Monday, November 24, 2008

Lunch With A Pro

Had lunch on Friday with a fellow filmmaker who I met and actually worked with in Memphis, who is now living in NYC working in the industry, Lisa Kiesel. She's working on a documentary with some folks in the Virginia area and also doing some work for AFI. She stopped into town and we caught up on old times and talked... argued... well constructively discussed her project.

I won't go into it too much because they're still working on the doc and until they're ready to discuss it publicly I will always respect their wishes, but I will say it's an interesting subject.

It was good to talk film with Lisa and for some reason she gets a kick out of debating issues with me when it comes to film. I think she actually likes to call it more torture than anything, but it's still fun nonetheless.

Keep an eye out for her, she's got good ideas and if her and her partners pull this off, it could be a very interesting film! I'll pass along more info about it when I get it.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Office Away From Home...

Getting some work done today at my office away from home... yes there is a product placement for you.

It's funny, I'm working on cleaning up a script I wrote some time ago and it's too funny to see how and what I wrote about. I dropped in a lot of things I thought were relevant back then and hot and now, they're so dated.

However at the core of it all is a pretty good script, at least I think, so I'll keep working on it and fix it up. Time to get back to work!

Peace out!

P.S. Oh by the way, you're not supposed to take pictures inside of Starbucks, so I had to sneak this one from my camera phone shooting over my shoulder behind me... not bad huh?

Thursday, November 13, 2008

"Chocolat" Tastes So Good!

*** 3/4 10.27.08 - Chocolat... 2000... Director Lasse Hallström

A highly underrated film when you think about films you might want to rent and watch. Lassee Hallström creates a magical world that evokes so many emotions that it may surprise you!

A great cast... Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Alfred Molina, and Judi Dench. The characters are rich and full of depth. And Binoche... well... this is an amazing example of a "real" woman in film, complete with curves and a sensuality that equals her co-star... chocolate! I had forgotten how sexy she truly is in this film, from her personality to yes... yes her body which is not the typical, "try not to eat too much," Hollywood ideal. And let me add that this film proves once again why I believe Johnny Depp is such a good actor. He takes chances and doesn't play the same types of characters over and over, his performance in this film is fun and touching.

The DVD provides some excellent behind the scenes information, although the documentary on the making of the film, is a little too "Hollywood Publicist," for me it is interesting. And one of the pieces deals with the art direction for this film which was amazing. Somehow shooting in a village in Europe always makes people yearn for living in a town like this one, although I wonder how many of us would really like living there these days. I doubt that without Internet and some of the other creature comforts that we all so desperately depend on these days we would enjoy it quite as much. lol

Nonetheless, pick up this film... grab a cup of coffee, tea or better yet hot chocolate, cuddle up on the couch and watch it on a rainy day and you will feel all warm and toasty inside.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

It's Like American Idol...

Only this time the votes are for real! One of the things I'm most proud of in my life is voting in every election since I was able to... Here we go again!