Mariachi-style and the West

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been pretty busy with school and stuff. Anyway, i finally got those Netflix rentals out of my house (Raging Bull and Lost in Translation) and was able to get my next 2 yesterday. I got Desperado and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.

Desperado is the fallow up to Robert Rodriguez's $7,000 El Mariachi, and let me say that this is one action film that no one should miss out on. The stylized shots and shooting proccess were so elegently described in his book as "Mariachi- Style." This is a style created by Rodriguez which he dubs as, "solving problems with creativity, not money." I whole-heartedly agree with this concept and i think i am going to try to emulate this as much as possible in the coming productions. If anyone hasn't read his book, Rebel Without A Crew, and consider yourself an independent filmmaker, then shame upon you my dear fellow.

In other news, the Western that Phillip Willis and I are developing is well underway, with the script already running around 7 pages with only the first act started. I think i have a knack for brain vomit and just spill everything out onto the pages. This means i might need to do a hefty amount of editing before we get a shooting draft finished. I'm essentially writing the scipt because all Phillip really had was about 7 pages of notebook paper with a rough concept and some dialogue. The rest is on my shoulders. That's ok though, because I really do love writing.

Anyway, that's it for this week. more updates to come next week.

peace

Monday nights

So today i watch Lost in Translation, a Netflix rental that has been sitting atop my entertainment center for a good portion of 3 weeks now, and let me tell you, Craig didn't lie when he described the beauty of this film. Sofia is genius. i'm really beginning to appreciate her style and unique writing abilities that she puts in every film. gorgeous stuff.

in addition to that, i also caught the international trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. gonna be amazing. you can catch that here.

Lastly, i decided to pick up the Death Proof screenplay today from Borders. Genius writing. i love it.

So yeah, mondays do hold exciting stuff indeed. i usually hate mondays. anyways, im off to bed. peace world.


by the way, its good to be in love. inspires you. just thought i'd bring that up!

night



tb

Hot Fuzz!

HOT FUZZ
10/10



Shaun of the Dead has been declared as "one of my favorite films of all time." I know that phrase gets thrown around quite often when it comes to critical examination of a given film, but let me tell you dear reader, I mean it whole heartedly. The writing and directing of the film is nothing short of pure genius, and the acting only compliments the former to the fullest extent. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright craft a nearly perfect story with Pegg and Nick Frost heading up the cast. This film makes me as giddy as a Japanese schoolgirl, and I can proudly quote nearly every single line of dialogue. Now Wright, Pegg and Frost would like to share a little film with you that they have passionately titled, Hot Fuzz.

This was everything I could ever have wanted in a follow up film. The fellows have now tackled the massive undertaking of creating a parody of all films action oriented, and in particular, cop action films. The movie started out with the trio's trademark of super fast montages, characterized by snap zooms and a funky soundtrack. No problems here. Things were already off to a good start in the first 4 minutes or so. Simon Pegg portrays Sergeant Nicholas Angel, an elite police officer from the city who is transferred to a Village location merely because he is "making the rest of the team look bad." Simple yet genius.

Nick Frost plays Danny Butterman, the PC of the police department of the village town Sandford. His father is the Inspector of the department (hullo its Britain don't ya know?!) and is portrayed by the brilliant Jim Broadbent. Other VERY notable roles in the film were those of Timothy Dalton as the supermarket king-pin, Simon Skinner, and Paddie Considine and Rafe Spall as the two "Andy's" The story began to escalate from there as Angel starts to settle into the sleepy and somewhat motionless country cop job. Things then begin to get ugly. Mysterious murders begin to take place and Angel is quick to get to the bottom of it.

I'm not going to reveal too much more because I think that half the fun of this movie is the story and I would be considered a "Bloody Wanker" if I were to spoil any of it. Just be prepared to face references to any action movie that has been made in the last 10 years The placement of these was completely genius too. I often found myself being the only one in the whole theater to catch a reference and laugh out loud. Not a good idea. But still, that just goes to prove my point on the absolute genius of the writing and execution of this film. I honestly feel perfectly happy with giving this movie a 10/10, something I rarely do, merely because of its charm and attaching nature to the viewer. Some have heard me say that it wasn't as funny as Shaun of the Dead, but I think I need to change my words slightly. The comedy may not have been as outspoken as the former, yet this only goes to show that the writing has become tighter and subtler. Something I personally like in a comedy. Actually one of the only things I like in any comedy. And those of you who know me personally know that I am not usually a fan of comedic motion pictures.

So all in all folks, this was a perfect film in my opinion, even higher than my beloved Grindhouse. It happens folks. So right now, this is at the top of my 2007 list. I was talking to Matt Jones last night (former Golden Briefcase contributor) and we were both discussing what was still to come this year and let me tell you folks, we are in for one eventful year. We have Spidey 2 coming out in a week or so, closely followed by Pirates 3, and then after that 28 Weeks Later and many many more. It's going to be a great year in film. Still too early to see if it will be better than 06, but we'll have to see.

SO. Go see Hot Fuzz immediately, and in the words of the wise Head Geek Harry Knowles, "It would be criminal not too."


TB signing off.

Biola Media Conference 2007

Good times this year at the BMC. My dad and myself have been the last 3 years, and let me tell you , it is truly a good time. I'm pretty burnt out, so i'm not going to touch on too much stuff, but i did learn alot of things today that i think are going to help me in the next few years. One of which is to shop the Festival Circut. Exec Producer Ralph Winter was there as usual, and he kept encouraging us young filmmakers to take our best efforts to the festivals such as Tribecca, Toronto, Santa Barbara, Cannes, Sundance ect. It was really encouraging to know hwo that is an incredible method to get your talent recognized. I've already resolved that i will take my currently untitled Western film (in pre-production with my best bro Phillip Willis) to some of these festivals and start to make a name for myself. Really encouraging stuff.

Tonight however at 7, i got a chance to go to the screening of the Toronto Film Festival's People's Choice award recipient, Bella. This was a gorgeous film by young filmmaker, Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, and i really encourage everyone to go and see it in theaters this auguest.

anyway, i'm beat and i'm off to bed.

HOT FUZZ TOMORROW (review coming tomorrow night or monday)


tim

Grindhouse!!!

GRINDHOUSE- 9/10




***SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW***

Wow guys. What can I say? I waited for 10 months for this baby, and let me tell you…it kicked me square in the cajones. And you know what? I loved the kick more than anything I've seen this year, including 300.

Craig, myself, John, Logan and our main man Brett decided to fulfill our Grindhouse experience by going to the latest show offered at the Regal. 10:50PM. Perfect. We chose the row with the stickiest floor possible, grabbed some seats and prepared for a true experience.

The film started with Rodriguez's Machete trailer. Freaking rich and totally true to the nature of exploitation films. (The plot was sorta like the new Marky Mark flick Shooter, but it looked more BA than that one did.) Danny Trejo reprised his role as Robert's main man when it comes to butt-kicking Hispanics, and boy did he bring a sweet role to the screen.

Then.

Planet Terror. This flick was exactly what I was hoping for and so much more. The plot was pretty straightforward, story not always being Robert's strong point, but he fully supplied the viewer with enough guts and gore to make an Iron Stomach Champion sick. I loved every second of it. The story comprised of some biochemical weapons being used by the army (a perfect cameo by Bruce Willis) and the effects that the virus has on the town. The main characters were played by Rose McGowen, Freddy Rodriguez, and my boy Naveen Andrews from LOST. Mcgowen played the "go-go dancer" Cherry Darling, and Rodriguez played the legendary gunslinger El Wray. Like I said before, there wasn't too much character work done on these people, but what the heck. We all know that wasn't why I was at the theater! The "Zombies" of the story were dubbed "Sickos," and were characterized by these really nasty sores on their body, pulsating with puss and blood. (By the way, this film is definitely NOT for the squeamish, seeing as everything someone is killed there is literally an explosion of guck and guts and blood and gore and…well you get the point.)

Two of the best cameos in the film were Michael parks as From Dusk Till Dawn and Kill Bill's Sheriff Earl McGraw, and Carlos Gullardo from El Mariachi. Those just made if for me. I loved it. I am a Robert Rodriguez geek so those meant a lot.

The story played out and it was full of delicious gore scenes and zombie fun. I really don't want to give to much away, because I think if you know way too much about this film, it's not going to hit you as hard as it should.

As I said though, if you are at all grossed out by any of the following, beware Planet Terror! Exploding heads, testicals, castrations, bubbling bubbles of molten flesh, intestines, random pink goo, squirting tongue pimple juice, melting penis, or disembowelments.

You will love every second of this film on the other hand if any of the previous appeal to you. Seriously.

The best part of the film for me was the MISSING REELS section. I am not going to give away its place in the picture, yet just for background information I will explain its origins. Back in the hay day of exploitation films, perverted theater workers would often jack a reel of the juiciest sex scenes and take them home for a little one on one time…yeah. You get the point. It's good.

Overall I loved Planet Terror for everything that it was. It was not a serious film and I had just plain fun. I was extremely pleased.

THEN.

There was the "intermission." Featured in this intermission were the faux trailers created by Eli Roth, Rob Zombie and Esgar Wright.

First was Zombie's "Werewomen of the S.S." The story was Hitler propaganda about how he used Werewolves and such to fight the US soldiers. Eh…I had mixed feelings about this one and it really didn't do much for me. Too bad too cuz I think that Zombie is a really talented filmmaker. His Halloween should be good.

Next was Edgar Wright's trailer. Now for those of you, who are not familiar with Edgar Wright, shame on you. Bloody shame on you. Edgar is one of the freshes and most skilled filmmakers on the scene today. His film Shaun of the Dead is one of my top 5 of all time. It is a hilarious film starring his life-long partners Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. If you haven't seen this film….AGAIN, SHAME ON YOU. Anyway, onto his trailer. Wright created a trailer in the same thread as Raimi's Evil Dead. It was genius. The trailer was called "DON'T," and featured many Wright usuals including Frost and Pegg. I really don't want to give away this one, so just enjoy it to the fullest.

Lastly was Eli Roth's trailer, "Thanksgiving." This was probably my favorite. I caught it on IGN.com a week before the film came out and let me tell you, I loved it just as much when I saw it in the theater. Basic plot entails a man dressed as a Pilgrim who kills people on Thanksgiving. Absolutely genius. Pure exploitation fun.

FINALLY.

Death Proof. The latest Quentin Tarantino film. Now, immediately after the show, I had very mixed feelings about this one, yet now, a week later, I decided that I truly did like it. The main idea for this one, is that a man named Stuntman Mike kills girls with his car. Pretty BA premise. I like it. Kurt Russell plays the stuntman and does so perfectly. His cool manners and tough guy look totally embody everything that Tarantino wrote for him. The other players in the film were all lovely ladies. Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Tracy Thoms, and again Rose Mcgowen all played premier roles in Tarantino's dialogue heavy slasher.

If I had one complaint about Death Proof initially, it was the amount of chatter. Most of it, seemingly useless. Don't get me wrong. I don't think that there is snappier or smarter diologue in all of cinema than Quentin Tarantino. I love the guy death. I think that he just may have gotten carried away with this one. Most of the talking revolved around sex and drugs. Entertaining? Sure. But boy did it get boring after awhile. A scene reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs played out in a diner lasted nearly 6 minutes, and seemed to never end. It just started to distract me from the main point of the film: STUNTMAN MIKE AND HIS PLIGHT TO DESTROY ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL WITH HIS NOVA!

On to Stuntman Mike. Russell is one of the most gifted actors around in my opinion. Tarantino loves the guy and I think his written character is embodied perfectly by Russell's swagger. One of my favorite scenes from the film is when Mike takes on a John Wayne persona and actually slurs and swaggers his way through a quote by Duke. Perfect.

The cars. The cars in death proof were probably the best part. Old car films like Bullitt, Vanishing Point, and others come to mind when watching the film, primarily because that is the direct era that this particular exploitation effort was taken from. Zoe Bell, the double for Uma Therman on Kill Bill, was perfect in this film. She portrayed herself, as a stunt woman, and that is exactly what she did: STUNTS.

The best action scene of the film involved her on the hood of a Dodge Challenger, being rammed by Russell's Nova. It was pure adrenaline. I loved it.

The other characters were a bit dry, but something that any Tarantino fan would notice is Tracy Thoms' direct correlation to Jules form Pulp Fiction. She was him as a female. Exactly. Down the amount of times she dropped the MF bomb. Brilliant.

There is no way I am spoiling the end of this film, because that was indeed what made the bountiful amounts of talking all the worthwhile.

My opinion changed for the better as I realized that the characters that Quentin established through these scenes were very well thought out. I just think that it took too long to get to that point. Way too long. But I decided that I was willing to look past that and appreciate his efforts at recreating a genre that appealed to him as a young man.

***SPOILERS END HERE***

All in all guys, Grindhouse was a pure riot. I loved it. I think that any film geek like me will thoroughly enjoy it and even those who aren't drunk on cinema will enjoy it too. If you are looking for 3 hours and 5 minutes of pure fun, PLEASE SPEND IT ON THIS FILM!

This has been my favorite film of 2007 so far, and I feel honestly fulfilled after my 10 months of waiting.

So without further ado from me, grab your popcorn, get your butt in a chair, and enjoy your sleazy experience at the Grindhouse.

TB

Welcome!

Well hello everyone. My name is Tim Buel, and welcome to The Golden Briefcase. This is going to be my blog of sorts where i will write film reviews, film talk, and other film related junk that spews from my ever-working brain. Golden Briefcase was originally a myspace.com news source that myself and Matt Jones were working on, but that died off really quick. Instead, I am going to continue to fight the good fight and bring people reliable film news and reviews on a daily basis.

so anyways. thats it for the first entry. hope everyone enjoys!


tim