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Archive for the ‘Film’ Category

[Whoops! I told someone I saw this at the Provo Town Center Mall. Memory lapse; it was at the Dollar Theater northeast of the University Mall.]

[Another update: okay, way flipping with the vitriol from me again. I liked the beginning and end of this film. I was at times moved. And apparently this is a film that goes either way: either a person loves (or likes) the middle and hates the beginning and end or hates the middle and likes the beginning and end. I'm in the latter group.]

My wife and I went to see KING KONG at the dollar theater last night, long after reading this scathing review and hearing my coworkers in contrast rave about the film. Everything else in theaters right now is unenticing, except for perhaps WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN and FIREWALL – and maybe 16 BLOCKS. I recently peeked in on VENDETTA and CHURCH BALL. Snore, snore.

KING KONG was unmitigated senselessness.
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[Update: I dunno.. I think I'm just too dang cantankerous. Ditto for so much of this blog.]

So, I’m really obsessed with the film States of Grace. Here are my responses to three (aging) BYU Newsnet/Daily Universe printings that relate. Unfortunately, thier articles contain spoilers and treat the film as if it is gratuitious (which it isn’t). If you read only one of these, please read the third (jump ahead).

Here’s the first. My response: this writer totally misses it – everything, meaning, life. When you get closer to the Atonement things are “..grittier, heavier, darker..” – and that’s all!? What about the amazing bright light on the other side of that!? He totally pulls focus from that. He completely misses the point. And attending other people’s churches to understand thier religion is connected with being more “pessimistic”!? How about connecting that with being a neighbor to your neighbors, like our President Hinkley keeps asking us to do?

Here’s the second. This guy gives a review of Mormon Cinema apparently in its present State, without any mention of States of Grace, or of New York Doll (which is also excellent). How about States of Ignorance? Hello, Columbus! Have you even set sail?

(I borrowed that Columbus injunction. I think it’s funny. Also, States of Grace is still at the Provo Wynnsong theater at this writing.)

These are your future newspaper columnists and pundits, people – the BYU newsnet and Daily Universe writers. Talk back.
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If like me you didn’t watch the Oscars, this will be news. But first some questions – if Actresses are now called Actors, why aren’t both nominee categories called Best Actor? In fact, why do they give two awards? Sexist pigs. The future of progress is about unisex awards, and there should be one and only one award. You can wait till they make it to the stage to figure out whether they are a Man or Womyn. If in the near future this matter is still visually distinguishable.

And all the overinflated acceptance speeches.. who can bear that anymore? And who of the American public watched the short films in all the major American venues they aren’t showing them in to know anything about the nominees? Six Shooter won for short film. Alrightie. Guns are important.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN didn’t win Best Film. Now that blogger who predicted Best Film for it isn’t justified in being oh so cynical of Hollywood. Well.. maybe a bit more. It won Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. If these facts are conclusive proof of EVIL.

CRASH won Best Film and Original Screenplay. Philip Seymour Hoffman (CAPOTE) won Best Actor, and Rachel Weisz (THE CONSTANT GARDENER) won Best Actress.

Here is someoene else’s amusing understatements about the awards and a film major’s excuses* for not watching the awards (the latter page linked to the former).

Just admit it, people. You’ve become too ashamed of Hollywood to care anymore.

*Just kidding! Disneyland with your kids is like way cooler than the Oscars!

I think many folks will enjoy this film more than I did. I enjoyed this film about half the time when I was able to look past things that were bothering me.

As I noted in part one of my review of the LDS film festival, the writer/producer/director Ron Hensen said in surveys of audiences at test screenings they got positive responses from every demographic except mine – the 25-35 year old age group. This review I hope will give him a window on some possible reasons.
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Okay, I may have seriously burned any bridge to Deseret News/Book, and this following loose fiction (and farce) is what I should have sent, not that long lambaste. I am a devoted consumer of both and appreciate all the good they do.

If you don’t like introductions skip this paragraph. I wrote the following before the LDS Film Festival (which I beg you to believe, because I can’t prove it), but was afraid to post it because a)Since it is loose farce, it may offend some Mormons b)It shows the true depth of my insane devotion to both Richard Dutcher and John Moyer c)It may break new ground for “weird” and d)I’m just generally terrified of putting out there what I’m really inclined to write, which sometimes is things like this. I also want to point out that there are some strangely similar points in this which in my view emerged both in the way Haddock of the Deseret News reported the LDS film festival (I think she may have unintentionally attributed an idea to Dutcher that wasn’t his, and I thought it seemed her opinion hung on it) and in what Richard Dutcher said at the Festival (about balance). May the farce be with you..
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[update: I'll probably soon post feedback I've had on this.]

The Deseret News published an article by Sharon Haddock which either outright invented or seriously twisted words by Richard Dutcher, then proceeded to use them in a screed against LDS film comedies, expressly against Dutcher’s own discouragement that anyone do so.

For reference, here is the article.

I attended Dutcher’s presentation at the Scera during the LDS film festival, which this article references to build its screed. I do not recall Dutcher ever saying, as this article asserts, that many of the films that have come out since God’s Army “..call for Mormons to laugh at the Latter-day Saint religion and its culture.”

On the contrary, at this event Dutcher listed some LDS films that he likes, among them The Singles Ward, and he has said elsewhere that Halestorm’s Mobsters and Mormons is by far the best LDS comedy to date.
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This is my report of participation in the LDS film festival. I say participation instead of attendance because my ludicrous guffaws and moans of hysterical weeping were heard at several screenings. Just kidding on the hysterical weeping. I also say participation because I
wrote cryptic scrawls in forums from which I derive these notes, lest I forget.
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A note: I had the opportunity to ask Richard Dutcher his advice on screenwriting. I divulged it at this blog entry under my first comment (Alex).

States of Grace will re-release in Utah, in Salt Lake and Utah counties, on the 20th. Check the “theaters” link at the film’s website for locations.

States of Grace will show tomorrow evening at a free screening, at 7 PM, at the Regency at Trolly Square, Salt Lake City. There will be a panel discussing the film afterwards, and the screening is free and open to the public. I learned this from a newsletter forwarded from the theater.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (9.0MB)

This is a taping of a pitch of this film concept, Extreme Mormons, to several producers in LDS film in Utah – some HaleStorm folks, and the woman who at the end says “Yeah – I doubt it” is Stin Hansen who was a producer on God’s Army and States of Grace. The folks pitching it didn’t make the trailer – they had interviewed the HaleStorm folks about LDS film for a documentary about the LDS and offshoot religions, and they were showing it as a favor to an LDS filmmaker in Australia who had used some of their equipment to make this.

The concept trailer is apparently clips from, or based on, an episode of a television show in Australia entitled “Saffron vs. God” with a premise of a (discontented?) Jew trying out various religions, this round being mormonism.

This to me is very funny – especially that the producers were very charitable and didn’t laugh: they probably see stuff that rediculous pitched all the time that is not farce. I don’t know.. if I were a producer and that was pitched to me I think I would lack the charity to not laugh my head off. Or at least, I did when I saw what was being pitched.

I wonder if the folks pitching it weren’t pulling a gag on the producers – the whole tone of thier pitch is serious, but the concept trailer they show is completely over the top. It is just way too extreme to not be farce.

If I had money to burn I’d pick this up for production in a heartbeat. It’s made me laugh my head off. But I’d market it to non-mormons.

This poster advertising the film States of Grace has a comment I made about the film. In light of the quote I was amused to learn this. The comment was in a mailing list on mormon literature and art. It’s the last quote on the poster, and if you aren’t getting this image, it says:

“…drained my soul like a ruthless VAMPIRE and then put everything back and more. Holy Guacomole.” – Alex Hall, aml-list

My original quote didn’t put vampire in all-caps, but I appreciate the emphasis.

The translation of this is that I highly recommend that you go see this film. And did you see Mobsters and Mormons? If not, be flogged by my previous entry. And will you go see New York Dolls? I’m going to go see that one too.

Mobsters and Mormons is out in theaters – here is a theater listing.

I am credited in the movie by my full name, Richard Alexander Hall.

I expect to have a clip of my scene fairly soon. Meanwhile, praises and criticisms of the film are collected on this page, and clips of it also. There are a few other entries on it in this Mobsters and Mormons category.

The Cast

I think all the leads did great work, particularly the ones portraying parents (which now strikes me) – Marc DeCarlo, Jeanette Puhich, Scott Christopher, and Britani Bateman. IMDB has a cast listing. Marc DeCarlo is praised in most of the reviews as really carrying the piece, and I agree.

Praise

It won best Actor, Actress, Screenplay and Director against three other narrative films in the 2005 SpudFest.

Writes John Moyer of the response at SpudFest:

.. perhaps most exciting is the overwhelming response from those people who are not Mormon who live far outside the proverbial Utah-Idaho Jell-O Belt. It was great to have these people come up to me and provide such a wonderful response and wanting to know if it would come to their local theaters in various parts of the country and when they could get the DVD.

Here are a slew of overall positive reviews – especially the first I think – all-encompassingly (Probably the first formal review in any media, too), Ogden Standard Examiner (gives away many of the gags), The Salt Lake Tribune, BoxOffice, Meridian Magazine, The Movie Show on KSL (Real Audio File – Doug Wright: “Laughing my butt off.”

I have heard both a theater-goer and theater owner at different times describe it as “cute”. That bodes well with the women – both these people were.

Pseudonymous Flog’s entry on it backfired beautifully! – in the comments.

Criticism
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The film releasing today in which I have my first lines, it’s time I followed up on my promise to write about what persuaded me to act. Following is an abridgement of previously unpublished writing about it.

In June 2003, I was reading a test preparation book which described methods to calm over-anxiety and free up energy to perform well. It suggested vividly recalling moments of past successes, times I did something really well. Doing this for an exam connects feelings of past success to the present, producing a calm confidence. This book asked me to list memories of when I did really well with something and felt really satisfied. Reflecting for a while I came up with many things I did just well enough, but not well, nothing I was satisfied with – until one memory came: haunting and thrilling at the same time.
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I went to the premiere last night with me mum. She cried. Oh, the currency of a mother’s tears! I was more moved watching it this second time – less distrated by focusing on audience reactions and more seeing what the actors actually did. These lead actors are all very good.

I knew the gags already, but was I suppose giggling through many of them anyway, and guffawing at the more outrageous ones.

It was nice to see the leads of the film again and congratulate them on a great job – great job to the writer/director also.

Last night I saw myself in a big movie, speaking lines with big actors, thus enlarging the size of my head. At least, my head was really big on a big screen.

I enjoyed the film a lot. I thought there were a lot of very funny scenes, that it was a riot on the whole, and also that it held together while being poigniant, which is a very difficult thing for a comedy to do.

Afterwards a friend asked if it was weird to see myself on the screen. Yes, it was disorienting – the shots for my scene were assembled with a timing and sequence different from what I imagined, and the improvised lines weren’t used. I was so distracted wondering about the cause it took me a long while to suspend disbelief again.

Good shots and lines can be taken out of films if they break editorial continuity – not matching other shots, etc. It can be painful but better the film.

I’ll look forward to seeing the official Utah premiere without my distractions, on the 7th.

[2006 July Update: Okay, some spam bot, or someone with a spam bot, is OBSESSED with comment-spamming this entry. None of the comments have gotten through my spam filter, so spammers comments aren't getting anywhere. And they won't get anywhere, so I suggest spammers drop it here. In fact, I'm forcing them to - comments closed.

Also, where have I gotten since learning the stuff in this entry? Not so far. TIME TO START MOVING. Writing. I'm writing something other than what is mentioned here.]

I asked the producer of a prominent, successful film some questions about producing, film making, and acting. It only occured to me afterwards that I really want to put this in my blog, so I’m leaving the person anonymous. Really, I might have anticipated I wouldn’t quite gather everything without taping it and going back to it (is this my first “duh” lesson of any kind of journalism?), because there was a lot said and in the below I only paraphrase from notes and memory.
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