One problem with the Oscars is that a lot of secrets and trivia comes from the interview room. If they want to add something to spice up the ceremony, perhaps they should add little bits of trivia on each nominated film or performer (this could be something that they play before commercial breaks instead of having an announcer or doing the little "This is what it felt like to win an Oscar" clips they did this year).

For instance, here's a note from CNN's backstage report:

Finally, a comment from “There Will Be Blood” cinematographer Robert Elswit that should give us all pause. Asked what the film used to create its “oil,” Elswit said it’s something most of us have imbibed at one time or another: “It was industrial material used by McDonald’s to thicken their milkshakes, and I’m not kidding. That’s actually true.”

“I drink your milkshake,” indeed.

 While they couldn't use that exact fact without losing a possible Mickey D's sponsorship, I think there's enough interesting info out there to use. Hell, if the Oscars are really desperate, they can even use it as a reason for people to come back after the commercials. Ask a question before the break and then answer it when they come back. Cheesy, perhaps. But it's an awards show and I think that idea is better than resurrecting Debbie Allen's interpretive dance pieces.

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Rain is in the forecast for the Oscars and it's a good thing.

Perhaps now Hollywood will realize what it feels like to be an audience member this decade. Each week at the box office, it's seems like it is the same thing; a load of crap with, if we're lucky, a quality, depressing film thrown in.  Now I like dark turns as much as the next film snob but Tinsel Town has turned into Dismal Town. The top writers/actors/directors often turn to the edgier fare and pretty much everyone has given up the idea that you can make a feel-good movie that not loaded in schmaltz.

This is one reason that I think Juno has a chance to pull off the upset. It might not be a throwback to the Golden Era but at least it's a film that doesn't make you leave the theater unhappier than when you walked in. Should it win? Probably not, but it's the Oscars and when has merit ever mattered?

Still, as much as I like a good anti-hero, I think it's time Hollywood started doing their best to churn out some happier films. Hell, they might even find that Middle America will go to some of these top films if you give them something to really root for/feel good about.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Sticking with the deja vu theme I apparently have going here, has any actor ever repeated themselves as much as Will Ferrell?  He started with the arrogant, out-of-touch star in his own mind in Anchorman, then added sports and changed the accent in Taladega Nights, then changed the sport in Blades of Glory, and now is going back to the 70's and going with basketball with Semi-Pro. He basically played the same character in Bewitched (replacing sports with a self-referential Hollywood send-up) and now he's basically re-making that film but about a different TV show.  The premise for his latest, a "Land of the Lost" remake, reads: "Ferrell stars as an arrogant, womanizing movie star cast in a remake of the Sid and Marty Krofft series, only to discover that real Sleestaks (Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller) exist among us." After that, Will will finally revisit the overgrown child of Elf, this time replacing being displaced by Santa with being displaced when your mom marries someone with another childish adult (played by John C. Reilly) in Step-Brothers.

Part of me feels like Will doesn't work off scripts as much as he has a couple of Mad Libs which he uses as a diving board for his improv.

Then again, I can't exactly complain because I've seen most of Ferrell's movies in the theater and will likely be at Semi-Pro next weekend.

Posted by SoulHonky at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

I'll admit it, I'm addicted to making mix CD's.  I know that's nothing to brag about but whatever.  Anyway, I decided to make a monthly sampler of 10 songs I've been giving heavy rotation.  This month features a rather poppy mix with 2 songs each from Paolo Nutini and Vampire Weekend.  Then again, there's also a song about a serial cannibal, a ditty about cocaine use, and a haunting tune from radiohead.  Anyway, you can check out the mix on ITunes. (click on the pic below in the upper left corner to go to ITunes to check out the mix)

Posted by SoulHonky at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Imagine you are a parent who's been eagerly awaiting the Super Bowl.  Now imagine that your child comes home on Friday bouncing off the walls about some Hannah Montana movie. And not just any movie but a movie that the kid has to see in the theaters because it's in 3D. And because it's the already huge Hannah Montana, your child HAS to see it this weekend or else she'll be the only one at school who didn't see it.  Are you really going to risk your Sunday sanity by saying no? You probably already let your daughter down once by not being able to score tickets to the actual concert, do you really want to have your child whining and crying when you're trying to watch the Super Bowl? And if you are a spouse, are you not going to appease your child rather than sitting around watching a game you have no interest in?

This is the epitome of counterprogramming. You pit kids against parents (and even dividing the parents in some cases), make seeing it in the theaters a necessity, and have it based on a property that is already huge so that peer pressure will be raging.  This is how you make just under 30 million while showing a film on only 683 screens. It should be interesting to see how much staying power the Achy Breaky Offspring has. Unless the 3D is very impressive, I can't imagine many parents (who've already spent money on the CD's) being willing to take the kids to see the film again.

This week's box office should also probably teach Hollywood the lesson that nobody is really all that interested in seeing Jessica Alba act. In fact, she couldn't even match the box office of last year's Super Bowl horror film "The Messengers". She's a pin-up girl, not a screen attraction. Part of me thinks that if you switch Lake Bell and put her in "The Eye" and Alba in "Over Her Dead Body" the box office would have been pretty much the same.  Honestly, the biggest draw this weekend after Hannah Montana was the laughing shark of "Strange Wilderness" because that is pretty much the ONLY reason anyone went to see that film which somehow managed to make 3 million dollars.

Posted by SoulHonky at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments ()

Most people gush over Syd Field's book "Screenplay" but personally, I found the screenwriters workshop more helpful.  To me, the toughest part of writing is actually getting an idea out of my head and onto the paper.  This book helps teach structure and also gives you a step-by-step path to move you from concept to actual finished screenplay.  He often talks about the paradigm of a script and gives you a handy diagram. When writing the script for a project during my senior year, I showed my teacher the paradigm diagram of my film.  He looked at it in sheer amazement and even asked if he could keep it.  He walked away staring at it like it was the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

No book can ever teach you how to tell a great story but this book definitely helps in terms of how to put your story together and how to move it from imagination to reality. 

Posted by SoulHonky at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments ()