Screen Writer Ink Movie Blog

Movie Review: Regression

2016-02-06T08:23:00.001-08:00

Official Tagline: A detective (Ethan Hawke) and a psychoanalyst (David Thewlis) uncover evidence of a satanic cult while investigating the rape of a traumatized teen (Emma Watson).

Written by: Alejandro Amenábar
Directed by: Alejandro Amenábar

Starring: Ethan Hawke, David Thewlis, Emma Watson

Regression is a satanic horror film that really wants to be thought provoking and scary and comes up short in both departments. Going in, I didn’t know anything about Regression. I hadn’t heard about it or seen any previews; I didn’t even know who was in the cast. This can be a good thing sometimes. You may be pleasantly surprised or in this case; left feeling like you wasted an hour and a half. I’m not saying Regression is terrible, but it wastes some good actors on a story that offers few scares, thrills or logical for that matter.

Regression is set in the 1980’s amid the nationwide panic of devil worshipers running rampant across the heart land of the nation and based on true events. I don’t remember anything like this happening, maybe I was too young to remember or not hanging out with devil worshipers to know what was happening.

Ethan Hawke gives his standard trouble man with wounded past performance as police detective Bruce Kenner, who is call upon to look into the molestation of innocent, virginal Angela Gray, played by the pure and chaste Emma Watson, who is actually only in the movie less than ten minutes. We find out that Angela’s father, John Gray [David Dencik] has been sneaking into his daughter’s room at night , but he has no memory of any of this, but says if Angela said it happened then it must of happened, because she never lies and he tells us this several times in the first act.

Okay, movie insights 101, if someone in a movies says that a certain character never, ever does something, then you can expect them to do that very thing later in the movie. If this is said several times early in the film, then you can guarantee that they will do it.

We later learn that Angela’s father was not the only person molesting Angela, but also Kenner’s right hand man, police officer George Nesbitt [Aaron Ashmore] who raped Angela while her father watched. But the plot thickens, Nesbitt and Gray are not just rapists, but members of a devil worshiping cult and all of the cult members had sex with Angela too, even her grandmother. Of course Angela’s father doesn’t remember any of this, but since Angela never lies Kenner knows there is evil afoot and brings in Professor Kenneth Raines [David Thewlis] to hypnotize Gray and regress his memories so that he can remember being an incest loving, Satan worshiping, rapist and help Kenner with his deep dark secrets too.

The main problem with Regression is that Alejandro Amenábar wrote, directed and produced this movie. It is always a warning sign when the writer and director are the same person on a film, especially in horror films, but throw in producing too and this is a recipe for disaster. May be if he had tried to do just one job on the film, things would have been better.

The story isn’t compelling or scary. The directing is timid and lackluster. He attempts to tease a sexual relationship between Kenner and Angela but is too timid to pursue that. He has Kenner having erotic dreams that are set up to be about Angela, but are of extremely old naked hags/witches. The big plot twist reveal is telegraphed very early in the story and doesn’t surprise or entertain.

This film opens this week and is already showing in the second run theaters, so if you want to catch it on the big screen you better run out and see it now, it won’t be sticking around long. A weak effort that wastes the abilities of some talented actors and your time and money.

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Review: Kill Me Three Times

2016-01-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

Official Tagline: Professional hit-man Charlie Wolfe finds himself in three tales of murder, blackmail and revenge after a botched contract assignment.

Written by: James McFarland
Directed by: Kriv Stenders

Starring: Simon Pegg , Alice Braga , Teresa Palmer , Sullivan Stapleton, Luke Hemsworth, Callan Mulvey, Bryan Brown

The tagline above is a little misleading. The movie isn’t three tales of murder; it is three views of the same murder from different character perspectives and the ramifications of the murder attempts. Simon Pegg stars as Charlie Wolfe, a hit man hired by night club owner Jack Taylor [Callan Mulvey] to kill Jack’s cheating wife Alice [Alice Braga]. Sure Alice is sleeping with hunky Dylan [Luke Hemsworth], but Jack is kind of psycho and likes to beat on Alice when she gets out of line. We shall call this plot B.

Why are we not calling it plot A? Because the A plot is about mild mannered dentist/ degenerate gambler, Nathan Webb [Sullivan Stapleton] and his kind of psycho wife Lucy [Teresa Palmer] and how they plan to fake Lucy’s death and collect the life insurance money to pay off Nathan’s massive gambling debts. They just need a body to burn up in a car crash. So they choose Lucy’s sister in law, Alice who needs her tooth fixed after Jack loosened it up for her. Things do not go as planned.

Plot C is Alice’s attempt to steal Jack’s cash and run off with Dylan. Plot D is Charlie’s story and his involvement in all the other plots. If all of this sounds a little confusing, that’s because it is, but in a fun way. I liked Kill Me Three Times. It’s not the best comedy of 2015, but it is certainly not the worst either. Kill Me Three Times is now on Netflix and is worth checking out for some dumb, mindless laughs.

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Review: Bitten

2016-01-25T14:58:00.000-08:00

Official Tagline: A lovelorn paramedic rescues a woman left for dead after a deadly assault. When she refuses to go to the hospital, he takes her in, nurses her back to health and soon falls in love with her. Before long the mysterious woman suffers withdrawal symptoms, leaving the paramedic to believe his newfound love is a drug addict. Coming home to find a blood-drained corpse on his floor, he learns she does indeed have an addiction problem but it's not to drugs...

Written by: Tim McGregor, Tyler Levine

Directed by: Harvey Glazer

Starring: Jason Mewes, Erica Cox, Richard Fitzpatrick

Let’s take a look at "Bitten" a dark comedy that looks at vampirism almost as an addiction and how can true love survive if your hot new girlfriend keeps eating people.

"Bitten" is a love story about paramedic Jack (Jason Mewes) who finds the beautiful Danika lying in a pile of garbage covered in blood. Jack takes Danika (Erica Cox) in and nurses her back to health, but it soon becomes apparent that Danika isn't hooked on drugs, but on human blood. Jack attempts to be an understanding boyfriend and one look at Erica Cox and you could see a lot of guys putting up with a little vampirism and murder now and then. But Jack has trouble adjusting to waking next to his vampire girlfriend in a pool of blood. The mounting count of the dead bodies of her victims hidden around Jack’s apartment also put a damper on domestic bliss.

Bitten [not to be confused with the SyFy werewolf series of the same name], is a low budget, dark horror, comedy film that is actually kind of good. Jason Mewes [Clerks] does an effective job of portraying lonely, unlucky at love, Jack and is not a bad actor when he tries. I liked him much better here, than in any of his Kevin Smith movies.

Erica Cox is a drop dead beauty and gives an almost sweet, innocent performance as a blood thirsty vampire. Sure there is some over the top scenes, but you kind of expect that from a vampire comedy love story. Even with the budget limitations director Glazer was able to capture a dark, funny and sometime suspenseful story that is entertaining and fun.

Can true love survive? Check out "Bitten" and find out. Not quite as good as "Suck" but still a funny dark comedy.

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Review: Blindspot [Pilot]

2016-01-24T08:40:00.003-08:00

Official Tagline: Beautiful Jane Doe is found naked in Times Square, covered with fresh tattoos and with no idea who she is. So why is FBI Agent Kurt Weller's name on her back?

A beautiful woman, with no memories of her past, is found naked in Times Square with her body fully covered in intricate tattoos. Her discovery sets off a vast and complex mystery that immediately ignites the attention of the FBI, which begins to follow the road map on her body into a larger conspiracy of crime, while bringing her closer to discovering the truth about her identity.

Written by: Martin Gero [Also series creator]
Directed by: Mark Pellington

Starring: Sullivan Stapleton, Jaimie Alexander, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza, Ashley Johnson, Ukweli Roach

Blindspot is the new NBC series that combines the techo thriller procedural genre with a deep mystery. Does it work? For the most part, yes it does work. This review is a little difficult to write because I do not want to give too much away. Part of the fun of a series like this is following the clues and learning about the characters. I hope the creators can keep the mystery and suspense going for multiple seasons.

Click here to download this poster.[/caption] Sullivan Stapleton stars as FBI Agent Kurt Weller, a stoic, by the book special agent pulled into a vast mystery. Stapleton does a good job here as a conflicted leader of a special task force. This is a much more reserved character than Damien Scott, the ladies man / soldier from Cinemax’s Strike Back that Stapleton portrayed for four seasons. Kurt Weller seems to have some secrets of his own and I’m sure those will be explored as the series goes along.

Click here to download this poster.[/caption]The other main character is Jane Doe played by Jaimie Alexander. Miss Alexander is best known for her role as warrior maiden/goddess Lady Sif from the Marvel Thor films. As a woman found in a canvas bag in the middle of Time Square, covered in tattoos and no memories; Jaimie does a very effective job showing strength and vulnerability. As I said before, I can’t go into too much detail about the Jane Doe character except to say that each of the tattoos covering her body is a clue to some kind of terrorist attack and perhaps to who she was before.

I enjoyed the pilot episode and will admit that I watched it twice and noticed some subtle clues the second viewing that I missed the first time. Blindspot will appeal to fans of The Black List, How to Get Away With Murder and the Mentalist. Check it out, Mondays at 10 PM on NBC.

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Review: Minority Report [Series Pilot]

2016-01-24T08:39:00.003-08:00

Official Tagline: Based on the international blockbuster film by executive producer Steven Spielberg and the first of his films to be adapted for television, MINORITY REPORT follows the unlikely partnership between a man haunted by the future and a cop haunted by her past, as they race to stop the worst crimes of the year 2065 before they happen.

Set in Washington, D.C., it is 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals…before their crimes were committed. To carry out this brand of justice, the agency used three precogs – “precognitives” Dash, Arthur and Agatha – who were able to see the future. Now, in 2065, crime-solving is different, and justice leans more on sophisticated and trusted technology than on the instincts of the precogs.

Precog DASH (Stark Sands, “Inside Llewyn Davis”) – driven by his terrifying, but fragmented visions – now has returned in secret to help a brash, but shrewd, police detective, LARA VEGA (Meagan Good, “Think Like A Man” franchise, “Californication”), attempt to stop the murders that he predicts.

As they navigate this future America, they will forge an uneasy alliance with Dash’s manipulative twin brother, ARTHUR (Nick Zano, “90210”), an empire-builder who uses his ability to advance his own self-interest, and elude others who will stop at nothing to exploit their precognitive abilities. Also complicating matters is Vega’s newly appointed boss WILL BLAKE (Wilmer Valderrama, “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series”); and Dash and Arthur’s ingenious, but reclusive, foster sister, AGATHA (Laura Regan, “Mad Men,” “Unbreakable”), who only wants the best for her two brothers, but may be playing a longer game than anybody knows.

A drama of crime and conspiracy, this is a timeless story of connection: two lost souls, Dash and Vega, who find friendship, purpose and redemption in each other.

Written by: Max Borenstein
Directed by: Mark Mylod

Starring: Meagan Good, Stark Sands, Wilmer Valderrama, Laura Regan

The official series description above for Fox’s Minority Report is a bit long, but I understand they are trying to get the audience up to speed and the plot is a little complex. The creators of the series do a good job getting the story off to a quick start and you really do not need to have seen the Tom Cruise movie to enjoy the Minority Report series.

The chemistry between the two leads, Meagan Good and Stark Sands is light and fun. The pairing of Stands as the socially awkward precog, Dash and Good as the loose cannon, over achieving cop, create a classic odd couple dynamics that works. There is a hint of romantic / sexual tension between the two characters, but Stand’s Dash seems too goofy for the smoking hot Vega, at least in this early stage of their relationship. Over all the story is solid, if a touch predictable in a CSI sort of way. The production quality is top shelf, but the show reminds me of several past Sci-Fi series on FOX, like Almost Human or Fringe and you know how FOX doesn’t like to give a Sci-Fi series time to develop before pulling the plug way too soon. Anyone remember Fire Fly? I hope Minority Report is given a chance to show us where the story is going.

Minority Report should appeal to fans of future tech, mysteries, Meagan Good in low cut tops and police procedurals. Give Minority Report on FOX a look and you may be pleasantly surprised you enjoy it.

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Review: The Hateful 8

2016-01-24T08:38:00.003-08:00

Official Tagline: While racing toward the town of Red Rock in post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) encounter another bounty hunter (Samuel L. Jackson) and a man who claims to be a sheriff. Hoping to find shelter from a blizzard, the group travels to a stagecoach stopover located on a mountain pass. Greeted there by four strangers, the eight travelers soon learn that they may not make it to their destination after all.

Written by: Quentin Tarantino
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh , Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern

The Hateful 8 is Quentin Tarantino’s eight official motion picture [He actually did a film before Reservoir Dogs, but doesn’t acknowledge it] and if you are a Tarantino fan, then you will very likely love this movie. If you want to see Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Major Marquis Warren describe in great detail how he forces at gun point, a naked, freezing, southern redneck to perform fellatio on him, then you will really love this movie. If you enjoy long, long scenes of dialogue, then buy a ticket now! Like lots of blood, guts and violence? Step right up and enjoy the show. If hearing the F Bomb and the N word dropped almost every other word, then this is the one movie you want to see this year. If you don’t like those things, then this may not be your cup of tea.

The Hateful 8 begins with a drafty stagecoach slogging over a snow covered trail. On board are bounty hunter John Ruth [Kurt Russell], known as the Hangman and his bounty, Daisy Domergue [Jennifer Jason Leigh] bound for the mountain town of Red Rock for Daisy’s appointment with a noose. Along the way they pick up another bounty hunter, Major Marquis Warren [Samuel L. Jackson] and the new lawman of Red Rock, or so he says, Sheriff Chris Mannix [Walton Goggins]. Their journey is interrupted by a fast moving blizzard and they are force to take refuge at a remote, mountain stagecoach stop. There, they do not find the regular proprietors, but Bob [Demian Bichir] a burly Mexican, who says he is watching the place for the owners and three other stranded travelers, British dandy, Oswaldo Mobray [Tim Roth], cowboy Joe Gage [Michael Madsen] and confederate General Sandy Smithers [Bruce Dern]. John Ruth trusts no one and Warren is wary of Bob’s story as soon as they get off of the stage coach. Ruth and Warren form an uneasy alliance, not knowing if they can really trust anyone and as they night progresses they have good reason not to trust anyone.

The movie has elements of Reservoir Dogs, Agatha Christies Then There Were None and even Inglourious Basterds. There are parts of this movie that are very good, but also parts that lag on and on. There is even a jarring introduction of Tarantino suddenly narrating a section totally out of the blue which really does nothing to enhance the movie, but does blow the suspension of disbelief the audience may have had. You may think from this review that I hated The Hateful 8 and that is not the case. I enjoyed The Hateful 8, but didn’t love it. The movie is too long and uneven. The main problem is that Director Tarantino is too much in love with the dialogue that Writer Tarantino lavishly puts to paper and there is no filter between the two to tighten and steam line the story. This has been a problem with Tarantino’s films for a while now, he over indulges in the writing of over long exposition scenes, lacks discipline in editing in the writing and directing and this causes his films to lose focus and momentum. The acting is solid all around and the movie looks beautiful, but the directing is a little uneven.

If you are a fan of Tarantino or these actors, then Hateful 8 is worth a look, but you may want to go to the bargain matinee.

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Review: The Revenant

2016-01-24T08:37:00.001-08:00

Official Tagline: In the 1820s, a frontiersman named Hugh Glass sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.

Written by: Mark L. Smith , Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Directed by: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter

The Revenant is a movie that you very much want to love, and there are some moments in the film that are amazing in the look and execution of the action, but The Revenant as a whole is unsatisfying. That is not to say that the film isn’t worth seeing, it is a good film, just not a great film. Much like the other winter swept western themed drama opening now, The Hateful 8; The Revenant is much longer than it needs to be and the director is too taken with the look of the film to notice that the story is uneven and loses narrative momentum in several places.

There are several outstaying moments in the film; a visceral Indian attack that makes the audience feel as if they are in the middle of the action starts the film running at a break neck pace, but that pace soon slows down. The bear attack of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass, is violent, suspenseful and makes you wonder how on earth they filmed it. A chase scene involving Glass and a horse being pursued by angry French trappers is unbelievable in a good way. But there are also long stretches that are nice to look at, but add nothing to the story. The film also has more than its fair share of coincidences [not as many as Hateful 8] that push the suspension of debrief a bit and causes the viewer to being questioning the plot and that is never a good thing in a movie.

This film is Leonardo DiCaprio’s film and he gives a very convincing performance as the revenged fueled mountain man Hugh Glass. Filled with grief, anger and determination, he pushes his broken and battered body across a frozen tundra to get revenge on the conniving John Fitzgerald [Tom Hardy] who killed his son and left him for dead. Tom Hardy gives another solid performance as the antagonist and in nuanced ways gives us some insight and understanding in why Fitgerald is such a craven character. The other actors are almost an afterthought. DiCaprio and Hardy fuel this movie. DiCaprio’s is the more restrained of the two and in the final analysis, the stronger performance.

The Revenant is a good film in many ways, but the individual parts are better than the movie as a whole. Check it out if you are a DiCaprio and Hardy fan, with a run time of 156 minutes you are going to be with them for a while.

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Review: Trigger Mortis

2016-01-24T08:36:00.003-08:00

Official Tagline: Incorporating original, never-before-published material from 007 creator Ian Fleming, New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz returns literary legend James Bond to his 1950s heyday in this exhilarating and dashing thriller.

Written by: Anthony Horowitz with original material by Ian Fleming

“When the estate approached me — and I have to say straight away that I was enormously flattered and felt very privileged to be approached by them to do this continuation novel — I was the first of the modern Bond authors to be offered five television treatments that [Fleming] originally wrote for American television. These shows were never made because the films took off and suddenly a TV series was out of the question. The estate found these documents quite recently and had the idea that they would fold one of them into the new book and so I was asked to choose one. And the one that popped out at me was this story called "Motor and Wheels," which has a Russian plot ... to kill an English racing driver in order to show the superiority of their vehicles. In fact, it only contained about, I would say, 400 or 500 words that I could use. But the strange thing is ... that they were incredibly valuable to me. Just to have a few words by M written by Ian Fleming, a few words by Bond himself and this scenario — it was a wonderful inspiration.”

2015 was a good year to be a James Bond fan. The movie Spectre, a new comic book series from Dynamite Comics and the novel Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz were all released in 2015. AS a leading author on the James Bond novels and films, I’m always happy to see a new film or comic or novel released. Sometimes I’m disapointeed and sometimes pleasantly surprised. Trigger Mortis falls somewhere in between.

Anthony Horowitz is best known for his young adult Alex Rider spy novels and has sighted Ian Fleming and James Bond as a huge influence on his writing career. So it would seem like a natural fit for the Fleming Estate to hired Horowitz to write a new James Bond novel based on material written by the late Ian Fleming. Horowitz writes an entertaining but not quite satisfying story. Is this continuation novel better that Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks? Yes, Devil May Care was a snooze fest. Does Trigger Mortis have a better plot than Jeffery Deaver’s Bond novel, Carte Blanche? Not really. Is Bond portrayed better in Trigger Mortis than in Solo by William Boyd? For the most part yes, though Horowitz’s Bond isn’t quite Fleming’s Bond.

The Ian Fleming Estate had the bright idea to hire bestselling authors to write new Bond novels and the results have been a mixed bag and none of the novels have been great Bond novels. I think John Gardner [at least in his earlier Bond novels] and Raymond Benson did a much better job at creating Bond stories that were entertaining and captured the flavor of a good Bond story.

Trigger Mortis isn’t a bad Bond story, but it does feel like a young adult version of a Bond story. Not that James Bond acts like a teenaged, but the style of Horowitz’s writing seems very basic and mundane in places. To the casual reader or someone who has never read an Ian Fleming Bond novel, Trigger Mortis might be a light, fun diversion for a few hours, but for someone who has read all of the Bond novels and in particular the Fleming Bond novels, Trigger Mortis comes in as a pale imitation of the master spy.

Trigger Mortis begins a few weeks after the events of Goldfinger and Pussy Galore is living with Bond in his London flat and the relationship is strained at best. The only reason why Horowitiz seemed to have chosen to bring Pussy back for Trigger Mortis is to have her dump Bond for another woman and balance the scales of Lesbianism. I never really saw Pussy Galore as strictly a lesbian, but a strong, open minded bisexual woman who judged a person by their character and not their genitals. Horowitz places Pussy firmly in the lesbian camp with buyer remorse for having a heterosexual fling. The explanation of how and why Bond got Pussy out of United Sates federal custody is farfetched and Fleming touched upon Bond having terrible luck living with someone in From Russia with Love with Tiffany Case from Diamonds are Forever, leaving Bond for a United State Army officer. There is a running theme throughout Trigger Mortis of the woman in the story are not only Bond’s equals, but his superiors as well.

The Fleming material that Horowitz used is from an unproduced James Bond television series in which Fleming had written several episode treatments. The one titled “Murder on Wheels “involving OO7 in a Formula One race to stop a Russia plan to kill a British racecar champion at the Nurburgring race track and ensure a Russian victory was selected by Horowitz. This section of Trigger Mortis is the strongest part of the novel and the Fleming influence is strongest here. To be able to compete in the Formula One race, Bond must be quickly trained by Logan Fairfax, an exceptional driver and a strong woman who has no time for Bond’s charms. But she does have time for Pussy’s charms and the two women run off to the US of A after Bond’s training is complete. Bond takes it all in stride and is soon racing the dangerous Nurburgring track and spotting shady characters around every turn.

Bond soon uncovers a connection between the Russian intelligence section, SMERSH and a Korean-American businessman, Jason Sin and suspects they are behind the threat to the British driver. The racing scenes are exciting and give a real sense of danger and tension. Horowitz seems to have given greater attention here than in other sections of the story; this may be due to working directly with the Fleming material in this section. Sin hosts a lavish after race party at his strangely furnished castle. Bond infiltrates Sin’s off limits offices and finds evidence of a plot to sabotage the United States Vanguard rocket program. Bond also runs into American Secret Service agent Jeopardy Lane {Horowitz seems to have done no research on the Secret Service of the 1950’s or he would have known that there were no females field agents at that time} who so impresses Bond that Horowitz spends a great deal of time singing her praises without actually showing any examples of why she is a better agent than Bond.

The story soon moves to the United States where Sin always seems one step ahead as Bond and Lane uncover details of the dastardly plot. It is in the second half of the novel that Trigger Mortis loses the Bond feel. There are some nice scenes, like Bond being buried alive and an attack on Bond’s motel, but there some weak scenes too. A Sin monologue scene where he reveals his plans to Bond and Jeopardy had me thinking of the movie The Incredibles making fun of villains telling the hero everything over a nice dinner. The final confrontation between Bond and Sin is also weak and has little tension or suspense.

Trigger Mortis isn’t a bad novel and has a few good scenes but many weak points too. Trigger Mortis is better than some of the other recent Bond continuation novels, but I’m hoping the next author tapped to do a Bond novel does a better job. How about following Fleming’s example and setting Bond in contemporary settings. Fleming didn’t write period pieces, he wrote Bond to live in the times the novels are written in. Fleming wrote in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but if he were still alive and writing Bond, he would have Bond working in present day and the continuation novels should be set in present day too.

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Movies Coming to a Theatre Near You in 2016

2016-01-24T08:35:00.000-08:00

2015 has past and there were some good movies and some not so good movies. Now 2016 is upon us and we look forward with hope eternal that all the movies released this year will be great. We know not all will be great, or even good and some will be down right stinkers, but engage your suspension of disbelief and give at least a few of this years crop of new film a chance to entertain you.Remember release dates are subject to change.

January 8 (Friday)
The Forest
The Revenant (Expands) See our review in the review section

January 15 (Friday)

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Norm of the North
Ride Along 2
Where to Invade Next (Expands)

January 22 (Friday)
Dirty Grandpa
Ip Man 3 (Limited)
Mojave (Limited)
Synchronicity (Limited)
The Boy
The 5th Wave

January 29 (Friday)
Jane Got a Gun
Kung Fu Panda 3 (in 3D)
The Finest Hours

FEBRUARY 2016

February 5 (Friday)
The Choice
Hail, Caesar!
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Regression (Limited)
Tumbledown (Limited)

February 12 (Friday)
Deadpool
How to Be Single
Zoolander 2
Bad Hurt (Limited)

February 19 (Friday)
Race
Viral
The Witch

February 26 (Friday)
Eddie the Eagle
Gods of Egypt
Triple 9
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (Limited)

MARCH 2016

March 4 (Friday)
Desierto
Knight of Cups (Limited)
London Has Fallen

Me Before You
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Zootopia

March 11 (Friday)
The Brothers Grimsby
The Other Side of the Door
Valencia
The Young Messiah
Eye in the Sky (Limited)
Hello, My Name Is Doris (Limited)

March 18 (Friday)
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
Midnight Special
The Bronze (Limited)

March 25 (Friday)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
I Saw the Light (Limited)

More Movies on the Next Page

APRIL 2016

April 1 (Friday)
Collide
Rings
Green Room (Limited)
Miles Ahead (Limited)

April 8 (Friday)
Before I Wake
The Boss
Demolition (Limited)

April 15 (Friday)
Amityville: The Awakening
Barbershop: The Next Cut
Criminal
Everybody Wants Some
The Jungle Book (in 3D)
Elvis & Nixon (Limited)

April 22 (Friday)
The Huntsman Winter's War
The Meddler (Limited)

April 29 (Friday)
Nine Lives
Ratchet and Clank
Same Kind of Different as Me

MAY 2016

May 6 (Friday)
Captain America: Civil War

May 13 (Friday)
Free State of Jones
Kidnap
Money Monster
Snowden

May 20 (Friday)
Angry Birds
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
The Nice Guys
Maggie's Plan (Limited)

May 27 (Friday)
Alice Through the Looking Glass
X-Men: Apocalypse

JUNE 2016

June 3 (Friday)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

June 10 (Friday)
The Conjuring 2
Now You See Me 2
Warcraft

June 17 (Friday)
Central Intelligence
Pixar's Finding Dory

June 24 (Friday)
Independence Day Resurgence

The Shallows

More Movies on the Next Page

JULY 2016

July 1 (Friday)
The BFG
The Legend of Tarzan

The Purge 3

July 8 (Friday)
Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates
The Secret Life of Pets

July 15 (Friday)
Ghostbusters
La La Land
The Lake

July 22 (Friday)
Ice Age: Collision Course
Lights Out
Star Trek Beyond

July 29 (Friday)
The Bourne Betrayal
The Space Between Us
Genius (Limited)

AUGUST 2016

August 5 (Friday)
Suicide Squad

August 12 (Friday)
Ben-Hur
Pete's Dragon
Sausage Party
Spectral

August 19 (Friday)
Arms and the Dudes
Kubo and the Two Strings

August 26 (Friday)
Mechanic: Resurrection

August 31 (Wednesday)
Infiltrator

SEPTEMBER 2016

September 2 (Friday)
Patient Zero

September 9 (Friday)
Sully

September 16 (Friday)
Bridget Jones's Baby
When the Bough Breaks

September 23 (Friday)
A Cure for Wellness
The Magnificent Seven
Storks

September 30 (Friday)
Deepwater Horizon
Masterminds

More Movies on the Next Page

OCTOBER 2016

October 7 (Friday)
The Accountant
Gambit

Monster High

October 14 (Friday)
The Bye Bye Man
A Monster Calls
Underworld 5

October 21 (Friday)
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Ouija 2
October 28 (Friday)
Inferno

NOVEMBER 2016

November 4 (Friday)
Bastards
Doctor Strange

Trolls

November 11 (Friday)
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

November 18 (Friday)
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

November 23 (Wednesday - Thanksgiving)
Bad Santa 2
The Great Wall
Moana

November 25 (Friday)
The Founder (Limited)

DECEMBER 2016

December 9 (Friday)
The Strangers 2

December 9 (Friday)
Let It Snow

December 16 (Friday)
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

December 21 (Wednesday - Christmas Week)
Assassin's Creed

Passengers
Sing

December 25 (Sunday - Christmas Day)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiars
Jumanji

What Movies are you excited about and looking forward to seeing in 2016?

Screen Writer Ink
Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Review: Spectre

2016-01-24T08:33:00.003-08:00

Official Tagline: A cryptic message from the past leads James Bond (Daniel Craig) to Mexico City and Rome, where he meets the beautiful widow (Monica Bellucci) of an infamous criminal. After infiltrating a secret meeting, 007 uncovers the existence of the sinister organization SPECTRE. Needing the help of the daughter of an old nemesis, he embarks on a mission to find her. As Bond ventures toward the heart of SPECTRE, he discovers a chilling connection between himself and the enemy (Christoph Waltz) he seeks.

Written by: John Logan, Jez Butterworth, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Directed by: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux , Dave Bautista, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Andrew Scott, Rory Kinnear, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Jesper Christensen, Stephanie Sigman

As you know, I am a huge James Bond fan and considered to be a leading authority on the films, novels and the phenomena that is Ian Fleming’s James Bond OO7. I didn’t do a review when Spectre first opened, because unlike many “critics”, I do not like to give plot spoilers and it is difficult to discuss Spectre without giving at least a few plot elements away. With all that being said, The DVD release of Spectre is February 9th, here in the USA, Digital HD Download already available and since I’ve seen the film three times now; I thought it might be a good time to discuss the film. Warning! There will be PLOT SPOILERS ahead.

I enjoyed Spectre quite a bit. Even a lesser Bond film is still a pretty good movie, just look at the Roger Moore era to see how that is true and Spectre is one of the better Bond films. That is not to say that Spectre doesn’t have some problems, but taken as a whole, it is a very enjoyable Bond film.

The famous gun barrel walk is finally back at the beginning of a Bond film where it should be and is that kick start that only a Bond film can give an audience. The pre title sequence is set in Mexico City during the Day of the Died celebration and is an exciting, tension filled and action packed set piece. There are moments where you are wondering how no one was killed while filming the stunts. The sequence would have to rank as one of the top five Bond pre title sequences and has the audience raring to go into the main titles. I do kind of miss the pre title sequences of the Connery and Moore years, where they were a wrap up of another mission and not directly related to the main story. I always felt that I was getting like a story and a half out of one movie. I do understand that it gets the story started much quicker if the pre title is directly related to the main story, but I still feel a little cheated out of that other mission somehow.

The main titles are once again directed by Daniel Kleinman and produced by Framestore studio and are very impressive. I could have done without images from previous Craig films, but it goes along with the main story. I wasn’t a big fan of the title song“ Writing on the Wall” by Sam Smith when I heard it online, but it works very well with the title images and I have to say I like it much more now. All and all a very imaginative and good looking title sequence.

The main story begins with James Bond [Daniel Craig] being reprimanded by M [Ralph Fiennes] for his rogue actions in Mexico City. We are also introduced to the new head of the combined MI6/MI5, the smarmy C [Andrew Scott], who Bond takes an instant dislike for. Bond is suspended from active duty and will of course have to go it alone as the story unfolds. If you look at the Craig Bond films, you will notice that in three of the four films, Bond is off on his own side missions. Spectre has Bond going rogue for most of the movie and this follows a trend in contemporary action films where they try to be more like a thriller, where the main character has limited or no resources to depend on. But one of the things we enjoy in the Bond films is the resources Bond can have access to, so Moneypenny, Q, Tanner and finally M all lend a hand in Bond’s rogue mission.

The main plot has Bond following clues to uncover the secret organization Spectre, who the leader Franz Oberhauser really is and then stop the plan to take over the world’s intelligence agencies. The subplots of C’s connection to Spectre and the dismantling of the OO section, Oberhauser being Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Bond’s foster brother, Mister White from Casino Royale adds some plot background and his daughter, Dr. Madeleine Swann [Léa Seydoux] who of course becomes a love interest for Bond all interweave with the main plot and for the most part work.

As I said earlier, Spectre is a good movie, exciting and enjoyable, but it does have some weaknesses. Director Sam Mendes has said that his main focus for Skyfall and for Spectre was showing an older Bond and how he reacts to the changes of the espionage world around him. Well if the producers wanted to do that they should have kept Pierce Brosnan on as Bond. The excuse for firing Brosnan was that they wanted a younger actor to match up with young attractive actresses. I think Brosnan wanting more money and profit participation had more to do with his firing than casting choices, but I still think Skyfall would have worked very well with Brosnan. I had hoped that the end scene in Skyfall had shut the lid on pealing back the layers of Bond’s troubled past and the next film would have Bond actually going on a real mission like in pre Craig Bond films. But no, Spectre continues to delve into Bonds childhood and adds a long lost evil brother Ian Fleming never created and who coincidentally happens to be the head of a global crime organization that he started because his dad liked young James too much. This plot line stretches believability more than a little and weakens the movie.

The love interest Dr. Madeleine Swann played by Léa Seydoux continues the trend in the Craig Bond films of casting marginally attractive actresses with limited acting ability in weak roles. Dr. Swan isn’t much of a part for Seydoux to play and she may be a good actress, you just won’t see it in Spectre because the character is weak and one dimensional. The writers also want us to believe Bond would fall madly in love with her and quit the secret service because her father was an assassin and she would understand him. Denise Richards’ Christmas Jones has been criticized as being a vapid character, but she was miles ahead of Madeleine Swann and I cannot see Bond falling for this character beyond a fun romp in bed and in the way Seydoux plays Madeleine, I’m not too sure that would even be fun.

Another weak point of Spectre is near the final climax and Bond is sneaking into the abandon MI6 building and as he walks through the firing range there are pictures of major characters from the three previous Craig films taped to the walls to remind Bond and the audience of his previous missions. As a Bond fan I have always had this idea that Bond had other missions between the films, we the audiences just didn’t get to see all of them, but Mendes and crew show us that Bond did absolutely nothing between the six year period between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall and nothing between Skyfall and Spectre because the pictures only show characters from Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, do we really think Bond had no other missions in all that time?

The main climax takes place on Westminster Bridge, right next to the Big Ben tower and the beautiful Westminster place. On one end is M and on the other Madeleine, showing us Bond’s choice of choosing the OO section or quitting and marrying Dr. Swann. On the bridge is Bond and a wounded Blofeld. Bond has him at gun point and considers shooting him but chooses to not be an assassin and lets him live to comeback in the next Bond film. I think it would have been a much stronger moment if Bond had shot him and been more within the Bond character or at least have him pull the trigger and the gun be empty, you would see Bond really being Bond. But no, Bond tosses the gun away and walks off with Madeleine into the London night.

We then see Bond stopping by Q’s workshop the next day to pick up his restored Aston Martin DB5 and driving off with Madeleine on a bright London day as we wonder has Bond quit the service or just taking a holiday? They certainly hint that Bond has quit, but leave a little ambiguity so that Craig or another actor can carry on the action in the next Bond film. Not a very satisfying ending, not a terrible ending, but it leaves you hanging. There are a couple of reason this doesn’t satisfy; there was never a real connection built between Bond and Madeleine, so for him to quit the OO branch for her doesn’t seem logical. Another problem is Bond is an OO and he knows this. Fleming showed that yes, he fell in love for short periods of time, but Bond knew deep down that the relationships were only brief moments of solace and that they would never be long term things. Bond knows that his life expectancy is short and that he will live it to the fullest and that settling down is not in his destiny.

Spectre is a good movie and well worth watching and if you don’t dwell on some of the plot holes you will have a good time with James Bond OO7 in his latest adventure: Spectre.

Screen Writer Ink
Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Review: Lucifer

2016-01-24T08:32:00.001-08:00

Official Tagline: Lucifer, who, bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the gorgeous, shimmering insanity of Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals.

Written by: Tom Kapinos [Pilot Episode] based on characters created by Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, Sam Kieth [and I think John Milton should get a little credit too]
Directed by: Len Wiseman [Pilot Episode]

Starring: Tom Ellis, Lauren German, Lesley-Ann Brandt,Rachael Harris, D.B. Woodside

Lucifer premieres on Fox this Monday at 9PM and I had the chance to catch an early screening and thought I would share my thoughts with you. I have to say I like Lucifer, it’s a fun show that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The idea of the lord of hell quitting to retire to Hollywood but getting bored of being good is a fun concept. Add in him helping out a beautiful police detective solve murders and you have a nice fun police procedural. Think Castle or Bones, but Lucifer is a little naughtier in how he solves crimes.

Welsh actor Tom Ellis plays Lucifer with a relaxed, sarcastic swagger that reminds one of the late Peter Cook’s portrayal of Lucifer in the comedy classic Bedazzled. Ellis carries the show, but has some good supporting help with the lovely Lauren German playing detective Chloe Dancer, who seems to one of the few humans that can resist Lucifer’s powers of charm and seduction. This of course fascinates and hurts the feelings of the former lord of hell and makes him want to help her even more. German is good at playing straight man to Ellis’ high jinxes and adds a touch of seriousness that helps ground the series from going to far into parody.

Rounding out the supporting characters are Dancer’s ex-husband and fellow police detective, Dan [Kevin Alejandro replacing Nicholas Gonzalez from the original pilot] who of course has reservation about Lucifer. Then we have sexy demon/bartender Mazikeen [Lesley-Ann Brandt] who is fed up with humans and want Lucifer to go back and rule hell again. Another supernatural character is the arch angel Amenadiel played by D.B. Woodside who always seems to play self-righteous characters and is now not only self-righteous but on a mission from God to force Lucifer back to the throne of hell. Rounding out the cast is Lucifer’s therapist with benefits, Linda [Rachael Harris] who is very susceptible to Lucifer’s charms.

The mysteries are filled with strange Hollywood characters who all have something to hide and Lucifer and Dancer combine very different skill sets to bring the guilty to their deserved punishments. Give Lucifer and hour of your time, I think you will have a hell of a good time.

Screen Writer Ink
Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

2015-08-16T07:56:00.002-07:00

Official Tagline: At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a missing German scientist, whom they must find soon to prevent a global catastrophe.

Written by: Lionel Wigram & Guy Ritchie

Directed by: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Grant

I have been looking forward to seeing The Man From U.N.C.L.E. after seeing the first preview a few months ago. The scenes made it seem like a fun action, spy movie and you know how much I like spy movies. I must also disclose that in my study of the James Bond films and the espionage / spy genre, I have watched some of the old The Man From U.N.C.L.E. television series. Plus the fact the late Ian Fleming [creator of James Bond] had a hand in creating the original series doesn’t hurt my interest level either.

I really enjoyed The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I found it to be a fast pace, fun action adventure movie. The main writers, Lionel Wigram & Guy Ritchie did a good job of creating a story of how U.N.C.L.E. was formed and how the two top agents Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) became a team, which is something the television series never did. This type of plot usually has two main characters who are enemies at first, but who eventually come to respect and value each other and this film does too, but it works here. This isn’t always easy to do in a film, Wild ,Wild West is an epic fail at attempting to take a 1960’s spy television series and translate to the big screen and the main reason was the two main characters never jelled as a team. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. makes it work and the performances of Cavill and Hammer go a long way in creating two very different characters who learn to trust and appreciate each other.

Director Guy Ritchie and crew create a beautiful version of the early 1960’s and the music score helps pull you into the 1960’s groove. The plot is fast pace, without too many holes, but I do think the final outcome of the main plot should have been a little more hands on for our two heroes. I’m not going to give details about the plot, you should see it for yourself, but it is a fun ride and at the end of the movie you find yourself wanting to go along on the next mission with the team to Istanbul [stick around for a few minutes after the credits begin] to see what trouble they can get into. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is not perfect, but is a fun action filled popcorn movie and worth seeing on the big screen.

Screen Writer Ink

Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Review: Barely Lethal

2015-08-08T16:54:00.001-07:00

Official Tagline: A teenage special ops agent coveting a "normal" adolescence fakes her own death and enrolls in a suburban high school. She quickly learns that surviving the treacherous waters of high school is more challenging than international espionage.

Written by: Kyle Newman

Directed by: John D'Arco

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld , Jessica Alba , Samuel L. Jackson , Sophie Turner , Dove Cameron

Barely Lethal is light hearted, action, comedy; Stranger in a Strange Land story. Haliee Steinfeld stars as Megan Walsh an orphan teen, trained from a young age to be secret agent 83 in the ultra covert Prescott Academy. Megan is the top agent in the shadowy organization, much to the chagrin of her rival, Heather [Sophie Turner]Agent 84 of course. Megan longs for a normal teen life, but everything she knows about normal teen life has come from movies she has secretly watched while on missions. Movies like Mean Girls, Sixteen Candles and Bring it On have given her a distorted view of high school, romance and life in general.

When a botched mission to capture the evil former Prescott Academy Agent 1,Victoria Knox [Jessica Alba],leaves Megan missing in action, her boss Hardman [Samuel L. Jackson] thinks she is dead. Megan uses her spy skills to create a new identity as a Canadian exchange student and arranges to live with a host family, the Larsons, liberal Mrs. Larson, precocious Parker and uptight Liz [Dove Cameron].Megan's attempts at a normal life through the mine fields of high school, first love and assassins provides the laughs and adventure.

The movie tries to play upon and make fun of the usual conventions of spy films, action movies and of course teen romance movies. Writer Kyle Newman and director John D’Arco succeed to a certain extent and there are some cute and funny scenes in the movie, but I think that if they had went a little further and injected some original jokes and twists , the movie could have been so much better.

The cast does a solid job with the script they had to work with. Hailee Steinfeld and Dove Cameron are both a notch above the material. Jessica Alba seems wasted in her villain role; Sophie Turner doesn’t seem to have much acting range here or in anything else she has been in and no one does a Samuel L. Jackson as well as Samuel L. Jackson.

Barely Lethal is a cute, light weight movie that is entertaining and should score with the young teen target market but older crowds may find it too light and breezy to sustain interest.

Screen Writer Ink

Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Review: Survivor

2015-08-02T16:56:00.003-07:00

Official Tagline: A Foreign Service Officer in London tries to prevent a terrorist attack set to hit New York, but is forced to go on the run when she is framed for crimes she did not commit.

Written by: Philip Shelby

Directed by: James McTeigue

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Dylan McDermott and Pierce Brosnan

Survivor is an action / thriller flim staring Milla Jovovich as Kate Abbott, the newly installed head of security at the American embassy in London. Writer Phillip Shelby attempts to set up Kate as a rebel by having her ride a motorcycle to work and have some supporting characters talk in hushed whispers about her past as a possible CIA agent. Dylan McDermott is Kate’s boss, Sam Parker who spends most of the film filling us in how what an expert Kate is at security. He has to do this because we see very little evidence of Kate’s superior abilities in the film as she spends most of her time running and looking confused.

The main plot has Kate on the run from the British authorities and her own agency after surviving a bomb that kills several of her coworkers. To make matter worse, Kate is also chased by Nash "The Watchmaker", a ruthless hired assassin played by Pierce Brosnan who always seems to be one step ahead of the authorizes, but one step behind the clueless Kate.

I know by the tone of my comments that you may think I hated this movie and that is not the case. I think Survivor is a sort of good action movie that could have been a really good action movie if writer Philip Shelby and director James McTeigue had spent some time creating a more logical plot and had made some attempt at making Kate a likeable and capable character. Poor Milla Jovovich is not give a lot to work with and we know from her roles in other movies that she can kick ass on screen, but in Survivor she is more helpless victim, than action hero.

Pierce Brosnan gives a good performance, but even his Nash character, which is built up to be this almost mythical assassin, does some stupid things that seem out of character. That is the main problem with Survivor, the film makers were too lazy to create a solid story, with fully realized characters and instead took easy choices to have the characters do dumb things to move the plot along.

Not a terrible movie, but could have been much better. I guess we will have to look forward to Resident Evil 6 and the next November Man installment to see Milla and Pierce kick proper ass.

Screen Writer Ink

Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Review: Final Girl

2015-08-02T16:53:00.002-07:00

Official Tagline: A man teaches a young woman how to become a complete weapon. 13 years later, at 18 she will approach a group of sadistic teens who killed blonde women for unknown reasons. The hunting season begins.

Written by: Adam Prince

Directed by: Tyler Shields

Starring: Abigail Breslin, Wes Bentley, Alexander Ludwig

I have been looking forward to seeing Final Girl after catching a trailer for the film about six months ago. The idea of a young girl trained to hunt and kill serial killers sounded intriguing. Plus the film stars Abigail Breslin, who always seems to deliver a good performance, so I was happy to finally watch Final Girl last night.

The title Final Girl refers to the horror movie trope where the last female victim in a horror movie usually defeats the monster and is the Final Girl. So with that idea in place, writer Adam Prince and director Tyler Shields create the story of Veronica [Abigail Breslin], who after her parents are murdered, is recruited by a mysterious man [Wes Bentley] and trained to hunt and kill human predators.

Director Shields was going for a stylized look and feel to the film, almost a Sin City feel, where the characters are “bigger than life.The story takes place mainly at night and judging by the clothing and automobiles, in an ambiguous 1950’s feeling time period. The movie is uneven in many places. I think the creators were trying to walk the line between thriller and comedy, but should have stuck with just one genre.

A thriller lives and dies by suspense and Shields manages to lose the sense of suspense in almost every scene. When I say comedy, it may not have been intentional and only came in from the over acting of many of the supporting cast, but the staging of the scenes seem to suggest that they were going for humor in many scenes.

Abigail Breslin always gives a good performance and is good Final Girl, except in the action scenes. I think the production should have spent a little money training her for fight scenes, because her character is supposed to have been trained for thirteen years to fight and kill, but in the scenes where miss Breslin is fighting her attackers, she seems like she barely knows how to throw a punch. Wes Bentley does his usual solid performances playing creepy Wes Bentley and Alexander Ludwig isn’t bad being the arrogant, rich pretty boy psychopathic leader of the hipster serial killers.

Final Girl isn’t a bad movie, but it could have been a much better movie if the writer and director had strived to give the film a real sense of danger and suspense. Merging horror and comedy is attempted by many film makers with mixed results and I think the movie would have been better served if it had been a straight horror film.

Final Girl is worth a look if you like your horror mixed with humor, intended or not.

Screen Writer Ink

Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Review: Burying the Ex

2015-08-02T16:46:00.004-07:00

Official Tagline: A guy's regrets over moving in with his girlfriend are compounded when she dies and comes back as a zombie.

Written by: Alan Trezza

Directed by: Joe Dante

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Ashley Greene, Alexandra Daddario

Burying the Ex is a dark comedy / horror movie that is actually a fun way to spend ninety minutes or so. The story follows our hapless hero Max [Anton Yelchin], who works at a Halloween shop with dreams of opening his own shop. Max is a nice guy, too nice. His never seen boss runs over him over the telephone, his stoner, horn dog bother, Travis [Oliver Cooper] takes advantage of his good nature and worst of all, his too hot for him, control freak girlfriend, Evelyn has their future all mapped out for them.

When the story opens we can see early on that Max is restless and unhappy with his relationship with Evelyn and after stumbling into the new horror themed doughnut shop and finding a kindred spirit in owner Olivia [Alexandra Daddario], Max realizes he must end his dysfunctional relationship with Evelyn. Amazing how meeting someone as super hot as Alexandra Daddario can make a guy question his relationship.

So Max decides to break up with Evelyn, but Max doesn’t like confrontations and dishonesty is the best policy when ending or beginning a relationship according to screenwriter Alan Trezza. To be fair to mister Trezza, almost all comedy, especially romantic comedy, is based on lies or deception of one sort or another and this story follows that tried and true formula.

Max decides to have Evelyn meet him at a park to dump her. Thinking she won’t make a scene in public. On her way there, Evelyn is violently killed right in front of Max. Sure Max feels a little guilty, but now he can pursue Olivia without complications [besides the few lies he has told her], or so he thinks until Evelyn digs herself out of her grave. Things get weird from there.

Director Joe Dante has a sure hand at the controls and the story unfolds at a good pace. The actors all deliver good performances and it was fun seeing the lovely Ashley Greene decomposing as the story went on. The biggest threat to the Suspension of Disbelief for me wasn’t the zombie aspect of the story; it was how someone like Max could attract women who look like Ashley Greene and Alexandra Daddario.

Burying the Ex is a nice way to spend an evening with your honey or as a primer on how not to break up with someone.

Screen Writer Ink

Fade In Is Just The Beginning

Some new Film related courses for you

2011-08-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.
If you happened to live in the Louisville, Ky area and are interested in learning Screenwriting and story creation; then here are a couple of courses you will enjoy:

Introduction to Screenwriting: Act I

Writing a motion picture screenplay is quite different from writing a novel. A screenplay not only tells a story, it serves as a blueprint for creating a film. During this class, you'll discover how to plot your story, create fascinating characters, and structure the three acts. You'll leave with your screenplay plotted out, your story outlined, and the first act completed. Examples from a variety of movie genres will be reviewed, as well as samples from popular screenplays. Both novice and experienced writers will find this class fun and exciting.

INSTRUCTOR : John Risner is a member of the American Screenwriters Association. He is a Story Consultant and the screenwriter of the films Out of Frame, Still Life, Hey Dummy, Charlatan and The Shifting Moon. As seen on WHAS-TV's Great Day Live!

Fee

$89

Course

Sept. 1–Oct. 6, 2011 (6 sessions), Thurs. 6:30–8:30 pm - #129DPQ

https://louisville.edu/lifelonglearning/registration?topic=Introduction+to+Screenwriting:+Act+I&course-number=129DPQ&start-date=9/1/2011

Location:UofL's Shelby Campus @ ShelbyHurst

(502) 852-6456

Visual Storytelling:Writing for Movies, Television & Graphic Novels
Explore the techniques of effective story telling:the art and craft of story design, three-act structure, character creation and dialogue. Learn how to create entertaining stories for motion pictures, graphic novels and television. Examples from movies, graphic novels and television shows will be shown and discussed. Both experienced and novice writers welcome.
INSTRUCTOR : John Risner is a member of the American Screenwriters Association. He is a Story Consultant and the screenwriter of the films Out of Frame, Still Life, Hey Dummy, Charlatan and The Shifting Moon. As seen on WHAS-TV's Great Day Live!
SPEC 328 / 8 Wednesdays
Sept. 14 – Nov. 2 / 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. / $159
($169 after Sept. 7)
Location : Bellarmine University Campus, Horrigan Hall
REGISTER BY PHONE
502.272.8166
OR ONLINE
www.bellarmine.edu/ce

Movie Review - 30 Days of Night: Dark Days

2010-09-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed the David Slade movie 30 Days of Night which starred Josh Harnett and Mellisa George. The 2007 film was stylishly directed, had a competent cast and a compelling story. If only the 2010 Direct to Video sequel had those same qualities. 30 Days of Night: Dark Days isn't a terrible movie, but it does have some problems.

A Direct to Video sequel is sometimes not a good sign. This usually means that the budget is much less than the original and or that the studio didn't like the finished film and determined that it wasn't strong enough for theatrical release. In the case of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, the producers had a smaller budget from the start and knew they were going straight to video before production began. This leads to the next problem of the film; The main character isn't played by the same actress as in the original.

Melissa George played Stella Oleson in the original 30 Days of Night, but chose not to star in the sequel. It could have been that miss George didn't like the smaller pay check offered, or the stigma of the Direct to Video release or the script. If you judge some of the other things Melissa George has stared in, like Triangle, then Direct to Video isn't a major concern to her. Though all three issues could have been part of the decision not to appear in the sequel.The fact that the script has the Stella Oleson character doing such stupid things through the entire story; would have to make most actors think twice before taking the part.

30 Days of Night: Dark Days has Kiele Sanchez playing Stella Oleson. Kiele is an attractive actress but seems to have come from the Kristen Stewart (Twilight) school of acting. Her acting range seems to only cover depressed and an expression that looks like she has indigestion.
The rest of the cast doesn't fair much better with the poor script they have to work with. Rhys Coiro who plays Paul the leader of a group of vampire hunters and Stella's new love interest seems kind of bored. Harold Perrineau is Todd the token black member of the vampire hunters. Diora Baird is Amber, another member of the group , who you spend most of the time rooting for her to die.

The lovely Mia Kirshner plays queen of the vampires, Lilith. Poor Mia isn't really given much to do and seems to mostly try to walk around with the black contacts in her eyes and not bump into the props. The one scene that could have been visually interesting has Lilith rising from a blood filled bath tub to stand before her minions in all her naked glory. Miss Kirshner has appeared nude in many productions and one would think this would not be a problem in this R rated film; but the limp direction by Ben Ketai has the audience left in the dark.

One of the stronger aspect of the original 30 Days of Night was the stylish and dynamic direction by David Slade. That dynamic direction is very much missed in this sequel. Director Ketai has little visual style and combined with a weak story he co wrote with Steve Niles makes the final result little more than a group of stupid characters doing stupid things to further the plot along.This film commits the one crime a film can never do; be boring and you will find yourself bored with 30 Days of Night: Dark Days

Movie Reviews: Vampire Movies Looking for Laughs : Vampires Suck, Bitten and Suck

2010-09-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

A look at Vampires Suck, Bitten and Suck

They say that a trend in movies is on the way out when the movies become aimed at younger audiences and spoofs are made about the genre. But the Vampire trend doesn't seem to be slowing down and much of the market is aimed at young female movie goers. The Twilight series is squarely aimed at young girls and one could say that the film versions are they themselves spoofs of much better vampire films. The books by Stephanie Myers owe much (VERY MUCH) to other novels and series about vampires. The Anita Blake : Vampire Hunter series by Laurel K Hamilton predates the Twilight series by several years and is a much better series and one could argue that most of the plot and characters from Twilight are pale copies of characters and events from the Anita Blake series.

I could spend several blog posts analysis the short comings of the Twilight movies and books, but instead I'm going to review several recent vampire movies that are aimed more at your funny bone, than your jugular.

First lets look at a movie that spoofs the Twilight movies, called "Vampires Suck". If you haven't seen the Twilight movies, you may not get the feeble jokes this lackluster film shoots for. It would seem easy spoofing movies that are unintentionally laugh out loud funny because they are so badly done. But the film makers of "Vampires Suck" apparently couldn't come up with any real funny bits for this film. "Vampires Suck" does indeed suck.

Another vampire film that has suck in the title is called "SUCK" and is a much, much better movie than our previous example. "Suck" is about a not so great rock band called the Winners, who are barely surviving on the road.

The fortunes of the band turn for the better when bass player JENNIFER (JESSICA PARÉ) goes to an after party with a very creepy looking guy called QUEENY (DIMITRI COATS,lead singer of Burning Brides)who looks like a vampire because he is one. Jennifer struggles not to eat her band mates, but soon turns most of the band except for lead singer JOEY (writer, directer and star ROB STEFANIUK)who wants the band to be famous because of his music and not vampire magic. This is a good little movie, that has a bunch of rock star cameos ( Moby, Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper to name a few)a rocking score, good performances and a nice, funny story. This is worth a look and will pleasantly surprise you.

Finally lets take a look at "Bitten" a dark comedy that looks at vampirism almost as an addiction and how can true love survive if your hot new girlfriend keeps eating people.

"Bitten" is a love story about paramedic Jack ( Jason Mewes ) who finds the beautiful Danika lying in a pile of garbage covered in blood. Jack takes Danika (Erica Cox) in and nurses her back to health, but it soon becomes apparent that Danika isn't hooked on drugs, but on human blood. Jack attempts to be an understanding boyfriend and one look at Eric Cox in this film and one could see a lot of guys putting up with a little murder now and then. But Jack has trouble adjusting to waking up in a pool of blood, next to his vampire girlfriend and the nude dead bodies of her victims. Can true love survive? Check out "Bitten" and find out. Not quite as good as "Suck" but still a funny dark comedy.

Movies Reviews: Virginity Hits and Suicide Girls Must Die

2010-09-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hello gentle readers. Today I would like to look at a few films that you should be able to catch on DVD or at the local Multiplex. First lets look at "Suicide Girls Must Die". Which is supposed to be the "Worlds first horror reality movie" and it may well be , but who really cares if it is?

The basic idea of the movie is that a group of the tattooed and pierced models from the actual Suicide Girls website go to a remote lodge in the woods for a calendar shoot. The calendar shoot is the excuse for each of the girls to get naked for a few minutes in the film. I'm not complaining about that part, some of the girls are very attractive and the nudity is appreciated.

I will complain about the basic deceit of the film makers, who treat the audience as if we are as stupid as they make these poor girls appear to be in this movie.

Of course I could be giving the actors more credit than they deserve and they really are as stupid as they appear to be in this film, but I really hope not. The movie isn't really scary and logic soon disappears early on in the film. I will give credit to Amina Munster (I'm sure that's not her real name) who plays the photographer / uber lesbian bitch of the story. Amina is very attractive and has being a total insensitive bitch down to a T, I almost suspect that she wasn't acting.If you want to see a bunch of mostly attractive tattooed girls doing a lot of stupid things and are naked part of the time, then this may be the movie for you. If you're looking for a good scary movie, then you may want to skip this one.

Another movie shot in the cinema verite style is "Virginity Hits" a group of horny teen boys trying to lose their virginity kind of movie. Think Super Bad shot in the style of Paranormal Activity. The story follows the hapless nerdy, nice guy Matt trying to get laid and landing in one humiliating situation after the other.

The movie is kind of funny and it may be a good movie for parents to see with their teenagers. There are a lot of 18 years olds drinking, partying and many sexual situations, but parents could use this film as a spring board to discuss these things with their teenage sons and daughters.The film doesn't glorify these activities and shows how stupid people can be while doing them.

The young unknown cast does a good job and they do some pretty outrageous things on camera. The two main leads Matt Bennett and Zack Pearlman fit the Jonah Hill / Michael Cera roles of over the top fat friend and shy, so nice you wonder if he's gay guy; who wants to wait until everything is perfect to sleep with his hot girlfriend and screws everything up. Though for the most part the movies is entertaining, there are some moments that really cross the border into just cruel humiliation. Kind of funny, but shot on video, so you may enjoy it more watching it on the big screen at home instead of paying to see it in a theatre.

Movie Review: Solomon Kane

2010-09-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Solomon Kane is an action film based on the Robert E Howard novel. The story follows our title character Solomon Kane, a pirate and a rogue who encounters a demon who wants his soul. Kane barely escapes and locks himself away in a monastery. But soon the evil follows him to England. Kicked out by the monks Solomon travels the country side of England and soon is taken in by a Puritan family who are on their way to the English coast to sail to the Americas. The family is ambushed, by an evil warlord who has dark connections to the demon Kane fears. The family is slaughtered excepts for the nubile teen daughter, who Solomon must now attempt to save and risk his soul in the process.

This is actually a pretty good movie. Quite a lot of action and violence. James Purefoy gives a very good performance as Solomon Kane and spends most of the movies, either drenched in rain, blood or mud and usually all three at once. This is kind of hard to find, but well worth a look if you like period action films.

Screen Writing Tips: Tension in your stories

2010-09-15T16:51:00.001-07:00

What you choose to write about is far more important than any decision you might make about how to write it. You must come up with a good premise.
9 out of 10 writers fail at the premise stage. Nine out of ten fail at the first step. Think about what you want to write about, it must have meaning to you, you must understand what you are writing about.

Today I’m going to talk a little bit about suspense and tension in your stories. Wither you are writing a short story, novel or screenplay. You need to create a sense of suspense. In a mystery or thriller, suspense and tension are vital to the story, but you also need suspense and tension in almost all other types of stories as well.
In a love story you have the sexual tension and the suspense of “will they get to together?” “Will she find out about his affair?” “Will they stay together? And so on.
Comedy is based on tension and suspense as well. Even in a simple joke you have the set up, the complication and the pay off. We know something funny is coming, but it is the anticipation, the suspense, the tension that keeps us listen. Even when we think we’ve heard this one before; we still wait for the punch. The punch line maybe new.

Before we get in to creating tension and suspense, let’s talk a little bit about Plot and Story.

A Plot is a description of a sequence of events. The events should occur in a logical order and satisfy the expectations of the audience. You do not have to give the viewer exactly what they expect. Far from it, surprise the audience, but do it in a way that makes sense to the audience.
A sequence is a series of scenes that are related with a unifying idea. Two gun fighters have a shoot out at high noon is a scenes. A card game where one of our gun fighters is caught cheating by the other. The challenge to a gun fight. The two men preparing in different ways for the duel and then the gun fight are a series of scenes that create a sequence.

A man murders his wife is a plot, but isn’t a story until you describe why and how he killed her. A Story is how you reveal the Plot in the most interesting and dramatic way. To do this you use scenes and sequences.

What does a story or screenplay need? The story needs momentum. Move the story along, don’t stop, and don’t waste time here and there. Momentum is forward movement. This is the effect your story has on the reader or audience.
Almost every scene in a screenplay and most scenes in a novel should create tension and or conflict.
Tension is created when the audience or read hopes or fears that something will happen to the characters.
Will the lovers get together?
Will the bomb in the mail box kill the hero?
Will the team of misfits win the state championship against all odds?

Tension = Conflict + Contrasts. Murtaugh and Riggs in Lethal Weapon are a perfect example of contrast and conflict creating tension and entertains the audience along the way.
Opposites create tension:
Odd cop + young crazy cop (Lethal Weapon again)
Rich good girl + poor bad boy (but not too bad) The Note Book
Slacker guy + Uptight bitchy girl (any Katherine Heigl movie)

Next time we will look at how to create Tension

Movie Trailers: Due Date, The Town and Let Me In

2010-09-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

I've added some previews of movies that I hope will be as good as the previews. first up is Due Date with Robert Downy Jr and Zach Galifianakis. Looks funny.

In a different vein is the new Ben Affleck movie The Town, this one looks like an intense action thriller. I actually don't mind Affleck's acting and I think he did a very good job in Hollywood Land and from this preview at least, seems up to the task in this film as well. Plus you have John Hamm and Jeremy Renner rounding out the cast. Might be a fun time at the movies.

The last one for now is Let Me In Which is the American remake of the Swedish hit: Let the Right One In . Starring Chloe Moretz (HitGirl in Kick Ass)as Abby; a 200 year old vampire trapped in the form of a 12 year old girl. Abby moves to a small town and befriends Owen played by Kodi Smit-McPhee ( Who I hated in the Road), who is bullied by almost everyone. Things change. The original was creepy and violent, let's hope the new version can retain the scary factor.

That's all for now. Keep writing and remember Fade In is just the Beginning

New Screenwriting courses coming up.

2010-09-06T08:54:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone. The production of the short film "Out of Frame" has begun and so far has been an adventure. There are a few murders in the script. Let's hope we don't have any real murders getting it shot.

I will be speaking at the Barnes and Nobel on Hurstbourne Lane in Louisville, this Saturday 9Sept 11th)for the Sisters in Crime writers group and I am looking forward to to that very much. I also have some fun and exciting courses coming up at the University of Louisville and Bellarmine University and these are open to everyone.

Introduction to Screenwriting
Writing a motion picture is quite different from writing a novel. A screenplay not only tells a compelling story. It serves as a blueprint for creating a film. In this class, you’ll discover how to plot your story, create fascinating characters, and structure the three acts. You will leave this class with your screenplay plotted out, your story outlined and the first act completed. Examples from a variety of movie genres will be viewed, as well as samples from popular screenplays. A fun and exciting course for novice and experienced writers.
Class Schedule: Sept 16th—Oct 21st (6 Sessions) Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 PM .For more information and to sign up, call (502) 852-6456. University of Louisville, Delphi Center. Or on the web: www.louisville.edu/delphi
Course # 119DPN Fee:$89

The Art and Craft of Creating Thrills and Chills in Movies and Novels
Do you love to be scared? Do you watch horror films or read thrillers? Do you have an idea for a horror or thriller story? If so, you will love this new class! Discover how to turn your ideas into compelling fiction. Using examples from popular short stories, novels and films, you will learn how to create vivid settings, memorable characters, suspenseful plots and much more. Just in time for Halloween, this fun class is for those who want to write thrilling and frightening stories as well as those who want insight into how scary stories work.
Class Schedule: Sept 28th to Nov. 2 (6Sessions) Tuesdays 6:30 to 8:30PM
Course # 119EPE also at the Delphi Center.
Fee:$89
Special Halloween Course for a Scary good time!

Mastering the Craft of Screenwriting
Discover the “secrets” of effective story telling: the art and craft of story design, going beyond three-act structure, character creation, and dialogue. Learn the tools and techniques to create effective and entertaining stories and scripts for motion pictures and other media. Examples from movies, screenplays and television will be shown and discussed. Both experienced and novice writers are welcome.
Instructor: John M. Risner is a professional screenwriter and story analyst. He is the founder of ScreenWriter-Ink.com, a website devoted to the screenwriter.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: 8 Wednesdays / Sept. 22 - Nov. 10 / 6:30 - 8:30 pm / $159 ($169 after Sept. 15)
For more information and to sign up , call (502)-452-8166. Bellarmine University. Or on the web : www.bellarmine.edu/ce. Sign up before Sept 15th and receive a discount

If you have been thinking about writing a screenplay or a story these courses are for you. If you are stuck on a screenplay or story and want to jump start the creative engine, then these courses are for you. If you've taken one of my courses before, then you know you will have fun and learn a great deal; so sign up, I would love to have you.

Out of Frame

2010-07-31T17:08:00.001-07:00

The script for the short film "Out of Frame" is complete. Now if I can keep the director and producer from screwing it up with their helpful scene deletions and character enhancing dialogue. Just kidding, a script is a fluid thing sometimes and like soup everyone thinks they can make your original recipe better.

Out of Frame is actually the third incarnation of a story I came up with about a year ago. The original version was called Still Life and is a much longer piece which I plan to expand into a full length feature. Later I cut the story down to the bare bones with the same main characters but with less scenes and locations and that was called Death Scenes. Now we have Out of Frame which is basically Death Scenes with a new title and a few more scenes and character enhancing dialogue added in.

The story is about a young photographer named Damien Drake who has made a name for himself by creating morbid , but beautiful photographs of violence and murder. Damien with the urging of his girlfriend / manager Lorna, has changed his subject matter , but at the cost of sales and critical success.

The story begins with the opening of his new photography show , which is poorly received. Just as Lorna is ready to close up for the night, John Godewyn and Allette arrive to purchase some of Damien older pieces and to commission a photo shoot of Allette.

Are John and Allette much more than they seem ? Is their a hidden connection between Damien's scenes of death and real murders from around the country?