I want a Thunder Buddy like Ted

Ted was one of the movies I was dying to see this summer.  The two trailers, I saw for the film were hilarious.  Not to mention, Ted is Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s first feature film so my curiosity and expectations were high.  I’m proud to say that Ted doesn’t disappoint and is one of the year’s funniest movies.  Fans of Family Guy, 80s pop culture, and Flash Gordon will love this film.  There are so many funny references and nuisances. 

Photo courtesy imdb.com & Universal Pictures

The plot of this movie is fairly simple a lonely young boy makes a wish on Christmas night for his new Teddy Bear to become alive.  Well the next morning the wish is granted and John’s Teddy Bear has come to life.  We fast forward twenty some years to see an adult John played by Mark Wahlberg, living with Ted voiced by Seth MacFarlane himself and John’s girlfriend Lori played by Mila Kunis.  The main plot of the story is Lori wants John to grow up and reduce his friendship with Ted so they can move on with their lives, but John has a difficult time leaving his best friend behind.

The movie really shines with Wahlberg and MacFarlane playing off each other.  They bring together believability that John and Ted have been best friends for their entire lives.  Both Wahlberg and MacFarlane are excellent in this movie and have great comedic timing.  MacFarlane does a great job of bringing Ted to life and you believe that underneath the crude humor, pot smoking and stuffing that Ted has a real heart and soul.  I think this is also my favorite role Mark Wahlberg has been in since The Departed.  He is really good in this movie as the person torn between his girlfriend and his best friend. 

Video courtesy of Universal Pictures

Later in the movie there’s an epic fight scene between John and Ted that was so brutal at times reminded me of the infamous They Live fight scene between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David.  Given MacFarlane’s love of 80s culture I wouldn’t be surprised if that scene inspired the Ted fight scene.

It was interesting seeing this movie with a preview audience who mostly was between the ages of 18 to 20. There wasn’t a lot of laughter at the subtle 80s references, but I guess I’m just old enough to get those jokes.

Ted is one of raunchiest comedies I’ve seen in a long time but it has a big heart and was a good time at the movies.  After seeing this movie you will believe that a Teddy Bear is Real.

Justice League: The Movie. I’m Officially Concerned

So you knew it was going to happen, given the fact that The Avengers had made over $1 billion dollars worldwide.  A few weeks back, Warner Bros announced that they have a Justice League movie in development.  The Justice League for those who don’t know is DC Comics’ answer to Marvel’s The Avengers. They consist of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter.  Out of this group only Batman has had the most recent successful movie adaption. Which leads to the main point of this blog post, as a fan of this superhero team, I’m really concerned that Warner Bros is going to massively drop the ball here.  Look at their track record.  Last year’s Green Lantern was a total train wreck.  Ryan Reynolds a good actor when used correctly, but was given bad direction by Martin Campbell (the film’s director).  Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns was a major misstep that was trying to reach back to the character’s late 70s/early 80s film series glory.  Next year, Watchmen director Zack Snyder gets his shot at Superman with the Christopher Nolan produced Man of Steel.  What I’ve seen and heard about this film, it’s my opinion that Snyder may not be right choice for that film and I like his other films (300 and Sucker Punch).  Wonder Woman and Flash have been stuck in development hell for years and a JLA film may be the only way those characters see the big screen. 

Are they ready for the big screen?

Photo courtesy of DC Comics

Moving on from that what would be the plot of a Justice League movie?  Alien invasion is out because it will be hard to top Avengers. As much as I would like to see Darkseid on the big screen, given how Avengers ended, I don’t see Warner Bros and DC getting their stuff together to make that happen before Avengers 2.  So maybe we’ll see The Legion of Doom, that’s a fanboy’s dream match up.  I’ve been waiting patiently for Brainic to make his big screen debut.

 My favorite Superman Villain

Photo courtesy of DC Comics and Warner Bros Television

The big question is who will be in the Joss Whedon mold to bring DC’s dream team to the screen?  Well here’s my suggestion and this duo has enough comic book nerd cred that it would be a step in the right direction.  I suggest Warner Bros bring Bruce Timm and Paul Dini. It’s a radical idea but both have experience with these characters.  Timm has produced Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond Series, Justice League: The Animated Series and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, plus he produced all of DC’s direct to video animated feature films including the fantastic Justice League:Doom. Dini was the writer for the acclaim video games Batman:Arkham Asylum and Batman:Arkham City.  In addition to writing episodes for the previous listed cartoons, he has also written comics and was a writer for the TV show Lost.  They wouldn’t be the first people to go from animation to live action film making.  Brad Bird made the successful jump with last year’s successful Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  

What do you think?  Am I overreacting? Would a Timm/Dini team up be the next best thing to having Whedon direct it?  Let me know in the comment section below.

Film Nerd VS Filmmaker

This blog post, I’m going to interview a friend/filmmaker/fellow film nerd Jason Roth.  I met Jason in the fall of 1996, when we were both enrolled at Grand Valley State University and had a Media Studies class together.  Our final project for the class was to create a 5-minute short film.  His final class film Time Guy displayed the incredible talent he has as a filmmaker and storyteller.  Over the years, Jason has won many awards for his live-action and animated films.  Right now, he is raising money to create his first animated feature film called Sticky Fingers: The Movie.

Image provided by Bargain Basement Productions

1. What made you get into filmmaking?

JR. In grade school I wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist, but over time it evolved into animation, then films.  For me, film is the best art form.  You get the visual, the sound, writing, and the acting.  It's a full-frontal assault on all your senses.

2. Who are the filmmakers you admire?

JR. I have a few.  Number one is Steven Spielberg.  He is the master storyteller, and his early work provides me with a ton of inspiration.  Next would be Sam Raimi.  Watching Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness back to back really inspired me, because those films blended horror and comedy in a kinetic and in-your-face style that I had never seen before.  The Weird Al Yankovic film UHF had this Indiana Jones knockoff scene in it;  after seeing it that, I felt like I could make movies as well.  My first short film “Ohio Smith and the Lost Treasure” was also an Indiana Jones knockoff.  Lastly, George Miller’s Road Warrior is a perfect movie.  So many things are working together to create a cleanly told story with great camera work and music, creating a total film experience.

3. What were some of your filmmaking influences growing up?

JR. I watched a lot of silent-era movies and old black white films.  Watching classic cinema gave me a foundation in traditional storytelling.  It might have given me a different perspective than other kids my age.  Of course as a child of the '80s, I watched a lot of Transformers and G.I. Joe cartoons as well.

Sticky Fingers:The Movie Trailer and Interview on Fox 17

Video provided by Bargain Basement Productions and Fox 17

4. Who is the one actor or character you would like to have in one of your films?

JR. Bruce Campbell.  He embodies my style of filmmaking.  His acting style is over-the-top, right to the edge of campiness.  He can be a cool action hero or complete dunce; a lot things he does shouldn’t work together, but do.  He’s in the grand tradition of the Buster Keaton style comedic action hero.  Bruce is one of my heroes that I have to work with in my lifetime. 

5. Where did you get the idea for Sticky Fingers from?

JR. It has a strange and tortured history.  I had done three Sticky Fingers animated shorts, and was planning to pitch the idea of the series to Cartoon Network.  I help organize a yearly Grand Rapids horror film festival called Thriller Chiller (www.thrillerchiller.com) and wrote three more Sticky Fingers episode scripts to be shown at the festival.  Unfortunately, these episodes didn’t materialize into anything in time for Thriller Chiller.  Then one day, Anthony Griffin, (one of the festival directors) read the scripts and said to me “This reads like a Sticky Fingers movie,” so I took all three scripts and merged them into one feature-length film.  I then started looking for celebrity voices.  My friend Ryan Thompson was shooting a film in Detroit called Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption, starring Fred “The Hammer” Williamson.  I visited the set and pitched the idea to “The Hammer.”  He agreed to do it.  One year later we recorded his voiceover.

 Production still from Sticky Fingers: The Movie 

Director Jason Roth & Fred "The Hammer" Williamson

Photo courtesy of Bargain Basement Productions

5. Briefly the plot Sticky Fingers: The Movie?

JR. Rockabilly rebels Guy and Girl ride, love, and murder their way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of the last movie theater on the planet.  Full of sex, violence, and warped comedy, fueled by the music of Dangerville!

Still from Sticky Fingers: The Movie courtesy of Bargain Basement Productions

6. If people are interested in donating to the film, how can they do it?

JR. There’s a fundraiser page online at www.indiegogo.com/sticky.  With any donation of $10 or more, you will receive a “Special Thanks” credit in the film; depending on your donation amount, you’ll also receive  Sticky Fingers merchandise.  The highest donation level will receive an Executive Producer credit.  

My Top 5 Favorite Films

Recently, I was asked what are my favorite movies of all time.  I love all different kinds of movies and for a variety reasons.  It was a difficult task to create a top five list of my favorite films, but here we go.

5. Heat-Al Pacino and Robert De Niro go head to head in this crime drama about a L.A. cop and a master thief.  I like this film because the acting is amazing and its fun to see De Niro and Pacino bring the A games to this film.  Also there is an awesome bank heist scene that is truly one of the most intense shoot outs ever caught on film.

Picture courtesy of imdb.com

4. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring-Before I saw this movie, I had no connection to the source material.  When I went to see this movie, I fell in love with the entire universe.  This film is my favorite in The Lord of the Rings saga.  The story, cinematography and the production values turn this novel into an epic movie.

Picture courtesy of imdb.com

3. The Matrix-When I saw previews for this movie I thought it was on the same level as Keanu Reeves previous tech film Johnny Mnemonic, and thought it was going to be terrible.  Boy, I was wrong about that early assessment. I saw The Martix  three months after I graduated from film school and this movie blew me away with its special effects, martial arts action and mythology.  The story revolves around a group of freedom fighters trying to destroy a computer intelligence called The Matrix.  It has a great mix of mythology, Japanese Anime and kung fu.  

Picture courtesy of imdb.com

2. The Empire Strikes Back-While I love all the films in the original Star Wars trilogy, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of the series.  I like the film's darker tone and  cinematography.  Luke finding out Vader is his father and Han frozen in carbonite and taken to Jabba the Hut are some of the great plot developments in this film.  The addition of Jedi Master Yoda to the series, is another outstanding aspects of this film. Also John Williams' film score is some of his best work. 

Picture courtesy of imdb.com

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark-This is my favorite film of all time.  This film was the brain child of Star Wars creator George Lucas.  According to legend, while Steven Spielberg and Lucas were vacationing in Hawaii, Spielberg confessed that he wanted to direct a James Bond movie.  Lucas told him that he had a better idea than James Bond.  From there the two began developing the Indiana Jones character and film.  Both creators were fascinated with movie cliffhanger serials in their youth and decide structure the film that way. 

I love this film for a ton of reasons.  The first reason is Harrison Ford portrayal of Indiana Jones.  Ford brings an every man quality to character with the smarts and toughness to get out of any tricky situations he encounters. Another reason is action and the film’s pacing.  There’s never a dull moment in this movie and action sequences are epic.  It all starts with Indy getting chased by that giant boulder and ends trunk chase near the end of the film.  Finally the film takes place in the 1930s which is a great backdrop for this movie.  I love this time period in history. 

Picture courtesy of imdb.com

Do you agree with my selections?  What are some of your favorite films?

Avengers = Awesome

Lookout Batman, there are new kings of superhero movie kingdom, and they are The Avengers.  Back in 2008, Marvel Studios released a film staring Robert Downey Jr. as one of their lesser known comic book characters called Iron Man.   Downey Jr’s unique portrayal of the Tony Stark/Iron Man character help propel the film to a $585 million worldwide and thus created the Marvel Film Universe.  Soon other films in this universe followed, The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) and finally Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).  All of these films, led to The Avengers, a film that joins the forces of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America into one epic movie. 

I look back on Iron Man and if that film had been a total flop, I wouldn’t be writing this blog post today.  So I give Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau (Iron Man’s director) a ton of credit and praise for building a strong foundation for Marvel’s Film Universe.  They also get applause for taking an unknown character and making him a household name in the same breath as Batman, Superman and Spider-man.  

Going into this movie one of my biggest concerns was that this movie was going to be unbalanced and basically be Iron Man and the Avengers.  I think my reasoning behind this was because of other characters such as Captain America and Thor have not be as fleshed out as much as Iron Man and to a lesser extant the Hulk have.  I’m proud to report that is not the case in this movie.  Each major character is balanced within the movie’s story. 

Now you don’t have to comic book fan or see the five previous movies to enjoy The Avengers.   The film provides just enough information about the characters backgrounds and motivations   

The film’s story is rather simple.  The Earth is threatened by an unstable energy source. This leads to opening a wormhole and the launch of an alien invasion.  Because this threat is great the Earth's mightiest heroes must  join together to defeat this threat.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) match wits.

What makes The Avengers a great comic book movie is the character conflict.  You would think that these superheroes play nice with each other but that’s not the case.  They don’t get along at all, but they put their differences aside to take on an enemy that none of them could handle alone. 

Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr). and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) are learning how to play nice with each other.

The film’s epic battle scene has to be one of the best I’ve seen in years with the Avengers taking on an alien invasion on the streets of New York, trying desperately to stand their ground.  This sequence is a comic book nerd’s dream, seeing all Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor in battle together.

Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) battle the Chitauri alien race on the New York streets.

Director Joss Whedon has done a masterful job of balancing all these characters and blends their storylines into one piece of epic filmmaking.  This is a movie to see on the big screen.

What is your favorite film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe?

Iron Man is my favorite Avenger

The Bat and Viral Marketing Campaign

This past Monday marketers for Warner Bros and The Dark Knight Rises unleashed a viral scavenger hunt around the world.  On thedarkknightrises.com there was an animated Gotham City Police file that discussed the search for the vigilante known as “The Batman” the file had a list of locations of bat graffiti.  If you saw this graffiti you were supposed to photographic the evidence and  tweet #tdkr07202012 or email tdkr07202012@gothampolicedepartment.com.  If you found graffiti and tweeted or emailed Warner Bros would unlock a frame from the new The Dark Knight Rises trailer.

The coolest aspect of this was one of  the addresses was within a mile of my house so since I’m a marketer, a Batman fan, social media student and just a general nerd about things like this I decided to investigate. 

I arrived at and starting searching the Troy location, but I found nothing. No bat graffiti, no nothing.  Of course it was raining all day so the rain probably washed away whatever I looking for.  Darn.  Discouraged and wet, I decided to search #tdr07202012 on Twitter to see what I was supposed to find.  To my surprise many people found bat graffiti from all over the world.

Pretty cool viral campaign.  Well my fellow geeks didn’t let me down and the new The Dark Rises trailer was released early Tuesday morning 4 days before it was supposed to premier in front of this Friday's release of The Avengers.

Brace yourself for some Batman awesomeness!!!

The Following is Based on a Half-True Story

This past week I was in St. Petesburg, Florida at a conference for work.  One of the sessions was conducted by Frank Abagnale.  For readers that don’t know Mr. Abagnale, he is currently a consultant with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is an expert on the subjects of forgery, embezzlement and secure documents.  Abagnale’s teen years are what most people know about him.  During this time, Abagnale became the countries’ notorious con artist.  Abagnale successfully impersonated a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer all before the age of 21.  In 2002, Steven Spielberg adapted Abagnale’s story into a movie in called Catch Me if You Can.

Catch Me if You Can 2002 trailer

According to Abagnale, Steven Spielberg never spoke with him regarding his life or how to interpret it.    Spielberg took some creative liberties with Abagnale’s story.  There’s a scene in the movie after Abagnale brings impersonating a pilot, where he meets his father for a lunch.  Abagnale stated that after he ran away, he never saw his father again.  Abagnale’s died while he was in prison in Europe. When Abagnale was impersonating a pediatrician, he did so to convince people there was a reason he was a driving expensive car.  This aspect of the movie was never explored.  The film shows him working at a hospital. He did read medical journals to keep his cover going when a doctor moved into the same apartment complex. 

Another piece of movie fiction is regarding Tom Hanks’ character of Carl Hanratty.  The real name of Abagnale’s FBI pursuer was Joe Shea.  Why this was changed in the movie was unclear, but Abagnale and Shea did remain friends in real life after Abagnale starting was working for the FBI which is portrayed in movie. 

Now Catch Me if You Can is one of the few films that some of the true events appear in of the movie.  A few years ago a movie called The Strangers came out and was based on a true story as well.  Basically the plot revolved around people coming up to the door in the middle of the night and asking for someone that didn’t live at the house. The people staying at the home were then brutally murder.  Well the only true aspect of this movie was when the film’s director was younger; someone came to his house late at night and asked for someone that didn’t live there.  The next few days, a few homes in his neighborhood were robbed.

So when a film says that it is based on a true story, the story may only a half truth.

What is your favorite movie based on a true story?

Here I am with Frank Abagnale