WAS1 Productions

Originally Written 06/11/04

I finally got to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban tonight. It was definitely my favorite book of the three that I read, and I knew that the movie wasn’t going to give it complete justice, but it did a good job of it. I think it’s probably my favorite of the three, though the first one is up there too.

There were a few pieces that they left out which I’d wish they’d been able to put in. The biggest of these was the full explanation of the four friends from the past, their histories, and their special abilities. This was all alluded too, but they could’ve added some more details. Again, if you haven’t read the book, a lot of the reasons for people’s reactions isn’t as clear, and things don’t mean as much to you. Still, besides a few things I would’ve liked them to have, I didn’t miss too much from the book. They cut some things like the second quidage match, and more of Malfoy’s teasing Harry about the Dementors, but that wasn’t really missed. I did catch two places where they obviously changed things around, but I liked the way they did it. Even one scene which reminded me of proximity detectors from Aliens, which wasn’t in the book, was a clever idea. The foreshadowing of a few things was more obvious than in the book, but that kind of goes with the territory.

At first I felt the style of the movie was a little too whimsical for the darker story of the third book. However, once things started to really get going, it eased off and worked really well. I really appreciated how it gave the setting a feel of a world of magic and the visual flairs and set design really made Hogwarts come alive. There were more shots of the school and the grounds and it really felt like a bigger and more enchanted place. I also liked the little flourishes the director had as sequues between scenes and to show the passing of the seasons. The shots with the whomping willow were very cute.

And the visual effects and creature designs were even better in this movie and more elaborate. Buckbeak the hippogrif was really cool; I love how he was rendered. The dementors were also superbly done.

I liked how the characters are growing up, though that actors did look a little older than I expected them to. The brief bits of “romantic” (if you can really call it that) tension between Ron and Hermione were cute. Hermione’s flashes of attitude were fun as well. The new actor playing Dumbledore did a fine job. Snape was great as usual, though he didn’t have a lot of screen time. Professor Lupin and Sirius Black were well cast too, especially Lupin. He had a real quiet dignity to him. The scenes with him as a father figure to Harry were very nice.

So while I had a couple of nits to pick, and the movie could’ve been a little longer, overall I really enjoyed the film. Now I’ve got to catch up with books four and five soon.

The Colors of My Dreams
Written June 2007

What is the nature of creativity, and what is the price of that gift? If you had to decide between a life of safety, or possibly-dangerous inspiration, what would you choose?

This was a screenplay I wrote as for the  Script Frenzy project. It combines character drama with some speculative fiction in a story that examines the creative process.

As this was my first screenplay, the writing is a bit experimental and has not been polished up. I know there are some typographical and formatting errors in it, but it’s presented warts and all for anyone who might be interested.

Screenplay: The Colors of my Dreams

Originally Written 07/02/07

I saw 1408 on Friday night too. I was curious how that would work, and it turned out to be one of the few decent adaptations of a Stephen King work, and I think it might actually be better than the original. I listened to the audio-book version of the story and it didn’t do a lot for me. The idea was interesting, but since it was more an non-descript evil presence in the room, rather than it being haunted, it didn’t quite work for me. Some of things that happened in the room were too absurd and I couldn’t take it seriously, which is too bad, since many times King can make even odd-sounding things scary, but Everything’s Eventual was an uneven book of stories.

The film still had it’s goofy as well absurd moments, and there were times when the audience was laughing at it. However, they gave some personification to the presence in the room, to make it easier to relate to, and that worked fairly well. John Cusack was also a perfect choice for the jaded writer who’s fallen from grace and who gets his world view shaken by the events in the room. He’s starting to show his age, but he still has grace and charm and he was the right age for this part. The movie also expanded upon the character’s back-story from the book, which made it more interesting. Finally, Samuel L. Jackson was great as the hotel manager. He was only in a few scenes, but he had a great and entertaining presence when he was on-screen. The film isn’t perfect, and it’s not the best, but certainly better than a lot of the other Stephen King adaptations. I’d say it made for an okay Shining lite.

Originally Written 07/02/07

I saw Ratatouille. It was a really cute and fun movie. Besides the odd design of their noses, I liked the look of the rats. They did a couple of fun gags with their fur puffing out too. I liked how Remmy switched between scampering like a real rat, to walking on two legs and using his hand like an anthro. I was also amused that geeky and sarcastic comedian Patton Oswald is the voice of Remmy.

As other people have noted, the story is all about art and the joy and drive of creative expression. I really appreciated that and there were a couple of scenes early on which reminded me of ideas I’d used for the story of my screenplay project for Script Frenzy, The Colors of my Dreams.

Originally Written 04/14/07

I went to see Grindhouse tonight and it pretty much rocked! If not for the stain of Quentin Tarentino it would’ve been nigh perfect, but even so it was two-thirds of the way to being the best movie ever. I’d been looking forward to this for awhile, and the first half of the double feature didn’t disappoint me. It opened up with a trailer to a non-existent Mexican exploitation flick, Machete. That dripped of the 70s, including using one of the classic voice-over narrators.

The genre love continued with Robert Rodriguez’s bio-zombie fest, Planet Terror. That managed to combined gritty action with dark humor and clever satire. It also had a lot of cameos by famous actors, and it was fun watching everyone enjoy playing out their roles. They kind of overdid some of the aging effects they did to make the film look worn out. The scratches weren’t bad, but some of the blurriness and color shifting got a little distracting.

Most times it worked at giving the feel of a double feature in a sleazy movie house, but there were a couple of instances where I thought it could’ve been toned down. Otherwise it was great. The effects and gore were well done and it was a fun film. Plus, with an ex go-go dancer taking out zombies with her machine-gun leg, it had something for everyone.

The other fake trailers during the intermission were also a hoot. Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women of the S.S. was amusing, and the short project suited his editing style; as one critic put it, it wasn’t long enough for him to suck. The second one, Don’t was another spoof of a very specific trailer style that can’t really be described. The best one though was Eli Roth’s Friday the 13th spoof, Thanksgiving.

Then came Quentin Tarentino’s half of the project, Death Proof. He’d shown up in Planet Terror and also had a cameo in this film. He got killed in the first movie, which was some satisfaction, but his insertion into the movies was the least of his sins. He’s done that before, and while his presence here was less effective than in earlier films, it was tolerable.

Unfortunately, his love for wacky dialog and discussions of obscure Americana dialog weighted the movie down like an anchor. That technique worked in Pulp Fiction, but it was mostly boring here. I kept on waiting for something interesting to happen.

Kurt Russell was wonderful in his role, but the two fast sections of the film were interspersed with dull bits of characters yammering at each other. The good news though is that once the second action scene hit, it had some great payoff.  It’s all the car chase and action sequences from every single 70s movie rolled together.

I had a good time. Even with the dull bits in the second movie, it was still a fun experience and a great recreation and tribute to genre films. I’ll probably get the DVD when it comes out, and just fast-forward through Tarentino’s over-indulgent masturbations.