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Memories of a Movie’s Production

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It’s hard for me to believe that it has been seven years this month that my sons and I hauled ass out to North Hollywood, California to film Leave, a short film based upon my short story of the same name.

That was one fun and memorable experience.

The movie premiered as the 2018 LA Femme International Film Festival, and shortly thereafter found a home at Amazon Prime.

Unfortunately, Amazon, in a huge diss to independent filmmakers all over the world, shut down its service to short films a couple of years ago and Leave has been without a distributor since.

I had plans to find a new home for Leave, but as we all know how way leads on to way, I never did…

Until now.

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Leave has Left the Building

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And by building I mean Amazon Prime.

Sadly, for reasons yet unknown to me, Amazon has decided to eliminate its entire catalog of short films, films which includes Leave and which happens to be an awesome film with an awesome director and an awesome cast and crew and which yours truly wrote and executive produced and which premiered at the awesome LA Femme International Film Festival in 2018.

Yeah, exactly…

Dubya. Tee. Eff., Bezos?

Anyway…

So, now I need to find a new home for Leave. A home which is hopefully a little more respectful of the value short films bring to the world.

Any ideas?

Tell you what, while we ponder over where best to host the flick, how ’bout for the next couple days, let’s say until 2359 Sunday, March 14, 2021, to be exact, I will unlock it at Vimeo for all to see and enjoy?

Sounds like a solid plan, eh.

Also, if you’re interested in watching the short documentary I produced about the making of Leave, you can check that out at leavethemovie.wordpress.com. While there, you can also learn more about the cast and crew.

Of course, you can watch the doc at Vimeo as well.

All righty then…

Enjoy!

Watch Leave at Vimeo

Watch The Making of Leave at Vimeo

Watch The Making of Leave at LEAVETHEMOVIE.WORDPRESS.COM

The Indelible Shining

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Great movie despite Stephen King’s protestations* — it’s one of those rare occasions when the movie out shines, so to speak, the book, which I found mostly laughable and long (as I do with most of King’s books) — and despite the horrible decision to cast Shelley Duvall, which, of course, resulted in her horrible acting. Kubrick abused the hell out of her during production because of it.

Pauline Kael wrote in the New Yorker that Kubrick’s devotion to technique distanced the audience from the domestic horrors of his story. The Washington Post called it “elaborately ineffective.” Gene Siskel said it was “boring” and occasionally “downright embarrassing.” Toronto’s Globe & Mail: an “overreaching, multi-levelled botch.” In its first year of existence, the bad movie-centric Razzie Awards nominated The Shining for worst director and worst actress.

From unloved curiosity to beloved classic: The surprising 40-year legacy of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, INLANDER, May 21, 2020

#allworkandnoplaymakeskurtrethinkhispriorities

*Spoilers of both book and movie

The Bogart Advantage

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It’s a close call but this might be one of those rare instances where the movie outperforms the book. The flick does have an unfair advantage though with Bogart as the lead…

For a crash course on a category that can be hard to pin down, Nicholas Ray’s psychologically complex “In a Lonely Place” has it all, starting with a sneering Bogart.

Even trying to categorize “In a Lonely Place” is tricky: It has elements of murder mystery, melodrama and Hollywood insider scoop. Yet it is certainly one of the most forthright films to deal with domestic abuse ever to come from a major production company, let alone in the early 1950s. Here is a movie so rough-minded, so willing to be unsympathetic that it opens with its protagonist, a screenwriter named Dixon Steele (Humphrey Bogart), threatening to get into a brawl with a stranger.

New York Times , April 30, 2020
THE BOGART SUSPENSE PICTURE WITH THE SURPRISE FINISH – (original tag line)
A classic California noir with a feminist twist, this prescient 1947 novel exposed misogyny in post-World War II American society, making it far ahead of its time. [Amazon Publisher description]

#alonetogetherinalonelyplace

Arthouse Films in general are nutty…

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But Arthouse Horror Films are, if you’ll excuse the vernacular…

Off the mother fn nutty hook, yo.

And thank god for that.

Been on an arthouse horror film binge lately from a dire and desperate need (yeah, I like redundancies so what of it?) to clear the palate of that rancid franchise aftertaste.

Watched this lovely gem last night and I hope someday when I grow up I will be able to create something so horror(-fully?)(-ibly?) masterful…

#amwatching
#offthehooknuttygemsofarthousehorroryo

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – A Review by Fast Film Reviews

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I was going to write my own review for the meandering mess of a movie called Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but after yesterday’s disaster of a review I just didn’t have the heart… or pain tolerance… to write another one so soon. And let’s face it, you know and I know writing reviews isn’t exactly my forte, so…

Instead I decided to reblog for your entertainment and instruction this wonderfully written and compelling review of the flick written by popular film critic Mark Hobin of Fast Film Reviews. It’s a wonderfully written and compelling review that also happens to mirror my sentiments of the faulty flick near spot on.

Read, heed, and enjoy…

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO — A Review of Sorts

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BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
FILM | MOVIE | BRITISH | HORROR
WRITER: PETER STRICKLAND
DIRECTOR: PETER STRICKLAND
STARRING: TOBY JONES
IFC FILMS UNLIMITED
RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

If Kafka were to have written movies…

He would have written a movie like Berberian Sound Studio.

Now if you know me, you know that calling a movie Kafkaesque, and calling this movie Kafkaesque is an understatement, is all I really need to say about it since, you know me, I am pretty much a slave to anything ol’ Franz has put to paper.

But I’m also a slave to the word count so, for the sake of it, I guess I should say a few things more.

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A Life Not Lost In Time…

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Very sorry to see that the great Rutger Hauer has passed. He was one badass mofo on the big screen and in life; and he killed it in Blade Runner, one of the most badassest films ever.

Actually one of the roles of his I liked almost as much as Roy Blatty was his portrayal of the quirky faerie Niall Brigant on HBO’s True Blood. The show itself was pretty goofy but Rutger was brilliant in it.

Dang, it seems like everyone is going to die eventually, doesn’t it…

Anyway, HEAVY.COM has a pretty good write-up about him if you’re looking for one.

#riprutger

Featured image courtesy of HEAVY.COMM

Rutger Hauer, ‘Blade Runner’ Co-Star, Dies at 75 — Variety

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Very sorry to see that Rutger has passed. He was one badass mofo in Blade Runner, one of the most badassest films ever. But actually one of my most favorite roles of his was as Niall Brigant on the True Blood series. The show itself was pretty goofy but Rutger was brilliant in his role.

Dang, seems like everyone is going to die eventually, doesn’t it…

Hurts so good…

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House of the Rising Sun – A Review of Sorts

So, last night was a night just like any other night where, at 8pm(ish), I shifted the butt from the office chair to the recliner and happily fired up the new Fire Stick (a Prime Day upgrade (half-price and 2 free months of HBO!) from an old stick that had been rode hard and put away wet if you know what I mean) and the big screen and, with much hope and anticipation, began yet another heroic search through the multitudinous movie apps for something fun and entertaining to watch for the night.

You feel me?

(I recently finished watching The Wire (for the third or fourth time, can’t exactly recall) so I’m still feeling a bit Omar-esque. Hence the, “You feel me?,” if you know what I mean).

Long story short, it wasn’t long before I surfed upon a flick starring Dave Bautista and immediately had to put on the brakes.

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