Angel, The Mentalist, 24, Police Story, CHIPS, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, SWAT, ADAM 12, Monk, Las Vegas, Grey's Anatomy, Bones, Californication, an many, many, many more.

Photgraphers who shoot here are the World's finest, with people such as Herb Ritts, Annie Leibovitz, Walker Evans, Bruce Weber, Michael Marks, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Henry Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, David LaChapelle, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino, Terry Richardson, and many, many more.

In addition to Film and Photography, the property has been the location for numerous Music Videos, Concerts, and Private Events.

The Recording Studio has room for 250+ guest's, and has had hundreds of World reknown musicians record amazing sounds inside the walls of this Ultra-Private Studio."

For anyone else who is interested in finding out more about the Murder House here are some links below. 

http://www.joebabajian.com/current-listings/337/1120-westchester-place/

http://www.1120westchesterplace.com

The Women of Wall Street

Everyone's seen The Wolf of Wall Street. And if you haven't, you need to get on that. Seriously, watch it. It's a miracle you've been able to hold any sort of conversation with people since its release. Just kidding, I saw it about a week ago. But I mean, look at this face:

Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Anyway, if you have heard of it, you're aware of the certain misogynistic themes that run rampant throughout the entire 180 minutes of the film. But Meghan, it's a biographical film! It's supposed to be funny! They have to stay true to the characters! And yes, I do admit that there's something outrageous and alluring that sets The Wolf of Wall Street apart from the other hundreds of thousands of "Men-Are-Powerful, Women-Are-Sex-Objects" films, but it's interesting to think about how the movie would've actually went if the roles were reversed.

And that's where Los Angeles writer, Nicole Donadio, comes in. A couple of weeks ago, she released a video called "The Women of Wall Street", a parody of the original The Wolf of Wall Street trailer. Line for line, and almost exactly shot for shot, she recreated the trailer, but with a twist. All of the roles switched genders. The concept is more impressive than the actual production of the video, but in my opinion, it was very well executed and edited. First, here's the original trailer:

And here's Donadio's version:

At it's worst, it's a silly parody of a blockbuster film. At it's best, it's a nod to the inequality of women in not only the film industry, but the corporate world as well. What I found extremely interesting were the surprisingly negative comments on the Youtube page. Commenters treated the word and the concept of "feminism" in a very critical light. Although "feminism" has always been viewed as a dirty word (known to many as "the F-word"), I found it alarming how many people took the time to express their hatred for not just the video, but the feminist ideals behind it. Regardless, I'm all for these kinds of videos starting discussions and bringing to the surface some of the issues of gender that are mostly shoved under the rug. Props to Donadio, and I'm excited to see if this sparks any more critical parodies.

And in case any of you are interested, here's a link to a well-written critique on The Wolf of Wall Street from a feminist stand point. Because you know, feminism.

Unprotected Rights

Protecting your work is extremely important! Here's a little story that stresses how important. One of my professors from my old school (Carey Eidel) lived in LA for a short period of time as an actor. He and his friends wrote a skit. The skit was that they had replaced the door man of the Ritz hotel with the decaf coffee crystals. At the time, coffee crystals were being advertised like crazy I guess, so they decided to make fun of it. In order to shoot this they wanted to ask permission of the Ritz hotel to film outside of the hotel. When they asked I think they were denied so instead of changing things around they decided to wait for the door man on his shift to go inside on a bathroom break. Once he did so they placed and can of the coffee crystals where he was standing, filmed it, and then interviewed people walking in if they had noticed that they had replaced the door man with coffee crystals. I think they may also have filmed each other being interviewed with some funny lines. When they put everything together and edited it and presented it and pitched it to SNL they said they liked the idea but they didn't want to buy it. The next up and coming Saturday Carey and his friends sat down to watch Saturday night live, this is what they saw: (not mirrored of course)

They knew immediately that they had stolen their idea. They contacted a lawyer and he said to them that basically there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. It would cost them more to sue them than what they'd get back if they won their case. So Carey and his friends took a punch. I personally loved the skit and am glad it was produced, however I do wish for my professor that their skit had been payed for even if it were a fraction of the price they usually payed, just for the idea. This was the original commercial that they were making fun of at the time.

 

I actually think I would have liked to have seen them replace the door man and have peoples same reactions. It would have been just as funny. Especially if SNL went the step further with Chris Farley's reaction to it.