Thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises… (Spoilers within)

I’m warning you ahead of time…if you haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises then stop reading…if only because you won’t understand what in hell I’m talking about.

 

What I dug:

1. Tom Hardy’s Bane.  Wasn’t the Joker and didn’t have to be.  Also, loved the fact that Selina Kyle actually killed him.

2. Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle.  Didn’t think I was going to like her in the role.  Ate my words.  Top notch performance of a great character.  Was really hoping that Bruce Wayne would rethink his budding relationship with Miranda Tate and get with the Catwoman…which actually happened.

3. The set pieces/ action scenes.  Well done.  Fight with Bane, awesome.  Bane’s opening escape from the plane, incredible.  The climactic chase through Gotham was the best of the series, I think.

4. Bane & Miranda Tate’s backstory.  Loved how that came together.  Totally had me fooled.

5. Bruce Wayne’s happy ending.  When I thought they killed him off, I was excited that they had the balls to do it.  Then, when they revealed him living out his days abroad, I was actually quite satisfied.

6. John Blake’s real name being Robin.  Nice touch.

 

What I didn’t:

1. Using New York City as Gotham.  I didn’t mind the stuff they shot in Pittsburgh, but I think that they should have kept Chicago as Gotham.  I realize that there were probably some plot points that necessitated using the Big Apple, but it just looks so undeniably New York-ish that I couldn’t buy into it.

2. Bruce Wayne’s rising to redemption…again!  The prison was a cool idea, but I could’ve gotten the backstory another way.  Having Bruce have to re-train and climb out of that pit just got tedious.

3. The first big chase sequence that goes from day to night abnormally fast.  Yeah, not exactly sure what happened there.

So, there you go.  More likes than dislikes.  I personally think that The Dark Knight is the overall best film of this trilogy, even though there are elements in each film that surpass things in the others.  But whatever.  Well done, Mr. Nolan and company.

The Glory of Recognition

If you weren’t already aware of it, I recently completed work on a new music video for my longtime friends and co-conspirators Public Enemy.  It is for the lead single (“I Shall Not be Moved”) from their new album (Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp).  I also produced one of the songs on the album, but we shall leave that for another post…

The song is energetic, weird, and dope, all at once.  Chuck allowed me free reign to bring some weirdness to the table.

So, I did.

Anyway, the video has been unanimously received and is beginning to take on a life of its own.  That’s great.  That’s one of the whole reasons for doing this.  Acceptance and exposure are important; you create something, you want people to experience it and enjoy it.  You want a desired reaction.  But in these days and times, where technology has leveled the playing field, the amount of content has become so dense that doing great work isn’t enough anymore.

Sometimes, though, things just catch and take off.  Why does this happen?  Damned if I know.  I wish I could tell you, because then I’d do it all the time.

But I cannot disclose as to why this happens.  I’m just gonna run with it and try to do more work that will be seen and enjoyed.  I put my heart and my all into it because I love it and I care about it and I give a shit.  Hopefully that shows in what I (we) do, because it’s truth.  We still care enough to give it everything that we’ve got.

So I have to feel alright on a day where my video was mentioned by legendary funk master George Clinton and Hiphop mogul Russell Simmons.  That and my good friend Chuck D said I was “the best,” in his honest opinion.

Public Enemy’s I SHALL NOT BE MOVED

Here’s a little something I directed…

In case you missed this…

The trailer for my sophomore feature film, the psychological horror thriller DARK OF WINTER.

One of the things I am working on right now…

Two Chuck D’s are better than one…? A frame from the new Public Enemy music video “I Shall Not Be Moved”.

Anti- or Pro-metheus?

My wife and I managed to get out and finally see Prometheus today.  If you are unaware, the film is director Ridley Scott’s first foray into the science fiction genre since Blade Runner in 1982.  It is also a prequel of sorts to the first sci-fi film Mr. Scott directed, Alien.

I’m not going to spoil anything in here, but needless to say there were a lot of questions raised by the end of the picture.  Now, the immediate reaction is to blame it all on sloppy screenwriting, which may be the case.  However, with news of a longer cut coming out on DVD in the near future and interviews with Scott himself saying that the film is based on other historical ideas and concepts about humanity’s inception, it makes me wonder whether or not the film is actually a lot smarter than it initially appears to be.

I can understand this line of thinking as I tried to do something similar with Dark of Winter, in that we leave a lot open to interpretation.  We don’t spell everything out and treat the audience like morons.  We give them room to think, theorize, and draw conclusions.  All the information is there; it’s up to the individual to use it.

Needless to say, after thinking about this for most of the evening, I’m actually anxious to see Prometheus again.  Perhaps, by delving deeper into the rabbit hole, so to speak, more shall be revealed to me.  I’d like to think that is the case and I would gladly take that over shitty screenwriting.

The Joyous Hell of Editing

In two days we will premiere Dark of Winter for a home town audience in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Since we last screened the film, I wrote and shot a prologue that was originally going to be a short film that we would screen separately from the feature, but has since become the new beginning of the picture.  We’ll see how it goes over and if it will stay as such…

Anyway, as it happened with my first film, The Quiet Arrangement, I continually go back and re-edit.  Not necessarily broad strokes, no, these edits are more minute, but still ever essential.  Technology is such that the ease and convenience of changing a shot or a line of dialogue has opened up a myriad of unlimited possibilities in the edit.  This, I think, is a blessing and a curse.

A blessing, yes, for I can continue to fine tune without worrying of destroying a negative or a print.  A curse, yes, because I can literally change everything, for as long as I see fit!

I have tried to complete the film and walk away.  But when we screened it in New York I already saw things that I was going to change.  I’m sure that I’ll see things again on Saturday.  Nothing is safe…

At some point and time, though, I’m going to have to just put it to bed and live with my choices.  I could, conceivably, edit this film for the rest of my days, but then that would rob me of exploring other work.  And why in hell would I want to do that?  Is it striving for perfection?  Is it my particular nature?

Or is it just because I can…?

Good Reviews are Better than Bad Ones

Good Reviews are Better than Bad Ones

ROGUE CINEMA likesDark of Winter.  And that’s alright with me…

Compromising Positions

John French (Kyle Jason) and Sarah (Erica Paisley) in DARK OF WINTER.

Beastie Boys- Hey Ladies

One of my favorites. RIP MCA.