I’ve been absent from here for a long time and I don’t know if I’ll be coming back regularly, but I figured I would post this just to keep things – y’know – up and running.  Thanks for reading.

For as long as I can remember my parents have been telling me that I am a 65-year old stuck inside a [insert current age]-year old body. I can see why they’d say this. I have routines that I don’t like to break, there’s a particular way I like certain things organized, and for as long as I can remember I’ve had a love for sitting in the same chair and not getting up for a very long time.

In the same vein, I also harbor harsh feeling toward exercise and strenuous physical activity so it’s more than appropriate that my inner old man chooses to show himself in full force when I straggle through the doors of Results Therapy and Fitness Center every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Yes, I go to a gym. I’ve realized that I can no longer eat as much as I want to without suffering the consequences, so I’ve taken a preventative measure – or so I hope. I joined Results last summer and went kindasorta regularly, eventually giving up. But this summer, despite my busy work schedule, I’ve been on the ball and, to my surprise, have grown a bit attached to the place. Here’s why:

Results has your typical workout machines and free weights, but it is mainly a rehabilitation facility for people who have just had reconstructive surgery. This means that, more often than not, I am one of the only people under 65 years old. This is a revelation to me because they all move at my pace (or faster) and I rarely have to deal with the emasculating presence of 11th grade jocks who have more muscle mass than I could ever hope to acquire.

I didn’t get to use my favorite elliptical machine on Monday and got stuck with the one that is rather rickety. I’m ok with that; it just makes things a little less smooth when the tracks are rusty and the whole thing creaks with each move.

I use the elliptical with all the agility of a knock-kneed puppy and usually do a half-hour session. Around 10 minutes in, I have to take my glasses off and rest them somewhere because my face gets so sweaty (these new fangled plastic frames tend to slide off, unlike the metal ones that simply stick to a sweaty face). I’m blind without my glasses (almost), and when I’m on the machine, I’m usually listening to my iPod nice and loud to drown out the pap they play on Mix 95.1 (The Four-State’s New No.1).

On Monday while I was churning away on the elliptical, I noticed an old man who would come around the walking track in front of my machine every six minutes or so. I paid him no mind because I was in the zone, but I did notice that he always slowed down when he passed me. Without my glasses, I could only recognize him as a blue-grey blob floating past before I receded back into my own private world of sweaty misery and peppy music.

I stumbled off the machine after finishing my cool down and put my glasses back on. When the world came back into focus, I went to grab a towel and drink. Leaning down to the water fountain, I paused my iPod and gave a cursory wave to the person approaching like I normally do. I finished my drink and noticed that the person passing was the same old man who had been slowing in front of me just moments before. He was wearing a blue-grey sweatshirt and hobbling around the walking track with a cane at the speed of thick molasses.

He looked perfectly charming and I guessed that from the rate he was walking, it probably took him a lot of time and exertion to get around the track even once. After I said Hi to him, he gave me a jovial laugh that reminded me of my grandfather and said, “Looks like that there machine was beating you down.”

It was clear now that each time he passed me, he slowed down because I looked so clumsy on the rickety machine. If what he said had come from any other person, my first inclination would have been to contemplate socking them in the face, but coming from this poor old dude who was struggling around a rehab facility walking track? Well, I kind of took it as a complement.

“Yes,” I said, “it gets the best of me every time.”

He chuckled and looked straight at me. “All you can do is try. That’s how I get through every day at this place” he said. And with that he was off to take another lap.

I walked away and began using the different weight machines. I guess you could say that this nice old man inspired me to work-out harder on Monday because when I was finished, I was absolutely exhausted and ready to drink the water fountain dry. I wiped the sweat off my face with my already drenched towel and walked over to the other side of the gym. It was here that I saw something that will forever stay in my memory:

Every exercise machine – from the bikes to the treadmills to the rowers – was occupied by an old person. There wasn’t one free machine – I checked! It was truly a beautiful site: all of these septuagenarians huffing and puffing through an exercise regimen that none of them seemed to be enjoying, but that all of them probably know was absolutely necessary. I felt an immediate bond with all of them.

It’s in a moment like this that I know I can stumble through the door of Results and know without a doubt that I’ll be in perfect company.

All my free time lately has been taken up with prepping for a new film we’ll be shooting on 16mm in two weeks. We’ve been in pre-production for two weeks as well, so we’re coming at this kind of fast. I’m acting as Producer on this project, FYI.

Anyway, last night we made a phone call to someone we thought might be interested in backing the project monetarily and, to our surprise, they agreed to cover the whole thing!

We were shocked, surprised, and very happy.

Before we called our generous benefactor, I put together this small Project Pitch Packet as to peak interest. You could call it Phillip’s Project Pitch Packet (The 4P). Check it out and let me know if its something you would have been interested in backing.

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Synopsis

You Dropped Your Quarter is a 6-minute silent journey through the wide-open space of childhood imagination. The film begins and climaxes in an arcade where a young boy we call James operates a pinball machine. The noises and motions of the game trigger memories both real and imagined; images of humor and fear sweeping through microcosms of illusionary religious piety, a mysterious journey in the woods, and the innocence of young love.

Project Goal

You Dropped Your Quarter is being produced as a required final project for Bryan College’s Silent Film class, but that is not the only reason. The film will give students the opportunity to make a movie in a professional environment and experience what it is like to work as a crewmember on a serious-minded motion picture. Upon completion, the film will be submitted to film festivals. Not only will this project provide the cast and crew with a final product they can be proud of, but it will impart invaluable experience to financially limited students who dream of a future in filmmaking.

Progress Report

At this juncture, we have assembled a team of young people excited to work on the film. In addition to a Director, Director of Photography, and two producers, the project also includes a Production Designer, Key Grip (along with a few other grips), and Casting Director. The film will be shot over a three-day period (October 10-12) in and around the areas of Dayton and Chattanooga. Locations have already been scouted (see stills below) and property owners have been contacted. We have secured permission to shoot on most locations. The remaining property owners will be contacted by Monday, September 29.

Itemized Budget

Camera – TBD

Film Stock (Breakdown)

• Arcade – 400′ Neg – $136/$100/$76
• Baptism – 400′ BW Neg – $80/$60/$40
• Forest – 400′ Neg – $136
• Party – 400′ Neg – $136/$100/$76

Total – $500/$408/$340 ($268)

Production Design – $150

• Wardrobe: suits for baptism, tux for James, dress for girl, costume for Carnival Man
• Props: mask, quarters, Mason Jars, decorative lights
• Supplies

Food – $100

• Friday: 1 cast & crew meal
• Saturday: 2 cast & crew meals
• Sunday: 2 cast & crew meals, snacks for extras

Gas – $200

• 2 cars
• 3 days
• 4 locations

Total Budget – Camera = $1488

Last weekend, a few film students from my school got to help some alumni shoot a short film with a RED One.  I had read the script beforehand and wasn’t too impressed, but I was very enamored with how the DP and director handled the material and with how pretty the footage looked on the HD monitor while we were shooting.  I got to be script supervisor (a job I always seem to get stuck with) and we spent two hot days shooting.  You can read an article about the shoot on our local newspaper’s website and hopefully the film will be available to watch soon.

I had forgotten how time-consuming the filmmaking process is.  We were shooting digital, so I’m sure its even more time-consuming working independently while shooting film.  Two friends and I have a 16mm silent film in the works and I can’t wait to start shooting it.

(FYI, I’m the dude in the yellow shirt on the left.)

The Toronto Film Festival is going on right now (duh) and A.O. Scott just published an article in The New York Times attempting to answer the myriad of “What’s it all about?” questions that non-cinephiles always seem to ask.  The article is moderately good, but his definition of a film festival is superb and completely nails the atmosphere of any festival I’ve been to:

The purpose of film festivals is to create the temporary and seductive illusion that movies are everything, a notion that the best films in any given festival will at once affirm and disprove.

Scott is going to be lecturing at Emory University in Atlanta next Thursday as part of the Artists and Critics Lecture Series.  I’m thinking about going, but time and access to a car may get in the way…

Junior year is up and running and it looks to be a busy one. My classes have proved particularly inspiring and this weekend I’m helping some people shoot a short film on a RED One. I’ve read the script and it is a bonafide piece of crap, but at least they are crewing the project correctly and it will be close to the atmosphere of a real movie set. Many of us need all the help we can get in that regard.

Living in a dorm can be one of the most distracting things in the world, so my writing output (both for here at MovieZeal, sadly) has dwindled in the last few weeks. I’d like to put a stop to that, but the lack of a car and the omnipresence of my uncharacteristically giddy group of friends always puts a damper on that. But I love my friends … its one of the reasons I’m here, of course.

Still, I’ve gotten to watch a good many films over the last two weeks whether it be by myself, with friends, or in class. Here are some mini-reviews, should they mean anything to you:

I.O.U.S.A. (2008, dir. Patrick Creedon): I got a chance to see this during a one-night theatrical event followed by a live panel discussion with Warren Buffet and a bunch of other financial geniuses. I.O.U.S.A. is a very well-done documentary which shines a much-needed light on the national debt and how we as Americans can’t ignore it. There’s a lot of doom and gloom, but Creedon ends things on a positive note. I was actually smiling as I walked out of the theater. Short, exciting, and illuminating.

F for Fake (1958, dir. Orson Welles): I’m not one for superlatives, but Orson Welles’ documentary on art forgery may feature the best film editing I have ever seen. It’s a real mind flip and not just because the editing is quick. Anyone can do quick editing, but this has substance and tells a story as only Welles’ could. What a genius.

Bottle Shock (2008, dir. ): Poor Alan Rickman. Perhaps it is a nice story, but it is so lazily put together that you could never tell. I was ready to give it a chance and, indeed, I was until one of the main characters had this bar-side conversation with his girl:

GUY: I’m a complete loser.

GIRL: No, you’re not. You have a good heart. I had a heart transplant when I was a little girl. My mom said my heart had a history

The Warriors (1979, dir. Walter Hill): my Uncle always likes to tell a story about his days as an off-Broadway actor when he had to be in a gang scene as an extra. The casting agents couldn’t find enough real actors, so there he was with a whole bunch of theater types mixed in with real gang members. I found out this movie was The Warriors … a cult classic among some folks. For some reason, my film professor decided to show it during a beginning of the year get-together at his house. The movie accomplishes much simply by being exactly what it wants to be. The nighttime photography is seamless as well.

I can dig it.

Son of Rambow (2008, dir. ): a healthy dose of the best kind of sentimentality both impeccably made and beautifully realized. I would put it on the same level as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. A quality film all around that made me laugh until my stomach hurt.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008, dir. Bharat Nalluri): although I thought it would be better, I can’t say I was disappointed. It has a breezy pace and floats along with all the effervescence of the 40s big band score. Nice to see Lee Pace of Pushing Daisies in a leading role and Amy Adams always brings a smile. Charming, but without any bite.

The Proposition (2005, dir. John Hillcoat): I’d been wanting to watch this before John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road comes out later this year. Last weekend, I discussed with someone how if the film version of The Road is as violent as the book, there is no way it could get a R-rating. How would Hillcoat do it?

Now I know. The Proposition is the most violent film I have ever seen and could very well function as an homage to Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, the most violent book I’ve ever read. The violence is merciless, brutal, and graphic, yet the story keeps a strange beauty and poetry. Most definitely an atypical western that feels like a perfect fusion of No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Its been too long since I posted here, but life has been so busy lately that its even been hard to find time to tap out review for noir month at MovieZeal. But something happened today that’s worth noting.

In case you didn’t know, I have a bit of an obsession with Tom Jones. No, not the classic novel by Henry Fielding. The crooner. The one women throw their panties to whenever he sings. There’s no better way to describe his music than with the words “trance” or “candy” … its some of the most blissfully poppy music you’ll ever hear.

Anyway, my mother referred to a his song “Help Yourself (To My Lips)” today, but she got the name wrong. She changed it to “Suck Down My Lips.” Perhaps you had to be there, but it cracked me up for about 20 minutes.

But just in case that didn’t tickle you, this video of Tom singing that very song on his 60s TV show will. He’s got to be the most self-absordbed, consciously sexy male singer to ever live. Just look at the screen in the background during the chorus. My favorite part is the random closeup at 2:29.

I had a short discussion with an artist friend tonight in which I brought up the difference between good art and bad art right before she had to sign off. She was talking about how she entered a few of her pieces into a local fair and how disappointed she was that some of them weren’t even noticed. She got a few ribbons and it made her happy, but its hard to mask disappointment when a cartoon painting of two grizzly bears getting married wins a blue ribbon over your time-consuming watercolor.

I mentioned how people are in need of art education, especially here in Franklin County, PA. People this area think the word “art” means “arts and crafts.” There is a difference. Art is not just cute puppies, soft kitties, dalmations, grizzly bears, and the occasional patriotic tribute painting. We call that kitsch. But some people are moved by kitsche. Should we be judging the artist if some people are moved to do good by something that is artistically mediocre or even artistically offensive?

I was reminded of a superb essay I read in The New Yorker the other week about Faith and Doubt. In it, Tobias Wolff recounts his visit to a church with a friend for a showing of Bergman’s Winter Light:

It is a harrowing experience, this film, shot starkly in the winter light of its title and filled with wintry silences, the camera often unmoving in its scrutiny of the human face in anguish, uncertainty, and yearning. [...] Truly I felt harrowed, crust broken, buried things churning to the surface. The minister returned to the front of the church. In his frank, conversational way, he described his understanding of the movie—humanity in peril, lonely, afraid, as we seek power and find only more fear and loneliness, hiding from one another and from what we really want and what would give us true strength and friendship and new life, and yet here it is, all the while, knocking on our door—

He goes on to say how the film moved him intensely, but how he his thoughts were interrupted and halted by what the minister did next. Sliding Bergman’s film off the projector, the minister gave a plea accompanied by a painting of Jesus on the film screen:

The contrast between Bergman’s severe, honest art and this painting, on the same screen, chilled me. Was this what the minister held in his mind as the answer to all our problems—a kitschy figure from a calendar? I turned to [my friend] Rob. “Let’s get a pint.”

But Rob was intent on this very image. Rapt. He barely glanced at me. “You go on.”

That night—to some extent, that picture—changed his life. He enrolled in Bible classes at the church, and went on to become a missionary in Africa. The same night sent me in the opposite direction, at least for a time. But would a different painting—Caravaggio’s “Conversion of St. Paul,” for example—have kept me in the pew? We like to think of our beliefs, and disbeliefs, as founded on reason and close, thoughtful observation. Only in theory do we begin to suspect the power of aesthetics to shape our lives.

Thoughts?

Poor guy.

I write film reviews for my local newspaper its a hard job for me since said paper is a small rag where front page news is “Catalytic converter removed from local truck.” Needless to say, the community probably wouldn’t jive with detailed, deep, reviews so I do the best I can to cater to my audience. They reimburse me to for tickets, so I’m a happy man. I reviewed TDK for them yesterday and tapped out a review almost immediately after the IMAX screening I attended yesterday with Joseph … aka Cinexcellence. So here are my glowing, albeit very generic thoughts on the best Batman film so far. I’ll update this post later with some more detailed observations, probably after a second viewing.

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Chances are you’ve already seen The Dark Knight if you’re reading this, but just in case you haven’t, grab hold of this small piece of advice: go see this movie. Director Christopher Nolan’s sequel to his phenomenal reboot of the Batman franchise (2005’s Batman Begins) is every bit as incredible as the hype suggests. In fact, it’s probably even better.

At the end of the last film, Gotham’s caped vigilante helped restore order to the city despite the many prisoners loosed from Arkham Insane Asylum. With many psychopaths still on the loose, Gotham’s district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) does his best to restore order and justice by day while Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) guards the city by night. A just, true, and honest man, Harvey Dent is known as Gotham’s White Night. Bruce Wayne takes an interest in Dent, but not for those reasons. Wayne’s interest is a bit more personal: Dent is in love with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes), the only woman the billionaire head of Wayne Enterprises has ever loved.

Enter The Joker, a supremely twisted, paint-faced small arms dealer played by Heath Ledger. Ledger’s last complete performance before his unexpected death earlier this year is the kind of acting superlatives are made for. Traces of his prior performances are completely absent – whether it be the humble rebellion of Gabriel Martin in The Patriot or the caged anguish of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. This is something new and completely evil. A close match would be Anton Chigurh (the brutal bounty hunter of last year’s Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men), but Ledger’s Joker is so gleeful, so aware of his unrelenting nihilism, that the only way to reconcile his behavior would be to call him an incarnation of The Devil himself: a cold-blooded lover of carnage with no motivation other than to watch the world smolder in ashes of his making.

Evil this frightening can often make good guys seem boring, but this isn’t the case with The Dark Knight … and it’s not just because of Batman. If you watch closely, Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Commissioner Gordon is one of the most compelling aspects of the film. Placed in opposition to Ledger’s Joker, Gordon makes virtue look exciting and when one of Gotham’s most trusted allies descends into the depths of evil and madness, Gordon has a chance to prove his worth not just as one of Gotham’s prominent public officials, but as a true hero – a man of substance and dignity.

Recent action films have sacrificed these kinds of complex characters on the altar of special effects explosions. Somewhere along the line audiences decided it was boring to have real people lighting up the movie screen, yet The Dark Knight has characters every bit as detailed as any of last year’s award-winning movies. “Awards films” usually top my year-end list of Best Films. Atonement was beautiful and I savored every glorious second of There Will Be Blood (the best movie of 2007), but The Dark Knight deserves a place on the same pedestal because it ushers rich drama back into mainstream commercial entertainment without giving anyone a chance to blink.

This is what makes grand, lasting entertainment like The Godfather, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Vertigo, and The Shawshank Redemption – the movie classics of years past. As with these timeless movies, The Dark Knight will continue to come alive with repeated viewings and live on as one of the very best films of the decade.

More thoughts on this remarkable film forthcoming…