The American Dream Part 2- Beetlejuice vs Dracula

Another post, another matchup. This time the two reviews will be on the mythical and damn right bizaare with Francis Ford Coppola's "Dracula" and Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice".

Dracula, you're up first.

I have to admit I hadn't seen many of Copolla's works, apart from the acclaimed Godfather trilogy, so I was genuinely looking forward to seeing his take on Nosferatu, I wondered which direction it would swing whether it would be a dark out and out horror or maybe something more subtle.

Well, when the credits rolled and I saw Keano Reeves my high hopes were significantly knocked, and then I heard the "English" accent, Jesus I could act better than him. Aside from that I felt that the cast was actually very strong and luckily Keano doesn't play a major part in the picture, Gary Oldman steals the show as the Count and Winona Ryder gives a very good performance as seductive character Mina with Anthony Hopkins appearing out of nowhere as Van Helsing, it is certainly a star studded affair.

As far as Copolla's direction goes, it was very interesting, an over sexualised account of the beast was a good choice in my opinion. It gave the whole piece a fresh outlook. The first act was great, I enjoyed watching the buildup to Keano's trip to Transylvania, and the prelude detailing the day the Count cursed his body for eternity was very fulfilling. However, the ending... it felt as it the film had morphed into a dumb downed blockbuster as Winona gracefully puts the stake through the Counts heart, she follows that with hacking his head off with the blade. Why? Why swipe his head off when you've already killed the creature with the stake? Way too obvious and clunky in my opinion which almost spoilt a slow burning drama. Furthermore, guess what, Copolla couldn't decide upon the ending and his friend Mr George Lucas stepped inand ushered him to have her take his head off. Another great decision George! That's almost like having this great trilogy about a guy who travels the world in search of ancient relics and then throwing in Aliens for the hell of it.

Overall I'd give the film a kind 3.5 stars out of 5, the ending really did let the picture down for me.

 Keep em coming.

Next up... Beetlejuice.

Another dark film about a couple who die in a car crash and are stuck in their home for eternity, that wouldn't be too bad would it? but drama ensues when an obnoxious family in with a gothic teenage daughter, good old Winona, the couple are forced to enlist the help of Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) a ghastly ghoul who eradicates humans.

I'm not a big fan of Tim Burton, especially his more recent work, but credit where credit's due this is a fine film that had me laughing out loud at several occasions and startled at some of the effects and active questions raised for example when the couple attempts to leave the house there is an fascinating glimpse into nothing-ness a never-ending desert occupied by a sand whale of some sorts.

Michael Keaton is hilarious in his portrayal of scumbag ghoul Beetlejuice, he is mentioned subtly throughout however only truly makes an entrance 35 minutes into the film, considering its only a 90 minute feature its amazing that the title character doesn't appear in the first third at all. That was one of my criticisms of the film, Keaton is simply magic on screen and its a shame he isn't in it longer.

The ending was nowhere near as jarring as Dracula's and does finish at the right time.

A delightfully fun film that reminds me that Tim Burton is a visionary, or was anyway, if you haven't seen it make sure you do, you won't regret it. A solid 4.5 out of 5.

Part 3 of this mini American series coming up will involve The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher's take).

The American Dream. Part 1- Sideways vs Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

Before  I get into writing this, don't worry, I won't be putting these two films against each other in an awkward attempt to make comparisons and come out with a "winner". To be honest, it sounded good in the title so if you are here to see the winner between these two pictures then you might want to stop reading... now.

First things first, I had seen several clips from Sideways in recent lectures and I'm pretty sure I had seen a fragmented version of the film when I was younger but never seen the film the whole way through so it was nice to get that out the way.

I watched the film on the plane from London to Miami so you could say I wasn't in the mood for a drama about  a journey through California that is enriching and endearing. I've always been a fan of Paul Giamatti, loving him in Cinderella Man and The Illusionist but his portrayal of wannabe writer Miles Raymond is fantastic.

I love the wine subtext throughout the film leading to, arguably, the most poignant scene of the film where Miles unravels himself when talking about his favourite grape with love interest Maya (Virginia Madsen).

This film is timeless, if I were to watch it again in ten years it would have the same impact as the one it gave me ten days ago. I love this type of drama where at the end of the narrative nothing particularly has changed on the surface, Miles continues to be a high school English teacher and best friend Jack ties the knot, however the mindset or attitude to life has monumentally differed. Miles realisation that he will never be an the accomplished writer works because with that loss he gains the companionship of Maya.

Okay. Think Critically.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World is a film that I actually saw in the cinema at the time of release and to be honest I didn't enjoy it. It felt cheap, a kop-out. I love Shaun of the Dead and don't have a bad word to say about it but with Scott Pilgrim it just felt desperate.

The casting didn't help. Michael Cera as the lead seemed like a strange choice. I guess Edgar Wright needed  an A-lister to get the film off the ground but the reason I enjoyed Shaun of the Dead so much was because it felt new and very fresh. I had never seen Spaced (I have now) so the directorial style really impressed me. This time around I felt it was too much, I understood that the film was heavily influenced by the old Nintendo 64 games etc but it didn't hide an obvious narrative and cliched love story.

That's what was the most disappointing for me because it just felt forced. Whereas in Sideways Maya and Miles had a clear connection and I was urging them to hook up with Scott Pilgrim, the on screen relationship between Scott and Ramona was poor, I didn't understand how or why they would want to be together. They didn't seem to have anything in common. I guess the narrative was something that couldn't be changed as the film is an adaptation of the Comic book but this film just wasn't for me.


Next up: Beetlejuice, Dracula, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Cheers.

God I wish I had a beard like Paul.

Coming Soon.

A bit of personal information, I'm currently on holiday in the states meaning that there won't be a blog post (excluding this one) for a couple of weeks, what will you do without me?

However when I return I will be giving my observations upon any tv shows or feature films I have watched during my stay.

So far I have consumed :

Sideways (On Plane)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Big Bang Theory
Friends
Life's Too Short
Family Guy.

There will also be an ambiguous post about a series I'm currently planning, although if you know me ( I can't really see anybody reading this who doesn't know me) you will know what I'm reffering to.

I'm gutted to be missing Madmen season 5 as it premiered, at home, on the night I left. But I did buy a Sopranos poster today which I wouldn't find in the UK.

Well, time to put on a few more pounds.


 Cheers.

Feedback.

The last post for BUstation!

This entry will deal with my second script for the university soap "Hidden". By now you should know the ins and outs of my second script "Last Summer" as I previously brainstormed and then documented the issues I had whilst typing up the script.

Well, just to recap, Last Summer is about Marissa the student who unfortunately has lost her father over the summer and is now dealing with the grief which is personified by the character George, her father.

Right. The main issues with it were:

1. The deceased father, George, comes off as too much of a nuisance/prick. Meaning we ,the audience, can't sympathise with him as much as we should.

2. Marissa's motives are questionable at times during the script, for example, at one point Marissa is asked to go for a drink, she rolls her eyes, which to many people is a clear-cut rejection yet I seem to have missed this and had her go along for the hell of it.

3. As you may have noticed from these blog posts, my grammar isn't up to the standard it should be as a writer.

My solutions to these problems will be as follows:

1. Instead of having doting father George pelt his daughter with paperballs in class, effectively making her look like a freak, I shall have him making sure that Marissa is keeping up with the teaching.

2. I'll make Marissa a clearer character, when she cries she is upset, if she laughs she is amused. She won't be this strange concoction of elements that allows her to go for drinks with strangers for no direct reason. She will have clearer motives.

3. It's time to go back to school, get my nose in some Literacy books etc.

There we go! I hope whoever has been reading these posts has enjoyed my cyber company.

Cheers.

I wish Alan Rickman was my teacher.

"Last Summer"

This post is dedicated to BUstation, specifically, the second script I have written for the University soap "Hidden".  As you may have guessed from the title, very original, it's called "Last Summer" and is based upon the ramblings in my last BUstation related blog post.

That particular post was dedicated to brainstorming an idea around the loss of a loved one. I named my character Marissa and decided that her father had passed away over the summer between the two terms.

In the end, however, I did encounter a couple of problems when I came to typing up the script. The first thing I realised was that it would be difficult to convey such a big loss over three measly pages. I also wanted the piece to have a sense of closure.

This was when I decided to personify the character that had died, George, Marissa's father. It is not revealed how he died because quite frankly it doesn't matter. This is Marissa's story and revolves around her dealing with the loss of an immediate family member.

I think in hind-sight this is a more accesible script than "Accumlator" as the majority of people have had to deal with bereavement whereas only a portion of you will have had to deal with a gambling addiction.

I hope this script will be better received than my last for "Hidden" and look forward to receiving feedback from the script editor.

Cheers.

P.S Im struggling to find a picture for this post.

One day I hope to write a "Quirky Black Comedy".

New Horizons

My love affair with the Sopranos came to an abrupt end (Thanks Mr Chase) last weekend. The last season was everything I expected it to be: compelling, poignant and most of all it left me wanting more. Since watching the final sequence in the restaraunt, I have proceeded to watching rerun after rerun of the ending on youtube trying to decipher all of the symbolism and any clues that may lead to the fate of Tony Soprano and his family.

However when one show ends, another must begin. Now I start my search for the replacement to a series that I invested approximately 86 hours of my time to. I am currently re-watching Madmen with my girlfriend, were up to season 3, and up to season 6 of Curb Your Enthusiam. Both great shows in their own right however I find myself wanting more.

I started watching Boardwalk Empire when it first aired and for the most part enjoyed season 1.It didn't suck me in though. I have season 2 on planner but to be honest I don't see myself getting to the end of that series.

Alot of my course mates watch Breaking Bad and the Walking Dead, so perhaps I need to give them a chance. So which do I choose? A series about a man living out his final months with terminal cancer or a series focussed upon surviving the zombie apocalypse?

I may do a blog post upon the ending of Sopranos but it's been so heavily covered I don't think I'll add anything to the couldron that hasnt already been chucked in.

Onwards and upwards.

The search for the next series begins.....

...... I miss Tony and Christopher.


Cheers.

Onto the next one...

Back to academic work. I am going to use this blog post to brainstorm possible ideas for the second script I'm going to write for "Hidden". This time I have a beautiful little thing called hindsight. Last time I came around to writing "Accumulator" there was a fundamental flaw with it, the gambling addiction wasn't really hidden as such.

Right. I seem to write alot of male orientated scripts, I haven't once had a female character as the protagonist so lets change that now. Okay, I need an aspect of her personality that is hidden to her peers. The obvious thing to go for would be bulimia,anorexia. These are terrible issues but I don't think I could handle them tactfully enough.

I'm going to call her Marissa, second year, I think the hidden aspect should possibly be that she has lost a relative recently and is desperate to tell somebody but can't bring herself to do it. Therefore this manifests into her seeing the relative in question in lectures and seminars. The relative is a friendly ghost though (not called Caspar) I think the relative, I'm thinking her Dad, wants her to let him go but for that to happen she needs to be able to confide in someone so she can move on.

I'm not sure who she should tell, possibly a male buck, I think that would make more sense than a best friend as they would be insulted that she hadn't told them sooner. So yeah, maybe it's like a second date, they've fallen for each other but before things start getting "hot and heavy" she tells him about her father. Although that might be a bit creepy if the Dad is there just watching them make out, hmm.

Okay Marissa returns for year two of uni, it doesn't matter what course she does (noone cares anyway), her best friends notice a change in her. Marissa keeps seeing her Fathers ghost, he tells her to speak to someone, every time she has company he is there begging her to let him go. In the first lecture she meets a lad who is pretty cool, this results in them taking things to Dylans bar where she tells him whats happened etc. I smell a crossover! How about if Gaz and the gym guy from the first script are in there drinking as the results come in? Yeah I'll do that.

This has helped quite alot to be fair. I have no idea what picture I can shamelessly include to try and induce a giggle, my girlfriend is in Paris at the moment so maybe a French guy eating frogs legs? Nah, don't want to ruin this academic post do I?




Cheers.

.

Karl Pilkington - Man or Character?

I've always thought this, and I'm sure many other people have too. Karl Pilkington has to be scripted, surely?
I love the show to bits, I have three of the audio books and the first three "Ricky Gervais Show" series but I can't get my head around it (not his head like a fucking orange).

A little bit of context, Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant, the two acclaimed creators of "The Office" (Don't worry there will be a blog post about my love for David Brent soon) are joined by there producer at XFM Karl Pilkington to discuss recent news stories and events. With this as a basis for the podcasts it shouldn't be as hilarious as it is. It's Karl that steals the show week after week. 

How can a man be as naieve as Karl, it's something to behold. My favourite part of the show had to be "Monkey News", dropped after the first series, it's brilliant. I have no idea what inspired Ricky or Steve to make Karl research the so called Monkey News but it's actually genius. Karl will find a story that involves a monkey in  one way or another to which Ricky and Steve rip it to shreds. Monkey News has included :A monkey having an seizure whilst in the national (Karl didn't want name them) bobsled team, a monkey flying a rocket into space with a banana dispenser onboard and my personal favourite a suited monkey charming Cher on a Russian Chat show.

Another great feature of the show is "Karls Diary" where Steve reads out his thoughts after Karl kept a diary whilst on holiday, in which he noted how many cross-eyed people there were in Gran Canaria. 

I would love to believe that Karl is just one of those phenomina that cannot be explained but surely Karl Pilkingto is an extension of himself, maybe he is naive to a degree but I believe that he is in fact a comedy talent, maybe he writes his own scripts? Or possibly the three of them write the show beforehand. If  you haven't seen the show, and therefore have no idea what im talking about, then I suggest you download them as soon as you can. They won't dissapoint, especially if you're a fan of The office, Extras or Life's too Short.

With this in mind it must be said that Karl Pilkington, If you're a fictional character than you really are a genius, if not, nevermind, Keep it coming.

Cheers.

The Sopranos

How you doing?

Over the past six months I've dedicated myself to one TV series and neglected all others. This may seem pretty normal, however I've become consumed by this series, four seasons in six weeks. Thats 42 episodes in 42 days. A Damn good average I'd say.

All this time I've been thinking to myself "God I'm falling in love with this series and I have nowhere to vent it"and then I thankfully remembered this little sight where these sort of self-written mini essays are not only welcomed but encouraged!

This series, created by David Chase, is addictive. I finish one episode and I automatically start the second. For some reason I can't seem to shake off the attraction of watching The Soprano empire crumble (Don't worry no spoilers here. More on that later.). Not only is it well written but it also boasts guest directors including a favourite actor of mine Steve Buscemi who directed the episode "Pinelands" such a simple premise, two guys get lost in the woods, however it is so fufilling seeing the cabin fever set in pushing these two characters to breaking point.

The main character Tony is as flawed as Don Draper, however you get the feeling that Tony is at the very least remorseful and regrets the bad decisions he makes (believe me there are alot). He is a man who acts upon instinct and is incredibly unpredictiable providing many shocks throughout the series.

My favourite character is Christopher, Tonys nephew, the heroin addict that has been known to beat his girlfriend. Great role model. But the reason I love this character is the way he is the only member of the family to have other aspirations shown when it's revealed he is an avid screenwriter (yay) and wants to write the next Godfather/Goodfellas.

Fan-boy moment over. But there is one more thing I wanted to say. If your watching a series, DON'T AT ANY POINT go on the internet and research the show, that means not going on youtube to find a song (Police mashup in the intro of season 3), that also means not going on wikipedia to find out the episode listings to write a blog.

It leads to major disapointment, the pulling of hair and floods of tears. DON'T DO IT.

Be warned.

Picture of my favourite character doing what he does best.

Cheers.

The Bafta Awards Ceremony.

This post has nothing to do with my BUStation work so if you are here to read about that then I apologise. This post is actually about the Bafta's.

A summary I guess with my personal opinions on the films that I had seen which were nominated, the films I hand't seen and the top three films I now desperately want to see.

With Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman and Marty Scorcese all present, this years Bafta ceremony was a star studded affair. Out of the nominees for best film I have to shamefully admit that I haven't seen any of them however I'm aiming to rectify this by the arrival of the Oscars.

With "The Artist" picking up seven Bafta awards, including best film,director and orginal screenplay, I am aiming to see this film at the weekend in the cinema. For a silent movie to win the original screenplay award must mean it is a very special medium of story telling. This predictably is at the top of my list.

I had a dream last night that I gave my condolonces to George Clooney, after reading so many reviews applauding Clooney's brilliant performance in "The Descendents" I was very suprised to not see it pick up a single award. In the dream I spoke with Clooney about how unlucky he has been, packing a powerhouse performance in the same year as a movie phenomina and yes, he was charming and a great guy in the dream. Therefore this film is second on my list to see before the Oscars.

 In third is a British film, winner of the best adapted screenplay, starring Gary Oldman and Mr British A.K.A Colin Firth this spy thriller has just been released on Blu Ray however I am still hoping to see it on the big screen at somepoint.

The personal highlight of the evening was the "Fellowship" award, last year handed out to an ageing Christopher Lee, saw Martin Scorcese take to the stage. As we looked back upon his work it made me realise what a consistent and hard working man he is. A real inspiration to any film maker.

My favourite Scorcese film is a tie, sorry for being a dick, I couldn't decide between the two. Both films contain an eccentric lead character, two fantastic performances from the leading men and are seperated by a 28 year gap.


Guessed it yet? If not, they are 1976 film "Taxi Driver" starring Robert De Niro and a long haired Harvey Keitel, and the 2004 epic "The Aviator" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett.


A picture of Harvey Keitel looking almost like Tommy Wiseau.

Cheers.

Feedback a.k.a Having to realise your not as great as you think you are.

Hello.

This blog post won't be a fun one to write. That's not because I don't like blogs, I actually am learning to quite enjoy this, no. It's because it deals with that moment that you send your work out with the belief that its the dogs bollocks and then having the stark contrast of opinion against that.

I don't think it's arrogant to love your own work, if you didn't then whats the point in doing it in the first place, especially as a writer, but being brought back down to earth is a horrible,sickening and pretty much depressing experience.

Okay. A little bit of context. If you have read the first two posts you will know that I was writing a 3 page script for BUstation about a man named Gaz who is chasing up football results for his "Accumulator", also the title of the script (finally a releveant and credible title). Well, I had completed the first draft, sent it to the editor and I have to say it felt good. I then went away on holiday to the States for christmas, basked in the sunshine, eat my weight in tortilla chips and halfway through the holiday I decided to check my emails.

This is when I saw the little email which even warned me that I should probably leave it till I returned home. Well turns out that my story had a number of major problems, and once I read through this feedback I completely agreed.

My script didn't show an aspect that was "Hidden" which was the whole purpose of the brief, my character "Gaz" was very open about this bet he had made. I had run over the three page limit, which I honestly didn't realise till I had checked, and most importantly I had made it very difficult for the production team to actually make. Alot of the exposition within the script was revealed through a sports presenter on the television meaning that with the small budget the production unit had this would be near impossible to produce.

I believe feedback from a fresh pair of eyes is essential as it spots the niggles that you can fail to see. I think it's good to have somebody read through your work who will pull no punches, there has to be an understanding that it is nothing personal, but pure perfectionism.

Anyway the conclusion to this story is that I needed to do a complete re-write of the script to make it viable to produce which I will discuss in the next blog which finally makes it into 2012!.

A picture to let you know how I handled the feedback.

Enjoy.

p.s if your reading this, thanks for the feedback, it actually helped substantially.




 

As Daft as a First Draft.

Welcome back.

Time to dive into the depths of NOVEMBER.

The second day of my BUStation career consisted of writing the first draft of my Hidden script; I mentioned in the last, and first, post that I was going to write a script about gambling (It also had a great picture of Tom and Dustin, you're welcome).

I had decided that my main character was going to be called "Gaz", because I picture him as the "absolute lad" we all secretly aspire to be. He's a fitness instructor at the gym and has a problem with gambling, in particular betting on the football. This led to the title of my script "Accumulator" after an ex hobby of mine.

I decided that the narrative will follow Gaz and his quest to find out the football results. I now needed a "James Corden" type character to bring in a couple of chuckles (ha ha ha) so I thought it would be good to have this character in the ofrm of Gaz's client at the gym.

With this addition it meant that I could bookend the script nicely with a role reversal by having it finish at Dylan's bar with the revelation that Gaz had lost, the house always wins, and Corden doing what he does best by consoling him with a pint.

I now had the characters,narrative and arena, all I needed to do now was actually put pen to paper (type on the computer whilst constantly checking my twitter and gmail) .

Well there we go, instead of the CARS, FOOTY and TITS that I promised in my last post you actually got a pretty little blog post about a man called Gaz and a tale of playing with fire and getting burnt.

I hope you like James Corden.

Cheers.

Intro.

Hello, alright, how you doing?

This is an introduction to a blog about everything and nothing. It might interest you, it may not. It will serve as a memory of events that have come and gone, therefore it will be sporadic and it most likely won't make alot of sense.

So, I am a student in my second year at University. I study Scriptwriting for Film and Television. This first post will date back to mid October when we first started our Professional studies.

We were asked to complete three days worth of work for the University mini production team "BUStation". As a writer I thought "Shit, what the f*** am I going to do with that?" But then a friend suggested we join the Soap that had been running called "Hidden". GET IN. To which I calmly decided I would like to contribute to.

On the first day of BUStation we met and had an informal meeting to discuss the parameters and guidelines for the script. It had to be : No more than 3 pages, Contain no obscene or offensive language (But nudity was permitted) and it had to have a character that was "hiding" something .

That was the end of the first day, the concept had been set up and the deadlines set for a first draft. I went home and brainstormed which addictions people are the least proud of, yes there are many that friends of mine like to boast about, so it led me to pinpointing three addictions as unsatisfactory : Smoking, Drinking and Gambling. I guess they all go hand in hand really, however I chose to go down the Gambling route.

There are so many avenues for potential gambling these days I figured this could definetley work in a campus context.So now I had my theme, my hidden USP, I just needed a lead character, a narrative and conflict to inject into the script.

Well that about does it for the first introdcutory post in my blog. I hope I came off alright and not too pretentious, if that is the case then all I can say is "What you gonna do?" It's one of those things. That's mid October done and dusted, nex time I will dive into NOVEMBER where I will talk about CARS . . . FOOTY . . . TITS . . . Nah not really, just more information about a Scriptwriter writing a blog.

Here look at a picture of Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. 

Cheers.