I'm Doing Something in the Vein of Marcel

[Pulpmariachi]

Bart! Thanks for taking time out of your day to watch those things!

Most people seem to like "Becoming Death" a lot more than I do. I think it's funny. FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S SO HORRIBLE. All right, there are a few parts I'm cool with but for the most part...it's hard to watch that movie. Personally, I like the idea of Death retiring and wanna remake it someday, but without Death, Inc. or any of that shitty stuff (plus the new version develops the relationship story I guess...with less cheesy results!).

Lemme explain some things about "Polar Opposites," though I'm not defending it in anyway...against your criticism I mean.

I put The Simpsons thing in there because I figured if people didn't like my movie they would say, "Well, it did have a 'Simpsons' thing in it." In retrospect, probably not the best idea ever. Haha.

Sound has never been my highest quality, I think. I'm working on that.

I love most of my long-takes. Lots of them were...very self-praising, like we're going "Hey! Look what we did!" (You know though...I never really thought of De Palma with the long shots...those were more Scorsese and Anderson [Wes] oriented.)

Thanks a lot again for the criticism and the viewing, Bart! A lot of that stuff I'm working on fixing for whatever comes next, and I'll definitley keep what you said in mind next time I sit down to edit! Thank you thank you thank you.

[Bartwald]

Glad to be of help, Pulp. It's been a pleasure, too.

Now we're waiting for Heineken's comments, I guess? I will also copy the DVD and send it to spacer - he's known for analysing everything in great detail and I'm interested in his opinion on the films, which one he likes better and so on. So expect feedback from him, too.

[Bartwald]

Where are all these other reviews of Pulp's films? I was waiting for a DISCUSSION here, guys!!!

[Heineken Skywalker]

Whoops! Sorry, Pulp!
I promise to watch it soon and post my comments. My bad.

[Bartwald]

Just wanted to remind you that I - and perhaps Pulp, too - still remember about the promise...

[Heineken Skywalker]

Hey guess what I finally watched??

First off, a big apology to Pulp for taking my own sweet-ass time getting around to watching these.
And away we go!

While POLAR OPPOSITES might be the most technically proficient and better written, dialogue-wise, of the two, I found myself having a harder time getting into it than BECOMING DEATH.
Both would definitely benefit from some tighter editing, just to keep things moving along. Too many long lingering shots that just kind of sit there.
I will say, you have some cool taste in music. ELO, The Beatles and The Moody Blues, to name a few, all get featured, but the musical segments need to be shortened. You hear way too much of the songs before cutting away. I know you're a big Tarantino & Rodriguez fan. Definitely check out the way they use music in their movies. If you're going to have more than a minute or so of any given song play on the soundtrack, you have to make sure that what's actually happening on-screen is really interesting. Like maybe the "Stuck in the Middle With You" scene from RESERVOIR DOGS or the dance sequence from PULP FICTION, as examples.

Like Bart, I found some of the dialogue hard to hear due to technical probelms in filming outdoors, where wind can play havok with the sound. Definitely consider going back and looping some dialogue in the future if you can. Of course then you run into the lipsynching problem like what happens with Death singing "My Way", where almost nothing matched up.

The writing definitely shows potential and there were a few laugh out loud moments for me: "Can I call you Grimmy?", etc., just try to steer clear of characters who speak far beyond their years. You know, teens who speak like characters in their thirties. That almost always rings false no matter who the filmmaker/writer is, and I'm not talking about just low budget films here.

And finally, get a budget. I know you joked that the budget for these was about $20, just think what you could do with about $100! ;D
Kevin Smith sold his comic book collection and maxed out his credit cards. You gotta suffer for your art, right? Got some stuff you can Ebay?

Bottom line: Some definite potential, especially on the writing side of things, and most of the weaknesses are on the technical side, ie; editing, sound and keep that camera focused. But I'm sure with experience, those things will improve.

Cheers man, and definitely keep at it. I'd love to someday be able to say, I knew him when.

[Bartwald]

Took you some time, Heineken! But I'm glad you finally watched them, seems like we both agree that there's a good chance Pulp will kick Hollywood's ass in the future.

heinekenskywalker said:

...just try to steer clear of characters who speak far beyond their years. You know, teens who speak like characters in their thirties. That almost always rings false no matter who the filmmaker/writer is...

Have you seen Brick, Heineken? They made a whole successful film based on the Kids Talk Adult idea - and Pulp beat them to it!

[Pulpmariachi]

I would like to take this moment to say that I despise Quentin Tarantino. I think he's a moron who just takes what he likes from other movies that he thinks he's only heard of then puts them in his own. Sure, they're ENTERTAINING movies but I have real problems with him. Besides, I cannot stand the way he acts in public, acting like he's five years old and just got into his dad's liquor cabinent. Then when he said Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Kurusawa weren't all that great . . . I really started hating him then.

Just to clear that up.

For my money I think Robert Rodriguez is one of the best filmmakers out there. Storytelling, well, he needs to work on that a bit but the man knows how to assemble a movie for not an incredible amount of money, keep it on a workable schedule, make it fun, and turn out something that at least looks cool (it may not always be good but it looks neat -- I'm looking at you Spy Kids 3).

I'm not trying to defend myself or say, "I was going for this..." because I hate that in writing group, but I might do it here. With "Becoming Death" I had just turned 17 and was finally allowed to watch R-rated movies (for some reason my parents wouldn't let me beforehand) so I was just absorbing everything, including a lot of Tarantino. You know, he's like a gateway drug, really nothing but leads to stuff that's much better. Or worse, who knows. That might've been around the time I joined The Board . . . I don't remember. So God knows what's going on in that movie. "Polar Opposites" was more modeled after a Wes Anderson movie. I love doing long lingering shots though I realize it's probably really pretentious because I'm just saying, "Hey look what we can do!" when nothing really is going on.

I hope I improve with each film, at least technically, but I haven't edited the latest one yet so I'll take your advice (especially because I realized I can't show my movies to anybody and charge admission or something with copywritten music so I gotta figure that out all by myself).

Thanks for finally watching my movies Heineken! And for all the compliments and criticism! Any little bit helps a lot.

[Heineken Skywalker]

pulpmariachi said:

I would like to take this moment to say that I despise Quentin Tarantino.

Well, color me stupid. I figured your name was a combo of PULP FICTION + EL MARIACHI = Pulpmariachi, so I assumed you were a big fan of both of theirs.
Wouldn't people be surprised to find out that I actually don't drink beer and am not a STAR WARS fan??

And Bart, no I haven't seen BRICK, but I know the teens in that film speak like characters in a 40's noir movie. It's that film's gimmick and therefore it's fine in that instance. I don't think Pulp was going for that gimmick though.

[Bartwald]

I wasn't entirely serious there. And by the way - I didn't like Brick, and the noir teenagers gimmick was one of the reasons for it.

[ZapRowsdower]

Like it or not, Quentin Tarantino is doing a damn good job at ripping other people off. He knows what he likes in a movie and tends to churn out quality films in the process. But I gotta agree with Pulp on one thing: the guy's an arrogant prick. He's riding a high horse putting down on masters like Kubrick, Hitchcock and Kurosawa considering he owes much of his success to their films. And at least they came up with their own shit.

Hey Pulp, you got anymore copies of your movies? I'm interested in seeing them.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Well, not to totally derail this thread and Tarantino might be an asshat in real life, but I'm not gonna deny that I really enjoy his movies. I frankly don't care how much he "borrows" or "steals" from other films. I care about what's up on the screen, and in his case, I can't wait to see what he does next. GRINDHOUSE, I think.
As for Kurosawa, Hitchcock & Kubrick, he may have been wrong to question their talent, but they didn't always "come up with their own shit". I seem to remember lots of adaptations of books, short stories & even Shakespeare in their filmographies. Nothing wrong with that, just saying that they didn't neccesarily come up with everything they did completely from their own imaginations either.

[Pulpmariachi]

I think there's a huge difference between adapting and blantantly stealing.

And maybe I do let Tarantino's ego get to me. Same with Lars von Trier. For instance the whole thing with "Sin City", where he got a third directing spot but he only directed a five minute scene. Spielberg designed a lot of the battles in Episode III but you didn't see his name advertised heavily or a special feature about what he did.

Anyways, I'm not gonna like Heineken, I was very much into Tarantino when I joined The Board so Pulpmariachi comes from Pulp Fiction and El Mariachi. So I lost interest in Tarantino? Why should I change my name? I mean . . . pulp fiction still is something totally different from the movie since it's a cheap magazine of stories, things Dashiell Hammett was originally published in. And the Mariachi angle . . . well that works on all sorts of angles. So I lost interest, but I like how "Pulpmariachi" sounds and being called "Pulp" and stuff.

I didn't mean to antagonize.

And one of the reasons why I'm so adament in my dislike towards Tarantino was that I was very much copying him when I was younger. And then everyone said it was like that and I finally just got annoyed. Again, didn't mean to antagonize.

And techincally hardly anyone comes up with their own stuff. Even Shakespeare took a lot of his works from something else, whether it be history, witches, or other tales. I'm probably backing myself into a wall here.

Haha. I remember when I first saw the preview for "Brick". I was like, "Oh...kay...." But I like that movie. It's one of those where you have to let yourself just go into the movie to like it. If you can accept without thinking about it that the kids are gumshoes then you'll like it, if you have a harder time then you won't. Or maybe you just find it boring. I don't know. It's like magic realism in that sense, or fantasitic realism, where there's just these absurd things happening without any logical explanation and if you don't accept it then you won't like it. Of course, I'm NOT comparing "Brick" to "One Hundred Years of Solitude" because there really is no comparison, just an example.

And me, surely "Polar Opposites" isn't a completley original idea anyways. Murder mysteries are quite common.

Zap, I think I could dig up some other copies of the movie because I'm sure they're around SOMEWHERE so I'll look, unless Heineken or Bart would be willing to send them your way. But that's asking a lot so I'll look.

Again, sorry for antagonizing and thanks for the feedback!

[ZapRowsdower]

As you know (I think I've mentioned it), I'm taking classes at Cal State University - Fullerton for film. I made a 10-minute flick for my Video Production class, and I'm actually kinda proud of the way it turned out.

The budget was essentially just transportation and taking my actors to dinner after our final shoot. Also, some water for the beach shoot. Overall, gas not included, the budget was under $50, and none of that was for the filming of the movie itself (all the equipment and software was provided by the University).

In order to post it on MySpace (forget about Youtube, they totally screw up my sound quality), I had to split it in two. So here's:

Critical Impact!

Part I

Part II

And Pulp, if you were able to find any copies of your film, I'm still interested in seeing them.