No Spoilers episode 0: What is this sections is about?

Like many movie sequels, this blog post should have come before episode 1. So, consider this my Prequel Blog post or MIA 2.

I like talking movies. The people that I have worked with for the past decade, young and old, have heard my editing room, production meeting or creative brainstorming sessions rants about a movie's "epic" creative value. When I realize that they haven't seen this movie, I usually motion like I am going to flip the table in "rage" and film blasphame. (It's a dry joke but I like to recycle)

I thought I would blog about my film geek movie selects so that interweb folk can get some good film suggestions. Sometimes wacky or cryptic, not your classic AFI listings but I am not going to exclude these great movies either.

Not like this guilty pleasure of mine.

But check it out if you want to see how pre-computer graphics were done and a bonus see Dennis Hopper as a proffessor. (He plays a very similar roles as acharacter in one of his famous performances.) 

I don't believe in a good or bad movie or tell you that you should love this but you should probably check it out if want to see good movie making. Like my Philosophy 101 Professor pointed out in the first class, "My goal is to suggest a good lead, you should go and look into it yourself and my your own opinions, I AM NOT GOING TO READ THE BOOK FOR YOU" 

I will try not to SPOIL the movie by writing about the movies' plot twist. breakdown the storyline... Basically, I won't do the things that make reading film reviews frustrating to me.

Enjoy the movie suggest and please send feedback of what you thought of the movie and OBVIOUSLY NO SPOILERS in your comments please!

NO SPOILERS ep1: Top 5 Best Westerns Most People Haven't Seen

I was just finishing unpacking my gear and boxes into the new house/office space when I opened up a box containing my old DVD binders and Boxsets. (These days Netflix is usually faster if I am looking for reference material for work but I'm a collector, so I like to keep some of the old physical media around.) I noticed my wacky variety of movies and it go me thinking.

In the film industry you always bump into that young cinefile that hasn't seen film pre-1990's, who know LL Cool J and Will Smith as actors or have only seen the required classics Movies assigned by there Film school proffessor.

So, I thought I should highlight some great Westerns that are on my shelf and in my heart as some must see shoot'em ups that are not the Classic recommends. Please feel free to add to the list since I love me a good Cowboy movie! 

1. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
James Coburn, Chris Christopherson as Billy, Slim Pickens and a young Bob Dylan that you can understand what he says. Directed by Sam Peckingpah, so lots of ketchup style 70's blood, complexe storytelling and his particular raw filmaking style. If William Holden wasn't in the Wild Bunch this might be the best Peckingpah flick for my taste. It is definetly "Knocking on Heaven's Door".
 

2. Duck You Sucker aka Fist Full of Dynamite
I obviously have a Bromance for James Coburn. Add in this Filck directed by Spagetti Western King Sergio Leone, you have the perfect movie about the West transitioning into the modern era. Lesser know fact is that it is the 2 part Sergio's Trilogy, the first part being Once upon a time in the West, the third being Once Upon a Time in America.

3. The Proffessionals
A rag tag crew of mercs are assembled to get a woman, Claudia Cardinale. Might sound as a familliar plot but the "X factor" is Lee Marvin. Bang for the buck better than Magnificent Seven. Once again, Lee Marvin!

4. The Way of the Gun
A modern day Western with Benecio Del Toro, James Caan, Ryan Phillippe. At the time the writter Christopher McQuarrie of the Brian Singer crew of the 90's directs this raw flick about a kidnapping mixed in with great scenes that have great dialogue delivered by Fred Fenster himself. If you don't like the first scene with Sara Silverman stop watching there, this is not for you.

5. Pale Rider 
Probably blasfemy to not include a Clint movie. So here it is. A Macbethian western. It's got all he fixings, the looks from the man with no name, a big bad Company controling the town and  lots of avenging.  About 100 times better than "The Wraith" Charlie Sheen 80's disaster movie with same plot but with a bunch of teenagers and fast cars.  

 Save & Close

Please Add or comment on what you thought of the movies or if you want to add your favorite to the list.

That's it for now... 

Time to look for #NextNewThing

Not only an "A" in team or The A-team

This year I have worked on many small team projects. Meaning that we were a smaller team than what usually a regular production company would assemble to execute a project. I must say that all the projects were successfull and executed as well or even better than a bigger production could have done with larger ressources.

In highnsight, I looked at why this small team concept was successfull. I must say right off the bat that it wasn't always an all-star crew and I realize now from these last few projects that it doesn't have to be an The "Best of the Best" (BOB) to pull off an exeptional result. The real key is a good dynamic. Like most great sports stories the cast of players on the team were not an amalgamation of all the best players of the league but a rag tag crew of derelligues that rise to the occasion to win the Super Bowl ('83 Raiders) or the World Series ('94 Montreal Expos... I know they didn't win because of strike but the romantic in me likes to Dream).

This is not to say to try to get the best people but in most occassions I have been in a dynamic where it was BOB; the interactions between the various creative and administrative personel created a sculpture out of "poop". Meaning, in the end the result was looked good greek sculpture but it's composition was lacking. On my scale, good is not something to aspire to or even settle for. Basically, a gathering of the "Best of the Best" doesn't guarantee a strong result sometimes it it implodes.

I use Hitchcock as an exemple to my point when I work with directors or in creative meetings. Hitch was a genius director because he didn't storyboard the shower scene or create the sountrack for it. He got Saul Bass and Bernard Hermand to work on it for him. Genius.

Being able to assemble a great team, work with different personalities, get the right people connected with the right people on any level is talent that is underated, undervalued and often overlooked.

One last thing on The "BOB", they don't always work/interact with other properly. One thing that I noticed is that if one ore more of the extremely talented team is not participating for some reason, the team dynamic as a whole becomes chaotic and leads to the demise of the project. Film is by nature chaotic and minimizing the pieces that risk your project is the ultimate goal to put yourself in the best posible positiion. Assembling The BOB is no guarantee of success, I would even say that building a team that way decreases your chances at success.

My 2 cents... now back to the #NextNewThing. 

Final Cut Pro X : Crossing Out Jobs or Multiplying Them.

The new Final Cut Pro X was announces tonight and I hit the twitter-verse. People were buzzing about the price point, the features and some were worried about their professional future.

I think it is important to remember the past and not drink too much of the "Kool-aid". Yeah the features are great and they might keep things in sync for you and import natively from your DSL camera directly... Yeah, it's too be expected. Computers are suppose to do the robot work.

But I don't think jobs (Editor and/or Assistant Editor Jobs) are in trouble. 

I think the easy access might yes create some people who think that now they are "editors" because they know software but most in the industry are use to weeding out those folks. And with the coming of the digital age of filmmaking (1998-present) we lost a few transfer House techs but gainned onset media managers. Jobs die and new ones pop up, c'est la vie.

Moreover, I am presently working on a project that has 2 assistants, 2 editors and even the director is doing some touching up. Thus, the assistants must keep 4-5 sets of drives organized. This makes me believe that filmmakers will just use more cameras requiring more man power to keep up with more ambitious projects. I remember a time where documentary shooting ratio was 4:1, now it's more like 40:1; the cameras are rolling.

Most importantly let's not forget that the computers have not taken over yet. They won't work flawlessly like in a demo in a controlled environment. They will be glitches, fixes and most importantly people who will push the software to it's limits requiring some creative troubleshooting from an ace assistant.

Looking Back on 2010 & Looking Forward Gorilla Productions 2011

At the Beginning of the year, I told one of my filmmaker friend and longtime collaborator that 2010 was going to be a busy one; and it was excactly what happened. 

One project followed the next and the quality of projects that I was being offered was high production value and for the most part extremely interesting.

Here is a sample

(Unfortunalty, some project cannot be posted on the net just yet but I will update my website as soon as they are available)

Happy New Year and Keep those Cool projects coming!

MobileMe and Toronto's Finest caught the iphone 3G Thief or Low Budget THE WIRE TORONTO

Photo from retrieved iphonephoto from retrieved iphoneMy week-end started with a tech chase. I was driving to my weekly pick-up TouchFootball game when I decided to run in to Starbuck to get a pre-game Americano for a cafeine boost that would accompanie my iphone playing some motivating beats. I parked on College.

4 minutes later, I jump into my car, turn the ignition and realize that my iphone is no longer sitting in the Car craddle, where I had left it there carelessly. I had also not locked my door. (I know, I know but I didn't get the remote powerdoors feature on my car Honda.) I sit for a split second poundering my stupidity then I realize nothing to fear. I have MOBILEME it syncs all my contacts and I can remote wipe it and I CAN LOCATE IT AT ALL TIMES!

3 TIMES LUCKY
1. I am a half a block away from Toronto Metro Police station div. 14
2. When I get there it's a slow morning at the cop station.
3. They have a computer and some damn fine police talent.

I explained the situation to the receiving officer and he got it right away. Time was of the essence. So directed me to another officer who was at a computer station. I logged into my account and use the FIND MY PHONE feature. First thing I did was remote lock it then explained to the officer what this service offer. She proceded to take over the station and remote call the phone (a feature which is typically in my opinion used to find your iphone when you have misplaced it in your house) , the phone rings for 2 mins even if it is on vibrate. 2 officers decide to walk up the street and see if anybody is suspicious with an iphone in the location indicated on the Google Maps powered application. The phone is not moving for about 7 mins now.

The officers return without my iphone and tell me that I should file a report just so it is logged. I ask to use the computer to remote wipe my phone to clean it of it's contacts and personal info but on the refresh; we notice that the phone is on the move. A very tech savy officer (I can see by the way he worked the keyboard and browser) swiftly opens a new tab with full Google Maps. and uses Streetview to get a visual of the area. He takes my number down, tells the computer station officer to keep hailing the iphone via Find My Phone and takes a quick snap with his smartphone of the map location. He calls for a car to go and cover a rear enterance of the street and he goes off to the location.

Toronto's Finest caught the iphone car thief moments later. He also had a laptop and 3 car GPS units with him and had already stripped my phone from its custom skin and had put a new rubber case on it.

Well little over an hour after the theft, amongst the now busy with activity Police Station, I had my iphone back in hand. Thanks MOBILEME, GOOGLE MAPS and the Men and Women of Division 14 of Metro Police.