The Dark Knight

A couple weeks back I wrote about my concern for the quality of the X-Files movie that was released this weekend. My concerns were rather founded it seems since the critics and fans alike are calling it not only a bad movie but one of the worst of the summer. I read one fan say if this had been an episode of the X-Files Series that it would have been considered the worst episode of the run. That's saying something. Needless to say I decided to skip having my favorite TV show of all time slaughtered before my eyes and instead chose to catch the Dark Knight.

I could gush over the dark knight pretty easily. This movie is not only the best movie of the summer, It was for me, the best superhero movie ever! I was shocked at the level of storytelling in it and the overall message of it. Heath Ledger became the Joker and that's all I can say. I never thought during the film, "oh that's Heath Ledger". Being a fan of the comics when I was young I was just blown away that a film maker finally understood Batman's struggle and got it right.

The film is so much better than the first one that It almost doesn't feel like its part of that series. I would almost venture to say that it was a masterpiece of cinema and storytelling. I can't remember the last time I walked out of a theater and said "wow!" and meant it in an un-ironic way:)

Ok so even though I love this film here's the problems I found: Batman's raspy voice is skirting the edge of unintentionally funny. The whole trip to Hong Kong probably could have been cut for time but I did enjoy it none the less. The Sonar technology seemed just a touch over the top in its final use. I still find Maggie Gyllenhall as off-putting.

That said these problems don't hamper the film one Iota and its just a great, great movie. The message of hope, and "Doing good" are heady subjects in this film but they're rather timely and well handled. If you haven't seen this film yet go do it. I'm going again next week:)

Fear Itself on NBC

The horror anthology has to be one of the trickiest things to get right. There have been countless attempts, some damn near perfect (Creepshow) some mediocre (Tales from the Crypt) and some just awful (Masters of Horror).

Mick Garris created Masters of Horror on Showtime a couple years back. The episodes were being written and directed by so called "Masters" of the genre such as John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, John Landis etc. The episodes were mostly bad. So bad in fact that after watching the 4th episode of the first season I cancelled my Showtime Subscription. The second season didn't fare much better. The series seem to allow the directors and writers to experiment a little too much and it often seem to hurt the episode.

This Year Garris and his crew packed up and moved the show to NBC, changing the name to Fear Itself. The episodes of Fear itself so far have been a little improved in the move. I imagine the reasoning for this is simple: Fear Itself is going to have to fight to stay on the air. Therefore the episodes have to appeal to wider audiences, be scarier, and provide conclusions that don't piss off the viewer. For the most part it does seem to be working and the show has been more enjoyable with a few exceptions.

The most recent episode was the Zombie episode directed by Darren Lynn Bouseman (Saw 2, 3, 4, Repo!) and it was a fairly entertaining romp. The twist ending seemed unnecessary and very unbelievable. However for something that is fairly low budget they did a decent job of creating a Zombie apocalypse scenario.

It will be interesting to see if the series can keep up the momentum it does have and keep from becoming stale and boring. Either way its nice to have a decent summer horror series for once.

My Concerns about X-Files 2

In 1993 when the X-Files first aired, I was a Freshman in High School and very ready to believe in the adventures of Mulder and Scully. I was hooked on the show before the opening credits even ran. It captivated my mind and kept me hungry for more week after week. I followed the show thereafter religiously and went to see the first movie back in 98' on opening day. Then the show started to become too convoluted with outrageous storylines and a ridiculous arc about Scully's baby. By season 8 I had pretty much given up on the show and missed the final season altogether.

Then last year the rumblings began about a new film that would reunite everyone's favorite FBI agents for another adventure. Enough time had passed and the bad taste of the last couple seasons of the X-Files was a distant memory and so my excitement for this new film was very high. I read up on all the news and leaked info, what little there was, and waited eagerly for the first trailer, which really told me nothing about the film. Now here we are only a week away from its premiere and I still have no idea what the movie is about. The marketing for this film is boring (just look at the poster above) and the TV spots and trailers aren't doing a whole lot to get me jazzed about this film. So I'm more than a little concerned. I know the Chris Carter is trying to keep the story under wraps but it feels like its gone beyond just secrecy on the plot and now I'm worried they're trying to keep the lid on a stinker of a film before it comes out. I really hope this is not the case.

Either way I know where I'll be next weekend. While I'm concerned about the quality of the film the chance to see Mulder and Scully together again is good enough for me for now. I just hope we get a solid outing that doesn't dissapoint.

First Video shoot for Commercial and Web

Something I've been slowly gravitating towards is video & Film and last night I finally got my first stab at it. Unfortunately the weather wasn't interested in my plans and decided to rain on them. However we were able to get quite a bit shot but missed out on the final zombies walking through a cemetery shots that would have taken about 10-20 more minutes to get. Oh well. I guess for the first try it went pretty well. I learned some things that I'll do different next time but overall it went pretty well. The image you see to the left is a still taken during the shoot.

Thanks to Scary Boy Productions for Delivering to my door those fantastic tombstones you can see in the back ground, Thanks to Steve at Screamline for getting me a axe just when I needed it! and A Big thanks to my actors, My sister Melissa and her Boyfriend Brian and his Brother Kevin. Thanks a lot!

Next the editing and the trailer creation:) Stay tuned!