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

Tom Cruise is one crazy…….stuntman

With the emergence of computer generated images (CGI), filmmakers can create new worlds, monsters or anything their imagination can dream up.  Because of this moviegoers have been treated to many films like Avatar and the Star Wars prequels that we made possible with CGI.  One of the drawbacks to using CGI is overusing it.  Too much of it can ruin a movie, last year’s Green Lantern is a prime example.   In that movie, creatures and aliens looked way to fake. Another drawback to CGI is it eliminates good old fashion stunt work.  Because of the dangerous nature and planning time involved in creating physical stunts, some filmmakers opt to shoot these scenes in a soundstage where there is more control.

Last night I watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol on Blu-Ray and there is some amazing stunt work in this film, specifically by Tom Cruise.  There is a scene in the middle of the film were Tom Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt and his team of spies are in the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai and need to get to a secure room a few floors above their current position.  So Ethan needs to go outside and scale the building to get to the secure room.  

Now most filmmakers and actors would have shot this scene in a controlled environment.  Not Tom Cruise and Brad Bird (the film’s director) they choose to go for as much realism as possible and decided to shoot outside the Burj Khalifa building.

Let me give you some facts about the Burj Khalifa according to the building’s official website http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/

At 2,716.5 feet and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the following records:

• Tallest building in the world
• Tallest free-standing structure in the world
• Highest number of stories in the world
• Highest occupied floor in the world
• Highest outdoor observation deck in the world
• Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
• Tallest service elevator in the world

I have to give Cruise credit for doing this stunt, which was shot at 127 stories up and where he’s hanging from just a few wires.  

I don’t think many actors, would be doing their own stunts let alone hanging from 2000 ft in the air.  He has nerves of steel, because if I was hanging from that building I would be absolutely terrified.

Anybody want to hang up side down 2000 ft in the air?

That scene is one of the best in the entire film because there’s a sense of realism as Cruise is climbing the outside of this building.  The entire sequence carries a level of uneasiness as he’s climbing the building with just a pair of super glue gloves.  This action scene made the movie for me.  I thought it was great and thrilling which made Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol one of the better action films I have seen.

What are some of the movies you've seen that have great stunts in them?

Cabin in the Woods, NOT the Horror film You’re Expecting

Cabin in the Woods is one of those movies people are going to either love or hate.  The reason why some people may hate this movie has to do with the way the film was marketed.  Lionsgate (the studio that released the film) marketing department pulled a bait and switch on moviegoers.  Those darn marketers, how could they?  Well, I’ll get to that part in a minute.  Based on my discussions on Facebook and at the office this morning, some people thought this was a horror movie in the tradition of Evil Dead and Friday the 13^th.  Heck, the movie even opened on a Friday the 13^th, which makes the movie even more scary right?  Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not a horror movie, it’s a horror comedy and at the very least it’s satire of the horror genre, particularly of horror movies like the Evil Dead and Friday the 13^th. 

 

I know what you’re thinking based on the TV commercials, it looks and feels like a horror movie, so it must be a horror movie?  Well that’s where the marketing switchroo comes into play.  Cabin in the Woods is an extremely difficult movie to market without revealing too much of its twisting and turning plot.  So the Lionsgate’s marketing department decided to market the film as a horror movie with very familiar themes related to the horror genre.  A move that netted them $14 million in opening weekend box office returns.  Not bad for a horror movie or horror comedy.  Don’t get me wrong this movie has a lot of horrific moments and there’s a ton of blood spilled, but it’s also got a lot of funny parts too. It’s just not a horror film.  I don’t like to see people go to a movie thinking it's something it’s not.  This can totally ruin the experience for some viewers.  

 

Now I bet your wondering what I thought of Cabin in the Woods, well I liked it.  After the first scene in the movie I knew exactly what kind of film this was.  Also producer and writer Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series) has a track record of turning genres upside down.  So armed with that information, I knew this film was going to be something different than what was being advertised.  One of the things, I really enjoyed in this movie is that fact it was so unpredictable.  I mean I didn’t see the final shot coming at all and if you did you’re either lying to yourself or you read the script online somewhere.

So if you’re in the mood for a horror comedy, then Cabin in the Woods is the film for you. 

Here's me standing next to a large piece of movie marketing.