Seven Thumbs Up

30 Minutes or Less

Nathaniel Warsh — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:11:00 -0400

30 Minutes or Less is high concept, the kind that makes for a compelling trailer. There’s tons of funny moments in this movie and two highly likable lead characters Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) and Chet (Aziz Ansari), and it’s a an example of an exceptional pitch. It’s also an example of unfortunate choices made when developing a pitch into a screenplay.

Conceptually the trailer tells it all: a pizza delivery boy is fitted with a bomb vest and forced to rob a bank or else he’ll explode. The first problem is that the overall movie compartmentalizes that story into a bigger, significantly less interesting story.

Dwayne (Danny McBride), the protagonist, wants to kill his father, and everyone in the movie is a pawn in his ridiculous scheme. Nick, the main character, has avoidance issues that are keeping him in a dead end job and prevent him from making a move on the woman he loves. When Nick has a bomb strapped to himself and his life span reduced to an upper time limit of 10 hours, he can no longer avoid doing the things he’s put off for years. (You may note this is a good example of a screenplay where the protagonist and main character are two separate characters.)

The movie starts out by laying pipe to set up Dwayne’s plan to kill his father for a multi-million inheritance. So Dwayne becomes the protagonist of the picture, rather than what could have been a more dimensional story and role for Nick. The biggest omission in the story is the lack of a clear antagonist to Dwayne’s plot to kill his father. In a sense, Nick indirectly becomes the antagonist by the end of the story, but this misdirected conflict dilutes an otherwise solid concept.

By splitting the audience’s attention between these two characters, and failing to adhere to a tighter story structure, the writer avoids making a crucial choice and we don’t get the same story experience. But we’ll have to forgive this because the movie was still a lot of fun.

The Devil's Tail One-Sheet

Nathaniel Warsh — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:30:00 -0400

And here's the new Devil's Tail one sheet:

Night Vision Trailer

Nathaniel Warsh — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 22:30:00 -0500

What's that line about a thousand monkeys working on a thousand typewriters? Well, we had a thousand monkey editors on a thousand computers (bet you didn't think we could do that on our budget). Okay we had no monkeys, just Sarah (sorry Sarah). We had to get the monkeys working in our art department. And now they have that union deal going. Damn you Film Monkeys Legion! But I digress. So without further ado, I present the long awaited trailer for Night Vision. And if anyone knows some non-union monkeys, send 'em my way!

One Last Rabbit Hole?

Nathaniel Warsh — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:00:00 -0500

Remember in school when kids would tease you for being a copycat? No? You don't remember Jello Pudding Pops either, do you? DO YOU?! Anyway, I hear imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So get a load of the poster for Rabbit Hole. Why thanks! How sweet of you! But enough about me. Let's use this opportunity to shamelessly promote One Last Breath. What does Rabbit Hole have that we don't? We have Emma Smith and they have … Nicole Kidman? And look at that tagline "The only way out is through". There's another way out of cinema: the EXIT.

Get a better look after the jump.

You Ain't Missed Nuthin'

Nathaniel Warsh — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:30:00 -0400

Isn't it strange when you come back to a blog you thought was dead, and find a posting you can't believe you missed? Almost like someone back-dated a post to cover up a ~~three~~ ~~six~~ nine month gap in updates. Of course, it would have to be an extremely popular and relevant blog for someone to actually notice something like that. Yes, very strange indeed.

Night Vision One-Sheet

Nathaniel Warsh — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:30:00 -0500

I've been putting off posting updates because Night Vision is almost complete, but then I thought: I wonder if I'm just procrastinating? The dictionary defines Procrastination as: To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. To postpone or delay needlessly.

Well that's a bit harsh. So here's something worth posting about: a Night Vision one-sheet. The image was taken on set one morning, and depicts the beautiful Alison grasping a knife while the (un?)fortunate Spencer is bound to a chair. This raises many questions, like "How long has she been standing there?" and "Isn't this a bit risqué for a children's movie?" Come on people, this is 2010!

To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. To postpone or delay needTo put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. To postpone or delay needlessly.

Night Vision Stills

Nathaniel Warsh — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:30:00 -0400

If a picture's worth a thousand words, here's 30k. Click for the gallery.

Night Vision Pre-Production

Nathaniel Warsh — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:30:00 -0400

Okay so this is more of a "can't post now, gotta make a movie" post. I guess I just summed it up there. ... Apparently I can't have a one line post, thank you OCD! Here's the way I envision this playing out-- I go and make a movie (with lots of talented people of course) and then I think of all the things I wish I had time to write about but was instead making said movie, so I write them up after the fact and then back-date them to look like I'm superman and can blog while shooting. Note to everyone: directors who blog while shooting are LIARS. If you ever read a blog by a director that talks about things happening on set you are reading the post of someone's ASSISTANT. So once this baby is in the can, I'll regale you with stories of casting and location scouting. 'Til next time!

Introducing Night Vision

Nathaniel Warsh — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:30:00 -0400

I've recently been working on a project I call "Night Vision" (working title). The treatment's been kicking around for a few months and, due to my recent unemployment, I've decided to spend every last dollar I have making another movie (as one's net worth decreases, it becomes less risky to "bet the farm"). The story is about a womanizing reality-TV producer who unwittingly sleeps with his own stalker (whoops) and she then kidnaps him and holds him hostage in his own house... for fun and profit. But mostly fun. And just to make things interesting, I'm going to shoot it using an SLR. Or two. The Canon 5D Mark II, just came out a few months ago. It's small, fast, light and produces an incredible look-- very shallow depth of field but insanely sharp, at HD resolution. (The pic above was my first from the camera, stitched from four 21MP images and scaled down-- right click to open it in a new window). Ok so this has turned into a nerd post. You may throw your tomatoes now, glaven.

IMDB

Nathaniel Warsh — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:30:00 -0400

It's official, One Last Breath is now on IMDB! www.imdb.com/title/tt1249395/ It was a hard slog to get on and I had to do some horrible, horrible things but it was worth it. If you notice any errors or omissions with our entry and would like them fixed, don't let me stop you.