Posts from — March 2008

Since 2005, the SNL digital shorts have become regularly integrated into the show. By using a simple Sony hdv camcorder, they can create a skit filmed on various locations instead of on a sound stage. In my opinion, the best ones are ‘Lazy Sunday‘ and the emmy award winning ‘D$#! in a box“. Last saturday’s show was actually pretty funny with Jonah Hill.

Here’s Jonah & Andy’s short:

I definitely laughed pretty hard, but it goes too far in the kissing scene.

I’ve seen some lame youtube videos that are simply people yelling their opinions to a camera. It’s like they go all Dennis Miller Live style to a flash media camcorder hooked up to the internet.

Some of them are movie reviews of a particular film done by regular joe schmoes or actual critics. And then of course, there are tons of “A Response to ” bla blah blah all over that site for whatever subject you can think of.

Nevertheless, some of them are worth a laugh. Like this kid Sexman’s video review of 10,000 B.C. It was pretty darn cute. Especially, the part where he’s says there wasn’t enough gore. He looks barely 12 years old, so way to confirm the boys love violence stereotype. And yet, he still wouldn’t go on record loving this movie, proving that there are probably still “10,000 reasons to avoid film” like the Baltimore Sun says.

First off, where’s Corey Haim in this trailer? He was always my favorite Corey, so the movie went down a peg already. If they went to all the trouble of re-shooting in Canada just to squeeze Haim into this thing, we need to see what all the fuss was about.

Despite being a die hard Coreys lover (I even own an autographed vhs copy of Rock N Roll High School Forever), the reunion of Haim and Feldman won’t save this movie. People will only be able to watch this movie with an awesomely bad (i.e. why the hell not?) frame of mind.

Here’s how awesomely bad in my own special visual symbology:

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It’s like a cross between The Forsaken (one of the worst movie screenings I ever attended), The Brotherhood (which is basically a gay fraternity soft core dvd release) and some eighties bandanafied Feldman.

It is a straight to dvd release for a reason. And though dvd released movies can make money, even ones made with a Canon GL2, this movie will need tons of hype. Crazily they’re trying to use MTV to drum up a theatrical release. If they’re serious about that, they’re gonna really have to work the nostalgia angle to the ground.

I know Edward Norton already had a notorious dust up with Tony Kaye, director of American History X. But that movie turned out alright, didn’t it? Boy, I wish their was a canon dv camcorder hidden in the room where those “discussions” took place.

Nonetheless, it’s unsettling to hear that Edward Norton is having another final cut disagreement with the studio over the Incredible Hulk.

Teaser of the trailer that premieres on MTV tonight!

Sheesh, that June release date is creeping up. They def need to get on with it. As a filmmaker, I understand all to well the neverending battle between actor and director. At some point, you just gotta trust the other director’s vision.

I was already wary about this movie, especially since it’s another summer blockbuster sequel (Can we get another pathetic ‘hooray for sequels’?). Ang Lee’s version seriously sucked, so almost anything is liable to be an improvement. (i.e. don’t make it too serious and sappy, mmmkay). Hell, maybe Norton knows what he’s doing. I’m sure he just wants to make the best movie possible. As long as he doesn’t start directing again, we’re cool. No need for another Keeping the Faith. There are limits to genius. You simply can’t be good at everything.

This guy, Toben Seymour, is doing some cool stuff these days. He’s directing the next Kanye video for the song “Champion” and just finished up a Will.i.am video. And yeah, Toben is/was part of Commondeer with another pal, Ace Norton that I also blogged about last year.

Get to know Toben in just 60 seconds!

He loves to do puppets and special effects, and sometimes all that by shooting with a compact camcorder. I think I have to say that he’s sorta a big deal now. But it’s all good, cos he’s just having fun and making awesome videos, which is proven so creatively with his video bio.

Check his latest music video:
Louis XIV - “Guilty By Association”

Credits
Producer: Justin Benoliel
Director: Toben Seymour
Cinematographer: Harris Charalambous
Editor: Ryan Bartley
Color: Ghost Town
Production Design: Ayse Arf
Wardrobe: Liberty Yablon
Assistant Director: Nathan Lackie