Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Law Abiding Citizen Review




Last night I got to go to an advanced screening of "Law Abiding Citizen." After I finished my friend and I sat watching the credits just thinking. She turned to me finally and had the same issue with the film that I did. The ending was terrible.

Synopsis: Gerard Butler plays a father who looses his daughter and wife in a brutal murder. He watches as the killer is only given 3 years in prison because he testifies against his partner. 10 years later Gerard Butler gets his own form of justice on those who let a killer off with a very small sentence.

This movie was wild up until the end. There are a few scenes that are horrifying. Watching Clyde chop up the killer in the most inhumane way possible, but there is a twist. You are with him the entire time. You want him to kill. I think this is a very hard thing to accomplish in film. It's done on Dexter amazingly and in this film you are right with Clyde from the beginning. You want him to get revenge on everyone that screwed him over. My issue is that towards the end of the film the writers flip it so that you are rooting for Jamie Foxx who's the evil one at the beginning. The reasoning is obvious, to show that justice will triumph and have the audience regain trust in the American system. I was so angry when I saw this flip happen. They demonize Clyde to the extreme at the end and he begins to kill innocent people that had nothing to do with the case. My friend and I both saw this as the downfall of a great story. There is much to be said about siding with the killer and approving of his actions. It's a topic I'm personally interested in and future films/research will be exploring it.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Wes Cravens "People Under the Stairs"


Fool (played by Brandon Quintin Adams) gets stuck in his landlords house. Come to find out the people he's trying to rob are sick and twisted. They steal children and lock up all the "Evil" ones. Alice, the good child, is not stuck under the stairs because she hears no evil, sees no evil and speaks no evil. A telling moment is when the parents confront Alice and the sign reads over their shoulder "A child is to be seen not heard." All hell breaks loose as Fool gets away and tries to save Alice.

Cool film! Defiantly think it would be better to see on the big screen. I was very impressed with the set especially the use of light when in the walls. There were essentially two worlds in this film, the house, and the walls. Fool was able to go in and out and create havoc for the parents. In the basement there were flashlights being used to make the space seem more chaotic. Each of the "evil" children were given a flashlight (told in a expository moment) and these were used not only to show the chaos but the beams of light interacted with the characters and lead to the downfall of the father. Another strange bit of this movie was the father when he wore a dominatrix suit to hunt down the kids. It was very telling for his character and I enjoyed the visual aesthetic of it. It becomes a monster that is on the hunt making the situation creepier.

If you haven't seen this flick I'd say check it out.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

New "The Let Go" music video

This summer I shot a music video for "The Let Go" in Seattle.

Check it out!

Cain Rose Up - Script Finished

Wow, 2 years working on a 10 page script is crazy! I have gone through so many drafts and I think I finally got a piece that will be both shocking and an eye opener to larger issues in life. I think I went through something like 30 different drafts. I have found that there are so many different ways to adapt this short story.

The film is almost completely casted. I have 2 more roles to fill and will be on the hunt the next week.

Next step... Breakdown script, schedule dates, shots lists and inform the troops!

This film is finally coming together and I'm so excited by the way things are turning out.

More to come soon