Contour At The Movies

I’ve been following an animator and filmmaker on YouTube for some time now named Patrick Boivin.  In terms of creativity and talent, he’s the real thing.

Patrick just posted a short video called IRON BABY.  In just over one minute he packs in more fun, action, and wonder than IRON MAN 2 did in over 2 hours.  CLICK HERE to watch and be amazed.  And then if you really want to be inspired, watch the rest of his videos, particularly the ones where he shows you how he does what he does.

Patrick…thanks for showing us what one guy with creative vision, style, talent, and a cute baby can do!

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

I had the good fortune today of interviewing the very gracious Chris Stevens, co-founder of Atomic Antelope, the people who have  single-handedly ushered in a new era in digital media with the release of the Alice for the iPad book app.

On the podcast, Chris and I chat about finding success as a writer in unexpected ways, satisfying the creative urge, and what it’s like to see Oprah Winfrey interact with something you created just a few weeks ago.  You can hear the podcast by CLICKING HERE.

Thanks again, Chris.  Sorry about the crack about wanting to milk you…

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

P.S. As the podcasts are new, if you felt like rating them on iTunes and even saying a few kind words in a review, that would greatly appreciated.

Sure, I like film and television writing as much as the next guy, however the guys over at Atomic Antelope may have just shown us a glimpse of things to come for those of us who love the written word (aka “writers”), media (aka “screenwriters”), and technology (aka “geeks like me.”)

If you haven’t seen the video of the Alice for iPad app, CLICK HERE and check it out.  I know it’s an iPad app and not a film or a television show or a YouTube series, but it IS another way for people who are creative to create content and get into the hands of an appreciative audience.  And once the audience gets really appreciative, well, who knows where that will lead one’s career?

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

My first few attempts at posting My Story Can Beat Up Your Story podcasts are now available on iTunes.   You can find them by CLICKING HERE.

At the moment the format for the podcasts is an elaboration of some of the reviews posted here, starting with IRON MAN 2 and KICK-ASS.  They’re very similar to the printed review, only with a bit more, uh, me.

Please give them a listen and subscribe.  Also, please start posting some reviews and ratings on iTunes.  And if you have any suggestions either for how to improve either the quality of the podcast or ideas about content you’d like to hear, don’t be shy about letting me know.

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

Overall Impression – I’m not sure what liking this movie tells me about myself.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Dave.

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: Become a superhero. Personal: Get Katie to love him. Private: Overcome the loss of his mother and the breakdown of his family.

Who’s trying to stop him? – The very, very evil Frank D’Amico.

What happens if he fails? – He and 11 year old Hit Girl will get killed, and the city will be overrun by D’Amico’s evil criminal empire.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Dave is a social outcast at school, who claims that his only super-power is being invisible to girls.

Wanderer – He decides that he wants to be a superhero and goes about trying to figure out how to do it and not get himself killed.

Warrior – He becomes an internet sensation, and struggles to keep everything together as he realizes that things are getting out of control.  In addition, he meets some real (and really nuts) super heroes, Big Daddy and Hit Girl.

Martyr – Realizing that he can’t hide anymore, he needs to believe in his own hype and risk it all to save Hit Girl and bring down D’Amico.

AND, IN THE END…

CLICK to hear the PODCAST

Yes, everything you’ve heard about the movie is true: there is an 11 year old girl who kills with abandon, get’s the snot kicked out of her by a 40 year old man, and uses worse language than I ever did, and I grew up in Brooklyn.  This movie takes your moral compass and spins it like a top.

And yet…and yet…KICK-ASS is overflowing with a sense of fun and irreverence.  It dares you not to take it too seriously.  But, is that possible, with cute-as-a-button Hit Girl bloodily killing people with the abandon of a heartless abattoir worker?

I’m confident that KICK-ASS wasn’t trying to inspire moral hand-wringing, but it is what it is.  And considering that the movie didn’t perform as well as hoped for in spite of the skill and originality behind it, perhaps this is a good example of underestimating what the market will tolerate.

I’m glad I saw the film, and fervently hope that it doesn’t inspire a raft of similar movies.  And I’m not sure what that says about me, either.

- Jeffrey Alan Schechter

Overall Impression – More is sometimes less.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Tony Stark

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: Keep his Iron Man suit from falling into various wrong hands. Personal: Make the ultimate connection with Pepper Potts. Private: Find a way not to die because his chest-mounted arc reactor is poisoning him.

Who’s trying to stop him? – A plethora or fairly useless villains, including bitter, revenge-fueled Ivan Vanko, jealous and egotistical Justin Hammer, and officious and misguided Senator Stern.

What happens if he fails? – The Iron Man technology will be used by the military who, presumably, don’t know how to use things that blow up other things.  The real problem is that if Tony Stark doesn’t come up with a new energy source, he’ll die.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Tony, knowing that he’s dying, is making himself more of a jerk than before, alienating those closest to him..

Wanderer – After narrowly suviving an attack by Ivan as Whiplash, Tony tries to come up some new energy sources (this is implied, more than shown).  Failing this, he shifts into uber-jerk mode and goes on a morbid quest to make himself happy (also, more implied than shown.)

Warrior –  Very, very weak.  Ivan is presumed dead so Tony’s not fighting Ivan.  Hammer is working quietly on his own mechanized robots, so Tony’s not really going mano-a-mano with Hammer, and the Senate hearings are over so he’s not going up against the Senator.  I guess Tony kinda fighting to stay alive, but he’s not actively doing anything until he bottoms out at the end of Act Two.  This section really dragged and was poorly defined.

Martyr – Tony realizes that he has to pull himself together in order to find the cure to his blood poisoning, defeat Ivan whom he now knows is alive, and save Pepper who somehow has managed to be able to command the NYPD and is in danger of being blown up.

AND, IN THE END…

CLICK to hear the PODCAST

I loved the first IRON MAN, and I have huge respect for Robert Downey, Jr.  This movie, however, in trying to humanize Tony Stark just seemed to play like a version of LEAVING LOS VEGAS as imagined by Stan Lee.

I remember looking at my watch as the first Iron Man fight occurred in Monaco between Tony and Ivan.  It was around 4:50pm (if memory serves).  The movie started at 3:10.   Give 20 minutes for trailers and commercials, and that’s well over an hour into IRON MAN 2 before the first Iron Man fight.  And it wasn’t even that good of a fight.  That’s some superhero story architecture math that just doesn’t add up.

In attempting to make Tony more human, they made his Raison d’être an appendage.  Even my very non-discriminating 12 year old son was shifting in his seat, waiting for something to happen.  I think it says a lot that one of my favourite moments in the movie wasn’t even in the movie: in the trailer to the movie, Tony and Pepper are in the back of an open airplane and Tony asks Pepper for a kiss.  She sensually kisses Tony’s helmet that she’s holding in her hands and then tosses it out of the back of the plane.  ”You complete me” he says as he jumps out the plane and goes after it.  Too bad that scene isn’t in the finished film.  More of this and less of Tony Stark dressed as Iron Man and drunkenly blasting watermelons tossed by buxom partygoers at  his birthday party, I say!

Meanwhile, the movie has made almost $330 million dollars since it opened overseas last weekend and in North America this weekend.  That’s a pretty good haul and a good indicator that Iron Man 3 is already in the planning stages.  It’s also the exact reason I maintain that if you want to learn what makes a good movie, you have to ignore sequels and remakes and only examine those non-sequel, non-remake, non-adaptations that come out of nowhere and excite the masses.

- Jeffrey Alan Schechter

It plays like a spoof, but it’s a brilliant move by George Lucas at keeping the Star Wars universe fresh, surprising, memorable, and relevant;  everything you want your creativity to be!

I SO can’t wait for my GPS to break so it needs replacing…

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter