Contour At The Movies

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…

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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

Overall Impression – Inside this raunchy, foul-mouthed comedy is a sweet movie.  Somewhere.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Adam

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: Get back to 2010 from 1986.  Personal: Be a good friend to crazed, alcoholic Lou.  Private: Pull his life together and learn that some things just can’t be controlled.

Who’s trying to stop him? – Blaine, the ski patrol jock (although Blaine is after Lou more than he is after Adam.)

What happens if he fails? – They get stuck in the past and Jacob, his nephew (who technically hasn’t been born yet) phases out (aka, dies).

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Adam’s girlfriend has just moved out, leaving Adam with a very nice but fairly denuded apartment.  He’s got his shut-in nephew staying with him and a couple of sad-sack friends whom he isn’t close with.

Wanderer – After a drinking binge in a faulty hot tub, Adam, his friends, and nephew end up in 1986.  There is the usual wandering around, first to figure out what has happened, then to figure out what they need to do to fix the situation, all the while prodded on their way by the mysterious hot tub repairman who knows more than he’s saying.

Warrior – Upon learning what they need to do, the three set out to recreate the events of their night together in 1986 that has supposedly led to their current state of sad-sackiness.  They each have middling and modulated success doing this, until finally they’ve defeated the ski patrol jock and prepare to get back to 2010.

Martyr –   Lou realizes that he can change his future by staying in the past (betting on games he knows the outcome to and inventing that ubiquitous search engine, ‘Lougle’)  and Adam, not wishing to abandon his friend again is willing to stay with him even though he doesn’t want to live through the same twenty years all over again.  Lou sacrifices having his best buddy around by tossing Adam into the newly repaired hot tub (time machine!).  Even the ski patrol has a little martyr moment at the end, giving up their revenge against Lou, Adam, et al in order to save someone’s arm in one of the most over-the-top comedy runners of recent memory.

AND, IN THE END…

And the winner of the most F-words in a single movie goes to…

It’s probably not the winner, but it’s gotta be in the top ten.  At the very least, an honourable mention of some kind.  And not to be prudish, but this was a case where the overuse of foul language didn’t punctuate the movie, it defined the experience of watching it.  The over-application of the F Bomb actually interfered with what could have been a funnier, more satisfying movie.

To compare, THE HANGOVER, with its 78 F-words and its derivatives (according to www.kids-in-mind.com) managed to make me laugh with guilty pleasure.   HOT TUB TIME MACHINE (191 F-words and its derivatives) just made feel guilty.  The unfortunate thing is that there really is a good, kind-hearted story in HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, however my first memory after seeing the movie is neither the story nor the jokes (those memories come later) but apologizing to my wife and the other couple with whom I saw the movie for not investigating it more carefully before suggesting we see it.

The odd thing is that the more I think about the movie, the more moments I remember liking.  It’s both a shame that they got buried in an avalanche of foul language as well as a cautionary warning to writers and producers.

I’m not the first person to compare HOT TUB TIME MACHINE to THE HANGOVER, and their respective box office takes are: after 13 weeks in release,HOT TUB TIME MACHINE is at $40 million dollars.  THE HANGOVER, at 13 weeks, was at $163 million dollars.  Obviously there are many different factors that explain the relative success between movies, but one certainly cannot rule out the possibility that the pervasive, unnecessary foul language is a much bigger turn off than a turn on.

- Jeffrey Alan Schechter

“My Story Can Beat Up Your Story!”, the book, is finally finished and delivered to the good guys over at Michael Wiese Publishing.  Early word is very encouraging.

I’m insanely proud of this book and I think people are going to be jazzed by the information in it.  It takes much of what I talk about on this site and in Contour and kicks it up to a higher level.  Much higher.  It includes chapters on theme, building a cast of characters that helps drive your story, designing the perfect Villain for your Hero (and vice versa), and it even includes an extensive business plan for launching a writing career.

The book is scheduled for publication in Spring, 2011.  A year off?!  I wish it could come out sooner.  Maybe if the publisher permits, as we get closer I’ll be able to sneak peek some chapters.

I’d like to thank all of you for the encouragement and kind words over the years, and I really can’t wait to hear what people think once the book is published.

The journey continues…

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

I couldn’t be more pleased or proud to announce the official release of Contour for iPhone.  The gang at Mariner Software have done a great job.  Now you can work on your story brilliance on the go as well as at your desk or on your laptop.  And at $4.99, the program is a total no-brainer…even if you DON’T own the desktop version.

Great job to Michael, Corey, and the entire Mariner gang.

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

I just saw a trailer for my new, next favorite movie.  Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

Overall Impression – Alice’s return trip to Wonderland is curiously forgettable.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Alice.

What’s she trying to accomplish? – Physical: defeat the Jabberwocky and save Wonderland from the Red Queen.  Emotional: decide whether or not to get married.  Spiritual: learn that she can choose her own path.

Who’s trying to stop her? – The Red Queen, the Knave of Hearts, plus Alice doubting that she’s the Alice that Wonderland wants her to be.

What happens if she fails? – Alice and her friends will die, and the Red Queen will continue to rule Wonderland unopposed.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan – Alice has forgotten her first trip to Wonderland, so when she does return, it’s like venturing into a new world.  She’s also forgotten that Wonderland taught her to make her own destiny instead of doing what people tell her to do.

Wanderer – Alice explores Wonderland, meeting all of her old friends and learning what the Red Queen has done.  She tries to figure out if this is all a dream, and whether or not she’s the Alice that everybody hopes she is.  She learns that Alice, whether that be her or another Alice, is destined to defeat the Jabberwocky and free Wonderland from the Red Queen.

Warrior – Alice sets out to rescue the Mad Hatter from the Red Queen and to retrieve the fabled sword needed to defeat the Jabberwocky.

Martyr – Alice accepts her destiny as the White Queen’s champion, and faces the fearsome Jabberwocky one on one to save Wonderland.

AND, IN THE END…

This attempt to retell ALICE IN WONDERLAND as a linear story instead of a somewhat random series of events could have a certain appeal, and there’s nothing wrong with trying to add more depth to an already rich story.  On the other hand, by making sense of the non-sensical, you risk taking the heart out of what Wonderland is about.

Alice’s return to Wonderland felt a little flat, and even tedious at times.  Her first adventure was incredibly weird, and incredibly memorable.  As a result, I couldn’t buy that she’d chalked her first trip up to a dream, let alone that she spent the entirety of the movie convinced that she wasn’t the same Alice that had visited Wonderland previously.  Alice and her audience have already experience Wonderland, yet Alice is the only one who can’t remember anything about that incredible first trip.  Maybe it’s inevitable that this adaptation felt slightly old hat…  How much wonder is left in Wonderland when you’ve been there countless times before in other adaptations?

That being said, a lot about ALICE IN WONDERLAND is new, and often very fun.  The Mad Hatter’s crew and the Red Queen throw out some laughs, and it goes without saying that this is an incredibly visual movie.  I might have enjoyed the film more had I seen it in 3D.

One thing WONDERLAND does well is illustrating the power of ‘kick the dog’.  This land is so full of animal characters that you can tell who the bad guys are, and how bad they are, by how severely and how often they ‘kick the dog’.

The Red Queen is the worst animal abuser: she whacks rodents around the lawn using bird clubs, uses pigs as footstools, decapitates a frog servant, and holds a dog’s family hostage!  Next down the list is the Knave: while the Red Queen’s henchman isn’t exactly nice to the animals of Wonderland, he’s kinda chummy with his evil horse.  Follow this pattern down to Alice’s wimpy would-be fiancé, who’s about to squish a caterpillar on his shoulder before Alice manages to save it.

- Dan Pilditch

• #mscbuys Finished the first draft of "MY STORY CAN BEAT UP YOUR STORY!" The exclamation mark is part of the title. Am excited, though. #

I know I’ve been a bit lax updating movies here at Contour At The Movies lately, but I’ve been making the big push to finish up  my book for Michael Wiese Publishers, ‘My Story Can Beat Up Your Story!’ I’m having a great time writing the book, and I think that’ll show when it’s published in 2011.  Thanks also to the brave and patient souls who are reading and critiquing chapters-in-progress.

In the meantime, I’d like to share two things with you: a website and a game.  The website is by a script consultant named Dr. Stan Williams who has written a book called ‘The Moral Premise.‘  He deals extensively with the Hero’s inner need in a very complete and spiritual fashion.  Good, good stuff.  You can read his blog at http://moralpremise.blogspot.com.

While chatting this morning with my buddy, Austin-based screenwriter Alvaro Rodriguez, we invented a new game which I’m dubbing ‘Contour Keywords.’  Here’s how it’s played (two-player version):

1. Think of a movie and look it up at www.imdb.com.
2. Look up the Keywords associated with the movie (you can find Keywords listed in the menu bar on the left side of the IMDB webpage under “Storyline”.)
3. Using the first four keywords, share them with your opponent and see if he or she can guess the movie.  If they can, they get a score of 4.  If they can’t, keep adding keywords until your opponent guesses the movie.   Your opponents score increases by one point for each additional keyword.  Make sure you eliminate any keywords that are too obvious (CITIZEN KANE’s first keywords are “Reporter, Rosebud, Newspaper, and Power.”   Obviously, “Rosebud” makes it too obvious, so drop that keyword and go to the next word on the list, “Last Words.”
4. Each person picks 5 movies and players  alternate turns.  The person with the score closest to 20 (a perfect score) wins.  The loser has to give the winner a first look deal and 10% commission for a year.  Or a beer.
5. Try not to pick movies that are too obscure.  Better yet, agree on a genre, era, movie star, etc ahead of time.

I’ll start.  Name this movie: “Sequel, karate, prison fight, mixed martial arts.”

Yup,  Bloodsport 2.

– Jeffrey Alan Schechter

Overall Impression – A classic I wish I’d seen sooner.

THE FOUR QUESTIONS

Who’s your main character? – Ted Kramer.

What’s he trying to accomplish? – Professional: balance being a single parent with his treasured career.  Personal: develop a genuine father/son relationship.  Private: realize what his priorities in life are.

Who’s trying to stop him? – Ted’s his own worst enemy, but deflectors include his ex-wife and his boss at the ad agency.

What happens if he fails? – Ted will lose his son.

THE FOUR ARCHETYPES

Orphan –Ted’s a ghost to his family because he puts his work first.  He barely has a relationship with his wife, and has pretty much no relationship with his son.

Wanderer – Ted figures out how to balance being a single parent and a working professional, and wrestles with why his wife left him and abandoned their son.  His priorities begin to change as his son becomes more important in his life.

Warrior – Ted starts experiencing genuine pleasure in being a real father, but when his ex-wife returns seeking custody of their son, Ted does everything in his power to build his case to win the upcoming court battle, including getting a new job in one day.

Martyr –  Ted and his ex-wife go to court, where the lawyers tear both of them apart.  Ted loses custody of his son, and while he could appeal the court’s decision, to do so would only make his son suffer, so he decides to let the kid stay with his mother.

AND, IN THE END…

The premise behind KRAMER VS KRAMER never sparked an interest for me when I was younger, but I wish I’d seen it sooner.   It’s a funny, moving movie, and Kramers Sr. and Jr. make for a great pairing.

Often, the first plot point of a movie introduces the hero, the villain or the victim (often as the stakes character).  The second plot point illustrates the hero’s flaw in relation to the stakes character.  If Kramer senior is the hero, and little Kramer is the stakes character, then what is Kramer senior’s flaw?  He’s a workaholic and never has time for his family. In contrast, little Kramer is a play-aholic and ONLY has time for his family.  These characters are polar opposites, conflict inevitably happens, and they learn and grow from each other.

Of course, the pairing of opposites isn’t anything new, but it’s always interesting to see how such dynamics play out, and valuable to learn from them when they’re done so well.

- Dan Pilditch