Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Love Star Trek? You're Gonna Love This!




I've just finished watching 10 of 12 episodes of a fan-made production called 'Star Trek Continues' and it's one of the most thrilling series I've found on Youtube. Once you watch the first episode you'll be hooked! The characters may look similar or completely different compared to the classic TV show 'Star Trek' but those differences will melt away completely by the time you reach the 3rd or 5th entries mainly do to an incredible level of voice similarities and body language imitating by each of the shows great actors. Check this out and sit through it all if you can or go to my favorite episodes pictured below! 

Like the original series the scripts tackle modern day issues and does them in a gripping, edge of your seat way. 'Lolani' deals with the simultaneous issues of sexism against females and the evils of slavery and 'What Ships Are For' deals with illegal immigration in a way that's highly imaginative!! These two episode nearly made my jaw drop and any aspiring script writer / filmmaker would do himself a DISSERVICE by not watching them!! It all teaches the importance of seeking to master one's CRAFT before seriously considering oneself as being a 'professional'. 
 Copyright © 2019 George Alan Booker, all rights reserved





 

Monday, December 2, 2019

21 Bridges You'd Better Cross To See This Movie!

MOVIE REVIEW: '21 Bridges'


WARNING: Spoilers ahead!!




 



Here's a great improvement from the humdrumness of 2019's cop movies: '21 Bridges' is a pretty good, very exciting chase movie in which a couple of criminals who are novices to the world of illegal drugs stumble upon a large drug distribution ring being operated by New York's finest; and once they kill a bunch of officers (like EIGHT!) in the ensuing shootout all hell breaks loose on them! CHADWICK BOSEMAN plays the smudged badge detective Andre Davis in this chase-thriller and has to put in a LOT of footwork to find these guys by morning light for some reason (I forget the exact reasons,  has to do with the FBI taking over the case [I'm so visual I tend to miss out on some dialog as I'm examining some detail in a scene... SORRY).

In any case the film turns in some of the best performances I've seen in a while by newcomers and old-timers. Besides the convincing portrayal by CHADWICK of a cop under the Internal Affairs microscope for killing too many suspects in his career. Other performers shine really bright as well: SIENNA MILLER plays Frankie Burns, CHADWICK BOSEMAN'S character's assertive temporary partner with just enough spunk to make you think she's one of the good cops..., veteran actor J.K. SIMMONS plays senior officer Captain McKenna in one of his (shortest) best performances ever, STEPHAN JAMES plays Michael, one of the 2 criminals that discover the police conspiracy the story centers around; and TAYLOR KITSCH plays Ray, his partner in crime, who's 'almost in control but not enough' homicidal ex military gun for hire. These latter two actors almost stole the show because of their skilled performances.

For the most part the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. You know every cop in it is dirty (except the hero to some degree [after all, he's being investigated by Internal Affairs...), but all you want to know is how and when will they take their eventual falls. In that department '21 BRIDGES' delivers!

12022019

Copyright © 2019 George A. Booker, all rights reserved

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Batman V Superman ''Batman Saves Martha WareHouse Scene'

Still the most brutal Batman fight scene of all! The Caped Crusader saves Superman's mother from a gang of thugs, fighting like it was his own mother a stake. And isn't that the point of Batman? To undo as much evil as he can in the memory of his own murdered parents? 

I don't care what anybody says, Ben Affleck made a great Batman. Damn shame his personal life (alcoholism) screwed up his plans for The Batman (not something anyone admits but all you have to do is read between the lines to see why he didn't end up directing the Batman franchise himself...)



Saturday, October 5, 2019

Weak Stories and Lack Of Captivating New Villains Means Bad Bond Movies

Legendary musician and cultural icon Grace Jones chipped into the already declining reputation of James Bond by walking off the set of the latest Bond movie after discovering how few lines she had in the scene / movie! This is the 3rd disrespectful act that industry personnel have leveled at the critically struggling James Bond franchise. From the story:

'It had already been thrown off course by the departure of original director Danny Boyle, who quit over a script dispute, in August 2018.

And earlier this month a mutiny erupted on set after his replacement Cary Fukunaga, 40, skipped filming to play on his PlayStation.'

Decades ago it would've been career suicide to dodge a Bond movie. Now no one is even worried about the repercussions! I would claim that they are simply rich, spoiled people but when was the last time that a James Bond movie got you excited??

I remember when Bond actor Peirce Brosnan complained to producers that the scripts weren't tough enough. Bond needed to be rougher! What did they do? They fired him then took his advice and hired Daniel Craig. Thus we got a rough looking Bond who was more physical too. But why fire the man who gave you the idea in the first place? Craig's good by mixing Brosnan's good looks with roughness would've made a more attractive and dynamic visual element if you ask me. Like watching a beautiful woman getting dragged through the mud. There's a huge amount of 'I can't look away' occurring. But with Craig, if he gets dragged though the mud it's like, "Oh, he can take that. He's rough (looking)."


  
 Grace Jones

 Grace Jones With Roger Moore And Tanya Roberts

Peirce Brosnan -The Handsome Bond




Just In Case You Missed This Software

Another Golden Age Illustrator Passes

THOSE were the days, my friends. When men had to rely on sheer skill to survive. No programs, no relying on tracing -no easy way to do things other than to roll up your sleeves, practice until you were perfect and then go out and get a job drawing and painting your ass off!



Thursday, October 3, 2019

The Hidden Talents of Creative People

It sounds redundant to talk about creative people having hidden talents but many do. Actors can sometimes be very gymnastic (Andrew Garfield can do some serious backflips!) and ballet dancers can be expert video game players (if you find one let me know...). In any case, here's another -Abbi Jacobson of 'Broad City' fame (co-creator and actress -on Comedy Central) is also an illustrator and book writer!! The concept of this book is great: what do famous people carry around with them! Isn't that a great idea for a little book?



Saturday, September 28, 2019

Star Wars: The Force Awakens -How NOT To Write Or Even Think Of Writing A Movie


Was it you or did 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' actually make your head spin faster than the wheels on your car as you tore out of the theater parking lot screaming, "That wasn't Star Wars! That wasn't Star Wars!"


ILM -Industrial Light And Magic -The Real Stars of Today's Movies!

How a company created for the making of 'Star Wars' ultimately gave us what we've always wanted to see: realistic super hero action films! This is a great overview of the guys and gals at George Lucas' incredible visual effects studio! You WILL feel that Lucas was / is a modern day genius.



 

Sunday, July 14, 2019

WTF? NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A CURVE BALL!!

So, they passed up black male actor Idris Elba?? He must be rolling over in his grave (because this news has killed him! Hahaha.) And come to think of it -they passed up HALLE BERRY!!! Oh, man. Can you picture Halle as Agent 007!? Man. Oh well. Let's hope this relatively new actress, Lashana Lynch, doesn't let us down! But I got to tell you I don't think anyone saw this coming. But I do like it, I mean, it's like a real spy agency. The one they pick may not be the one everyone thinks it should be. But the person 'most qualified' for the coveted LICENSE TO KILL.



Sunday, June 2, 2019

Take A Look -You Won't Regret It

While posting about what a great actor Benicio Del Toro is I thought about one of my favorite horror movies of all time -'The Skin I Live In'. If you haven't seen this terrific psychological horror movie then you're in for a treat!! Antonio Banderas eats up the role of a twisted doctor who -who -AW SCREW IT! I can't reveal the shocking truth about what this film is about!! See it, its freaky good!


Can DC Comics' Movies Ever Catch Up To Marvel's???

One of my favorite actors, Benicio Del Toro always ADDS TO whatever film he's in at the moment. Remember his too small role in Disney's lousy movie, 'The Last Jedi'? He played an unscrupulous arms dealer, willing to sell weapons to anyone -especially The First Order! Man, you could've done a whole series of movies on that character with Benicio playing it. Just one look at him and you wonder what that character has been through. If he gets into DC Comics' movies it'll help them because DC's films are in such bad shape it's ridiculous.



Sunday, May 19, 2019

PUT YOUR PANTS ON -I MEAN SKIRT -NO, MAKE THAT PANTS --OK, MAKE IT A SKIRT

Not another terrible all 'females that wannabe males' movie!!! Hasn't Hollywood learned from bombs like the all female 'Oceans 11' and 'Ghostbusters'?? These idiots think they are actually catering to a demand for more female directed and starred in movies. But no one ever said that the movies need to be exclusive of males or show males WEAKENED. This is just more nonsense from people who don't understand feminism or from feminists who think they need to be men to be treated equal to them. Whichever is the case it's going to BOMB as well.



Saturday, April 20, 2019

Happens More Than You Realize...

She's goes out a winner, having achieved notoriety for her work at a young age. I won't weep too much because of that. Life is cruel -just remember, lots of babies die before birth, right after birth and many die as children. In that light you see, Mya is a winner. Most don't realize how lucky they are just to reach the ripe old age of 20.



Sunday, April 7, 2019

SHAZAM This Movie Review!


'Shazam's a decent, standard (meaning professionally orchestrated) Hollywood movie that's a bit in a rush to entertain you but succeeds in doing so. What I mean by this is that the jokes -and there are plenty of them -and the pacing of the lines and cutting are rapid fire. That's not a bad thing UNTIL it becomes noticeable which it does in this film. That being said, let's take a look at it in a categorical fashion:

THE WRITTEN NARRATIVE

As I hinted at above, the writing is pretty standard and the characters all follow some predictable character arcs with a couple of instances of emotional insencerity thrown in do this cookie-cutter plot. The story goes like this. A WIZARD, the last of 7 ancient WIZARDS who's job is to keep in check the 7 Sins (yep, the one's from the Catholic religion), in check -is dying. He needs to pass on his magic to a 'chosen one'. While seeking out this special person he offends a young man by the name of Thaddeus Sivana and then years later must deal with him after he returns to seek respect. Conveniently (plot wise) the Wizard finally finds someone he can entrust his powers to in the form of Billy Batson and transfers it to him --sans instructions on how to use them! Hahaha. Anyway we all know that this is a set up for the well worn super hero origin trope of the hero trying to figure out what powers he has and how to use them.Thanks to the witty, sarcastic rants of the hero's foster brother, Freddy Freeman, the scenes of power discovery and training or pretty funny and entertaining. The rest of the story is unoriginal that it hardly bears mentioning -SO I WON'T.

THE VISUAL NARRATIVE

The visual direction of 'SHAZAM' is pretty basic. Nothing flashy here folks, just some good old, reliable camera set ups and special effects. CGI stuff looks pretty convincing and the cutting, pacing and flow of the action is good: most of the action is spontaneous and doesn't appear to be 'staged' like in a bad action movie. Also -be aware that there are some very, very violent scenes in this film which go great to counter the films heavy comedic lean. These scenes are downright brutal and chilling for a super hero film and when you see them you will know exactly which ones I'm talking about. In fact, now that I think about it, the director did a fantastic job bringing visions of true evil to life. True evil is rather merciless and you do get this impression when the '7 Sins' are freed from their frozen state as gargoyle-like statues inside the The WIZARD'S headquarters or lair and begin attacking ordinary people.

THE ACTING
All of the actors are pretty decent and well chosen. I've always said that casting is the most important thing in visual storytelling. Actors have to not only be able to handle the emotional and intellectual manifestations of their characters but they also need to PROJECT THE CHARACTER'S MAIN QUALITIES OR ESSENCE WITHOUT SAYING A WORD. This helps in maintaining the all-important SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF in the audience. Shazam's actors mostly fit this bill quite well and in some ways they exceed it (speaking about the resourceful and flippant best friend / sidekick to Shazam -Freddy Freeman (played enthusiastically by Jack Dylan Grazer. He nearly steals the movie with his downright carelessness with testing the newly minted super hero's powers.)

So, all in all this is a movie is definitely a must-see for comic book movie producers and other professionals and for non-professionals as well. It's whole premise of a bunch of young kids gaining super powers is irresistible and provides enough material for a bunch of sequels that definitely would like to see (if they are done well, of course!)

Copyright © 2019 George Alan Booker, all rights reserved

Friday, March 15, 2019

Wasted Beauty And Talent Leads To Tax Debt!

It's a damn shame that the famous Mel B (aka 'Scary Spice') never parlayed her great beauty into a film career after her pop group, 'Spice Girls' faded from view. Actresses with even lesser amounts of beauty have made the jump into the the visual storytelling scene and are making big bucks. Now Mel B has had to deal with accusations of non payment of taxes. But to her defense she has been seriously distracted. She's claimed that in all this time she's been dealing with abuse from her now ex husband Stephan Belafonte. You can't think about a career in acting while enduring psychological and physical abuse at home. That's why I always say that talent and skill mean little in reality. Luck is almost 100% responsible for a person's success. Of all the people that make it there's even more that failed to live through childhood or wound up with evil career destroying people in there lives. So don't sweat it if you fail at being a very successful visual storyteller of some sort in this life. Even doing a little MEANS YOU'VE SUCCEEDED compared to all of the others who haven't even gotten that far






Just look at this woman!! What man in his right mind would MARRY her and then ABUSE her??? Some guys out there are stupid as fuck and deserve absolutely nothing in this world! NOTHING. If you see a woman of this level of quality and she's being abused it's your job to take her away from that loser!! I've done this in real life. It don't take much to separate a beauty from a shithead. She just needs a little nudge --and she's yours! Date her yourself or hook her up with your buddy. Just rescue her!

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Star Wars A New Hope Full Soundtrack!

Before Star Wars you couldn't get a kid (or many adults) within 20 miles of ANY classical music. Then after the movie debuted young people were rushing to the stores and buying up the Star Wars album like it was a Beetles recording!! Hahaha.  I was among them! Up until then I filled my days with Rock and Roll only! Well SW ended that. There were TV news spots showing the album flying out of music stores faster than they could restock them! From there us kiddies went to the other classics like Beethoven and  Wagner, etc. Wow, quite an amazing effect! If you've never just listened to the pure music of the soundtrack then you're missing out. And 'Princess Leia's Theme' belongs right up there with the greatest classical recordings in history (my humble opinion!)



YOUTUBE COMMENTATOR: "This is giving my ears a boner" -Sprite


Thursday, February 28, 2019

My Spider-Sense Is TINGLING!! I Sense A LAWSUIT COMING!!!

FanATICS -you know those people who call themselves fans but really should be placed inside a mental institution -plan on making some sort of really serious MOVIE regarding the unmade 4th film of famed Spider-Man original trilogy director Sam Raimi. Now we've had a shit-load of Spidey films since the original Raimi trilogy and to tell you the truth, they weren't THAT BAD considering it was made by a bunch of Hollywood studio types that typically use comic books to wipe their asses with (You ever wonder why they can never get the costumes or stories just like they are in the comic books? Yep. That's why).

Well this is all just great news if you are a fanATIC. But if you are a Hollywood honcho it's not. Why? Because the higher the quality of fan films the more they involve professionals working on them. And the longer the fan film is the more it's like a real movie. To say it simply: you're no longer helping the studio advertise it's product with your amateur fan film but you are now a COMPETITOR.

And with all competitors in the visual storytelling fields you must be crushed. Sorry, it's nothing personal. But there's only so many dollars out there and each and every visual storyteller believes that those bucks look better in his fists than in yours. So, my spider-sense is tingling. I sense a lawsuit coming right at these guys.

Oh, by the way, this article is located at a shitty website. You know, one of those web sites where images and logos and crap follow you down the page where ever you scroll to. So my advice is to probably just type the same subject matter into your browser and Google another website -if this website is just too fucking annoying (which it is). It even crashed the browser tab it was on!!






Friday, February 22, 2019

The Trouble With A Good Idea...


Movie Pass' attempt at bringing subscription-style services to the chain movie theater business was at least admirable, if not poorly handled. The service has basically killed itself with misguided rules concerning how many movies a member to it's club can watch and at what price. And it failed to anticipate that their business model could be easily 'stolen' or done better by the theater houses THEMSELVES. Hahaha. I'm about a day from going to an AMC theater and getting me my $20 a month, 3 movies a week movie pass!!! Yaaay! I'm a kid again, watching a bunch of flicks in the movie theater like it was a TV set instead of the big screen!

Check out the full article here...


Tuesday, February 19, 2019

It's Trademark Lawsuit Time! Just Who Owns Alita: Battle Angel???

There's a fight going on for the total rights to 'Alita: Battle Angel' even though there's a movie out on the subject right now. WTF. That mark has been in use for years BY ANOTHER COMPANY other than the one's that have made the movie.

How can this happen in this day and age of instant information checks?? Either there's a big misunderstanding between two companies or somebody's trying to walk over someone else (someone a lot smaller than them!)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/foxs-alita-battle-angel-hit-trademark-lawsuit-1181407

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Better Late To A Great Movie Than NEVER! CREED!!

Finally watched the well received boxing movie, 'CREED', and boy was that a good flick! Full of great scenes and superb, realistic 'street' dialog and emotions. Not a sappy 'scrappy loser makes good' tale but one where the struggle is emotionally difficult and the fall is always near -but the hero, famed (fictional) boxing champ, Apollo Creed's bastard son, Adonis Creed, vindicates his existence by following in the footsteps of the father he never knew. If you got the time (and the popcorn) you need to watch this movie. No nonsense great filmmaking!!! Can't wait to watch part 2 that came out at the end of last year [I'm so late to this 'Creed' film series-it's painful!]




Monday, January 21, 2019

Double Blows: 'Oscars So White' and '#Metoo' Movement Raise Questions Of Ligitamacy In Academy Award Contenders

Here's a well thought out article on how films can become embroiled in political movements and / or social causes (such as the 'Oscars So White' complaint) which may or in some cases may not ruin their chances of reaching a greater audience.

How Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody Became This Year’s Oscar Villains

 

 

 

 

Thursday, January 17, 2019

You Can't Steal What's Already Yours Back From The People Who Borrowed It!


 
Fans are upset that the creator of a Star Wars fan film didn't get any money from the music that Disney sued him over because of an alleged copyright infringement. But why??? You are already using COPYRIGHTED AND TRADEMARKED MATERIALS to make your Star Wars film and YOU WILL GET MONEY FROM IT AFTER IT'S BROADCAST ON YOUTUBE. Why is everyone shocked that this system is perceived as two directional by the people that own the legal rights to it?? They should be able to make money off of YOUR MOVIE too WHICH HAS THEIR SUBJECT MATTER IN IT.

Disney has done no wrong. In fact this is revealing: more companies are going to start taking control of their content from the fans BECAUSE (I'm sorry to bust your fanboy bubble) YOU NEVER REALLY OWNED IT. It was on loan and the loaner (or LOAN SHARK) is coming to collect. And he's got the corporate muscle to do it.

Up until now corporations have been at a loss on how to deal with the rampant theft, plagiarism, copyright and trademark ripping on the Internet. Seems like they've finally figured it out: You make it, get your Youtube chump check -then we take it and make some real bucks off of it (after the lawsuit -of course!)

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

The 6 Million Dol- ER! The 6 BILLION DOLLAR MAN Movie (adjusted for inflation!) Is Almost Here!

The great old TV show, 'Six Million Dollar Man', starring Lee Majors, is being remade into a theatrical movie starring Mark Wahlberg (he of the 'Transformer' franchise). BUT the project is still being dragged along by Warner Bros. It'll take forever at this rate to get this great concept onto the big screen! The classic TV show had the best sci-fi intro ever! The Youtube link to it is provided below, as is the article to the '6 Billion Dollar Man' foot dragging going on behind the scenes.




https://movieweb.com/six-billion-dollar-man-movie-release-date-2019/

6 Million Dollar Man Original TV Intro