All About Eve and Good Backstage Drama

     With actors involved there's always drama. All About Eve is a backstage drama written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz centering around an aging theater star. Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, a snide actress on her way out who takes a young girl named Eve under her wing.

     The movie begins with Eve, played by Ann Baxter, accepting an acting award. We don't know who she is or why she's won, we just know that the guild loves her. And we meet Margo and her friends who don't applaud at the acceptance ceremony.        Eve, is young with no connections. When a friend of Margo's introduces them Margo is warmed by Eve's love of the theater and her love of Margo as an actress. Margo allows Eve to work for her as her assistant and the two strike up a friendship.

     Quickly though Margo grows tired of Eve. She's always around and sometimes she makes important personal decisions, like telephoning Margo's boyfriend, without consulting her first. Margo drops Eve and feels excluded by her friends who are all smitten with her.

   As things begin to unravel it becomes clear that Eve is more than she appears to be. She is manipulative of everyone in the film. Eve is an actress and a damn good one. She's put on a different face for every person that she meets.

     All About Eve is an Oscar winning film for one reason. It created a character who wanted something and showed to the lengths in which they would go to get that. The conflict of Al About Eve isn't terribly complicated, the cinematography isn't out of this world. But it's simple storytelling that makes the film so effective. That and Bette Davis in full form.

So Tell Me When it Kicks In

Early last week, popular singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran released his music video for the song "Bloodstream." Bloodstream is a song off his album 'X' and features the English band, Rudimental. The music video was far from the last love-struck video Sheeran released, and in fact takes on a more serious tone. The video stars Ray Liotta, who is portrayed as an older musician who seems to have had much too long in the spotlight, and is starting to become exhausted by it.
The musician seems to have a Gatsby complex; a big home, with lots of money and things he doesn't need, who spends his days perplexed over what he's had and spends his nights drinking and doing drugs to a point of no return. He even falls into some water...
...Okay that may be where I draw the Gatsby conclusion from, but still, it's pretty similar. (Also may a little funny).
Anyway, the music video seems to fit well with the song itself. I think the lyric "this is how it ends, I feel the chemicals burn in my blood stream," pairs well with the aging musician, who is seeing where his life has ended up, and can feel the wear and tear getting to him. It does seem a little comical sometimes, while the musician is stumbling over some women and appearing to be singing karaoke, but the video does kind of hit a serious note. Not many people think about the spotlight and what it does to people, especially when they're worn out and can keep up with the masses and the tastes of the new generations. Maybe it's time that this guy goes on a vacation where nobody knows his name...
I think that the music video was pretty good, and showed a very similar quality to Sheeran's other music videos. They are always a little bit ambiguous, with room open for a few different interpretations, but the main message is always clear. And, they are most definitely always unique. To be honest, I was pretty surprised that this was the song he chose to release as a single next, because there were a lot of other songs off the album that stood out more for me, but I think I understand now. With Rudimental collabing with him and the idea for the music video, I suppose it's starting to make sense now.

The video is also presented by the YouTube Music Awards.

Pacific Rim. Really?

*WARNING - spoilers to follow*

A few days ago, I finally got around to watch del Toro's Pacific Rim. I truly wish I hadn't. I really just need a place to rant about it. After just barely being able to force myself to finish the movie, I simply had to look online to see what others thought of this disaster. Turns out, a whole lot of people actually really enjoyed it. The movie somehow received a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.5 on IMDb. Seriously? You've got to be kidding me. I'm sorry del Toro, but here's why you don't deserve those scores.

The first issue I found with the movie started, well, at the very beginning. A voiceover. That's what the director thought would be a good way to start the movie. A voiceover is probably the biggest copout anyone could use in order to catch viewers up to speed. While it's an effective way, it's the least creative and simplest way to summarize what's happened up to what we're seeing. There are dozens of other, better ways to do this.

For those of you who don't know, Pacific Rim is about an alien invasion from giant, reptile-like creatures, called Kaiju, that come from deep under the ocean's surface. Us, meaning humans, build giant Rockem Sockem Robots, called Jaegers, to fight off these creatures. The voiceover used at the opening of the movie basically summarizes the aliens' first arrival and the battle that's been going on for so many years to fight for our survival. Instead of a voiceover, del Toro could have simply used quick shots of news channels so that viewers understood what was going on. That's probably the simplest substitute. Honestly, even if there was absolutely no introduction to the issue, the plot was simple enough that viewers could figure it out on their own.

The second, and probably the largest, issue I had with Pacific Rim was the fact that there was absolutely no trace of character development. Sure, Idris Elba's character eventually warmed up to the idea of allowing his adopted daughter, Mako, to become a Jaeger pilot, but that's merely because the entire planet would be doomed if he didn't. Elba's character remains the same hard-assed man throughout the entire movie. Raleigh, the main character of the movie, never strays from his "unpredictable," loose-canon nature. I don't think his tone of voice ever really changes either. Mako, pretty much the only female character in the entire movie, simply wants revenge for the death of her family. When she was young, a Kaiju attack wiped out her entire city, which is when Elba's character finds and rescues her. One would think that, being a movie and all, Mako would eventually put her lust for revenge aside so that she can better fight the monsters and save the planet. Nope! That would simply be too close to making Pacific Rim a half-decent movie. You would probably see more character development if you replaced every single character in the movie with a sack of potatoes.

Actors are the life force that drive a movie. They have the power to decide whether a movie tanks or becomes a hit. I'm not quite sure who picked the cast for this movie, but they sure did a very poor job. The main character, Raleigh, played by Charlie Hunnam, was probably the least emotional character I've ever watched in my entire life. Hunnam's monotone voice and blank facial expressions made for a reasonably boring, one-dimensional character. I was nearly put to sleep during his few monologues.

Idris Elba, who played the role of Marshall Stacker Pentecost (which really isn't a name to begin with), pretty much had the same issue as Hunnam. At the climax of the movie, when Pentecost decides to return to Jaeger piloting, he yells "We are canceling the apocalypse!" Anyone who's at least seen the trailer knows what scene I'm talking about. This very moment should make viewers sit on the edge of their seats, overly eager to see what's about to happen. Me? I felt nothing. I was shockingly indifferent due to Elba's tone which slightly resembled that of a parent scolding a child.

I'll end this topic with one last example of poor casting. For some strange reason, whoever was in charge of putting this odd cast together thought it would be a good idea to place Charlie Day, an actor who has been reasonably successful in recent comedies, as the doctor/scientist character in Pacific Rim. I understand Day probably wanted to try out a new role, and I understand that his character was meant to add a bit of

comic relief to the movie, but what I don't understand is how viewers are supposed to take his character at all seriously. Typecasting is a thing. It's a sad fact of the movie industry, but nonetheless, it exists. If Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was cast as a tooth fairy (oops, that's already happened), nobody would be able to take the movie seriously. It's simply too far outside of their normal roles. Some lucky actors are able to escape the monster known as typecasting, but Charlie Day is not one of them.

The final issue I found with Pacific Rim came towards the end of the movie. What many action movies like to do is state the solution to a problem and try to bullshit their way into making it sound like a discovery that required some higher level of intelligence. What really happens is that the writers of the movie can't think of a way to realistically solve the problem, so they make a solution appear out of thin air.

A prime example of this situation is demonstrated towards the end of this movie. When all hope is lost, and the resistance is convinced that the Kaiju will finally wipe out the human population, Charlie Day's character decides to use the futuristic technology that exists in the movie to connect his mind with that of a dead Kaiju's brain. Even according to him, this kind of experiment would have killed pretty much anyone, but of course, that would inconvenience the movie's plot too much. Day's character then claims, after magically surviving the procedure with little to no physical damage, he "discovered" that placing a nuclear bomb in the space-time bridge, which the monsters have been using to get to Earth, will collapse the bridge and end the invasion. There was no fictional scientific proof. There was no questioning his logic. It just worked. Poof. No more Kaiju invasion.

For a guy who honestly enjoys watching the occasional mindless action flick, I can say that I've never been so close to turning off a movie so many times. Was Pacific Rim an awesome movie? Yeah, I guess so. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun to watch a giant robot smack an alien over the head with a boat. I'd also be lying if I said the robots probably didn't kill more people than the actual aliens did when they would throw them through heavily populated city buildings. Pacific Rim was basically just Transformers on steroids. It was twice as awesome, but just a mindless.

Denzel

Currently I am in a hotel in Plymouth Meeting, our rugby team has a tournament in Philly tomorrow, and were staying here over the night. On the bus ride down to Philly we watched two movies. First Blades of Glory. Funny movie, but thats about it. The second movie we watched was Remember the Titans. Much better.

Although I have to admit, at first I cringed when the choice was made. I dont know what it is, maybe there's only so much of kid version Hayden Panettiere I can handle, she's quite the brat at times. Or maybe its just that I've seen Remember the Titans literally a thousand times. Literally. But even though I never seek out or choose to watch Remember the Titans, I still get sucked in every time, without fail.

I blame Denzel. He's just so damn good at what he does. He somehow makes over acting look good. He's terrifying and always gets his characters spot on. I think I remember Arturo saying something about how hard he is too work with, which actually makes complete sense. He seems like he could be a little bit on the crazy bipolar side. And you can clearly see how he can go from 0 to all up in yo face in half a second. Sure, his reputation also probably doesn't help his attitude on set, but isn't that the case for all, or at least most, top-notch A-list actors? Every actor has an attitude problem. I feel like its a requirement to have an inflated ego if ou want to be a good actor.

Anyway, Denzel's a great actor, but I could definitely see how he can have an attitude problem. Yeah, I really wasn't sure how to end this blog post, so.......

Latest Update

The Purple Cobras have their final script finished and we are currently finalizing our locations and actors for tomorrows shoot and preparing our locations and actors for Sundays shoot.  All seems to be going well so far and everyone in the group is doing a great job.  Today in class our group decided to shoot the car scene with a green screen in order to accommodate one of our actors in not having to drive.  I am excited to see what shooting this scene will entail.  Our group will have to carefully plan out everything that we want to shoot for the scene in order to do it in a timely manner.  As we began to move from pre-production to production I am beginning to see our film play out in my head.

A MUST SEE: THE ARTIST!

I had the most unexpected surprise today when I got on Netflix and looked under the "Recently Added" tab. I scrolled along trying to find something to watch and I was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw The Artist directed by Michel Hazanavicius sitting there among the other movies that people can stream online. It was one of those moments where everything around the picture of the movie went out of focus and there glowed the one movie I have been dying to see for the last three weeks. So, I cooked myself some dinner, curled up on the couch, and hit play.

This movie was so much better than I had even expected. I thought I was excited after watching the behind the scenes look in class, but after I finished this movie I was grinning from ear to ear and had the sudden urge to get up and dance around my room laughing.

Where to start in describing this experience? I suppose with the history that it encompassed and depicted in such a creative way. The transition from the silent films to the "talkies" was one of those topics that my amazing U.S. history teacher gave a lecture on in high school. A subject that is not usually in the curriculum for history classes in high school, I was completely fascinated by it. Two of my peers and I were able to put together a little report for one of the class projects. I thought it was interesting how many of the silent film actors were not used in the "talkies"because, just like George, they were symbolic of the "old" and they wanted the "new." Beyond that though, some were not used because of their voices in general. For the "new" style of film, they weren't only looking for people who were attractive, but also for those people who sounded good as well. The Artist did such a wonderful job of depicting this era of change.

I saw several Charlie Chaplin films (including City Lights) when I went to France with a friend about two years ago. While we were staying with her grandparents in Antibes, her grandfather would put in the movie and we would all sit and watch. He said (thanks to my friend's translation), "These kinds of films are the best to watch because it doesn't matter what language you speak, everyone understands." How true were his words! It is the wonderful part about these kinds of films. Half the time, I didn't need the dialogue that flashed on the screen in order to understand what was happening. It reminded me of reading a book (which I do a lot of), except for the fact that you don't have the trouble of imagining the setting and the characters looks. I could almost hear the dialogue in my own mind and the story unfolded.

The characters were so memorable as well. They were the kind of characters that you wanted to meet and hang out with. The personality of George Valentin was great when it was  all charm in the beginning, but I think it was towards the end, when the audience saw him at his weakest point, that he became such a rounded out character. Jean Dujardin, the actor who played George Valentin, not only looked the part, he completely embodied the part. He was like a symbol for all those actors who were considered the "old." His energy and emotion given through his eyes, right down to the smallest of gestures, were so great that it made me feel like I could see straight to the soul of the character.

I have decided that if I could be anyone, I would love to be Peppy Miller. She was so bold and confident, but best of all, she had such a kind heart. She was the kind of woman I hope I can someday become. I loved her personality that was so innocent and yet, she didn't let anyone mess with her. Of course, Bèrènice Bejo was just fabulous playing the part. All of the actors were phenomenal, including John Goodman and James Cromwell.

The filming itself was amazing as well. A story told mostly through images and a wonderfully arranged and performed film score. The use of the camera was astonishing. I love how the newspaper was used for "dialogue" in the beginning when it said "Who's that Girl?" It was great how the movie never got boring because the next shot was always so unexpected. Shots that showed what was happening in the reflection of mirrors or glass tables, or the use of shadows, or the transition of time with a montage of magazine and newspaper headlines; it always kept you engaged and entertained.

Even the use of sound was so creative! I loved the dream sequence were he started hearing the things he touched and the phone rang. What a great way to show how he was really feeling about the "talkies!" Even at the end when you can hear them all speak, it was such a treat; a wonderful ending that depicted the acceptance that George felt for the "talkies" by the end of the film.






My favorite line in the whole film though was when George says to Peppy, "If you want to be an actress, you need to have something the others don't." As one of those dreamers myself, this line truly resonated with me.






It is so hard to summarize this movie in only a few words. From wonderful music to the awesome tap numbers at the end of the film (I was a dancer for nine years), I travelled through time to another beautiful era that took my breath away.  I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone. It is such a great film that leaves you with a smile on your face and a catchy tune in your head.

~Amber Capogrossi

thanks for the warm welcome back ithaca..

..you never cease to amaze me with your bright sunny days and warmth. (to then be followed by snow and freezing rain, but she doesnt mean it right ithaca?) anyway i digress. our actors are more complicated to organize than. well something really hard to organize. but other than that were ready to go. were doing our green screen scene (say that 3 times fast) tomorrow in class so thatll be good. thats it for me see you bright and early..well maybe not bright

btw anyone have a half decent bracket left? and go miami bball!

Casting needs

A colleague from the Cinema Department asked me to relay these casting needs in case you know someone who might fit the bill based on casting you have already done:

George (20’s, M): A college student could fill this role. He is an intelligence operative in the company. In his discussion with Veronica, he is trying to deceive her into dropping her pursuit of the truth.

Jensen (20’s, M): I am looking for someone who is built like a track runner for this part. He initially toys with Veronica in the interrogation scene. As soon as a weapon is introduced to the scene, he becomes terrified. It doesn’t take long for Veronica to break him.

Vlad (30’s M): His role in setting the trap is to entice Veronica into falling into the trap. He slyly gives up bits of information until he has her hooked. Once he has Veronica in his bag, he sends Veronica on her way.

If you can help post a comment mentioning for what character you are suggesting someone and I will relay the information to the director.

Shooting schedule is form March24-31

Casting Call

I guess no one else has started talking about the class-wide casting call (sorry if you already have and I didn't notice you), but it might as well get started. For the T/TH 8:00 class, if we are going to do it in the evening, it should NOT be on Thursday since a bunch of us have Newswatch 16 from 5:30 till whenever (normally 9:00, but there could always be live @ 10:00). If its going to a mid-day casting call, I personally could not do it T/TH or on the weekends, but any other day is good. I'm also down for doing the casting call during class, but it is early and some potential actors may have classes.

Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip

Hey guys, so I just started watching a show on recommendation from friend and it's amazing. If you haven't heard of it or seen it then check it out. The show is called Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip. It a show from 2006 starring Matthew Perry and Amanda Pete along with a few others. The show follows a sketch comedy program (like SNL) through its weekly ups and downs. It's really cool because it shows a lot of stuff like the control room during the show, the writers, the actors, and executives and the problems they face in meeting good numbers for the network. SO, I really recommend you check it out. It is at the top of the list right now on my list of shows cancelled after 1 season (Terriers being the other member of that list, also awesome).

The first and only season of the show is on Netflix streaming.