Saturday, February 13, 2010

Valentine's Day Review

Happy Valentine's Day! Like the many of you who thought it was a good idea to see 'Valentine's Day' (the movie) to celebrate the day of love, I too attended this very anticipated movie on a triple date. Included in our group of six was my old best friend who moved to Kansas, Brayden van Rossum. Brayden and I co-founded my first movie production company, Blooper Brothers Inc., when I was 11.

So what made 'Valentine's Day' the must see of the season? It made $50+ this weekend which is no surprise because it starred a lot of awesome actors and Taylor Swift. It brings to mind the popular movie 'He's Just Not That Into You' which also had a great cast of many. The movies were actually pretty similar considering they both followed several intersecting sub plot lines which were hard (for me) to follow. I had trouble following the connections between characters in both movies. The only problem was that 'Valentine's Day' sometimes moved away from a character for so long that I would forget their role in the movie. Maybe that's just a personal problem?

Taylor Lautner proves for us once again that acting is attracting. Willy (Taylor Lautner) and Felicia (Taylor Swift) should receive an Oscar for most random characters in a movie. Of course, Taylor Swift will win best supporting actress instead and everyone will wonder why. The message behind Taylor and Taylor's character is that the hotter you are, the dumber you are; and dumb hot people don't have any problems in their relationship.

Come to think of it... all the characters were pretty attractive. I didn't see this as a smack in the face to ugly people on Valentines Day. In reality, the movie did a great job of having a variety of characters. They capture each age group and their perception of love. The one fault was that the teenagers talked a lot about sex. Teenagers do not talk about sex... they are too busy having sex.

Before I mentioned that it was difficult to follow the connections between characters. I should say that the movie will surprise you with how well they bring everyone in full circle. There are some parts that almost made me cry which I haven't done since 'Marley & Me'. Which brings us to our spoiler section!

Warning: The point of the following section is to bitch at people who spoiled the movie for me. I HATE when people spoil movies. So... ironically... in the process of bitching them out I may spoil a few things. A lot of people know this (thanks to the spoilers) so it's not like I'm letting out any big secrets. But in order to give those jerks a piece of my mind, I'm pulling a Nader. Does that make me a hypocrite? Probably... but at least I'm giving you a heads up. So feel free to skip just the paragraph following this one.

So here is what I have to say. There was a big hype over how the gay characters, Holden (Bradley Cooper) and and Sean Jackson (Eric Dane) weren't featured in the movie trailer. Those complainers figured it was because if they showed gay characters then less people would want to see the movie which makes them homophobic. Well if they are homophobic, then why did they put gay characters in the movie!? Unless... of course! There's a reason! It's a fricken PLOT TWIST. Do you think M. Night Shasldjfkarh's movie 'The Sixth Sense' would have had as affective of an ending if they revealed the twist in the trailer? No. The producers say that the Dane and Cooper relationship was supposed to be secret, but it wasn't very well kept.

Glad I got that off my chest and I hope it didn't ruin the movie for anyone. Overall, 'Valentine's Day' was a really great movie. If you haven't seen it yet then take a date! The great thing is that the movie also appeals to lonely people as well. The critics didn't give this movie very good reviews and there is probably good reason for that. But this isn't the kind of movie that is made to please the critics. It's all about the reality of love. I give it a hearty 56 out of 100. Enjoy the rest of your Valentine's Day!

With love,
Zachary Hayes

Thursday, February 11, 2010

A Snack in the Face

There is a bakery of caffeinated treats in the college campus town near where I live. A Snack in the Face is pretty popular among college students. Stephen came to me and said they are having a competition to see who can make them the best commercial. I'm not sure what they intend on doing with the winner. My guess is that they don't want to promise that it will be on TV or anything because there is a chance they might not get any good submissions. I'll make sure they get at least one!

The prize is a year of free treats. Not quite the Willy Wonka payload but close! Of course a years worth of free food can mean anything. We promised the same grand prize at the Happy Joe's Pizza I used to work at. A year of free pizzas actually meant one free pizza every month for a year. Lame. Anyway, Stephen has convinced me to go ahead and make a commercial for this competition. The rules aren't very clear... I don't know if there is a time limit on the video and they didn't give a due date. So I'll just finish it as soon as possible. Of course I'd give the prize to Stephen if we win because I'm more interested in the feeling of success and being able to say that I won this film competition and Stephen is probably the biggest fan of A Snack in the Face, which means they wouldn't be making money of their biggest customer for a year. This isn't the first time that I've entered a competition to make the best commercial. The Tour, a video which I directed/edited, got first prize for Affinity Credit Union. I'm not going to be cocky though because I have no idea who I'm up against.

Wish Stephen and I luck!

Monday, February 8, 2010

'Darkness Around the Sun' Progress and Poster

Click to Enlarge

A lot of progress has been made for the 'Darkness Around the Sun' movie. Finally scenes are being recorded and edited. It could still be a while before it is released but there may be one or two more trailers coming out. Thankfully I've figured out the updated plot so there shouldn't be any problems with the screenplay. I decided that for the hell of it I should make a movie poster so I through this one together. There are a lot of little hints towards the secret plot of the movie which makes it pretty affective but keep in mind I'm not great with graphic design stuff. Also a reminder that 'Darkness Around the Sun' is a for fun movie. I'm super duper cereal about that, you guys! The fact that it is being recorded on Warcraft already makes it ineligible for winning anything or making money so I'm just going ahead and breaking all the rules. Enjoy the poster!