My blog

A PREQUEL (NOT A SEQUEL) TO DISTRICT 9?

Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 3:01AM / Standard Entry

In this interview with the director of District 9, he says he's more interested in doing a prequel (rather than a sequel) to his hit sci-fi feature. That may disappoint some of his fans since the ending to the first movie sets up the next chapter so well. But I respect his convictions since he's the one who would have to make it. To be honest, his interview is surprisingly anti-hollywood given the types of movies he's making, but at the same time, I guess you can't blame him given his past experiences. Check it out here.

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SOME ADVICE FROM JAMES CAMERON, PETER JACKSON & TARANTINO

Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010 3:23PM / Standard Entry

I found most of these interviews with several of today's most celebrated film directors to be affirming because they have enough clout and ego to say what they really think. It's interesting to hear veterans like James Cameron, Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino talk about how hard it is to make low budget films, how some of them believe in storyboarding and some don't,...and how despite all their accomplishments, they still have to struggle with studios to get their films made the way they want. Here's the link to the article.

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THE DECLINE OF ORIGINAL MOVIES

Thursday, Oct 8, 2009 4:18PM / Standard Entry

By now, everyone in Hollywood knows that Disney is significantly downsizing Miramax films, it's arthouse film division. The press releases say they're just cutting staff and reducing the number of films they'll distribute, but in reality, most folks in the biz believe that this is Disney's way of gradually dissolving the division altogether. In other words, in a year or two, Miramax may be gone for good. Which is sad because it was one of the few places left that tried to release original films like The Queen and No Country For Old Men. Given the current trend in Hollywood, this isn't surprising. Hollywood is more obsessed than ever with remaking movies that don't need to be remade, or turning toys and video games into films -- even though the majority of these films don't succeed [see below].

It makes me wonder, are there any studios left with the balls to make original movies? What happened to the great original screenplay? Have film execs forgotten that many of the biggest box office successes of all time were generated from original scripts? Whether you like these movies or not, be it Star Wars, Titanic, The Matrix or more recent releases like District 9, The Hangover or Avatar, they all started with an original idea for a film, and were all wildly successful. Yet more and more, film execs are turning their backs on original stories. For all those execs who are convinced that studios should focus on toys, video games, comic books and remakes, I'd like to remind them that for every Transformers, there are many more similar films that flop like Doom, Final Fantasy, Dragonball Z and Land of the Lost. I'm all for making big, commercial entertainment, but perhaps it's time to get back to what made Hollywood flourish in the first place: an original script.

Here's a link about the demise of Miramax, and here's an article about Hollywood's obsession with turning toys into movies.

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My Little Independent Film

Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 8:32AM / Standard Entry

This film has been an audience favorite at numerous festivals, and if you're into relationship movies, I hope you'll check it out. It's a light, fun ensemble piece with several stories exploring "The Trouble With Romance" from several different points of view - a single woman getting over a break-up in an odd way, a married couple trying to spice up their sex life, a boyfriend and girlfriend dealing with their own childish issues, and a young man confronting his cynicism about love.

This film was shot in 15 days with a budget less than what the caterer gets paid on a major studio movie. It's not a serious movie, but a fun little commercial film about love. For a low budget indie like this, getting any kind of distribution is a feat in and of itself, and after playing the film festival circuit for a year it got picked up by Warner Bros for distribution. Independent films like this need all the support they can get since we don't have millions of marketing dollars to pay for expensive TV ads that draw large audiences. The film also stars 2 other AliveNotDead members - Roger Fan and Emily Liu - so give them a shout out as well. More details below...

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Warner Bros. distributing "The Trouble With Romance"

Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 2:11AM / Standard Entry

Warner Bros. to premiere "THE TROUBLE WITH ROMANCE" simultaneously in theaters and on pay-per-view! The film stars cast members from "Sex & the City", "Entourage", "Better Luck Tomorrow" and more. See the movie now via iTunes & Amazon VOD.

Movie Trailer Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdoE49chFKU

(REVIEWS:)

'HIGHLY RECOMMENDED'

"An extraordinarily engaging, well-written and creatively filmed romantic comedy comprised of four stories set in hotel rooms on the same floor... Rhee's feature debut is in some ways a textbook for how to make a great low-budget feature: Start with a really good, tightly written script, hire some terrific, trained, hungry actors and shoot it economically on small interiors. For an audience, it's a winning combination."

-The San Francisco Chronicle

"The performances are convincing, and director Gene Rhee does a good job of outlining the messiness of human affections here, showing how we don't always know what we really want or how to get it."

-The Chicago Reader

"Gene Rhee's wacky and endearing debut feature film "The Trouble With Romance" scores points on most levels of engagement as a warm, breezy conversation about romantic entanglements between men and women. Split into four vignettes set under one hotel roof in Los Angeles, a quartet of rooms are the stages for frolic, fun, fantasy and frivolity."

- Popcornreel.com

"Roger Fan's intense crying jag while on the toilet is a riot. It is to bathroom crying jags what the French Connection car chase is to car chases."

-The San Jose Metro

"Rhee is a talented director..."

-The SF Weekly

Other weblinks:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5579152083 http://www.myspace.com/thetroublewithromance