King of California

Starring Michael Douglas, Evan Rachel Wood, Directed by: Mike Cahill

Here's another from 34,000 feet in a series of in-flight movies. Coincidentally, before I left for my trip, I was about to put this movie on the Netflix queue.

Set in Santa Clarita, California (shout out to the Old Road!), this strange tale of a father recently released from a mental institution tries to convince his daughter to help him search for lost Spanish treasure buried underneath their local Costco. Wow. There's another one.



The Best Part.
They captured the desperation and soullessness of the valley perfectly and to a tee. From the newly developed cookie-cutter track homes to the clusters of fast=food restaurants and the sleepy, dry dustbowl "in the middle of nowhere" vibe. Very monotonous, tedious and well, nowhere. The setting helped personify the storyline and added another character to the film as well.

The Worst Part
The layers of this movie that I think were intended weren't fully there. It seemed as if there was a forced/calculated effort to follow the current trend of producing a story-driven low budget indie, except this one had a huge hollywood star attached to it. Not a good sign for an indie flick. I've dug Michael Douglas' stuff since "The Streets of San Francisco", so let me be the first to say that he does better on the big screen with big actors and big directors. Otherwise, his strengths won't be best utilized without a strong supporting cast.

Cases in point - "Wall Street", "Traffic", "The Sentinel". He was great in all three, but not every A-lister can pull off a low budget indie. Nor should every A-lister try. The chemistry has to be right in order for it to work, otherwise it seems like the star is just trying to go slummin' to see how the other half lives.

Overall
The casting of Michael Douglas just didn't seem to fit the role. He's a great actor, just not in this role (you know...like Tom Hanks in Da Vinci Code). The suspension of disbelief for any movie is key and I just couldn't buy it. Evan Rachel Wood did a great job with the flick and I think it was she that brought the weight of credibility and believability to the table for this one.

So, the concept and potential was there, but the execution wasn't.

Martian Child

Starring: John Cusack, Joan Cusack (of course), Amanda Peet and Bobby Coleman, Directed by Menno MeyJes

As a frequent flyer, I always look forward to movietime on the airplane. It's fun. BUT...it's always more fun when they show films that sneak in under the theatrical radar that turn out to be pleasant surprises. But this one wasn't your usual cookie cutter storyline. Nope. In this drama, the quirky premise showcases John Cusack as David, a widower who decides to pick up the pieces of his life by moving on and adopting an abandoned child that believes he is from Mars. Try pitching that to a studio.

With as strange a storyline as this is, it wouldn't have worked if it weren't for the pure talent of Bobby Coleman who plays Dennis, the little foster child. This kid had displayed so many layers to his on-camera acting skills that it was simply effortless to believe. And at the end, isn't that what we all want in our 90 minute escapes? To believe?



Technical
There's really not much to talk about in technical terms regarding the movie. You can easily tell why this movie has gotten lost on the mainstream radar. From the cinematography to the editing, sound, etc. it all seems pretty average - that is to say that nothing jumps out more than the other. All of the production elements are on an even keel and were very subdued. Maybe it was intentional, but given the star power in the film, I was hoping for more production value.

The depth of this movie comes strictly from its storyline and acting. "But it's a John Cusack movie! It has to be decent at the least!" Well, if "Being John Malkovich" was a 10 and "Serendipity" was a 7, then this would be a 5. It's good, but it drags a bit here and there. A lot could've been edited from the final cut, which I believe would've helped to juice more emotion from certain scenes.

Best Part
The best part of the movie, aside from Coleman's role, was the perfect use of the song "Mr. Blue Sky" from ELO. It actually made me max out the mono volume in my headset. That was probably the closest it got to a Cameron Crowe moment.

Overall
Martian Child is a pleasant surprise with a new angle. The talents of Amanda Peet and John Cusack weren't used, but little Bobby Coleman saves the movie.

Guam Travel: Standby Style

The circumference of the earth is approximately 24,900 miles. That's about 2 roundtrips from Guam to LA. That means that I have traveled the equal distance around the earth in the last three months. On standby.

Here I am back on another layover at the Honolulu Intl. Airport. Sure, it's fun for the first two or three times, but after you get too familiar with the drill, it becomes a chore to travel so many times for so many miles. But because of this, I can tell you where to find the best corner to sleep in. Or the best bathroom large enough to change your clothes, brush your teeth and wash up without any interruptions. Or the best place to charge your phone and laptop while enjoying a tropical panoramic, open-air view of the relaxing outdoor gardens.

I'll be sure to give this info out as soon as I can access my photos. But for now, as I sit at Gate 14 awaiting the boarding calls, I need to figure out just how to plan for yet another leg from Hawaii to Guam. Shoot!

Photo by Jim Frazier

The AMPTP CEO Salary

Curious to know just how much money AMPTP CEO's make on the average? Just click on the link below.

AMPTP Salaries

Sources are The Huffington Post for 2007 CEO salaries, and HR Reported data as of January, 2008 for Los Angeles, CA as found on Salary.com. Design by PaperCut.

Writer's Strike - Not Over Yet

After four months of the WGA on active strike, headlines state that it's all nearing an end. Not exactly. Not yet anyway, according to the United Hollywood site. The amount of work needed to be done as far as agreement terms are concerned are far from over.

Consider the amount of power currently held by the WGA:

1. According to Medialifemagazine.com, advertiser's spent $9.3 billion in last year's network TV. That's $9.3 BILLION. If the networks can't deliver the amount of guaranteed viewership due to the strike, the networks need to either give the advertiser's their money back or giveaway free makeup spots to compensate the loss in revenue.

2. Award ceremonies. The writer's strike hold all the cards to keep the Oscars alive this year. Many have seen the impact of what can happen with the past Golden Globes. Many dollars are invested in the ceremonies - especially the Oscars. The Golden Globes cost Los Angeles alone over $80 MILLION in revenue loss.

3. Paradigm shift. Again, the longer the holdout, the easier it is for regular folks to find out how much they love online viewing and independent productions. From news, movies that find distribution, webisodes and more digital content from social media, the viewership online is one that hasn't found its true potential yet.

So I'm pretty sure that the WGA knows the strength it has in its people and in its fight. I think it's safe to say that unless they feel absolutely confident in an agreement to terms with the studios, that they'll continue to fight for the long haul. Read up on some of the agreement details at Variety

10MPH Documentary

From Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell comes a very interesting premise for a documentary - riding a personal transport vehicle across the country. A Segway to be exact. They call their filmmaking debut 10mph which is the speed that they travel from Seattle to Boston as they embark on a cross-country journey while riding a Segway that not only takes them, but also takes us through the country's heartland, colorful citites, different terrain and most importantly different walks of life.

You can download the movie for free here.

The Big Game vs. Shiro's Head

Staying with the one year production birthday theme, I found this pic from our production photos. This is how I spent last year's Super Bowl. Good ol' Durwin let us borrow the 13" that you see in the background. We used it for our monitor while capturing footage. But this particular day, even though I was invited to some SB parties, I stayed in and used it to watch the game as I took care of business with Shiro's Head pre-production notes. And yes, I used a plastic chair for my desk...which Don borrowed from Nick.