movies

Into the home stretch!

Maximum Z Disney, Lucy Steele, Movie of the Moment, outlines, screenwriting

Where have I been these past few days?  Why, making tremendous progress on LUCY, that’s where. I managed to get through the high-action parts of Act 3 and wrapped up yesterday with the death of my bad guy.  No big spoiler there; if you read the story, you know it’s inevitable.

All that remains now is the resolution and denouement, then going back and tightening a few things up, including a recent idea for a small subplot.  I may actually make my self-imposed pre-Wondercon deadline by a few days.  Nice.

I hadn’t looked at it as a whole for almost a week, so I had forgotten how big and imposing it seems at first glance.  Once this draft is finished, I’ll probably go through and hack it down. More darlings may be killed, but I’m willing to sacrifice a sequence like the buffalo stampede rather than keep the whole thing bloated.

I have to keep reassuring myself this is just a first draft and the end result may be extremely different.  Lucas’ original draft of Star Wars about Luke Starkiller is a good example of the benefit of rewrites.

Movie of the Moment: SALT. I’d heard it was a good, fast-paced thriller clocking in at 90+ minutes.  Pretty accurate so far. I can’t remember the last Angelina Jolie movie I saw where she wasn’t utilizing an accent.  Some of the movie requires much suspension of disbelief (freeway chase, assassination of Russian president), but it really moves and keeps you wondering how she’s going to get out of each particular situation.  I also find it amazing that any piece of clothing she steals fits her perfectly.

V is off for spring break this week, so there’s a lot of TV and Wii going on at our place (more than I’d like there to be, but that’s another story).  I took a break from the outline yesterday so we could watch ALADDIN.  I’m fairly certain this was from the tail end of Disney’s “animated Broadway show” period.  I didn’t realize two of the four credited writers were Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, future writers of the SHREK and PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN series.  A quick check of IMDB shows that there were 19(!) writers connected to this.  Further proof that story is everything.

It’s still a fun movie, especially the Robin Williams/Genie scenes.  Talk about perfect casting.  V really liked some of those parts.  Although it was a little sad to see some of the very dated pop culture references such as the William F Buckley and Arsenio Hall impressions.  I suspected she’d like it, but I’m not holding out for THE LITTLE MERMAID.  All that girly stuff just ain’t her thing.

The end is that much closer now

Maximum Z French, Jeunet, Lucy Steele, Movie of the Moment, outlines, screenwriting, westerns

Yet another milestone has been reached: I got to the end of Act 2. And I like how it ended. Stakes are raised. Subplots are beginning to tie together. Outcomes are in doubt. Thrilling stuff indeed.

Surprisingly, I’m not as concerned about Act 3. I know how the thing is going to end. A lot of elements I originally thought of are still in play. I’m fairly certain I can keep things edge-of-your-seat exciting and still wrap it all up in a satisfying manner. The brainstorming and outlining has begun. My self-imposed Wondercon deadline has been set, and I’ll do my best to make it. If not, I can take comfort in knowing that the end if somewhat near.

Movie of the Moment: Another two-fer.

We finished watching Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s MICMACS (still no idea what it means), an utterly charming French film about the takedown of two arms manufacturers. There’s a definite sense of whimsy throughout that it could be considered almost fantasy-like.

It’s a shame more American films don’t take this kind of approach, but I think Terry Gilliam may come closest.

-On a whim, I pulled out a copy of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN that K got me years ago. Good God, this movie is 51 YEARS OLD!

I love THE SEVEN SAMURAI and am so grateful Hollywood got its version right. It may not be possible to watch this and not feel extra manly. A double-feature of this and THE GREAT ESCAPE would be dripping with testosterone.

As I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for a good western and this definitely falls into that category.

Closing in*

Maximum Z Black List, Last Son of Isaac Lemay, Lucy Steele, Movie of the Moment, outlines, screenwriting

*This was intended for Thursday, but was delayed until today due to my child’s soccer practice, followed by a hockey game. Suffice to say, I was wiped.

Really good progress today. I managed to get through that gap that was hindering me over the past few days, so there are about 4-5 scenes left until I hit the end of Act 2. And since I did that ‘working backward’ thing last week, the basic blueprint is ready and waiting. All I have to do now is flesh it out a little.

Then I move on to Act 3, and voila. An outline is born.

It’s no understatement to say I’m quite psyched as I get closer to starting down the home stretch.

-I got to read Black List script THE LAST SON OF ISAAC LEMAY, a very dark Western by Greg Johnson. I call it dark because there is a tremendous amount of violence in it, which I didn’t have a problem with because it really emphasizes the brutality of that time.

Issac is an aging outlaw roaming the West in search of his numerous progeny, convinced that since he is evil, they must be as well and therefore must be eliminated. We see him kill a good-natured son, and in a daring move, a 5-year-old girl (offscreen, of course).

But as if to justify his quest, there’s Cal, who has no qualms about shooting somebody. You know these two are going to have a showdown before this is over, and it’s going to be a bloody trail while we get there.

There are also subplots involving a half-breed Army lieutenant searching for a stolen Gatling gun, a stepfather out for justice and a whore who never seems to leave her room. (That last one is my only complaint about the story; the character is a key story element, but it seems like all she ever does is stay in her room and wail.)

What I liked the most about this script was how Johnson says so much with so little. His use of just the right handful of words paints a clear mental picture. I also enjoyed how all the characters, even down to the minor ones, are developed so as to really give each one a personality. All of this really helps keep things moving at a good clip.

Even though I’m also working on a Western, mine is a little lighter in mood and leans more towards adventure, whereas this is more of a thriller and a lot more violent. Always room for diversity within a genre.

I couldn’t find any record of this being bought, but it is listed for potential release in 2013.

Movie of the Moment: THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Since I haven’t seen THE KING’S SPEECH, I can’t determine which was the stronger Best Picture candidate. But I can see why this one was.

I’m still trying to determine if Mark Zuckerberg is supposed to be the protagonist or the antagonist. Either way, he makes for a fascinating lynchpin connecting all the subplots together.

This may have been the fastest 2-hour movie I’ve ever seen. Aaron Sorkin’s script really zooms by. Easy to see why he won Best Adapted Screenplay. As a co-worker put it, he took a boring subject and made it interesting.

Working my way forward & backward

Maximum Z Let Me In, Lucy Steele, Movie of the Moment, outlines, Raiders of the Lost Ark, screenwriting

That’s how the development of the last quarter of LUCY’s Act 2 is working out.  I had the beginning and the end, and am slowly filling in the blanks from each end.  So far, so good.

Once again using RAIDERS as a template, I’m trying to ramp up the action while also making sure it ties in with the story, rather than just having it for action’s sake.

It’s also letting me test my screenwriting muscles by forcing me to find the best possible conflict in each scene.  Always a good idea.

Late hockey practice last night, so we’ll work on finishing LET ME IN tonight.

The reverse-engineering approach

Maximum Z District 9, Let Me In, Lucy Steele, Movie of the Moment, Netflix, outlines, screenwriting

I’m not calling it writer’s block, because I have a general idea of what I want to put on the page.  Problem is, I need to come up with something I like AND that works for the story.  There are blanks that need to be filled in and the challenge is finding them.

I’m thinking of starting at the end of Act 2 and figuring out what happened before that.  How did Lucy & Co get to where they are?  Since I know what happens in Act 3, I can try to piece together the events leading up to it.  Or at least try to.

Time to break out the idea list again and see what my brain can come up with.  That seems to always trigger something.  Hope it can do it again.

Movie of the Moment: a 2-for-1 day!

While my computer was being stubborn again earlier today, DISTRICT 9 was playing.  I saw it on the tail end of its theatre run about a year and a half ago.  What a great movie.  An intelligent original alternate take on a sci-fi staple.  See it if you haven’t already.

I remembered parts of it, but what was pleasantly surprising was the filmed footage portion of the beginning.  I didn’t realize these were taking place after the main portion of the story.  It was also great to see how the stakes kept getting raised in each scene, and for the most part, how every scene led into the one following it.

I really hope they don’t make a sequel.  It doesn’t need one.

The second movie is LET ME IN, the US remake of the Swedish vampire flick LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.  K and I liked the latter and we’re still working on the former, but so far it’s not too bad. It’s hard to not keep going back to the original while watching this.

Some of the scenes are a little slow, but it’s that kind of movie. And because I know what’s going to happen, that heart-quickening sense of anticipation isn’t as strong as during the original.

Put both on your Netflix queue, but watch the Swedish one first.  With subtitles.  It’s better that way.