‘Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace’ came out in 1999, I was 8 years old and saw it in theaters with my dad. I’ve not watched the entire movie all the way through since then. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the movie was very disappointing compared to the original trilogy. Not being much of an expert on Star Wars, I don’t have a big opinion on the movie.
It isn’t easy to find a review of ‘The Phantom Menace’ that actually can explain why the movie was so terrible but I ran into this great YouTube video which goes through the entire movie and says exactly what is wrong with it. The video is 70 minutes long but it is hilarious! I was only planning on watching maybe the first ten to twenty minutes but it just kept getting funnier and Mike, the narrator, makes very good points about the Star Wars series and George Lucas. Here is the article where you can find the seven part video, just scroll down. Enjoy!
Inglourious Basterds Review
I finally got down to seeing ‘Inglourious Basterds’ now that it is released on DVD though I wanted to see it in theaters because I’ve only heard good things. As far as Quentin Tarantino movies go, this one was probably my favorite with the exception of ‘Kill Bill: Vol 2’. I can’t say that I approve of the “Tarantino way” of spelling “inglorious bastards”, the only explanation that I was able to find was that the change in spelling discouraged people from believing that ‘Inglourious Basterds’ was a remake of a Enzo G. Castellari (who has a cameo in ‘Inglourious Basterds’) film called ‘Quel maledetto treno blindato’ which was released as ‘The Inglorious Bastards’ in the United States. Reading the plot for Castellari’s version I see no similarities.
‘Inglourious Basterds’ takes place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) is in charge of a Jewish-American group of soldiers whose duty is to kill lots and lots of Nazis. The group’s biggest rival ends up being the smooth talking “Jew-hunter” Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Col. Landa is the only character who interacts with virtually all the characters and he is also extremely easy to hate… keeping in mind that Hitler is in this movie. After seeing the movie trailer, I expected there to be a lot more Nazi killing and a little less talking. Germans and French talk pretty fast and the subtitles are sometimes hard to keep up with, especially for someone who doesn’t read as much as they should, like me. At first I was worried that I’d fall behind on the plot, but it wasn’t too difficult to keep up with. There was a fair amount of brutal Nazi-killing scenes and it is equaled out by long climactic scenes of compelling dialogue.
It is my firm belief that Tarantino’s brain is the portal between alternate universes. His movie’s complex timelines, intertwined story lines and - in the case of ‘Inglourious Basterds’ - extreme historical inaccuracies make his movies very hard to review because I’m not sure whether or not I completely understand what I just saw. If you’re looking for brain-bashing action and blood lust or it’s solid plots, great acting and characterization that you crave; ‘Inglourious Basterds’ will satisfy you. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars.
Dec 15
Darkness Around the Sun
The Concept:
My current project is something I’ve never done before. It’s very nerdy but it might be the future of filmmaking and it opens up a lot of doors because I’ve always had the basic idea of this plot but never could make it. Essentially what I’m doing is using a screen capture program, FRAPS, and I am going to record the entire short movie inside the World of Warcraft. This isn’t a new or original idea by any means. I’ve always wanted to do this but until now wasn’t able and there are hundreds of YouTube movies out there which do this exact thing.
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. In other words, they created this entire world made up of (so far) four continents which you, as a character you create, can move through freely and interact with other real people. I joined a guild called ‘Darkness Around the Sun’ and have become very good friends with many of the guild’s active players. They know me so well that they know I love making movies and asked if I would make a movie about the guild. So I got FRAPS and started right away.
I had to play around with FRAPS so I wouldn’t have any technical problems while recording the actual movie, so I started by recording a teaser trailer. After thinking about the plot long and hard I came to the conclusion that nothing in the teaser trailer would be used in the actual movie, but I’ll embed it anyway.
I said before that this could be the future of filmmaking, and I wasn’t kidding. Stephen did some research for me and found out that James Cameron, the prick who we can’t help to love because he makes amazing films, used a similar technique while making Avatar. He created the entire digital world that Avatar would take place in and used a computer to move through that world and “record” the breathtaking shots he needed. Then, I’m guessing, he used chroma keying to put the characters in the digital world. This is very similar to how I’ll be making my first animated film. I’m just moving around this digital world and capturing myself and my online friends (or guildies but I hate that word) doing the actions. This is difficult because I am limited to the motions and such that a Warcraft character is able to do; however this gives me my first opportunity to make a movie taking place in a fantasy world with warriors and dragons and such. Many people, including my guildies, are wondering what this movie will be about and here is the plot so far. I’m trying my best not to give away the twist at the end.
The Setting:
Imagine this world completely torn by war… not too hard to imagine, right? In the icy oasis of Northrend, the magical city of Dalaran floats above the Crystalsong Forest. Dalaran was once located in the Alterac Mountains but after having already been destroyed and with the threat of another attack, the mages of Dalaran lifted the newly rebuilt city out from the ground and moved it into central Northrend where it continues to hover half a mile above the ground below. The two main Warcraft factions-Horde and Alliance-have joined in a temporary coalition against a common enemy, the Scourge, and share the city of Dalaran because it remains neutral. I chose Dalaran as the main location of this movie because of this neutrality. The city is virtually free of crime. As a matter of fact, I noticed there aren’t any real law enforcers for the city. So whether or not this is true to the World of Warcraft or not, in my movie we will consider Dalaran to be a utopia because it is such a haven compared to everywhere else.
The Plot:
The story revolves around a few things; Dalaran, the ‘Darkness Around the Sun’, and the main character Trevalin (who is later known as Deathsting). All characters in the story are based off and played by characters in the actual Darkness Around the Sun guild. All of the characters are a vital role in the story but because I need a specific hero and the easiest character to record, taking availability into consideration, is my character-Trevalin.
Trevalin and his brother, Will, are young paladins-in-training who are recruited into a secret underground clan of vigilantes called the Darkness Around the Sun. They are the unknown protectors of Dalaran. Seeing how Dalaran is supposed to be a utopia but a city without crime is impossible, the Darkness Around the Sun is supposed to protect the city without the citizens knowing so that the citizens will believe the city is naturally perfect and under control. The Darkness Around the Sun is so secret that the guild’s leader, Grand Master Bregalas, is willing to go to any lengths to protect it for the good of Dalaran. The secrets begin to leak and Bregalas is almost certain that they must have been leaked by a former member and traitor, Dargath, who had only recently left the guild (which is the reason they needed to recruit new members). Bregalas and his second-in-charge, Elfsheena, work diligently to find out who Dargath leaked information to and assign members to investigate their suspects. Trevalin and Will go along with Jazeratle, a guild assassin, as part of their orientation. Their duty is to investigate the Scourge but in the process Will is killed by a Scourge grunt, Nyethun. Will’s final words describe the pain of death as a horrible stinging. Trevalin, in a careless attempt at revenge, is captured by Nyethun and transformed into one of the Scourge Death Knights but in the process he is saved by Jazeratle who then pursues Nyethun. After his human consciousness is returned, the Death Knight Trevalin (who is called Deathsting by Nyethun) returns to Dalaran…
I don’t want to spoil the ending but if everything works out as planned, there is a great plot twist. If you want to find out, you’ll have to watch the finished movie!
Conclusion:
I am casting a few friends to do the voices of the characters and will announce the final line up when I know for sure who will all be involved. I can’t put a date on when the final production will be released because I’m terrible with deadlines but if I’m able to get everyone to cooperate, it should be done in January or February. The hardest part will be getting people online when I need them and all at the same time! I might have to shoot some people individually and splice it together so it looks like we were recording together. So here is the teaser trailer! Keep in mind I made it as an experiment and it really doesn’t show what is going to happen in the actual film. But I still think it is kinda cool. There are a few shots which seem to be way longer than they should be, this is because I was planning on putting an over-voice but decided that I’d rather just get it over and done with so I could work on the actual film itself.
My dad and I on the set of a Wells Fargo video.
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
—
My dad sent this quote to me via text message. I asked him where he heard it and he said he read it on a bookmark. I later Googled the quote and found that it was by George Bernard Shaw, an old Irish playwright.
It really defines my outlook on life. When I think back to elementary school I can remember having a career day during which we dressed up as what we want to be when we grow up. I brought a slate, a hat from some local production company, my old Hi8 and a fake Oscar award with “Best Director Zachary Hayes” engraved on the base. So does that mean I never grew out of my childish dreams? Either way, it doesn’t matter how far fetched my dreams may be because I’ve been working my entire life to make those childish hopes a reality. I’ve created myself.
The Search for a Perfect Movie
I’ve never been very good at this blogging stuff. Every once in a while I’ll blog something on my website but it’s just too hard to come up with things worth blogging about! My best friend, Patrick started a blog that focused on one of his many passions, music. Then Pat and I watched ‘Julie and Julia’ which partially focuses on how Julie Powell wrote a blog about making everything in Julia Child’s cookbook. It then became obvious what my blog lacked, focus.
So I decided that I would copy Patrick and make a blog of my own focusing on my biggest passion. Movies. Or more specifically filmmaking. I’ve been making short movies ever since I was eleven years old when my dad bought me my first video camera. My dad is something of a director himself. He has made countless commercials and… I don’t know what you’d call them… we’ll say infomercials. So I guess I have the director gene.
So here is the deal: From now on I’ll post films I’ve made, reviews about movies I’ve seen and keep tabs of my progress through college. However, there is one main focus of this blog! Coming up with the perfect idea for a movie. And if I do come up with it, don’t even THINK about stealing it from me!!! I’ll know. As a reader, you have an obligation as well. If I get back into the habit of not updating my blog… find me… Okay? Thanks!
‘Inglourious Basterds’ takes place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) is in charge of a Jewish-American group of soldiers whose duty is to kill lots and lots of Nazis. The group’s biggest rival ends up being the smooth talking “Jew-hunter” Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Col. Landa is the only character who interacts with virtually all the characters and he is also extremely easy to hate… keeping in mind that Hitler is in this movie. After seeing the movie trailer, I expected there to be a lot more Nazi killing and a little less talking. Germans and French talk pretty fast and the subtitles are sometimes hard to keep up with, especially for someone who doesn’t read as much as they should, like me. At first I was worried that I’d fall behind on the plot, but it wasn’t too difficult to keep up with. There was a fair amount of brutal Nazi-killing scenes and it is equaled out by long climactic scenes of compelling dialogue.
Imagine this world completely torn by war… not too hard to imagine, right? In the icy oasis of Northrend, the magical city of Dalaran floats above the Crystalsong Forest. Dalaran was once located in the Alterac Mountains but after having already been destroyed and with the threat of another attack, the mages of Dalaran lifted the newly rebuilt city out from the ground and moved it into central Northrend where it continues to hover half a mile above the ground below. The two main Warcraft factions-Horde and Alliance-have joined in a temporary coalition against a common enemy, the Scourge, and share the city of Dalaran because it remains neutral. I chose Dalaran as the main location of this movie because of this neutrality. The city is virtually free of crime. As a matter of fact, I noticed there aren’t any real law enforcers for the city. So whether or not this is true to the World of Warcraft or not, in my movie we will consider Dalaran to be a utopia because it is such a haven compared to everywhere else.