Guest judge tonight will be David Frankel, director of The Devil Wears Prada.Why doesn't Spielburg do a stint as guest judge and help save his darned show!
If you were Steven Spielberg, Movie God, wouldn't you distance yourself from this disaster?
What's with Marty? He makes yet another trailer and then he is offended by Carrie's comments. Dude is beyond delusional.Why can't he be disqualified for making what is clearly a movie trailer (AGAIN!) and not a short film? What kind of competition is this?
LAST EDITED ON 06-12-07 AT 09:25 PM (EST)I thought the clips from last week were much better than this week's. I was pretty unenthused. I liked the first clip (Polished) and the Beeline one, but the other three were pretty meh.
I liked the direction in Marty's a lot, but his writing is pretty crappy. I think the guy is a great director and does some awesome stuff visually, but he needs a script.
The Cupid one was kinda slow, I thought. The whole setup of the scene was pretty cliched, and the Cupid was kinda corny. The pacing, especially for a comedic piece, was extremely slow. He should've cut it together more tightly.
Ironically, Kenny's film was much funnier than last week's. I've seen a lot of independent and experimental stuff, but his film seemed like it was parodying those genres. The erraticness of some of the camerawork had me in stitches.
I thought Kenny's was the worst, barely beating out the Cupid film for the bottom spot. Marty's wasn't exactly genius either, but his style and direction made up for his forced dialogue.
I agree with almost everything Jims said, except the statement that Kenny's film seemed like a parody. I think he is just trying WAY to hard to be "artistic" and "innovative" and his movies just end up looking like a bunch of random junk. He did have a couple of beautiful shots though. (the waterfall of snow, with the boy standing at the base of it.)Marty is an egomaniac a-hole, but I actually did enjoy most of his movie, purely based on the style and camera work.
Trever being sent home instead of Hilary? *shakes head* Trever wasn't great by any stretch, but he was better than the shite Hilary put out. Ugh.
Carrie needs to buy some effing Fixodent so she doesn't have to talk with her teeth clenched for fear of her dentures falling out, and Garry is useless. But not as useless as Adrianna. Question- why does this show need to be done "LIVE"? Maybe if they had a couple takes to not flub their lines and babble inane comments the show would be more watchable.
I did have to LOL at the pure "Paula-ness" of Carrie's comments though. "You're a cute guy" is the new "You're a beautiful girl." Both mean that you suck and should go home, but they are too scared to say it.
At this point, I'm about this || close to giving up on this show. *sigh*
I agree with almost everything Jims said, except the statement that Kenny's film seemed like a parody. I think he is just trying WAY to hard to be "artistic" and "innovative" and his movies just end up looking like a bunch of random junk. He did have a couple of beautiful shots though. (the waterfall of snow, with the boy standing at the base of it.I agree. That was part of the reason why I found Kenny's film so funny and parody-like. He really went over-the-top with the artsy-fartsy stuff that it was hard to take his short seriously. He did have a few nice images, though.
I did have to LOL at the pure "Paula-ness" of Carrie's comments though. "You're a cute guy" is the new "You're a beautiful girl." Both mean that you suck and should go home, but they are too scared to say it.
I loved that line. You just know you did a poor job if the judges have to run to a cheap "at least you're cute" compliment.
oh he's bad but the overall show is worse...Kenny is vftw candidate..I voted for him for about half hour straight no busy signals...I'm sure that all the lines were like that tho...
Gawd Kenny's clip was terrible. After a re-watch, it still didn't get much better.I loved that he printed out those words and phrased above some of the shots in a tiny font. It adds another level of artsy pretensiousness to the film.
"I loved that line. You just know you did a poor job if the judges have to run to a cheap "at least you're cute" compliment."true, but it totally botched up my drinking game based on her usual, "It was a well made" film. LOL
My thoughts:The producers of this show must have listened to the outcry of disgust at Adrianna..so she is no longer doing those dreadful dramatic pauses...she just comes out and tells the candidate they are in or out...thank you GAWD for saving us all!!
Notice how Adrianna checked her cleavage...TWICE...LOL
Even my DH said "hey, did she just check her cleavage?" when she first did it. I say, if you wear the low cut dress, you must ROCK THE DRESS or not wear it at all. Do you think JLo would be checking her cleavage every five minutes when she wore the the famous green "cut down to there" dress at the awards show a few years back?? I think NOT!As for the shows...I like polished, but the rest were fairly lame. I agree with most of you above...and definately agree with Carrie being really lame with "you're a really cute boy" cause she obviously has NOTHING else to say!! ARGHGHGHGH.
My fave guy will be next week..Zach...I'm interested to see what he comes up with...(or, should I say..came up with for his entry film which could have been done years, perhaps, before this show )
*furrified by Agman*
I was underwhelmed by all of them lastnight. So I don't really care who goes home. Marty's personality probably turned off alot of the voters. (Wait a minute, I don't think there are alot of voters.)I was surprised by which of the bottom 2 went home. I guess she has a bigger family voting than he does.
I am looking more forward to the directors left for next week.
What a big bunch of carp got served up on the most recent episode. I think all five of them should go home. Even the bottom two from last week had better films than any of the five for this week."Polished" --- Cute idea. The montage showing how the janitor prepared for the practical joke was entertaining, but everything before that just seemed to drag. A good thirty seconds or more could have been deleted from this film.
"Love at First Shot" ---It's unfortunate that the funniest part of this entire film was something that happened in the background: one waiter telling the other to adhere to the dress code after he discovered Cupid traded outfits with him. Like "Polished," this film seemed to drag and could have been shortened. I didn't reel any sympathy for the main character.
"Beeline" --- Is this director capable of making a film that is not about her own libido? I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but the blatant exhibitionism in her previous film, "Checkout," about a skank and a himbo getting it on in the security line at the airport made me uncomfortable. Now she follows it up with a child who is way too interested in his single mother's sex life! The kid was not precocious and cute; he was a manipulative monster that the mother rewarded for blackmailing her. I don't find that funny in any way.
"Edge on the End" --- It was a nice effort for a music video. As others have mentioned, there were a couple of striking images. That, however, does not make up for the complete absence of a plot.
"Dance With the Devil" --- Leaving aside the fact that the director is a real a$$hole, I couldn't decide if this film was (a) yet another trailer or (b) so derivative of other suspense thrillers that it offered absolutely nothing new. At least the thrillers that I see in the theater give some sort of explanation about what "really" just happened, the best ones doing so in a way that requires seeing the film a second time the catch all the clues. This film, however, offered no clues to help the viewer construct a narrative. It left me guessing. Viewing it a second time would be just a waste of time.
I thought that "Polished" was the best of the lot. "Love at First Shot" gets an honorable mention, but the other three were total carp. Send all five of them home now.
Just for giggles, I thought I would add this link, which pretty much says exactly what we are all saying … Spielberg, what the devil were you thinking?!I so agree that this was the week of sub-par work, and I totally disagree with the person “America” voted out. That woman who is safe so far has shown that she doesn’t understand basic filmmaking, doesn’t understand pacing, and is not all that great at either scripts or casting. Oh yeah, this is America’s next Oscar winner.
As for the production … wow, lets make the two losers sit through the worst. Film. Festival. Ever. Lets make the two losers again be hit with pregnant pauses and “after the commercial break” to drag their spiral into the depths of hell even slower. Then, just for giggles, lets make sure that the one least likely to get anywhere in this business wins a spot so we can all do this again in next weeks episode: It Sucks: the Sequel.
Ok, rant over. Now my pics of the cinematic masterpieces this week. *insert sarcasm meter here*
1. Polished. Again, this guy does have a good grasp of story telling, and who wouldn’t at some point want to plot vengeance on people who treat you like you are invisible? Unfortunately, his pacing was off and it ran long. Halfway through the film, I was saying to myself “I get it, get to the payoff already!” But, as I said last week, pacing is something that will come with experience. Andrew does at least posses the basic skills needed to do something as a film maker.
2. Beeline. Yes, it could be called “Slut Mum,” and I don’t know any kid that age that would dare ask their mum about her sex life. Heck, mine were teenagers and knew about sex when I started dating again, and the LAST thing they would have wanted to know about was my sex life. But, silliness of story line aside, Shira – Lee did put up a good film that was nicely paced, nicely shot, and used the music perfectly. My only advice would have been in the direction of mum's various partners. They only one that showed any real reaction was the lesbian – and she was great! lol
3.Edge on the End. This beats out David’s film, because Kenny at least showed us something different, and didn’t trot out some old trout of a done – to – death plotline. Unfortunately, I’m not big on film noir or cinema verite, (whichever one this style would fall under) and who really wants to see looooooooong pan shots of a dead guy on the slab? Yeah, it was extremely artsy fartsy, but some band manager somewhere is ringing up Kenny to do his bands next “innovative” music video this morning.
4. Love at first shot. Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwn. How old is this story? ‘Nuff said.
4. Now notice that I am giving a tie to the last two – One for being a yawner, the other for being a trailer, and therefore NOT the assignment,yet again. Marty Martin (Who’s name alone tells me that his parents lacked imagination, and most likely thought the sun rose and set over their babies head) is an egomaniac, who does seem to think (because he’s been told by his family and friends over and over again) that he isn’t the next Spielberg; he’s better. But having said that, he will stay in this competition till the very end, because being the “Santino” of this show will, (in the minds of producers) keep the viewers watching. I don’t know if many of you saw Santino from Project Runway, but he was notorious for telling the judges that they were a bunch of stiffs who lacked the ability to “get” his vision, that he was “misunderstood” etc. Sound familiar? But, like Santino, he will suddenly “play it safe” and go against his own style in his last film – and the judges will pan him for it.
As for Marty’s film – if you don’t want everyone to think “oh, good trailor” then leave the writing of lines on the screen, and the muddy story arc alone. The film was in English, why the devil do we need subtitles? And I have a real problem with two lines. “Do you trust me” has been used so often (and better) that it is cliché. And “If you are going to dance with the devil …” etc. was to close to Jack Nickelson cackling “You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?” for my taste; the only thing missing was the Joker makeup.
I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Spielberg!
One for being a yawner, the other for being a trailer, and therefore NOT the assignment,yet again.I guarantee that if he hadn't done the trailer during the first week, not a single person would've called this week's entry a trailer. Sure, he used some snappy cuts that you might see in a trailer, but the presence of a central story arc tends to go against that claim. Trailers (like his last week) are supposed to be a hodgepodge of quotes and scenes throughout and entire movie. The only thing trailer-like about that film was the way it was cut together in certain places.
I agree about the dialogue, though. It was pretty bad.
I guarantee that if he hadn't done the trailer during the first week, not a single person would've called this week's entry a trailer.True, but he HAD done it the first week, and had listened to the judges tell him it was a nice trailer. Logic would dictate that while you go for the cut shots, the bang shots, the black outs, and other artsy stuff, you leave out subtitles that are not needed etc, so as to not remind the judges (and viewers)of your first faux pas.
I agree that this one had a story arc that went beyond exposition; it just was not all that clearly defined, IMHO.
you're forgetting this was a submission film that they made after making the first audition cut way back when....did Andrew get married last week? THese are not new films even tho they keep saying that...I love in the link that the author says keep Kenny and Marty...at least they are interesting to a degree or fun to laugh at ....David is just boring...
I'm just shocked she survived the vote after back-tpo-back awful efforts. The blind date thing may have been trite, but it was twice the film the Dinklemans (or whatever) was.
Yeah, I'm really wondering how many people are voting. Maybe she's got her whole town behind her, voting all night or something.
So, we had:Andrew - "Polished"
David - "Love at First Shot"
Shira Lee - "Beeline"
Marty - "Dance with the Devil"
Kenny - "Edge on the End"I agree with Jims02, Marty clearly has talent as a director, but he needs to remember that it's characters that make the movie, not slick style. I thought Garry Marshall was spot on when he said we should be saying "Mary died", not "the girl with the over bite bought it". Lol.
Kenny, I think could have a great career making music videos. That's totally what that was. I would give him one more chance, but if his third film is also crazy incomprehensible, he should go. There's art, and then there's artsy fartsy, and he's on the line for me.
David's? Meh. Shira Lee's? So/so. A better child actor would have made it better.
I guess that leaves Andrew as my fav for the night - and it wasn't all that either! Argh!
So, has anyone else noticed the huge vein on Shira Lee's forehead? I'm sorry, but it's monsterous! Hubby and I couldn't keep our eyes off it!
NOW I will.